A/N: Hey, guys! Contrary to rumor, I have not died or gone into hiding. I've finally managed to finish this chapter! The battle was long and bloody, but well worth it, I think. I hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 9

Ciel's POV:

A twinge from my arm woke me. Rather, it was a fiery, burning agony that made me crawl toward consciousness, however reluctant I was to go. When I opened my eyes I was staring at the oh-so-familiar walls of the infirmary and the frowning face of Cecilia, her brows creased in thought as she read a book.

"Cecilia," I croaked, my throat dry from who-knew how many hours of oblivion.

My croak made her set aside her book and approach my bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," I managed.

"Well, the body does not take kindly to having its bones broken," she retorted dryly, pouring me a glass of water from the carafe on the bedside table. "It's natural you should feel terrible."

I was not about to receive any sympathy from her; that was clear. In the place of the girl who liked to chat about roses was a stern nurse who looked ready to kill me. "Where's Sebastian?"

"I don't know," she said shortly, adding a few spoonfuls from a glass vial to the glass of water she'd poured. "Papa took him somewhere else in the house and he asked me to look after you. Now, drink this."

I eyed the glass she held out with some suspicion. "What is it?"

"What I added to the water was concentrated willow bark tea," she said patiently. "It will help with the pain you're in. Now, do you want it or not?"

She didn't have to ask twice. I downed the entire glass and winced at the taste, but as the stuff started to work, the pain faded and I felt a little better.

"Do you feel as if you can eat anything?" Cecilia asked. "Some broth and perhaps a little bread?"

"No," I told her. "Definitely not."

"Very well."

The willow tea started to work after a few minutes and blessed relief took over. My arm still hurt, but it was bearable for the moment. "How long have I been here?"

"Since last night, and now it's the middle of the following afternoon."

I looked at the splint on my arm. "Was it a bad break?"

"It was a clean break," she told me. "There should be no problem with healing and the splint should come off in one to two months."

One to two months? Oh, wonderful. My mind worked furiously, but it failed to come up with anything. I would be stuck with a broken arm for one to two months. There was nothing I could do.

The door opening drew my attention and Mr. Caldwell entered the room. "Ah, good to see you're awake, Ciel. How are you feeling?"

"My arm hurts, my head aches, and I want to see Sebastian," I said, forcing myself into a sitting position.

"Nonsense," he told me, pressing back on my shoulders so that I would lie down. "You're in no fit state to see anyone."

I scowled at him from my nest of pillows. "I'm perfectly fine," I snapped. "There's nothing wrong with my legs."

"Regardless, you're not leaving the infirmary." His eyes flashed for a moment. "Not only are you injured, but I am very disappointed in you, Ciel."

I'd had enough. "Oh, shut up!" I snarled. "You're not my father, so don't use a line like that with me!"

Sebastian could move so quickly that I could miss it entirely, but Mr. Caldwell was even faster. His hand gripped my chin in less than an instant, forcing me to look up at him and meet his eyes. "Be careful, child. I hope you realize that you should not use a line like that with me."

His voice rumbled around us and the air darkened as the temperature dropped. I couldn't help shivering, but whether it was from the cold or from fear, I couldn't say.

"I see you understand me," he said, his voice human. "Good." He turned to Cecilia. "My dear, would you be good enough to give Ciel and I a few minutes alone? I'm afraid this must be private, and it's not suitable for a young lady to witness."

"Of course, Papa," she said, getting up from her chair. "I'll see you later."

She left, and the sound of the door closing sounded like the knell of doom. Suddenly, I was very, very nervous.

"Why did you and Sebastian disobey me, Ciel?" he asked as the sound of Cecilia's footsteps faded.

What answer would be least likely to make him angry? I thought as quickly as I could, but none suitable surfaced. "I...You know I don't want to be here," I said, playing for time. Was there any answer I could give him that would satisfy him?

"Yes, I know that."

"If you know that I don't want to be here, then of course, you would realize that I would try to leave."

He glanced at me. "Yes, I did realize that."

Now I was confused. "If you knew...then why do you want to know the reason for why we met?"

"Why did you meet?"

"We had to talk," I said. "We needed to discuss how we were going to leave this place." If he had to have that explained to him, then he was hopelessly stupid. Funny, I'd never met a stupid demon. Granted, Sebastian was the only one I'd met, but he often portrayed himself as the epitome of his kind: ancient, highly intelligent, sometimes annoying and dangerously ravenous for human souls.

"What I'm trying to understand is why Sebastian obeyed that note from you," he said after considering my words.

