Okay, guys, I'm back (for how long? No one knows, lol). I wanted to apologise for the long wait, but I have two more chapters in stock that I wrote in one day, pretty much, so there shouldn't be too much time between updates, at least for the next two chapters. You guys are hopefully stll around!

Many thanks to my beta Carrie2sky who is awesome and still betas for me, haha!

And without further ado, the next chapter.

Chapter 8

When Ciel was little his father took him to see his soldiers. They were strewn all over Vincent's lands, but there was a village exclusively populated by them. They forged their own weapons and armour. They kept beasts as tall as houses in cages where they screeched for hours on a good day.

Vincent didn't like cowards so Ciel did his best stand as tall as he could, meeting every soldier's stare. Vincent put a hand on Ciel's shoulder as they calmly looked at the men and women roaming the muddy village streets. They bowed when they saw Vincent but did not try to interact with him. They emitted no fear, they even grinned at their leader, showing rows of sharp teeth that did not faze Vincent in the slightest. A group was skinning something hideous in the distance. Ciel could still hear the tearing of flesh as they ripped the creature apart.

"These are my men," Vincent said, and his voice sounds like an echo now, bouncing off the corners of Ciel's ear, "and one day, if you do well, they will be yours. You will fight me, and if you win they will follow your lead. Go to Earth, hunt souls, and gather your strength. You will come back and challenge me.

I will be waiting for you."

Ciel thinks of this now as he watches Sebastian lean against the wall next to the door. Sebastian is the ticket that will allow Ciel to return. Whether that return will end in glory or in shame remains to be seen.

"Do you now?" he mutters, throat scratchy. He doesn't know this strange feeling, so he clears his throat without much success. "What do you want?"

Sebastian scans the room as if he will find an answer there. "You can have my soul."

Ciel has to blink several times as the information finds its way to his brain. He should be happy. He isn't.

"Under one condition," Sebastian adds, holding up a single finger.

Ciel snorts, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Of course," he says.

"You wait."

The little bit of amusement that Ciel has felt disappears all too quickly. "For how long exactly?"

Sebastian looks at him, his gaze unreadable. "Until I'm ready, I guess."

"That is too vague." Ciel doesn't know why he's insisting, but he has his mother's words in the back of his head. Make sure it isn't on time. "Give me a time span."

"I won't," Sebastian says.

"Then I will assume that you are ready and take your soul whenever I please!" Ciel snarls. "Pick a date."

"I thought me being vague serves to your benefit," Sebastian says, raising an eyebrow. "Why would you insist that I limit your freedom?"

The words catch Ciel unexpectedly. He relaxes his taut muscles one by one, raises his chin. "The last time I checked you were quite against having your soul taken."

"I still am, that's the point." Sebastian shrugs. "But I figure that if you're not going to leave me, I might as well ask for time to get adjusted to it. You will grant me this time and unless I explicitly tell you so, you are not allowed to take my soul."

"Other people would form a contract over something more substantial than time." Ciel tilts his head to the side. "Then again I suppose you aren't other people." I can leave you, is what he wants to say but doesn't. At least I won't be the one endangering you.

"Exactly," Sebastian says. "Do we have a deal?"

No, Ciel thinks, but out of his mouth comes, "Yes." He walks over to where Sebastian is and tugs at his shirt. Sebastian just frowns at him a lot until Ciel grabs his collar and pulls him down. "I am going to mark you."

Sebastian stiffens. "Are you going to form a contract over that?"

Ciel huffs. "Of course I am. Everybody must know that your soul is mine to take. Now hold still, this is already going to hurt without your struggles." He put his free hand on Sebastian's head, combing his fingers through it so that they rest against his scalp. Sebastian looks decidedly uncomfortable and Ciel heaves a sigh. "You don't have to do that."

Sebastian meets his gaze. "Well, are you going to leave me in peace if I say no?"

Of course not. Ciel says as much. He cannot leave Sebastian alone now that he's met him. There are also many demons waiting to have a soul like Sebastian's. Ciel's mark will protect him from these demons, and if Ciel has to wait for years for that bloody soul then so be it.

