Ciel's Curse

Rated: M

Genre: Mystery/Drama/Action

Anime:

Black Butler- I do not own the Characters used in this story.
[I am putting a warning here in this chapter- as the events that occur in this chapter might be hard to interpret. Apologies in advance.]

Written by: HellsingInsaneGirl666

Chapter: 21

…

"Sebastian you're falling. Falling inside yourself. Deeper and deeper."

It was a voice. One that Sebastian had never heard before. It was a female voice. Wispy and distant. Sebastian felt that feeling that he had before. When Ciel seemingly was trying to contact him. Fire and pressure- attacked him. Pushing him down.

Pushing him, pulling him. Down into a never-ending shadow. Darkness ubiquitously, Sebastian contorted reaching out to anything- anything that he could find. But nothing was there.

"This is nothing." The voice said again. "Nothing to what Ciel Phantomhive went through."

"Who are you?" Sebastian managed to call out.

Chuckling. Distant at first but suddenly all around him.

"You already know that answer Sebastian Michaelis."

Sebastian yanked his sealed hand to his chest as it seared him suddenly, bubbling the surrounding skin. He huffed a shallow breath of pain. It was then he remembered; he did know who- no. What- this was.

"The contract." He said. "The contract that spoke with Ciel."

"Yes."

"Where is he? Where am I?"

"But a single question at a time demon." It said. "My voice is limited."

"Fine then, where is Ciel?" Sebastian closed his eyes, it was then he realized that he felt as if he was no longer floating. He opened them- seeing Lucifer's office. The couch, the desk… But something was wrong, that was all that was there. A cloak of darkness surrounded the outskirts of the edge of the open space. "Wha- Why here?"

"I did not choose this place Sebastian." It answered. "We are in your mind. The middle ground that links you to your dearest master. Ciel is here. Injured. His mind has come here so that his body can repair."

"Then where is he?" Sebastian held back a small muffle in his voice.

"Sebastian."

It was Ciel. Sebastian blinked, his eyes adjusted to the dark and Ciel was suddenly standing in front of him. Wearing his dark long coat, Sebastian remembered this moment. It was when Sebastian first met Ciel in Wyoming.

"I didn't expect you so soon." Ciel said, Sebastian took a step forward.

"Ciel- what is happening?"

Ciel ignored him, he glanced around.

"Why Lucifer's office Sebastian? What an odd place for your mind to pick." Ciel took a breath. "I pulled you here Sebastian. I needed to speak with you. To show you the middle ground. The link." Ciel took a side step, pacing around Sebastian. He slipped his hands into his pockets. "To meet the Contract- the being that took on a consciousness of its own when this all started. To explain…"

"You pulled me here?" Sebastian was near speechless. Not sure which words were the correct ones to pick next.

"Yes."

"Where are you?"

"I know not of where my body lies Sebastian. I only know of where my mind has gone. What my body's state of being is. Where? That I do not know. As one wouldn't know where they were to awake if someone took them in the midst of night."

"And… how are you doing?"

Ciel pulled his hands from his pockets and crossed them into a fold.

"My demon half is repairing my body, but my human half is weakening. It has been days since I have last consumed food to sustain it…"

"What would happen if…?"

"I… I don't know Sebastian." Ciel said. "My demon half, is just that. Half. Without the human half in the way it may continue to complete itself, but that could take decades, and if that were to happen I would imagine that I wouldn't…"

"Awake."

Ciel nodded.

"At least that's what Claude suspects."

"Huh?" Sebastian asked, Ciel pointed upward to the dark abyss above.

"I can hear them; I can hear them coming… My body-… it can still attune to the outside world- and just not react to it. Like a ragdoll- a shell." Ciel seemed to have a hue of loathe in his voice as he said it. Ciel looked back to Sebastian. "Sebastian the fate of myself is not why I pulled you to the middle ground."

"Then why did you?"

"The souls Sebastian." Ciel's demur suddenly darkened. "They're dying. Yours, Claude's, and Alois's included. A few of them have already died Sebastian…"

"Why does this concern-."

"Alex is dead Sebastian." Ciel stated. "She's not coming back. She can't help us anymore, no more helping, no more possessing Claude… She was one of the first to die. My demon half is consuming souls to repair itself. Using them as putty to fill the holes so to speak. Converting their souls into matter- killing them in the process."

"Claude… How do we tell him?" Sebastian stammered. A sunken pit seeping deeper into his stomach as Ciel's words dawned on him.

"If we can."

"Wait- part of you? Wouldn't that make them a part of you if they are being converted into matter?"

