Chapter 16: Veneratio

"Urgh… what happened?" Sebastien groggily woke up. "I feel so tired… and restricted… Wait…!" He could hear and feel a quick pulse on that soft something he was bound to. What seemed unsettling was the moaning and gaspy rounds of breathing he was hearing. When he had regained his focus, he realized that the soft something was actually Ciel's body and the boy had embraced him for some reason. "What happened again? Oh! That Pluto threw me off and…! What am I doing here?!" He squirmed out of the boy's frail grasp and got up to his paws to see what had happened while he was out. The boy seemed to have fainted while holding him close. If the wolf could blush he could've done so.

He walked slowly around the chapel; he still felt sore and the limp on one of his hind legs wasn't advantageous to what might happen. In his point of view, a chandelier had crushed Pluto. He was sure that the hand stretched out under the chandelier was Pluto's since he could see (and smell) the bite marks he had done to it. He was completely impressed and admired the boy's handiwork. "So that was what he was doing."

Speaking of Ciel, the boy was worse than before. In addition to his worsened fever and even labored breathing, bruises had formed all over his body. The wolf could see the bruises on the boy's legs; no doubt that the bruises were also on the other parts of his body considering the number of beatings he had received during the battle. Being sprawled all over the floor wasn't helping his condition either. Sebastien whined and licked the boy's cheeks. "Please wake up. You have to get out of here." He barked near his ear and poked his face with his nose. But the boy remained unconscious and the wolf didn't stop his barking and licking. "Please! Please wake up!" He barked and whined more loudly. But it seemed that his incessant noise woke somebody else up.

To his horror, the chandelier on top of Pluto was moving. It seems that the huge ornament wasn't enough to stop him for good. Pluto grunted as he moved the chandelier on top of him without an arduous effort. He cracked and twisted his arms and his other joints as he slowly stood back up. The broken chandelier toppled over; its decorations shattered and the brass extensions bent to uselessness. Pluto's mad eyes glinted with fury when he saw the wolf growling threateningly at him. The man growled in return to the wolf's taunting pose and charged at him quickly without a slack of his newly recovered strength. Sebastien flew across the chapel and collided with the kneeling benches nearby. The powerful force from Pluto's foot still throbbed and swelled on the wolf's ribs. Sebastien emitted a whining sound as he writhed and almost remained stunned lying on the floor. "Get up! Get up, dammit!!!" He cursed his already weakening and sore body. "Move! Move it!! He's gonna kill Ciel!" He limped very slowly until he returned to the central aisle where the boy was. He despaired when he saw Pluto holding the boy in the air by the neck. What's more, Ciel had woken up and was deprived of his breathing; all the more pain that the wolf felt, seeing how helpless the boy was in the deranged man's grasp. Ciel weakly trashed his legs and he had his hands around Pluto's hands in an effort to loosen the grip on his neck. Sebastien aimed a bite at Pluto's ankle, but he was effortlessly kicked away. The wolf collided again at the nearest kneeling bench; his impact worsened the injury in his ribs. The burning pain was almost overwhelming to the point that he became numb. "Dammit! Iustitia! You're the judge of all, aren't you?! It isn't just for Ciel to die! Not now!"

Ciel was weakening; his legs stopped moving, his eyes coming to a close and his face getting paler due to lack of air. "S…sebas….tien…"

The wolf limped back to the aisle quickly; fearing that he would be hearing that call and breath for the final time…

… And all of a sudden, Pluto passed by him; fleeing and screaming as if he had seen something worthy of being feared. Pluto ran for the door screaming, "Forgiveness!!! Forgiveness!!!". He also destroyed the only door out of fear and desperation to flee. "What was that all about?" Sebastien quickly limped his way to Ciel's body to check if he was still alive. But seeing Ciel taking in huge gulps of air should be enough proof. Nevertheless, he was happy… extremely happy; his heart could burst from that strong emotion. He couldn't resist licking the boy's face; he didn't care if he acted like a silly domesticated dog. Ciel was alive. That's what mattered most of all.

"Ah… kyaa… Sebastien…" Ciel giggled. "My face…"

"Sorry. I'm just…!" Sebastien wagged his tail wildly. "Excited…!"

Ciel sat up and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Do I… look scary…?"

"No. Just 'pretty' scary. But definitely not 'scary' scary."

"I wonder… what scared Pluto so much…?" Ciel glanced behind him. After a few seconds of silence, he muttered, "Oh… I see…"

"What?" He turned his head to the direction Ciel was looking at. Sebastien could only see the holy light of Iustitia's statue giving an almost blinding glare. He took back a few steps to adjust the glaring light on his eyes and blinked a few times. "See what?"

