A/N: This is chapter 23/25. I don't have the words to thank everyone who has supported this story, you guys are amazing :D

"Are you sure you should be dividing your attention right now, my lord?"

"I am duty bound to her Majesty, regardless of any personal affliction I may have."

"Of course."

Ciel took Sebastian's offered hand and climbed down from the carriage. A distant member of her Majesty's family had been murdered, and though the suspect was in custody, the Yard couldn't convince him to give up his motives. The Queen desired closure. He held Sebastian's hand longer than was strictly necessary, taking strength from the demon's strong grip. Sebastian's hand rested on his lower back as they walked inside which he took as more reassurance than anything. He was glad he wasn't the only one getting too familiar without realizing it.

Arthur haggled them as always but he had learned that Vincent's son was no less of a force to be reckoned with than his father. He stepped back with a scowl and allowed Ciel past him. The hall they entered seemed to be one that saw little use, going by the creaking floorboards that had not been swept as recently as others in the building. Arthur unlocked the last door to the left, and Ciel turned toward the two taller men.

"I will be going in alone."

Voice drowning Arthur's indignant sputtering, Sebastian said, "Do summon me the instant I'm needed."

"Of course, what else would I do? You are my butler, after all." Ciel strode into the room and relocked the door, knowing a trifling thing such as a lock would not keep Sebastian out. He paused for a moment when he saw the suspect. The boy couldn't have been any older than him, with a face framed by soft golden curls and cheeks that still lacked the definition of manhood.

"Cole, yes?"

The boy didn't meet Ciel's eyes. "Yes."

"You could speak up."

"I can't, I'm tired." The young man was pale and drawn, with dark circles that made hm look like he had been in custody far longer than one day.

Ciel huffed and came closer. He was here for answers, he wasn't going to strain to hear them. He crouched about a foot from the Cole boy. "I hear you had something of a school rivalry with Derrick Arden."

"Where did you hear that?" The boy raised his head with a look of alarm.

"Let's just say I have a way of finding things out that other people don't."

The expression of fear lingered for only a moment longer before it was overtaken with what could only be true insanity. Maurice Cole began to shake, rattling the chain that linked his hands behind the chair. "He wanted my position as prefect, he was trying to sabotage me!"

"Which justified stabbing him thirty-one times?"

Maurice tilted his head back to look at Ciel, curls falling away from his face. "Thirty-two."

"You should have thought twice before you harmed someone her Majesty cared for. People guard the things they value...often with dogs."

The chain rattled again and Ciel barely had time to dart out of the boy's reach. Maurice's restraints, which he had found his way out of at some point, fell to the floor. His cherubic face was twisted in a way more suitable to an avenging angel. "Of course I knew they were family, the whole bloody school did so they kissed his ass!"

Ciel opened his mouth to call for one of the two men outside to settle this mongrel down, but no sound came out. He struggled to breathe as the chain around his neck tightened. Maurice was latched firmly on to his back, enacting what could only be a premeditated escape as he choked the breath from Ciel's body. He was back there prattling about something, probably gloating or talking about how Derrick deserved what he got, but Ciel paid him no mind. He only heard background noise as he reached behind him into his waistband.

The door crashed into the floor and over it came Sebastian, eyes ablaze. A moment later his eyes weren't the only thing that were red. He stared at Ciel, blood dripping down his face. Ciel lowered his gun. He looked down at Maurice and the grotesque state of the side of his head. Ciel had pointed over his shoulder and fired, but judging from the state of the boy he had found his mark just fine. He had just tucked his gun back in when Arthur came storming in.

He walked over Maurice's body and curled his fingers in a beckoning motion. "Let's go, Sebastian. We're done here."

"You're a bloody sociopath," Arthur said, watching them go.

Ciel looked over his shoulder and smiled. "What can I say, Sir Arthur, the Queen has one hell of a guard dog."

