Someone…help us!

Please!

Anyone!

Help us, please!

1883, England, mid-winter. This is the stage of a tragic parting between two brothers who loved each other more than life itself. Picture this: a ten-year-old blonde boy desperately clutching an injured, unconscious, younger child with hair so dark it looked navy blue. The blonde is crying loudly for help and can barely keep from falling face first into the knee deep snow.

Eventually, his legs gave out and he sunk into the cold, white powder, sobbing in terror and panic, "Someone! Please, help us!" He stared out at the far off forest, wishing he was stronger, faster, older, anything but what he was right now. As he was imagining all the ways he could be better, he noticed a small black dot. He frowned and squinted his eyes, trying to determine what it was. All he could see so far was that it was moving toward him and his still unconscious (and still bleeding) seven-year-old little brother. His whole body tensed in preparation to run. He really hoped it wasn't hostile but he was willing to rip anything that tried to hurt his baby brother into five pieces.

As it got closer the blonde realized that the figure was a person clothed in black. The blonde's breathing became erratic and he forced his body to obey his command to move. He snarled and wobbled a bit before collapsing back into the snow. His legs were stiff and unresponsive. A doctor probably would have told him that he was beginning to feel the effects of hypothermia, but there wasn't any such doctor to tell him that so he was simply frustrated at his ineptitude. He looked up again to see how much more time he had before the black figure got to him. He jumped when he realized that the person was a mere twenty feet away. He gave a short cry and tried to scramble backwards out of harm's way. The figure (actually, it was a man) waved at him, attempting to show that he meant no harm. The blonde stopped struggling and waited tensely for the man to clear the distance between them. The man did so with astonishing speed and was kneeling by the boy's side in a matter of seconds.

He was breathing heavily from his run across the snowy plains, but he quickly gained his second wind and began asking the blonde some questions, "Who are you? Why are you out here? Are you hurt? Were you the one calling for help?"

The man paused and gave the boy some time to answer, "U-um…my…my name is A-alois and th-this," he lifted his little brother up a bit, "This is Ciel. H-he's my l-little brother. They hurt his eye. I'm fine, but they hurt his eye! Please, take him and run. They're coming," Alois looked over his shoulder and listened for voices. At first he didn't hear anything; it was rather early in the morning and he was pretty sure the guard he had knocked out hadn't been able to raise any alarm, but quite some time had passed since then and everyone must have been looking for them now. Just as he was about to sigh and relax he heard a shout. Then he heard another. And another. Soon the air was filled with shouts of, 'THEY ESCAPED! FIND THEM! DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!' Alois shuddered and turned back to the black-clothed man, "Please! You have to take him and get away! I'll distract them, so please, go!" He shoved Ciel into the man's arms and struggled to his feet, adrenaline flooding into his veins.

"Hold on a second, Alois. What will happen if you get caught by…well…whoever it is you are running from?" The man accepted the small injured child but grabbed onto Alois's arm in an attempt to keep him from leaving.

Alois shook him off and said, "It doesn't matter if I get caught. I can deal with them. Ciel can't," he gently brushed a few strands of hair away from the child's face. A few tears slipped down his face as he continued, "Please, sir. Please save my brother. Please…" Alois scrubbed the tears off his face with a shaking hand and looked up at the man pleadingly.

The man tried to convince the blonde to come too, but Alois was adamant. Eventually, the man sighed and nodded slowly, "All right. I'll take this boy, but I promise that I will find you, Alois. I promise."

Alois gave a short laugh and smiled happily, "Okay. I can live with that, Mr.…uh…"

"Sebastian," the man bowed his head politely as he introduced himself, "Sebastian Michaelis."

Alois smiled again, sadly this time, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Sebastian. Please take care of Ciel. Goodbye." With that Alois turned around and ran in the direction of the now chaotic yelling. Sebastian started at his sudden movement but figured there was nothing more he could do for the blonde, aside from taking care of the child in his arms and, eventually, making good on his promise.

