QVR: The whole beautillion ball was going swimmingly, in a sense I guess, until Roxas fell passed out to the floor.

A/N: Beware the possible OOC-ness! I warned you! Also, I took some liberties for canon stuff because I'm not re-watching everything to get all the quotes properly. Did flip over the manga though.

It was just in their nature for humans to let their emotions get the better of them. Hence the term 'human nature'. Sebastian, even if a demon, knew as much. After all, it was their elusive human nature that made humans so interesting.

Then again, there was that curious case of now Roxas Phantomhive…

But leaving that interesting exception aside for now, Ciel Phantomhive, no matter how heartless he appeared to be, was still human. And as a human, he had emotions as everyone else. He just… had a better control of them than others.

However, it was still a surprise to the demon to see how much emotion his lord actually put into this strange blond, immediately dismissing the party without allowing any protest, even resorting to having Mei-Rin, Finnian, and Bard to escort guests out with force if necessary - and for Elizabeth it was - and ordered for Sebastian to take Roxas to bed. Even Sebastian had to admit, both were slightly disturbed at his deep sleeping.

At least, what appears to be deep sleeping. His breathing was steady, with even breaths and the rising of the blond's chest indicated as much.

Sebastian must also admit that he is rather interested with the Nobody in his hands, interested in a sense of him being a rare specimen that has never been seen before, disregarding the… Samurai, faceless silver ballerinas and giant shadow ants that have suddenly appeared in London. This whole… being without a heart, Sebastian was very interested in him as well. Not as a threat no, for now they were to work together to protect his - their - master. Seeing the blond in this condition wasn't very comforting, both to him and his master.

"My lord, why would you dismiss the ball? Suspicions will arise and what if, in the very unlikely situation, they are the cause of Roxas' situation?" Sebastian asked Ciel as he carried the blond down the hall.

Ciel answered, "Roxas is on par with you in terms of supernatural, perhaps even more in a sense. I highly doubt those people, no matter how ghastly most of them are, are capable of being able to take you out, let alone Roxas."

Sebastian sometimes had to humor that strange thing called curiosity. After all, one needs to know everything in order to act accordingly to the situation.

"So what would you believe?" the butler asked, wondering what assumptions his master had made about the blond in his arms.

"Was it the potion we gave him? Mei-Rin said that he did take it, and she would have no reason to lie. Clumsy enough as she is, you know as well as I do that appearances are deceiving."

"You know, young master, if you were to give her a new prescription, maybe she wouldn't - "

Ciel cut him off. "We are not having this discussion now. Right now the important issue is of Roxas. If you do not know what is going on, I suppose it's not a side effect of what you brewed?"

Sebastian shook his head, looking down at the one in his arms. "The potion was just to befuddle his dreams, as you requested, but perhaps it could have been an unexpected side effect. After all, he's certainly an oddity."

The rest of the conversation consisted of silence.

Finally, the two arrived back in Roxas' bedroom, where they were in just a few short hours ago. Time seemed to be flowing much more slowly than what they both were used to, usually dragging at its leisure. Now everything was changing in a matter of moments.

It was starting to irritate Ciel, who although was used to adapting situations, he hasn't been able to actually think anything through since bringing Roxas to meet the Undertaker.

Did he make the right decision by naming Roxas his brother? He had enough similarities with his mother for it to pass, he thought, but now there was probably going to be some investigations on him or another.

He shook his head. Not a problem, forged papers can and shall be forged.

Still, people might be suspicious…

Ciel thought back to the party, they had barely taken more than three steps until Roxas dropped to the ground. What even was that? What happened? It couldn't have been the potion, could it? No, Sebastian said that it wasn't, and the demon wouldn't intentionally harm the blond, interested in him himself.

This person, this person sent to him with the intention to kill him, was strange. He was able to think for himself, deciding to join Ciel, but he could also wield a sword quite effectively, even having the ability to perform magic.

That weapon, the… keyblade, it was called, could anyone use it? Those monsters as well, they were formed by the citizens of London? So did that mean that…

He sighed; this was going to be a complicated mission from the Queen.

"Young master, do not be alarmed at what I am about to do," Sebastian warned as he tossed Roxas into the air, much to Ciel's surprise.

Roxas fell unceremoniously onto the soft cushions of the canopy bed, thankfully not hitting anything upon his descent.

Ciel jolted before turning to his butler, demanding an explanation. "The fuck, Sebastian?"

