Journey of No Return Ch. 9

REMEMBER IT'S A COLLAB~ READ WINXHELINA'S PARTS TOO!!

*Note – first line is from the last chapter of winxhelina's, just to make this flow



..." So, Sebas-chan," Grell asked trying to climb all over the demon: "What are you boys doing here?"

"Well if you MUST know, we ended up here thanks to the pathetic map drawing skills of your ex-colleague" Ciel said irritably. Ronald laughed at that, much to Ciel and Sebastian's annoyance.

"Let me guess," The blond chuckled, "Undertaker?"

"You are correct." said Sebastian, still sitting slightly away from the reapers and holding his nose in an obvious way that expressed his distaste. He smiled when he realised that Eric had started to do the same, emphasising that he was not particularly enjoying the demon's company either. Ciel picked up on the tension between the reapers and the demon and sighed again.

"For goodness sake Sebastian, must you? You are acting very immature." Said Ciel.

"Yeah, Sebastian , grow up a little and listen to your 13 year old master!" Eric mocked, making Alan laugh quietly.

"Speak for yourself, Mr. Slingby. Is your nose running perhaps? Would you like a tissue? Only you seem to be holding it quite tight. You'd better watch it doesn't fall off." smiled Sebastian.

"At least if it did, I wouldn't have to smell you." Retorted Eric.

"Well then, it can easily be arranged." Said Sebastian smugly, obtaining a knife from within his jacket somewhere.

"Enough!" Yelled Ciel, even surprising himself with the volume at which he said it. "What are you, children?!"

"Well you know, I'm still quite young..." Ronald said, receiving laughs from the other reapers.

"I don't understand all of this!" Grell said, still sitting quite close to Sebastian who was now no longer holding his nose, but still looked very uncomfortable. "I can't smell anything! All I can smell from Sebby is fresh baking and cleaning products –"

"Why are you here again?" William cut in angrily, annoyed at the 'friendliness' between the two men.

"If you'll all stop insulting each other, I can explain!" Ciel said – he was the only neutral person amongst them, belonging to neither group.

"Alright then." William turned to face the others. "You will all stop interrupting and acting foolish and listen to these two. If necessary, we may have to work with them briefly in order to solve this case. This pleases me no more than it pleases you, but we may have no choice, so please try to act civilised and let's stop any more people from getting hurt, alright?" The four other reapers nodded in somewhat stunned silence, and after Grell finally moved away from Sebastian, each group began to tell the others what they had found so far.


**


"And you're sure she's dead?" Ciel was asking a few hours later in regards to Mey-Rin.

"Positive." William said, suddenly shivering. Grell as usual, noticed that something was wrong and went over.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Just a bit cold I suppose. Hungry as well, but I'll be alright." William replied somewhat blankly. At the mention of hunger Ciel realised that his own stomach was beginning to rumble and he turned towards Sebastian and asked what he was going to do about it.

"I'm hungry." Ciel said bluntly.

"Yes, and we are in a forest, my lord." Said Sebastian, smiling.

"So? Find food or something, I'm hungry."

"How can you stand being around him ALL the time??" Ronald asked. "I've only really just met him and he's annoying me already!"

"I agree." Grell, Eric and Alan all said at the same time. William just sighed and gave them a look that said 'what did I tell you about being nice to each other?' Ciel still didn't quite understand what the big deal was. Sebastian always managed to do what he was told, so Ciel wasn't being annoying, just ensuring that Sebastian knew what he had to do. Eventually he glared at Sebastian.

"Well? Why are you still here?"

Sebastian just laughed before standing up. "You get used to it" he told the others before bowing in front of Ciel. "I shall obtain food right away young master, please wait here while I do so, I shan't be long."

"What? You can't leave him HERE!" Ronald protested.

"I have no other choice I am afraid." Sebastian said, standing up straight again. "Considering the current situation, being around you is probably the safest place the young earl could be."

"So you're trusting us now?" Ronald asked. "Great! That means you won't be expecting it when I kill this little brat~"

"You so much as lay a finger on that 'little brat' and you'll have no fingers left at all." Sebastian said, suddenly serious. He stood glaring at Ronald, the blond staring back and their eyes were locked in hatred until Ciel eventually punched Sebastian in the leg and told him to get going.

"Stop staring intently into other men's eyes and get going!"

"Hey, you're making it sound weird!" Ronald protested, realising that Ciel's statement might give people the wrong idea.

