Chapter Eleven

Whether it was the unfamiliar surroundings or the hostile glare being thrown his way, Agni was far out of his comfort zone. He shifted uneasily in the desk chair, looking everywhere but at the pacing boy. He was like a wild animal, striding back and forth, eye fierce as it watched the seated man constantly. Agni was unsure if it was the situation that had Ciel so on edge, or his mere presence in the boy's room.

He didn't have to wonder for long. As he unconsciously shifted, his back beginning to grow sore pressed against the harsh plastic of the chair, Ciel tensed and skulked closer to the door, ready to make a hasty escape from whatever attack he envisioned Agni launching on him.

So it was him, then.

A part of Agni felt rather guilty that his being there was distressing Ciel so much, that he was invading probably the only private space he had. A larger part was resolute on crushing that guilt down. He couldn't leave, couldn't leave Sebastian alone with the boy who had proved over the time Agni had been there, far longer than Sebastian, capable of manipulation of the highest degree.

Ciel Phantomhive may have been Soma's friend, which earned him a certain amount of fondness in Agni's eyes, but there was no changing the cold, hard facts; the boy was charismatic enough to make you believe anything he wanted you to, intelligent enough to win any game, and with a heart so frozen that he could throw you to the dogs all for the sake of his own personal amusement.

Yes, he was Soma's friend, but Sebastian was Agni's, and not even Soma's trust in the one-eyed boy could dissolve the growing suspicion in his heart.

"Again. Tell me again," Ciel ordered, his fist tightening around that yellow scrap of paper, finally stopping in his tracks before he burnt a hole into the ground.

Sebastian barely refrained from rolling his eyes. They'd already reiterated the entire story of last nights escapade three times.

"He wasn't there, Ciel. Didn't look like he had been either. Didn't look like anyone had been since Joker," Sebastian replied instead, shrugging, beyond exasperated. It wasn't that he wasn't concerned for Finny – he wouldn't have gone on that wild goose chase if he wasn't – but Ciel was running around in circles, and that wasn't helping them move forward in the slightest.

"So there was nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing."

Ciel's grip on the post-it note tightened. Sebastian could see the cogs whirring.

Tension was thick in the air, insufferable in its intensity. All three men in the room were panicking.

Sebastian was beginning to realise just how damn helpless he was in this situation. No longer did the title of staff protect him, no longer did he have that impenetrable shield. The mere fact that he was even capable of feeling helpless was infuriating. He'd never felt like that before, never had things be beyond his control. It was certainly not a feeling he was enjoying. More than that, he was beginning to notice the effect the situation was having on Ciel, and couldn't stop himself from worrying. The kid hadn't let go of that damn note since Sebastian had returned it to him, was clinging to it like a lifeline. He wasn't even sure why it was annoying him so much, but it was. He was this close to tearing the fucking thing away from him.

More than anything, however, was the question constantly clawing to the surface of his mind; now that the distinction between staff and patient had been dissolved, who would be the next victim?

It was with a soul-deep worry that Agni watched Sebastian and Ciel converse, talking about the fate of a man that did not exist. Finnian, the gardener, Ciel's friend, or Ciel's ploy that Sebastian was falling for hook, line and sinker? Agni was a trustful man at heart. He truly was. He wanted to believe in Ciel as much as Soma and Sebastian did. Still, trust couldn't be forced, and he couldn't ignore the niggling thought at the back of his mind that maybe, just maybe, the source of Sebastian's hostility towards Soma was Ciel himself. That sudden insistence that Soma was a threat had to have come from somewhere, and even though he tried to think of another source, Agni couldn't deny that the most likely one was the boy before him. He just couldn't figure out why Ciel would turn Sebastian against Soma.

Nor could he understand why Ciel was creating such an elaborate lie. Reasons aside, Sebastian was in the palm of his hand, and seemed perfectly content to be there. Did he really believe there was someone called Finny? Or was he just playing lapdog to Ciel? It scared Agni, truly scared him to his core, how single-mindedly dedicated Sebastian was proving himself to this boy he'd know for only a few months. He'd never seen Sebastian like that with another person before, and it wasn't healthy. He tried to banish the gut-wrenching guilt, the knowledge that it was all his fault, that anything that happened to Sebastian as a result would be all his fault.