Sebastian didn't meet his gaze and watched Roxas continue to sleep. "He's deeply asleep."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "No shit." He dashed over to the blond, feeling his head. "God, what if you hit something; what if he hit something?" He turned back to his butler to give him a glare. "Don't you ever do that again!"

The raven-clad butler bowed, hiding his expression from the earl. "Yes, my lord."

Ciel didn't even acknowledge him as he turned back to his 'brother', watching him sleep. "I-I guess we'll have to wait for him to wake up. Do you suppose we should call a doctor?"

Sebastian gave Ciel a curious look before he shook his head. "I would advise against it, my lord. Remember how quickly he healed?" He was to say more, provide more suggestions, but when noticing that he was being ignored, decided to save his breath.

Ciel thought of the other night, and how quickly the burns receded from the blond's body given to him by the man of fire, Axel Roxas called him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Axel, please -"

The earl took a breath; he needed to stead his nerves. He turned and moved to leave the room. "I suppose we'll just have to wait this out."

"Sora, what's wrong?"

Sora shivered, feeling eyes on him, as if he and his companions were being watched at that very moment. "That Axel guy… I think he's got it in for me."

Donald tilted his head to his teammate. "Axel? That crazy redhead?"

"What makes you say that?" Goofy asked, confused.

Sora shrugged. He didn't know how to explain it, Donald and Goofy couldn't understand, or maybe they just didn't feel the frustration that Axel would have during their confrontations. "I don't know, he just seems…" He struggled to find words that would make sense to his friends. "Mad at something. And he's taking out on me."

It wasn't Sora's fault - it couldn't be his fault. This was the first time he'd ever met the mysterious man. As to why he's using Sora as stress relief was beyond him. This whole castle was just strange and that was that. But it was too late to turn back; they've already sacrificed so much. Now it was a matter of whether it was actually worth it….

Goofy pat him on the back, making him come out of his rather gloomy thoughts. "Aww, Sora, I'm sure it's just all in your head."

Sora's gaze was distant. "Maybe…" Perhaps it was best not to think of it for now. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What's the next card?"

"You tell me," Donald said. "You're leading the way."

"Oh, right." Bashful, Sora took a look at it before giving it an odd look. "Twilight Town… Strange, I don't remember ever going there before."

Sebastian studied his master carefully as he set aside for him his cup of tea, not requested but the butler believed he needed it. "Young master, you should rest, it's quite late," he said, placing the Devil's Food Cake with a fork on the side by the teacup.

Ciel waved him away. "Not now, I still have some work to do." He pushed the sweet away, causing for his butler to raise an eyebrow to him.

There could be only one reason for the sweet-obsessed lord to ignore his treat. "About Roxas?"

Ciel was exasperated. "It's been a month, Sebastian. I think that it's been too long. Even if he's breathing, how do we know he's not brain dead? I think it's time. As much as I hate to admit it, we need a doctor."

Sebastian was surprised it took Ciel this long for him to finally ask for help. "Who would you recommend?"

Ciel sighed as he continued to read through his papers. "That's the thing, I don't know who we can trust..."

"Young master -"

"I don't want to trust his body to just anyone. Even if Madame Red, Aunt Anne, was still alive, I couldn't. She would see through my lies because she would have known if her sister had another child. That's one of the main reasons as to why this ploy would work. Besides, who's to say that he has the same anatomy as a human being? He claims to have no heart for god's sake!" He tossed his papers in the air; Sebastian realized it was a list of doctors. He widened his eyes at the sight as Ciel continued, "But is it like a physical heart or is it the spiritual one? It just makes no sense! How is he alive?"

Indeed, how was the blond alive? The butler smirked. "That's what I would like to know."

Ciel looked up to him. "Sebastian -"

"Let me examine him, young master. I have been reading up on medical encyclopedias and I'm sure that I would not say anything."

Ciel gave it a moment of thought before he bit his lip. "I suppose that there's no other option then. First thing tomorrow."

As she sat there blankly in her room, sometimes Xion wonders what exactly her purpose in the Organization is. Could it really be to be the key-wielder of the Organization if Roxas failed? Sure she could wield the keyblade, but considering her genetic make-up if was the whole reason was why she was there in the first place as far as she was told was starting to concern her.

Especially when she was starting to destabilize, when she was starting to become a failure.

And she couldn't have that.

She struggled with basic tasks and missions. Before she used to be able to take out at least the required amount of Heartless but now it was a struggle to obtain any hearts at all. It was starting to become a strain on her body to actually summon the keyblade and soon she was sure she wouldn't be able to summon it at all.

The person who was supposed to make her stable, the true half of the key-wielder was gone. Roxas.

