Eighteen hours. It was eighteen whole hours before Alois woke up, he had so much rosemary in his system. Just sitting up made him feel woozy. His head spun momentarily as he tried to remember just what had happened. His abdomen no longer hurt, which was a massive improvement, but forced him to recall more pressing matters.
"Ciel!" he grunted, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. He had to go find his spouse swiftly, so he started to run. The only thing was that he didn't get very far, as he instead slammed face first into a barrier. It flickered green on impact, forcing the blonde back on his rear with a yelp.
The confusion on the menace's face vanished in a flash as it was replaced with anger. His eyes widened while his brow furrowed and his face morphed into a snarl. It was an anti-demon barrier, keeping him there so he wouldn't go interfering in Ciel's treatment or take out his frustration on others. They had to heavily sedate Alois so that he wouldn't violently pursue his husband while refusing his own treatment. That was something that they couldn't simply ignore. Gritting his barred teeth, he clenched his fist before striking the barrier with all of his might, but alas, it was fruitless.
"Dafydd!" the menace roared, knowing precisely who was responsible for this. Despite the futility of it, he kept striking his prison with one crushing fist after another. Over, and over, and over again, he punched with all of his might, growing angrier and angrier with each passing second he was trapped there. "Let me out, you piece of shit! Dafydd! Where is Ciel!?"
His knuckles started to bleed, only to regenerate in seconds, but it wasn't long before they were bleeding again. The display was actually rather difficult to witness through the camera situated in his room unbeknownst to him, but the researchers did, regardless. They had a station on a small cart where they observed Alois while in the same room as the blue Phantomhive, who was much worse off.
Ciel was bandaged where flesh was exposed after having his skull stapled back together in order to help it along in the healing process. His leg shared the same fate, but his arm was much trickier. The doctors had to consult Sebastian, given the type of injury it was. There was no clean cut, but rather, a messy tear that took hours to stitch in a fashion that was even remotely tidy. All threads and staples and such would be removed once they were no longer of use, but for now, they were there for the purpose of helping Ciel recover faster, although he hadn't awakened yet.
"Alois is up." Dafydd observed. "Fuck… He is pissed..."
"He's locked in a cage with no one to inform him of the situation." said Miranda, peering through a stone with a hole through it before jotting a few things down. "Someone should have stayed in there."
"Fuck no, I'm not going in there. He'll kill me!" the sorcerer replied, clutching his own clipboard close to him. "That barrier is strong, but I didn't know he'd be beating it up like that!"
"That's just the way he is." sighed Sebastian, who was done consulting the humans and sorcerers on how to proceed, and was just here visiting, now. "He isn't going to stop until he either breaks the barrier, or breaks himself. He isn't going to give up until he sees the master."
"Can you talk to him?" questioned Miranda, looking at the demon over her shoulder. "If it'll make him any less distressed..."
"Now, I can't guarantee that, but I can certainly try." The butler stated before heading out the door.
He could actually hear the banging of Alois' fists striking the barrier from several hallways down. As the older demon got closer, he could hear his ward shouting, cursing, and howling to be released. With a heavy sigh, the man shook his head. He could understand Alois' distress, but still found it a tad over the top.
"Let me out!" bellowed the blonde Phantomhive as his thunderous fists pounded the obstacle in his path. "Ciel! Ciel!"
"Alois, that is quite enough." Sebastian informed as he entered the room. The man didn't expect to be surprised, but he had to raise his brows at the sight of the blood from the blonde's knuckles accumulating in one spot as it captured the focus of the menace. Regardless, he knew what he needed to say. "Calm yourself. The master is going to be fine."
"Then let me see him!" Alois ordered, striking the barrier again.
"They are most certainly not going to let you out of there if you keep acting violently." replied the man clad in black. "You need to calm down first. If you go in there and cause a fuss, you'll disturb the master."
Huffing, the blonde hit the wall again, this time as an expression of displeasure, instead of desperation. It was remarkable how savage he looked in his prison. He paced back and forth like a wild animal in a cage. The younger demon was completely and utterly on edge with his focus honed in on only one thing.
"How is he?" he questioned, still a tad roughly. Still, Sebastian felt obligated to answer, given the fact that this was his master's spouse and therefore above him in rank.
"He is in very bad shape." the butler said, pulling up a chair. "His skull and brain is damaged, but has already started to regenerate and so has his leg. Those should be no problem to fix."
"What about his arm?"
