Chapter 18: Certamen

Sebastien went sniffing about in the boy's room. The boy was sleeping his ecstasy and fever off and there was nothing else the wolf could do at the moment.

… But if there was one thing Sebastien liked to do, it was scavenger hunting. Call it a hobby or whatever but the wolf has interest with shiny things; the way that objects twinkled and sparkled fascinated him. The objects he would find or dig up were almost always a beauty worth keeping secret from the rest of the world. He sniffed about in Ciel's room; nothing smelled out of the ordinary from the earth anywhere…

"If you can call a human smelling like blooming roses in the spring ordinary…" He cocked his head towards the sleeping boy. "He is really a beautiful little thing. But I can't keep him even if I want to…" The wolf tried to shake his jealousy out of that annoying, lavender scented man. He gave an irritated snort before trotting off. He would be better off scavenger hunting in the castle grounds. So, he went his way down from the boy's open room to the stairs to the receiving room. Believe it or not, he spent most of his life going in and out all throughout the castle. And since he has instincts of the wild, it was normal for him to scout his surroundings and let his natural curiosity prevail. Thus, he learned that humans make remarkable things like chemicals, materials and even another human being by things called 'machines'. But besides machines and chemicals, he had learned that humans are cruel and heartless. They wouldn't mind if another life was sacrificed or hurt for the sake of satisfying their interests. So far, the interest he had heard was achieving immortality… "Whatever that is…"

He reared up and twisted the doorknob with his paws, along with a pulling action to swing the door ajar. He settled his paws on the ground, quite pleased with himself and used his snout to push the door open and out of his way. "I'm such a smart creature. No wonder I'm such an item for humans…" He thought proudly as he bounded his way out.

Sebastien sniffed and sniffed along the castle grounds and he was getting disappointed at how his hunt was slowly turning into failure. He only picked up scents of buried bones and animal carcass. No minerals or diamonds; nothing special at all.

He walked around the grounds some more. The day was still the same as it was: dull, cloudy and dark; as if the sun had forgotten to set sunlight at the place at all. But consider that as a blessing; at least the temperature wasn't so hot.

"Humans…" A voice drawled near. Sebastien looked up and saw the crazy maid standing near the tree where he was left to die almost. Angela was looking at the withered tree but what her objectives are, the wolf absolutely had no idea.

Angela reached her bruised hands at the withered tree's rotting trunk. "Why am I not perfect?"

Sebastien intriguingly stayed in his place and watched the maid talk. "What is she up to?"

"That filthy little princess…" She said. Though there wasn't any emotion or impact in her voice. "Why is she so precious? Precious, precious little princess…" She clawed the bark off of the tree with her dying nails and then stared as her fingertips swelled once more.

"Isn't that going to hurt?" Sebastien stared in astonishment, but did not move.

She fixed her dull gaze on the bark she carved out. "What makes me inferior to make you choose her over me?" She drawled on and crushed the bark on her hands slowly. "Is she more beautiful than me? Is she complete unlike me? We are of the same things… How…? How? How?" Her lips kept on asking the question again and again until she broke into an insane peal of laughter. She laughed in a way that her body shook like a marionette out of control. Sebastien was completely intimidated by her and barked at her to catch her attention. Thankfully, Angela stopped laughing and fixed her gaze upon the animal instead.

"Uh-oh…" Sebastien braced his paws and jaws to strike anytime if ever the maid snapped into a psychotic trance again. However, the maid spoke again; as if she was conversing to the animal. "I am a woman…"

"Of course…" The wolf thought. He could've rolled his eyes. "What else could you be?"

"She isn't… she isn't a woman… She isn't a woman…!" She went to her knees and grabbed the wolf's face to her as if she was expecting him to speak. "Why does he desire her…? Not me! Not me! Her! That precious little princess! He wants her! She isn't a woman! He wants her! NOT ME! NOT ME! Ahahahahahaha!" She ranted and laughed and waved the wolf's head from side to side. Sebastien got annoyed and tossed his head about to get her hands off of his face, but she held on and focused his face to her eyes.

