Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji, but damn I wish I did! Gomenasai, kiddies! It's been, like, 1000 years!(AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!)

Chapter : The Journey...

The rest is a blur. The bonfire is out, leaving only darkness. Ciel's eye began to glow so brightly, it illuminated the entire camp. Each foreign face was a face glowing of curiosity, digust, but more importantly, fear.

Alois's tongue began to the same. Fortunately, he was not noticed.

While the Yeji Kobu were distracted, Ciel tore the ropes that kept him bound and sprinted towards the dark, forest path, the tribal men hot on his tail.

Alois stuck a trembling, shaking hand out into the air and yanked Ciel by his arm and into the brush where he hid. Ciel recoiled, and struck out at the unknown shadow that stood beside him.

" Ciel, stop." Alois said, but the raven-haired boy began to yell and flail about.

" Ciel, stop this! Stop—stop that this instant! It's me, Alois!" The raven came to and abrupt stop. His eyes searched through the darkness, trying desperately to find any semblance of a face. He reached out blindly, and after being satisfied with a protest from the blonde-haired boy, somewhere along the lines of, ' I'm not an apparition, you know!', he crouched low on his knees, and began to shiver violently on the forest floor.

" Alois. . . . . . we have to get out of here."

" I know that. . . . . . .. . wait. Our contracts glowed. Does that mean our servants are nearby?" the blonde asked.

" I d-don't. . . . . . I . . . I don't know anymore. I don't know how many times I've tried to contact Sebastien, the bastard." he responded.

So. Ciel was in the same boat he was.

" Neither do I." Alois said.

And one, unbeknownst to the other, had this dark, burning, twisting feeling deep inside his stomach. It dared, threatened to take over, but the boy pushed it down deep into the crevices of his mind.

He hated fear.

But suprisingly it was Alois who stood up first, though the pending darkness, its hands frigid and cold, reached to the concious mind that was Trancy and made him shiver.

Ciel's eyes were filled with such fiery, blinding determination to find what belonged to him, so much so that Alois felt the heat radiate from his small, slender frame.

" Let's go." he said.

Alois looked at him incredulously.

" But where do we start?"

" Let's get back to London, of course."

" But how?" the blonde asked.

Ciel stopped. He looked pensive and calculating.

" Alois, I believe I was drugged when I came here."

Alois thought that sounded familiar. He was going to take a carraige to the nearby town to look for Claude there, but as he got in, he saw a shadow. Just then, the shadow lunged and he couldn't breath. Afterwards. . . . . nothing. He just found himself there, in that damned forest.

" I believe we both were. Was it a carraige ride?" he asked.

" And how did you know?"

" It's what happened to me."

They both were quiet. Then Alois asked,

" So how do we get back?"

Ciel looked him with a serious expression.

" I suppose we'll have to figure that out along the way, won't we?" he answered. It sounded more of a mutter than a response.

Alois became resigned to the fact that Ciel could not be swayed from his path.

Vice versa.

" But how do we know where we are, Ciel? I'd like to know where I am before I go asking the locals!" he protested.

" We won't know where we are unless we ask the locals. Imbecile!" the raven-haired boy said in annoyance.

" Oh, shut up, you pompous ass! It isn't like you came up with something better!" Alois yelled back.

" You didn't come up with anything at all, you cross dressing freak!"

" Says the boy who dressed as a 'young robin' at Vicount Druitt's ball!" he countered.

How did Alois. . . . . if this got out, his reputation would be tarnished.

" Alois, if you tell a soul about this, I'll gut you like a fish myself!"

" What? I can't help that you're a bit of a . . . . . . transvestite." he said. Suddenly, Ciel became smug. Alois cocked his head to the side in confusion. What was he thinking?

" Oh really, now? Please tell me you didn't forget. . ."

" Forget what?"

" You needn't call me a transvestite. Who was the boy at my ball that dressed as a certain purple maid to supposedly—he looks at his fingernails—'become one with me'?"

Alois would've blushed had it not been for his remaining shred of pride. Ciel smirked gloatingly at his victory over the blonde Earl.

Then, silence. The young earls continued walking down the now clear, forest path. Owls neatby hooted, and fluttering their wings, flew away.

Seconds turned to minutes, and then to an hour, to an hour and ten minutes. No one spoke.

"So. . . . . . ." said Alois, trying to break the now awkward silence between them.

" So?" questioned the raven-haired boy.

" You do know we are still enemies, yes?"

" Very much so." he said.

" Oh, Claude," Alois sighed, " I wish you were here. You could save me from this darkness. . . . ."

More silence.

The Phantomhive boy was pensive about his own butler. Those scarlet eyes, that almost (most likely) decietful smirk.

Oh yes, he was the perfect example of giving in to tempation.

' My pawn. . . . .. . . . my favorite pawn . . . . . ' the boy thought.

The demonic butler was a puzzle to him. One that needed to be solved, and quick, for he knew he could be tricked at any time. He was taunting him, teasing, and waiting for that one moment to steal his future. In all actuality, it was already gone. Once the contract was fufilled, it will be the end of Ciel Phantomhive.

Yet he trusted him. Though he would never admit this to anyone else, including himself, he clung to the butler. In a way, it almost digusted the boy how dependant he was on him. His very disposition captivated him. How could something so evil, yet so utterly perfect, co-exist in this world with something so full of flaws?

He would find himself studying the demonic servant for hours at a time while he performed various tasks. He often waited for the chance, that one moment when the flawless servant would slip up. His face visibly softened, and he almost blushed, had it not been for Alois walking right beside him.

" Ciel?" the said blonde boy asked.

Ciel snapped out of the his reverie and looked at him.

" Yes?"

" I think this is it." he said, and pointed to the bustling village up ahead. They sped toward it.