Within fifteen minutes, the group hastily put their things away and sprinted across the blacktop in order to make it to the building on time. All of them feared for the worst as Ciel stood by the entrance checking his watch. Once they were all there, they were ushered to a vast room with chairs in front of mirrors. Next to each station was a man in a white smock at attention and upon putting the pieces together, the men lamented what was to come.

"Everyone form a queue." Instructed the Phantomhive upon entering the room after them. "If you wish to become soldiers, you will have to start by looking like soldiers."

"Oh, come on, mate!" laughed one of the men, gripping hold of his ponytail. "It too me forever to grow this out!"

Looking the cadet over, Ciel made a face while replying with: "Lord knows why." The others tittered at his remark as they did as he said and formed a line. "Each of you will have a military-approved haircut and make sure that your face is clean-shaven each and every morning."

"Not my beard!" lamented another, much to the amusement of his compatriots.

"That is not a beard. That is pubic hair that you've glued to your face for some unknown reason." scoffed the bluenette. "Suck it up. Once you are finished, you will go down the hall to the third room on the right. It is the only unlocked door, so you cannot miss it. Chop-chop, lads."

Several in the group cringed at the officer's words and mourned the loss of their locks. Sadly, they were not demons who could change the length and style of their hair at will, so it would take a while until it was restored. Some of them spent years growing the patchy beard that they had and now it was going to be all gone- gone, forever. Others who had gone before them laughed as their beards were shaved off and they revealed the reality of their smooth, baby faces to the world. Others laughed still as their comrades made a huge fuss about having their greasy mop cut off, as they would now look like everyone else and not appear "mysterious" or whatever look they were going for.

Those who laughed at those going after them did not stay to laugh for very long. Some lingered, while most went ahead to the room that their commanding officer instructed them to go to, eager to see what was going to happen next. There, they found a classroom, much to their surprise. On the desk closest to the door were three boxes, and the demon gestured to them.

"Each of you needs to take one journal." he said. They were cheap journals, but they would perform the task required of them. "Then you will take a pack of pencils, a pencil sharpener, or a pack of pens. You will need these in order to take notes on your lectures. If you run out of pages or your pack goes missing, you can buy some more from the NAAFI. Once you have them, take a seat."

Pausing, he waited for a few of them to do that until the first wave sat down. He wanted to make sure they understood what they were supposed to do before continuing. "While we wait on the others, feel free to ask any burning questions that you may have. As long as they are within your clearance level or not part of a lecture that we will go into, I will answer them to the best of my ability." he added, and immediately, hands shot up. "Uh… you." he said, pointing. "What's your name?"

"Gordon Cooksey." the man answered, lowering his hand again. "I wanted to know why do we have to shave our heads, when the officers have other hairstyles?"

"Because once you're part of the organisation, your haircut doesn't matter. You can have facial hair as well. No one cares." Ciel stated rather bluntly, much to the shock of the class. "Part of it is teaching you how to maintain a certain level of personal hygiene, because you're all relatively young and some of you have never been away from home before. Nobody wants to work with a bunch of pigs. You will find, however, that most agents do have short hair. Even our female agents keep their hair short as a general rule if they are in a combat position. It's just more practical, as long hair is just a thing for a ghoul or a vampire, or whatever it is you're sent out to dispatch to grab onto you with. Next question."

More hands shot up and Ciel pointed to one. "Robert MacGowan." the man introduced himself. "Are there a lot of female operatives?" he asked, prompting a small titter from the room.

"Yes." the bluenette answered. "Next question."

"Are there any that are single?"

"I don't know. I do know that they know how to use weapons and have a tendency to not tolerate nonsense. Next."

"You said that we are in the Amateur Class," began another man, changing the topic. "What is that exactly, and are there other classes?"

"Good question, mister..."

"Withers. Bryce Withers."

"Mister Withers." Ciel nodded, trying to keep track of all of these names. "'Amateur class' is exactly what it sounds like. It's designed to train people who are amateurs and are learning all of this for the first time. There's nothing particularly mysterious about it. You are right, though. There are multiple classes. There is the youth camp, which takes place in the summer and is generally for the children of our agents. There is the 'Career' class, which is for those who started in the youth class and wish to pursue a career here. Then there's the 'Elite' class, which if for members of PMCs that we've bought out and are now employing."

