The Phantomhive Estate:

The cold of the room was what woke up Ciel and immediately he knew something was wrong. It was cold. Even the thickness of the covers couldn't keep it out. The only source of warmth was his naked body pressed up against his equally naked wife. He stirred slowly, careful not to wake his sleeping wife off as he slowly rolled out of bed. He threw on his robe and walked over to the window and pulled aside the drapes. His room faced the back of the mansion and he looked down at the garden now covered in a blanket of snow.

"Sebastian." He whispered the name, knowing full well his butler would hear him. A whole minute passed by but nothing. He touched his eye and once again called to him, his anger rising.

"Ciel… Why is it so cold?" Ciel turned to see his wife upright in bed as she clutched the covers to her chest. For a second, Ciel forgot all about Sebastian as his loving bride sat upon his bed. Seeing him staring, Elizabeth looked away from his gaze and sank deeper into the covers, trying to cover her blushing body.

"I don't know. Stay here, I'll go see what's going on." Ciel, flustered himself, looked away and started dressing himself with last night's clothes. Everything was unusual this morning. Sebastian would always come in and wake him up, his bed tea would be prepared and his clothes would be clean, pressed, and ready.

Ciel gave Elizabeth one last look as he stepped out of his room and made his way downstairs.

"Sebastian! Bard! Finny!" He called out to his servants but not one appeared. "Where is everyone?!" He stalked angrily towards the servants quarters and burst into Sebastian's room.

"Sebastian!" He said angrily and yet when he looked, the room was empty. The bed was already made, or perhaps untouched from last night. The only odd thing was the open cupboard and he walked over to it, swinging the door open wider to find several sets of clothing and a few personal items. "Where the hell is he?"

Ciel muttered to himself as he barged into the other servants room. "Oi! Wake up!"

"Oh!" Finny was the first one up, immediately scrambling out of his bed. "Master?!" Finny exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes. "What is it young master? Is everything alright?"

"No it isn't! What time is it? Why aren't you guys up? And where is Sebastian?"

"I don't know… Sebastian… I'm not sure, he usually wakes us up...but master, what is it? Is everything alright?" Finny looked at the disheveled master in his crumples clothes and messed up hair.

"Wake up the others and come out right now." Ciel did not wait for a reply as Finnian immediately began to shake Bard. He stormed out of the room and was almost out of the servants quarters when he ran into MeyRin.

"Oh! Good morning, Master! I was just on my way to wake up Lady Elizabeth."

"MeyRin, have you seen Sebastian?"

"No…" She trailed off, wondering if she should tell her master that the last she'd seen him was when he left her crying in her room.

"I see. The others are waking up. Wake up Elizabeth and prepare breakfast. It is late already." MeyRin watched her master walk away with a grim expression on his face.

"Where is Sebastian?" MeyRin thought as she quickly walked off to wake up Lady Elizabeth.

Somewhere in Hell:

"Sebastian." Aragon said as he escorted Sebastian back to his room. Sebastian ignored him as he observed his possible escape routes. His master was calling him, the proof was the aching in his left hand from not being able to respond to Ciel's beckoning.

"Sebastian!" Aragon said again, glaring at his half brother.

"I'm not deaf." Sebastian replied curtly.

"Then why don't you answer the first time I call you?"

"Simple. I don't wish to speak to you. You've escorted me to my room, now leave me alone." Sebastian almost shut the door in Aragon's face but Aragon caught Sebastian's arm just in time. Knowing full well that he was in pain, Aragon squeezed Sebastian's arm hard. Sebastian, his body already weak from the poison, winced in pain.

"You're master is calling you. Too bad you can't answer." This time Sebastian glared at Aragon, expecting to see a smug expression. Instead, Sebastian was surprised to find something else in Aragon's eyes.

"What is it?" Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You need to cancel your contract with Ciel Phantomhive. You have no further reason to continue it. From now on, you will stay here by father's side." Aragon said, letting go of Sebastian's hands.

"My contract with my master is my business. Do not interfere in affairs that are not yours. Hear me loud and clear, I am NOT staying here."

"Father said-"

"Did you not hear me? I said I am NOT staying here. What you or your king says is irrelevant." Sebastian said coldly.

Aragon held Sebastian's flaming gaze for a moment before rolling his eyes and looking away. "We shall see."

"Yes, we shall." With that, Sebastian shut the door in his brother's face. "I need to get out of here and fast." Sebastian shook his head as he looked around the room. "But how?"

Just then, there was a knock on his door.

"May I come in?" A soft voice echoed from the other side of the door before Sebastian could open it.

"Yes." Sebastian watched as a pale face with dark hair and red orb like eyes peeked in and smiled at him. "Aria, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to see how you are doing…" She trailed off, her eyes wandering around the room. They stopped on a small box sitting on one of the tables before darting back to meet Sebastian's identical red eyes.

