A/N: I may have said this before, but I can't say enough times how grateful I am for all the love and support this story has gotten. Seeing your reviews always makes me smile and I'm so lucky to have you guys reading. I have really enjoyed writing this but the story has come full circle and it's time for it to end. My next story will be up soon and I hope I see some of you on the other side (:

Ciel pulled the knot out of his tie for the tenth time. He turned from the full length mirror when there was a knock at the door. "Yes?"

"There has been an important development in your case, master," Tanaka said, bowing as low as his ailing joints would allow.

"It can be dealt with on another day."

"Yes, sir." The steward pulled the door closed and left Ciel alone again.

He threw the tie on the ground in defeat. He had been determined to get ready on his own, today of all days he should have been able to manage it. His navy blue suit was in order but this damn tie would be his undoing. He stared into the mirror, imagining white gloved hands fussing with his slightly crooked shirt collar. Sometimes he still thought about his demon butler. Though he had no photographs, the memory of Sebastian's face was as clear as the first day they met. He sighed. This was the worst possible time to be thinking about him.

Part of him wished he had listened to what Tanaka had to say just to distract him from his nerves. He was working a unique case, in the sense that the murders seemed personal. That wouldn't be unusual if they didn't seem personal toward him. Someone was baiting him. Every victim was shot in the head with a different message written in blood at the scene of the crime. Woof, fetch, and other taunts had been left all over London. To say the Queen was concerned was an understatement.

His butler would have long since had the case cracked by now. He ran his hands through his hair and began to pace his dressing room. He had to put his work aside, he owed Elizabeth that much. There was another knock at the door and he spun irritably on his heel. "What?"

"It's almost time, are you ready?"

He opened the door to find a demon there, just not the one he wanted. "Mostly...no," he admitted at Claude's disbelieving look.

He stood back and watched Claude walk inside. The man still gave him the creeps and he wouldn't let Claude dress or undress him if his life depended on it, but he was used to having the spider demon around after four years. He froze, staring up at the taller man. Had it really been four years?

"Come here," Claude said, holding his tie.

Ciel walked over and tilted his head up. The demon, who had been trapped in his human form as a side effect of the reapers' binding magic, no longer seemed like such a giant. He only had five or six inches on Ciel now. Ciel observed him as he knotted his tie and pulled it into place. It had been painful at first, having someone around who reminded him of Sebastian on a daily basis, but he had proved useful. Spiders were pests but at least they ate the smaller bugs.

"I hope you plan to wipe that sullen look off your face before you go out there, you don't want to offend your bride."

Ciel grunted as the demon began to comb his hair into place. "She'll be fine."

"If you care so little for her, I know a spot in Italy where no one could ever find us."

"Ugh, how many times am I going to have to turn you down before you give it a rest?"

"I don't know. That was your three hundred and sixth unsuccessful attempt," Claude said, who was being equally unsuccessful in getting Ciel's hair to lay flat.

"I'll tell you what, if you get me through this day I will give you and Elizabeth permission to start a club for people whose love I don't reciprocate."

Claude laughed, an oddly human sound for the psychopath. "It's not easy to burn someone who was born in Hell but you never cease to impress me."

The taller man stood back and appraised his work. At his nod of acceptance, Ciel took a deep breath. No more stalling. He had known long ago this day was coming. Claude held the door and Ciel began the nerve wracking walk to the garden. He took his place at the altar, much to the smiling and sniffling of his mother.

The spring breeze blew loose petals from the garden across the aisle. In their wake was an angel in white. Elizabeth had grown into a striking woman, a wife to be proud of even if Ciel's love for her was platonic. Her face broke into a smile as she looked at him through her veil. Ciel smiled back, to be respectful if nothing else. He found he could not be truly happy. He had not smiled with real joy in years. Four of them, to be exact.

He extended his hand for his bride to take. Elizabeth reached out, emerald nails peeking out through her sheer gloves. Her fingers fell just shy of Ciel's. Confused, he stretched further to take her hand but she was falling away. Then he realized his angel had been painted red. The side of her dress was crimson and her eyes were wide with terror. Only then did he hear the screams, and did his own fear take hold.

"Lizzie..."

She collapsed back onto the pathway they used for the aisle. Blood began to cover the pale stones. Before the next shot rang out, Ciel yelled for everyone to get down and threw himself on top of his fiance. The wedding ceremony dissolved into chaos. People were kicking him in their attempts to flee, the servants were running to get their weapons, but he was as immobile as a rock atop Elizabeth. If he couldn't die for the person he loved, he supposed dying for the person who loved him was just as well.

"Hold on," he said to her.

Her eyes were closed but she was breathing. On closer inspection, he found that she had been shot in the shoulder. She was in pain but she would be alright. He looked around but there was no sign of the sniper. His vision turned black and he started to panic when he realized it was obscured by a black suit, and the figure in front of him was Claude. The demon reached to pick him up but he swatted him away.

"Leave me, get her to safety."

Honey colored eyes narrowed. "I don't have to take your orders, you know."