Sebastian quickly stood to his feet and began running in the direction opposite of that which Alois had taken. He was gently cradling the injured boy in his arms and planned to get a good look at him once he got the child back to his home. It took him ten minutes to reach his waiting carriage and another twenty to get back to his beautiful cottage.

Before continuing with the story I suppose I should tell you a little bit about 'Sebastian Michaelis.' Mr. Michaelis is an esteemed doctor who usually lives in London but every winter he leaves his London home and migrates north (for some reason he absolutely adores cold weather) to Pickering. He doesn't take any servants, or work related items and he doesn't tell anyone how to contact him. It is his one vacation and he spends it alone and peacefully. Dr. Michaelis is twenty-something and a natural born lady-killer. Although he isn't married (and doesn't plan on ever really settling down), he doesn't mind going out with women and definitely enjoys watching them swoon over him. He also loves cats and takes in strays all the time (much to my annoyance and frustration). He can be rather strict at times but for the most part he is very gentle and kind with those close to him.

All right then, as I was saying, Sebastian arrived at his cottage around thirty minutes after leaving Alois. When he got back, he quickly dismounted from the driver's seat (he didn't even bring a coachman to drive him around) and took Ciel out of the carriage where the doctor had laid him. While he had been running he gave the boy a cursory examination and noticed that, other than his bloody eye (an injury the doctor would definitely have to get a better look at), he didn't seem to have any critical wounds. Sebastian quickly tramped through the snow and up his porch. He stomped his feet up and down to rid them of snow and pulled out his keys. He had just gotten the key in the lock when the door was pulled open, revealing a grinning man wearing a long black overcoat decorated with a dark grey sash and a chain carrying six mourning pendants. He laughed at Sebastian's utterly shocked face and said, "Shishishi!Welcome home, my friend! Did you have a nice ride?"

Sebastian blinked and stuttered out, "H-h-how?"

"Oh come now, Sebastian!" The man giggled and brushed some of his long grey hair away from his eyes, "You and I both know that you don't rely on me for info because of my ravishing looks!" He struck a silly, modelesque pose and laughed happily.

Sebastian snorted and rolled his eyes, ignoring the snarky comment. He knew that the man was good at gathering information but this was ridiculous, "What are you doing here, Undertaker?" The doctor brushed past his friend and waltzed into his parlor.

"Gufufufu! I was bored and figured you were free. I didn't expect you to be gone when I got here though." The mortician chuckled and followed behind him. "So? Who is the boy?"

"Well, his brother told me that his name is Ciel," Sebastian laid the boy down on his couch and went to go find his doctor's bag. He may leave work at home but he never, ever, went anywhere without his bag. As he searched around for it, he told Undertaker all that had transpired in the past hour or so. He was just at the part where Alois begged him to take his baby brother, when the real deal woke up and began panicking.

"Wh-where am I?! What's goin' on? Where's Acchan?" Ciel sat up and looked around fearfully.

Sebastian came over and hushed him gently, "Shh…it's okay, Ciel. Your brother, Alois, told me to take care of yo-"

"Acchan! I wanna see my Acchan!" The blue-haired boy began crying and tried to rub the tears away from his eyes. Unfortunately, Sebastian hadn't gotten a chance to patch the injured one up yet, so when his hand made contact with the open wound, he screamed in pain and clutched it.

"NO, CIEL!" Sebastian grabbed the boy's hands and forced them away from his face. He motioned for Undertaker to come over and give him a hand, "Undertaker, hold down his hands while I take care of his eye."

Undertaker quickly did as he was told, saying, "Ne, Ciel-kun?" Ciel was still struggling against him so he repeated himself, "Ne, Ciel-kun? Please answer me."

Ciel let out another sob and choked out, "What?"

"Would you mind telling me about your Acchan?" Undertaker shook his head to move his bangs out of his face (since his hands were occupied with keeping Ciel from further hurting himself) and smiled kindly at the boy.

Ciel hiccupped a few times before responding, "Mmm…what should I tell you 'bout him?"

"You can tell me anything about him, Ciel. Anything at all."

