Ciel was dying.

Everything hurt. His butler had shoved a lifesaver over his body and had rudely tossed him into the ocean—he had wanted to go down with the ship, have a few more seconds to look for Eleanora.

Ciel had sunk through the ring and was now in the sea. He hadn't started inhaling water yet, but the water was so cold…It felt like daggers stabbing into every millimeter of his skin.

For some reason, he kept on remembering Eleanora. She had said something once to him:

"Pain is good. Pain means that you're alive. When you stop feeling pain, it means that you are dead."

She had said that a week before her wedding to Sebastian. Ciel suddenly realized that she must have been in great agony then. He hadn't thought about it before, but he remembered that she had always been so sad. She must have felt dead, then. She must have been so miserable that she didn't feel anything.

He himself was starting to lose feeling in his toes and fingers. Did that mean that he was dying? But he didn't want to die. He had survived so much throughout this night…It was ridiculous for him to die now! He refused to be conquered by a giant puddle of water!

His lungs were bursting; everything within him was screaming for him to breathe. He realized that he had to do something, so he opened his mouth to try and whisper something with his last breath:

"Sebas…"

Someone grabbed him by the back of his shirt and roughly yanked him back up, into the icy night—but at least it was air. He was thrown into a lifeboat and he knelt on its floor, coughing.

"Sebas…" he said, "Sebastian…"

The butler tossed his tailcoat over him. He looked absolutely horrible from all of the battles that he had fought—Ciel had never seen him look so bad.

There was a horrible moaning sound and they turned to look. The great cruise ship had broken in half and was now sinking rapidly. It disappeared in the sea in seconds.

There was silence on the lifeboat. Ciel cleared his throat and tightened the tailcoat around him.

"Well, then. That's that." He sighed in relief. No more living-dead people to deal with. "Sebastian, let's head back to the rest of the survivors…"

Sebastian fell down onto his knees, staring in horror at the spot where the ship had sunk.

"Sebastian! What is it? What's wrong?"

"I…I couldn't…"

"You couldn't what?" Ciel felt a surge of panic. Sebastian was so bloody, so weak…Was he going to die? But he couldn't! Ciel would not allow that!

"Save her…" he whispered. "I couldn't…I couldn't save her…" He took a deep, shuddering breath. "She was right. She was right. And now she's dead. And now I'll never…Never…" He looked away.

Eleanora. Ciel had suddenly completely forgotten about Eleanora. He looked at where the ship had last been. Had she really been on it when it sank?...No. No, that was impossible. This was Eleanora. The woman cursed out shopkeepers who tried to cheat her. She would never allow herself to die in such a way.

"She's…Maybe she's still alive," he said weakly, but he knew, deep down, that the odds of her survival…

She was married to a demon, but after all, she was still only a human.

Ciel bent his head down. Eleanora wouldn't want him to cry—she would laugh at him for his weakness. He could already imagine what she would say:

"Come on, now! It's just death. Nothing too scary—life is far scarier. And I'm not worth your tears. Don't disappoint me by getting all sentimental—it's disgusting."

And she would smile and smile and smile and smile, always hiding her true feelings behind that one happy smile…

"Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry…"

But he could still almost hear her voice. He could almost hear her shouting…

"…"

Ciel looked up. What was that?

"…it…"

"Sebastian," he said, but the butler was looking up as well, listening closely.

"…hit…"

The butler stood up and dove into the water again.

"Young Master, hold on to something!"

And then he started pushing the boat, his legs moving faster than they had ever moved before, moving quickly towards the person shouting.

"…hit…shit…Shit…SHIT…!"

Eleanora was in vast amounts of trouble. She had originally thought that all would be well—she had successfully jumped from the sinking ship, had found the door, and had just started to paddle towards the other lifeboats when she realized how quiet the night had become.

There had been other people who had jumped. She had heard them screaming from pain and fear and desperation to be saved. And now there was nothing.

Which meant that…

She realized what was happening just as the first undead sank its teeth into her leg.

And now she was standing on the door, desperately trying to keep her balance while simultaneously trying to shoot every undead bozo that was trying to rip her lungs out.

She was running out of ammunition. Worse, half of the guns that she had "borrowed" didn't work anymore because they had gotten wet. She wouldn't last very long—there were too many of them and too little of her—but she would be damned if she went without taking at least a third of them with her!

"Shit—Shit—Shit—Shit!"

"ELEANORA!"

"SHIT?!"

Someone grabbed her by the waist and threw her into a boat, where someone else grabbed her wrist.

"Eleanora! You're alright!"

"Young Master! But what…But how…?"

"Hold on to something!" Sebastian shouted, standing above them both and brandishing an oar. "This might get a bit rough."