"Dammit you crazy woman!" The wolf growled. "Get off me!"

"Human to human…" She said blankly. "Beast to beast…"

The latter statement hit Sebastien hard that made him froze in his place. But the maid wasn't finished ranting to him. "Complete to complete… Complete to Incomplete… NO! Human to Beast… NO! Opposites, my dear! The union of Opposites cannot be… CANNOT BE!" She tossed the wolf's head from side to side once more and laughed madly. "CANNOT BE! CANNOT BE! CANNOT BE!"

Sebastien finally snapped and growled at the hyperventilating maid. "You freak!" He tossed his head away from the maid's grasp and ran a distance away from her. "Don't you dare come to me…!" He growled as he backed away. "She's going mad again! I have to make sure that she doesn't kill Ci…"

Then Sebastien stopped at the thought of the boy's name. "Human to Human… Of course… But why?" He sat and started to ponder. "Is it a universal rule?" He stared at Angela who shifted her attention back to the dead tree. "And what is she ranting about? A princess that is not a girl? And who wants who?" He went to his paws to go back to the boy's room when he picked up a foreign scent.

"Finally! Something different!"

"So how's your little project coming along?"

"I… threw it all away…"

…The man he loved was shocked. All the more, he noticed his gloomy and depressed face.

"May I ask why?"

…He looked up sadly into his beloved's eyes but said nothing.

…He felt very sad…

"He doesn't love me anymore…"

"He doesn't love me…" Ciel muttered half-awake. Sebastien barked loudly to wake him up completely. "You're dreaming about weird things again." The wolf thought as he gave the boy a nudge at his cheek. The action woke up Ciel instantly. "Hello, Sebastien…!" He said as he stretched his arms up. "That was a nice nap so far…"

"No doubt about it." Sebastien sat beside the boy. Ciel sat up and gave the wolf a hug and a pat on the head.

"You must be bored Sebastien." Ciel said. "So what did you do while I was sleeping?"

"Scavenger hunting." The wolf thought as a reply and deposited his item for the day in front of the boy. "By the way, I think this ring suits you!"

"Hm?" Ciel picked up the wet object. It was a silver, ornate ring with a huge sapphire crusted in on it. "Wow! Where'd you get this?" He exclaimed as he examined the shiny object closely. "It's a very grand thing! It's beautiful!"

"Same as your eyes…" Sebastien gave an approving bark and started licking the boy's face. The wolf was quite frustrated about the way he was showing affection. Licking faces was all he could do and it wasn't human enough for Ciel to know how much a lick could mean. "The ring suits you very well."

Ciel put the ring on his thumb since, putting the ring on his middle finger spaced the surrounding fingers away because the hugeness of the jewelry. "It's very lovely, Sebastien!" He said as he fiddled the ring around his thumb. "You've given so much to me already that I…" He paused and looked at the wolf sitting beside him. "I wonder what you're thinking to give me an item like this? I couldn't thank you enough…" He blushed as he stared at the ring again. "It's like an engagement ring…"

"A what…?"

"Do you know what an engagement ring is, Sebastien?" Ciel wrapped an arm around the wolf. "It is something that binds two people with love and devotion and nobody else… or maybe something else." He paused for a bit; quite unsure about the real meaning of 'engagement'. "But I'm not sure that's what it means… Or is it a wedding ring…?"

"Nevermind that!" Sebastien moved close to the boy. "Engagement ring or Wedding ring or whatever ring that is, it means you're mine, then!" The wolf concluded. "Human to Human… Beast to Beast isn't it? I'll break that rule! See that I can!"

"Funny… I'm engaged to you, Sebastien!" Ciel laughed as he embraced the wolf fully. "I wonder what I could give you to tell everyone that we're actually engaged?" He giggled. "That would be a funny thing to tell Ash…"

Sebastien growled.