"W-well then, um…he is ten years old. His birthday was last month," Ciel tilted his head to the side and gave a small giggle, "We weren't allowed to actually celebrate it, but Hannah slipped us some cake while no one was looking. Acchan and I gave her a big hug for that! Hannah's always really nice to me an' Acchan." The little boy laughed again, this time more cheerfully. As he was talking, Sebastian continued to work on his eye. The doctor was appalled at how badly mangled Ciel's eye was. At first, Sebastian had presumed that the injury was located more above the boy's actual eye socket, but as it appeared as if someone had purposefully aimed at the eye and made sure that there was no way for it to be fixed.

Sebastian swore silently, How could they do something like this to a child? He thought furiously, He's just a little boy! His anger must have shown on his face, however, because he instantly felt Ciel shrink away from him. When he looked up he saw the child was staring at him with wide eyes (well, I guess I should say, with a wide eye). He forced himself to relax and smile gently, "It's okay, Ciel, I'm not mad at you."

"R-really?" came the frightened reply.

Sebastian chuckled in amusement, "Really. I'm just a little worried about your eye. You will never see out of it again."

"What's wrong with it?" Ciel blinked and tilted his head in confusion.

The doctor was silent for a moment. He had dealt with patients that screamed, cried, bled, cursed, slept, and any number other of things, but asking what was wrong with an open wound was definitely a first. Sebastian cleared his throat and said, "Well…um…your eye has been partially gou-"

"Sebastian!" Undertaker cut him off mid-diagnosis with a scold, "He is far too young to hear something like that!"

The doctor flinched at the reprimand but quickly responded with, "He has a right to know what happened to him! I know that it will be a shock but even if I didn't tell him, he'll find out eventually. Don't you think it would be better for me to tell him now so he knows what to expect the next time he looks in the mirror?" Undertaker grumbled but finally nodded his consent. Sebastian then sighed and looked back at his small patient, "All right. Now then, where was I…"

"'Your eye has been partially…'" Ciel tilted his head and gave the doctor a small smile, "I don't know what you were gonna say after that."

Sebastian chuckled and continued, "As I was saying, your eye has been partially gouged out and the upper and lower lids have been mutilated beyond recognition. I know it sounds gruesome but you are going to have to get used to it," he took Ciel's hands from Undertaker's grip and squeezed them gently, "Unfortunately, your eye will never heal. You will have to live with this scar for the rest of your life. I'm really sorry, Ciel. I wish there was more I could do." He smiled sadly at his little guest and softly stroked the backs of the tiny hands nestled in his own. Sebastian didn't say anything out loud, but he noticed that Ciel's hands were very thin and both his wrists and ankles were bony and fragile looking. The doctor realized that Ciel was suffering from malnutrition and decided to do something about it. "Undertaker, why don't you make some of your famous spaghetti while I clean Ciel up and get him something warm to wear."

Undertaker blinked twice, before cackling happily (making Ciel jump with a small yelp). His spaghetti was famous for its incredible taste yet utterly unappealing looks. Sebastian had been brave enough to try it once and was on his second serving before the mortician had even finished his first. As he was stumbling into the kitchen, still chuckling merrily, Sebastian lifted Ciel into his arms and carried him up to his bathroom where he proceeded to thoroughly scrub the squirming little boy clean of all dirt. After both Ciel and Sebastian had been soaked to the core (recall that Ciel was the one needing a bath, not the fully clothed Sebastian; he still teases me for that), the doctor toweled Ciel off and went to scrounge up some clothes for them to change into. He was able to quickly find an outfit for himself to change into but finding something for Ciel deemed to be much harder. He tore apart every room in the house searching for clothing suitable for a child. Nothing he found even came close. Eventually, he gave up and sank down amid the piles and piles of adult-sized pants, shirts and jackets. Sebastian growled in frustration and angrily scratched his hands through his hair.

