The next few hours were grueling, at best. People had to be informed, the news had to go up the chain of command, and protocol had to be followed. The media had to be kept at bay, since two people falling from a building like that doesn't exactly happen every day. To the rest of the world, this was a case of a girl being kidnapped and killed by her estranged brother. That was the official story that police was instructed to tell the public. The media management department really had their hands full. They had to protect the secret of the supernatural world and HELLSING's existence, as well as maintain the dignity of the FUNTOM company. They could not look involved. That was the terms of their agreement. Eventually, Ciel would have to make a statement as CEO, but he wasn't going to worry about it until later. Family wouldn't be notified until later as well. Everything else had to be dealt with first.

Operatives were sent to Belmont's house in order to take his computers and go through his belongings. The Intelligence Department began work on scouring them for any information that could lead to more facilities Belmont may own, as well as any lists of operatives. They would take anything that they could get their hands on in order to prevent another incident in Manchester. Once the money stopped coming, those facilities would be abandoned, leading to yet another hell on earth. The demons didn't want to go down another hole like that again.

In the hours after the mission was complete, cleanup was the priority, but other things were happening as well. Alois was taken to the medical ward, cleaned and patched up. He had mostly healed by this time, but was still immensely sore and his eye was going to take a few days to regenerate. Until then, he and Ciel matched. Geraldine was taken in for a medical evaluation and interrogated. Her father was going to be furious, but it never even entered her thoughts. All she could think about was Constance as she stared blankly ahead of her. This event was her first venture into the darkness, so to speak, so naturally, she wasn't well.

As she, Constance, and Ronald approached the roof, Ronald said that he needed to part with them in order to finish work, just as she told the investigators. There was no way for her to know, but she didn't feel that way. She felt like she could have done something, anything at all to prevent this. In her mind, because she helped Constance escape and helped her get to the FUNTOM building, the weight fell on her shoulders. She couldn't even make a move to help her when things got bad. Uncharacteristically, Geraldine was frozen by fear in those moments, but she had never before been faced with the very real threat of death before like this. She had never seen someone die before either. Later, investigators would tell her father that she would most likely exhibit symptoms of PTSD and to watch out for them, but for the time being, Geraldine was to wait until someone came to get her.

The poor girl couldn't even cry anymore. She had simply run out of tears. The Midford's eyes were puffy and red while the rest of her body was wracked with physical and emotional exhaustion. She sat out in the hallway, staring at her hands as they lay folded in her lap. She could hear the sounds of footsteps approaching her, but assumed that they would pass her by like they had so many times before this evening. A pair of polished, black shoes stopped in front of her, obligating her to raise her head. It took all of the energy she could muster, but somehow, she managed.

Wearing a fresh suit, Ciel stood before her, staring down at her. He had showered since arriving at the base, but seemed almost as tired as she did, all the same. They both carried the same sort of blank expression, but then again, they usually emoted in a similar fashion. On a normal day, there was sort of a silent, mutual understanding between the two, but on this night- or rather, in this early morning, it seemed stronger than usual.

"How are you holding up?" the bluenette questioned, finally breaking the quiet that filled the hallway. Instead of answering, Geraldine only shrugged, unable to fully put her feelings into words. "Tired, then, yes?"

"Yeah..." weakly replied the girl. Filling the void in their conversation, the demon removed his jacket and crouched in front of her as he placed it around her shoulders, making sure it stayed on securely.

"I can't believe they didn't have the courtesy to get you a change of clothes." he said. "Or even a blanket, at the very least… I'm going to have to have a firm chat with someone about this."

The man watched her carefully, waiting for a response. When she didn't reply, he felt compelled to attempt and comfort her. Unfortunately, he wasn't certain as to how to do this. Ciel wasn't the best at comforting people in general, let alone children. Yet, he tried his absolute best.

"I'm sorry." he finally said. "You're going to feel terrible for a while, just from seeing the things you did tonight. They're going to want to have you go to therapy for it and I recommend that you do. If you ever need to talk, though, you know how to contact me."

Ciel saw her hands clench uncomfortably and wondered what more he could tell her. He thought about what she needed to hear.

"Geraldine," he began, "It's not your fault." Suddenly, the girl looked up with a surprised look on her face. At the same time, however, it seemed like she wanted to cry. Ciel had never seen her like this before. She always seemed so bored, yet sure of everything. Her confidence seemed unshakable, but right now, she was shaken beyond belief.

"It's not your fault. None of this is your fault, Geraldine." insisted the Watchdog. "Constance was on a mission. She was going to go to the fight no matter what happened. She felt as though it was her duty to make sure that her brother died. It's not your fault."

Yes, Ciel knew the truth of the Belmont sibling's relationship. After all, he knew Constance the best out of anyone at the base or even outside it. She confided in him things that she had never before because Ciel was the only person in the world it seemed, who could understand the weight of what she was going through. Ciel understood this as well. He understood the significance of this and vowed to keep her secrets as well as to keep her safe. Part of him wondered if this what being a parent sort of felt like. He promised that he would keep her safe from harm and that he would help her however he could. The Phantomhive might not be the best with people, especially children, but he wasn't heartless. He could understand how important he was in keeping the girl's hopes up and even in keeping her company. According to the staff who dealt with her, she was the most coherent when she spoke to Ciel. If this was anyone's fault, he felt as though it was his own. Geraldine was just a kid. Ciel was a fully trained assassin who was tasked at defeating David Belmont, but he failed.

Holding onto Geraldine's shoulders, her distant cousin looked her in the eyes as he spoke. "There was no way you could have known any of this would happen. You didn't know that reaper was going to betray you like that. None of this is your responsibility or doing."

