The trip to the sanatorium was dead silent. Neither man tried to initiate conversation, because neither wanted to.

"Why him?" Sebastian thought as they drove along. "Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been me? What's wrong with me? Why did it have to be him?"

The real facts are presently unknown, but it can be safely assumed that Drocell was thinking much along the same lines.

The horse moved quickly and Sebastian didn't stop for any reason, and soon they were on the sanatorium grounds.

Drocell entered the main building to talk to one of the nurses, who said that Earl Mandalay was expecting him, but if he could please wait for five minutes while everything was prepared.

The doll went back outside, where the demon was absentmindedly rubbing down the horse after the trip.

"She—said—it—would—be—five—minutes—or—so."

"I don't care," Sebastian said in a lifeless voice.

"Is—there—anything—you—do—care—about?"

"I'm different from you humans—or, rather, you former humans," he looked at him from the corner of his eyes with distaste. "I don't care about much, but when I do care, I care with a passion and devotion and intensity that you couldn't even imagine in your wildest dreams."

"I—care—too. I—care—with—passion—and—devotion—and—intensity."

Sebastian scoffed and turned his attention back to the horse. Eleanora had stayed behind at Phantomhive—undoubtedly she was turning in her two weeks' notice even as they spoke. And then she would join Drocell and serve the Earl of Mandalay, and then…where would he be? Would he be all alone again? He didn't want to go back to the bachelor life; the nights were always so cold and lonely. When one has been intimate with another person—both physically and mentally—it is incredibly difficult, almost impossible, to return to solitude again.

And his parents…What would he tell his parents? How could he possibly confess to his mother that he lost his wife to a doll? And his father…What would his father say? What would his father do?

Well, his father most certainly would not try attacking him from behind with a fallen tree trunk, which was, coincidentally, what Drocell had just tried to do.

They had fought before—they had fought each other several times for several nights straight. But this fight was different. Before, they hadn't been able to really battle because they didn't want to ruin the mansion or wake somebody up, but now there were no inhibitions. There was nothing stopping them from ripping each other's throats out.

Which was what they both wanted to do at this moment, more than anything else in the world.

Drocell was a skilled fighter, and he had a body that was stronger and lighter than a human's. But, really, in the end, he was just a human soul trapped in a porcelain shell. When emotions ran rampant and there were no holds barred, the demon was easily able to overpower him. The only thing that stopped Sebastian from rendering him permanently immobile was that Drocell fell to his knees before him and started crying.

"Why?" he sobbed. "Why did she have to choose you, of all people?"

Sebastian paused in his "kill" position to consider this strange turn of affairs. For one thing, a doll was crying; he was so upset that his voice even lost some of that mechanicalness. And for another thing, he was talking about something completely impossible. Eleanora chose him?

"…You're lying," he finally said. "She chose you. I heard her—she loves you." And he again prepared to slam the tree trunk through his useless skull.

But Drocell shook his head.

"She—chose—you," he said, unable to control his grief. "She—rejected—me. She—said—she—loves—you—more…Loves—you—enough—to—stay—with—you…"

The tree slipped out of Sebastian's hands and landed on his head, where it cracked neatly into two pieces. He hadn't even noticed it.

"She…chose…me?" He couldn't believe it. "She could've had you…and she chose me?"

"Yes," Drocell nodded. "And—I—just—can't—understand—why…"

At this thought, he glared up with a sudden resurgence of fury and staggered to his feet, again itching for another fight…But at that moment, a nurse stepped out of the building and approached them.

"Mr. Drocell Keinz?"

"Er—Yes?"

"The Earl is ready for you now."

His rage and disappointment dissipated when faced with the reality of meeting his beloved master again. He turned and practically ran to the building, completely forgetting his rival.

But that was okay, as Sebastian had completely forgotten his rival as well.

"She didn't choose him," he thought as he got into the carriage. "She chose me. She didn't choose him. She chose me. She didn't choose him. She chose me! She didn't choose him! She CHOSE ME!"

Those two sentences—those two simply perfect, glorious sentences!—ran nonstop through his mind as he raced back to Phantomhive. The horse didn't mind—it enjoyed the return trip as much as the butler did.

And soon he was back at Phantomhive—wonderful, outstanding Phantomhive!—and quickly scanning the house for Eleanora. He sensed her presence in one of the rooms and he immediately ran up the stairs, down the hall, throwing the door open—

"ELEANORA!"

Ciel looked up from his papers.

"Hm? Oh, it's you. That was fast; I hadn't expected you for another hour or so."

Sebastian blinked at him, confused. Where was Eleanora? He must've just missed her.

"Anyway, it's good that you're here early." Ciel tossed a paper over to Sebastian. "We have a new assignment from the Queen."

Sebastian didn't even understand that statement.

"…What?"

"I said that we have a new assignment from the Queen. The letter arrived not too long ago; the servants have already packed up my luggage. You can be packed in five minutes, right?"

"…What?"

"I said, you can be packed in five minutes right?"

Sebastian just blinked uncomprehendingly.

"…We have a new assignment from the Queen," Ciel said in a very careful, slow voice. "We have to go and investigate it now."

"…But…why?"

"'Why?!'" Ciel was surprised. Sebastian had never questioned an investigation before—except for the dog village stint. "Because…Because the Queen asked us to…?"

"This Queen!" Sebastian said furiously. "What does she even do all day?!"

"SEBASTIAN!" Ciel said, now thoroughly shocked. "Go and get ready immediately! That is an order!" Ordering him around was actually a genius move on his part, as it prevented Ciel from answering the question, to which he didn't exactly know the answer to.

The butler slunk out of the room, and soon he was leaving Phantomhive again. Eleanora had said goodbye to them all, but he didn't have a chance to ask her if it was really well and truly true—if she had really chosen him over the freak—if she really loved him, and him only.

He sulked all the way, so it was not a pleasant trip to the boarding school.