Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji. It is the intellectual property of Toboso Yana

Sebastian The Alley Cat

-Chapter VII-

Comedy and Tragedy

Wandering in the dark, every step I took was dragged out by the delusion that fogged my mind. I did not know where I was heading. A small scream deep in my skull was beating on my temple, making me want to just scream and make it stop. My body was burning with so much heat that I wondered why all the snow around me hadn't melted yet. The scream had turned into a pitiable plea — I wanted to keep my eyes open, but it was just too unbearable —

"Micheal! Please!"

I could see the man pleading in the dark, and I felt afraid — everything was dyed crimson by the man's blood — there were two huge wounds on his back, blood streaming... I wanted to reach out, I heard myself mutter the man's name, my voice faltering with fear, "Gabriel..."

Then darkness carried me into unconsciousness.

"He's the one."

"How laughable."

"Thought he was the best."

"Always patronizing everyone, that bastard, I knew-"

The whispers became more distant, fading away into hisses. I felt as if I was being drowned, my skull felt like as if it was being cracked opened —

"Mr. Sebastian." A creepily cheery voice greeted me, the smell of burned wood enter my nostrils. "How are you feeling?" The purr gave me chills down my spine to the very tip of my tail. I jolted a bit, instincts told me that I should be running away, but my body refused to follow this command.

"Where am I?" I asked the generic question, well, what else could I have done?

"This is my humble abode," He explained; something about this cat reminded me of Grell, but the disturbance he was emanating was of a whole new level.

"Pray, do tell me how are you feeling?" The smile on the gray cat's face still unfading, I started to wonder if he was born this way. His eyes were hidden under his overgrown hair. I retreated away as he leaned in uncomfortably.

"I-I am feeling just fine, thanks for asking." Sitting up, I managed not to fall over, and I noticed that I had been sleeping in a coffin all along. "And sir, may I ask, who are you?"

"Ah, so curious you little sly thing." He seemed to be quite amused; I was still trying to figure out his intent. "This question, maybe you should ask yourself first." He turned away from the coffin, for a moment, I thought he was going to close the lid on me.

Jumping out of the eerily comfortable thing, I addressed the stranger once more, "Sir, at any rate, thank you for your hospitality. If it does not trouble you, can you please tell me the address of our location, so I can return to my district and put a stop to my intrusion?"

"Demons are so very sly with their sweet tongues." He said with the same eerie voice, I did not know whether it was intended to be an insult of not.

"Mr. Sebastian, don't be so hasty. Isn't there anything troubling you of late? I might know the answer to your questions, you know." He offered cheerily, but I still felt like I was being talked to like a mouse he was luring into his long black claws. Nonetheless, his question had drawn up ripples of curiosity from my mind. Cautiously, I went for a harmless trial.

"How did you know my name? Without us ever having met before?" He walked towards me slowly, swirling his long tail in a mysterious way.

"You are so forgetful my dear, we have met before," He purred with amusement, his claws scratching dangerously on the back of my head, I felt them slightly digging into my skull. "Next question?"

"What's your name then?" I still managed to ask with a smooth voice despite the disturbing things this fellow was doing around me.

"Under-" He abruptly drew me closer, one of his claws sharply lifting my chin up, "-taker."

Frozen in this awkward position with my new acquaintance, I opened my mouth carefully and spoke through my gritted teeth, least his claws would cut through my chin "Can you please let me go then, Mr. Undertaker?"

He retreated in a whirl of movements and was atop of one of his other coffins in the next second. I felt a surge of relief washing through my body.

"You are allowed to ask one more question only, my friend." His tail sweeping back and forth playfully behind him, "Use it wisely."

What should I ask? About Grell and his friend? Or, more interestingly —

"Am I a demon?" I did not know what made me ask that, but something told me that this stranger would know the answer.

"You can only tell for yourself; but there are ways to tell," He laid down on the coffin, looking down on me like a judge passing a verdict. "Demons always lie, do you always lie?"

"I don't think I do." I answered honestly.

"Do you love?"

The question made me pause.

"I don't know what love is." The words were rolling down my tongue on their own; I couldn't help but felt embarrassed that I was being so brutally honest with this stranger. He laughed maniacally at my answer; I suddenly felt the urge to add a few scratches on that grin, maybe more than a few.

Brushing off the tears from his hidden eyes, the lunatic spoke again, chuckling all the while, "That was such a good joke, haven't heard one for quite a while!"

