Hours passed, and people began to leave the Wakefield residence. Some left on foot toward the nearest Gehennan bus stop, while others called cabs, while some former humans who still had cars from their "previous life" left with their own transportation. These cars passed by the hidden H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. soldiers without any problems. Almost all of them were unaware that the operatives were even there. One car, however, did.

It was full of vampires with a rather peculiar man behind the wheel. He was blond with a shaggy beard, wearing a black suit and an eyepatch over his right eye. In all actuality, the man shouldn't have been driving at all due to only having one eye he could look out of, but did as he was told. The car slipped by H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. soldiers effortlessly, as they didn't fit the description of what was being looked for. Really, it was an error on whoever was in charge of arranging the search, as they failed to perform procedures that should be routine.

The car did not go to Gehenna, however. Instead, it went out into the city, where it stopped in a secluded section of a hotel parking lot. Once this happened, everyone piled out of the car and opened up the back, pulling out suitcases from the back of the car and set them on the ground. Eventually, a hand reached out of the trunk, prompting the man with the eyepatch to reach out for it.

"Thank you, Blackwood." Thaddeus said, grunting as he was assisted out of the cramped space. Once he was out, he turned to address his posse.

"I want a room and I want those bags in it." he said. Pulling out his wallet, he dug out a wad of cash. "Crystal. Take this and get us a room. Take Stephanie with you."

"Yes, sir. Just the one?" the bride questioned.

"As many as you can swing. Size doesn't matter just make them next to each other."

"Yes, sir." Crystal dutifully replied before she and another woman left to do as instructed.

"The rest of you take care of my bags. Be careful with them. My tools are in there. I'm going to need them if we're going to pull this off."

Once all of the civilians seemed to have vacated the Wakefield household, the soldiers finally moved in. They stormed the place with guns drawn, taking prisoner everyone they found. Some were shot. Some reached for weapons. Some surrendered. None of these things were mutually exclusive, however. The soldiers left enough alive to question if needed, but Wakefield himself was nowhere to be found.

The "trophy room" that Sebastian came across was found among other things. An investigative unit would have to come in after them and properly search for evidence, but for now, the soldiers were met with the horror in the basement. Meat hooks with wooden tubs underneath were used to drain bodies of blood. Barrels and neatly stacked wine bottles were full of the liquid.

More trucks arrived to take away those who were captured in the raid and soldiers were exchanged with investigators. The sun was just now rising, but they did what they must. It was their job, after all. More details would arise as the day went on and information would be passed to Sir Integra. It was unlikely that it would be passed to the Phantomhives, as the Watchdog was still technically under probation.

He and his spouse didn't talk when they arrived home. They didn't arrive after, either. Even when the next day arrived, they acted as though the other didn't exist. Alois locked himself away in his room while the bluenette commandeered the office.

Both men were unable to leave their rooms, but Ciel was unable to move at all. All he could do was lay on the sofa and lament his predicament. He wanted to be "mature" about this, but just didn't have it in him. He was focused on the pain he was in to even think about doing so.

Chest aching, eyes stinging, and without any energy to move his limbs with, Ciel laid in silence, dwelling on what was and what will never be again. To put things in the most simple of terms, he was heartbroken. Never in his life did he ever think that he would one day be heartbroken, but here he was, wallowing in rejection. Even the thought that things may in fact be completely over between himself and the other was something he never truly believed in. Never. Even though he consciously entertained the possibility, the rest of his being whole-heartedly hoped for the best. From the blonde's reaction, however, and current attitude toward him, that possibility struck him hard.

Never did he think he might be getting divorced before their first anniversary. He wanted to be with Alois for the rest of his days. He loved Alois. He loved him more than anything. His arms craved to hold him and he desperately wanted to tell him just how much he meant to him. Life without his blonde menace seemed meaningless, as a critical part of his family had been lost again. Perhaps this is just how fate wanted him. Perhaps he was cursed to remain alone.

No. Ciel didn't want to accept that. The watering of his eyes and the dampness of the couch cushion where he laid his head was evidence enough of that. All the bluenette wanted was his spouse. All he seemed to do was make the blonde unhappy, recently. Perhaps things just weren't working between them.

Alois was angry because he didn't know the bluenette. He didn't understand his intentions and was afraid. Ciel didn't blame him. In fact, he believed it was a reasonable response. He just wished that they had talked about it sooner. Maybe then this could have been avoided, but Ciel had thought he was protecting his spouse while he was instead instilling a sense of distrust. With a sigh, the Watchdog closed his eyes. Perhaps he deserved this fate, he thought. Perhaps there was no way around it, now.