The danger was immense. Ciel Phantomhive was, when all was said and done, a patient of St. Victoria's Institution, and that title alone spoke volumes.

It was all Ciel could do not to throw up. He was honest-to-God sick to his stomach. With worry or fear, he didn't know, but it was doing nothing for his temperament.

Finny wasn't in The Room... But he'd been so sure. If he wasn't there, then where else could he possibly be? Well, the Institute had many floors, and more rooms than he could count, but even so... this wasn't the way it happened! When something was wrong, when someone wasn't where they were supposed to be, they were in The Room! That was what happened, that was how it was, how it had always been for almost six years. Then again, Ciel couldn't remember a member of staff being targeted before, it had always been patients and patients alone.

The thought brought a fresh wave of nausea washing over Ciel. In the space of a week, his memories had come to mean very little. He'd forgotten Finny, hadn't he? If it weren't for Sebastian and the post-it note, he'd have probably never remembered him. So, who was to say this hadn't happened before? What they'd done to them all, erasing Finny from their very minds, for all Ciel knew they did this all the time. It was hardly as though he'd know. Hell, what else had they made him forget? And if they could take memories away, wipe the slate clean in his head, who was to say they couldn't create 'memories' too? How much of the past six years had actually happened, and how much was yet another cruel trick by whoever was doing it? How much of his life was real, how much was a lie created by them?

He clutched the note tighter in his fist and took a calming breath. No, stop it. Thinking like that was going to get him nowhere but with his head in the toilet emptying his already empty stomach. He had the note. They couldn't take Finny away from him again, couldn't tamper with his mind, as long as he held on to the note.

There were other matters of concern, and Ciel tried to focus on them, the ones that made him feel less ill. The matter of Sebastian, for one. Why exactly had he been exempt from the memory theft in the first place? What were they planning, and what part did Sebastian play in it all? Nothing happened without a reason at St. Victoria's, after all. It was already odd enough that no consequences had arisen from the now two times Sebastian had gone trekking down to The Room without permission. Now he was the sole exception to such a bizarre occurrence? Why?

So many questions without answers was not something Ciel was terribly fond of.

And then there was Agni, staff member, in his room. The uninvited went without saying. Sebastian had insisted that the man wanted to help, but Ciel was not eager to take such a one dimensional offer. Ciel had been watching Agni just as carefully as Agni had been watching him during the time in his room, and he had not missed the lack of anything, be it the slightest recognition to the worry he'd have expected, at the mentions of Finny's name.

Agni did not remember Finny. So why exactly was he offering his help?

"What's the next course of action, then?" Sebastian was the one who eventually broke the heavy silence, glancing back and forth between his on-edge companions, the shadowed looks the two would exchange every now and then not lost on him.

Ciel let out on aggravated groan, whipping his as always messy hair out of his face, "There's little else we can do other than search the Institute from top to bottom."

Agni blanched.

"That would take forever! That aside, it would be impossible to do without getting caught-"

"We've no choice but to take the risk," Ciel cut across, shrugging off the impending danger with a careful indifference, but Sebastian didn't miss the trepidation that wormed its way into his voice, "We can't leave Finny in their hands if there's even the slightest chance he may be alive."

Sebastian and Ciel both ignored the little voice ruling out that chance.

"Alright. We'll get on that," Sebastian stated, rising off the bed. Agni followed his lead, glad to finally be out of that uncomfortable chair. Before they could reach the door, however, Ciel stopped them with a raised hand.

"Hold on. I... I'll be coming with you," he stated, and despite the hesitation, there was nothing but certainty in his tone now.

Sebastian couldn't help feeling pleased at the announcement, having became more and more unwilling to leave the boy alone with his thoughts when the conflict in his mind was so clearly plastered across his face. Besides, having a St. Victoria's veteran with them could only be useful.

