Sigh

"Cats are perfect" he picked up a furry orange cat. The feline was graceful for her unnaturally large size, she ate well which made Sebastian's nonexistent heart leap. The bigger the cat the more he had to love about it. Cats were mysterious, he could never read their moods, much like with Y/n, he had to guess.

"Put the damn thing down," the young lord growled from behind him. The butler sighed, if only his master weren't allergic the manor would be full of strays. She ran away from Sebastian and his slightly agitated lord.

Inside the carriage Sebastian's nose twitched, the savory scent of blood was in the air, his master's blood.

~

"You still want to be with him? Everything, even down to the reason of his existence is a lie. Yet you'll still go back. I warned you to stay away when you came to me looking for them. Now you're caught up in all their lies along with all of your feelings. The old you would've found it so easy to walk away but look at you now, getting involved emotionally."

"Things change, Undertaker," you said. You both were in some other random room inside the music hall this night. After your first meeting, he's been changing what rooms he talks to you in. You might not even be in the music hall with all the twists and turns it took to get to that room. He laid there on the bed, his hair fanned out all over the sheets, the ends scraping the floor like a see-through silver curtain.

"Not you Y/n, surface wise yes. But deep down you never will no matter how much you force yourself to accept it. You despise change unless it benefits you. All the past few years has given you was even more things tying you down, and you loathe it."

"So, I was right, you warned Bravat about us," you knew it, there was no way Bravat was a fortune teller. Who else knows you better than Undertaker.

"If you had no reason to stay other than you work there. You would've left the moment things became complicated."

"I didn't ask. He didn't lie. Besides, he doesn't know my entire story either. I'd be surprised if they weren't living a lie," you said growing annoyed. You didn't come here for conversation about yourself or Sebastian, you stopped pacing and leaned against the wall, growing weak.

He laughed, a cruel smile on his face. "You left my side immediately when my true card was dealt."

"You tried to kill my husband and employer; I think that merits taking sides," you rolled your eyes in annoyance. He was always dancing around everything you said, always questioning about Sebastian.

"And he won't turn against you once he finds out you know? I wouldn't put it pass his little lord either. You put too much trust in demons."

"I'm tired of your million questions," you snapped turning to face him. "Answer mine, 'What are you doing here and why do you have his body?'"

Undertaker's eyes flickered upwards. "We have a guest," he snarled making your eyes follow his to the ceiling, which was now different, you looked back down and spun your head around looking for Undertaker. You were back in the room Bravat let you sleep in. Undertaker was gone.

"These damn divine beings," you shook your head. A new problem arose however, even you sensed his presence.

Sebastian was here yet again.

You tensed up hiding behind a cabinet in panic after hearing his footsteps draw closer. Without thinking you opened the window and leapt out, grabbing onto the ledge you crashed into the window below. You landed on the thin springy mattress and fell onto the floor along with all the glass from your impact. The mattress took its sweet time but finally toppled on top of you too. Coughing out the dust you inhaled, you opened your eyes and gasped. A rusty nail was staring back at you mere centimeters from your eye.

"Shit," you threw off the dusty dirty mattress and took care not to nick yourself with the glass. Looking down, nothing was torn or injured somehow.

The room was nothing like yours. It was dirty and rickety, like it was abandoned. Rusty nails and scrap metal littered the floor with the shards of glass from the window. A cloud of dust surrounded you and the dirty mattress you landed on.

What an idiotic way to avoid him. You could've at least landed properly, you mentally cursed. Why were you running in the first place? Maybe a part of you believed what Undertaker said. Maybe he would harm you if you knew too much. Your faith in him gave you nothing but trouble, but he was always there to bail you out at the last second. Talk about your downfall and saviour. Your body, whatever was making you sick was aggressively taking its toll now. Breathless and weak you crawled towards the door, gripping the knob to pull yourself up.

Exiting the dingy room you immediately collapsed, too physically drained to go on. Instead of hitting the floor, soft gloved hands broke your fall.

"Enough," he said quietly.

"I'm not done here," you gasped for air, gripping his jacket. He wasn't wearing his normal attire. A grey vest, or at least you think that's what you're seeing, it felt different or maybe it was because your fingers were cold and clammy.

"Don't be foolish, you're dying. Enough is enough," Sebastian hissed hoisting you bridal style. Your breath became short and ragged, cold tears streamed down your face. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." you quietly muttered repeatedly before you passed out.

~

"I thought you said no matter how many times you rip someone away from where they're set, they will go running back?" Lord Edward commented angrily at Sebastian. He had used the line when Lady Elizabeth escaped the manor earlier that week and here he is dragging you from the same place she was.

"Nothing drew her there but her own ambition. And she's practically knocking at deaths door, Lady Elizabeth was as healthy as she was before." Sebastian mentally rolled his eyes, 'What a moron, there's no way he's related to the young lord. But I suppose there must be an odd one out.'

Lord Edward stormed out the room to let off his illogical steam.

He understood something Abberline said to him the other night, "When someone you care about goes missing it's always a priority." You were a priority for him, not for Lord Edward and vice versa with Lady Elizabeth.

"I get the feeling this is purely for your amusement," Sebastian said as the young lord grinned coldly at Sebastian's obvious attempt at holding back a remark. "What a way to kick someone when they're down sir."