"Time to go, Sebastien…" The boy stopped staring at the statue and slowly got up to his feet. He wobbled out of balance quite a bit; a bit dizzy, but quite bearable enough.

At that moment, whether by coincidence or just the wolf's point of view, Ciel was directly aligned at the radius of Iustitia's holy glow. So, instead of seeing Iustitia, Sebastien saw Ciel bearing that glaring light… and the angel wings. The wolf stared at the boy in an awestruck expression. Ciel failed to notice the almost dumb look at the animal's face. "Oh… hey. You're limping…!"

"An angel…" Sebastien continued to stare at him as if he didn't hear his remark. "No… Iustitia… No… you just look like the goddess…! That Pluto must be that stupid to think that he's strangling a goddess well in fact…"

"You received quite a beating from Pluto. Better take it easy now." Ciel ripped a part of his torn sleeve. "Come here."

Sebastien blinked at him. "Sorry…? Come again?"

Ciel finally noticed the wolf's almost clueless expression. "Something wrong?"

"What did you say again?"

Ciel sighed and repeated his command. "I said, come here."

The wolf limped to him; feeling a bit embarrassed for being absent –minded in admiration. "You must be really injured to be a bit slow right now, hm?" Ciel said as he started wrapping the wolf's leg gently. "Please bear with me…"

"Hmm?" Sebastien stared at the boy's face; not minding the small bouts of pain and Ciel's quick apologies as his leg was being bandaged up. Since they were close to each other, the wolf liked the view of the boy's beautiful face. Perhaps it was alright to say that the boy in front of him was an angel. Not a goddess since… well, he's a boy. Boys can't be goddesses… Angels would do… Ciel was definitely his angel and no one else's. His motivation to serve the boy blazed further when Ciel kissed his forehead.

"I owe you my life." The boy said in a hushed voice and a smile. "Thank you."

"All this angel's kisses and smiles and glances would be for me only and for no one else!" Sebastien's eyes glinted with desire… perhaps obsession, with staring back at the boy's eyes. He liked to describe the boy's sapphire eyes as irresistibly captivating… though the other eye, he had noticed for the first time, had an odd tinge of purple with a few traces of… something… a star maybe?

"Done…!" Ciel said as he finished wrapping up the wolf's injured leg. "Now let's go back… Urghh…"

"Uh-oh…"

"I… I feel so tired…" His posture slackened and voice faded into a moan as he collapsed on Sebastien; though he really didn't mean to. The wolf found himself becoming a pillow again but it wasn't as comfortable as before since his whole body was sore and broken all over. He squirmed out of the boy's weight and gave him a poke on his cheek. When he received no response, he shook his head a bit. "Ah… He fainted again… I should get help." Sebastien formed two options: call Angela or Ash for help. Technically speaking, he made only one choice; he disregarded the latter choice immediately and decided on to call for Angela.

"But she tried to kill him earlier…!" The wolf stopped before he could even reach the broken remnants of the door. "Hell no would I entrust Ciel to that perverted man!"

A minute was spent with Sebastien debating over two choices: A maid with an unpredictable urge to kill? Or a man with occasional urges to molest the boy? Which is a better choice? "Dammit. The safer the better…" If the wolf could grumble, he could've done so. "Guess I have no choice but to get that bastard…"

A/n: Sorry if this chapter looks a bit rushed. I'm stressed out over nothing for some reason. My Christmas vacation didn't feel like a vacation since it includes accomplishing loads of requirements and Take-Home Quizzes. 2 weeks of vacation wasn't even worth it...

Anyways, I'd take a break from writing. Besides this being my last update for the year, there's that huge Writer's Block again... (groan). I want to focus on my studies for the next 4 months... or maybe, just check your e-mail; you'll know when I have updates. So, expect me to update rarely. But hey, at least Pluto wouldn't be bothering Ciel and Sebby much...

Something's wrong with the online English to Latin Translator again... (grumble). The meaning of the title is supposed to be "Adoration" but I changed it into "Respect" instead since it's the closest word I could get with a Latin equivalent.

Replies:

LovelyWickedDescet – I also want to play the game myself, you're not alone. But unfortunately, I don't have a PS2 to play the game. The Bugs Bunny mention just came along like random. Oh, and it's nice to see you again. (:P) Now have a tart and a cup of tea!

Yana5 – He might make a good goddess, but boys can't be goddesses right? Have a treat!