Axel claimed he was sure of that.

But Xion didn't think so. Something tugged at the ends of her non-heart that told her that Roxas was fine, if not slightly weak from the events going on in the Secret Mission at Castle Oblivion. She would know, she was starting to feel weak as well. Perhaps that was the reason for the weakening of her power. She surely hoped so.

No, that same something told her that was not the case - that it was bound to happen, regardless of the Secret Mission. She was starting to fade.

She coughed weakly, spotting blood on her glove. But that just made her even more determined as she got up from her spot and headed towards the door, decision made.

She needed to find Roxas and bring him back.

It was almost midnight, but at least she was almost done with her duties. Lastly on her list was tending to Lord Roxas.

Mei-Rin was surprised when Ciel personally asked her privately to tend to the blond, confused as to why Sebastian wasn't asked to do so, but she wasn't about to question any orders. Especially if given to her by the Phantomhive Earl himself.

So she took great, great care in doing this task, on par as if she was defending the manor with her skill of firearms. Ciel had requested that she tend to this task as if she was tending to him on his deathbed, and even told her to remove her glasses if necessary, giving her new ones to use. She was not to screw this up. Ciel trusted her.

The maid, now no longer sight-impaired for these tasks, would always come to tend to the blond three times every day, from dawn, to half-past noon, and lastly at midnight. She tended to the blond's needs such as basic tasks, such as tending to his room, feeding him soup that she always found in a special corner of the kitchen, and even bathing him every other day.

It was to be done in secret, and Mei-Rin prided herself on her ability to perform her tasks for important matters such as this.

Finally, she fluffed Roxas' pillows and found herself captivated by his hair once more, amazed how it could still stay spiky like that as she did every night.

"Mei-Rin, how is he?"

The maid jumped at the voice. She turned to find her lord dressed in his sleeping garments. He was unaccompanied by his butler and closed the door, leaving the two, three including the unconscious blond in the bed, inside. "Ha hie! Yo-young master, what are you doing out of bed so late at night?" He had never come to check up on her before. Had she done something wrong?

"Mei-Rin," Ciel said, "Please, tell me."

She curtsied. "I apologize, young master. Lord Roxas is perfectly fine." Uh… "Sa-save for being awake and everything," she quickly added.

Ciel approached the maid and the bed which contained his 'brother'. "I see." He placed his hand over the blond's forehead, feeling his temperature. He watched Roxas breathe before retracting it hand. "It's strange," he confessed quietly, "I've never seen anyone so sick besides me before."

Mei-Rin was still nervous. "Yo-young master, you've been quite healthy lately -"

"Tell me, Mei-Rin, what do you think is the reason for this?" he asked her, honestly wanting her opinion. "Why do you think that Roxas has been sleeping for so long?" It just frustrated him so much and he didn't know why.

W-why? Mei-Rin thought about it. The time that Roxas had spent here, conscious, has been short, but quite eventful. "I think it was the shock, young master," she replied after thinking it over. "Everything has been so sudden lately, having meeting you and everything."

Ciel was surprised at her answer. "M-me?"

"He's not like you, young master, even if he is your older brother," Mei-Rin replied as she watched Roxas sleep.

Ciel nervously smiled. "O-oh, right." 'Older brother' indeed.

She smiled back. "Thank you for allowing for me to tend to him during this time, young master. It was a pleasant experience that will not last much longer."

Ciel turned to her. "'Not last much longer'? What makes you say that?" How did she know? Ciel was pretty sure she wasn't a doctor. Sebastian was to tend to the blond in the morning, and no matter how much Ciel was reluctant to do so, he was left with no other option. But what made her say this?

She winked. "Woman's intuition, young master!" She curtsied once more.

Ciel gave her a small smile. "Very well. Please go ahead and retire for the night; don't let me keep you."

"Bu-but, young master -"

"Good night, Mei-Rin, and thank you for speaking with me." He smiled genuinely at her.

The maid curtsied once more. "Good night, young master." She turned and left without another word.

Ciel watched her leave and the door quietly closed shut before he turned back to the blond, studying his features.

He looked so fragile, and yet Ciel knew it was a façade. After all, Roxas was able to wield a sword effectively and summon it out of nothingness, perform magical spells, has underlings created from nothingness under his power. Roxas was a powerful being that Ciel will keep under his thumb. At least for him there was no motions of an equal exchange - he had everything to gain and nothing to lose from their contract together, one of business. Roxas truly didn't know how much more Ciel had taken from him.

The Nobody's skin was so pale it was like porcelain, much like his own, and was also soft to touch. That was the only similarity they had appearance-wise.