While the doctor was berating himself for not keeping a child's outfit (though, honestly, I think it would have been stranger for him to have had children's clothes simply lying around somewhere), Ciel watched him in curiosity, wrapped up in a blanket Sebastian had given him for the time being. When Sebastian finally admitted defeat to the vast multitude of clothes he owned (I mean really, how many articles of clothing did one bachelor need in his vacation home no less), the little boy giggled and shuffled over to him. "It's all right, Mr. Sebastian," Ciel gently stroked the irritated man's dark (and surprisingly silky) hair and continued, "I can just wear my old clothes. I don't mind! It's nice and warm in this place and I'm really happy!" His smiled faded a little and he said, "I wish my Acchan was here though. I miss him a lot. He always took good care of me and I really miss him." Ciel hugged his blanket closer to his body and sighed, "If he were here, he would have teased you to no end for not bein' able to find something for someone so small. Acchan loves to tease people! Though it does get him in trouble sometimes."

Sebastian stared at Ciel for a moment. He looked sad. So very, very sad. Sebastian made up his mind, then and there, that he would do whatever it took to keep the child happy and healthy. He knew it would take time but the doctor was determined. He stood and scooped Ciel up. The boy was surprised at first but he giggled happily when Sebastian nuzzled him lovingly and said, "Don't worry, Ciel. I will bring your brother back to you. I promise. Do you understand me?"

Ciel nodded with a small smile and wrapped his arms around Sebastian's neck, saying, "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Sebastian."

The doctor chuckled and patted his back gently, "You don't have to call me 'Mr. Sebastian.' Only my subordinates call me that."

Ciel leaned back and said, "Then, what should I call you?"

"Whatever you like, Ciel. I will answer you no matter what you call me." Sebastian smiled and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Ciel thought, and thought, and thought, before finally making a decision, "Oh! I know what I should call you!" He grinned, looked Sebastian right in the eye (who must have been hoping desperately that I hadn't picked something worthy of a two-year-old playmate), and said, with all the joy in the world, "Papa!"

Sebastian blinked once, twice and a third time before the word actually registered in his brain, "Papa?" He repeated, confused.

"Papa!"

"Why Papa, Ciel?" Sebastian was utterly flabbergasted.

"Cause Acchan's my big brother and I like to think of Hannah as my momma; so, you're Papa!" Ciel laughed cheerfully and hugged Sebastian again.

For the first time in Sebastian's life he couldn't think of a single thing to say. Instead of stammering and stuttering some lame excuse or stupid 'thank you,' he gave a soft laugh and rubbed his "son's" back comfortingly, "Okay, Ciel. I'm honored that you think so highly of me." Ciel purred and snuggled into Sebastian's strong hold.

The newly ordained father suddenly had a brilliant idea. He carried Ciel over to one of his windows and ripped one of the long curtains off its rod. He then walked over to the stairs (pleasantly surprised to smell that Undertaker's masterpiece seemed to be just about finished) and waltzed down them with a kind of flair that only came with high status and self-confidence. He gently set Ciel down on his chaise lounge and whirled around, curtain (and hair), flying. Ciel watched as Sebastian pulled out a sewing kit and began cutting and stitching the fabric like a mad man. Even Undertaker came out of the kitchen to watch him work. Thirty short minutes later, he revealed a nice looking outfit, consisting of a pair of child-sized slacks and a small button-up shirt. Ciel yipped excitedly and dashed over to inspect his new clothes. He felt the fabric, pulled gently at the seams and hugged them tightly. Sebastian and Undertaker both chuckled at his antics.

Ciel quickly pulled on the new clothes and looked up at Undertaker expectantly, "Uncle Undertaker? Is the food ready? I'm starved!"

"Uncle?" Undertaker glanced at Sebastian in surprise.

"That's right," the doctor smirked and said, "I'm Papa."

Undertaker attempted to hold in a snort of laughter, but he wasn't so successful. "Is that so," he chortled happily before continuing, "Well then, Ciel, dinner is all ready so why don't you go wash up while Sebastian and I set the table."

Ciel nodded and turned to obey. He stopped, though, and turned back around, a fair bit of confusion dancing across his face, "What's that mean?" Both of men could practically see the question marks dancing above his forehead.

