Thorns

Summary: AU. Sebastian, an aristocrat of the Michaelis family, one day came across a small, frail boy allowing himself to die on the middle of a pathway. Taking him in, he learns about the boys true past and his life-threatening illness.

Rated: T+

Chapter Nine

'Ciel... Ciel...!'

They sound loud, as if in panic. Why were they in panic? Weren't his parents holding him in a firm hug? Weren't they there for him? It was dark, cold. He knew he was asleep, so why was it so... Ciel couldn't think of the words to describe it.

'Just let go.' let go of what? He didn't have anything to let go of, did he? He was just... hold on, was he holding onto something? If he held onto something… Something flickered, something red. Sitting up slowly, he looked round, looking at the red light glow and shimmer. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Getting to his feet, he followed it, despite the fact that his mind screamed at him not to. Moments later, the light stopped; making Ciel stop as well as he stared at it. It was darting about; circling him like a lion would a lamb. Ciel tried to keep up with it, but it kept disappearing from his sight before flashing back into view.

When it vanished fully and left Ciel in the dark, he clutched at his head, clenching his eyes shut and shouting.

'SEBASTIAN!'

"Stop resisting me you little brat!" hissed John angrily, feeling the thrashing boy beneath him shout in his face, trying to head butt him in his attempts to break free. The two corpses of his parents sat motionless at his side, losing the illusion since Ciel wasn't behaving. Small hands tried to pry the hands away from his throat and crying out, spitting out the blood that flowed from his bottom lip out.

"S-Stop..." came the dry response, flinching when he felt a hard slap come across his cheek. His eyes stung, but he still refused to cry. His stomach clenched painfully, blood surging up his throat and dribbling out his lips. A purple eye flashed open, cracking further as his fingers twitched, reaching up and scratching at John's wrist.

"I can't believe I searched for you for twoyears." snarled John, half caring that he was strangling Ciel and crushing him to the floor. He was more than pissed. He was hungry, and the boy before him point-blank refused to hand any of his soul over. Not even his blood had any traces of soul in it. "Give it to me!"

"No... N-No..."

Jumping back, Sebastian ducked and then looked up at the dagger that was just above his head as he reached out, grabbing the toothy males wrist before forcefully swinging him at a wall. Getting to his feet, he reached up and traced the line of blood trickling down his cheek and sighed.

After hearing Ciel say something about his parents through his mind, he had leapt out of the cupboard and knocked out anybody who got in his way. So far, no one had been a problem other than the person he was dealing with. He came out of no where, swooping down and slashing at his head, only managing to make a large gash across the left side of his face. Sadly, it had caught in his hair, causing some of it to be cut off.

"My, it cost quite a bit of money to get that hairstyle." said Sebastian, pulling of fake hurt in his expression while being slightly mocking. "I thought you would have known better than to aim for the hair."

"Your acting a little too relaxed for being in an enemy's territory, SebastianMichaelis." muttered the toothy man, getting to his feet while rubbing at his wrist. "That is still the name you go by, is it not?"

"It's the name I have gone by since the day I was born." Sebastian's eyes glinted. "Of course, if you are talking about the demon inside me, I don't believe I have asked what his name is, not that I'm interested."

"You are one strange demon..."

"You are one hideous servant." Sebastian took a step back, ducking down before rolling out the way, jumping upwards over a dining table and scraping his hand over the silk sheet, picking up some silverware as he landed on the other side, his eyes focusing as he threw one of the knives, smirking when it caught off the others cheek. That's one way to get revenge.

Although, he was starting to feel guilty since the person before him was a full human. It could be counted as cheating since he had a demon on his side. Then again, this human was incredibly strong and-

When did the toothy male get in front of him? The only reason Sebastian had noticed the man was in front of him was because of the knife that was stabbed into his shoulder. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt that much. Grabbing the mans wrist, he twisted it until it snapped before he kicked it out the way, his tailcoat fluttering.

"Ah. You ruined my coat. That is unacceptable." growled Sebastian, walking forwards and stepping onto the guys gut and pushing down, his eyes glinting in distaste. He kept the silverware knife in his hand as he reached down to stab the male through the chest when he heard screaming, in his head and nearby.

"IT ISN'T YOURS! LET GO OF ME, NOW!"

Sebastian froze before snapping out of it, booting the toothy male across the room and throwing the knife before turning and running.

Hitting a nearby wall, Ciel got to his feet again, clenching his fists as he looked upwards, looking at the demon who was before him. It seemed he really had angered him now, and he didn't like what he was seeing.

When he saw Sebastian's true form, he was shocked to see that it still looked somewhat human, but then again, it may have been the demons choice to look like that. The only difference was that it had claws, sharper teeth and menacing blood-red eyes with that horrid aura it gave off.

John Anderson's true form was scary. Black wings decorated his shoulders, stretching out and surrounding Ciel's small frame and trapping him against the wall, clawed hands gripping on his shoulders as heeled boots clicked dangerously, fanged teeth gritting together as John's head leaned down, teeth opening and grazing across the delicate skin of Ciel's neck.

Since when did demon turn into damn vampires? Straining himself, Ciel pressed against the wall, feeling his shoulders being gripped tightly as he tensed his muscles, which it the worst thing to do when he was about to get hurt. His eyes were clenched shut and his breathing was ragged. He flinched when he felt those teeth against his neck, shaking internally. With Sebastian, it didn't require any physical contact; it only required him to leak some of his soul when necessary, but if he done it here, John would get it too.

Pushing his hands against John's chest, he tried to push him away, but he couldn't. He was too weak. Too small and fragile. He was pathetic...

