Seasnake: Darn, this took me a few days longer to write than I wanted it to. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for an update.
Just so everyone knows, I won't be posting any new chapters after this one until the holidays are over. Even if I have time to write a new chapter I won't post it until sometime after new years. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.
Silence reigned over the manor grounds for a second time in the last minute. The only sound game from Ciel and Soma's moans as they carefully righted themselves from where they had unceremoniously landed in the dirt. The instant he had his bearings, the prince looked around for his butler.
"Agni!" Soma struggled to his feet. Agni lay on the ground, red stains covering his clothes. "Agni!"
"I'm all right," he managed to say reassuringly. The man pushed himself up slightly as Soma ran to his side. Ciel was fully aware of everything that was going on but was forced to continue chocking in a very unearl-like manner. He wheezed and rubbed his bruised neck as he slowly sat up. Under any other circumstances, he would have felt pissed for being treated in such a manner.
"Young Master!" The three servants hurried towards Ciel.
"What's going on?" Bard wondered. Finny slowly turned his head from side to side as if an explanation might materialize.
"Damn it," William grumbled and pushed his glasses up his nose. The reapers all looked to him for some sort of explanation.
"You…" Ciel tried to speak but his voice was too hoarse. He cleared his throat then tried again. "That is the common enemy I mentioned earlier. You better hope Sebastian can get Aliya back. If he fails we are all as good as dead," he said with surprising calmness. William and the other reapers chose stony silence as their response. Maylenne, still quiet, briskly walked over and helped her master off the ground.
"What?" Soma asked nervously. The prince looked at Ciel but didn't pause untying his belt.
"Tanaka!" Finny screamed when he saw the man and buried his face in Bard's apron so he didn't have to look.
"Oh, yes," William muttered. Without any visible concern, the reaper strode to the limp man. He made sure to pull a handkerchief out of his pocket and use it to protect his hand from touching the sword hilt as he carefully grasped it. "It's not your time yet," Spears said in an official voice then jerked the sword out. With a strangled gasp for air, Tanaka jolted back into life. The man took a moment to writhe on the ground in understandable shock and pain.
"Whoa," Bard carefully approached him. "Are you…alive?"
Tanaka looked down at the gash in his suit and the copious amount of blood around him. "Yes. I am," he said as if he couldn't' believe it himself.
"Be thankful she left the blade in," William stated dryly. He held out the bloody sword to one of his underlings who took it without a word.
Ciel heard a rustling from the nearby grove of trees and turned to look. He hoped to see Aliya but only shadows stirred. In the patches of firelight between the trees he caught a glimpse of a black boot he recognized from three years ago. Ciel quickly adverted his eyes, he didn't need to see more than that. By the time he reached the edge of the shade caused by the trees, Sebastian had returned to human from. There was no sign of Aliya.
Without so much as a pause or a glance at his master, Sebastian strode straight up to William T. Spears. Ciel felt a strange twinge of pain in his right eye as the demon appeared. Everyone else watched with wide eyes as Sebastian grabbed the front of William's suit in a threatening gesture. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" his voice was deathly slow and menacing. Sebastian barely looked human. His eyes were ablaze. The air around him shimmered as if with heat. The outline of his body fluctuated and his whole being was out of focus. It seemed as if he were on the verge of changing shape and just barely clinging to his human from. Whatever furious aura Sebastian gave off made the contract symbol on his master's eye throb.
"Vaguely," William answered calmly. Sebastian seethed with tangible rage and looked a breath away from murdering anyone he could get his hands on. In three years Ciel had never seen the demon this angry.
"Sebastian!" Ciel shouted to get his attention. The demon regarded the distraught boy, holding a hand over his right eye. Ciel didn't have to say anything else to make his order clear. Sebastian visibly relaxed in response to the silent command. With a long exhale of breath his appearance solidified and the air stopped shimmering around him. He closed his eyes for a moment as he forced himself calm. When he opened them again his pupils were rounded. The aching pain in Ciel's eye instantly stopped. "My apologies," Sebastian said stiffly to Ciel and released William's collar. "Are you unhurt?"