"No Sebastian. They lose everything. Consciousness, life, everything they are. It were as if you cut a tree for a house. Sure- the wood is of the same as the tree, but the tree lost all parts of itself- when it is converted- it is merely just wood. This is the same prospect." Ciel said.

"Alex's death, is that why you brought me here?"

"It's not the entire reason no." Ciel fiddled with his hands. "Alois is fading as well. A part of him has already been turned into matter. I tried to save him. I pulled him in as well."

"Into where?"

"The middle ground. This. And I did so just now." Ciel gestured around.

"What of his physical body?" Sebastian stepped forward, watching Ciel's every notion.

"Unconscious." Another voice said. Ciel stepped aside, revealing the tall black haired boy emerge from the darkness. He stopped at Ciel's side, looking at him.

"I pulled Alois in when he touched my body…" Ciel replied to an unspoken question, glancing at Alois, "-I called out to your physical form, while I hid your soul away. I put you back together Alois."

"But why in Hell would you want to save me?" Alois asked, Sebastian shifted his footing- moving forward slightly.

"You put his soul together, from the sounds of it- Yes. But what of his body?" Sebastian asked gesturing to Ciel.

"Alois's soul will return to it among my awakening- and do so in a single piece." Ciel darted his eyes from the two. "If I awake." He added. Sebastian cringed- suddenly snapping his attention to Alois.

"Where is Ciel?"

Alois averted his gaze from Ciel- looking away from Sebastian altogether.

"I can't tell you that Sebastian. In your current state… You might collapse mentally. You were barely functioning as it was. Imagine what seeing Ciel's current bodily state would do to you?" Alois hissed disregarding Ciel's added statement.

"What are you implying Alois?" Sebastian snapped, trying to bite his tongue so that he may keep his temper in check. When it came to his young master he always had a sort of over protective demur.

"You have PTSD. Do you know what that kind of thing does to a demon? Especially a weak one?"
"Wea-."

"Yes Sebastian. Weak. Do you know how close you came to not surviving the attack?"

"He's not lying Sebastian." Ciel cut in returning his side gaze to Sebastian. "You only survived because you were entrapped in the middle ground. This is not the first time you've been here. This is the first time you were lucid about it; the first time your mind was able to create a scene for the middle ground. You've been with me for the past two and a half days. It was only recent that you began to awake, your consciousness was ripped to the surface and you don't remember any of your time here."

"I- what?" Sebastian lost all voice that was in his throat- his tone dropping to that only of a whisper.

"You almost died Sebastian." Alois stated.

"The only reason your alive is because of the contract, the seal- the link. The only reason you're alive is because of me. You piggybacked on my life essence. It's the reason why my demonic half is now consuming- killing/attacking those souls inside. It spent the first two and a half days saving your life. It had only just now been able to repair itself- repair my body- doing so the moment you woke up. But I needed to talk to you. Tell you what had been happening. It was the reason why I pulled you back. But since you were awake, you are able to recall all of this."

"I didn't- I wouldn't." Sebastian faltered.

"Yes Sebastian. You would. It's what we would all do. You didn't do it so consciously, but did so unconsciously. Your mind reached out, and it found the contract. Just like mind did." Ciel paused taking a slow breath. "Because of this- we are even more so linked than ever."

"I'm so sorry Ciel…" Sebastian managed.

"And it is of this very reason, that you cannot see Ciel's current physical state." Alois chimed in, pressing both his hand's fingertips together, pacing behind Ciel. Moving to be just across from Sebastian. Ciel lifted his chin with a thought, pacing towards Alois, reaching up to his ear. Alois paused for a moment. Sebastian should have heard- but perhaps the rules were different in what Ciel was calling the 'Middle ground'.

Alois glanced up. His face somewhat pale.

"How are we going to tell Claude?"

Ciel told Alois of Alex's death. Ciel glanced up again and pointed.

"Yes. Claude." He studied Alois once more. "You know he's crying over you right?"

"Omh- is he really?" Alois cheeks flushed. Sebastian paused.

"O-m… h?"

"Oh my hell." Ciel interjected as he moved away from Alois's side. Sebastian rose an eyebrow.

"What, is that really a saying now days?"

"It is between us-," Alois shook his head., "never mind that. That's not what is important right now."

"And what is? What are we going to do? As of right now, only the three of us know of Alex's demise."

"Yes Sebastian, but one thing at a time." Ciel words were with haste. He moved to Alois, taking his hand. "I'm going to hide you now." Ciel lifted his fingers, and Alois nodded silently. As they descended Ciel snapped them- Alois vanishing in a shadow type mist that consumed where he once stood.

"What was that about?" Sebastian moved towards Ciel.