One Week Earlier

Ciel folded his hands on the desk and stared at the two demons across from him. Sebastian looked uncomfortable, likely for the same reason as Ciel, which was the spider demon sucking blood out from under his fingernails. Claude seemed unaware of their eyes on him until he looked up, finger in his mouth, and glanced between them. He narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"You are repulsive," Ciel said.

Claude cleaned his last finger of blood, though he looked slightly abashed. "It's delicious."

Ciel grimaced and turned his attention to the only other person in the room he could tolerate. "So, Alois was alone?"

"Foolishly, yes. Claude dispatched him with ease."

"Is he alive?" He tried to look indifferent to the answer, in spite of his churning stomach. He didn't want to be responsible for Alois' death a second time.

Claude spoke up. "I was going to take his head off when one of his people showed up, and the two of them left. It would seem they weren't prepared to take on two demons just yet."

"I should have known Grell wouldn't be far behind him," Sebastian said.

"Grell?"

"Yes the pretty little red-headed thing that's always retrieving Alois from harm's way."

Ciel bristled and sat his tea cup down harder than he intended, rattling the porcelain saucer. "Oh so he's pretty now, is he?"

Claude ended the discussion with, "This man wasn't a red-head. He had short, dark hair and a scythe in the shape of pruning shears that I can only imagine he stores in his ass whenever he's not using it."

Sebastian muffled his laughter in a cough but Ciel just glared at them both. "They probably returned to the shinigami realm. Next time we have them, we crush them. Understood?"

The demons voiced their assent, stood, and bowed. Claude took his leave and left the two of them alone. For the amount of blood he had cleaned away, not much of it could have been his judging from his lack of torn clothes or rumpled hair. Ciel pushed his empty teacup away and turned his attention to his butler. He found Sebastian's eyes already fixed on him.

"I hate this waiting game. I want to finish this," Ciel said.

In a blur Sebastian was beside him and strong fingers were kneading the tension out of his shoulders. "It will be over soon, I feel sure."

Ciel considered what this being over would entail. Either they would slaughter the reapers and become targets for a whole race of demigods, or the reapers would succeed and he would lose his last tie to both his father and Sebastian. There was no good outcome, only bad and worse. He reached back to take Sebastian's hand. He, too, felt sure their battle was coming to an end. He just didn't know what that meant for them.

"Let's go to bed," he sighed.

Before his feet met the ground, Sebastian picked him up and carried him out of the study. He shivered and leaned into the demon's chest. It was a bitter cold night. When they reached his bedroom, Sebastian placed him on the bed before kindling the fire. Ciel's lips tilted up as he watched the firelight dance on Sebastian's white skin. It was strange to think back to a time when the man made him nervous, when he didn't trust him. He thought of a sunny afternoon, dancing with Sebastian to no music. That had been the first time he let a small piece of his guard slip and after that the rest just came tumbling down.

Sebastian came over and knelt in front of him. He made to undress to Ciel, only to pause with his hands on Ciel's chest. He looked down, his eyelashes casting shadows on his face in the pale orange light. Ciel put a hand under his chin and tilted his head up to make the demon look at him. "Sebastian?"

His butler did not speak. He only wrapped his arms around Ciel and pulled him close. Ciel stroked his hair and stared down at him with increasing worry. It wasn't like Sebastian to just melt into his arms, it was usually the other way around. Yet there he was on his knees, head against Ciel's abdomen, eyes closed. Ciel's stomach flipped and not in a good way. As much as it tugged at his heartstrings there was something wrong with Sebastian's sudden display of weakness.

The morning found them tangled and naked, the fire dying, but plenty warmed by the blankets and the heat of the other's body. Ciel watched the demon sleep. If possible Sebastian was even more beautiful when he was asleep, with his bangs in his face and his lips parted as his bare chest rose and fell. Ciel tucked one of the longer locks of his hair behind his ear. Last night Sebastian had taken him like it was the first and the last time, had worshiped his body like a holy sanctum. Sebastian had made love to him. It had been amazing but now the disparity and passion of the act only deepened Ciel's fear for what was coming.