"Oh…!" Ciel remembered how he molested the man and a blush returned to his face. "I almost forgot! What should I do? I harassed him!"

"Hmph! That guy deserved it!" The wolf snorted in annoyance. "And I thought we're engaged…!"

Ciel got out of his bed and proceeded to the drawers. "I must find him immediately and apologize!" He said as he chose his outfit carefully: a black, silk ribbon; cotton, white, long and bell-cuffed sleeved shirt; dark gray waistcoat and a pair of shorts. In other words, his usual wardrobe. But he still can't get used to the fact that his shorts were thigh-high; too revealing. But that's all he had for now. He sighed as he started buttoning out his night-shirt. "I wonder what I'm going to say to him…"

Sebastien took all the liberty he had to look at the boy's garment-free body. "No wonder that pervert loves to touch you."

Ash thought his scheme all over. The boy had kissed him and that meant something.

… There was something he can't quite define. Of all the things he had done so far, this was the first time he had thought over the next things he would do. The plan was to build up some sort of 'attachment' to the boy and let that attachment enable him to use the Azoth. That was the plan but somehow…

"Why?" He frowned as his hands unconsciously played the piano. He felt… resentful. Why? Why did he feel that there was something wrong with his plans?

… No, it was probably the music affecting his thinking. Yes it does…

Not so far away, Angela watched him play the piano flawlessly. He unconsciously played a seemingly soothing melody; somehow nostalgic for her. She was dusting the balcony's railings until he entered the room and started playing. She stopped and listened intently.

Ash's voice broke through the piece he was playing; finally recognizing her presence. "Don't you have anything else to do, Angela?"

She resumed her chore in silence and he kept on playing. Finally, when he hit the final note, she spoke again. "Why her?"

He sighed in annoyance as he tidied up the piano. "Are we going to discuss this again?"

"My master said I'm a perfect woman." She said slowly. "Why do you desire that filthy princess and not me?"

"Don't you dare insult him, Angela."

She suddenly quickened her tempo of speaking; somehow tensed. "We're made of the same things! What makes her any different?"

He stood up from the bench and glared at her. "He has what I want and…" His sentence lingered; apparently trying to term that thing that the boy alone has, but he cannot define it entirely. He shook his head to forget about it and wished nothing more but to conclude the conversation. "Don't you understand anything, woman?"

"What is it that I lack?"

"Everything." He said flatly.

"NO!" She screamed and her expression changed into distress and complete anxiety. She tore her uniform's front open and showed to him her flawless and completely feminine body. "I… I have everything a woman has! My f-face…! My breasts…! My waist…! Everything…!" She tore her dress completely and showed her everything to him. "I am a woman…!" She cried. "I have everything!"

He looked at her naked form and stood completely unmoved. "The essence of a woman." He said and closed the piano. "That is what you lack." And in his thoughts, he continued: "…And something more that you don't have."

A tear leaked out of her eye. "Essence…?" She collapsed to her knees, staring at his retreating form. "I lack… essence…?"

"I have no use for you." He left the room without a glance. She hung her head low, hopeless, disappointed. It wasn't fair…

It's definitely not fair…

She contemplated…

She plotted…

She smiled and looked up; a glint of twisted hope in her eyes.

"Azoth…"

A/n: Yay! I'm back! Let's just say I said in my New Year's Resolution that I'll finish this fanfic before I get around to make new ones. So first of, let me finish this one.

I'm sorry dudes, but Hell In A Cup will be waiting for a while!

I will update this fanfic monthly since I said in my New Year's Resolution to write 1 chapter per day so that I'll finish this whole thing faster! Once I get the entire fanfic done, I could update from monthly to weekly!

So, see you on February 11!

Please review! It helps me to keep going! Also, visit DeviantArt and look for the Iunctum of Adversus blank meme! But only if you're bored though!

*shot for shameless self promotion*