Kuroshitsuji: Seventh Sin

Limbo

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The first circle of hell is reserved for virtuous pagans. It is a void, limbo, waiting forever for an unsatisfying end.

- Dante Alighieri, The Devine Comedy
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"Felix?" Peering through matted clumps of hair that fan over my face, I turn my head to view the stained glass window pane nearest my bed. Amber tinted sunlight filters in through the purple, red, orange and blue cris-crossing glasswork to light my face. My eyes fleck with tears from the harshness of the light in the midwinter morning. It's cold. Despite the fur-lined blankets and heat radiating from my body, I'm cold. "Felix!" I bark. "Come here!" 

A slender, calming figure shadows the sunlight blips falling across me. He leans down to peck me on the cheek. Then, his lips curl into a smirk. "What is it you desire, my love?" 

"Warmth."

He laughs. He must notice my appearance. My eyes narrow to slits. He extends his hand. "Allow me." A warmth flows through me instantly as I take it. I nod, and let him lay beside me. 

Even after everything, all the confusion I've been burdened with from the beginning, I still don't know if what Felix has told me awaits me at the end of my life is the real outcome he seeks. I can't help feeling - confused, as though I'm in between two equal and opposite fates. We haven't spoken about it, as the contractural obligations of demonic agreements are pretty clear. 

He's still holding my hand, and he pulls me closer. "You have business in the town today. We'll have to get up sometime." 

"We have business in town. This is all because of you, you know. It'll all be gone whenever you decide you want to kill me, or eat me, or whatever." 

"I haven't decided to do that yet." 

I freeze. I can't believe what I'm hearing. 

"I wanted to ask you something for a while now, Brenna." He doesn't wait for me to accept. "Would chance your fate if I were to allow you the opportunity to-" I move away. He's lying. This is cruel, mean, unfair. I almost start to cry. He leans up, looking down at me. 

"Brenna."

I don't face him. Even so, he continues. 

"Would you allow an alternate course of action, of what we did?" 

I blink, and roll over. He places one of his arms beside me, and strokes my face with the other, playing with my hair as it falls messily down with each movement of his fingers. "Our contract? The one where you are a demon and I am a human and you get my soul for giving me money and a fancy lifestyle?" 

"Brenna." 

"Felix"

He rolls his eyes. "I'm offering you something in utmost sincerity. I told you before, that I had to help you. Not all of us work on the same terms." 

"Not all demons?" I laugh. He looks happier. 

"I'm serious. Will you do this my way?" He smiles. 

"Your way?" It goes without saying that I am more than bemused. "What does that mean?" He's still on top of me. What if he just goes for it now? If I say now, is this how it ends with messy hair and caribou duvets? I at least would expect some pageantry, a send off in something like a vampiric cathedral, or a haunted cemetery or a satanic altars, not a fancy bed with feather pillows. "You're making very little sense." 

He exhales, and moves closer to me. I don't dare move. "I want you to get out of this with your soul. I want you to live, for real. Don't ask me why, but I don't want to go through with it this way. I don't want your soul, Brenna."