"Give it to me..." Ciel shook his head, crying out when his purple eye cracked some more. Blinking, he choked when he felt the skin on his neck being scraped, his purple eye widening as it glowed brightly.

"Let. Me. Go." hissed Ciel, shocked that the demon actually done as he asked. Looking forwards, he let a smile crossed his face as John just stood there, growling as he clutched at his clawed hand. Ciel stayed still, his eye still glowing as his head darted to the side, his face brightening as he spotted Sebastian coming through.

"Sebast-"

SMACK. Ciel could hear Sebastian's yells as he hit the wall and crumpled to the floor, clutching at the back of his head before letting it go, looking at his hand to see sticky blood running down his fingers. Was he bleeding? But it... didn't hurt...

He could hear growling and hissing, the clash of steel on steel. Eyes flickering, Ciel glanced up, his minds feeling hazy.

Sebastian was struggling. He only had silverware to fight with while this thingbefore him had steel like claws. Strangely enough, he wasn't doing too badly. Out of the four knives he had, he still had three, one being knocked out from his grip and landing near Ciel's head.

It was hard to land a hit on the demon before him since he was protecting himself with steel claws, before attacking him. Sebastian only just managed not to get stabbed in the gut, before throwing himself to the side, stabbing the demon in the arm before tearing it across, blood splattering across his face in a disgusting way.

He darted round the room, ignoring the corpses that made him sick before freezing momentarily, nearly stepping on Ciel, but a moment was all John needed.

Grabbing Sebastian by the throat, he smashed him into the ground, using his magic to make Sebastian's mind go hazy.

"I never did like you." hissed John, tightening his grip on the raven's throat and watching in delight as blood was brought up. "You always bet me in trades. Little did I know you were actually something more that human. A human with one of the strongest demons sealed inside him."

"At least I was born human-!" Sebastian choked as he felt claws sig into the sides of his neck. If he didn't do something now, he was going to die, the demon screaming in his head told him that enough. Closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening the once more, they glowed a bright red. He was just about to lunge forward and strangle-

STAB. Blood sprinkled across his face, but he knew it wasn't his own. John flopped on top of him, who he immediately shrugged off before looking up, seeing Ciel standing weakly, the silverware knife clutched tightly in his hands.

"I thought you were… here to save me…" muttered Ciel, dropping the knife and falling to his knees, clutching at his head. "To think… I saved you instead. I thought you were stronger than that, Sebastian."

"Well, at least you were on more familiar terms that I was on demons." said Sebastian, leaning forwards to catch the boy who fell forwards. "I only came here to get you back, not fight with a master-obsessed human and a demon."

"Heh…" Ciel opened his right eye, letting it water as his cracked orb slowly repaired itself. He felt Sebastian hold him tightly, smiling just slightly but then covered his eyes as he glanced at the corpses in the corner.

"I'll make sure they receive a proper burial in the Phantomhive grounds and have fresh flowers delivered there." said Sebastian, petting the boys head before pulling it back, looking at the blood trickling down his fingers. "I need to get you back to my manor so I can treat you."

Ciel nodded weakly, his eyes closing as he slumped against Sebastian's chest, his breathing slightly hitched as he searched for warmth. Sebastian let a smirk cross his face as he picked Ciel up and marched right out, laughing softly.

When they got home, Sebastian had bandaged Ciel's head, placed a long, brown plaster across his left cheek to hide the bruising and dressed him in warm layers, tucking him. He looked so fragile and so weak.

Sitting next to Ciel's bedside, Sebastian read a book before turning his attention back to the small boy, who had just let out a small whimper as he turned his head. Ever since he was brought back from 'that place', he had always tossed and turned, probably from nightmares.

It was quite understandable. He was forced to sit with his parents corpses and Sebastian could tell they'd been manipulated to a certain extent. He had done as promised, gotten them buried and letting Ciel lay flowers at their graves. It wasn't the brightest of ideas, considering Ciel had collapsed shortly after that from straining himself, but a promise was a promise.

Getting to his feet, Sebastian gave a small bow before exiting the room, shutting the door quietly as he let a smile crawl across his face, walking down the dark hallway and into his office, opening a drawer and pulling out a file.

Name: Ciel Phantomhive

Age: 12

Class: Aristocrat

Info:

Height: - 152cm

Weight:-5¾ stone

Bought at an underground auction, Mr. Ciel Phantomhive seems to be a shy, nervous young boy. When questioned about his parents, he ran into a separate bedroom. When asked where he used to stay, he remained silent.

Quite fragile and easily restless, Ciel Phantomhive is often plagued by nightmares and tends to wake up screaming through the night and looks for the sharpest object he can find in the room. Whether or not it is to harm others or himself is difficult to decide.

On further date, Ciel Phantomhive is now the Queen's watchdog, and has managed to survive his first task from the Queen, but just barely. He is sure to become one who will always be remembered.

Sliding the file back into the cabinet, Sebastian smiling widely before his expression faltered, hearing screams erupt from Ciel's bedroom and making him run.

He had rescued a bluebird trapped in the thorns, all he had to do was heal the wounds left behind.

A/N: Last Chapter is tommorow (December 20th). It's not the END end though, the sequel 'Thorns II: Finding a Bluebird' while be published in January, along with the sequel to my Katekyo Hitman Reborn! fanfic sequel 'Pieces II: Hunting the White Devil'.

See ya all tommorow for the last chapter, thanks for all the lovely reviews!

P.S, I think I have issues with ending the stories beginning a series in ten chapters, don't you think? Oh we;;~

~Sky~