Chapter 3: A Debt To Pay

"On the outskirts of London there is Castile, until three hundred years ago it was a place w6ere Demons could dwell in the human world without being harmed by Angels, I'm sure that is where they are hiding, for Sebastian to train Ceil and make him a full fledged Demon he would need to take him somewhere secluded, because before Ceil could even think of entering Hell he would need to kill all of his humanity."  

Grell walked along and empty path of London, looking at the weapon in his hand, wondering what he would do with it after he was done, though he didn't even know what he was going to do after this, it was moments like this that made him realise how much he relied on the others.

"So it's like another Demon sanctuary on Earth, am I right?" Grell asked the Demon sitting next to him.

"Yes, it was for a while but it was no longer safe for us to gather there in groups after an incident, but that doesn't matter, what does is that to get there you have to jump down from a cliff covered in black and white roses that are always in bloom."

"So you're telling me I have to find a cliff on the outskirts of London covered in black and white roses in full bloom and jump from it. That doesn't sound so bad, so what's the catch?" Grell questioned, not believing it could really be that easy.

"You're smarter than I thought, the catch is that nobody that wasn't a Demon has ever taken the jump and lived to tell. But… I do have an idea for a way that you may be able to go there and survive, would you like me to tell you?" Hanna replied, already knowing the answer was yes but wanted to bug the Red Reaper just a little.

Black and white flowers, they marked the spot. Grell took a moment to look at the scenery of the place. It was nice. There was a dark aura that always associated with areas of Demonic association, but it was still nice.

Closing his eyes he took a long breath taking in the smell of the roses and the field around him, it had been almost a week since he felt happy and he wanted to make the nice feeling he had at that moment last.

"You already know that I do! Now just tell me and stop playing games with me!" Grell yelled facing the Demon.  Grell sighed heavily, creating some distance between them, "Quit messing with me, I can't take it anymore; just tell me what I have to do to reach Sebastian and his Bratty master."

"The Demon sword inside of me is part of me, which makes gives it it's Demonic aura, if you were to have it in your hands when you went down it should let you pass through and reach them. I'm not sure if it will work but it's worth a shot."

At this moment Grell was standing at the edge of a cliff, holding the Demon sword, "Well, here goes nothing, the moment of truth." The red head to one last step forward and closed his eyes.

"I've answered all your questions but now I have one of my own. Why would you help me if you know I'm going to destroy your kind and I could even come back and kill you? Why would you do it? It makes no sense to me."

Unlike Reapers, Demons hold no loyalties to each other, the only loyalty we have is to our makers and our ruler, so really why should I not tell you? Demons try to kill each other all the time so for somebody else to say they want to do it for you I'd say it works out well in my favour." The violet haired Demon replied inspecting her nails.

"I don't understand your logic and really I don't think I ever would, I think it's sick that you Demons care so little for your own kind that your virtually condemning them to death without even bating an eyelash, but thanks for your help and for the sword. I'm going now; if I survive I'll bring you back your sword."

"Hm, goodbye Red Reaper Grell Sutcliff. I hope to see you again."

The fall from the cliff was nothing like he'd ever thought it would be, normally falling from a high place was fast and frightening, but this was like he was falling through water, the air was thick and it felt strange, he didn't think he'd ever stop falling.

After falling so far Grell eventually hit the ground with a thud, it hurt to say the least but it was nothing he didn't expect, 'you don't jump off of a cliff without getting any injuries.' With and irritated sigh he got up.

He noticed he been doing that a lot lately, sighing. It wasn't like him, but then again it wasn't like him to do something out of vengeance. Grell could see the castle that Hanna had described to him and was walking in the direction of it.

The darkness felt like was suffocating the Reaper by the time he reached the Castile; it was like hundreds of demons, and not just two in the general vicinity surrounded him, he wasn't going to lie to himself, it scared him a bit.

000

"Senpai I am so sorry, I shouldn't have frozen up I should have helped you! It's all my fault you were hurt." Ronald said for what seemed like the millionth time, Grell wanted to hit the younger Reaper, he had nothing to apologize for.

"Ronald, if you don't shut up I'm going to hurt you! It's not your fault I was hurt, now you can ether shut up and help me get to the infirmary before I bleed all over the Library or, you can keep bugging me till I hit you, hard and we both end up in need of medical attention."

The younger Reaper soon shut his mouth and tightened his hold on his mentor, quickly heading in the direction of the infirmary.

"What the hell happened to you two, I send you on a simple soul collection and you both comeback covered in blood, what the hell?" William yelled at the two Reapers as they entered the infirmary.

"Well Mr. Spears, sir, if it'll make things less bad, none of the blood is mine. It's all Sutcliff's, he took on a bunch of Demons that were after the souls we were collecting." Ronald said as William came over to help him move the barely conscious Reaper into one o f the infirmary beds.

