"Good morning, my young lord. It's time to wake up."
Sebastian's warm voice interrupted Ciel's sleep, and the boy opened his eyes. The butler, who had woken up hours before, stood at the edge of the bed with morning tea. He was dressed in his usual clothes. Ciel figured he must have done laundry.
Ciel rolled back over and groaned. "Five more minutes, Sebastian. I had a rough night."
"What do you mean, my Lord?" the butler set the tea on the night stand and, with permission, sat next to his master on the bed. Before he had gotten up to take care of some morning chores, Sebastian laid with him for hours watching him shake in his sleep.
No matter how badly Ciel tossed and turned, Sebastian could not fight the urge to let him sleep. He was so darn peaceful..
"You were dreaming, my Lord."
Ciel sat up and rubbed his eyes and Sebastian handed him his eyepatch.
"I know. It was such a weird dream."
"Would you like to talk about it, My Lord?"
Ciel wrapped the string to the eyepatch around his messy hair and tied it, leaving his eye to disappear.
"I had a dream about you."
Sebastian smiled. He remembered from the night before rubbing his young master's back softly as he said his name in his sleep.
"Did you now, young master?"
"Yes, but it doesn't matter now. It was only a dream."
He stood and spread out his slender arms. "Dress me, Sebastian. We have to go see Grell today."
The man obliged, shuddering at the thought.
Downstairs, Mey-lynn was dusting the counters while Nina straightened up the dish racks. Penelope was pacing around the dining hall, frantically trying to figure out why 'her Sebastian' wasn't downstairs yet.
"Nina, do you think that master has changed?"
Nina smiled. "No, but that's just because I haven't been here as long as you have."
"But it's been a year. Surely you've seen him change a little.."
Nina shrugged and put a dirty plate in the sink.
"Mey-lynn, where's Xena?"
"Who knows?"
"I'm just really concerned. Xena follows that man around like a dog. Bard, I mean. And I hardly see HER anymore. It seems you and I are the only ones who get things done around here. I don't think it's right..."
Mey-lynn shrugged and smoothed down her skirt.
"Master's coming down to get his cape and cane," Finnian informed them from the living room. Nina sighed and grabbed the young lord's cane from the closet, and walked over to the door where Ciel's cape lay drying on the racks.
Sebastian was the first down, followed by the tired boy who was dressed in fine business attire.
"Nina, we are off to see Grell Sutcliffe. My cape and cane, please."
Nina couldn't help but notice the words of her master were now quite kind. Almost as if he was asking, not demanding.
"Here you are, master. Enjoy your visit."
The boy, seemingly in a daze, had Sebastian take the things and follow him out the door. Outside, the very same carriage that carried them on their bloody mission yesterday waited on the cobblestone path for the young boy and his butler. Ciel climbed inside and frowned. at the lingering fog of yesterday's events.
"My lord," Sebastian took the seat across from him and smiled. "Are you alright?"
Ciel looked out the window as the trotting horses carried him away from his home. He couldn't help but thinking about his dream.
"Sebastian, tell me something honestly."
The Earl looked at his butler and tried to read that tireless expression on his face, but as always, it just came across as a smile.
"Yes, My Lord."
Ciel sighed, trying to mentally map out his question so that it made more sense.
"Have you ever wanted to understand a feeling, but you didn't know where to start, because you didn't know what the feeling was?"
"I do not believe so, my Lord."
Ciel's heart jumped at the sudden seriousness of his butler's voice. He bit the inside of his lip softly to keep himself from asking any more stupid questions.
"Something's troubling you, M'lord?"
Although he was forming at as a question, Sebastian knew his master was in a terribly deep state of thought. The boy sat before him in silence with his head down, eyes closed, and his frail hands clenched in fists in his lap.
"My lord..."
Sebastian removed his master's hands from his lap and uncurled them gently, leaving them in his own. "You are troubled by something."
"Stop repeating the obvious, Sebastian," Ciel protested, "I'm fine."
Sebastian let go of Ciel's hands and pulled out his watch to look at the time. He smiled for a reason unknown and put the watch back in his coat pocket.
"My lord, we have arrived."
The carriage slowed as the Shinigami Library came into view.
"Come in!"
A high-pitched voice masked with false seriousness answered as Sebastian knocked on the door to the office that once was Will's. Ciel cringed at the noise, knowing there was no turning back now. Sebastian turned the knob as slowly as he could, pushing the door open with his other hand until he made a crack in the doorway big enough to see inside.
