Once the duo returned home, Sebastian was informed of their plot, and the butler wasn't very amused. True, it was a solution to a problem and would work very well in the short term, but there was no certainty that it would be able to sustain itself. Furthermore, most of the work restoring the townhouse was going to fall to him. While he would do it by magical means, it would still be quite a bit of work.

Alois, he could understand, but this sort of impulsiveness wasn't befitting of his master. Ciel was not the kind to go along with something so willy-nilly, and Sebastian couldn't figure out why he would. Perhaps it was just another way that the menace had influenced him. After all, they have lived in close proximity long enough to borrow mannerisms and speech from one another without thinking. Perhaps Ciel was adjusting to Alois' way, but Sebastian felt as though it was more than that. He didn't now why the bluenette was behaving this way, but he would find out soon enough.

After a day or so, Integra got back to the Phantomhives about the townhouse, and discovered that it was indeed still in the possession of the Phantomhive family. That said, it was by no means pretty. Standing at the front gate, they all stared up at the large, crummy Victorian era building as it was in shambles. It was rotting away and barely even had a roof in some places. The demons wore blank faces, but two of them gave sideways glances to the butler with a twinge of guilt. Sebastian was going to have to take this seriously.

Clapping his gloved hands together once, Sebastian cracked his knuckles and began walking toward the building. "I will have this sorted shortly." he said. "Come back in… three hours, perhaps?"

"We're not helping?" questioned Alois, while his husband had one of his own.

"Three?" asked the bluenette. "You fixed the mansion in two, and it was far worse off than this."

"Well, I do need to add a few extra things." bluntly stated the butler. "Worry not, it will be done soon. Just… Go of and do whatever it is you do when I'm not around."

"You got it, Bass-man." Alois replied, giving the older man a thumbs-up. "Dunno what, but we'll think of something."

"I'm almost out of pens for the office." Ciel recalled.

"Then we'll be at the office supply store!" the menace announced. "Go crazy, Sebastian. Just don't go too far."

"Yes, master." Sebastian answered with a polite bow as the other two demons turned to walk back to the car. Once they were out of sight, he uttered a sigh and turned to face the ruins with his hands on his hips.

"Of all of the impulsive..." he muttered before he started walking. "Is this your way of coping with guilt?"

Thus, he cracked his knuckles and got to work repairing the building. Fortunately, it was much smaller than the main house, so he was even able to start on the area around it, fixing the stone path and even adding new additional features like a tall, brick wall around the structure with spikes and barbed wire at the top. Two hours passed, and the house stood tall. It was two stories high with an odd orange colour on the outside, and inside, it was fully furnished exactly as it was when it was no longer inhabited. The only things that were missing was electricity and water, as he needed to call a company to provide those two things. He did just that when the hard work was finished and scheduled a day when they would come around. It was a record for Sebastian, leaving him with another hour before his masters would return.

In this time, he spent it fixing minor details that could be addressed right then and there. Some of the furnishing would have to be changed to suit the house's new purpose, but for the time being, this would suffice. He went through every single room as he did this, double-checking, then triple-checking, and then growing tired of waiting. He was tempted to call the others, but refrained as he didn't want to interrupt something.

He felt strange, having free time. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, so he simply found himself a comfortable chair to sit in and waited. Sebastian made no movement nor sound, sitting perfectly straight and still while staring straight ahead. He remained motionless until until he realised that he could use his phone to entertain himself.

While he was able to connect to the internet without connecting to wi-fi, it still took up a lot of data to play videos. Thus, he was left with simply looking at funny pictures of cats instead. Slowly, he believed himself to be starting to grasp the concept of these things called "memes", although he didn't understand the bizarre speech patterns on the pictures of cats. His favourites where when people dressed the animals up in clothes, especially suits. It made him ponder what it would be like to have a cat by his side while butlering. The thought made him smile, but it soon fell. Uttering a sigh, Sebastian recalled that his master would not allow him to keep a cat for the sole sake of depriving him of one.

Perhaps he could keep a cat at this facility? Surely, the residents wouldn't mind. If Sebastian were going to carry out this idea, first he was going to need a plan. Perhaps he could just ask if they would mind? Perhaps he could pretend it was a stray? Perhaps. Perhaps he should simply ask his master again.

It felt as though he was betraying lord Phantomhive, but the temptation was too strong. He needed this; this little happiness of his. Lately his desire to do things he found entertaining was growing stronger. He missed tutoring Luka. He needed something to do when not taking care of the mansion. Perhaps Sebastian would take up sleeping at night? What was he to do?

