Sebastian brushed the thick, white snow off a nearby bench and sat down. Pluto also sat down patiently beside Sebastian, and stared at him with a look of adoration that Sebastian was certain Grell had given him once. Although Sebastian wasn't fond of dogs, he gave him a small pat, to which Pluto barked excitedly. Sebastian had brought Grell's glasses with him, but Grell's scent was not strong enough on it for Pluto to locate Grell. He also brought Grell's jacket, which had confused the demon dog the last time he had tried using it. He decided that to avoid further misunderstandings between the dog and himself, he would have to remove all of Grell's personal items from the pockets, so that only his perfume and natural scent were left of the scarlet fabric.
From Grell's pocket(s) Sebastian removed a box of breath mints, which Sebastian had already suspected that he owned, a perfume bottle, which was the same scent he had worn this morning, a key ring, with more keys than Sebastian thought he needed, a note book, which Sebastian didn't read because he was afraid to know what Grell had written, a fountain pen, for writing in his notebook, a box of spare eyelashes, since Grell's natural eyelashes were transparent, a pair of twin scissors, which he remembered being larger than this, a tube of bright red lipstick, which he had been wearing the night they met, a nail file, he owned one too, a scarlet hair ribbon, which trailed to the floor, a leather glasses case, in which he placed Grell's glasses, a golden hand mirror, which was beautiful but old and tarnished, and a velvet coin purse, which was depressingly light.
It was surprising for Sebastian to know that Grell owned so many objects; Sebastian had never imagined that Grell had so many possessions. Now that he thought about it, Grell had to live somewhere, probably in a dorm at the Ministry of Hades. Sebastian realised that he didn't have anywhere to put all of these things, but he couldn't put them back in Grell's pockets, because Pluto couldn't be distracted, and he knew he couldn't throw them away. He thought for a moment, unsure of a solution to this dilemma, until he finally came to an unappealing but singular conclusion. Sebastian entered a small business that would let you rent out a locker, and spent some of his own pocket money (a butler is an unrewarding job, it requires much but pays little) to rent a locker until he returned, and stored all of Grell's things there.
When he had finished, he left and had Pluto once more smell Grell's jacket. This time, the demon dog became serious, and the search for Grell began. Pluto led Sebastian out of the small town and down a cobblestone trail, which eventually became a dirt trail. This path was used so little that there weren't even the imprints of horse hooves or carriage tires in the snow, which now reached Sebastian's ankles. After Pluto and Sebastian had travelled a few meters down the road, trees began to come up around them, and even further, the sparse trees became a forest. Sebastian could see small animals, such as winter hares, and larger ones, such a deer begin to appear as they travelled further. Progress was slow, as the forest became even more dense, he had to duck under stray, leafless branches and step over creeping, dead vines. The forest was so dense by now that the bare branches created what could be described as a canopy. The air was still, it was windy outside of the trees, but once inside the forest borders little wind could penetrate.
Dawn had risen, and the first light of the day shone its way through the thin gaps in the rusting metal of the warehouse. One of the gaps just so happened to be in the perfect spot for a ray of winter's morning sunlight to shine directly onto Grell's eyes. Early birds sang their songs of daybreak while other small animals and insects began to move and become active, scuttling and crawling around and into the warehouse where Grell, in his shallow sleep, lay uncomfortably on the dirt floor. Grell's heavy eyelids twitched, lifting his long red lashes to a peep, his mouth was slightly open, and he had a sleepy expression on his face. His head lay in the crook of his arm, so once he had opened his eyes; the first thing that came into focus was his sleeve, where a plump beetle currently was relaxing.
Grell immediately took action by screaming at full volume while wildly shaking his arm around in the air, ignoring the weight of his shackles. The beetle went flying across the room - seeming to disappear, the dramatic shinigami was panting lightly, staring at his arm. How long had that bug been there? He didn't like thinking about it. Grell shivered, it was still snowing outside, and the wind was strong; he was hungry too, famished, he couldn't recall a time he had ever been this hungry. His stomach moaned as Grell sneezed, he felt awful - perhaps he had fallen ill. The shinigami sniffed as he lifted the water flask and brought it his pale lips, the sensation of the liquid filling his dry mouth and trickling down his sore throat was refreshing. He sighed after he felt satisfied, lowering the flask while licking his lips. Grell rubbed at one of his eyes with his other hand and blinked a few times, he looked down at his hand – it was so pale, paler than usual, since he hadn't been eating recently he wasn't getting the nutrients he needed, causing him to appear sickly and white. The faint glow that had surrounded him earlier had vanished, which was a good thing, though he still didn't feel any better, worse actually.
He remembered having a dream, though he couldn't remember what it was. Pondering on the thought, he recalled it being something about him being spoon-fed by every person he remembered meeting in his life-time, they were all taking turns, and what they fed him was always something strange, and perhaps was related to his opinion on the person. For instance, he remembered Sebastian feeding him a spoonful of red rose petals and chocolate, while William fed him dirt and brown sugar. He was dressed as a princess while in a dungeon cell, on his knees clinging to the steel bars. Grell couldn't remember much else after that; he wondered what influenced that dream? Maybe it was because he was hungry, or something.