Agni, on the other hand, could actually feel the moment his stomach tied itself into knots. That had been his chance, his window of opportunity to talk to Sebastian, away from Ciel and his influence, make Sebastian see sense, that there is no Finny. He couldn't risk raising the subject with the boy with them. God only knows what the unstable boy might do if he felt threatened. His resolution to keep Sebastian and Ciel apart was already tearing at the seams. Agni was beginning to think that maybe this Finny nonsense was some sort of escape plan. Have Sebastian let him out of the ward under the guise of searching for some friend, more than likely imaginary, giving him every opportunity to escape along the way? Agni was certain; Ciel was using Sebastian to get out of the asylum.

Ciel could feel more than see the spike in mistrust coming from Agni, but brushed it off. After all, the mistrust was equal in him. Agni didn't even remember Finny, so what was he doing sniffing around? Without an answer to that, Ciel couldn't feel comfortable with leaving the man alone with Sebastian. He could claim friendship all he liked, hide behind that word and think it meant safety, but Ciel knew differently. Agni, friend or not, was staff, and that meant he was just as likely to plunge a knife in Sebastian's trusting back as Claude or any of the other scum. Besides, more than not wanting to leave Sebastian alone with Agni, Ciel reluctantly admitted to himself that he didn't want to be apart from the man. He felt a lot more sound of mind when he was around him, and especially since the entire Finny debacle began, it was almost as though Sebastian was the sole person tethering him to his sanity, which was slipping between his fingers like smoke.

A firm rapping on the bedroom door drew the occupants from their thoughts as Dagger popped his head in.

"Angela, incomin'," was all he said before slipping back through the crack. Instantaneously, the three were out the door and in the leisure room, just in time to see the lily-haired woman stride onto the ward. Ciel broke away from the trio, making his way over to a freshly-woken and bedraggled Alois, eliciting a beam from the blond.

Cold lilac eyes scanned the room and Sebastian wasn't even surprised when they came to a halt on him.

"Good morning, Sebastian, Agni," Angela greeted, perfect plastic smile curling her lips, coming to a stop in front of them.

"Morning, Angela," they chorused, neither bothering to sound particularly enthused.

Pleasantries over and done with, she got straight down to business.

"Agni, I'd like a word with Sebastian. Would you mind giving us some privacy?"

Choosing to ignore the fact that she was asking for privacy in a crowded room, Agni glanced to Sebastian, who gave him an imperceptible nod.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied hesitantly, and complied, leaving the two alone.

Ciel glanced back up as Angela swept from the room, gesturing Sebastian over to him. Unfortunately, Agni reappeared from wherever he'd gone off to and dogged his steps. They sat down across from him.

"What did she say?" Ciel asked. Sebastian gave a meaningful look to Alois, sprawled across the couch besides Ciel, and Ciel sighed, "It's fine. It's not noon yet. He won't be conscious for a while."

Sebastian nodded.

"I'm to take the night shift tonight. Ash is sick again."

It was with dread that they listened to their perfect opportunity.

"No. We're not doing this," Agni insisted, shaking his head fervently, "Coincidence doesn't even begin to cover it. It's too suspicious, you going on the night shift right when we need you to. We'd be playing right into their hands. I don't know why they'd do this, but-"

Sebastian glanced over to Ciel, who looked thoughtful.

"But it's irrelevant. Gift horse, mouth and all that. The fact of the matter is that we have an opportunity handed to us on a platter. We'd be fools not to take it-"

"We'd be fools to take it! Sebastian, please, don't take the bait," Agni implored, earnest. Sebastian just shrugged away his plea, though.

"Ciel's right. For all we know, Finny can't afford for us to wait. We're going. Tonight."

Ciel was ready and waiting by the time Sebastian arrived at the ward shortly after eight. Clad in the same fleecy jacket as last time, he didn't look up when Sebastian entered, too busy wrestling with the zip. A pout he didn't even seem to be aware of on his face, he huffed in exasperation and threw himself back into the chair.

"Can't even dress yourself, now?" Sebastian couldn't help teasing, trying to force away the apprehension building in him.

Ciel looked less than amused.

"Shut your mouth and make yourself useful."

Please fasten my coat for me, Sebastian. Oh, thank you, Sebastian!

Manners were probably too much to ask for from the brat.

He knelt in front of the boy and zipped the jacket up with exaggerated ease, earning a half annoyed, half embarrassed look from him.

