*Ciel's POV*
The next time Ciel Phantomhive awoke, he was lying in a warm bed with his blankets tucked securely around him. Yawning, he rolled over to see Claude pouring tea; for just a minute, his eyes tricked him into thinking it was Sebastian standing there, but a blink revealed differently. "Ah, you're awake," Claude greeted as he turned to face the Earl, setting the cup of tea on the Inn's night-stand. "Are you feeling better now, Sir?"
"Warmer, at least," Ciel murmured, sitting up in bed to sip at his morning tea. Earl Grey… my favorite. It was stupidly sentimental of the Earl, but he couldn't help but find comfort that Claude had chosen that specific brew. Shaking his head in an attempt to banish his emotions, he let out a long sigh. If the child was being honest with himself, he didn't feel completely better; he was warm now, and rested, but even in Claude's static company he felt bitterly alone.
"Is something troubling you?" the demon asked, adjusting his glasses as he moved to sit on the edge of Ciel's bed. When he didn't immediately get an answer, he prodded, "Is it that butler, Sebastian?"
The young human's face contorted into a frown as he replied, "It's just… ever since he left, I've felt… abandoned, as you've called it. To be honest with you, Claude, I'm a bit lonely." Ciel wasn't sure why he kept talking, why he was revealing such weakness in front of the demon. All he really knew was that it felt good to talk about it, to admit that he'd been hurt by Sebastian's disappearance. He'd spent too long hiding away his emotions, forgetting them, that revealing them was almost a relief.
Claude's next comment was abrupt, pulling Ciel from his thoughts, "I hadn't realized you two were so…close." There was distaste behind the words, and maybe even jealously (though that could have been the child's imagination).
"We weren't, not really," Ciel sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest as he set his tea back on the table, hugging his folded legs. "But I… trustedhim, I suppose. I felt safe when he was with me. Even if he never…" Shaking his head, he stopped what he'd been about to say.
His new butler moved a bit closer, politely brushing the bangs from Ciel's child-like face as he spoke, "You don't need to be lonely now, my lord. I'm here, and I don't have to be a simple butler; that seems to remind you far too much of him."
Those words were left up to the young master's interpretation, to which he chose to take with a grain of salt for the moment. Sugar into salt. The words drifted through the Earl's mind as he sighed, "I've worked too hard for too long, Claude, and it… it's all been for nothing, really." The Phantomhive boy left his words vague, just as the butler had, choosing not to elaborate or comment on what had been implied. Internally, though, his thoughts were loud in his own ears…
Sebastian Michaelis… There always was something eerily sweet about you, like poisoned sugar left in my tea. You soaked into my veins and fed this hatred, yet you managed to make it taste like candy…
No more sugar, Sebastian. Tears and bloodshed aren't supposed to be sweet. They're bitter, like salt. I don't need your sugarcoated promises.