"Well, he has to," I said.

"And why's that?" he wanted to know. "Demons and their like refused to recognize any higher power. That is why they became demons."

"He's my butler, and we have a contract," I reminded him.

He nodded. "Ah, yes...the contract." He turned to face me and I saw his eyes flash. "The contract...the one that ensures he receives your soul once he has completed his end of the bargain. Correct?"

"Well...yes." I had a feeling he was going somewhere with this, but I couldn't guess where.

"I doubt your father would like to know that you've made a contract with a demon," he told me.

"I didn't make the contract for my father's sake," I snapped. "I made it for my own."

Augustus gave me a long look. "I see."

Often, I'd wished that I could read Sebastian's mind, and now I wished I could read Mr. Caldwell's. What was he thinking right now?

"I can see that this contract could become a problem," he said. "He could disobey me by obeying an order from you."

I began to get even more nervous but I couldn't say why. "If you would just let us go..." I began, but he interrupted.

"Oh, I don't think so," he told me. "How could I? You are a child who has lost his parents and who has witnessed countless brutalities since their loss. You must stay here where you can be cared for."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me!" I protested. "Sebastian does just fine when I need anything and I don't see what business it is of yours!"

His eyes flashed again. "You do know that I knew your father at one point, don't you?"

I nodded. "Sebastian told me."

"I was happy to think of him as a friend," he continued. "Despite the atrocities he'd seen in his lifetime, his soul was still pure. It shone with light and it was breathtaking to see. In that light, I could see the deep love he bore for you and your mother. There were times when I found ways to be close to him just so I could enjoy looking at his soul. Over time, I could see that he wasn't just a fine soul, but a good man as well. It became an honor to know him, and I feel it would be a dishonor of his memory if I allowed his son's soul to be consumed by a demon. I have reached a decision."

"About what?"

His eyes flashed again. "I don't think you want to know."

If anything, I became even more frightened. "What are you going to do?" I just knew that he was going to do something, but how I knew it, I couldn't say.

He looked at me again and his eyes flashed. "I think...nothing, just yet. I think we all need some time before anything changes, don't you agree?"

He was playing a game with me! "No," I told him flatly. "Tell me now!"

I could see that I'd made him angry. Once again, he moved so quickly that I couldn't see what he did, and suddenly I was out of the bed and lying face-down over his lap.

Panic flooded me. "What the blazes do you think you're doing?" I demanded, fighting to pull away from him.

"I think you need a little reminder of the change in your circumstances," he told me, his voice dark with anger. "Now hold still."

Abruptly, I was back there, with those people, and that one man came forward, saying that we were just going to play a little game... "PLEASE STOP!" I screamed, my entire body shaking. "PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

Just as abruptly, I was sitting upright on his lap and leaning against his chest with his arms around me. As the knowledge that I was not about to be hurt sank in, relief flooded through me. My throat closed up, my eyes stung, and I fought not to cry...

"It's all right, Ciel," Mr. Caldwell said, holding me. "I should have thought about what you've been through before I tried something like that. I'm sorry."

I couldn't speak. All I could do was shake.

"It's all right," he repeated, moving his hand in soothing circles up and down my back. Sebastian had often done the same thing when I became overwhelmed by a dream or a case. "I promise that I won't do anything of the like to you, Ciel. I promise."

I was still shaking, but I was starting to be calmer. "Wh-what w-were y-you tr-tr-trying t-to d-do?" I stammered, my shaking interfering with my speech.

"I only meant to frighten you a little, but it looks like it worked a little too well," he said, sounding chagrined. "I apologize."

"N-never d-d-do th-that a-again," I ordered, fighting to calm myself.

"I won't," he told me. "You don't have to worry."

I was still trembling, and just then I realized how much my arm hurt! I must have done something to it.

"Are you all right?" he asked, just as the pain reached "unbearable."

"My arm," I gasped.

Mr. Caldwell made me sit up straight, reached out, and yanked on my arm so quickly that I didn't even have time to yelp from the pain, much less scream. Almost immediately, the pain faded to a dull throb and I stared to feel much better. "What did you do?"

"The bones were knocked out of alignment when you were thrashing, so I reset them. Feel better?"

"Ah...yes," I admitted. "Thank you." All of the emotion I'd experienced in just the last five minutes had worn me out and I slumped against him, all of my strength gone. He continued rubbing my back and he began humming a lullaby, one that sounded ancient and soothing. I was almost asleep when I felt him shift and put me back into bed. I forced my eyes open and grabbed hold of his sleeve before he could move away. "Wait."

