Hey! Finally hit 100 (actually 111!) reviews, and I am so, so happy! And they've almost all been positive, which is much more than I'd ever hoped for! Believe me when I say I literally read every single one (over and over) and they all get me excited and keep me motivated to write. So if you've ever left a review, thank you! Seriously, I mean that.

Gushing aside, this chapter introduces the much-anticipated Grell Sutcliff. I know you all love this reaper as much as I do (how could you not?) so hopefully you'll enjoy this!

~the Black Butler characters aren't mine~

Celeste's eyes widened as she watched the streak of red latch onto Sebastian.

"Bassie!" cried the man, rubbing his cheek against Sebastian's. As Celeste eyed him, unsure of how to react, she realized this was the reaper she had sensed before. His red hair was a marvel- so bright and long. He wore the trademark reaper glasses and had those unique eyes, which Celeste had always found fascinating.

Her own eyes shifted from the fawning reaper to a grumpy-looking Sebastian, shock and confusion dominating her expression. "S-Sebastian?" she stammered.

With a swift, no-nonsense move, the demon dislodged the reaper and sighed. "Angel, allow me to introduce you to Grell Sutcliff."

"A reaper?"

"Indeed," Sebastian regarded the now-pouting reaper with disdain. "And he seems to have formed a rather unfortunate attachment to me."

"How cruel," Grell finally spoke up. "How very cruel of you, Bassie, to use such harsh terms to describe our forbidden love. You know as well as I the feelings, the passions..."

His mate had seen him with Grell. Sebastian had never been more humiliated in his long life. Even now the ever-irritating reaper was rambling on, speaking of "times long forgotten", as if there had ever been such a relationship between them. Normally Grell's infatuation with him was an inconvenience at best and a nuisance at worst, but now that his mate was here... He could not have Celeste thinking such horrific thoughts about him.

And then the worst happened. First the angel's lovely face split into a grin, and then a moment later she erupted into all-out laughter. True mirth, the first he'd seen from her. It was a joyous, musical sound, and he suspected it would've made him very... pleased to hear, had it not been caused by such a situation.

"Have you..." she paused for another spout of giggles. "Have you made yourself a friend, Bassie?"

His eyebrow twitched. "Hardly."

Grell had stopped his rant, and his angel went to introduce herself, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "Hello, Mr. Sutcliff, I'm Celeste Azrael. Pleased to meet you- I've always been fascinated by reapers."

The reaper in question took his focus off of Sebastian to regard Celeste with mild curiosity. Sebastian tensed, ready to protect his mate in case the reaper became (he shuddered at the thought) possessive.

"Eh?" he asked. "An angel? What's a heavenly being like you doing hanging around Bassie? And by the way, it's Miss, not mister."

His good-natured mate smiled. "I'm sorry, Miss. To answer your question, I'm Ciel's guardian angel now, so in truth it's him I'm 'hanging around'. Not the demon." She spoke in a tone that made it clear that their interaction was forced.

Sebastian's eyes widened at her words. He knew they were true in a sense, but... He was quick to stop the train of thoughts. Weakness towards the angel, even in his mind, he would not tolerate.

"Can I ask why you're here?" Celeste questioned Grell. His (no, her, she corrected herself) glasses glinted as she adjusted them.

"Hmm," she hummed, now twirling a red strand of hair around her gloved finger. "Work, work, work. Will's been working me to the bone, he says I need to be punished for my behavior as of late. I'm too delicate for all of this..." Her sharp teeth became visible as she grinned. "Although, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to punish me, Bassie." She puckered her lips as if waiting for a kiss.

Celeste frowned involuntarily, then quickly corrected herself. After all, she had just announced that she was only here for Ciel. If Sebastian wanted to go running off with this odd reaper, then that was his- She stopped her thoughts, unsure why she had gotten so caught up on a simple comment. After all, it wasn't as though the demon looked pleased to see Miss Sutcliff.

"Work?" asked Sebastian, ignoring the "punishment" comment.

"Indeed," the reaper sang. "To be honest I'm not supposed to talk about business matters, especially to a demon, but suffice it to say there's something very peculiar going on with this group."

"Peculiar?" Sebastian repeated.

"Hmm, yes," said Grell, reaching into her bright red jacket. The coat looked oddly familiar to Celeste, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen it before. It was such a bright shade of red...

The reaper withdrew two tiny pairs of scissors from his pocket, diverting her attention from the jacket. "Look, Bassie," she complained. "Will still won't give me back my custom-made death scythe, can you believe it?"