"Claude, please."

Claude softened, just as Ciel expected. He took off his glasses and put them in his jacket pocket. Ciel knew that meant his bride would be safe. When the glasses came off, Claude was ready to do some damage. Ciel leaned away to let him lift Lizzy from the pool of blood that had gathered beneath her. Their eyes met and Ciel nodded. Claude didn't seem happy with the arrangement, but he nodded back and made a run for it, Lizzy's small body looking like a doll in his arms. Ciel watched them go with his heart racing, fueled with adrenaline. Someone had either just tried to kill him or tried to kill his fiance to get to him. One of those had to be the case, and regardless the shooter was going to pay.

The case...Ciel snarled and got to his feet. Of course. This shooting had been personal, which led him to the likely conclusion that whoever shot Lizzy was the same person he had been searching for over the past several months. He was relieved to find the garden empty of anyone living or dead. The staff must have taken his mother by force, as he knew she wouldn't have left by choice. He felt a rush of gratitude for the bumbling idiots he called his servants.

"Come get me you bastard!" he yelled to the garden that seemed to mock him, bathed in cheerful sunshine. He hoped to lure them out of hiding and get them taken out by one of the servants who had reached their posts by now.

Get him, they did. Ciel never saw him coming.

Grell yawned, tying his hair into a high ponytail. He slapped on some false lashes and called it a day. He was too tired for a full face of makeup and he only had to work a half shift today anyway. Pulling on his jacket as he walked, he followed the scent of fresh baked biscuits until he reached the small kitchen. He leaned in the doorway until Undertaker turned around and noticed him. The former reaper's hair was pushed out of his eyes to reveal his striking face, a sight Grell never tired of.

"Mornin' my pretty," Undertaker greeted, piling the biscuits on a plate.

"Afternoon is more like it."

Undertaker gave him a sheepish grin. "I knew you didn't have to work until late and ya looked so cute sleeping, I couldn't wake you."

"I know, you find nothing more endearing than me sleeping in a coffin." Grell rolled his eyes and nibbled on a warm biscuit.

"I could always get a bigger coffin. They're not supposed to fit two people, but I bet I can make something work."

Grell sighed but couldn't muster any true frustration. "Sweetie, how many times have I told you I'm not moving in with you?"

"Not enough to convince me that you don't want to."

Grell sat on the edge of the desk in the main room of the shop as the Undertaker sat in his chair. He made a sweeping motion around the room with a glossy red fingernail. "You want me to move in to a shop, this isn't even a house. You sleep in an upright coffin and all you know how to cook is bone shaped biscuits. I'm a lady ergo I have needs."

"But I love me shop!"

The pout on Undertaker's face was just too cute to resist. Grell leaned over the desk and gave him a quick kiss before plucking a handful of biscuits to take to work with him. "And I love you, which is why I already spend so much time at this dusty old rat trap."

He left the shop and opened a gateway to his home realm. Undertaker had also tried convincing him to become a desterter like him, to renounce his duties as a grim reaper, but Grell needed a sense of purpose. He wasn't going to shine coffins and clean house all day. Having all that free time with his lover sounded great but he would go mad (read: madder) with such a rigid routine every day. He landed in front of Dispatch and straightened the red rose he had pinned to his jacket. The years had only served to make him more feminine than he already was, and the newcomers usually couldn't figure out which gender he was. He liked that.

Alois waved when they passed each other in the hall, giving Grell a rush of nostalgia. He missed working with that little brat. The staffing department had swapped their partners after the assignment at Phantomhive manor, believing Grell was too attached to the child to prioritize his job over Alois. He couldn't argue the truth in that.

"You're late."

Grell walked by and stuck a biscuit in his partner's mouth. "You're grumpy."

William chewed reluctantly. Even as his eyebrows drew together in irritation, he couldn't keep the fondness out of his eyes. Not much had changed between them. They both knew what was there, and Grell knew he couldn't trust William to man up enough to admit his feelings. He had someone who loved and accepted him for everything he was. His bitterness with his partner had dissolved over time and now he just wished William could find someone who made him happy. Sometimes his heart rate would pick up when William was too close, reminding him what lurked under the surface of their professional relationship, but he stomped out that flame every time it started to flicker.

He sat down on his side of their shared office and opened his ledger. Immediately, all his previous thoughts were wiped from his mind as he stared at his assignment. "Will."

The brunette reaper walked up behind him to look over his shoulder. His sharp intake of breath was the only reaction he gave but it was enough for Grell to know they were looking at the same thing. They tore their eyes from the ledger to look at each other. Grell slammed the ledger shut and pushed it away, but he knew if he opened it Ciel's name would still be staring back at him.

Ciel awoke with a groan. His whole body ached. His back and head hurt worse of all, making him almost wish he was unconscious again. He opened his eye, trying to discern what had happened. Someone had shot Lizzy, and he sent Claude away with her. Then what happened? Come on, think, he demanded of himself. He hurt too badly to move but he analyzed the room the best he could by glancing around. What he saw made his blood run cold.