"What's a PMC?"

"Private Military Company. Mercenaries, in other words." the demon said. "Then, the fact that men and women are separated in all classes, brings the number to eight in total. Next."

"What is the lecture on today?" inquired different cadet.

"Vampires and subsequently ghouls. They're very common, so this is considered 'basic' knowledge. To prepare, you're going to have to take everything you've learned about vampires and then forget it all. We will also be going over basic philosophy on what a 'monster' truly is. Be sure to pay attention, because when I quiz you, those questions will be weighted heavily."

While Ciel had expected to receive groans from the thought of being quizzed, everyone still seemed enthusiastic. It would appear that he had underestimated these die-hard supernatural-enthusiasts, although he wondered just how long this would last. When he revealed to them that some legends were incorrect, would they argue? Would they refuse to believe him? Would they realise that not accepting the truth could have deadly consequences in the field? Only time would tell him.

Eventually, he began his lecture, refusing to touch on the history of vampires, although a few students tried to flex their knowledge about Vlad the Impaler. As though they knew anything about the man. Ciel was the one who had met him! Instead, the demon focused on what they actually needed to know. He talked about their functions, strengths, and weaknesses at length, even going so far as to discuss shade gel.

"Now, when you try to kill a vampire, you shoot them in the head or in the heart." he explained, circling the chest area on a figure he had drawn. "It is preferable to aim for the heart, however. Who here has an idea why?"

Raising a hand, one of the men answered: "It's a bigger target."

"Correct. Even if you miss the heart, however, vampires can die from bleeding out. Perhaps not immediately, but eventually. They will essentially die of starvation if they don't bite someone else very quickly." the bluenette stated. "Now… I will leave this up for a moment so you can catch up in your notes, but while we're on the topic of bites, we will now discuss what happens when a person is bitten."

Ciel was actually somewhat impressed that the vast majority of the group was taking notes. He was about to erase the board, when he spotted one of them in the very first row doodling away in his journal. Immediately, a riding crop was slammed down on top of the page, scaring the artist.

"Are you really familiar enough with the information I have presented to not take any notes?" the demon questioned. "If you're just going to waste paper, return the book and we'll give it to someone who can make actual use of it."

"Sorry..." the man sheepishly replied before turning to a new page and hastily trying to copy the board. Ciel didn't have to wait on him, but he did, adding:

"If you wish to draw, I don't mind, but please do it on your own time. While I'm commanding and teaching you, it is within your best interest to listen." he said. Once he saw that the cadet was somewhat caught up, he continued his lecture.

"While we were in the barracks, I told you that one of the things that happens when one is bitten by a vampire, once becomes a vampire as well. However, certain conditions must be met in order for this to occur. Who caught what I said that condition was?"

Raising his hand, Wallace Young made an attempt to redeem himself from his previous faux-pas against the officer. "They have to be of the opposite sex."

"That is correct, Mister Young." the bluenette said. "This isn't a death sentence, however. In the event that an operative is bitten by a vampire and they become one, they might even be kept on in the organisation. Vampires, like most supernatural beings, are not inherently evil. They have the same thoughts and feelings as you or I. Yet, their condition requires that they must be fed a steady diet of human blood, leading them to either commit atrocities, or starve. That is where we come in. To stop the ones that pose a threat to society. We will venture more into this when we get into procedure and protocol. Today, however, is about the most common types of supernaturals you might encounter. The next one is perhaps more common than the vampire and is one of the inherently harmful creatures that absolutely must be dealt with."

With that, Ciel erased the board. He then wrote the word "bite" on it and drew a circle around it. From there, he added an arrow pointing from the balloon in one direction directed at the word "vampire." On the other side, he drew another arrow pointing in the opposite direction and started writing.

"Vampirism is one possibility from a vampire bite." he continued. "The more common possibility occurs when a vampire bites a human person of the same sex. Most of you are familiar with this creature, but with the wrong term. It's popular in movies and videogames. You would call them 'zombies,' but I promise you, you will not be taken seriously."

The last part of this was not quite registered by the group, as several of them rejoiced at hearing the word "zombie." Two men in the back even high-fived one another, prompting irritation from the Watchdog. Before he could get onto them, however, he was bombarded with questions.

