Chapter 20: Sebastian POV

It had been three days since the Tutor left and the crows told me that he had gone through a Reaper Portal. I knew time functioned differently on both sides, and merely waited. I hoped both to see him, and not. I did not relish the thought of having to confront him - her. I sighed as I paced the hallway before the young Master's bedchamber. Her. Mr. Hyde… I shook my head. Demons and Reapers were not friends - at best we passively tolerated one another's existence. Generally that was earned.

"Sebastian," the Master said, stepping out of the room. "What is wrong with Vincent?"

"The Undertaker confirmed it is a Possession. He has contacted someone regarding a remedy."

"And you can't do anything?"

"Not without perhaps killing him at this point," I said sadly. I looked at the Master and saw the pain. "I trust the Undertaker not to do anything foolish."

He nodded and looked away. "He is burning up."

"Hell's fire," I said almost wistfully. "Dangerous if not controlled, but the herbs should be soothing any pain the young Master may feel."

"Pain?"

I smiled and looked pointedly at his scarred eye. "Pain."

He turned and looked at the closed door. "If I had never agreed to go on with my life, this would not have happened," he whispered.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and felt him both stiffen and melt into the intimacy. "But you chose well, my Lord. You chose to be happy. And happiness does not mean there is no pain."

My senses tingled in that moment and I looked at the door, the crashing of a window, glass falling, hit my ears faster than the Masters, but we both were through the door in a flash.

"Grell," I growled, baring my teeth.

"BASSY!"

I tackled him and knocked the young Master from his grip. I felt the Master grab him and shield him from the Reaper. I pushed Grell back out toward the window, and felt a stabbing in my right shoulder as he brought his Scythe down on it, the blades biting and blood splattering the wall. I flung him down to the gardens and jumped down after him. I was needing a good fight with the Reaper in red.

"Oh Bassy, you have become so much better at this teasing," he said, swinging his Scythe around. I dodged him and growled again. "You should invite me in - we can tussle in sheets - of red!"

I landed a kick to the side of his head and he went flying into a statue knocking it over. I raced over and slammed him into the ground again, my foot coming down on his hand and making him let go of his Scythe.

"Pain is love!" he cried and kicked me in the knee, making me buckle, giving himself enough time to grab his Scythe and jump back up to the window.

Once more he was standing over the Master and the young Master. "Move aside, or I will take you too," Grell growled. "Your child is Possessed and is as good as dead. Let's show some mercy!" And he raised his Scythe up and swung.

But at that moment, as I landed, a bit slower because of my injuries, he went sailing past me hitting the wall, with a black clad creature attached to him. I staggered and went around to the Master, looking at the pair. The black clad man detached himself from Grell and stood up, his back to us. I felt the Master back away, and I shielded him.

"Step away, Demon," the man said. He turned and looked over his shoulders and I could see the bright green eyes, his right hand was twirling something and suddenly a Scythe shot out. "I am not here to kill the young Master."

"Mr. Hyde?" I breathed.

"Don't act surprised," he said, turning and facing me. "I think you suspected what I was. So shall I confirm it?" He pulled up straight and brought the Scythe to his shoulder, standing casually yet with a menacing glare. "I am a Reaper. From the Demon Detection Department. And I am here to exorcise the boy. I don't want to hurt him Earl Phantomhive." He gave Grell a solid kick in the face again. "Please, let me help." He looked back at the Portal and then back at me. "I don't have much time to keep him alive."

I turned and snached the young Master before the Master had time to react. "I do apologize, my Lord," and leaped after the Tutor. He nodded and leaped away, finally leaping up to the roof. "Stop!"

"We don't have time," he shouted. "The others will know I came without orders. And they will take my Scythe for sure. Already I fear my Retirement papers may have been lost."

I didn't understand, but I understood the urgency in his voice. "There is a clearing in the woods. Follow me."

I lept down, racing through the dense trees, knowing the way very well. I felt the Reaper behind me and skidded to a stop, impressed how quickly he had kept up. I smiled. "You can keep up, impressive."

"I'm a Reaper, why are you surprised?"

