"What are you planning to do with my son?"
Rachel Phantomhive's voice is firm yet unsteady as she approaches the strange man. She wishes to know his intentions. He has been in her son's company for quite some time, and she knows that she should feel relieved that her boy is being protected. However, there is something...unnatural about the butler with many talents. She wants nothing but the best for her Ciel, but she is not sure about leaving him in this man's capable hands. How could she? No matter how capable he is, she has seen how he acts around him. She has seen how his wicked eyes has looked at him so sinisterly, even when carrying out simple servant busywork.
It unsettles her greatly.
And so, she demands of him once more: "What are you planning to do with my son?"
Rachel cannot shake the feeling that she is being ignored. Even though it is still hard to believe, she knows that she is...not of this earth anymore. She hasn't been for a while now. She is a specter, who refuses to join her brethren in the paradise of the pearly gates until she knows her son is safe. Given the recent status of her condition, she is aware of the fact that the living are not able to perceive her. For some reason, she is of the impression that the young man tidying up her and her husband's bedroom is able to.
If he does, he does a superb job of pretending he doesn't.
The persevering pretender continues to bring the feather-duster across the dusty surface of her old chest of drawers, putting a strange amount of vigor in such a bland task. His frowning observer grows more suspicious. Never has she seen a man so delighted in doing menial chores! Rachel absolutely rejects the idea that the butler is a man who simply enjoys his work. Always polite and jovial, Tanaka had been (possibly still is) an excellent employee when she was amongst the living. He didn't love his occupation enough to separate himself from his beloved tea just so he could make sure her favorite vase remained free of dust.
She is wholeheartedly convinced that this must be an act. A well-performed one, at that, starring a player with faultless talent.
Rachel wants to be the one who draws the curtains shut on him. Forever.
She continues to observe the dark stranger and is surprised that she hasn't noticed.
From his eyes, nose, down to every last ebony hair on his head, Rachel realizes that this individual–whom has disturbed her so–somewhat resembles Vincent Phantomhive, the former head of the Phantomhive family.
Her beloved husband.
Anger whirls through her incorporeal form. How dare he? How dare this impostor take on even the slightest appearance of her boy's father?
Judging by the smirk on the scoundrel's face, he knows that she has realized this fact has finally sunk in. This only cements her reason for staying near her son. Does he hope to worm his way into her son's hardened heart with her husband's face? Surely Ciel knows better than to trust a devil like him.
"Who are you smiling at, Sebastian?" Ciel asks as the butler picks up the dirty dishes.
The impish smile disappears from sight. "No one worthy of your time, my lord."
Rachel glares so hard at the shadowy servant that she is sure that the pure rage she feels is enough to cut through his flesh a thousand times. No such thing happens, but she is honestly surprised when she sees that the chain of the pocketwatch Sebastian wears snap apart. A small incident like this shouldn't be able to quell her desire to tamper with the charlatan's pleasant facade, but it does.
She watches with a triumphant smile as he calmly excuses himself from the dining room to clean the dishes. He returns shortly and escorts Ciel to his study, where the latter insists that he looks over some documents concerning the Funtom Company. Rachel is almost sidetracked by seeing her son so business-oriented, even though she has witnessed his unfortunate transition from boy to man. It is still difficult to see her son behave beyond his years.
It seems that only moments pass before he exhausts himself. He looks his youngest as he sleeps, and his mother is moved by his innocent face. After she plants an intangible kiss on his cheek, Rachel heads out of Ciel's study to follow Sebastian. She must know if he intends to acknowledge her tonight, especially after snapping his pocketwatch chain. After several weeks of studying him, she recalls that the butler treasures his image, and if one is unlucky enough to tarnish it, they are going to suffer dearly.
"Even though I haven't had the pleasure of knowing you in life," he begins, buttoning up his vest as he speaks, "I am surprised to know that Lady Phantomhive is prone to such childish behavior."
The enigmatic man finally decides to respond to Rachel's presence. She doesn't know how to react in this crucial moment, so she settles for giving the back of his head a level stare. He turns around. She takes note that the pocketwatch chain has already been replaced and her mood sours by a small margin. He smirks, clearly amused. He approaches her, stalking towards the contemplative blonde with a predatory gait. If she had a heart, it would be pounding rapidly under her chest.
This man definitely isn't simply a butler―a truth she knows to be evident.
Despite this knowledge, Rachel doesn't let her eyes wander elsewhere, even as the wretched man grows closer and closer. When he is pleased with the little distance between them, the butler elegantly falls to one knee then bows his head. The former lady of the house fights her urge to tilt her head in confusion. Just how long is he planning to keep true to his act? She fights to keep a cool composure, yet is unable to hide her astonishment once she sees that he is capable of physically touching her.
He kisses her hand, his maroon eyes glancing up at her stunned face. "Nonetheless, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you, my lady. My name is Sebastian Michaelis, butler to the Phantomhive Head, Ciel Phantomhive."
"You are no mere butler," Rachel accuses, taking her hand away from his grip. "Who are you, really?"
Sebastian returns to his feet and brings a hand to his wrist, hooking a thumb under his glove. "Do you believe in God, my lady?" She wordlessly nods once, her gaze as hard as diamonds. "Then allow me to assume that you have no trouble with believing in the existence of angels...and demons."
He begins to peel away the glove to expose the pale skin of the back of his hand, which sports a five-pointed star surrounded by a thorned ring painted in black. Rachel notices that his fingernails also are in the same color, and her curiosity only grows. Is he insinuating what she thinks he is? If so, her worry for her boy increases exponentially.
"How?"
Rachel cannot believe what she hears. What would her boy know about something so satanic? So sinful? However, she must. She must believe. But how can she accept this?