"...I loosened it for you," Ciel muttered, folding his arms across his chest.

"Of course you did," Sebastian simpered, delighting in the sudden flush of the boy's ears. He moved to rise from his position knelt before Ciel, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, and any shred of embarrassment had left him without a trace.

Ciel's poker-face was in place.

"Must he come?"It was almost a whisper, a furtive glance cast to the entrance of the room.

Sebastian didn't have to ask who was being referred to.

"Agni's meeting us downstairs, and yes, he must. He wants to help, Ciel, and let's be frank; we need all the help we can get. Why are you so against Agni now? You've never seemed to mind him before."

Ciel scoffed, "Of course I minded him before! Sure, he's far from being the worst in this place, but he's still staff, and staff cannot be trust." The hand on his shoulder tightened like a vice, and if Sebastian had been a lesser man, he may have cried out. There was no doubt tomorrow would bring a mark in the shape of a certain cyclops' hand. He was not a lesser man, however, and he didn't even wince at the surprising display of strength.

Oddly red eyes narrowed.

"I'm staff. Can I not be trusted?"

Ciel didn't answer right away, meeting his intense gaze. A few months ago, Sebastian would have taken that pause as his answer, just assumed that if the boy couldn't answer immediately then it was because the answer was something Sebastian wouldn't want to hear. Now, however, he'd been exposed to Ciel a lot more, and knew much better than to make any kinds of assumptions about him. Ciel wasn't hesitating because he couldn't answer the questions. He was simply thinking, always thinking, never allowing the chance of accidentally screwing himself over with words spurned on by the heat of the moment.

After a few moments, eye contact never breaking, there was a slight curl of Ciel's lips.

"You're different."

He said no more, and Sebastian didn't ask for more.

They strode from the ward. Unlike last time, Sebastian was leading the way, Ciel so close to his heels that he was at risk of tripping. The boy's hands were sunk deep into the pockets of his jacket, a bulge in one where he had his fist wrapped around something, and Sebastian didn't need three guesses to figure out just what.

As before, Sebastian had a mirror in his hand, checking around the corners before they turned them. Luckily, or maybe not, the halls were completely deserted, and they quickened their steps.

Agni was waiting in the gardens for them. He was a complete wreck even at first glance; clothes tossed on in a hurry, his asymmetrical strands of hair not tied back like always, jumping at the slightest hint of a shadow. It was a sorry sight, but a little funny, and Sebastian had to stifle a snicker. Honestly, if Agni was distressed at this stage of the night when they hadn't even began, he'd be having a full-on cardiac later.

"Ready?" Sebastian asked, and Agni turned on him with a panicked scowl.

"Ssh!" he hissed, looking around frantically like the night air itself was going to pull a knife on him.

At his side, Ciel sighed, and gave Sebastian a look that clearly said This is your idea of help? He almost told him to shut up, before realising he hadn't actually said anything.

"Come on!" Ciel whispered, tossing Agni a scathing look as he stalked away across the unkempt grass towards the building. Sebastian was quick to follow him, and as Agni realised he was alone, he jogged after them.

The shit hit the fan about five seconds later.

"You're going in front of me," Ciel ordered, gesturing Agni to move, and the man visibly tensed. Seeing Agni's affronted expression and sensing an impending cat-fight, Sebastian attempted to play mediator, but felt more like nursery teacher.

"Look, I'll go in the middle, alright? Satisfied, children?"

They resumed walking, Agni leading the way, Ciel bringing up the rear, with Sebastian acting as buffer between the two.

Unfortunately, Sebastian was rather preoccupied with making sure they didn't walk straight into the path of an oncoming truck in the form of Angela, manoeuvring the mirror to see as much as possible. He was so busy trying to see that he missed what was going on right in front of him.

Agni couldn't relax. He'd been on edge anyway, given the situation, but now a patient was behind him. He was completely exposed to patient D18. He could so very easily pull a weapon on them, kill them both before they had the chance to scream, just run right back through the doors and escape into the night. He couldn't help himself from turning around, glancing back and making sure Ciel wasn't up to something.

Which, of course, got Ciel's hackles rising. Distrust in the man increasing tenfold, Ciel edged instinctively closer to Sebastian.