"My demon half, it's searching for more souls. Sebastian…" Ciel paused, approaching his previous servant with a face of worry. "It's not safe here anymore." Ciel took Sebastian's hand.

"No- Ciel I can't leave yo-!"

Sebastian bolted awake. Flitting into the sitting position from lying from the pool table. He could see clearly now- all darkness faded and he was even more so lucid than he had been in the past few hours. Undertaker pulled away from him.

"Well… it certainly was excellent timing." He set the long curved needle on the risen sides of the pool table. "I just finished."

Sebastian nodded slowly, as his head rush had just caught up with him. Sebastian's hands shifting to investigate the wound on his neck. He felt the bulges of the stitches under the tips of his fingers. The demon took a but a single moment to collect his thoughts- swinging his legs to the edge of the table.

"If you didn't hear before-," Undertaker started, "it's going to scar. You're still too weak for you demonic healing to heal you completely."

Sebastian flashed his eyes to meet Undertaker's, casting his eyes upon Undertaker's own scars.

"I'm going to looking like you?"

"Don't be so bitter." Undertaker retorted, his lips curving into a smirk. "You could never be as handsome as I."

"Well…" Sebastian managed, his voice hoarse from the wound. "I suppose I should thank you." Undertaker nodded in acknowledgement. Sebastian paused. "Do- You wouldn't happen to know what condition Ciel is in do you?"

Sebastian remembered everything that happened in the 'Middle Ground'- although Sebastian was tempted of thinking of a better name for it.

"Ciel is in his own state of being." Undertaker vaguely implied. "He is neither doing well nor bad. He is simply existing. His body hollow- his mind elsewhere. But I imagine you already know all this, don't you, demon?"

Sebastian nodded shyly.

"I'm leaving. Please do not call upon my services again." Undertaker stated coldly.

"Undertaker." Sebastian called after him, halting his leaving just before he managed to turn the knob of the door. "Why are you so bitter? What happened to you?"

Undertaker let his hand fall to his side, trembling slightly.

"It's Ciel." He admitted. "His hunger has expanded. Expanded into the in-between- the neutral plane…"

"Are you saying what I think you are saying?" Sebastian hesitated to ask.

"Yes Sebastian. He has begun to feed upon reapers as well. We can no longer 'slake' his appetite. This I believe will last only until he is up and running around once more. But if I am in the wrong- and it continues to do so- Sebastian, Ciel is an unbalance unto the world. If he is permitted to continue to exist it will only get worse and worse. This I believe- that Ciel Phantomhive has the ability to wipe all supernatural creatures from existence. But you cannot kill him either. For that would cause a rip in reality. If that were to happen? This reality would be erased all together."

Sebastian suddenly jerked himself back- As Undertaker just mere inches from his face now.

"Sebastian, truthfully- the fate of this reality rests entirely upon your shoulders. Yours, and these whom surround you." Undertaker's voice was baleful. "Break Ciel's Curse. Save everything you know."

Undertaker was gone. Vanished into nothing. Sebastian knew of the reapers ability to control their visibility of the sight of others- but this was the first he had witnessed such a thing.

"The sands of time are falling Sebastian." Undertaker's voice appeared into his head. "I'd best you hurry."
Sebastian felt a sort of terror rush through him. Pushing off the table he glanced back to the room.

"Why did he put me on a freaking pool table-…" He started. "And not a normal bed like a normal person…" He muttered to himself. Rubbing his back, he had just noticed all the pain that he was in. Not realizing that his mind was completely disregarding the fact that the entire universe was hinging on whether or not he could break Ciel's Curse…

He forced himself onward, he proceeded into Alois's main entrance of his grand staircase. He hated this mundane pain. Every movement shot through him, and everyone's voices were rattling around in his mind.

This was all too much. Alex was dead, now he needed to find a way to tell Claude- or not to tell him. He needed to find Ciel, break his curse and what of Alois? Was Ciel going to save him? Was Ciel even going to awake?

Sebastian bit his lip- all because Ciel was one too perfect of a soul. One that held on even when his body was well beyond gone. All because Sebastian had an insatiable hunger. And simply found the perfect meal.

If Ciel didn't wake up, things were all just going to be that much worse… for the entire universe apparently. Sebastian secretly hoped that Undertaker was simply exaggerating to an extreme degree. But he suspected otherwise.

He had finally made it to the stairs. If Ciel could pull Alois to his body perhaps he could do the same for Sebastian- or Sebastian could tap into the link and bring himself to Ciel.

No matter how-

One thing was clear.

He had to find Ciel…

Again.

-To Be Continued!-
And Happy New Year! (2017) I hope to finish out this story this year