Eventually, he heard a sound of an approaching car whose engine sounded a lot like the Phantomhive Mercedes Benz. Standing up, he peeked out one of the front windows, only to confirm his suspicions. Thus, he exited the house and opened the front gate for them manually.

The car drove through and out came two very dumbfounded men. Their necks bent as they looked up with wide eyes and mouth agape. Never will there ever be a time when they are not astounded by the absurdity of Sebastian's abilities. Just as he said, three hours had passed and the townhouse was good as new from the pile of rubble that it was when they left.

"How do you do that?!" the menace asked aloud. Before Sebastian could say anything, Ciel answered for him.

"One hell of a butler and all that, obviously." the blue Phantomhive replied, causing the butler to instinctively wish to clutch at his pearls over his master's nonchalance toward his catchphrase. He recovered, however, clearing his throat.

"Everything is in order except the adjustments necessary to make this into a secret facility." the butler informed. "Also, there is no electricity or water, yet, but I called the company. Also, there was a stream here that no longer connects to anything, but is essential to the aesthetic of the structure. It will require a pump to provide water for it."

"I trust that it will be in ship-shape soon." said the bluenette, putting his hands on his hips with a slight nod. "It's really impressive… It's just as I remember it..."

"The inside is furnished as well." Sebastian added, his smug smile returning at the praise. "Would you like a tour?"

"You bet!" excitedly answered Alois, following Sebastian inside with great enthusiasm. There, Sebastian showed Alois around while the family head tailed far behind, simply taking everything in.

It was amazing, how little he regarded this place when he was younger. In fact, this is where he dumped people who were supposed to be his friends when he didn't want to deal with them. How foolish. He wondered what indeed happened to Prince Soma, but knows that he would never find out. Instead, all he was left with were memories.

He was not sad, however. Although he still had no personal use for the townhouse beyond letting other people live in it, he did not think that he would miss it too much. Indeed, he was happy that the history was still alive, but he was also happy that it was evolving to suit a greater cause. This house was going to change things for the better, now.

Some pieces may be lost when it was fully equipped for use, but it was all a part of it. It was all for the better, and he was proud. The house contained many memories, but it would create many more. Fingers brushed against the wooden railing on the stairway with great fondness as he remembered all the times he walked up and down it as a child, sometimes being chased by his parents so that he wouldn't hurt himself. The smallest of smiles crept onto his face as these memories surfaced, as it was uncommon for him to look back like this.

At first, Ciel was simply running away from what ailed his mind by rashly jumping into this, but now he was simply glad. By letting Preston get away before, heallowed the order to exist, but things were being made right, now. Yet, he still felt this gnawing ache in his chest at the fact that he had killed his former friend. He had fond memories of him as well, which got in the way of him letting go.

It was unavoidable. His rational mind knew better, but his emotional side did not care. Ciel could still remember the feeling of his blade piercing the Omid's chest. Furrowing his brow, Ciel attempted to shake these thoughts away and turn his attention back to the now.

His husband was excitedly looking around with joy seeping through every pore. The blonde was amazed with how this was another Phantomhive property, and felt kinship with it through this. He was also ecstatic at the idea that people were going to live here and this was going to become an "in-between" while new residents waited on their housing assignments. Alois was beaming and the grin on his face lit up the room. It lingered as he looked back at his husband, infecting the other man with a smile of his own.

"This is gonna be great!" he declared, walking over the bluenette and wrapping his arms around his waist. "Just think of all the people this will help!"

"I'm glad it can be of use." the other Phantomhive replied, hugging his spouse back. "I'll call Integra and tell her the status of the place."

"Okay." nodded the menace. "I kinda wanna look around a little more before we go, though."

"Knock yourself out." Ciel replied. "Tell me if you find anything particularly interesting."

"Alrighty, then~!" Alois chimed, pecking his beau on the cheek before releasing him and exploring the house once more. Ciel just shook his head with a smile as he pulled out his phone and dialed the head of the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. organization.

"The place is now standing."


A/N: I feel like this is the way things are going to be for a while. World-building and all that.

Still gotta fix the shit. People are still dying.

Speaking of dying, I feel like I need to kill off a few characters... August was actually supposed to die while fighting the Order, but then I got distracted by the actual plot. This is actually the reason. I have so many characters who're still doing things outside the main story, but I want to focus on the main story most of the time. I feel like randomly peeking into whatever a side character is doing is kind of weird, somehow?

Tell me what you think. If y'all would like to see random glances into whatever not-really-important nonsense other characters are getting into, let me know.

Usually, I'm just afraid that it's too boring to show...

I want more death, tho...

But I also don't really have any ideas for death...

Such a dilemma...

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!