"No," he gasped, mouth dry and tongue feeling too thick in his mouth.

The round chamber was full of empty cages. They had not changed since his last visit to this room. He knew if looked down, he would be on a slab of solid stone. He moved his fingers and felt bile rise in his throat when they encountered cool, sticky blood. A quick analysis of his body made him aware of the gunshot wound in his side. It seemed to be little more than a graze, but it had seeped blood onto the slab and the floor below. He shivered and folded his arms over his bare chest. He lay fully exposed save for a white sheet across his waist.

"Look who's awake."

A fair faced man stood next to him. He possessed long, flaxen hair and crystalline blue eyes. The only thing familiar about him was his school uniform topped with a red jacket. Ciel spoke to buy himself time while he evaluated the situation. "What do you want with me?"

"I've brought you here to make you pay."

Ciel's eye traveled the room he had been held captive in so long ago. "I didn't think you brought me here to buy me a nice dinner."

He arched from the table, mouth open in a silent scream as the man dug his finger into the wound on his side. He fell back on the stone, trembling. The man's words had a strange echoing effect when he spoke next. "I promised Maurice I would avenge him. I've been trying since the day he died, but you're always protected. I finally found an opening."

"You've been stalking me for four years? I don't know if I should be appalled or flattered."

"You're pure evil," the man said, eyes sparkling.

"I didn't shoot an innocent woman."

"She should have died, then maybe you would understand the way I've suffered because of you!" The man slammed his hands down, the tears in his eyes spilling onto his face. Up close Ciel found it easier to connect the dots. Going by his attire and the badges on his jacket, this man was in his last year at Weston College. The red jacket meant he belonged to the house of the Scarlet Fox, leaving one option for who he was.

"Redmond, isn't it?" At the involuntary tilt of the man's head, Ciel knew he was right. "You were Maurice's lover. I read about you in his file, how you tried to take the fall for him but the Yard wouldn't let you because they knew you were simply a desperate, lovestruck fool."

"What would you know about losing someone?" Redmond shouted.

More than you would think. "He was a violent criminal. I was fulfilling my duty."

A fury like nothing Ciel had seen before consumed Redmond, and right then he knew he would die. He was in pain and weak from blood loss. He remembered from when he escaped this building that he would never make it out of the winding halls before his captor caught up to him. As Redmond loaded a pistol Ciel thought of everyone back at Phantomhive manor. Elizabeth had nearly died for this man to get his revenge. Would he go back after her for a final piece of closure? The beast of a thought sunk its teeth deep into Ciel, and he started panicking.

If anyone knew where he had been taken then he would have been rescued by now, so no one knew what was going on yet. They were probably all worried and scared which gave Redmond the upper hand. I have to stop him, Ciel realized as he watched Redmond pull the hammer back on the gun. His renewed urgency to live gave him strength but not nearly enough to get up and fight.

"Please," he choked, unaware he was speaking aloud. "Someone...end him. Help me protect my family, I'll do anything."

"Anything, you say?"

He opened his eye expecting Redmond but no one was there. Nothing was there at all. The room had faded to black and strange shapes seemed to be drifting down from the ceiling. Was this death? He didn't think so since he was still afraid for the people in danger because of him, and death was supposed to be peaceful. He wanted to look for the source of the voice but he was too weak to lift his head.

"Yes, anything. Who are you?"

In the distance, he saw a great black raven. Its beak was closed but it seemed to be talking to him. "You've forgotten me already, I'm wounded."

The voice was too distorted for Ciel to identify it. He stared into the bird's red eyes and thought back to a night that felt like a lifetime ago. His father's voice reached him across the barrier of many years passed. Take thy beak from out my heart, and thy form from off my door...Quoth the raven "Nevermore." There was another memory, another face just out of his reach. As the raven continued to somehow speak to him he was filled with peace and happiness. Perhaps death had come, after all. The raven's voice was becoming clearer and it was making him forget his pain, forget his fears. Feathers were blanketing his body.

"If your heart and soul can be mine and mine alone, I can protect everyone you hold dear for as long as we both wish to keep our contract. Understand what's truly lost can never be regained. If you give me your heart I shall keep it until the day you no longer wish to have me at your side."

Ciel reached out for the shadowy bird. "I gave that to you long ago, demon."

"Command me to be yours, and I shall be."

"Accept my heart and soul in exchange for yours. Be my servant until I die, and only then shall you follow me to Hell."

The bird was gone. The shadows were giving way to the bright room. Ciel's eye burned, vision going blurry. When it returned Redmond's body was sprawled on the marble floor. Standing over him was a black butler with glowing red eyes. Ciel tried to sit up and reach out but there was already strong arms wrapped around him, lifting him from the stone table. The movement brought more pain than he could give voice to but he forgot it all as he stared at the devil who now owned his heart, who had always owned it.

Soft lips pressed against his forehead. "My little lord."

Ciel smiled. "Sebastian."