"I'm having the manor rebuilt now, exactly the way it was. I want to have some sense of normalcy to our lives, again."
Vincent was explaining, even though he didn't need to. His new butler had eyes, after all. "Of course, getting the exact same books in the library will be difficult, especially because I wasn't the one who read them, but I'm sure Ciel knows at least the bottom few shelves. Could you somehow-I know it's probably out of your ability, I'm still learning this whole thing-could you somehow get the titles of as many as possible?"
"Of course, my lord."
"Oh! Oh, perfect. Thank you." Vincent cleared his throat awkwardly. The man at his right and slightly behind him looked politely up at the skeleton of a huge house and the many workers busily laying stone on it. There were still charred plants and wood being hauled away from the wreckage of the original manor. Vincent Phantomhive pulled at the strings of his eyepatch.
"While it's being built, we're staying in town; I didn't want my son near the workers. They can be quite vulgar."
The man didn't answer. He didn't need to. Vincent was talking again just as quickly. "Let's go. I should think it's about time you met Ciel, for as much as I've talked about him."
He turned to the creature behind him, who was smiling softly with his hand to his chest.
"Yes, my lord."
-/-
"Ciel's upstairs, sir."
Vincent didn't even have to ask the question before the young woman who opened the door answered him, taking his jacket and disappearing through a side closet. She missed the door handle a few times, before straightening her glasses and swinging it open. She didn't so much as throw a sideways glance at the man behind him. Vincent pulled at his eyepatch again awkwardly.
"This will take some getting used to, won't it?"
"I'm afraid so, my lord." The man responded immediately, patiently waiting for Vincent to reach the top of the flight of stairs. By the time he did, the new butler was already at his side. It made him flinch.
"Oh! Oh, y-you startled me. I didn't know you would move so quickly."
"I'm very sorry, my lord."
Vincent straightened awkwardly. He had his hand on the doorknob of the second door on the right when he paused and looked back.
"He-he doesn't have to know about..?"
"Nobody has to, my lord."
"Right."
Vincent cleared his throat. That seemed to signify the end of a subject's discussion. He opened the door inwards, where it swung into a carpeted room with shelves all around the walls and a sitting area of stiff couches and chairs. There was a large, messy stack of children's books and toys and clothes left in the center of the sitting area, but was rather untouched. The room's inhabitant had pulled a chair to the window and was curled up in it, looking out somberly.
"Hello, daddy." The boy murmured softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Ciel, are you alright? You haven't touched your gifts."
The little boy blinked slowly.
"...I don't want them." He murmured quietly. Still staring out the window, he sighed. "People sent me things because I lost mummy and our house, but it's also because they think I'm important. Nobody sends things to the children who lose their mummies and houses and daddies. It's not fair, and I don't want those toys when others should have them more."
Vincent stared in shock at his son, mouth open. The creature behind him wasn't sure what to make of the situation, so he smiled politely anyway.
"Well, if you would like others to have them more, we could send them to an orphanage." Vincent said, slowly.
He wasn't sure if he should be proud or afraid of his son as he seemed to brighten.
"Could we? Really? I would like to." Ciel nodded to the window. Vincent did not move for a moment, before turning to the man behind him.
"Please help me figure that out." He muttered.
"Of course, my lord."
Ciel's chair creaked as he jumped out of it suddenly.
"I didn't know there was anyone else here…" He tilted his head as he surveyed this other man, and the other man smiled politely as he surveyed him.
Ciel saw a man with sheet-white skin and inky black hair falling into his red eyes, which seemed to glow eerily. He was wearing a very dark, double-breasted suit and white gloves, and didn't seem like the kind of businessman Ciel was used to seeing with his father.
The man saw a boy of nine, maybe ten years old, short but not stout, almost willowy in figure, with skin far too pale to be healthy for a human. His eyes were a deep, cloudy blue, and the right side of his face was covered by his hair, smokey like his father's but with just a touch more blue to it. There were deep shadows under his eyes, making him look far older than he really was, but he was wearing a pair of striped overall shorts and a blue ribbon around his collar that gave him away in an instant. He was wearing a woman's knitted house jacket that was much too large for him over his outfit, and he retreated into it shyly. "...it's nice to meet you." He finished his sentence quietly. His head dropped. "I'm Ciel." He added, knowing it was pointless.
Vincent had been watching the encounter carefully, afraid of how the two would react to one another. Finally, he shifted and knelt next to his son.
"Ciel," he began, carefully, "this is our new...butler."
Ciel's eyes went wide and he covered his mouth with his hands.
"W-what happened to Tanaka?!"
"Oh, nothing, nothing! He's alright!" Vincent laughed nervously as Ciel began to shudder. Vincent wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders and shook him gently.
"Oh...okay...sorry...what's your name?" Ciel took a deep breath and looked up at their new 'butler'. Vincent followed his eye with an almost dangerous stare, daring the creature to be rude. The man knelt elegantly, silently.
"Would you like to guess what my name is? I've been told that you are quite clever." He smiled and closed his eyes pleasantly.
"...Sebastian?" Ciel turned his head slightly to the side. "I…I miss Sebastian. And m-mummy…" He hiccuped quietly, beginning to cry. Vincent gave a hush and a tight hug as Ciel tried to cough back his sobs.
"How clever, you are completely correct."
"...Wh-what?"
Vincent shot a dark, lethal glare at his butler as his son sniffled and lifted his head from his hands, daring him to further upset the little boy.
"You guessed my name, and on the first attempt. You're very adept." The man found his smile becoming much more genuine as the boy brightened just barely.
"...I did?"
"Yes. My name is Sebastian... Michaelis." Sebastian said, glancing to Vincent in a half-instant, who was lost between approval and anger.