A/N Whoooo~ Sorry for the later than planned update, everyone. It completely slipped my mind to mention – I went surfing for the first time last weekend! And I came home feeling so sore everywhere – professional surfer definitely isn't going on my college application, lawl.

Anyways, I feel like such a derp face for forgetting about it. I'M SORRY! DX I'm just such a naturally forgetful person!

Disclaimer: They once told me how I could own it, but then I forgot about it. BECAUSE I FORGET THINGS DX

Chapter Twelve – Reunited At Last

Prince Alois studied the ground with great care. "Someone has beaten a giant." He stood slowly, a dark aura seeping from his form. "There will be great suffering in Guilder if he dies," the prince seethed. Then he jumped on his horse, and continued on the path.

"How does he even know that someone fought a giant?" One of the guardsmen whispered behind his hand. Another shrugged back at him. Prince Alois had magic tracking powers, after all.

xXx

"Put me down this instant! I command you!"

Ciel pounded fruitlessly at the man in black's back. The tall figure seemed not to even notice, patting his prey as he hung limply over his shoulder. "Resistance is futile."

But his back seemed to hurt enough that he lifted Ciel up, and sat his on the ground. Angrily, the young man got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Dammit," he mumbled. "All right, look, if you release me, whatever you want in ransom, you'll get it! I promise!"

The man in black raised his eyebrows from behind the mask. "And what is that worth, your promise? You're very funny, Highness."

Ciel glared. "I was giving you a warning! Prince Alois is the greatest hunter in all of Florin." He stood up, and walked over to send his death-glare straight into the man in black's soul. "He can track a falcon on a cloudy day, he can find you."

The man in black, however, seemed unfazed by the sinister aura before him. "So, you think your dearest love will come save you?"

For a moment, Ciel lost his composure, a look of disgust crossing his face. "I never said he was my dearest love!" He shook his head. "And yes, he will save me. That I know."

The man in black walked in a slow circle around Ciel. "So you admit, you do not love the Prince," he mused, stroking his chin.

Ciel lowered his eyes. "He knows I do not love him."

"Are not capable of love is more like it!" The man in black replied sharply, the first time he had revealed any kind of emotion. Ciel's gaze snapped upward.

"I have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream!"

He flinched, as the man in black raised a gloved hand to smack him. He lowered it, but when he spoke, it was a voice filled with emotion Ciel could never have put a name to. "That was a warning, Highness. Next time, my hand flies on its own, for where I come from, there are penalties when someone lies."

And he picked up Ciel yet again, and slung him over his shoulder, and began to yet again race across the high ridges.

xXx

The blond prince sniffed the now empty bottle with great disdain. "Iocaine," he announced, "I bet my life on it!" He looked around, and pointed off into the horizon. "And there are the princess's footprints. She is alive, or was, an hour ago." He stood yet again, turning to face his enraptured audience, he growled, "If she is anything but when I find her, I shall be very put out."

The guardsmen shivered in awe at their heroic prince, who leapt back onto his horse (geez, his butt must be so sore by now) and took off to follow the faint footprints in the ground.

xXx

The man in black threw Ciel on the ground again, quickly adjusting his mask. Ciel coughed, and struggled to stand up. "I know who you are," he rasped. "Your cruelty reveals all! You're the Dread Pirate Michaelis, admit it!"

The man in black – Michaelis, he was now – bowed. "With pride," he said casually. "What may I do for you?"

Ciel narrowed his eye. "You can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces."

Michaelis shook his head and clicked his tongue. "That was rude, Highness. Tell me, why do you hate me so?"

Ciel stared at him steadily. "You killed my love," he said softly, as though only just coming to the realization that yes, he was standing in front of the man who had ripped apart everything.

Michaelis shrugged. "It's possible," he said. "I've killed a lot of people. Tell me about this love of yours," he said, walking around to sit on a boulder opposite. "Was he a prince, just like this one? Ugly, scabby, rich?"

"No." Ciel looked over his shoulder. "He was a butler. Poor." His voice lowered to an almost whisper. "Poor and perfect. With eyes like the fire of a thousand suns." His gaze wandered, to stare off into the distance. Suddenly, he looked back speaking with more malice than ever before. "On the high seas, your ship attacked. And the Dread Pirate Michaelis never takes prisoners."

Michaelis shrugged again. "Can't afford to make exceptions," he reasoned, lounging back. "Once word gets out you've gone soft, people start to disobey you and then it's nothing but work, work, work all the time!"

"You mock my pain!" Ciel cried. Tears shone in his eyes.

"Life is pain, Highness," Michaelis said hardly. "Anyone who says otherwise is selling something."

Ciel looked away, biting his lip in an effort to restore what little composure he had left. The look in Michaelis' eyes softened just a little, and he stood up to make his way over to where the young man was sitting. "I think I remember this butler of yours," he said. "This would have been, what, three years ago?"

Ciel said nothing. Michaelis leaned down closer. "Does it bother you to hear?" He said quietly.

"Nothing you can say will affect me," Ciel said, refusing to meet the taller man's eyes. He straightened again, and continued.

"He died well, that should please you," he said. "No bribe attempts or blubbering. He simply said 'Please. Please, I need to live.'" He turned to face Ciel again. "It was the please that caught me. I asked him what was so important, why he needed to live. 'True love,' he replied."

Michaelis once again moved closer to Ciel, his voice losing its soft quality and becoming harsh and cold. "And then he spoke of a boy, of unwavering beauty and faithfulness, I can only assume he meant you. Tell me, did you run straight off to your prince right away or did you wait a whole three weeks out of respect for the dead?"

Ciel stood up straight, facing Michaelis. Tears spilled over and poured down his cheeks, as he grabbed the man by his shirt. "You mocked me once, never do it again!" he roared. "I died that day!"

At that moment, the sound of horses whinnying caught both of their attentions. Michaelis narrowed his eyes, spying the prince among all of them. Ciel, seeing his chance, made his move at last.

"You can die too, for all I care," he muttered, and shoved Michaelis down the rather steep hill they were standing at the top of.

He felt an immense amount of satisfaction as he watched the black figure tumble down the slope. But as it spun and flailed, three words echoed back up to him, carried by the breeze. "Yes... My... Lord..."

Suddenly the whole world started to spin for Ciel. He recalled the voice that had spoken to him earlier, and the eyes, the red orbs that burned out from behind the mask. And a realization hit him like a sucker punch to the gut.

"Oh, my dear Sebastian," he breathed. "Oh, what have I done?"

And he threw himself of the top of the hill to follow.

A/N DUN DUN DUNNNN! The true reunion scene, as well as the lovely Fire Swamp, are featured next chapter.

So I figured out why I forget things all the time. It's because my whole brain has been taking up MEMORIZING THIS GODDAMNED BOOK/MOVIE! And those ten other movies that I know off by heart, too. I really have no life, T_T

Anyone wanna review? They are the SESSHOMARU-SAMAAAA to my Jaken~