I decided that I was done with this nonsense. I marched right up the stairs that led to the speck of sunlight from above; I realized then that I'd been in a basement all along.

"Don't forget to come back and visit; and pray, do come up with more good jokes to tell when you do!" The maniac kept rolling on the floor; I took one last glace at this eerie place — cobwebs coated every single inch of this spine-chilling place, I couldn't wait to get the hell out.

"Poor demon doesn't know what love is! Ha!" I could still hear him laughing when the trap door banged shut behind me. Bright sunlight entered my pupils, and I felt them contracting violently at the sudden change. The moment I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an unfamiliar street, but the smell in the air was not unfamiliar.

I was in Argos' territories.

Why would the Undertaker live in such a dangerous place as this? Well, crazy cats do crazy things, I really couldn't care less.

"Looka there." A crisp voice called.

I was only out less than a minute, and I was already exposed? I began to think that being a black cat actually brings bad luck upon oneself. Around the corner, I could clearly see the shadow emerging. It was clearly not Argos, nor anyone that I knew of. Alerted, I immediately sought the advantage of higher ground. However, the highest I could get was on top of a dumpster nearby.

"Indeed, I am quite disappointed. I thought you'd be a little braver than this — worthier of my caliber." The Doberman said, still walking in his leisure pace, as if to show me that he wasn't in any sort of worry that I should escape.

Frankly, I did not intend to either.

His slick black fur shined brightly under the sun, rippling muscles covered every inch of the large build — an image of perfection. The Doberman's bloodshot eyes scanned me idly as I did him. In a swirl of movements, I found him dangerously close to me. His supernatural speed took me off guard; in my mind, I was still trying to figure out whether this was reality or not.

His bone-crunching jaws snapped in front of me in a split second, my skull was only inches away from being crushed. The growl in his throat was spine-chilling. I had not expected him to suddenly attack like this, he was moving in lightning-

Again, he charged. Adrenaline caused my claws to extend sharply. I tried to scratch him in the eye, but he dodged quickly; instinct took over, and I took advantage of this blind spot to stab into his ribs, but my claws only ended up in his shoulder. The Doberman winced in annoyance; guess I am worthy of his caliber after all. But his head suddenly turned back, a smirking grin showing his long sharp teeth, I tried to move back, but it was too late, his skull bumped hard into my chest. I tried to flip back into landing position, but only ended up landing half on my feet.

"Not bad."

I did not taunt, his presence somehow reminded me of someone I used to know, someone I couldn't remember...

"I never heard of you before, are you the new head? What happened to Argos?"

"Hmph," he scoffed disdainfully, "Do not compare me with that third-class," Arrogance shined in those red eyes, "Cats are so forgetful, always taking their eyes off of their goals."

"As far as I know," I replied with wit, "Canines are the mindless ones that are always easily distracted; a simple chew toy can occupy your tiny brains all day."

The jet black Doberman growled at the comment, "Felines are despicable, with no honor, whatsoever. Michaelis, you are biting the hand that feeds you, you know that?"

"Mindless creatures are mindless; loyalty is just the pretty-sounding word for the brainless." A few nerves popped up on his temple, he would snap at any moment now. I braced myself for another assault.

However, he only grinned at me, "Let's make things more interesting." He bit down on his own paw, blood immediately started dripping on the ground. He pressed it hard on the wet concrete and muttered something indiscernible.

Shadows emerged around the corner, springing up from the ground. The concrete turning into what seemed to be some sort of dark liquid that shined crimson under the sun. I blinked my eyes; I almost couldn't believe what was happening. But registering the situation, this seemed to be some sort of summon, and this dog, whoever he was, could not possibly be a normal one.

The dark blobs now formed into the shape of Doberman, but they still retained the blinding shine that liquid has — their shape seemed to be bound together by the curse, or whatever it was, that the original had used.

"By the name of Cerberus," The Doberman said, staring at me intently with what seemed to be victory in his eyes, "I command thee." The blobs suddenly came to life, each bowing to the one named Cerberus, they then quickly turned to me — their eyes were empty, there was no soul within. That was the only thing that I had time to observe about these strange creatures. They had started to charge at me, and I was too busy fending them off to notice what Cerberus was doing. I began to feel overwhelmed by their numbers. I needed to find their weakness.