(((())))

Two weeks of mounting paranoia passed. There had been no sign of the reapers but he couldn't believe no news was good news. They were planning something, he was sure of it. He began the last day of the second week on not a single minute of sleep. His mind raced too fast for him to relax, and every uncertain moment felt too precious to waste on sleep.

He was face down, half conscious on the dining table when Sebastian brought him his post after breakfast. The envelope he saw peeking out of the stack perked him up faster than a whole cup of sugar. He recognized the most important piece at once and listened eagerly as the demon read aloud to him. For God's sake, he needed something to take his mind off this war being waged over his father's soul. He could think of no better distraction than an assignment from her Majesty. He was on his feet before Sebastian had finished reading, earning an inquisitive raising of Sebastian's eyebrows.

"I need to get out of this manor for awhile, this is the perfect opportunity," he said to answer the demon's unspoken question.

"Very well, young master. I'll ready the carriage and we will find out what this young man has to say for himself."

Present

William stamped his last file for the evening and locked his office up tight. It had not been easy to earn his own office so quickly, but hard work paid off. He made his way down the hall and lingered in front of a certain door. There was nothing to be gained from torturing himself, from reminding himself of the last human emotion he couldn't shake, but he found himself entering the bullpen for the Retrieval Division all the same.

"You're here late," he said.

Grell pushed his glasses into his hair and rubbed his eyes. "I've been gathering as much information on this case as possible but there isn't much about it I don't already know. We practically raised the kid."

William didn't comment. The night he tracked Alois down after seeing that he never clocked out, it had hit home the lengths he may have to go to reclaim Vincent Phantomhive's soul. Alois had been beaten half to death by a demon and might not have lived to tell about it if William hadn't pieced together where he had gone. Ciel would protect that ring with his life and there was no telling what measures might have to be taken to get it back. Guilt rose in the back of Will's throat with a taste as sour as bile. If he hadn't allowed the Phantomhives to adopt him, Ciel wouldn't be in the middle of this at all.

He eyed the vase of dead roses on Grell's desk. "I hear Michaelis got a hold of you outside of Undertaker's."

Grell nodded. He didn't say anything, but there wasn't much to say. Nothing had changed since their encounter when they got their memories back. William still felt a pang of longing every time he saw Grell, but he also couldn't ruin a career that he had to live with for years, maybe eternity. He tugged the tie from Grell's hair and the other reaper turned toward him. Grell's hair fell down his back, wavy from being braided all day.

For all their disagreements, Grell was the only person he knew to talk to, and the only one who wouldn't judge him. "I don't want to have to hurt him. He's been through enough."

"I know. I wish we could walk away from this case, it's just a tiny piece of a soul."

William began to section his hair out. "The Management Division would never allow that, not with a demon and a Faustian contract involved. It's as much a matter of pride as it is anything else."

"Can't blame a girl for dreaming," Grell said, picking away at the chipped polish on his fingers.

"Not at all. I wish for the same thing."

They lapsed into a familiar, comfortable silence as William braided his old friend's hair. Grell was far more than a friend but they both knew this was the end of the line for them. For what had to be the hundredth time since he regained his memories, William wished he would have manned up when he was still alive. Grell had been right there for years, waiting for him, and now that Will wanted him he was permanently out of his reach. Their sworn duties in this afterlife created too high an obstacle for their already shaky relationship to overcome. He sighed as he replaced the tie at the end of Grell's braid. Even to his own ears his reasons sounded like excuses.

"What is your schedule for tomorrow?" Grell asked.

"The same as yours, I imagine."

They both stared down at the assignment on his desk. The same one had been issued to both of them along with Alois and William's partner, Ronald. Tomorrow they were to penetrate Phantomhive manor and bring the ring back to Dispatch. All demons were to be exterminated, and human casualties were to be avoided if possible but not at the cost of failing their assignment. Grell closed the file and stood, only to embrace William tightly.

"I can't," he whispered.

William pressed his forehead against Grell's. "We must."