Author's Note: That's right everyone, this fanfic is finally back! Bet you thought I abandoned this, huh? Nope. I am determined to see this to the end. Much like Ciel himself, this fanfic will never ever die, it will keep rising up up from the dead until it's done!

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The next morning, after breakfast, the Sapphire Owl students who all had dorms on the first floor were taken out after tea-time to scavenge what was left of their rooms.

Ciel sighed a bit as he managed to recover a portrait; one of Sieglinde wearing a nice summery dress with a bouquet in her lap, smiling up at him lovingly. Ciel himself was standing beside her wheelchair, wearing a playsuit in the same shade of mint green. He stared at it for a while before he folded it up into some uniforms he also managed to find.

"She's a keeper, huh?" A first-year teased Ciel slightly, making him blush lightly. "Some of us are a bit jealous of you...you're already engaged, and to a future Baroness!"

"Yeah...shame she's crippled though," A second-year ran his hand through his hair.

"What does that matter?" Ciel found himself frowning. "She was born that way," He had a sudden memory come to him; a forgotten one, or maybe one from this new world, of his brother teasingly telling him it made since for him to get the perfect fiancee, while he himself was stuck with an imperfect, broken fiancee.

"The girl who won't inherit anything paired with the boy who won't inherit anything!" He had laughed.

Ciel hung his head and carefully placed his belongings in the basket labeled with his name. "That is all," He informed the Prefect because walking off. He caught sight of Joanne practicing cricket by himself while Norman sat on a bench nearby, heavily invested in a book. Ciel sat beside him and watched Joanne for a time.

"You already finished scavenging through your belongings?" Norman asked in disbelief, adjusting his glasses. "Though, I suppose it makes sense. I didn't have much to look for either...just my books and a uniform. But my photo albums were untouched! That's good!"

"Yes, it is..." Ciel sighed a bit and leaned back on the bench, watching Joanne whack at the ball several times in a row. "I found a picture of myself with Sieglinde. I'm sure she'll be happy to know it survived,"

"Yes! Pictures are very valuable commodities! I just wish they weren't made of such easily-damaged material...perhaps one day in the future, they will be made of strong material and we can keep them forever, even if burned or drowned!"

Joanne whacked the ball one final time, shielding his eyes and watching it sail across the length of the yard. He eagerly raced after it.

"Harcourt is a Fag to a Prefect, hm?" Ciel asked randomly to try and probe for more information.

"Yes, isn't that amazing? He was picked by Redmond himself his first day as a second-year. Redmond said only he was fit for the job," Norman gushed. "I keep hoping Bluester will say the same about us next year,"

"I assumed Redmond would pick someone like Cole," Ciel mused.

"Everyone else thought the same. Cole wasn't very happy about it, but he eventually got over it. Harcourt is one of the most diligent of the Prefect Fags. Some upperclassmen even whisper once Redmond graduates, it'll be Harcourt he chooses to succeed him,"

Joanne finally ran back, carrying his equipment. "Are you sure you two don't want to practice too...? It's a nice day out..."

"Converse with the enemy? Never!" Norman exclaimed in a joking matter. "I'll never aid them!"

"It gets awfully boring just hitting the ball back and forth..." Joanne sighed before perking up. "Oh, Phantomhive, how about we go to the art room? You could watch me finish up my watercolour. It's v-very lovely, of a-a little cottage in the forest..."

"No thank you." Ciel declined. Joanne pouted.

"A-Are you sure? Normally you love watching me paint...you say it's relaxing..."

What was with this world's version of him and being sickeningly sweet to everyone? Was there not a soul this version of him disliked?

"Actually..you are correct. Sorry, I still feel a tad out-of-sorts. I would love to watch you paint," Ciel stood up quickly, feigning a smile. "Lead the way,"

Joanne perked up again and happily did so, waving to Norman and quickly explaining where they were going before walking to Violet Wolf's building, sighing a bit.

"All the art classes are here...I always feel spooked when I have to go to mine," Joanne admitted.

"They can't get cross with you for attending class," Ciel said as they walked up the steps and roamed the halls until they reached a small well-lit room with large tables set out. Joanne got a set of paints and sat down, holding out the painting.

"See? I'm almost done with the sky,"

Ciel just nodded and sat across from him, watching Joanne dip his brush into the paint and gently stroke the sky a cloudless, bright blue. Brighter than Ciel's associated sapphire. His strokes were light and soft and quiet against the canvas and Ciel found himself indeed starting to relax just watching it. Joanne kept his eye on his work, his hair slightly falling into his face. The spring breeze gently fluttered into the room, teasing the sheer curtains hung up. There was no sound aside from the brush strokes. Against his better judgement, Ciel started to feel drowsy again and bit his lip sharply, sitting up straighter. Not only did he want to avoid getting in trouble, but he also knew the moment he closed his eyes, he'd be victim to those terrible nightmares that plagued him as of late and screaming and thrashing in front of Joanne was not something he wished to do.

Joanne continued to paint for another hour, finally leaning back in his seat and sighing afterwards. "The sky is done!" He held up the finished project and Ciel nodded. Joanne definitely had a talent in painting; the colours were masterfully blended and the lines were invisible.

