Sebastian burst through the previously closed doors of the mansion’s study much like an irate gush of strong wind would. He was unsurprisingly greeted by the sight that he had foreseen: the earl sitting on his desk, elbows supporting the weary head resting between his hands, brow furrowed seemingly in pain, attempting to read. The butler did his utmost to keep the exasperation out of his voice.
“Young Master, I thought we had agreed that you were going to rest after supper.”
Ciel uncharacteristically jumped in his seat at hearing his demon’s voice, apparently unaware of the loud sound of the doors falling open just a second before. He slowly raised his head and attempted to look Sebastian menacingly in the eyes, but all he achieved was a slightly comic dazed expression with an uncovered blue eye that couldn’t keep focused for long.
“I am resting. I am…”, a pause, marked by a confused furrowed brow, as Ciel clearly struggled to find the right word, “…seated.”
Sebastian inhaled slowly, trying to gather his calm.
“Indeed you are. You are also reading. Might I remind you that Master Soma’s physician clearly instructed you to avoid activities that require concentration, such as reading, writing and other tasks that involve mental exertion?”
Ciel lowered his gaze and swayed slightly in place. He was clearly exhausted.
“But it’s been almost two days…”, he mumbled in the general direction of Sebastian’s knees, “I need to…”, he used his knuckles to rub at the unhurt right side of his head as if he was in pain - and he probably was -, “… the Undertaker…”
“There is nothing we can do about that for now.”, Sebastian gracefully interrupted while gently grabbing the earl’s left elbow to help him out of his chair, “We must calmly wait for his next move. Recovery should be the only thing on your mind right now.”
In a rather sluggish movement, Ciel batted Sebastian’s gloved hand away, instead grabbing the desk himself for support. He was suddenly standing, looking pale and dizzy, brow furrowed in pain.
“Should I bring you the pain medicine the doctor prescribed?” Sebastian gently inquired.
Ciel faced him slowly, looking dazed, mouth open as if about to speak, then promptly crumbled down towards his tapestry-covered floor. He never got to touch the expensive materials, though, as his butler swiftly grabbed him before he could, crowding the boy against his pristinely clothed chest.
Ciel gasped against him and immediately attempted to straighten his neck to look at his unruly servant, no doubt to chide him, but the dizziness seemed to be too intense for that, so he was reduced to only pitifully sniffle against Sebastian.
“This… is… all your fault, you… stupid… demon!!”, he half-hissed between sobs, punctuating each pause with a closed fist smack against the butler’s left collarbone.
“Yes, Young Master.”, Sebastian agreed, docile.
Indeed, the sobbing, hurt, confused mess in the demon’s arms was entirely correct. This had all been Sebastian’s fault. If the demon could feel guilty, perhaps he would, were it not for the fact that he secretly found this whole situation highly entertaining. Or rather, he had, about two days ago. Not so much now.
TWO DAYS AGO
Despite how much the demon had come to truly love the good butler’s charade, right now, amidst the blood, guts and gore, Sebastian was having a great time. With only his bare, human-looking hands and taking his time to truly appreciate the rather decayed crimson spray of the undead bizarre dolls’ decapitated bodies, Sebastian’s frenzy was bliss. He stole a peek at the earl’s face, who Sebastian had positioned at a safe distance from Undertaker’s small army of increasingly more living-human-like bizarre dolls. Ciel, who was intently observing his handiwork, bore a serene expression. The demon had once suspected said expression to be merely stoic. Perhaps he had been wrong all along. Perhaps he was the one responsible for that change, if there really was any. What a mesmerizing creature. What a delicious-looking gourmet dish.
Sebastian also took notice of one of the Undertaker’s creations, slowly climbing up the low building upon whose roof Ciel stood. Perhaps Sebastian should take care of that. But the earl’s orders had been to take out the group of undead creatures guarding the suspicious building Undertaker had just vacated and then come back for him so they could inspect its contents together.
Sebastian ripped head from body and smirked. He would let the bizarre doll reach Ciel while completing his mission undisturbed. He would only intervene before that if the earl’s life was endangered.
And that’s how the stray bizarre doll got to the unsuspecting Lord Phantomhive and, before it was noticed, violently hit the posterior left side of the boy’s head with the handle of a wooden broom. Ciel crumbled to the floor without a sound, lithe body sliding down the wet canted roof tiles, threatening to go over the edge. Sebastian materialized beside the advancing doll and calmly separated head from body, then dusted some of the gore off his mostly undamaged outfit and only then did he go to the unconscious Ciel, right when the little earl was about to fall to his certain death.
The butler held his master against his chest. There was blood on Ciel’s head, hidden by his dark hair, but the demon could smell its delicious fragrance, could almost taste it. Taking one of his gloves off, the butler carefully inspected the wound. The blood loss was unimportant, the bone didn’t seem to be broken, Ciel was breathing rhythmically and his heartbeat was steady. He would wake up soon. Sebastian might as well make a quick inspection of the suspicious building before returning them both to the relative safety of the London house. The demon pleasantly licked his bloodstained fingertips clean before again putting his glove on.