I tried scratching them, but they did not flinch; the surface of their skin only rippled like water, and quickly went back to its original shape. When I ripped one of them wide open, the shape only exploded like water, covering my entire body in what seemed to be blood. I could smell the copper scent, it made me felt hot and dizzy, and it became increasingly hard for me to focus. I gritted my teeth in impatience — I was not yet panicking, but let's say ditching the fight would be a good option now. However, the monsters were persistent; they surrounded me in all directions. Two of them charged at me at the same time, and I found them having extremely good coordination — it was as if they were one entity. While I mostly relied on how incorporated Argos' gang is in the past, I did not know how to fend off so many dogs that were working so well together.

Suddenly, I felt something bite my tail, when I was about to turn around to free myself of the grip, one of them bit down on my left shoulder blade mercilessly, causing me to almost cry out in pain. The dog did not let go, its fangs only sank deeper into the wound. The two of them held me steadily with their jaws as the others started to inch towards me. Painfully, I plunged my right paw quickly into the head of the one that was still biting down on my shoulder. The liquid felt hot, almost boiling. I kept moving my paw inside of its head, and I felt the grip of its jaws loosen. Using all my strength, I used my entire body to tackle it; we both fell, and I found myself lying on the cold concrete panting, covered in even more blood. Hopelessness began to sink in as I lay still on the ground, trying to cope with the pain from my left shoulder — I didn't even know if it was still there anymore.

"Sebas-chan!" Through a gap between the mindless creatures that surrounds me, I spotted a blur of long red hair. It was one of the few times that I felt relieved seeing this cat. "I am here to rescue you, my Romeo!"

He landed right beside me when the dogs retreated to forming a circle around us. I sought the Doberman that had caused all this, he was staring at something on top of us — it was the silver-tabby, standing straight up, looking down at the mess below him with irritation.

"How troublesome, this isn't in the job description; but because of people like you, I have to work overtime now." He complained half-heartedly to himself.

I turned to look at Cerberus again, his narrowed eyes glaring back at William with an equal magnitude of annoyance. "Do not interfere." He breathed.

"I believe you, sir, are the one interrupting the trial." The silver tabby addressed him calmly. I could barely believe it.

"I am just doing my job." The Doberman replied with defeat, but still keeping his contemptuous attitude, in a sense that he knew he was being overruled. I couldn't help but wonder who William actually was, to be able to make this (if he actually was one) dog to actually sound defeated.

"So am I; and I believe our party has the higher authority here." He declared as a matter of factly, showing no signs of fear.

The Doberman snorted impatiently. "Then don't let your target run loose like that, kitties." The blobs around me dissolved back into the ground, not even a trace of the crimson liquid remained. Cerberus turned to look at me, "Don't be disappointed, I am sure we will meet again." The last part of the sentence was a whisper, as the speaker evaporated in thin air.

Beside me, Grell started whining, "Bloody hellhounds! I hate them! Last time I went there, they almost bit off my leg!"

"Agent Grell Sutcliff, our job is done; don't keep dawdling."

"Wait," I called out to the silver tabby, "What is going on?" As much as I hated to admit, I really needed an explanation.

"You see, Sebas-chan, you-"

"Grell, don't you dare!"

"But, Will, he's-"

"That's not our job. I'll give you appropriate punishment if you violate-"

"Yes, yes, fine, fine! Always ruining my fun!" Grell turned to me, attempting to kiss my cheek, but I quickly dodged. "You know you look so very sexy when your fur is dripping crimson blood like this," he licked his lips disturbingly, giving me goose bumps. "Until then, Sebas-chan!"

I looked up again, but William was already gone, when I tried to look for Grell again, he too, was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed like the more I found out, the more questions there were. I stood up on all fours; I was ready to go home, but when I started walking, my left shoulder began to feel like it was being burned by acid. I winced painfully; luckily, there was no one around to see me in such an embarrassing state.

The blood on my fur was still dripping, continuously reminding me of the surreal scenes that just happened minutes ago. It was real, it wasn't a hallucination. The crimson blood that was stuck to my body was the proof.

Bearing the pain, I licked my lips, and the bitter taste of the blood entered my mouth. It was the worst thing I had ever tasted. It was empty; there was nothing within...

The way the blood was starting to crystallise on my coat confined my movements. The freezing weather of London was still very unforgiving. But at least it wouldn't make a trail of blood that'd be traceable as I get back home. I found it almost ridiculous that I was thinking of my dear Ciel again. What would he say when he sees me in this state? That is, if I could get home safely. The wind blew, and I quickened my painful steps. This trip would be a long one, especially with just three legs.

A/N: Please do tell me what you think of Cerberus or Cerby, as my beta reader, Laura, so affectionately calls him. (lol)