"I see. Come in." Aria entered the room and shut the door behind her. Sebastian escorted her to one of the armchairs before taking a seat himself. They sat in awkward silence as they looked at each other.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Aria finally asked when Sebastian did not look away.

"You look so much like mother." Sebastian said suddenly, surprising himself. It had been ages since he'd spoken of his mother.

Aria's eyes widened and her face reddened as she grew flustered and looked away. They remained silent for several seconds more before Aria mustered the courage to look at Sebastian again and speak. "Father says that too."

"I see." He looked at Aria again, observing her face closely. He was right, she did resemble their mother. She had that perfect pale skin and heart shaped lips. Her nose was pointed at the tip and her jaw was strong, but not enough to resemble that of a man. Her eyes were big and lined with kohl the way their mom had.

"So...I heard about what happened at breakfast. One of the servants said you did not speak to father at all." Aria said as she clasped her hands.

"Since when did you become such a lady?" Sebastian asked, ignoring his sister's question about today's breakfast.

"Sebastian, answer me. Why won't you speak to father properly? You haven't seen him or us in centuries. Didn't you miss us?" Aria said, suddenly cutting to the chase. Her regal appearance was replaced and Sebastian was suddenly reminded of the child that his sister once was.

"I take that back, you are still as childlike as you were. Only your appearance has matured." Sebastian sat back and watched his little sister's face darken. She looked angry but he could see she was trying to control it. His lips twitched into a smile as he watched her trying to keep her cool.

"I'm surprised. You used to be quite spoiled. I'm glad to see a few centuries has changed that." Both of them remained quiet as they remembered what had happened in the past, when both were younger and their mother was still around.

"Sebastian." Aria said, a sad expression suddenly masking her face.

"Yes?"

"You will stay, won't you?" Sebastian could hear the pleading in her soft voice.

"I cannot stay, Aria."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"But…"

"But what?" He rose a brow, waiting for her reasoning.

"If you don't stay...you will die." Sebastian did not expect that.

"Why...why would you say that?" Sebastian asked as he leaned in.

"Aragon said so. He said that if you don't end your contract with that human, you will continue to grow weak and die because you haven't consumed a human soul in so long."

"Aria, I will consume Ciel Phantomhive's soul but not yet. I have to fulfill my contract first." Sebastian said, standing up and turning away. Aria remained silent. "And one more thing." Sebastian said over his back. "I will not die."

The Phantomhive Estate:

It was a week since Sebastian's disappearance. Nothing Ciel did or said brought him back. His trip to the states was postponed, mainly because his butler was missing in action. But that all changed that evening.

It was around dinner time when the loud knock resounded inside the mansion and MeyRin ran to open the door. She was surprised to see the man standing before her, barely able to recognize him with all the red, but those piercing green eyes gave him away.

"Grell? Madame Red's butler?!" MeyRin knew he wasn't only that, he was also Sebastian's admirer. The sudden thought of Sebastian brought her heartache back, her thoughts once again flitting back to the night he'd disappeared.

"MeyRin the maid, where is your master?" Grell said, uninterested in the woman.

"He's having supper with my lady." MeyRin said.

"Well then, I guess I'll join him." Before MeyRin could say anything, Grell pushed past her and made his way inside. He followed the scent of food directly to the dining room where he found Ciel sitting alongside his new wife, silently chatting away.

"Hello, Ciel Phantomhive." Grell said.

Ciel, who'd just risen his fork to his mouth, looked up and immediately dropped it. The last person...reaper he'd ever thought to see was Grell.

"Grell!" Ciel immediately rose out of his chair. Elizabeth alarmingly followed her husband.

"Master, I'm sorry! He just barged in!" MeyRin said quickly as she walked in behind Grell.

"What are you doing here?" Ciel said, trying to regain his dignity by calmly trying to assess the situation. Why could the reaper be here? His eyes lit up, wondering if it had anything to do with his missing butler.

"I assume you know Bessie is gone?" Grell said, using his favorite nickname for Sebastian.

"And I assume you know where he is." Ciel said, staring into Grell's green eyes.

"Always one to get to the point. If you must know," Grell walked up to the table and winked at Elizabeth who was staring at him before looking back at Ciel, a playful expression on his face. "I do know where he is."

"And where is that?" Ciel asked.

"Where he belongs, silly human. Our sweet Sebastian is back in hell."

Note: I know it's taken a very long time to update and I apologize for that. This is a short chapter and it took several attempts to write it but I hope you liked it. I will try to update again as quickly as possible. You were promised some fluff for Ciel and Elizabeth last chapter, but unfortunately it will have to wait. Still, I will try to start working on this story again and make all my readers happy. As always, I appreciate your patience and support and please leave reviews to tell me how it's going. ❤️❤️❤️