Midway through Sebastian’s inspection of the building, which seemed to be disappointingly empty, except for the occasional wandering doll, Ciel began to stir. A ragged inhale against the demon’s neck, followed by a weak whimper of pain marked the moment the boy came to his senses. Sebastian continued his inspection undisturbed.
“S-sebas…?”
“Yes, Young Master?”
“Wha-p-ned?”, Ciel slurred, eyes fluttering, but not quite opening.
Sebastian frowned. This was unusual.
“One of the bizarre dolls hit you on the left side of your head. You lost consciousness, Young Master.”, Sebastian explained.
“Wha…?”, Ciel was frowning too, looking confused. Suddenly, his half-lidden left eye glazed over and he blinked, once again slowly focusing on his butler’s face.
“S-seb… Wha-p-ned?”
Sebastian stopped pacing abruptly. This was most unusual.
“Young Master, are you feeling unwell?”, he asked, uttering each word slowly and carefully.
Ciel looked lost. He blinked sluggishly up at Sebastian, never completely opening his left eye and attempted a prematurely aborted upwards motion with his right arm.
“M-head…hu…ngh…”, he garbled, increasingly more distraught.
Sebastian had seen this odd behaviour before in humans with head wounds. It was mostly reversible, but they should perhaps retreat for tonight.
As Ciel made a weird face and vomited on himself and Sebastian both, the need to return to the house suddenly intensified.
That night, two days ago, because Ciel exhibited distress for not being able to properly recognize his surroundings in the London house, alternated with bouts of confused lethargy, speech impairment and intense headache, Sebastian, following Soma’s frantic advice, called a human physician that had tended to Soma before.
The quiet doctor thankfully didn’t insist on examining the earl’s right eye and, after a quick assessment, explained that the earl had suffered a concussion and that Sebastian should keep rousing him every two hours throughout the night to ask him simple questions, like his own name and age. The butler did as the respectable human instructed, much to Ciel’s displeasure.
The following morning, despite Soma’s and Agni’s intense consternation, the earl and his butler returned to the Phantomhive Manor, where the more familiar surroundings greatly decreased the levels of disorientation the earl was experiencing.
His condition had been improving ever since, but Ciel was still having trouble concentrating, getting easily fatigued and having trouble with his balance. He was also struggling with inadequate emotional responses, like the sobbing of five minutes ago, and had no recollection of the events that transpired on the night of his injury, possibly never would. Thankfully, his speech had returned to almost normal in the first day.
“I’m certain you could’ve stopped it, if you wanted. You let it… get… let it… do this to me.”
Or perhaps not so thankfully after all.
“I did not foresee this specific outcome, but yes, I willingly decided to intervene only if your life was in imminent danger.”, the butler admitted easily. Sebastian had repeatedly explained what had happened to Ciel and the boy had apparently been successful in finally committing that explanation to memory.
“You…”, a pause, marked by a sigh of frustration, as Ciel clearly struggled and failed to find the right word, “… demon.”, he accused pitifully.
“I am, indeed.”, Sebastian mockingly retorted.
Ciel pouted, only to look like he was about to cry for a second time. The butler couldn’t have him do that again. Such an out of character behaviour made Sebastian fairly uncomfortable, also, the earl dearly needed his rest.
“There, there, Young Master…”, the demon sweetly intoned, while caressing the boy’s right cheek with his gloved thumb.
Ciel seemed uncomfortable by the physical contact at first, but, eventually, his eyes slowly glazed over, tired eyelids drooping and weary body relaxing.
Sebastian had seated Ciel up on his bed against the pillows and given him the powdered medicine the doctor had prescribed for the pain, dissolved in tea. Said medicine also seemed to have the side effect of making the child sleepy, which had been a most welcome help the previous night, much like this one, as Ciel got increasingly crankier and more emotionally unstable as the day progressed.
In his white nightgown, huge mismatched eyes uncovered and a rather lost expression reigning on his sleepy childish features, the little Lord Phantomhive looked like the boy he truly was, or, actually, conceivably younger, and more vulnerable than ever. Well, except for that event at the Green Witch’s, that is. But that hadn’t truly been Ciel, had it?
“Don’t fret, my little lord, you will be back to full health soon.”, the demon nearly purred, still caressing the earl’s cheek and listening to the sedated beating of his charge’s heart.
“Oh, rest assured, I will.”, Ciel murmured suddenly, with a yawn, “Now, help me to… properly lay down so I can dream about the ten different ways in which I’m going to… punish you for letting this happen.”, he finished menacingly.
Sebastian blinked, dumbfounded, and utterly failed at concealing the pleased smirk that came over his supernaturally beautiful features. He obediently complied with his master’s ominous, yet charming, request. This was still a rather entertaining situation after all, he mused contently.