He stopped. "Yes, Ciel?"

"What are you going to do with Sebastian and I?"

All he did was chuckle, put his hand over my eyes, and that was all I could remember before falling asleep.

When I next woke, I was in a different room. I was sure that I was in a upstairs room at one of the four corners of the house since there were two walls of windows and all I could see from where I lay in bed were the tops of trees. It was a nice, sunny room, the plain white walls enlivened by brightly-colored prints and the floors by rag rugs. It was a room for resting in after a long illness or bitter disappointment.

The sun in the room did nothing to clear the fog from my head. I was still sleepy and I was fighting the temptation to slip back into sleep with might and main. It was so very tempting to just close my eyes and fall back into oblivion, but I knew I couldn't. I had to stay awake and figure out where I was and hopefully, find Sebastian.

Before I could get out of bed and begin searching for him, the door opened and Mr. Caldwell came in.

"Ah, I timed that pretty well," he said, seeing me awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Odd," I confessed. "Like I'm still half-asleep."

He nodded and settled into the chair next to my bed. "I expected that. I've had you in a healing sleep."

I stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"You've been asleep for the past week. Sleeping like that will help you heal a little faster, but your mind will be a bit foggy until you're healed."

If I'd had the energy, I would have slaughtered him. As it was, I threw a pillow at him, trying to vent my feelings that way, but my annoyance went through the roof when he chuckled.

"Maybe you're not as sleepy as you appear," he said, calmly picking up the pillow and placing it back on my bed.

"I feel like I can't wake up," I complained. "You say that's part of what you did to me?"

"It is," he confirmed. "Don't worry, it will go away once you're healed. The reason why you still feel is sleepy is that your body is in a state of semi-sleep. Human bodies mend faster when they are asleep, so keeping you in that condition as much as possible will help you heal faster."

Put that way, it sounded like nothing I could object to. "All right." I stopped and thought. "I know you may not want to tell me, but how is Sebastian? Where is he?"

He smiled. "Worried for your butler?"

"Of course. He is my servant and a master does not abandon his servants."

"Spoken like a true aristocrat," Mr. Caldwell said, no tone of mockery in his voice. "Sebastian has been sleeping, just as you have. I'm still deciding, you see, what to do with the pair of you. To me, you're both children, and deciding what is best for children is not always the easiest decision to make."

Again with the "child" view! There were no words in human speech to convey how annoying I found that simple word! "Sebastian doesn't treat me like a child," I offered, hoping to gain an attempt to persuade him to my point of view. "He says that it isn't necessary."

Ah, I could see that I'd gained his attention. He focused his gaze on me and lifted an eyebrow. "Why does he say that?"

"Because I don't really act like a child," I told him. "I don't whine or misbehave or cry or..." I stopped, mightily confused. Why the devil was he laughing?

"My dear boy," he said at last, fighting for control. "You may not do those things, but I'm sure you behave like a child in other ways."

I couldn't think of any. "I don't."

He stared at me for a moment and burst into laughter again. "You don't!" By this point, his head was back and he was laughing so hard that I was surprised he didn't snap his neck. "All right, then, let's look at this another way. Have you ever refused to eat certain things just because you don't like them?"

"Why should I eat things I don't like?" I wanted to know.

"Sebastian may not treat you like a child, at least, he may not treat you like a child the way most adults would treat children, but have you ever found him coaxing you or bargaining with you to get you to do things you don't want to do?"

As if his words were a curse, a thousand images of instances where Sebastian had coaxed or bargained with me to do things he wanted me to do rose in my mind. The time when he'd cancelled my dance lesson for the day in exchange for my eating a spinach salad...the day where he'd allowed me to wander the British Museum as I pleased in exchange for my promise to study a certain book when we went home...my going to bed at my usual time in exchange for a story from him...Dammit, he was right!

"You see?" Mr. Caldwell said with a pleased smile.

"Gloating does not suit a gentleman," I told him.

He fought to squelch his smile for a moment. "Quite right."

I thought about what he'd said about Sebastian and children and everything else. "Mr. Caldwell, do you treat Sebastian like a child even though he's a grown man?"

"To me, he seems as much a child as you do. Why?"

"He doesn't view himself as a child, much the same way as I don't view myself as a child."

"Yes, I know," he sighed. "I remind myself of that each time I talk with him, but his stubbornness is the stuff of legends. He's even more stubborn than you are."

That was something I'd never heard before. "Really?"