"Bruised is all," the boy rubbed his neck in response. Sebastian scanned the other servants but didn't feel the need to ask them directly. With his mandatory duties fulfilled, Sebastian turned his gaze to Agni and Soma.
Not bothering to give a backwards glance at the reaper who readjusted his jacket, Sebastian walked over to the prince and his butler. By the time he closed the small distance between them he had removed his coat and was ripping it into strips.
"May I?" he addressed Soma in an emotionless voice. The prince stared up at him with a puzzled expression for a moment.
"What? … Oh! Yes, help him." Soma hastily moved out of the way. Agni was bleeding so the prince could care less about Sebastian's humanity at the moment.
"Report to head quarters," William snapped at the naginata woman. She nodded respectfully then disappeared.
"I'm fine," Agni softly protested as Sebastian knelt beside him. There were several red gashes on the man's back and sides, a few shallow cuts on his legs, one on his forearm that now had Soma's belt wrapped around it, and a particularly deep on his left shoulder that Agni held the cloth from his turban over but continued to seep blood. Sebastian didn't respond to Agni's words but didn't act disrespectfully either. With a nearly uncharacteristic amount of kindness in his movements, Sebastian briskly secured the makeshift bandages to stop the bleeding. He accurately tied the knots faster than a mortal could, not bothering to hold back his superhuman dexterity. The human servants still stood about in a confused daze and Soma sat on the ground, intently watching Sebastian patch up Agni.
"Your right arm shielded you against the angel's attack," Sebastian remarked in a voice void of emotion.
"Yes," Agni answered in the only way that came to mind. He sat still and let Sebastian work.
"If you want to make yourselves useful," Sebastian gave the reapers a disapproving glance as he secured a strip of black wool around Agni's torso. "Fetch several high quality human firearms, ammunition for said weapons, a bucket of ice, two towels, a sterile surgical needle and thread, clean water, ample bandages, a burn kit, a change of clothes for Mr. Agni and Mr. Tanaka, an oil lamp or a few candles, and two or three chairs."
After a moment of pointed silence, William looked over his shoulder at a group of three reapers. "Go."
"Really?" one asked.
"Just do it," Spears ordered. The three reapers grudgingly jogged away from the gathering and into the dark night.
"I'll help!" Grell offered and ran after them.
"Sebastian," Ciel nodded towards the burning house. "Can't you do something about that?" The manor had already lost one wall and the rest of the structure was groaning and ready to collapse.
"I could, but I would prefer to not waste energy on pointless tasks before I have to kill an opponent like Ariel." Agni grimaced as Sebastian tightened a knot over his bleeding shoulder.
"Ariel?" Bard repeated.
"What happened to Aliya?" Finny asked as he vainly scanned the yard for her.
"I'll explain later," Ciel answered curtly then turned toSpears. "Put out the fire. It's the least you can do."
"Do it," Will barked at a cluster of shinigami. They grumbled a little then headed towards the house.
"On your feet, Mr. Agni." Sebastian held the man's arm and helped him stand. Soma put a hand on his butler's shoulder and Agni gave him a comforting smile.
"We are going back to Headquarters. I'll send someone to inform you once we've found her," William declared.
"You won't be able to," said Sebastian.
"Apologies for the trouble," William gave a quick bow to Ciel, ignoring Sebastian entirely, and then led the remaining reapers out of view. The light from the fire started to dim as the shinigami quelled the flames.
"I've got the ice and the towels!" Grell announced cheerfully. He came bounding back towards the group, caring a bucket in both hands. He stopped right in front of the demon with a never ceasing grin. Sebastian wordlessly swiped the items out of Grell's hands and walked to Ciel. He set the bucket down and twisted the towels into a makeshift ice pack.
"Hold this on your neck," he instructed Ciel, still not bothering with any manner of niceties.
"They got that done quickly, they did," Maylene put her glasses back on and marveled at the smoking manor house. The fire light smoldered out, leavening them all standing in the near pitch darkness of the starless night.