The human grits his teeth when the contract slices itself into his scalp, probably scraping the bone underneath. Ciel can feel the blood coating his hand and Sebastian's hair. A pentagram appears on Ciel's left hand, which is fisted into Sebastian's shirt. It doesn't hurt him nearly as much as Sebastian, it merely stings a little. He watches the doctor's face as human blood runs down the underside of his forearm. Scalps bleed profusely, someone told him. He didn't think of that. He considered marking the base of Sebastian's neck, but he could have risked doing permanent damage to the spine if he did something wrong. This is his first mark after all, and the best place to hide would be on an organ or – a much safer choice – underneath thick, black hair. The skull is too strong for the contract to slice itself into Sebastian's brain, despite the fact that there is quite a bit of blood just dripping on the floor right now. Sebastian gripped both of Ciel's wrists and the demon can feel his bones shift under the force of his grip, but he doesn't complain. He finishes the contract and lets go of Sebastian, who exhales in sheer relief. Stepping back Ciel stares at him.

He just formed a contract with Sebastian Michaelis.

He just formed a contract on time.

He wipes the blood on Sebastian's shirt and leaves the flat. The doctor doesn't stop him.

London has changed in the mere hours that saw Ciel in the flat. It looks… brighter. The young demon glances around, wondering if the other citizens can see it, too, but then he sighs. It's probably just him. Despite his vision playing this trick on him, he doesn't exactly feel brighter. He just sentenced a man to death. There is a nagging sensation somewhere in his chest that tells him he should not have done that.

He weaves through the people crowding London's streets. They are everywhere, and the masses won't lessen. Instead they seem to grow. He starts to suffocate.

The moment he spots an opening he takes it. It comes in the form of heavy doors and tinted windows and a cross on the altar. Ciel sneers at the latter, already turning to leave. He'll find a park, there must be one in the area.

That's when he feels it.

The not-quite-man is here, in this church, in the far back of the room, much closer to Ciel than to the altar. The smaller boy is nowhere to be seen. This man… Edgar… he hasn't noticed him yet. Ciel isn't exactly masking his presence. It is quite insulting.

He approaches the row in which Edgar is sitting and clears his throat. "Fancy seeing you here of all places."

Edgar twitches, but that is the only indicator of his discomfort as he slowly turns his head to face Ciel. "Fancy seeing you here, I'd say."

"Looking for salvation?" Ciel asks in a conversational tone as he tries very hard to pinpoint this man's nature.

Edgar snorts. "Hardly."

Ciel takes a seat, staring at the Jesus figure. He wonders if all the angels up there are insulted. "I landed in a church when I came to Earth," he says, frowning at the altar.

Edgar pensively tilts his head to the side, gauging. "I landed in a nightclub," he finally says, his mouth giving an amused quirk. "Nobody noticed."

"You called me by my title once. I assume you are a demon."

Edgar gives a noncommittal hum as Maurice comes back from wherever he's been, carrying a small book in his hands. Edgar follows the boy's movements with his gaze. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Ciel narrows his eyes. "A halfbreed, maybe?" He doesn't receive an answer, which is disrespectful. Demons have never been good with any kind of rules, though, so Ciel can't exactly punish him for it. "This one…" He nods at Maurice and the blond freezes. "Is he contracted to you?"

"Why would you want to know?" Edgar asks, his tone icy. "I am not from your lands."

"Have we met?" Maurice asks once his body relaxes, copying Edgar's tone. The book in his hands is a collection of hymns.

"Briefly," Ciel drawls. "Is he your demon?" He points at Edgar.

"No!" Maurice says, looking insulted. Then his expression softens. "Well, at least not anymore."

"At least not anymore," Edgar repeats, sounding bitter. "He still carries the contract mark. I couldn't get it off him."

"Did you break the contract?" Ciel asks.

"In a fashion," Edgar says, looking at the bare back of his hands. That is not the answer that Ciel has been looking for.

"Who is that?" Maurice asks the older man. Edgar tells him and Maurice looks at Ciel so quickly it's a wonder he doesn't get whiplash from it.

"If you are done with your questions, young prince, we have places to be," Edgar finally says and gets up. Ciel lets them go, mostly because he can't think of any more questions. Too many have arisen with the vague answers he received, but he first needs to sort them lest he ask unnecessary questions that won't bring him any further. Something is very off with Edgar and the state of his contract with Maurice. Once a contract is fulfilled both marks vanish, not just one. The same happens if it's broken, but breaking a contract takes too much energy, so nobody actually does it. How does something like Maurice's mark happen? Ciel buries his face in his hands, trying to come up with a possible answer.