Sebastian knelt down and said, "It means to go into the nearest washroom and wash your hands so you don't accidentally touch your food with dirty fingers. There is one just around the corner." He pointed in the direction of a hall and gave Ciel a slight push toward it, "Go on, Ciel. It's okay." The blue-haired boy nodded again and went to find out for himself what the word "washroom" meant exactly.

As he was fiddling with the sink handles and scrambling to keep the bar of soap in his grasp, Sebastian and Undertaker were having a quiet discussion.

"So, what now?" Undertaker brought out the bowl of steaming pasta (it looked absolutely disgusting) and looked through his long bangs at his friend.

Sebastian thought for a few moments before responding, "For the time being I'll take care of Ciel. I'm going to need your help in trying to find his brother again, though."

"Why? Can't we just go back to where you met him?"

"Well, I suppose we can try, but, a: I don't know what direction they came from and b: even if I was able to remember exactly where I found them," Sebastian growled his next few words, "Those monsters that they were with have probably moved to a new location by now." Before he said this, he happened to have picked up a water glass. After he said this, the glass in his hand shattered beneath his angry grip.

Undertaker chuckled darkly and said, "Don't worry, my friend," his green eyes glinted ominously and his smile would have frozen the most fearsome criminal in their tracks, "We'll find him. It may take some time but we'll find him."

Sebastian sighed and smiled at his kooky friend, "Thanks, Undertaker. It means a lot to me to have your support." Undertaker laughed and continued to set the table.

Ͽ-Ͼ-Ͽ-Ͼ

Twenty minutes later, after the table had been set, the glasses filled with ice-cold water, and three plates had been loaded to the brim, Ciel still hadn't come out from cleaning up. Sebastian and Undertaker began to get worried. They got up from their chairs and tiptoed over to the washroom. What they saw nearly had them rolling on the floor in laughter. Ciel was sound asleep amid a mess of bubbles, water, and towels. He had tried his best to clean up, but nothing went well and he ended up having to bring out some towels to try to clean up the mess he had made while trying to clean himself up.

Sebastian quietly stepped over to the exhausted little boy and slowly lifted him up. Undertaker cooed and brushed a few strands of Ciel's hair out of his face. Sebastian carried Ciel up to a spare bedroom and waited for Undertaker to pull back the covers and fluff up the pillows a little. After laying the boy down he gently kissed his forehead and whispered, "Goodnight, Ciel. I'll see you in the morning." Ciel mumbled happily and rolled onto his side.

Undertaker giggled and stroked the child's dark hair. The two men then went back down-stairs and ate dinner, quietly talking and laughing amongst themselves. They retired at around midnight and went to their respective rooms to get some much needed sleep.

At one or two in the morning, Sebastian (a very light sleeper, unlike Undertaker who, no pun intended, always slept like the dead) sat up in his bed and listened carefully. He heard a faint crying sound coming from Ciel's room next door. He instinctively went into over-protective-papa-bear-mode and dashed over to his son's room. When he opened Ciel's door, he saw that the boy was flailing about on his bed, gripped by a terrifying nightmare. Sebastian took two steps and sat down on the edge of Ciel's bed. He took hold of Ciel's shoulders and shook them gently. "Wake up, Ciel," he said urgently, "Wake up! You're having a nightmare! It's okay."

After a few more moments of shaking (and, although he has never admitted it, he must have panicked a little too), Ciel finally awoke with a sobbing gasp and let out a short scream, "NO!"

He glanced frantically around but relaxed when Sebastian began rocking him back and forth as he whispered comfortingly to him, "Hush, Ciel. It's all right. I'm here. I'm right here…everything is going to be okay."

Ciel whimpered and clutched Sebastian tightly. Sebastian stayed there, rocking and whispering, until Ciel fell back asleep. Sebastian sighed quietly and tried to lay the boy back down, but Ciel whimpered again and tightened his hold. He really, really, didn't want Sebastian to leave. The doctor chuckled and stroked Ciel's dark hair.

Sebastian gathered Ciel into his arms and repositioned himself so that he was sitting against the headboard of Ciel's bed. Eventually, both had fallen fast asleep. It wasn't until the next morning, that Undertaker (who had gotten worried when they didn't come down for breakfast) came up and found them. Ciel was curled up in Sebastian's lap like a kitten, and Sebastian was smiling slightly while holding the boy gently in his arms.

