Chapter Thirteen: The Butler, Dishonest

"Sebastian...? What are you doing?"

A week had passed since the contract had been formed; Grell was scarcely past delusional fevers, and though his mind allowed him to sleep well, he was still woken now and then from the stabbing pains in his chest. The seal's influence was still fighting to take, and his body was fighting to force it out; two days ago, it had begun to look red and inflamed, and earlier in the morning had begun to ooze a thick, yellow pus. The worst was hopefully over, but he was a long way from healing, and was still frail and weak.

"We're going away from here," He grunted as he pulled the blankets covering the reaper's body back and lifted him out of the bed.

"What...? How are we-? Your contract with-"

Sebastian silenced him, leaving without a backward glance.

"The other reapers are bound to be looking for you. We need to get you away from here, where they can find you."

"But where-?"

"There's a place between worlds," He says quietly. "Something of a resting place for my kind if we can't stand one realm or the other."

Or if a contract has reached its completion.

"Can they find us there...?"

"If they can, it will take them longer than it would to find you here."

Grell was nodding; he was fighting the desire to finally get some more sleep. He would need to eat and drink as well; only in the past few days had he been able to keep down anything stronger than a mild broth.

"But-the boy..."

"Don't concern yourself with that."

"But-"

"You told me once that you hated not being important enough to me to come before that contract. Now you argue when I decide you are?"

There was a coldness, a bite to his words; Grell tried to tell himself it was irritation at the situation, and rested his head against Sebastian's shoulder.

"I love you," He murmured softly. Sebastian's arms tightened around him, one cradling his shoulders, the other in the crooks of his knees.

"Go to sleep. We'll be there soon."

He didn't notice Grell's eyes searching his face, waiting for him to say the words he wanted to hear. Again, as he finally drifted to sleep, he failed to realize how light and troubled it was, having not received the reassurance he'd sought.

The demon's mind was elsewhere, playing over his evening. He had made up his mind after slipping into his room to check up on Grell between dinner and aiding Ciel in retiring for the night. The look on the boy's face when reality had dawned on him was not one he would soon forget.

Ciel had been in his study, glancing over some paperwork after dinner. Customarily, Sebastian was cleaning up from the meal; as such, the knock on the study door had come as a mild surprise.

"Come in."

Sebastian's face as he entered was blank, as usual; however, for the first time, there was an underlying fury and hatred in his eyes.

"What is it?"

He had wordlessly taken the small pin bearing the Phantomhive crest from his lapel and placed it on the desk between them. Ciel's visible eye surveyed it for a moment before he looked up to the demon's face.

"Just what are you doing, Sebastian? Our contract hasn't been fulfilled."

"I no longer have any desire to fill our contract," He says curtly. "Find someone else to do your bidding."

"What are you playing at?" The boy asked calmly, picking up another sheet and studying it. "You can't break our contract. Until it's complete, you are my butler."

He had looked up again, irritated, as the demon snorted, seemingly amused at his statement.

"I've allowed you the illusion of control for this long," The darker man says. "Did you think it would last forever?"

"Enough!" Ciel rose, slamming his hands down onto the desktop, his eye flashing. "Whatever you're saying, I've had enough of it!"

The burgundy of Sebastian's eyes lit to the burning crimson, the miniature fangs in his grin lengthening as his own patience wore out.

"You fail to realize that there is nothing stopping me from harming-or even destroying you. I've been content to act as your servant until now, but my interest in you has ended. Consider our contract dissolved."

"You can't do that!"

His smirk returned, perhaps a bit wider than before at the shrill note of fear that had crept into the brat's voice.

"Did you honestly expect me to play the part of your pawn forever? You contracted with a demon, boy-we have no rules...only aesthetics."

The shock and fury dawning in the boy's eyes were entertaining in the very best way, and in any other circumstance, Sebastian would have adored to torment him more...but there were more pressing matters than ridiculing the brat.

"You contracted with me! The contract isn't complete until-!"

Oh, to finally be able to do what he'd always wanted to. He pulled the gloves from his hands, his fingernails elongating as he did so, and grabbed the boy's chin, effectively silencing him.

"The contract was your revenge in exchange for your soul. As I have lost interest in the latter, I have no obligation to complete the former." He couldn't help his usual smirk from sliding across his lips. "Seeing as we are no longer contracted, you should be grateful that I have no intentions of taking your soul, regardless."

"You couldn't-!"