After getting Grell into the bed, William tore the fabric of Grell's left pants leg off so he could get to the deep gashing wound on it. "Ronald get me a wet cloth and some gauze, then go and get one of the medical staff to assist me." Ronald ran over to the medical cupboard, throwing a quick 'yes sir' over his shoulder.

"Grell, are you awake still? If you are tell me what caused these wounds so we can fix them." Grell stirred slightly opening his eyes "Ugh. Five or six Demons, they attacked me, but I got them, don't worry Will, I didn't let them get the souls."  

Grell passed out a second later, William went to lightly shake his shoulder, only to find he was bleeding badly there too. After removing the red head's waistcoat and dress shirt he saw the full extent of the damage done. "My god Grell, you really took a beating didn't you?" William said taking the things he'd requested Ronald to bring him from the other's hand before he ran to get help.

William began cleaning the blood from Grell's shoulder and chest, trying to get a better look at what caused the injury, finding that it looked like one of the Demons must have just clawed him. He moved back to his leg to clean the blood from the still gashing wound as Dr. Melody Harver headed over with Ronald hot on her heels.

Dr. Harver was one of the best members of the Medical division: she was kind and cared for everybody, and no matter the injury or how small a chance of the patent surviving she always took the chance. William was glad it was her Ronald had retrieved.

"Mr. Sears, I need you to move out of the way so I can get to work on healing Mr. Sutcliff. Ronald Knox already explained that all his wounds were caused by demons so I can take it from here, could you find out if there is anything wrong with Mr. Knox for me please while I'm working on Mr Sutcliff?" She asked moving to look at the gaping wound on Grell left leg. "Oh and ask him if he knows exactly how this wound on Sutcliff's leg came to happen."

"Of course Dr. Harver, I'll be right back."

000

Sebastian could feel a strange yet all too familiar presence outside of his and his master's residence, but could not for the life of him recognize it. The older Demon headed for the entrance to the Castile, although in all his life he never expected to find why he did once he opened the doors.

"Hello Sebas-chan, long time no see," Grell said giving him one of his classic un-nerving smiles, although there was something off about it, Sebastian noted.

"Grell? What are you doing here and- wait how did you get here?" The Demon was confused to say the least, out of anybody he'd ever imagined would come find them Grell was at the bottom of the list, hell he'd expect Claude to come back to life to hunt him down for revenge before thinking Grell would ever step foot on Demonic land.

"I had some help from an old acquaintance of yours, she also gave me this." Grell replied holding the Demon sword out for Sebastian to see.

"Hanna."

Grell smirked. "Hm, Bingo. So do you want to invite me in, I have something to discuss with your young master." Sighing Sebastian moved to one side of the door and motioned for the Reaper to enter.

Sebastian led Grell to the room his mater was sitting in, "My Lord, I have an old friend who wishes to speak with you, my I let them in?" Ciel looked over at the door. "Old friend? Who is it?" The boy asked.

"Well strangely enough it's Grell Sutcliff, he wants to ask you something, may he enter?"  Ciel placed the book he'd been reading down. "Sure, I could use a good laugh, let him in."

The door opened and Sebastian bowed to his master as Grell walked in and walked over to the chair across from the former Earl's. "It's been a while hasn't it, Earl Phantomhive, to think last I heard you were dead, think of my surprise when I found out you'd become a Demon." Grell said with his classic grin in place.

Ciel looked the Red Reaper over and soon came to the same conclusion that Sebastian had when he first laid eyes on the Reaper; Something was different, yet felt so familiar it was scary, something had changed him, he was no longer the loud, crazy, weirdo that they had come to know all those years ago.

He seemed so cold and empty, his eyes no longer held that crazy glint; his smile had lost that odd spark. Even his aura used to radiate of power and blood lust and felt like a huge spark of never ending energy.

Yet now, it felt so dull and broken like his light has gone out and everything he was had just vanished.

"Hello Grell, it's always a pleasure to see you" The young Demon replied sarcastically.  "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, you owe me a favour and I've come to collect it, I need yours and/or Sebastian's help. Interested in helping me?"

Ciel smiled, he had grown bored of having nothing to do so for something like this to fall into his lap so conveniently it made him rather happy. "Sebastian, I think we've found something to keep me entertained for a little while."

000

William walked over to were Ronald was sitting looking sad and pathetic. "Knox, I've been asked to see to any injuries you may have while Dr. Harver works on Grell, and also find out if you know how the wound on his leg came to be?"

"Oh uh, I think it was when one of the Demons tried to tear off his leg while he was hanging on the roof top, and I'm fine, I didn't get hurt." William looked at the other Reaper, confusion evident on his face.

"Alright you're going to have to explain to me how an experienced Reaper like Grell got that badly messed up, yet you who have only recently graduated the academy and never before now fought even one Demon came out fine, because to me that just doesn't make any sense."