"Are they slow or do they run fast?" asked one overly excitable student.

"Is there a zombie apocalypse around the corner that we're going to prepare for?" inquired another.

"Attention!" the Phantomhive shouted in distinct military fashion, startling the men and forcing them to reconsider what they were doing. Most sat up straight in their chairs while a few tried to stumble to their feet before realising that they could just stay seated. Straightening his tie, the bluenette huffed. "I want soldiers, not toddlers. What did I just say?"

The group looked at one another in complete silence. Several excruciating moments passed before one sheepishly raised his hand. "That… That they're called 'ghouls,' not 'zombies?'"

"Name?"

"Clancy Peterson, sir." the man answered, his nerves rendering him unable to breathe.

"Well done." Ciel said, causing Mister Peterson to let out a breath of relief. "'Ghoul' is the correct term. If you say 'zombie,' the other agents will laugh at you and your superiors will question your competence. If you get that wrong, I will not pass you. Understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the group answered in unison.

"Very good. Now, if I may continue?" The Watchdog pretended to ask for permission, although he was going to carry on his lecture, regardless. With all of his power, he tried his best to cram the information into his underlings' skulls, but as it was time to send them off to the mess for lunch, he wasn't quite sure if they quite got it. All of them left feeling pretty good about things, wondering what exactly was so difficult about all of this. They joked and laughed all the way to the mess hall, and even still while eating. Little did they know that they were in for a rude awakening once they were finished.

"I don't think they quite understand." the demon scoffed into the phone pressed against his ear. He sat in his office and waited for the others to finish eating so that he could get back to work, but naturally, his first instinct was to call his spouse and report his findings. "They just carried on to lunch like this is the easiest thing in the world, laughing without a care in the world. I'm going to give them absolute hell when we're back onto the blacktop."

"Jesus Christ, babe." Alois laughed on the other end. "Did you not have them do exercises yet?"

"No, not yet. That's what we're doing next." Ciel's husband was somewhat amused by the gleefulness of his voice as he said this. "It's almost October, so it's quite chilly… Once they get moving, though, they'll start burning up."

"I remember boot camp…" wistfully replied the blonde. "I was just in the youth camp, but some kids still threw up from working too hard… You're going to make grown men cry..."

"'Grown men' is a term that is to be used loosely… You should have seen them when I mentioned ghouls, Jim. They were high-fiving each other like this is a game."

"Nerds are nerds. Of course they're gonna think that's wicked. Are you gonna do the thing where you actually have them shoot ghouls?"

"Eventually. We're not even doing firearms for the next few days. I highly suspect that they won't be able to do it for a while. I don't have much confidence that they'll be able to do anything for a while." Ciel let out a very long sigh. "One of them told me that he's a 'paranormal expert' because he's read about this stuff on the internet..."

At that, the menace cringed and sucked air through grit teeth. "Yikes… Well, at least they have promising careers ahead of them as human shields or live bait."

"That's rather optimistic. I hadn't thought about it that way."

"That's the spirit!"

In that moment, Ciel saw movement outside the window and looked down at the ground floor. People had begun walking into the yard, prompting the Watchdog to check his watch. "I think my clock is slow." he said. "I've got to go. Lunch ended earlier than I thought."

"Alright, I'll let you go then." chuckled the menace, knowing that they had actually been talking for quite a while. "Love you! Kisses!"

"I love you too, darling. Bye-bye." With that, the bluenette hung up and moved to put his phone in his breast pocket. He stopped just short and looked at it with an amused, but quizzical expression.

"Did he just say 'kisses?'"


A/N: I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just throwing things together now and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Let me know if I'm fucking it up... I still haven't reread the original boot camp arc...

I am a terrible author I'm sorry :,(

Also apparently Ciel says "bye-bye" on the phone? That's a little thing, but it's weird, yet somehow makes a lot of sense to me. I actually tried several different words and expressions, but that was the one that fit.

Everyone wants to see him terrify these nerds, but also what about them knowing that he loves his husband? "Bro, did he just say 'bye-bye'?" You bet your ass, he did. The fuck are you gonna do about it? That riding crop isn't just for show, you fools.

In all seriousness, though, I do love your suggestions on how he can spook these dweebs. You guys are the best.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!