"Search the ashes for anything useful," Sebastian ordered the three servants.
"But…" Finny muttered, clearly wanting an explanation for everything they had just seen.
"A supernatural creature, similar to the beings we just fought has taken Aliya. We will get her back shortly. Now go scavenge," Ciel briefly explained in his most commanding voice. The servants stared at him in awe for a moment.
"W…what?" They started to question but Ciel fixed them with a glare that sent them scurrying towards the wreckage of the house.
"Tanaka…" Ciel turned to address the man.
"Mr. Tanaka is already fully aware of the situation," Sebastian interrupted.
"What?"
"I'm sorry," Tanaka sighed with evident shame.
"Um…" Soma tried to enter the conversation but couldn't find words.
"Put them there," Sebastian suddenly addressed the two reapers who appeared with a matching set of small wooden chairs. They obediently set the pieces of furniture on the grass and left. Sebastian motioned for Ciel and Agni to take the chairs. Ciel didn't hesitate but Agni shook his head and looked ready to let Soma sit down. "You need stitches. Sit." Agni sat and Soma stood in front of Ciel. A third reaper darted from the trees, meekly set a lit candle down on the ground between the chairs and bolted away again.
"Ciel, tell me what's going on," the prince all but pleaded. Ciel sighed and readjusted the cold towels on his neck while he thought up an answer. Sebastian beat him to it.
"I've never traveled to India. But from what I understand of your religion, I would be called a rakshasa." Both Soma and Agni jerked their heads to stare at him. That word clearly meant something to them. "The English refer to me as a demon or devil," Sebastian finished calmly.
"R…rakshasa?" Soma stammered as he stared at Sebastian then promptly rounded on Ciel. "Ciel, you let him into your house?"
"He's under my control," the boy said plainly.
"What? How?" Soma continued to question. Ciel opened his mouth to answer but froze when he suddenly felt Sebastian touch his head. The demon pulled the eye patch off his face without any sort of warning.
"Hey!" Ciel threw a hand over his eye but not before everyone caught a glimpse of the contract symbol. Sebastian didn't even look satisfied with himself as he stood next to Ciel's chair, holding the boy's eye patch in his bare left hand. Soma and Agni stared at the pentagram Sebastian didn't bother to hide.
"We have a contract," Sebastian answered simply. "In exchange for my services…"
"This is an order, shut up!" Ciel shouted. The demon obediently fell silent.
"…Agni, is a demon or a devil a bad thing?" Soma glanced at his butler.
"A devil is supposed to be an embodiment of evil," Agni tried to remember. Ciel snatched is eye patch back from Sebastian.
"So, you are evil!" Ciel groaned at Soma's shout and looked away from the prince.
"You knew about this?" the earl addressed Tanaka.
"Not until recently. Lord Ciel, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," Tanaka sounded broken.
"Contract?" Soma repeated. "An agreement?" He considered that over for a second then a thought suddenly clicked. "Ciel!" the prince lunged forward to grab both his shoulders. "He's not going to eat you, is he?"
"What?" Ciel managed to hang onto his composure despite Soma's outburst. "What gave you that idea?" he tried to sound dismissive.
"Evil rakshasas eat human flesh," Soma stared at Ciel with genuine concern.
"Sebastian is not going to eat me," he scoffed and pushed Soma away. Sebastian raised an eyebrow but didn't otherwise comment. Tanaka continued to stand off to the side and hang his head in shame.
"Then how do you control him? Rakshasa don't normally…"
"Listen! As long as I have this," Ciel lifted his eyelid to reveal his half of the contract mark, "he must obey me. Don't concern yourself with the why," he said in order to make Soma leave the topic alone. The prince gaped at the strange symbol for a moment then remembered something else he needed to ask.
"What about Aliya?"
"She was created through a ritual using Sebastian's blood. That was her mother you just saw. Her name is Ariel, she's an angel, a creature similar to what Sebastian is. She plans to use Aliya's power to destroy the Earth and make herself into a god," Ciel recited. It all sounded a little silly when said that way. But at least Soma and Agni would understand the situation, it wasn't that far off from the stories Agni told.
