Chapter 6

The irritation Ciel felt in his eye didn't subside. If anything, it remained consistent throughout the day all the way until he'd been allowed to go to bed. He tried to keep himself from rubbing at it, not wanting to make things worse by making it red or by being driven to gouge the eye out. It was just that maddening!

Eventually, sleep took the irritation away. He was exhausted.

"What the hell are you doing, Sebastian?" Ciel wondered.

That night was no different than the countless others Ciel had faced. He still had the nightmares that made him enveloped himself and his covers, and he still had that the dream about Sebastian standing at his bedside and attacking him.

"Maybe he's plotting to kill me . . ." He thought to himself, "Maybe getting rid of the contract is part of that plan."

There was always one part of this that Ciel had never thought about. As his butler, Sebastian was often regarded as property he owned and could use however he wished, but that didn't mean that Sebastian was weak. In fact, the demon was just as much of a contractor as he was. Sure, Sebastian was his servant, but at any time, for any reason, he could decide to void it completely.

Ciel sat up in bed and made for the closet. In one of his overcoats, he still kept the angel feather and the burnt piece of carpeting. As he looked them over, he couldn't help but remember what he told Sebastian the other day.

"I can't stand to see your face anymore. Leave! That's an order!"

Had that been enough to push Sebastian into voiding the contract?

Moving to a mirror, Ciel looked at the seal again. It had hardly changed since he last looked at it. It relieved him in some ways. It meant that their contract was still there and in effect. In other ways, it disturbed him. The irritation and the fading meant that their contract was getting weaker. If the contract wasn't being voided, then that meant that there could possibly be something wrong with Sebastian.

The sound of his bedroom door opening caught his attention. Claude walked in with a lit candle in his hand.

"Oh, you're awake," he said quietly, "Did the irritation in your eye wake you?"

Ciel shook his head, "No, I just had a bad dream, is all. "

Claude nodded, but not exactly with understanding; more like acknowledgment.

"I came here because I need to tell you something. I don't think the change in your seal is caused by him voiding the contract. Had it been that, your seal would have been long gone and it would have vanished in a unbearable burst of pain. This can only mean that there's something wrong with him – physically or mentally – that is causing a disconnection in your contract. Because your eye is only irritated, this only means that the process he's going through is incredibly slow."

Ciel was silent as he carefully thought over the Trancy butler's words.

"Do you have any idea how this might have come about?" Claude asked.

"Actually, I do," Ciel replied, "An argument broke out between us. Well, I don't think you could call it an argument. It was more of just me yelling at him and he listened. I ordered him out of my sights, and that was that."

Claude give him another acknowledging nod, "I see."

"May I ask, exactly how do any of us plan on finding Sebastian? He could have gone anywhere."

"If you know anything about us demons, you'd know we're excellent trackers. Don't worry, our maid Hannah is looking for him to report on his condition, as we speak."

The moment Hannah was pushed out of the mansion, she was instantly lost. She had no clue as to where Sebastian was or where he could have gone. The Phantomhive butler's scent was all over Ciel, but there were no trails she could follow to track him down.

She thought hard. Where would Sebastian go to be alone if he were dismissed from a contract? Hell? Not likely. No demon really ever wanted to go to Hell unless it was important. She thought over the current circumstances. This contract was fading ; dying . . .

Dying

Where would Sebastian go if he was dying? Someplace private; isolated, so he could at least die in peace. Where was private? Forests. Forests were private. What forest would Sebastian choose to die in? Someplace far from the Phantomhive Manor and far from civilization. Someplace he felt rooted to. Someplace where he was comfortable. Where was that?

She knew of a forest that had been burned down months ago that she felt pity for; most demons had. It was no ordinary forest. The trees had been several centuries old and no hunters dared to disturb the wildlife on its sacred grounds. Any demon would choose to die there, where their body could remain undisturbed for years and years until moss made their bones a part of the land. That is where Sebastian would most likely be, and that would be where her search started.

An hour at a neck breaking run eventually brought her to said forest; however, it was not in the condition she expected it to be in.

Young trees with bright green leaves were growing from the ash-stained dirt, along with fresh new grass and the sprouts of ferns, thornbushes, and brambles. Birds were exploring the young trees and squirrels were already hard at work burying nuts. Butterflies in a bright assortment of colors were fluttering about, as if they were exploring the new life that now grew here.

"What is going on here?" Hannah asked herself.

The demoness searched the still-growing forest for signs of Sebastian. It didn't take long before she finally picked up his scent. It was only six hours old and it was only growing stronger the more she started to follow it.

Her searching did eventually lead her to the heart of the forest where she found the raven demon.

Sebastian was lying in the center of his contract seal, which was still burned into the ground, but now had tiny blades of grass growing within it. Sebastian looked as though he were asleep; positioned on his side facing her with his eyes closed.

"Michaelis," Hannah called to him, "Michaelis, are you all right?"

Sebastian's eyes fluttered open and he lifted his head to look at her. It was then that she noticed how bad the raven demon looked. His eyes were slightly sunken in and his hair was messy. He looked sick and bitterly exhausted. He only made eye contact with her for a couple of moments before he wrinkled his nose and summoned the strength to roll over onto his other side with a moan, facing away from her.

"Michaelis, no!" Hannah made an attempt to enter the contract seal the raven demon was lying in, but was instantly kept from doing so by a strong force pushing her back.

A force field. She should have expected this. Sebastian was a demon with tunnel vision and a one-track mind. Once he had a goal, he was only focused on that goal. It became clear to Hannah that it was Sebastian's intention to die. It had been planned; a private affair between him and Satan. But that also meant there was a way to reverse the enchantment.

"Michaelis," Hannah called again, "You have to tell me how to reverse the enchantment. How do you reverse it?"

No response.

"Michaelis, tell me! How do you reverse the enchantment?"

No response.

"Michaelis!"

Slap!

Out of nowhere, the twig of a young tree came alive and smacked her across the face. It dawned on Hannah that this forest was being resurrected by the life-force and soul of a demon, not only making it a sacred forest, but an enchanted one, as well.

Looking around, it seemed as though the trees were prepared to fight her; their branches whipping back-and-forth and side to side. The grass growing around Sebastian's form appeared to be comforting him; hugging him and curling around his digits and limbs.

When Hannah thought about it, it was possible for Sebastian to have consumed as many souls in his lifetime as there were blades of grass in this forest, as well as trees and brush. That gave every organism here a soul and a life, and some of them had been a part of Sebastian for so long that they had found no other option than to bond and align themselves with him. And that meant they would fight to protect him in his time of death.

Hannah forced herself to walk away. But now she knew where Sebastian was and what was happening to him.

"Claude is not going to like this."