Dangling over the side of the sofa, his fingertips brushed against a photo album that he dropped. Alois had been the one to put it together. While the bluenette knew better than to dwell on what was, he couldn't resist. He desperately needed to see the blonde smiling and happy.

He remembered how long Alois worked on it with seemingly endless enthusiasm, wanting it to be perfect. The memory made fresh tears fall once more as he recalled the menace carefully organising photographs from their wedding and from their honeymoon in the book. It took the menace weeks, but when he was done, he was so proud. By some uncontrollable compulsion, he would excitedly show anyone and everyone who was willing to look at it. The whole while, Ciel would watch him and smile as his heart swelled with the love he felt for his husband. Even now, he felt the same way as he did then. His husband's smile was more necessary to him than sunlight and brighter, too.

If only the menace himself felt the same way at that moment. Alois stayed in his room, feeling filthy and used. Desperately, he tried to piece together his situation, but his mind was too clogged with anger and fear to see anything clearly. No memories came to him. Nothing did.

Anxiousness welled up within him as each moment he stared at his left hand passed. That ring upset him. He didn't know why. He also didn't know why it was that whenever he reached to take it off, he hesitated. Furrowing his brow, he reached again, gripping the ring and sliding it off just a tad, but with a sigh, forced it back on. He couldn't do it. It was like he was physically incapable.

Surrendering to this, he leaned back and laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn't understand this attachment, nor was he certain on how to react to it. Could he divorce the Watchdog? He probably could, but wasn't sure if his blasted emotions would allow him to. He was certain that the mark on his tongue had something to do with it, but he wasn't sure if it was actually that of the bluenette. If it was, that would complicate things, as it's impossible to remove a mark once its latched onto a soul. The only way was to kill the demon who owned it and Alois doubted that he would go that far.

It was frustrating as Ciel practically had him trapped. Alois was inescapably bound to him, soul and all. He hated it. It made him angry. He would have lashed out, but he was far too exhausted emotionally to do so. His panic at the Wakefield estate had burned him out for a few hours. Given the time, he would be able to be furious again, but for now, he was simply drained, depressed, and worried about what was to come next.

Next they would have to pick up Luka and Revy from Kristopherson's house later in the day when their babysitters were actually awake. Rather, Sebastian would. Alois would probably stay holed up in his room a while longer. Really, he didn't feel like seeing anyone anytime soon, even though he knew he couldn't shut his little brothers out. If he could, he really would shut himself inside for months, he thought. That said, he did fully realise that he had other responsibilities and would have to come out.

Goodness knows how he would react to seeing Ciel again. They were coworkers, after all. He would have to see him eventually. Now he understood why it's said that one should never date within the workplace. Not even he knew what he would do. He knew he would have to talk to the bluenette about this someday in the near future, but for now, he wanted to be mad. That was more important to him than talking or thinking right then.

Tired, the menace gave up the fight for the day. He would have plenty to feel when he woke up. For that moment, he shut his eyes and for the first time in a while, had a completely dreamless sleep.


A/N: Not nearly as long as I wanted, but it's something. Still working out how to move onto the next thing. Hopefully, that will be sorted by the time the next chapter is started, which will be tomorrow.

Writing is hard. I didn't plan this out as well as I really should have...

More on these losers next time.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!


CHARACTER SHET

Question: "To Revy: I never really got how you're different from Alois physically, can you describe yourself, physically( hair, physique, clothing style, etc)?" by Turdupolis Fishe

Revy: "Well, I'm shorter and I look fourteen, while he's a grown adult. I also have shorter hair and these weird eyes where the part that's supposed to be white is black. I'm also, well... Skinnier than he is. He's kinda toned, if that makes sense? I also don't dress like I enjoy penis, so there's that. He can pass for metrosexual in public, but at home? No straight man would ever wear shorts like that. He wears them around the house all the time. It's like he has a revulsion to basketball shorts or something. I, for one, am perfectly okay with wearing them. The basketball shorts, that is. Not the... booty...shorts..."

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Question: "Hey Audrey how you doin'? can i have a hug? i feel like its been too long since someone asked you for a hug (like since DLTD long)" by Slurpishtickles

Audrey: "Sure. I should probably shower first. I unfortunately looked inside the lab when they were dealing with some kinda magic-y nonsense, and kinda got slimed. I don't even know why someone would need this? I'm not paying for a new uniform."