"Medical supplies and clothes," the reapers reappeared.
"Here," one young man handed a folded suit to Tanaka, "this should fit."
"Thank you," Tanaka took it politely.
"Burn kit, bandages, water, and surgical needle," another reaper gave Sebastian a small bundle of things and a canteen of water.
"Um…" Knox, the blond man with the lawnmower, still wore his cracked glasses that Bard had broken in the fight. He sheepishly held out a black garment to Sebastian. "It was the largest shirt we could find. It will probably fit him." The demon didn't change his expression in the slightest, hadn't since he had finished his death threat to Spears. But he still gave the blond reaper a look that sent the young man peddling backwards as fast as he could manage.
Ciel sat in his chair with his arms defiantly crossed. He didn't put his eye patch back on, mostly because he usually didn't tie it himself and would have to fumble with it. Once the shinigami had retreated, Sebastian tapped the back of the chair to get Ciel's attention. With the earl watching, he pointed to his mouth. This got Soma and Agni's attention. They had assumed that Sebastian followed orders out of a sense of commitment like Agni did, but this made it seem like he physically couldn't disobey. Ciel purposely made him weight several seconds in silence before speaking. "Fine," he grumbled.
"I need to stitch Mr. Agni's injuries. I doubt any of you want to see the blood so we will be a few yards in that direction," he pointed. The masters didn't object so Agni got to his feet and Sebastian picked up the chair. "We will still be within shouting distance. You should take this opportunity to ask Mr. Tanaka why he set fire to the house," he added callously as he walked a short distance away.
"What?" Ciel turned to Tanaka with disbelief.
"I am so sorry. My injury…it was a curse. For these past three years I've barely been able to control myself. Lord Ciel, I…" Tanaka stopped himself before he began to ramble.
"The angel, cursed you?" the boy's voice was almost as devoid of emotion as Sebastian's.
"I never would have left alone you like I did all this time. I simply couldn't …" the man failed to find any words to express his guilt. "Then today, I could see what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself anymore than I've been able to stay in my true appearance." Ciel turned his face away, Tanaka in his normal appearance suddenly reminded him of his childhood and he didn't want to think of that right now, not with everything on the line.
"Don't mope about it," he answered stiffly without looking at Tanaka. "Is your curse gone now?"
"I feel better than I have in three years, sir." Ciel relaxed slightly when he heard that. Soma gave Ciel a friendly, sympathetic look that showed he understood Ciel's discomfort. The earl turned his gaze away from that as well.
"I have to cut your shirt," Sebatain stated dryly as he dropped the chair to the grass. They could still see the masters and Tanaka around the candle but were far enough away to make eavesdropping difficult. Agni nodded and sat down in the chair sideways so Sebastian could reach his back.
"Do you need a light?" he could guess the answer but asked anyway.
"No." Sebastian searched through the small parcel to find what he needed. Agni could make out his outline but not much else in the dim light. He wasn't sure if this made him uneasy or grateful.
A rakshasa? Rakshasas were deceivers, illusionists, and shapechangers, he could picture Sebastian as one. There were a few kind hearted rakshasas, the race wasn't inherently wicked. But a devil was a bad thing. And why was he with Ciel? Had he been tricked into entering a contract with the boy? Agni wanted to know but didn't dare ask. That information wasn't for his ears. Was Sebastian still to be considered a friend? Agni didn't know. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. His loyalties were to Lord Soma. If Soma ordered him to fight Sebastian, he wouldn't hesitate. And right now they were on the same side, regardless of whether Sebastian was evil or not. He didn't doubt for a moment that the white winged woman planned to destroy the world. If Aliya was some sort of key part of that plan, it explained a few things in his mind. He could worry about Sebastian being a friend or enemy once everyone was safe.
Sebastian's sigh pulled Agni out of his thoughts. "I should have asked for some manner of pain killers."
"I don't need any," Agni quickly answered. He jabbed his thumb into a nerve cluster on his neck tilted his head sideways until most of his body went numb.