"Yes." His tone was one of a long-suffering man. "One of my latest ambitions is to make him at least somewhat docile, but I doubt that will happen. There is only one way out of this state of detente that I can see, but I'm reluctant to try it. It will be difficult for all involved."

"What are you thinking of?" I asked, hoping he would drop some hint...

"Nothing you need to worry your head about," he said, firmly closing the door on the topic. "Now, Cecilia will be up in a little bit. She'll have something for you to eat and drink, you'll have a chance to wash up and change, and then you'll be going back to sleep. All right?"

I dropped into the pillows behind me with a sigh. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, no," he said, placing his hand on my forehead.

I didn't like being forced to sleep. I didn't like being forced to do ANYTHING, but being forced to sleep and dream was like adding insult to injury. My mind battled against it, fought to wake up, then gave in, dropping into strange and troubling dreams. Most of my dreams I didn't remember, but one dream came at me like an old enemy, determined to put me down again. I was back there, seeing those masks and cloaks, hearing their voices, and feeling their hands on me...No, I wasn't there, I was still in my room at Sanctuary...What were they doing here? They were all dead; Sebastian had killed them...what were they doing here? They drifted forward, their hands reaching for me, their fingers just brushing my skin like flames...I jerked awake and my throat was scored raw in a moment with a single shout: "SEBASTIAN!"

Sebastian's POV:

I woke in darkness. As a demon, my eyes were far better than those of humans, but if there was no light, then I could not see. To me, the darkest night appeared like full noon would to humans, but if there was no light, then I was essentially blind. Waking up like that was deeply unsettling and I held very still, trying to get a grasp on where I was.

"Are you awake?"

I froze. "Augustus?"

"Yes."

Yellow light blazed to my right and twin spots of elemental light focused on me. Unnerving. "I'm awake."

"You must realize that I'm angry with you, Sebastian."

"Yes, I realized that."

He was silent for a moment, but then I heard him move closer. "I must decide what I'm going to do about it."

Any number of unpleasant scenarios cropped up in my mind, but I forced them back down. I had to concentrate. What I said now could either enrage him or placate him. "I suppose it's too much to hope for a favorable response if I apologized?"

I saw him blink. Good, I'd surprised him. Then, he chuckled. Even better!

"Yes, it's too much to hope for, but you have managed to amuse me," he said. "I didn't expect that."

"Is that a good thing?"

Again, a chuckle. "Perhaps." He was quiet for a moment, then I heard him step closer. "You and your master are quite troublesome sometimes, you know."

What could I say to that? Was he looking for an apology?

"I suppose it's because of what you both are," he continued. "He is a human used to giving orders and having them obeyed. You are a demon who is accustomed to obeying the orders of humans in order to gain your next meal. Quite a perplexing problem, when one thinks about it." He was silent for a moment, apparently thinking. "What should I do about the pair of you?"

I wondered how he would take the suggestion of letting us depart. In my experience, a captor rarely took the news with grace that his captives wished to leave him.

"You are so young compared to me," he said at last. "So very, very young. Compared to you, Ciel is just as young to you as you are to me. There are times when I fail to understand either of you."

"There are times when I feel the same way," I confessed. "I don't always understand my master, but..." I trialed off, not certain what I wished to convey to him.

"But you still care for him," Augustus said with conviction. "I think that's what can be difficult for you demons. Even though the humans you serve are your next meals, you always come to care for them in some way. Isn't that right?"

Immediately I opened my mouth to refute him, but I had to pause for a moment as the truth of his words sunk in. Once I realized he was right, there was nothing I could really say to oppose him. "Yes, I suppose we do care for them in some manner," I said as graciously as I could under the circumstances. "What of it?"

"Haven't you ever wished that you could have a different source of nourishment, one that would allow you to be near the humans you care for without them having to lose their souls?"

"That's impossible," I told him. I knew that he and I both knew that nothing could be as satisfying to me as a human soul...

"Oh, it's possible," he said. "Very, very possible. It would take a sacrifice on your part, but I can make it happen."

I didn't want to hear any more. "I'm not interested, Augustus."

He sighed. "As you please."

He left me alone after that, leaving me a candle for light. I dozed off and on, but each time I woke, I became convinced that someone was coming in and switching out candles, always leaving a new one burning since the candles I saw never seemed to get any shorter. I dozed and I was sure time passed, but the candles I saw always remained the same. I knew that should bother me for some reason, but my mind remained too foggy to worry about that for long. Sometimes I dreamed, but they were always vague and I didn't remember them upon waking. Once, I dreamed of my master, in bed himself, dreaming and struggling with a nightmare. I dreamed he jerked awake and called for me.

