The salty scent of seawater mingled with the heavy scent of blood.
Despite the occasional horrified cry from another human as they struggled to stay alive, the water had gone strangely quiet. Choppy gray waves rocked the boat, sending drops landing on Ciel's head. He shivered, wrapping Sebastian's sodden coat around his body as he wondered if he should hand it back - after all, the demon needed it far more than him right now. The numbness of hypothermia had passed, and a strange warmth had settled in his body to replace it. Ciel knew it wouldn't last long, and he would be racked with coughs and shivers all over again. It was dark; there was no way to tell what time it was beside the position of the moon. But the earl had never paid much attention to those lessons Vincent had given him before he passed. Now Ciel wished he had.
On the floor of the boat, Sebastian slowly sat back up. The demon's eyes were cloudy, nothing like the bright sapphires they were an hour ago. The wound on his chest was bleeding again, but Sebastian didn't seem to be paying much notice to it anymore. Maybe the cold of the water had momentarily numbed it so he wouldn't feel anything. The young lord was silently thankful for that small mercy - he didn't want to see his butler collapse with a seizure like he had an hour ago. The boat rocked from side to side as the ebony haired demon sat down on one of the seats, hunched over from exhaustion.
They had never fallen this far before.
A distant cry floated up, one of mourning and pain, and even Sebastian grimaced. The earl was surprised to see tears dropping down onto the demon's bloodied hands - he had removed his gloves long ago.
His shoulders shook with quiet sobs as he slowly placed his hands over his ears, quietly blocking out the cries that continued until early morning...
END