"Do you have a natural talent for this or is it something you learned?" He asked curiously.

"Both, I think? W-Well, I've been tutored in watercolours ever since I was six. When I became enrolled in Weston, I continued my lessons because it's proper for noble sons to do so. I became really good at it while studying here...I-I also thought it'd impress my father if I could do something more than just read, but..." He trailed off with a blush on his cheeks and Ciel understood.

"I like music more. I take violin lessons and sing a little bit, though my artistic passions in that area aren't really improved. I mostly just read," Ciel added.

"Yes, I love hearing you play violin. You could put even Cheslock to shame!" Joanne smiled. "I remember last year for your birthday, Midford invited me and Mcmillian and you played the violin for us. It was one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard...even Lady Diedrich was enjoying it." He smiled more and blushed. "Lady Diedrich...how is she? I was shy to meet her because of her status but we became friendly because she spoke German fluently,"

"You speak German?" Ciel asked in slight surprise.

"Y-Yes! I'm fluent in it. My grandfather is from Germany and my father named me Johan in his honor. I also know Latin and French, and I want to learn another but I'm not sure which one..."

Joanne being fluent in German made sense, he was always reading those German physiology books even in his own world and wondered how he never connected the two together. He never heard Joanne speak it or do any work related to it outside of the books, so he honestly had no clue if that was something that remained identical in both worlds or was purely a fabrication of this one.

He had picked his painting back up and placed it nicely on the windowsill, putting away the rest of his paints. He then squirmed and darted out of the room suddenly, making Ciel raise an eyebrow and follow after him.

Was he sick? Maybe he should've run the other way for the infirmary instead of following after him.

"Harcourt?" He managed to follow him all the way down the hallway until he stopped at the door labeled as being the gentleman's toilet-room. Ah, that made sense. And if Ciel remembered correctly, the actual public toilet-rooms at Weston were fairly primitive. Best he just stay out there.

"Y-You waited for me?" Joanne asked in surprise when he came back outside, blushing. "I just had to relieve myself suddenly...I didn't want to interrupt the nice conversation we were having so I didn't say anything." He pulled some hair away from his face and placed it behind his ear.

"I only followed you because I thought you were sick,"

He stifled a giggle. "Oh! You watched me paint, so how about we make it even and I watch you play violin? I'd love to relax,"

"I think I should be heading back to my dorm. It's getting late and I haven't even begun to do half of what I need to do," He declined. "Some other time, maybe?"

"Alright..." Joanne pouted a bit. "If you say so...I'm going to go find Mcmillian,"

Ciel nodded and walked off in the other direction, heading back to the temporary Scarlet Fox dorm he still shared with Norman after the accidental fire. He sat down at his desk and surrounded himself with books to give the illusion he was working on schoolwork in case Norman, Joanne, or someone like a Prefect came in to check on him, when in reality he was taking notes on what he was able to read from the books available in the library as well as piece together everything he knew about his life thus far.

The nightmares were connected to whatever happened, Ciel was sure he knew that. Where else would they have come from and why would they remain so startlingly vivid? The people he read about came from similar circumstances as his own; they all came from dissatisfied lives and after something peculiar happened to them, they'd find themselves in the perfect life they dreamed of. All had some sort of connection to the darker part of England and dabbled in some sort of occultic activity. In the timespan of a few weeks to a month, they all had died in mysterious and grotesque ways, their lives seemingly back to normal. They also gained memories from the life they supposedly had lived for years.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was in-store for Ciel himself if he just sat around and let the world run its course. In a month's time, they'd be fishing his poisoned body out of The Thames and the Midfords would have to arrange a funeral, the remainder of the Phantomhives having mysteriously vanished. Sieglinde would be heartbroken over the loss of her fiance. And as for the others...

Ciel just wasn't sure of how to get himself out. Sleeping normally didn't work as he discovered his first night; he kept waking up in this world. Perhaps he had to make another wish to counter-act this one, or hit his head really hard, or have a near-death experience...

"But none of those would work because this is all rubbish! It's silly to rely on such methods that have basis in fairytales!" Ciel finally huffed in frustration. Everything was trying his patience; this whole world was frivolous and foolish. God, why did he have to have such a selfish desire?

He instead wrote down everything that had changed in his own life personally and mulled over that. Everyone genuinely seemed to be happy that he had seen. Rachel had claimed Madame Red was still alive and well and was evidently a party-animal, though Ciel needed to see for himself to fully confirm that. He didn't think Rachel was lying, he just needed to prove it himself. Everyone else though seemed to be living their best lives, everyone except for Elizabeth.

He wondered if she knew something was seriously off, if everything here was wrong. She was always very intuitive when it came to things like that even if she hardly used it. The rest of the Midfords, hell, the rest of his family and friends seemed oblivious to what had occurred, but she hadn't. The next time he saw her, which was very likely to be June 4th, he'd have to get her alone someway and ask her about it.

He would only have a month, tops. Even if whoever is in charge was feeling generous, that only gave him until the start of the new year; it was all just borrowed time. He needed to find a way to break the spell, and fast.

Ciel put his books away and headed to bed for the night.