Although they had the same eye color of blue, Ciel's was much more darker, like looking at the sky at night while Roxas' was more brighter, shining more like sky at the day. While Ciel's hair was midnight blue, his was honey blond. Where Ciel's hair fell into place, his flew everywhere like pure chaos that still suited the blond fine. There was also the age difference of about two or three years, but that wasn't solid as Roxas himself said that he wasn't so sure of his own age. The height would move with age, even if Ciel was particularly short for his own age of thirteen.

It was only fitting that something so strange would be so beautiful.

Ciel shook his head at his thoughts, was that what some people thought of him? How sickening! He wasn't weak and didn't want people to think so.

He'll trust Mei-Rin and give the blond more time. He didn't want Sebastian to do anything just yet.

"Young master, do you not trust me?"

Ciel looked up from his cup of tea. "What makes you say that, Sebastian?"

"You told me to wait an additional week when just yesterday you were scrambling to find a doctor," Sebastian said, refilling the tea. "And you are so calm contrasting your distraught attitude yesterday."

Ciel shrugged as he took another sip of his beverage of tea leaves. "I do trust you, yes, but concerning Roxas, no."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. How… interesting a comparison. Like the Undertaker he said. "And why not?"

Ciel eyed the tea as he answered, "You leer at him like the Undertaker did, and I don't like it. You're going to do something penetrating to your own interests and disregard my own. I haven't forgotten that you are a selfish creature who in the end only looks out for yourself. After all, you don't care about me. All you care about is my soul, heart or whatever the terminology is at this point." He shrugged.

Sebastian watched his master place down his cup and reach out for an orange cookie from the plate of assorted pastries. "Is that what you truly believe?"

Ciel smirked at him as he took a bite. "Yes."

"Well then, young master," Sebastian said as he bowed, "I'm happy to see that you know exactly what kind of situation you are in."

Ciel finished off his cookie. "As if I could forget."

Sora pointed at the white petal egg pod in front of him, Donald and Goofy already inside their own, smaller pods. "We have to sleep in these?"

Naminé nodded. "It might take a little time, but you'll get your memory back. All of it."

The brunet nodded, and got ready to go inside.

She couldn't leave it just like that. "Sora…" she murmured, hoping that he would hear her.

He did indeed hear her, and turned to the blonde. She smiled before continuing, "I… I'm glad I met you."

Sora laughed. "You make it sound like it's goodbye."

Naminé just smiled, not responding to his comment.

Sora's laughter died down, realizing that she was serious. "I'll… see you again, right?"

Naminé continued to smile as she closed her eyes, hands folded and over to where her heart would be. "You know, Sora, I was happy." She opened and looked deep into the brunet's eyes of a similar cerulean blue shade as her own, hers reflecting the ocean as his reflected the sky. "I was happy that you treated me as a person, and even more so when you still accepted me after everything that I put you through."

"But that wasn't your fault!" Sora argued, "You had no choice!"

The blonde's smile turned sorrowful. "I did have a choice. I decided to help them, the Organization, thinking that it was the only option I had. It was also my choice to no longer do so, thanks to the help of Axel."

At that name, Sora froze. "Axel… he hated me."

Naminé continued to give him a wry smile. "No he didn't, Sora, no one can hate you. As for his animosity, he had his reasons; please don't blame him."

Sora shook his head. "As if I could do that after all he'd done for us!" He looked away, gaze distant. "I just wish I could have helped him, you know?"

Naminé smiled softly. "I'm sure you would have if you had the option." She gestured to the pod. "You better get going, Sora."

"But, Naminé, I don't want to forget you," Sora said, taking hold of her hand. "I'm… I'm going to miss you."

"Don't… don't say it like that, Sora," Naminé cried, holding onto his hand tightly as he got inside the pod. "I'm going to miss you too."

Sora shifted his hand so that their pinkies were linked. "Don't cry, Naminé. We'll meet each other again, and we'll make new, real memories with one another, ones that won't fade away. Ones that you don't have to create. I won't forget you, Naminé, I promise."

Naminé smiled as she released her pinky, wiping away her tears. The pod door closed, sealing the brunet into sleep to undo the false chain of memories she had created. She pressed her hand to the pod, continuing her smile as her tears still fell. "I'll keep you to it, Sora. I'll keep you to it."

This would be the last day. If Roxas didn't wake up today, he was going to let Sebastian examine him, not having a choice in the matter. Ciel just hoped that Mei-Rin was right.