What he saw made him want to puke, if demons could do so. The walls that were once grey had been painted red. There were voodoo dolls hanging from the walls and lined up against the back wall by the window. But what ultimately made him want to hurl was that tiny red heeled shoe bobbing up and down on the desk.
"Sebastian, open the door," Ciel nudged him and he opened it all the way, stepping inside.
Grell Sutcliffe was sitting in a rolling chair behind a black desk with his feet propped up on top of it. He was looking at a voodoo doll dressed in a black tailcoat and white gloves, when he caught eye of Sebastian and instantly darted over to him.
"My Basu-chan! You've come to rescue me from my ruby tower! O, I knew this day would soon come!"
The lanky shinigami with long red hair hugged the demon tight and kicked his leg up out of joy. Sebastian stood un-phased as Ciel tried to hold back a chuckle.
"I have missed you so much, my sexy demon! But have no fear! A lady is always capable of waiting forever for her true love to return!"
Sebastian pulled away, almost knocking Grell down. "You are not a lady."
"You didn't have to be so mean, Bassy..." Grell whimpered and hung his head.
Ciel decided this was a good time to make himself known, and stepped out from behind the protection of his butler.
"Grell, please calm down and tell us why you called us here."
The shinigami instantly perked up and walked over to Ciel, arms out.
"O, I even missed you, Bo-chan!"
Ciel stuck his arm out and stopped the man from getting closer. "Don't touch me."
Grell sighed and gave up, walking out into the hall. "Follow me then. There's something I want to show you."
The three of them walked silently, passing tired looking girls and boys dressed in awkward uniforms. They all perked up at the sight of the new shinigami head, and waved at him as they passed. "Hi, Grell!" They'd say, and he'd wave back.
Ciel thought this was a bit strange, but kept his eye on Sebastian, who followed the red-head with a concerned look on his face as if he knew where they were going.
Grell's heels click-clacked against the slick floor and stopped when they reached a long shelf in the middle of an empty cut-out of the hall. He clapped and did a small dance of joy. "I found it!"
"Grell, stop fooling around and show us what you wanted to. I have things to do today."
Ciel's voice got caught in a loud echo over the void of the rest of the room, making him seem slightly pissed. The flamboyant shinigami stopped and walked over to the shelf. He knelt down and Sebastian watched as he pulled out a dogled bound book from the bottom shelf.
"Here it is: the Life Book of the young Earl of Phantomhive."
Grell smiled as he walked over and patted the boy on the head. Ciel didn't seem too amused.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Sebastian asked, taking the book away from him. Somehow, he couldn't stop himself from opening the front cover to look at the picture of the small boy.
"Turn to page 53, please, Sebastian," Grell asked, leaning on the man's arm to read along with him. This seemed to annoy Sebastian greatly, but he complied.
"On June 19th, 1890, Ciel Phantomhive will encounter a haunting face from his past. He will try to ignore it, but there will be no escaping it."
Sebastian's voice turned grim.
"What's that supposed to mean," Ciel shouted, taking the book away from Sebastian.
Grell smiled and placed the book back on the shelf, spinning around in a self-pleasing happy dance.
"It means that tomorrow, you will die!"
Ciel froze. "What!"
Grell laughed madly and clung to Sebastian. "Just kidding!"
"Well, what does it really mean, Grell," Sebastian threw the shinigami off of him.
"It means that Bo-chan over there has some explaining to do."
Ciel scoffed. "What do I have to explain?"
"The reason that on page 53 of your book of life, you were supposed to die. Yet, you end up living through this 'special encounter' and going on for another couple hundred pages. It isn't fair! Something's messing with your life-span!"
Ciel seemed surprised, but Sebastian chuckled.
"My master does not die. He is a demon now."
"Not entirely," Grell smiled, snaking over to the boy with his sharp pointy teeth shining in the light.
"Ciel hasn't completed the transformation, Sebastian. You know that."
Sebastian growled and slammed Grell up against the nearest wall, sending a wave of shock through the room. The shinigami looked into the demon's eyes with fright.
"S-sebastian..."
"My master does not need to know of this! Do not speak of it!"
Sebastian dropped Grell, with that, to the floor and scooped Ciel up in his arms.
"Come, my young Lord, it is time to go home."
Ciel nodded and let Sebastian carry him out the door, leaving Grell stunned and hurt from his fall.