"It doesn't matter; no-one else is here anyway." William said, still sounding not his usual self.

"B-But –" Ronald started.

"I'll be off then." Sebastian said, bowing again. "I will return as soon as possible. Look after my master." He said, catching Ronald's eye again and winking to annoy him.

"I swear, I'm gonna kill that bastard eventually." Ronald growled after Sebastian had left, going into the woods to look for food.

"Not if I get to him first." Said Eric. Grell had started a fire during the earlier conversation and the five reapers were now sitting around it, William wrapped in a blanket. Ciel was sat opposite in a conveniently placed log.

"I hope you're not expecting him to get food for all of you as well." He said to the reapers. "I only told Sebastian to get ME food. Besides, since when did reapers need to eat?"

"Just shut up." Ronald said, looking at him angrily. "As shameful as it is, we've all agreed that your demon is probably a lot better than us ay finding food so we've no choice but to hope he brings back enough."

"Such as disgrace to our status as Shinigami..." Alan said quietly.

"Well we did agree to a treaty of sorts...." Grell said. "I guess he has no choice but to help us, so we might as well take advantage."

"Quiet you man-whore." William said, taking everyone by surprise with his harsh language.

"W-What?" asked Grell, shocked at what William had said.

"It's always 'Sebastian' this, 'Sebastian' that, 'oh such a handsome demon', 'oh Sebas-chan', just shut up for once before I cut out your pathetic tongue." Said William bitterly.

"A-Are you feeling OK?" Alan asked, noticing that William had turned strangely pale – perhaps the concussion was taking effect again?

"I'm fine, now leave me alone. What could you do anyway if I WASN'T fine, hm? It's not like you can just fix me or anything." William was starting to sound angry now.

"Maybe you need to lie down..." Grell said, on the verge of tears after what William had said about him. He reached out, but had his hand slapped away by the dark-haired reaper.

"You – pathetic child, yes, you." William said, standing up. "I'm going to lie down for a while, but if you or your filthy demon tries anything, I'm giving permission to my men to destroy you both. I expect to awoken at the arrival of food." With that, William stormed off to his tent and went inside, zipping it up.

"Wow, mood swing or what?" Ronald asked, nut sure what on earth had just happened. The four reapers sat stunned trying to work out why William had acted that way. He was normally quite mean, yes, but never THIS mean, and the change in mood was so sudden it was astounding.

"Maybe it's the concussion..." said Alan, trying to come up with something, anything as an excuse to justify William's actions.

"Maybe..." Grell said, with tears in his eyes.


**


A few hours later it was growing dark, and Ciel had fallen asleep after being lent a sleeping bag by Grell, who had taken pity on him. William was still in his tent and the other reapers were now waiting for the demon to come back; the hunger was starting to get painful. Just as Eric was about to suggest they go hunt the 'beast' down, Sebastian appeared at the edge of the forest carrying various animal carcasses with him.

"I got lost." He said as he approached them. "I'd intended to return to our carriage and buy some local produce, but these woods are deeper than I thought... seems I was unable to find it and could only hunt these down instead." He explained, holding up dead rabbits and squirrels. "I hope it's good enough."

"Are you alright Sebby dear?" Grell asked, immediately regretting adding the 'dear' when he remembered what William had said. "Only, you seem a bit dazed... confused even."

"He's got a point." Said Ronald. "You're not your usual bastard self at all." Sebastian just smiled and laughed a little, which was even MORE unusual.

"I'm just bored of fighting~" he said, a little too cheerily. "I see young master is asleep. No worries, I'll cook this and he can have some later. Would you all like some?" The four reapers nodded.

"Did you bang your head or something?" Eric asked, wary of how nice the demon was acting.

"Possibly~ I think I slipped on some tiles or something, but I'm fine~" replied Sebastian.

"Tiles?" Asked Alan. "Didn't William mention something like that when he-"

"Ah William!" Cried Grell. I'd better go wake him!" he ran over to William's tent and opened it.

"Tiles..." Alan repeated, as Sebastian started to cook the meat.




WOW OK, NOT SURE WHAT TO SAY ABOUT THIS CHAPTER... TOO SHORT? TOO CONFUSING? TOO BORING EVEN? WELL I ASSURE YOU IT'S ALL VITAL TO THE PLOT... I WASN'T SURE WHERE TO END IT SO YEAH....

OK BY THE WAY - START LOOKING FOR CLUES AND STUFF!