"That is a useful trick," Sebastian noted.
"Yes, it is," Agni couldn't keep the mild enthusiasm out of his voice. He was proud of this skill. It had saved his life on several occasions before he was Agni, he didn't always have access to good medical attention back then and often had to settle for what he could get. Not something he felt proud of but if he had died then he wouldn't be with Soma now. Sebastian started with the most obvious cut on Agni's forearm. He sliced open the sleeve of his shirt and began to clean the wound. He had taken off his soiled gloves but didn't seem concerned about getting Agni's blood on his hands because wear surgical gloves. Agni watched in silence. Sebastian's fingernails were black but apparently not venomous as some rakshasas supposedly were.
"Ask," Sebastian instructed.
"What?" Agni didn't understand.
"You have questions. If you ask I will answer."
Agni paused for a moment. "Why?" Even in the darkness, he could see Sebastian tilt his face to regard him. His irises were red but no longer glowing or frightening so Agni held the gaze.
"The best course of action would have been to grab your prince and retreat form the line of fire, no?"
"But…" Agni tried to interject but Sebastian talked over him.
"You knowingly placed yourself in danger for the benefit of my master and my daughter. My kind considers this a debt that should be repaid. And I always repay my debts, Mr. Agni." He grabbed a roll of cloth bandages and started to wrap them around Agni's arm as he spoke. "I do not lie. You may ask me anything you wish." With that, he fell quiet again.
Agni took several seconds to maul that over. Sebastian had finished with the cut on his arm by the time he decided to take advantage of the offer. "Mr. Sebastian do you… care about Lord Ciel?" He had to know the answer.
"Earl Phantomhive is my master. From the moment I became Sebastian I have belonged to him. I gave my word to serve him and I will do so with ever fiber of my being. However, in the way you mean, no." Sebastian answered simply as he cut away another section of Agni's clothing to study his injuries. Agni felt his stomach drop, he should have expected that.
"Aliya?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.
"She is my daughter. Despite my best efforts, I find it hard not to care about her." Agni allowed himself to feel a marginal amount of relief. He hadn't been completely wrong about Sebastian, after all.
"Are you a strong 'demon'?" Agni said seriously, he watched Sebastian sort through the medical supplies with a steady, unafraid expression.
"Yes," even an opportunity to boast about his skill didn't make Sebastian change his stony expression. Sebastian walked behind Agni to tend to the cuts on his back. Agni didn't try to turn his head to keep an eye on him.
"What do you really look like?" he blurted out without thinking. Instantly nervous, he glanced to the side but didn't turn around to face the demon that was tending to his wounds. He had no reason to be concerned, Sebastian answered him almost immediately.
"My true form is repulsive. Even a strong human, like Mr. Agni, would not want to see it."
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked" Agni quickly replied.
"You apologize too much." Sebastian threaded the surgical needle he would need to patch the wound on Agni's shoulder. Agni lapsed into silence as he tried to understand everything that had been thrown at him in the last half hour.
Sebastian pressed a finger into a deep cut on the back of Agni's left shoulder. The man didn't flinch. Having confirmed that Agni couldn't feel a thing, Sebastian bit down on his own wrist without a sound. Carefully, he held his bleeding hand against the man's open wound. Sebastian watched the amount of blood he let trickle out of him and into Agni. The blood almost defied gravity as every single drop snaked its way into Agni's bloodstream instead of falling down his back. When satisfied, Sebastian willed his skin to heal. He swiftly stitched the deep gash closed without Agni noticing that he had done anything else. "I have just a few more bandages to place," Sebastian explained as he set the needle to the side. Agni nodded without a word. Sebastian helped the man wrap bandages around his waist but didn't pay much attention to that task. Instead, he watched as the demon blood took effect. Already, Agni's injuries were starting to close up by themselves. In a few minutes would be nothing left but the stitches Sebastian had sewn.
Seasnake: I did some research, so, hopefully I got all of my facts about Hinduism correct. Let me know if I got something wrong and I'll fix it.