'Damn brat'

His ears perked up, your breathing became more controlled, you were waking up.

~

Finally, you stirred once you heard the door shut making it appear as if the slam woke you up. You were back at the townhouse, for real this time. Peeking between your eyelashes you saw an angry little lord sitting in his chair staring daggers into your soul, waiting for you to open your eyes. Unfortunately, he saw your eyelashes flutter open for a split second, but it that was all it took. You were suddenly wishing this was a dream again.

"M- my Lord," you said seeing his angered face, your eyes fully open and you sat up against the bedhead. He got up from his chair and stormed over to you giving you a stinging slap that reverberated in the whole room. Can't say you didn't deserve it. Your face grew hot where his handprint quickly welted up, the physical memory of his ring etched on your face. You felt lightheaded from sitting up too fast, that, along with the shock of being slapped made your breathing labored.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I wasn't- I didn't-"

"If the answer is you didn't think then you're damned right. You are more than lucky you're of bloody value to me and not a turncoat else I'd make you pay dearly!" he seethed. If Sebastian wasn't so angry himself, he would've slithered in a sly remark that could've helped tone down the young lord's anger.

Scared of a child? This was a first, you were even sad you disappointed him a little. Should've prepared an excuse, but you didn't expect to learn that when you saw Undertaker. "When you get better, I expect answers," he growled and slammed the door, the door frame shaking and dust falling from the cracks in the walls. Dead silence filled the room, just you and Sebastian avoiding eye contact.

You drew the covers awkwardly around you, it was freezing and you felt like shrinking until he couldn't see you. You knew he was livid under that face. Not even bothering to look at you he set your tea down and stood guard at the door, eyes glued to the wall opposite of him. You didn't expect a warm welcome but this was worse than yelling.

His patience normally exceeded yours but not this time. Before you could utter a syllable, he started to scold you.

"You have done some inexplicably stupid things in the past that I overlooked. But this, no Y/n this went too far. I know you're used to crackpot ideas and running off to doing whatever the hell you want but that is not how the Queen's guard dog operates!" he said sternly.

You sank back in bed a little annoyed although you had very little right to be. He was never going to get this off his chest, and since when did you do anything out of the ordinary? "Scold me as my husband, not my employer. I already had that speech in my head before you said it."

The teapot next to him shattered although no one touched it, nor wind pushed it off the desk.

You scoffed, "Is breaking that supposed to be intimidating? I can do that too."

"Y/n I'm not joking."

"Neither am I. I'm not a child. I made a decision that hurt myself, there's my consequence. My employer judges what happens to me now, not you. Going in your little childish expression of power does nothing but piss me off. Yes, I screwed up and completely forgot the Queen's Guard Dog comes first, what now?"

His face remained stoic, but you heard a little demonic chuckle in the back of your head. 'I'm being scolded by a mortal'

Were you starting to read his thoughts? The connection between you two was still growing but you had no idea the extent of it, and apparently neither did he.

'Sebastian?' you strained your thoughts as if to communicate with him. Surely, it'd surprise him even a bit if he heard your thoughts, but he didn't even flinch. You sighed, there's no talking casually with him like this, a couple hours this will blow over with him. He'd either admit he was worried or he won't, it was his problem and not yours.

"What's wrong with me?"

He sighed and checked his pocket watch, "You've lost a lot of blood. Anemia is why you feel so sick and weak. We're taking you to Lady Sullivan in a bit so you can have a transfusion."

He walked over and gently took your arm from under the cover and rolled your sleeve up. Tiny black pinpricks that scabbed over littered the inside of your elbow barely noticeable.

"A transfusion?"

"It's safe if that's what you're worried about."
~

"Your blood was being taken out consistently, your body didn't have time to replenish," she flipped through pages of a thick book. You were hooked up to a machine, a glass jug with God knows how much blood in it, running through a tube to a needle in your arm. A scratchy blanket was placed over you to keep you warm while you were there, the fireplace was roaring but you were still freezing. Lady Sullivan turned the once lavish townhouse into her own laboratory, filled with machinery and chemicals. She was walking by herself with the help of an invention she called Arachne Patousa or Spider Legs. "I don't know if anemia is permanent when you lose blood like this, but it will affect you for a while. Eat lots of raw liver..."

'Disgusting', you gagged mentally.

"Drink wine too!"

"Now that I can get behind," you grinned unapologetically.

"If you still feel cold and light headed, we'll know it's permanent," she said. "Don't worry it's not life threatening, your diet will just have to change so you don't deteriorate."

"Get iron salts and tell me how you feel weekly or any change at all. Wolf and I were working on something the other day, and this will help the experiment."

'I'm a lab rat, aren't I?'

"Stop taking them if you feel sick, it might be poisonous," she said swiveling around in her mechanical spider legs. Noticing your face, she quickly added, "Oh, you'll be fine don't worry you won't be taking them long and your body would expel it once you stop. Back when you were young maybe, people used arsenic to cure everything but since they've realised it's poisonous, they only use minute traces in medicine now. It's archaic but-"

"How old do you think I am?!?!" You raised your eyebrow. You heard Sebastian snicker in the corner as you and Lady Sullivan went back and forth and smiled a little inside.

"Archaic," you scoffed.