She has seen what her boy has gone through, heard his cries for assistance―regardless of who would have given it. She would have given everything to stop her son's pain. Her sorrow was so great, her consciousness had not allowed her to witness any more of it. When she was a part of reality once more (oh, how cruel it is!), she saw the birth of two strangers. She laid eyes on the man that used to be her joyful baby boy, then on the dark stranger next to him.
She remembered being grateful. This man had probably saved her boy from the group responsible for his abduction and terrorization. Looking back now, in the company of Ciel and his servant born of sulfur, Rachel wishes that the man would crawl back to the hole he originated from. That is impossible, according to his unbelievable words. He had said that Ciel had called him, offered his soul―
Why, Ciel? Why?
Of course, she knows why! As aforementioned, she would've done anything and everything in her power to stop the humiliation of being some sick degenerate's plaything. She imagined that he had felt the same way and, with all of his being, summoned the likes of a demon to get him out of such treatment. Yes, she would rather her son live than die a demeaning death, but to offer up something so dear...it's unheard of.
Then she remembers that she is a specter. A specter who has made it her duty to spend her afterlife haunting the demon whom has saved his charge's life and ended it.
"I won't let you have him," she informs Sebastian, who stands silently by his master's side. She follows him out of the door when he goes to the kitchen to prepare his midday snack. "Never."
A condescending smirk twists his mouth as his eyes glow a shimmering magenta. He attempts to intimidate her by cornering her against the counter, but she passes through fluidly.
"I beg to differ, madam," he taunts, and Rachel is grateful that she does not have skin to catch a chill. She meets his gaze unflinchingly and sees what lies under his subservient mask:
A demon.
"I trust that you are satisfied with the turn of recent events, madam," he states, and she would be inclined to agree, if her son was truly free.
They are in her and her husband's bedroom once more. Ciel is downstairs, saying his goodbyes. Due to the events that Sebastian previously spoke about, he cannot remain in the same place for too long.
"I am," she answers simply, folding her hands over her lap. "Even if my son's soul cannot join mine, I will be content knowing that it won't be in the stomach of a foul being such as yourself."
Even being doomed to a fate of eternal servitude does not have an effect on the demon's urges to unsettle and disturb Rachel. A familiar mocking smirk is on his face as he tidies up the room one final time.
"Do you not see, Lady Phantomhive?" he asks, gesturing to her transparent form. "Your time on earth is taking a toll on you."
She knows. She chooses to ignore her rotting flesh, the exposure of her charred bones, because being there for Ciel is more important than her deteriorating state. His fate concerns her and she wishes to look after him for as long as this form will allow.
"You should know me well enough, demon." She steps forward, not self-conscious of her appearance. "I will never trust you around Ciel, no matter how impossible it is for you to harm him."
Sebastian chuckles darkly. "I suppose a mother's will is nothing next to a demon's." Rachel begins to feel smug, thinking that the demon has accepted her words and admitted defeat. Uneasiness swells within her once she realizes who he is really speaking to. "Isn't that right, Young Master?"
It is her son, her boy that has grown into a man no longer mortal. His soul is now as black as the clothes that cover him from head to toe, and he is staring directly at her. She tries to blink herself out of existence but cannot summon the strength. As much as she does not want to admit to herself, the demon is right. Her time on the mortal plane has indeed taken an utmost unwanted effect on her and she is now paying dearly for it. The sorrow that fills her son uncovered eye is enough to suffocate her ailing spirit, so she turns around.
Ciel orders Sebastian to prepare for their departure and the servant leaves to do his bidding. Rachel and her son remain in a silence that roars uncomfortably between them.
"Will you not face me, Mother?" he speaks, and by God, she cannot do as he requests. There is no doubt that she is now the stranger to her boy. The most atrocious, repulsive, and grotesque stranger he has laid his eye on. Much to her horror, he walks til he is right behind her. Her hands fly up to shield as much as her horrid disfigurement from him as possible.
"Please don't hide," he prompts. He effortlessly pries her hands from her face and she is greeted by a surprising sight. He shows her a smile that is both foreign and familiar, bright and kind. It reminds her of a simpler time, when she was alive and her son mortal. Overcome by the need to cry tears she cannot shed, Rachel only whimpers loudly as her son reaches up to stroke her decaying skin with his black-nailed fingers. "You're still as beautiful as I remember."
"Ciel," she weeps, falling to the floor. Ciel follows. He continues to smile as his mother places her quivering hands over his. "Oh, Ciel!"
"I am sorry, Mother," he apologizes, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I am so sorry."
He holds her as she mourns, wondering why she hasn't relinquished her position as his mother. To see her son as he is now, surely she has to be displeased with him. She has stayed with him, though. Despite him being such a despicable demon, she has forgone thinking about the welfare of her own soul to see to his. That in itself is enough for Ciel to send a prayer to the God that he has refused to believe in for years, a prayer that promises her mother a place in Heaven that she cannot have if she remains here with him.
Ignoring the irony of a demon praying to God, Ciel lets go of his mother after embracing her for so long.
"Mother, I know you are worried for me," he says, "but you must pass on."
"I can't."
"But what of Father? Don't you wish to join him?"
"I can't, Ciel."
"Mother, please─"
"She cannot, my lord."
Ciel glances up to see Sebastian in the doorway. He bows.
"Forgive my intrusion, but Lady Phantomhive cannot pass on. She has been here too long."
The young master looks down at his mother, wide-eyed. Rachel only casts her gaze onto the floor, too ashamed to return his intense stare.
"What do you mean?"
"She is an earthbound spirit," Sebastian explains. "A spirit who remains here by choice and she has attached herself to you.
"For as long as you live, she will remain by your side."
I honestly had no idea what to write after that. I hope you enjoyed.