Nightmares
Warnings: Random drabble, written quickly. Very blatent SebastianCiel fluff.
I do not own these characters or this series.
The empty echo of a lost scream hung in the air. A small boy sat up in his lavish bed, gasping for breath, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead and neck. His mismatched eyes were wide with fear, mouth still hanging open as he greedily sucked in the air he needed to calm himself.
More nightmares. His past coming back to haunt him; to push him back into the darkest depths of hell. Dark, twisted caverns that he had given up his future - his soul - to climb out of.
He knew that it was all in the past. What those men had done to him was no longer a threat - all of them were long dead.
But he still felt so filthy after having those dreams. So disgusted with himself and so used up and thrown away. Ashamed of what had been done to him.
A knock on the door made him yelp, eyes widening even more at the sudden noise that had jarred him out of his dream-induced stupor.
A man clad in black gracefully entered the room, holding a lit candelabra. His eyes glowed red in the firelight, shadows danced across his skin.
"Young Master?" the man's concerned gaze fell upon the boy, who sighed and let himself fall back onto the pillows.
"Everything is just fine, Sebastian. Return to your duties." the authority in his voice made an attempt to cover for his shaking form and his fear-filled eyes.
The butler smiled knowingly, setting the light on the bedside table and running a hand through the boy's slightly damp locks. The young master stiffened.
"My Lord..." Sebastian bent over and kissed his master's forehead softly, "I have come to know you very well over the last few months. It is painfully obvious - even without knowledge of you personally - that waking up in the middle of the night and screaming loudly enough to wake the household is most definitely not a signal that everything is 'just fine'." He spoke gently, quietly, in a lulling voice filled with pity.
Ciel could tell that the man was trying to put him back to sleep. He looked up at his butler, murmuring softly. "Sebastian, please...I don't want to sleep."
Sebastian looked down at the boy in slight surprise. He looked so frightened - so childlike. It was very unusual for the Earl of Phantomhive to succumb to his childish nature - and even more rare for him to do so in front of the demon.
"Young Master, it is quite bad for your health for you to stay awake all night...you must get some rest, or you will be very tired in the morning..."
The young lord shook his head with the determination of a young child.
"I won't sleep." then more quietly, "Don't make me sleep."
The butler blinked.
"What was the young master's nightmare, I wonder...?" he murmured softly, tilting the boy's chin up to face him, "something horrible, I would imagine, if it is able to make you act as such..."
A soft blush bloomed over Ciel's cheeks at the softness of Sebastian's voice, and he swore his heart skipped when Sebastian's fingers touched his skin. He tried to look away, but found himself caught in the butler's steady gaze.
"I...don't..." Ciel's voice trailed off into silence after a few attempts at searching for words, then coming up empty.
Sebastian's eyes softened, and something clicked.
"Could it be that the young master was dreaming of the night I whisked him away from the sacrificial alter?"
Ciel found it possible to look away then. He burried his face in one of the plush, feathered pillows on his bed.
"That is none of your concern."
Sebastian sighed softly, sitting down on the soft mattress next to the small boy.
"Young Master..." his voice was soft and gentle, but held a note of declaration. "You are safe from that place. I, now and forever, as your loyal knight, will never let things such as those happen to you again. You are safe with me." Ciel opened his mouth to argue, but Sebastian pressed on in determination. "Any time that you call for me, I will be there. If you are put into danger, my hands - and mine alone - will pull you out of it. Even after all of the humans here lose faith in you, and leave you, I will forever be by your side." he smiled. "So you see, my master, there is nothing to fear."
Ciel's face had gone pink, and he looked as though he was struggling to say something.
The demon took Ciel's chin in his hands once more, tilting the young earl's face up until he met those brilliantly mismatched eyes. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to the lid of the orb that held his mark - the mark that bound him forever to the small lord before him.
"Nightmares cannot steal you away, My Lord..." he whispered, laying down on the bed and pulling the boy into his arms, kissing his face, "and if they tried, i would chase them away with things that even nightmares would be afraid of..."