CHAPTER 7: THAT GIRL AND WHAT WE MUST TELL HER

~SEBASTIAN~

My master, the young Lord had forced the young girl, Rissa, to take a 'spare' servant room. What the silly girl didn't realize, is that she was sleeping in my room, and using my bed. Silly humans underestimate how human we can be. Even my Master forgot that at times. I showed her to my room, and allowed her to sleep. I watched her lie down, and close her lovely green eyes. I left her there. She seemed peaceful, and I wanted her to stay that way for as long as possible. She didn't need to be worried or troubled with anything for as long as possible. I had found myself beginning to care for that girl in that moment. It was a very unique feeling to me. I had never really cared for anyone before, especially not a human.

I closed the door behind me as I left the room. I walked down the hallway and entered the kitchen. I hadn't been around the young Lord's foolish servants in a few days, and I couldn't help but wonder how they fared without me. Knowing the way Mey-Rin usually acted when I was present, I could only imagine the pain and horror she caused the young master.

As I entered the room, I witnessed my foolish house staff, fumbling about the kitchen, Mey-Rin was about to destroy another set of dishes, Bard cooking fabulously, as always, and little Finn trying not to destroy anything with his brute strength. I could never leave the estate for more than a day, without the rest of the staff being lost in their own failures. I shouldn't be so hard on them; I did choose them after all.

Things appeared to be alright…enough. I, as expected, helped clean up the horrendous mess my house staff had created. They should have felt so lucky. I'm not quite sure if they truly appreciated all that I had done for them. And I don't believe I ever truly appreciated the hard attempts and the great effort they put into everything they did. But that was in the past.

After I, as usual, fixed the problems, I left to go visit the young Lord. I assume he had been ever so confused about…recent events. I remember him mentioning Mari…as he called her. I preferred Rissa…it suited her better. It was much less common…I liked uncommon things at the time.

I walked down the numerous corridors to the young Lord's study. When the old house had been destroyed, he had the late Earl's study remade. The young Lord enjoyed sitting in the large armchair at the desk, staring out the window overlooking the estate, or staring at the multitude of items surrounding the desk, pondering different things. Sometimes schemes, sometimes recent events, and sometimes he would just ponder the meaning of his existence. This didn't concern me all too much. I had a contract with the boy, so the possibility of him dying was not a concern of mine at all, but still, not even a hell of a butler as I could be too careful. That was one of the days where he was pondering recent events. The poor child and his tortured soul might have had a chance to heal when he reunited with Rissa.

As I approached the door, I knocked three times, as I was instructed. I always did what my Master requested of me. I am one hell of a butler after all.

"Enter Sebastian…we need to have a serious conversation." Ciel's voice echoed through the door. He must have been troubled. As I entered, I saw him sitting at the oversized desk, which I assumed was an exact replica of his late father's. He didn't look up. He didn't acknowledge my presence with sight, but he spoke to me whole-heartedly.

"Sebastian…find out what makes her so different…why I feel around her. I'm not used to feeling. I stopped feeling a long time ago." Ciel's voice quivered ever so slightly.

"Of course my Lord. Is that all?" I replied quickly, and without hesitation.

"Yes Sebastian. Now go check on her. Make sure the servants haven't killed her yet." He chuckled slightly at the idea. That was the cold-hearted Ciel, whose soul I hungered for.

After the original Phantomhive estate burned down, Ciel cut himself off from the outside world. He worked only as the Queen's guard dog; and he did it well. He locked away all of his emotions and feelings of love and compassion, especially for himself. He was such a lonesome child. I don't recall ever seeing him happy. When his Aunt, Madame Angelina Red came to visit on occasion, just to make sure the poor boy hadn't gotten himself into too much trouble with Scotland Yard, [even though the Queen appreciated our work, Scotland Yard did not feel the same way], she expressed her concern for the poor boy. She stated her nephew wasn't the same little boy he used to be. She spoke of a happy, kind, caring, and compassionate Ciel. And Ciel, after reuniting with this…Marissa Brookes, had started to feel again. It wasn't as much as Madame Red spoke of, but I could see a change in his poor, tortured, wounded soul. It wasn't so withered anymore. A happiness…a light was entering…and that would change the taste of his soul completely.