Geraldine stared back at him for what felt like an eternity before leaning forward. Her forehead landed on his shoulder and she clutched at his shirt. She couldn't bear to let him see her cry any longer for the time being.

"I'm sorry..." she said weakly. Her voice was damp, but it broke into sharp pieces, hurting her throat. "I'm so sorry..."

With raised brows, Ciel let her hiccup into his shoulder for a while before hesitantly putting his arms around her. The man was not one to hug people often and wasn't entirely sure if it was appropriate, despite the circumstance, but went out on a limb and did it anyway. Every once in a while, he would pat her back, uncertain if what he was doing was working in the slightest.

"You're alright..." the man softly stated. "Everything is going to be alright… No one blames you..."

He stayed with her like this until the girl's father came to take over. Rupert was astonished, to say the least, at coming across the sight of Ciel and his daughter hugging, as neither of them were known to do so almost ever. Ciel only hugged his spouse and Geraldine didn't really hug anyone, to Rupert's knowledge. It was hard to be mad at her while she was so shaken, so she really didn't receive much of a scolding. Ciel passed the baton to her father and left them as they had a chance to talk. The Phantomhive was actually on his way to see his spouse when he happened upon Geraldine, but he couldn't just leave her.

That said, he was rather anxious to see Alois. He hadn't had the chance to yet, as both of them were going through the motions just like everyone else in the building. They needed treatment and they needed to clean up. They had to be questioned and they had to be debriefed. It was a tedious process, but it had to be done.

When Ciel opened the door to his husband's room, he found the menace fast asleep. He was probably the most exhausted of all of them, since he was the one who was the most injured. The research department had him on a sort of pseudo, rosary-based anesthetic to help him rest, despite the fact that it slowed down his regeneration abilities somewhat. The poor man looked awful. His throat was very firmly bandaged up with some kind of charm placed on it to help it heal and he had tubes in his mouth and up his nose. His left eye was covered as well, but this time, not with Ciel's eyepatch, which had been thrown away due to how bloody it was.

Silently, the Watchdog closed the door behind him, being careful not to disturb the blonde. He then quietly tip-toed across the room and took a seat in the chair next to the bed. Minutes crawled by like years as he sat in the deafening silence alone, yet in the company of his spouse. The bluenette's eyes traveled to the other man's empty hand as it lay lifelessly on the bed next to him. Blackened fingernails, the tell-tale sign of a demon stood out against pale, almost porcelain-like skin that the Watchdog instinctively wanted to reach out and touch. In Ciel's mind, his husband's hand looked lonely, although he knew that it was his imagination. Still, the compulsion was so strong that he reached out with his own hand and delicately played with Alois' fingers. He was being mindful not to wake his spouse, yet the menace still stirred.

He breathed in sharply, furrowing his brows before letting out a long, drawn out sigh. Lazily, he cracked one eye open. It was just enough to see past his own eyelashes. Once he was satisfied with who was toying with him, he closed his lids again and opened his hand, stretching out his fingers so that Ciel could slip his between them.

"Sorry to wake you, love." Ciel said softly, bringing Alois' hand to his lips before setting it back down. "Go back to sleep."

"I feel like shit." His spouse's voice was raspy and weak. It wasn't at all like the man's normal self.

"I know, darling, I know… Just try to rest. Does your neck still hurt?"

"Yes, especially when I talk."

"Then don't talk, either."

"I want to, though. There's so much I want to say." the blonde informed.

"Like what?"

"I saw you." Alois said. "I saw you calling out to her." He paused, giving his throat a brief window of time to rest.

"Ciel," he continued. The bluenette watched him carefully as he spoke. "It's not your fault."

Why is it that those words that he had just spoke to another held so much weight to him now? It was his fault. Ciel honestly and truly believed that Constance's death was his fault. If he had just killed David with the first shot, or even the first swipe of his sword, she would still be alive. As everything slowed back down and he was able to look back, he kept finding missed opportunities and mistakes. Worst of all, he found new ways he could have prevented this. They stared him in the face now, mocking him for failing to do what it is that he is supposedly an expert at.

How can he claim to do all of these horrible things he does for the sake of others, if the people he promises to keep safe die in the process? Perhaps he was only playing at being a "good person" so that he could spare his own conscience. What good had he actually done? Certainly, the target was dead and that would prevent lives being lost in the future, but at what cost? If he wasn't going to protect Constance or kill David, he might as well have left her loose on him from the start! It was pitiful, really. He was a demon trying to be human again and failing at it.

Ciel didn't speak. He didn't know what to say. If he protested, Alois would argue and he really needed to rest his voice. If he didn't, however, the menace would continue reassuring him. He didn't want to lie, either, as Alois would catch him. Any way the bluenette did this, he would lose. Although he appreciated his husband's kindness immensely and wanted to believe him, Ciel didn't feel as though he really deserved it.

"Ciel?" the menace called, prompting the other to make an attempt at clearing the lump in his throat. Now holding the blonde's hand with both of his, he kissed it once more before holding it against his cheek.

"Thank you." was all he said, leaving it ambiguous. They would talk about this in detail at a later time, but at that moment, neither of them needed to be talking.

"We'll talk more later." the menace replied. "Love you..."

"I love you, too, Jim." answered Ciel. "Go back to sleep."


A/N: I'll do the rest in the next chapter... We're still not quite done with all of this... Let the guilt continue~!

We're getting pretty close to 2,000 reviews. Under a hundred more and we'll be halfway caught up with the original!

I wanna write fun shit but this is too heavy to do that with just yet... nuuuuhhhh...

I still need to reveal Ciel's darkest secret yet!

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!