"Now, that is a little trickier." he sighed. "The master has never completely lost an appendage before, so it is probably going to take him some time to fully reattach and regain use of it. That said, I am fully confident that he is in no real danger."
This seemed to calm down the Lion significantly. At last, he ceased his pacing and took a deep breath. Sebastian was able to watch as the blonde's fury melted into relief as it washed over him, prompting him to cover his mouth and his eyes to water. The menace sat down on the edge of the bed and quietly tried to choke back any tears that dared to appear. He would save them for a better time. For now, Sebastian didn't need to see.
"Thank God..." he jaggedly exhaled.
"God had nothing to do with it." the butler said with a small smile. "If you calm down and stay that way, they'll let you go see him, alright?" Unable to speak, the blonde simply nodded.
"I'm not sure when, but Sir Integra also wishes to speak with you." Sebastian continued. "It may be before, or it may be a little while after you visit the master. She wants to know what happened."
"There's not much to tell..." Alois forced out with a sniffle. "August just stood there on the tracks with Sudoku for some reason, and Ciel tried to move them."
"Anything else? They found a blessed bullet inside of you."
"That was Blackwood's. I think he might've stolen them from Wakefield." Shaking his head, the menace scrunched up his face before looking up again. "Look, I didn't mean to let him go. I had to make sure Ciel was alive. I shot him so he wouldn't get far. Don't tell me they haven't found him yet!"
"They have. He was dead. Suspiciously."
"Good, then it's ove- Wait, what do you mean?"
"The gunshot wound was not fatal." Sebastian explained. "He was shot in the shoulder. The question is how he died, however. There are no signs of physical cause of death."
"Like wounds? Maybe the fucker didn't want to be caught, so he poisoned himself or something?"
"Perhaps. The autopsy is still ongoing. I worry, however. I have a very bad feeling about it…"
"Your gut telling you something's up?"
"His soul wasn't still attached. That's what bothers me." the butler informed. "It's possible that reapers were aware of his due date and got to him before HELLSING did, but whenever you see it, it's hard not to wonder."
"So if there's a demon, we're gonna have to deal with it… Fantastic."
"Focus on resting for now. Don't worry about the technicalities. Once you're debriefed and asked to look into the threat, then you can worry."
"Do I really need your permission to worry?" questioned the blonde before leaning back and falling onto the bed with a thud. The inquiry caused the other man to chuckle lightly as he stood up.
"No. It was merely a suggestion." the older man said. "I'm going to watch over the master until you get there. Don't punch the barrier anymore, sir."
"Fine..." huffed Alois, although he was feeling a little better, that Sebastian was watching over his spouse. He ached with every fibre of his being to rush to the Watchdog's side, but Sebastian was right. The quickest was was the quietest way, although it was the most painful. It was far more painful than striking the barrier with bleeding fists, but he would endure- only for his beloved.
Even the mental image of his spouse, both the memory of his bloodied and torn shape and what the sight of the man all bandaged up could look like caused the Phantomhive's eyes to water. Now that he was laying down, the tears he had struggled so hard to fight back dribbled out of the corners of his eyes with ease. That alone sparked his sadness anew as he craved to hold Ciel to soothe him. Alas, it wasn't to be. There wasn't even anyone to make Alois feel better as well. He was a mess and he felt sick at the thought that Ciel was suffering. Really, this was the least difficult part for the Watchdog, as the bluenette was really going to be upset and in pain once he woke up.
Staring blankly at the glint of his wedding band, the blonde Phantomhive waited as patiently as possible for someone to remove the barrier. He laid as still as a corpse as the minutes moved by like years with not a single comfort in the world. Helpless again. Bringing his hand to his lips, he kissed his ring, his turmoil making him tired. Integra would come soon, but for now, he was trapped.
A/N: He mad. And sad. And scared. Very bad.
More later.
The song of this chapter (I listen to a different song each chapter) is "The Highwayman" by Lorenna McKennitt. I say this mostly because I forgot what I actually wanted to talk about.
Uh... Let's see...
I've been very interested in tanuki lately. I rewatched Pom Poko recently and it renewed my fascination a bit. I feel like they don't get as much love as foxes and I'm not really sure why.
Also google probably thinks I'm some crazy conspiracy theorist because of all of the paranormal and supernatural shit I look at pfft! I'm a wee bit obsessed, though.
Reports of that werewolf sighting in Hull were posted in May of this year, which is the same time that all of this in DLTP is going on. I found that interesting. What's he doing over there? Where is he living? Did he really eat a German Shepard? I have many questions...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