Following orders, I bowed politely, as always, and exited. I followed the multitude of corridors down to my quarters. I was still amused that I had to give up my living chambers for this strange human. But I had to follow my master's orders. As I approached, I heard voiced from inside the room. As I entered, I saw Bard, Finn, and Mey-Rin standing over the sleeping Ms. Brookes. Knowing their mischievous nature, it was very disconcerting. As I was questioning them, listening to their stumbling response to tell me they were "just looking" and "didn't hear me approaching," I noticed Rissa wasn't asleep at all. I could tell by the uneven breathing she presented. Silly little human. They continued their meaningless stuttering and asked who she was. I gave them all a dirty glare and reminded them it was neither their business, nor their concern. The others hurriedly apologized, however, Mey-Rin, as always was trying to apologize to me. That silly little human. No matter what skills she may have possessed, were meaningless to me. She was, like the others, a safety precaution. It took both Bard and Finn…mostly Bard, to drag her out of the room. Finn was being careful not to hurt her. He really could have, with all the strength he possessed. He was a very deceiving boy.

Once the useless house staff exited the room, I sat down beside Rissa. Such a beautiful…no…I remembered I mustn't think of humans as beautiful. Intriguing, tasty, strange, but never beautiful. It wasn't right for a demon to fall in love. As I sat down beside her, I toyed with her, letting her know I knew she had been faking the entire time. She bolted straight up, not scared, but in a sort of shock. Her face was millimeters from mine…and I stared into her beautiful green eyes. I could feel her breath on my face. I wasn't supposed to feel that way. I was simply a demon.

She inquired to how I was aware she was awake. She called me sir. I chuckled at the thought. A demon butler being called "sir" by a poor peasant girl off the streets. It amused me. Everything about her amused me. I told her to call me by my name. She seemed scared to at first. She lept asking questions, asking what made me different. Silly human. Trying to get answer. She had the correct thought, but I don't believe she wanted to believe that much. As I eased slowly away from her face…her seemingly soft lips, she slowly arose from the bed and began to walk towards the window. I watched.

She seemed to float towards the large window. She realized the sun was starting to set. As she moved towards the window, her long red hair seemed to flow behind her. She was so…unique. I had never seen someone so marvelous as she. She touched the window, ever so softly, as if she was remembering something. She seemed so…different in this state. She was still the beautiful butterfly I had seen in Beggar's Square, but she was showing pain and hurt this time. It was disconcerting. She had seemed so calm, and now…she was upset. She began to cry. Not loudly…but she was crying never the less. I rushed to her, and wiped the tear of her cheek.

She stared deep into my eyes. I asked why she was crying. She said she was remembering everything she went through, all the pain she had endured. She was a wounded human being after all. But then she said she was so happy to be back. And she cried again. She kept crying. Her tears were warm. That was new. Most human tears were cold…very peculiar. As she began to unfold her story to me, I placed my arms around her and held her close. I inquired what she was, what made her different from every other human. She looked up at me and asked what she did to amuse me. I chuckled solemnly. She just didn't understand. A silly human like her couldn't even begin to understand. I kissed her on the temple. I don't know what I felt when I did…but it was so strange. It was…something no demon ever feels for a human. Something they shouldn't feel. Something I felt.

I released from her embrace, and opened the door, motioning to the hall. She exited and followed me out. We walked down the multitude of corridors, to where my Master's study was located.

"Enter Sebastian." The young Lord's voice reverberated through the door. We entered. The girl's face immediately lit up once she saw her young boy's face. However, she was greeted with a much crueler, cold Ciel than she had hoped to see. HE shot her the cold look, and told her to stay away from London at night. She kept inquiring why, and neither of us answered her questions. Her lovely face turned red with anger, and she stormed out of the room.

"Master. Don't you think we could have at least told her about Jack the Ripper. About what we know?"

"No Sebastian. The damned girl doesn't need to worry about this." Ciel was very harsh. He wanted to protect her.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes my Lord?" I responded.

"Protect her. I don't care what happens, you protect her. That is an order. Now go after her."

"As you wish, my Lord." I bowed, and headed towards the door, to follow the lovely Rissa, and calm her down.

"Protect the girl…of course Master. I am simply one hell of a butler" I thought as I opened the door, and began to walk down the hallways of the Phantomhive Estate.