And Agni followed the movement with narrowed eyes. Was Ciel making his move so soon?

Ciel's hand slipped into his pocket.

Sebastian was blissfully oblivious to the growing tension surrounding him, so was completely baffled when Agni shouldered past him, knocking him out of the way, and tackled Ciel to the ground.

Ciel cried out as his back was smashed into the cold stone floor, head swimming as it followed his body's lead with a crash. Hands were all over him, grabbing him and restraining him, and then he was on autopilot. He didn't even register that his hands were around Agni's neck, fingers tightening around his throat until the breaths above him because strangled, less and less frequent.

Sebastian was knocked dizzy for a moment after he collided with the wall, head clearing only to be met with the image of a purpling Agni. Blood was running down his neck where Ciel's fingers clawed in for purchase, the man's scrambling to dislodge the hands cutting off his air completely ineffectual. Agni was no longer trying to pin the boy's hands above his head, wasn't even holding him down to the floor anymore, yet Ciel's hands didn't release him.

The one visible eye was glazed, and somehow Sebastian knew that Ciel was not seeing Agni at all, possibly wasn't even seeing the walls of St. Victoria's.

This time it was Agni that was tackled to the floor, skidding across the floor at the sheer force of Sebastian's kick, and he gulped down oxygen greedily. Choking, spluttering, he crawled over to the wall, hand automatically coming up. Blearily, eyes swimming no matter how many times he blinked to clear his vision, he looked back over to the two.

Sebastian was knelt beside Ciel, and even Agni could tell just how careful he was being not to touch him. A wave of guilt crashed over Agni as he looked to Ciel. The boy's breaths were even more ragged than Agni's, a cold sweat plastering his hair to his face and his shirt to his skin where the zipper on his jacket had bust, and his shoulders shook with fierce trembles. If Agni didn't know Ciel, he'd have thought he was crying. The boy's hands scrambled at his pockets and Agni didn't even have the chance to panic before the desired item came into view; the post-it note.

"What the hell, Agni?" Sebastian was livid, he didn't have to look at him to know. He could feel the heat of his glare. "You know damn well he can't abide being touched!"

Agni had the good grace to look ashamed.
"I thought... I thought he had a weapon."

Sebastian looked incredulous, glancing down at Ciel and rolling his eyes.

"Oh yes. I'm sure that papercut he could have given us would have been quite lethal."

"I didn't know that was all he had! I just saw his hand go to his pocket! Sebastian, you're too biased, can't you see he's got you exactly where he wants you?" Ciel's presence be damned, Agni couldn't help letting the words flow.

Sebastian's eyes flashed dangerously.

"If I'm anywhere, it's exactly where I want to be. And isn't this all a little familiar. I believe I told you the same thing about Soma, and what was your response?"

Agni frowned.

"This and that are completely different. Soma would never hurt anyone."

"You provoked Ciel. You touched him."

"...A-Are you saying I deserved that?" Agni was beyond incredulous, his words a chore to force out and his neck still bleeding from the deep scratches, yet somehow he was completely to blame. Yes, he shouldn't have touched Ciel, he knew that. But he'd panicked! Unlike Sebastian, he was seeing Ciel clearly, completely free from any complications to cloud his judgement.

Sebastian shrugged.

"If you attack someone, you should be fully prepared to be attacked."

Ciel's breaths climbed down from frantic to his usual level of panic, and his mind stopped reeling. His hands were slippy with Agni's blood, and he looked at them with disgust, wiping them on his pant legs. He was barely listening to the bickering duo, only registering that their voices were getting too loud. Just as he opened his mouth to tell them to shut theirs, movement caught his eye in Sebastian's fallen mirror.

"Someone's coming." It was barely a whisper, yet Ciel was heard above their yelling, and the three immediately silenced. A fraction of a second passed before they were on their feet, darting from that hallway.

So caught up in the panic-induced adrenalin, Sebastian didn't notice until too late that his footsteps were the only footsteps he could hear, that somewhere in the past few minutes of sprinting he'd lost both Ciel and Agni. He was just about the turn on his heel, find them before they killed each other, when the sound of calm, walking footfalls reached his ears, and he resumed his escape.