Undertaker laughed softly and tiptoed over to the snoozing pair. "Sebastian?" He shook the man's shoulder in an attempt to wake him without disturbing Ciel and whispered, "Sebastian, wake up. It's nearly ten!"

Sebastian mumbled sleepily and sat up a little, "Whassat?"

"It's nearly ten!" Undertaker chuckled again and gave his friend's bed-head a little yank, "Don't you think you should get out of bed now?"

"Mmph…okay," Sebastian carefully placed Ciel down next to him and stretched like a cat. He then scooted off the bed, yawned, rubbed his eyes and shuffled back to his room to get ready for the day.

After putting himself together, he went downstairs to find that Undertaker had donned a frilly pink apron (I don't even want to know where that came from) and was humming as he flipped the most terrifying pancakes Sebastian had ever seen.

"Undertaker?"

"Hm?"

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making pancakes, stupid!" Undertaker waved his spatula in the air and gave his friend a grin.

"Oh." Sebastian shrugged and tried his best not to look at the horrifying things. He was pretty sure they tasted great (as most of Undertaker's food does) but they sure did have the most…interesting appearances.

The two ate and talked for a while before they heard a sound from the stairs. When they looked up, they saw Ciel standing there (looking mighty adorable with his bed-head and rumpled clothing, if I do say so myself), rubbing his uninjured eye and yawning, "G'morning, Papa, Uncle Undertaker."

Sebastian chuckled and went over to him, "Good morning, Ciel. Did you sleep well?" He wanted to know if the boy still remembered his nightmare. After getting a nod, he sighed with relief, picked the still sleepy boy up and carried him down to the dining room. Ciel purred and snuggled into the strong, warm hold.

He may not have said anything aloud (and never did, now that I think about it) but Ciel was more happy in that one moment than any other time he would ever experience. In his mind, he trusted Sebastian and Undertaker a great deal more than he normally would have under normal circumstances. In fact, other than his brother, he had never fully trusted someone as much as he trusted these two men. He didn't even trust Hannah as much as he trusted Sebastian and Undertaker.

Ciel watched from Sebastian's lap as the two men talked and laughed. As he ate Undertaker's deliciously freaky pancakes, he allowed his thoughts to wander. I hope Master is treating Acchan well. He has always liked us, but since Acchan tried to get us out Master might start hurting him. Eventually, the blue-haired boy put down his fork, closed his eyes and slowly slumped against Sebastian. The doctor and mortician assumed he had fallen asleep and began to speak quieter. He wasn't actually asleep, but he let them think that (he was a lot smarter than they gave him credit for). Hmm…I wonder what is going to happen from here on out. I know that Papa is willing to take care of me, but still. I don't wanna be a burden to him and I'm not sure that I'll be of much use to him, considering he seems to be a doctor. At this point, Sebastian began rubbing small circles on Ciel's back (and no matter how many times he tells me that he did them on purpose, I am utterly convinced he did it unconsciously). Ciel purred and rubbed his cheek against Sebastian's shoulder. Sebastian blinked at the unexpected noise and was quite happy to know that his new son was so similar to his favorite animal.

I'm so happy…

Ͽ-Ͼ-Ͽ-Ͼ

After a while, Ciel really did fall asleep and when he did, he dreamed of being reunited with his brother and living happily ever after. I won't give away too many details, but I want you to know that, no matter how desperate or unbelievable, everything will work out in the end. Ciel's dream does come true, and I am the living proof of that.

You may not believe me, but this is a story about my family. I will try my best to relay the whole story, without bias, and give you all the details. I may have forgotten some things, but (seeing as how I am still pretty young and have various outside resources at my disposal) I will do my absolute best.

Thank you for choosing to read these chapters and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Yours truly,

Ciel P. Michaelis

Please review! (Also, if anyone has a better suggestion for a title, please don't hesitate to tell me. I just kind of arbitrarily made it up.)

:)