Ah well, he had a point. I laid the young Master on the ground and stepped back. I looked down at the boy and imagined how my own Master had looked when he was sick. So many times he would cry out and squirm around. But the young Master was not moving.

"Stand back," the Tutor said. His eyes glowed and the Scythe seemed to shimmer. I felt a powerful pressure come bearing down on us and I backed away. I tried to keep still as he placed the tip of his Scythe on the young Master's small chest, and tapped it slowly. A light seemed to shine around the young Master and the Tutor looked like the Reaper he was. He reached into the small space that opened and started to recite ancient Latin words. The sky rumbled and I felt the ground rumble as well. I backed off a bit more and the Reaper began to tremble - I reached out and found that the light burned.

An earthly scream - the screams of tortured Souls and Demons being tortured - came screaming out of the young Master. It wasn't from his mouth, but rather out of his chest. I turned and felt myself be forced apart, becoming the Darkness.

Through the trees beyond I saw another hoard of men - Reapers I assumed by the glow around them - and suddenly a crack of lightning sizzled the air. Another scream pierced the air - a female one of pain. My eyes snapped to the Tutor and I gathered myself to surge forward as soon as I could. She dropped the Scythe and tipped forward. The bolt crackled down and hit close to where the young Master lay. The air danced and then settled. I raced forward and knelt down beside the Reaper and the young Master.

"Mr. Hyde?" I ventured. I placed a finger on his shoulder and came away with a burning heat. I gritted my teeth and rolled her off the young Master. He lay there, still. I leaned down, trying to listen to a breath, only hearing the crashing feet of the advancing Reapers. "Danny?" I tried apprehensively. "Daniella?" I finally breathed as her eyes fluttered open. I sat back stunned. Never did I know a Reaper's eyes to not be green, but when he opened them, they were a icy blue that made me fall into them even more than women did over my Master's blue eyes.

"Oh dear gods above!" a man said. I turned and saw Grell on the edge of the clearing. "What did you do - you Demon!"

I got up and snarled. "I did nothing but help the one Reaper who actually wanted to help the young Master - not kill him."

Grell stepped up and looked me up and down. "His name was in my book."

I started as if that had slapped me. No, surely the Tutor would not have wanted the young Master to die. Or the Undertaker… I looked back at the Tutor who was still limply laying on the ground. "How can that be? I sent help to extract the Demon."

"I guess the Reaper Department had other plans! Oh dear, is he dead?"

"No, both are alive," I said, eyeing the bodies. The young Master suddenly gasped and I moved the Tutor gently off him. "Young Master, oh thank goodness."

Grell lunged at us and I caught his Scythe as it came bearing down on my young Master. "You are not taking this one!"

"I have his name in my book!"

"Grell!"

The new voice startled Grell and he dropped his advance and looked over his shoulder. "Will?"

"Look in your book - the name is erased. He lives," he added, looking at me as I held the boy to my chest. "For now." He looked down at where the Tutor lay and walked over and knelt down. "This is why we have special Reapers who do this," he muttered. "Take his Scythe. He is dead."

I placed the young Master on the ground, sitting him by a tree and lost myself as I dove toward the Tutors Scythe. My hand brushed one another and I looked up into the eyes of Grell and bore my teeth, equally as sharp and dangerous. A burning spread under my fingers and Grell pulled away.

"What?!"

I looked down and saw the Tutor's slender fingers wrap around the Scythe and blink slowly. He looked at the two of us and I let go. Instantly it shimmered and retracted into an innocent looking pen. "I have this, thank you."

I couldn't help but laugh and I smiled as both Grell and William stepped back at the sound. I looked down at the Tutor and with each blink, his eyes seemed to change color. "Curious," I whispered as I leaned down over him and pushed some of dirt from his cheek.

"Not dead. Not Human," William said. He flipped pages and let out a groan. "His papers! It seems when he was doing the Exorcism, they were diverted to the wrong department in the Retirement Department!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I spat watching the Tutor try to sit up.

"Ah, Mr. Hyde seems to be one of your problems now," William finally said as he snapped his notebook. "Mr. Danny Hyde has been reclassified. He is now a Demon."