Suddenly, I was awake, my ears ringing with the sound of his voice. "SEBASTIAN!"

I knew what was going to happen even before I did it. I was on my feet, making my way to my master, through doors, down hallways, up stairs, and through another door...

There he was, sitting in bed, pale and shaking. He'd had a nightmare that had left him too terrified to stand being alone, so he'd called me. "I'm here, young master."

He reached out a hand, a mute appeal for me to come closer. The fact that he felt the need for someone to touch him, rather than the opposite, spoke to how badly he'd been frightened by his dreams. I was the only person whose touch he didn't mind. I'd never asked him, but once he'd confessed that he didn't mind my touching him since my interest in his body only went as far as keeping him healthy because his body was what housed his soul. It was almost frightening how perceptive he was at times...

"Did you have a bad dream, Bocchan?"

"They were here," he gasped, shivering. "They were all here, glaring at me, and touching me..."

I knew right away what he wanted me to do. I sat down on the bed and held out my arms, and a moment later he was in them, sitting on my lap and cuddled against my chest. Odd, how this unchild-like child wanted to be comforted like a child...Still, if that was what he needed...

We sat that way for several minutes, him fighting with the uncontrollable shivering that always followed a dream like this and me wondering just how long it would take before...

"What do you two think you're doing?"

I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, I'd known that Augustus would be coming: He couldn't have missed my master's shout, not with his keen hearing, and he had to have known that I would respond to it. Even though I'd known all this, I was still startled when I heard Augustus' voice.

"I had a nightmare!" my master shouted, fighting down a sob. He never allowed himself to cry, and his pride was not about to allow him to start now. "I was scared!"

"You could have called for me, or for Cecilia," Augustus reminded him.

"I wanted Sebastian," my master insisted. "He's the one who's been there for me after all of my nightmares these past few years, and he knows how to help me feel better."

Uh-oh. From the tone of his voice and from the tension in his body, I could tell that he was absolutely fed up. He was about to fly off the handle and drag the rest of us with him.

"You've been wondering what to do with us since you brought us here, and your indecision has made life difficult for all of us!" my master shouted. "I hate this place, I hate your wretched conviction that we're children who need to be watched after, and I hate you! LET US GO!"

The stillness that followed made me feel as if I'd been deafened. Involuntarily, I tightened my arms around my master and held him close.

"I will not let you go," Augustus said calmly. "Several things have become clear to me just now, and I must change them."

The temperature dropped and I felt my master shiver.

"Augustus..." I gasped, fighting the urge to shiver, myself. "What are you going to do?" I could not move, much less summon the strength to fight.

"What I should have done in the beginning," he said, taking hold of my master and I. He carried us both out of the room and downstairs to the basement room where I'd first been kept. All of my strength had left me, leaving me as limp as a rag doll. Augustus laid my master and I side by side on the floor, began lighting candles, and enclosed us with a circle of them.

"What are you doing?" my master demanded, his tiny frame fighting to rise from the floor.

"This will not take long," Augustus crooned, smoothing my master's hair. "A little flame, a little pain, then sleep..."

Panic surged through me. This sounded like nothing I was familiar with...Augustus began to speak, his words barely audible to my ears. The candles around us flickered and then flared, their flames reaching toward us. "What are you doing?" I gasped, fighting against the odd feeling that I was starting to drown in flames as they covered my face.

My master screamed as he felt the flames lick his skin. They were also caressing my skin, much like a lover would do...a spiteful, vengeful lover, really. I thrashed against the pain, trying to pull away, just as my master was fighting to get away from the flames that were smothering him. Suddenly, tension built in my body, and through my link with my master, I could feel the tension building in his. It quickly grew into an agonizing pain that consumed every part of me and I screamed, by back arching in pain. My master was the same way and I could feel the pain building, spiraling upward and smothering us...

CRRRRAAACCCKKK!

The pain eased in less than an instant and disappeared, leaving me oddly bereft. My muscles still quaked from the pain, but any discomfort was negligible. Aside from the pain disappearing, what had changed? Puzzled, I got to my feet. I could tell that something had changed, but what?

My master stirred on the floor, rolled to his side, and sat up, his eyes just as puzzled as mine. As he looked at me, I realized just what had changed. He looked at me with two blue eyes, neither with a mark of contract upon them. As my stomach sank, I pulled off my left glove and stared at the back of my left hand...one that no longer had a mark of contract. My master and I were just a human and a demon with no tie between us, and at the absolute mercy of an elemental who was watching us with a pleased smile that chilled us both to the bone.