I accidentally sent off a review in the next chapter before I finished writing it, and was about to add several questions about the story. If you are still about, perhaps you could drop me a line either here on FFnet or at my g mail account at aservis roturier at g mail? Otherwise I wished to finish by saying what I hope was obvious, that I enjoyed your story enormously and have since first reading it have read it over again many times. For that reason I do wish you'd consider joining AO 3 or archive of our own so that I might get a digital copy of the story for times when I'm forced to wait around without access to WiFi. It really was a wonderful and entertaining story. Thank you so much for writing it.

AR

This was such a breath of fresh air after wading through almost a decade's worth of starry-eyed and childish romance stories looking for something to really sink my teeth into.

For quite some time as I poked about on this site I found myself continually adjusting my expectations. At first i was reading these stories as mature mystery tales and every time I ran across something that didn't quite fit I landed on it as though I were reading a pulp mystery novel and was straining to decipher what the clue could be. But gradually I started to recall these are youthful writers mostly girls, who when something appeared in the story that didn't quite fit, it meant not a clue intentionally inserted to help the reader decipher the mystery. Rather it meant the writer had made a mistake of some kind.

Then I cam upon THIS story and had to do a little time travelling of my own. It was a happy revelation to discover around chapter 6 or 7 or so that all those increasingly obvious similarities to the description and personality of Sebastian were more and more often turning up in Nate's character were not errors or a writer feeling lonely for the demon!

Then for some reason, I switched off and began to read some of your reviews. That became a challenging and ultimately frustrating exercise, how many times fans who claimed to 'love Sebastian' would forget so easily he was miserable, and starving and living in pain and humiliation. They thought 'Sebby' was being romantic wanting to go back in time, not realising it was the key to getting Ciel to command the demon to reverse what the other demon had done to Ciel. Certainly what one demon could do another ought to be able to undo. They felt sorry for 'poor hungry Ciel,' (but what about Sebastian living in hunger? Obviously these individuals have never experienced even quite normal human hunger which is plenty bad enough! A hungry person cannot forget it for a single second! How could a proud but starving demon? He's not going to let you see it of course, but just as obviously he would never be able to forget his own miserable condition!) they felt bad for hungry Ciel (but what about the demon?) they got to the end and objected it was a sad ending (?! Not for Michaelis, it wasn't! "*Belch* pardon, singed the draperies there a bit. My apologies.")

Then I thought about the theme of this tale, namely walking in the others' 'moccassins' and recalled it was only natural that the readers would dream up a human solution for the stories, identify with the human character, sympathise with the child character over the mature one which so often seems to be the enemy in their interpretation of their own lives and I decided I was the one expecting too much.

I have recommended this story to a new community here on FFNet called Butler's Bookshelf. The only criteria for being listed is that the story be excellent. There are both Sebaciel and nonsebaciel stories there, shorts as well as novel-length ones. Excellence is the qualifier and this is certainly excellent.

There is only one suggestion of a slight change of wording in one certain spot since I am a fairly careful reader and it did confuse me. The moment when Sebastian tells the boy thee's no way in Hell he's about to set out and try to 'earn' his soul a THIRD time around. That the game is over and the only part left to do is settle up. Or rather to accept the settlement that had already been made, since Sebastian did his 'dirty work' 'off camera' separating Ciel from his soul and already having delivered his lifeless body to England to be interred in the appropriate place.

All things considered that was a kindness, doing that to Ciel when he was unaware. I feel like that was the surest proof he truly did like the boy, as much as he could like any human, that he didn't force the experience of having his soul ripped looseand stolen while he was awake and aware, though doubtless the demon would've and normally does enjoy that. Considering that he is supposed to be ab agent of chaos and evil, I like about Sebastian that his need for revenge did not exceed the precise mirror of what he himself suffered. In the end, hurting the boy any further was not really needed.

I liked the fanfic very much although there are some parts I had difficulty to comprehend. I hope and wish u keep writing wonderful stories

its rly nice but i just cant stand the fact that ciel is being such an ass, like damn it ... i seriously wished that he would have stayed a cute human boy lol (retarded)

i think you are an amazing writer.
I love the way how the story ended and i hope you continue writing more stories similar to this...
arigato

THIS WAS AMAZING

that is amazing

I just finished reading this entire story in one go and I must say...Sebastian and Ciel's characterization, Sebastian's revenge and feelings toward his servitude and abusive treatment from Ciel, and the overall plot of this storyline was pure brilliance! I don't see too many post season two fics of Kuroshitsuji on this site, but when I do-most of them are either oneshots or yaoi fics. This one, on the other hand, is a rare true genuine story that actually expands on a what-if aftermath of Ciel's and Sebastian's eternal contract and the change in the Master/Butler relationship they once had with each other.

I got a bit confused in chapters 3, 6, and 13 because of the jumbled grammar and typo errors but I was still able to understand a little of from what I caught in the text. So Sebastian was Nate the whole time and the so-called contract Ciel had formed was actually a fake designed to make Ciel experience exactly what Sebastian had to go through in serving him, including bloody fights against other supernatural beings (grim reapers most notably) That means when "Nate" was defending Sebastian and telling Ciel off about his attitude, it was actually Sebastian outwardly expressing his pent up emotions. Wow...I never would have guessed it. Sebastian's plan was the pure definition of "walk a mile in my shoes". Not only did he turn against Ciel and break his contract aesthetics, but he also made Ciel realize the error of his ways which in turn, allowed Sebastian to use that to restore and FINALLY devour his human soul AND exile his spirit to eternal imprisonment in his own manor. Wow. Just wow...Sebastian, you are indeed one hell of a butler. Congrats on getting your freedom back!

Also, that acronym letter at the end. I loved how you lined up the first letter of each paragraph to spell out "YES, MY LORD." It's symbolic in a way...I believe Sebastian wrote it as a phrase of remembrance. It not only concludes the message of his final departure from the Phantomhive manor, but it's also a cry of victory. After saying it for years to Ciel, it serves as a reminder of his success on how well his plan worked-like he was saying it for the last time before finally departing at last as a free demon. Woo! Best story ever!

Oh...I just went back to see if I could find the message and oh. It's pure genius...it's just pure genius. Although a bit cruel of Sebastian, but still...One hell of a butler till the end.

I liked it, some things were confusing but I am adding it to my favorites. The part where it is revielded that sebastian is nate was in need of clarification, if the sotry ended what where the last few pages? And ciel never went over how the contract worked with nate.

I'm burning from the inside out

Omg...I've never been one for anything longer than a oneshot, but that kept me hooked! What a twist ending- I didn't see that coming at all!

To confess I did get a bit confused in the last few chapters...could someone please clarify what happened for me?

But- the secret message made the ending all the better! I went back to decipher it and felt like punching the air, Sebastian through and through you are still one hell of a butler.

WTF YOU MADE SEBASTIAN THE BIGGEST ASS WHOLE EVER. I like it.

Wow. I never saw Elizabeth coming into this.

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME IM IN TEARS YOU ACTUAL MONSTER I GOT SO ATTCHED TO THIS STORY AND NATE THEN YOU GO AND TELL ME NATE ISNT EVEN REAL AND KILL CIEL. YOU CANT JUST MAKE HIM GO TO HIS OWN BLOODY FUNERAL! I ALSO HATE HOW IK CHARACTER EVERYONE IS, LIKE THIS COULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN THE SERIES. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL FANFIC BUT BTW I HATE YOU FOR RIPPING MY HEART OUT LIKE THAT. 10/10 WOULD FUCKING READ AGAIN