"Well I didn't fight the Demon's, I panicked and froze up, I didn't do anything and it's my fault the Sutcliff Senpai is hurt so badly. Sutcliff Senpai said it wasn't my fault but I know it was, if I'd not gotten scared he wouldn't have got hurt protecting me and-"

"Ronald shut up for a moment, first of all, it's completely normal to be scared when faced with Demons, I mean even I'm a little scared when I fight a Demon and I'm a little more than two hundred years older then you. Secondly if Grell told you it wasn't your fault the quit blaming yourself because if you do he will end up hitting you, and it'll hurt. And lastly it's the job of a senior officer to protect his juniors, so whether you'd helped him or not he'd still have protected you."

Ronald looked up at William after he'd stopped talking, thinking about what his other mentor had said. "But I still shoul-" William interrupted the younger again "No buts, no senior could or would expect their junior to be able to take on even one Demon, It's completely normal to freeze up your first time coming face to face with a Demon, so quit worrying. Now I have to go back over to Dr. Harver and let her know how he got hurt, just go back to your room, I'll call for you when he wakes back up if you want."

"Thank you Mr. Spears, I'll see you tomorrow morning." Ronald said getting up and heading out the doors of the Infirmary.

William soon got back up and when over to Dr. Harver and the still unconscious Grell. "Doctor, Mr. Knox said that the wound on his leg probably happened when one of the Demons tried to tear off his leg." the doctor looked back at him with a small smile. "So I guess that mean. that the long black thing I just pulled out was ether a long finger nail or, a claw… Ew, that's pretty gross." Melody Harver said looking at the long black thing she held between the tweezers in her hand looking completely grossed out by it.

Grell began to stir, regaining consciousness. "Ugh, what happened?" He asked attempting to sit up before being pushed back down by William. "You passed out, not too long ago- hey look what I just pulled out of your leg!" Melody said showing Grell the thing she'd taken out of him.

"Yuck Mel, don't tell me that bastards finger I cut off got stuck in my leg, that's just gross." The doctor laughed slightly as Grell turned his nose up at the remains of what was once part of a demons claw.

Melody placed the tweezers down and picked up a needle and some stitching thread, "Alright Grell sweetie I'm going to start stitching your leg up now I need you to hold still or they won't sit right, can you do that?" Grell glared up at the doctor. "Yeah I can now just hurry up and fix my leg, and will I need stiches in my chest because from what I can see and what I'm feeling, even my high speed healing won't do very much for that."

"Yeah those'll need some stitching too, Mr. Spears can do them if he wishes." William nodded and moved over to grab a needle and stitching thread and the damp cloth before moving over to Grell's right. Grell hadn't even noticed that William was in the room until Dr. Harver had mentioned him.

"Hey Will you're here... where's Ronnie? I'd have thought he'd still be here." William began work on the first of the long cuts. "I sent him back to his room for today, I told him I'd get him when you were awake and fixed up but before I do I've got to ask you something."

Grell turned his head to look at William. "Hm. Ask away!" Grell cried at William pressed the needle into his torn flesh. "Well I need to know if you think Ronald has what it takes to be a Reaper, do you think that the same thing will happen next time he's faced with a Demon?"

Grell looked up at the ceiling, "I think he's a kid who got scared the first time fighting a Demon, but I also think it was a little be shock, I mean we hadn't anticipated for a group of Demons to show their faces, I'd say give him a little time and some real training and he'll be just fine. The kid's got talent so I'm not worried."

"Hm, good I'm looking forward to seeing what he's capable of." William replied. "Yeah, me too."

000

"So Grell, what is your plan? I mean you do have one don't you?" Ciel asked looking to the Death God, "I mean you do have one right, you're not just running into Hell blind, right?"
"How did you know what I was doing?" Sebastian gave a small laugh, "Really Grell, did you think we don't know what happened just one week ago, we may not live in Hell but even we know that just recently your realm was invaded and your kind was to be wiped out. That's why I was so surprised to see you at the door; I'd figured you'd be dead"

"Yeah well sorry to disappoint you, but I don't die so easily, and to answer your question, I wouldn't call what I have a plan, more like an outline for one." The look Ciel was giving Grell told him the young Demon thought he was insane. "You're kidding me right?"

"Well, Earl Phantomhive if you're going to be assisting me then why don't you come up with a plan if it is such a necessity, because I don't think I need to plan out: find out who signed the decree, kill Demons, find out why my kind had to die and, kill the ones who signed the decree. Really I think it's pretty self explanatory."

Ciel sighed, "Grell you re-define what it means to be an idiot! How do you intend to do that? It's not like you can just take on all of Hell by yourself without knowing what you're going to do!"

"Well then, I guess we should get to work, shouldn't we?"