The smirk fell from his face, his expression growing dark and chilling.

"With no obligation to you, I can do exactly as I wish. Now shut your mouth before I change my mind."

Ciel could only stare, unable to process this turn of events. Sebastian released him and stood, turning on his heel and leaving. He paused briefly at the door.

"By the way, you'll be blind in that eye," he says. "As payment for three years of service."

The boy recognized the claim for what it was; Sebastian was cementing his control over the situation, cruelly reminding Ciel of just how helpless he really was.

"I'll show you who's in control-!"

Furious, he ripped the patch he wore from is eye-and immediately froze. The sight in his right eye had been clouded, yes, but he had still been able to see out of it; now there was nothing. As Sebastian had said, he was blind in one eye. Fury was fighting with panic now, and he dashed over to glance at himself in the small mirror mounted on the wall.

Both eyes gazing back at him in the glass were blue. There was no sign of the seal the demon had created, or the contract they had forged.

"You can't-DO-this-!"

Beyond reason, beyond rational thought, he flew out of the room in pursuit of the black-clad figure that had turned its back to him forever. Racing down through the halls, it was surprisingly little time before he caught up to the demon, and launched himself at his back.

He only sidestepped the attack, neatly and agilely as ever.

"Now you're just making a disgrace of yourself," He says, his voice laced with disgust; he hadn't so much as paused. "You've yet to outgrow throwing temper tantrums?"

He was prepared to say something, to throw an order at the retreating man, when his eyes fell on the mark still on the back of his hand.

"You...you're lying-!" He fairly shrieked, nearing hysterics. "Your contract-your seal! It's still there-!"

Without realizing it, he had taken off down the hallway again; as he reached the demon this time, however, the black-clawed hand reached swiftly out, pinning the boy's small frame to the wall with an iron grip around his throat.

"Once again, your selfish, childish mind places you at the center of everything," He hissed. "Our contract is done. I have another to complete. I have no qualms killing you here and now, boy, so if you value the scraps you have left of your life, I suggest you cease and desist immediately. You will. Not. Win."

"You-you can't hurt me-! I forbid it! That's an order!"

To his surprise-and relief-the hand around his throat pulled back.

"Exactly," Ciel says, laughing harshly to himself. "I knew you couldn't-"

He cuts off as he saw the way Sebastian's upper lip had curled, the way he had pulled an arm back.

As his mind pieced it together, pain exploded in his cheek and he was sent sprawling down the hallway. There had been a most satisfying SMACK as the back of the demon's hand had solidly struck his jaw; with a small noise of approval, the continued on his way to his own chambers. There was only one thing he needed to collect before leaving. Had Grell been able to transport himself, there would be no reason for him to return there at all.

}~X~X~X~{

The boy had insisted on following, screaming obscenities the whole way. The only thing that kept him from taking the boy's soul to finally quiet him was the thought that it would undoubtedly bring the reapers within seconds of an attempt. He was risking enough as far as they were concerned already. It was only a matter of time before Grell's absence would be taken seriously, and the longer they had been away by that point, the better.

Grell had been halfway between sleeping and waking when he finally turned down the hallway leading to his own room; he could sense the drowsy presence, and scowled at the amount of noise his shrieking follower was making. He had long since turned a deaf ear to the boy; the other servants had wisely stayed away. Still adamantly refusing to hear the insults and profanities flung at him, he opened the door to his room just wide enough to slip through and slam it shut again, turning the lock and crossing to the bed, where the reaper was being pulled fully into the waking world by the pounding on the door.

"We're leaving," He says, cursorily checking the wound on Grell's chest before opening the doors to his wardrobe. They cats inside would leave through the window sooner or later.

"What-?"

"Go back to sleep. You'll be safe, don't worry."

}~X~X~X~{

…I should have come ahead and found a place to keep him…

Sebastian sighed, holding Grell a bit tighter as he continued to walk the island. It was a barren, rocky place; the few trees that stood around were long dead.

He finally found an area he deemed suitable and gently laid Grell down on a slab of rock that made a miniature plateau. He looked unpleasantly sacrificial, lying on a makeshift alter to a creature much darker than god.

They shouldn't be able to find you here…Sebastian pushed a lock of hair off of Grell's face. Even if they can keep track of you at all times…the demonic aura of this place should mask yours enough.

With nothing to do but wait for the reaper to wake, the demon sat heavily, leaning against another large rock, wondering-not for the first time-if this had been a mistake.