Celeste hid a giggle in her palm. "How does he expect you to do your job with those?"

"Exactly!" Grell cried. "These could hardly snip through a weed, much less a demon!"

"Ah," Sebastian pounced on the slip. "So this top-secret assignment of yours involves a demon, does it?"

"Does it?" Grell parroted, unbothered. "I guess that'll be something for you to discover on your own. Care to join me?"

A small smile made its way onto Sebastian's face, but Celeste knew that there was no real happiness behind it. It was a common flaw among demons - they were used to knowing everything, so it threw them when they were left in the dark about something. She couldn't blame them, really. She felt the same way, but she'd grown more used to the feeling. As a warrior angel, she'd been able to soar through heaven and collect whatever information she needed, on any subject. But as a guardian she was bound to her charge, only knowing what she was fortunate enough to hear or witness. Maybe, after all of this cleared up, when Ciel was asleep, she'd go track down this reaper and find out what the situation was. Unless...

"Miss Sutcliff," she began slowly. "This... assignment of yours. It wouldn't happen to involve a group of humans, would it? Perhaps humans that were involved in some dangerous activities... devil-worship, to be exact." She carefully observed the reaper's reaction to the words.

Sebastian certainly had a clever mate, didn't he? He'd been wondering the exact same thing. Was fate really so cruel as to involve Grell of all people in the young master's latest mission?

He cast a sideways glance at the angel. Her long black hair was tousled from the carriage ride and the gentle wind. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and her lips were slightly parted. Flawlessly lovely, as she always had been. But her bright eyes were focused solely on Grell, on the mission, on Ciel. Because that was the only reason she was here with him. She had said so herself, and angels didn't lie.

Yes, he knew from personal experience that fate was indeed that sadistic.

He watched Grell's face closely while they waited for an answer. He knew that reactions could be more telling than actual words. The reaper's makeup-coated face contorted as he thought, determining how best to answer. This had already given Sebastian all that he needed to know. If Celeste had guessed wrong, he could've simply said "no" and that would have been that. No thought or planning involved. But instead, because he hesitated to respond, Sebastian knew that the reaper had been assigned to the same case. Which meant this mission, like all the others, would be much more complicated than it had originally seemed.

My, but this would be annoying.

He examined the angel, wanting to know if she had come to the same conclusion. Her face was blank as she watched Grell, but when she noticed his eyes on her she met them and nodded. He'd thought she wanted to wait for Grell's actual response- after all, that would be the polite, angelic thing to do- but, as always, she surprised him.

"Thank you for your help, Miss," she said cheerily. "And now Sebastian and I really must be going."

"Eh?" said Grell. Then his face twisted into a pout, and his shrieking, disgustingly lovesick self was back. "Oh, Bassie!" he cried. "Why must the universe always tear us apart?"

Why must it keep bringing us together? he shot back mentally, but kept his cool, polite facade on. He smiled, bowed, and turned to leave with Celeste.

But Grell wasn't letting him slip away so easily. He wasn't done talking yet.

Sebastian's smile, rather than fading, widened a bit. He still had one trick up his sleeve. "My apologies, but our master is not a patient one. My mate and I really must be taking our leave." He said it casually, as if it were a known fact and not a revelation. The reaper didn't miss it, though.

"Mate!" he shrieked. "Her?"

"Sebastian!" snapped Celeste, eyes wide.

He smiled at her- a real smile, one bright with mischief- and reached down to clasp her hand. She regarded him for a minute, then, to his surprise, squeezed his hand back. "I don't think I've ever seen a genuinely happy smile from you before," she said softly.

He abandoned the smile for a smirk and tugged her to the side- Grell's miniature scissor-scythes had been headed straight for their interlocked hands.

"For your safety and my sanity, may I suggest we take our leave now?" Sebastian asked.

She eyed the fuming redhead. "I've never made an enemy of a reaper before, either. This is a day of firsts."

Like it? The main purpose of this chapter (if you couldn't tell) was to introduce Grell into the story. And I think it worked okay. Definitely some funny moments in there, and some sweet Celeste/Sebastian scenes.

I swear to you, though, we are only one flight away from the mission scene. If not the next chapter, then it'll be the one after that. I'm hoping you guys mostly come for the romance, so maybe you won't get too impatient with me. This is just how I write.

As always, thanks for reading, please comment (now I've gotten greedy), and I'll update soon(ish)!