The heavy click of thick heels hinders him from pursuing his thoughts.

"Now, isn't this a rare sight," someone says next to him, and he knows this voice, "a demon in a church."

"Reapers aren't exactly often here, either," Ciel replies.

"The priest is dead," Grell says, nodding vaguely at the inside of the church. "Heart attack, just now. He was quite old."

Ciel nods in mock understanding. "Then I suggest you do your work. I'm leaving." He gets up, but Grell is in front of him in the blink of an eye, pushing him back into the row with much more force than strictly necessary.

"I don't think so," the reaper singsongs, "let's have a few words, shall we?"

Ciel glares at him. "Let me go, or I will hurt you."

"I like pain. However, you aren't my type at all." He raises both eyebrows at Ciel. "You know who my type is? One Sebastian Michaelis. You know what happened to him?"

Ciel's mouth goes slack with surprise. He keeps it shut, though. "I don't care what happened to him. Let me go. Right now."

"He formed a contract," Grell continues, looking at the mark on Ciel's hand. "Don't give me orders, it won't end well."

Ciel shoves the reaper hard, and Grell stumbles backwards, grinning. "I'm not wasting my time with the likes of you. Leave me alone."

It's the last thing he can say before Grell charges at him, his chainsaw coming to life. Ciel dodges the first swing with a scowl, then tries to put as much space between him and Grell as possible. But Grell is insanely fast, cornering Ciel in the smallest amount of time. If Vincent could see this, Ciel thinks miserably, dodging yet another strike, he'd be so embarrassed.

Grell lifts his death scythe once again, but before he can move Ciel does, seeing an opportunity and digs his fist into the reaper's stomach. The redhead is shocked enough to let his weapon fall, and the blast hard enough to make him cough up bits of blood. Ciel's fist hurts, and he looks at the reaper in dismay as he shakes it and kicks the death scythe out of the way. There's no better time to leave than right now. He flees.

OOO

When Ciel comes back home, Sebastian is frying vegetables. He looks up from the pan to see the demon standing in the doorway, staring at him. He almost flinches but decides that they are past that and suppresses it.

"Hello there," he mutters. There is a dull ache in the side of his head just where Ciel carved the contract mark into his scalp. He's tried to look at it while Ciel was gone, but all he could see was raw lines, splitting open from his treatment to leak more blood. So he just jumped under the shower to wash off the worst.

Ciel crosses his arms in front of his chest, defensively. Sebastian wonders why he isn't happier. As if sensing that thought, the demon narrows his eyes.

"How long will it take?" he asks.

Sebastian chuckles, uneasily. "That eager to get rid of me?" Forever, he thinks.

Ciel huffs. "Grell Sutcliffe attacked me."

Sebastian stills. "Why?"

"Why?" Ciel repeats loudly.

Sebastian decidedly doesn't wince when the demon slams the door shut. Instead he finishes cooking and sets the table for one. He has long since stopped trying to get Ciel to eat. There is only one thing demons eat, and that is souls.

He puts the food on his plate and pours himself a glass of water and setting both on the rectangular dinner table. Ciel is either out or in his room, and Sebastian finds he can't choke even one forkful down because of the demon's mood. It's not like he can feel it, but it doesn't take a genius to know that Ciel is in an incredibly bad mood. Sebastian sets the cutlery aside and gets up. This needs to be settled first.

If Ciel is in the flat, that is.

Sebastian finds him, of all places, in the bathroom, sitting in the tub with his clothes on and the water off. Ciel glares at him when Sebastian comes to rest next to the tub, but the doctor doesn't let it scare him away. The demon actually looks adorable for the first time today.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing," Ciel murmurs, looking away.

Sebastian leans against the sink, his hands gripping the porcelain behind him. "Is it because of the contract's conditions?"

"No, it's…" Ciel interrupts himself, blinking. He chances a glance at Sebastian, frowns and then shakes his head. "Forget it. Just don't take too long."

"Come out of the tub," Sebastian says. "My food is getting cold."

"As if I care."

Which means 'okay'. Sebastian nods, satisfied and a tiny bit relieved, but he leaves the bathroom quickly in case Ciel notices.

The boy sits down in front of him that evening, and their first day together comes to mind. Sebastian spears a piece of tomato on his fork and holds it in front of Ciel's mouth, just for fun.

The demon accepts the offer silently, surprisingly.