She was so much more effective by changing her glasses, maybe he should get Finny a new hat if he wanted one. He'll ask. Bard gets nothing - god knows who supplies him his firearms.

"Young master, it's been forty days."

Ciel looked up from his paper work. "I know."

"Don't you think that now would be the time to examine Roxas?" his butler asked. "I know that Mei-Rin has been doing so for the past month and ten days. Are you really that reluctant to let me near him?"

"Just while he's unconscious." Ciel couldn't keep this up forever. "At least when he's awake he's amusing when he interacts with you, but I don't want any funny business between you two when he can't defend himself."

The demon sounded amused. "Is that an order?"

Ciel narrowed his single eye at him. "… I'll place my trust on you for this task. Make sure that I don't regret it."

Sebastian bowed. "Thank you for placing your faith in me, my lord. It is greatly appreciated."

"Mm." Ciel watched the time tick down on his grandfather clock. There are about twelve hours left, Roxas. You better not disappoint me.

The first thing that came into Roxas' mind when he woke up was that he was really, really thirsty.

He reached out blindly for a glass of water and accidentally tipped it over, causing for the liquid to leak into his bed. He blinked. "Oh…" Quickly, he moved to wipe it away, but just managed to get himself soaked in the process. It was dark, where were the lights?

Suddenly the lights were on and Mei-Rin walked inside, carrying a change of clothes. She hummed to herself, unaware that the person she had been caring for is finally awake.

Roxas coughed, "Um, Mei-Rin, could I have a glass of water?"

The maid jumped, turning slowly to Roxas to find him drenched in water, with his hair still defying gravity even while wet. She dropped her load of laundry and ran out the hall. Roxas could hear her exclaiming, "Yo-young master, young master! He's awake!"

Roxas winced. It was just like the last time.

He opened his eyes to the door and watched Ciel calmly walk into his room, not saying a word to him or anyone else as Sebastian escorted the maid out of the blond's chamber.

The Nobody didn't know what to expect from the little lord, but he surely didn't expect the hard slap that Ciel smacked across his face. It didn't hurt that much, he was used to pain much harsher than this, but it still hurt all the same. He raised a hand to his red cheek, dazed as Ciel moved back.

He hissed, "You ever go into a coma again lasting more than a week, our agreement is off." And with that, Ciel walked away.

Roxas blinked, still rubbing his sore face. "Uh… How long was I out?"

Sebastian watched him go before turning to the blond, taking out his silver pocket watch. "Forty days, eleven hours, nine minutes, and twenty-seven seconds, Lord Roxas." He shut his watch. "You shall be given a rest period of a day, but starting tomorrow, we're getting to work." He handed him a glass of water.

"R-right," Roxas replied, taking it gratefully and took a sip. He did a spit take. "Forty days?"

"With eleven hours, nine minutes, and twenty-seven seconds." Sebastian nodded before he bowed and rose to the blond, smiling as he did the first time Roxas walked into the Phantomhive grounds that long time ago. "Welcome, officially, to the Phantomhive Manor, Lord Roxas Phantomhive. If you would excuse me, I must attend to the young master." And with that, the butler left to attend to his master.

Roxas just placed back down his glass of water by his bedside table, confused all the same. He nodded as he fell back into bed, ignoring the wetness all around him.

He supposed now he was, officially, a member of the Phantomhive family.

A/N: My endings are always meh now! Why?

Heya! xD Month off of hiatus for this story has passed… Hope that this update was okay and worth the wait. Gahh I don't know if I like it but I don't know what else to do with this. Oh god, that interaction between Sora and Naminé, so… Ehhhh… I don't like her, so I hope I wrote her well. I was just rewriting the CoM scenes. Of course with added info for the story's sake.

Question! Does anyone read the titles? They're not in the fic, but... Just curious is all.

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been writing for this fandom lately, opting for DC/MK and KHR. Umm, for this though… What can I say, I felt like working on this. But… ehh… I feel like writing Ciel was like I was writing a fancy Hibari xD Barely wrote Roxas, but when I write for Tsuna I think of Roxas so… xD And DC people are out of the question. I don't think I can promise that monthly update anymore. Let's see what happens.

I have to admit though, writing for this fic puts me in… a fancy type of mood, I guess. I dunno, writing for this is different when I write for my other fics. This sounds so more sophisticated or something. I blame the Kuroshitsuji aspect of it.

'Till the next update I suppose. Reviews are lovely, and if you have any suggestions of how you would like for this to go, please let me know! Running low on inspiration not only for these series but in this fandom in general. Depressing.

Thanks for reading! :D