Cerulean eyes fluttered open in the dark room. Musty blankets pulled to his face, the young earl turned to lay on his back, looking at the nicotine stained ceiling. His sleep had been sound only due to his exhaustion and healing wounds - noises of distant yelling and barking would have kept him awake had it been any other night.

"Good morning, young master." Sebastian's voice broke the immediate silence from a chair next to the window. His voice lacked the usual pleasant tone, standing to draw the mismatched curtains apart. Light poured into the room, revealing the stained carpets and dust that floated through the room. Ciel was silent for a few minutes.

"Sebastian, I-"

"I don't wish to hear your apologies," Sebastian said shortly, cutting him off. "We cannot change the past." Ciel turned his head to look at the butler.

"You had no idea what I was going to say, you cocky bastard," Ciel scoffed as he sat up from the twin sized bed, swinging his legs over the side. "I wish to be dressed, I'm quite hungry. I ate nothing last night." Sebastian finished tucking the curtains into their holders before he came around the side of the bed to begin undressing the lord. "Besides, why would I apologize? I don't want this any more than you do."

"And yet, here we are." Sebastian unwrapped the gauze that was packed on the boy's side, throwing away the used material before retrieving another from the nightstand drawer.

"In a dirty motel as my estate is rebuilt once more? Or in the predicament of you harboring your ill feelings toward me unnecessarily?" Ciel retorted, looking at his own wounds. They were still new, blood dried across every slash mark.

"I have no ill feelings toward you. To others, perhaps," Sebastian said, dabbing away at the wounds with a damp clean towel. "I waited 3 long years to be robbed."

"You should have taken it while you could," Ciel said bitterly, "You were the fool."

"Was it me?" Sebastian paused the dabbing, looking at the boy. "Was I the fool for allowing you the closure you deserved and not ending the contract? I could have done so after the encounter with that damn angel and yet, I knew it would be wrong to allow you to believe it killed your parents. I sauntered around as your right hand bitch for another year before you were even on the right track to finding the correct culprit and still you managed to fail. I had such belief in you that you were different than other humans but you are not- you allow your emotions to cloud your judgement and create scenarios in which you are never the bad guy. You allowed an absolute creep to take what was rightfully mine and pretended to be naive about the entire ordeal, knowing damn well that this is what it would lead to!" Sebastian was standing by this point, in the young earl's face. The anger he had suppressed over the last few days over Ciel's soul being stolen from under his nose was seeping from every pore in his skin, each word dripping in poison. "Furthermore, Astra-"

A loud slap rang through the room, cutting the next words from Sebastian's lip.

"I told you to never speak that name again. I don't care how angry you are, it isn't because of me. Get out of my sight - send one of the others in to dress me." If looks could kill, Sebastian's amber eyes would have demolished the young child to dust in that very moment. "This instance, Sebastian!"

"Yes, my lord." Sebastian's voice was flat and toneless as he took a step back from Ciel, flattening out his vest, and taking his leave. A few moments later, a tall blond fellow entered the room with a knock.

"Young Master, you called for me?"

"Uh, yes Bardroy. Please finish dressing my wounds and myself, Sebastian required a break."

"Ain't that odd," Bard scratched his head and stared at the gauze and medical tape on the bed next to him for a moment before going to work. It wasn't the first wound Bard had dressed, but it definitely was the first that he had seen Ciel in the morning time before he was already dressed for the day. "How'd ya get these?"

"I was playing with a stray dog. I touched his ears and he became aggressive," Ciel half heartedly explained, leaning backwards on his arms to give him more room to work.

Undergarments, pants, shirt, socks, and shoes were laced and buttoned accordingly in their own time, Bard obviously unused to dressing someone other than himself. Ciel brushed his own hair, dismissing Bard with the invitation to breakfast with him at a diner down the street from the motel.

With the following moments that Ciel spent by himself, he sat down on the end of the bed with his legs dangling off the side. He stared directly into the vanity mirror across from him, pulling off his eyepatch to stare at the soft glowing mark. Ciel took a very deep breath as he felt his chest well up and throat ache, his eyes welling with involuntary tears. It wasn't often that Ciel cried - he could count on one hand how many times this feeling washed over him over the last few years. This was the first time it wasn't because of his parents.

The Phantomhive name was over as his previous generations knew it. No longer did he hold the title of Guard Dog, no longer was his place by the Queen's side, no longer was his future set in stone the way he accepted when he formed this stupid contract. His mansion had been destroyed - again - out of pure hatred, with the intent to destroy the only three humans that truly protected him unconditionally while he was visiting the Trancy Estate. His memory of his time there was so clouded and manipulated that he had no proper recollection - he only remembered the searing pain in his head from Sebastian's unadulterated anger as he woke.

None of this was truly Ciel's fault - or was it? The boy wiped his eyes with the inside of his wrists. He had done all of the damage he did in hopes that he would avenge his family name, his brother, even Aunt Red. He disregarded so many insignificant people as pawns but only to become one himself. He was never the King, maybe the bishop at best.

Despite this, the Funtom Company was still alive and profitable. There were three humans willing to sacrifice their own life and well being for Ciel. There was a beautiful girl waiting for his adulthood to be taken into marriage by Ciel. The icing on the cake, no doubt, was the lifelong servitude by a demon for the end of this eternity. He could right his wrongs, if he wanted to.

Clenching his fists, Ciel stood from the bed and straightened out his outfit, tying the patch behind his head. "You're still by my side, forever this time," Ciel hissed through his teeth, taking his walking stick from the chair as he made his leave.