Sebastian went about his business finding a youthful body to kill so he might get blood for his master, young blood was always best that's why most demons made contracts with younger people because the older you are the older your blood. Then again the older you are the more sin you have done but in Ciel's case he was full to the brim with both a delicious soul and sin. Sebastian was privileged to have been chosen for Ciel, at least that's what he thought but then Alois and his butler stepped into the picture and then everything changed. That's what Sebastian had assumed to be true the whole year and then some he had been the butler for life to the now demon Ciel until of course he had to go an switch things around about a week ago with their very first fencing match. Ciel had always been a game changer and he definitely changed things then.
Lafayette had been wrong, Sebastian did let Ciel win. He had let him because he had so wanted to end this but as Ciel spoke his words became clear and made sense. To just simply end it would be cowardice and Sebastian was definitely not a coward in any sense but he had acted like one by wanting to die. He had to learn to deal with Ciel for if he didn't their eternity together would be made even longer and by Ciel's actions he had seemed to be willing to change his attitude. Still, Sebastian wasn't so sure he could go along with it for long and they still bantered with each other but it wasn't as much. The blood was collected, poured steaming hot into the tea cup, and given to the dehydrated demon boy.
"Mmm," He mumbled happily into the cup, "This one is better than the last one."
"Thank you, my lord. I only strive for perfection."
Ciel's tongue darted out of its cave to lap the inside of the cup in a greedy manner. Sebastian chided his master for being so animalistic, after all he was still of noble birth an should act like it but Ciel came up with a good point that he's a demon now and all nobility left him after he became so. Sebastian then stated that it mattered not for if that was the case then Sebastian himself should start acting beastly as well which made Ciel grumble in dissatisfaction.
"You always have something to say back, don't you?"
"As your butler I always must be efficient and quick, is that not what you require of me?"
"I don't require you to be a smart ass."
Sebastian raised his eye brow with a smirk, looking at Ciel who was trying his hardest not to lap up the blood from the cup like an animal. Ciel then smiled back and handed him the cup gently. "But if you weren't one, it would be pretty boring down here."
"I appreciate your frankness, my young master. I must say you've changed quite a bit. Are you ready for today's lessons?"
"Will we be fencing or learning from the book?"
"I suppose, in a sense, we will be doing a little of both. You see there are five tests a demon must take to prove he's a true demon and become a part of his honor, Satan's, mass collection of servants and evil doers. Once both you and I pass these test we shall become part of the assemblage, so to speak, and be recognized as true demons. This will also determine your rank and what animal you'll be bestowed. I await to see yours."
Ciel leaned back on a comfy chair Sebastian created for him a while ago, crossing one leg over the other as Sebastian polished his shoes so they shone. Ciel didn't wear his eye patch; he hadn't for the longest of times, there was no point to it anymore. Finally, Ciel thought, finally he would be able to gain same footing in this place but he was sure these wouldn't be as easy as Sebastian made them out to be, they might even take longer than a normal test but Ciel was ready for anything the devil could toss his way, any challenge that he set in front of him. Ciel would overcome it with or without Sebastian by his side.
"It's about time. These tests, will they allow me to harness my powers?"
"Actually one of the tests is to show how powerful you are. We must learn how to tap into the power you hold inside of you and when we do we can take the test. I must warn you. These tests are no game, they are serious business. Each one is given annually at the beginning of each year instead of one after the other and each one is harder than the last. There can only be so much you can study for. Some demons don't pass at all and even some of the bravest demons can be frightened by the challenges."
Sebastian looked upward at his master's face. As expected he was confident. Sebastian let a smile cross his face. His master hadn't changed, no not really; he had just accepted some ideals that Sebastian himself found dignified. Not all humans were like him and not all demons either; he was special, as he had said before. Ciel closed his eyes and gave a small chuckle, a certain to win chuckle, the chuckle of a king who would knowingly win against his opponent.
"Frightened? Though I now can recognize fear I know what it is that makes me human. The less I fear the less human I am. From this moment forward I put my fears aside, I leave behind all things that make me human in favor to become what I must become in order to survive here. Fear shall never touch me again now that I know it exists and can rid myself of it. I was never about games unless they were difficult to master and like my favorite game I will use strategy and wits to get me through this with ease. Let these challenges come toward me, I'm more than ready."
Sebastian then bowed deeply, hand upon his chest with a knowing grin, eyes promptly closed as he took in all the words his young master had said. These tests might actually be the thing to change the human Ciel into a demon; Sebastian knew that it had to be either way. The more he thought about it the more right it felt that this be the way to achieving that separation. For some it came sooner, for some later, for some never at all, and for most it came during the tests. His shadow cast behind him eerily as if was another being itself and was waiting to consume the boy who stood in front of him, stately and distinguished. This reminded the demon butler of the way he had first acted with Ciel, when they first properly met and he was christened with the name Sebastian.
Sebastian had been rough, too rough, he had been sloppy, careless, and Ciel had to teach him the way to properly act and prepare meals. It had taken a while but in the end they both learned from each other. Back then Sebastian saw his master as only a meal and nothing more but when Ciel turned away from something so easy as to just give in and give up and decided to follow a path of revenge Sebastian saw him differently. He was a beautiful, destructive, sinful, chaotic, perfect little human and his soul even more worth it every second they spent together. Now Sebastian could see why he was chosen for Ciel, they just fit and ever still Ciel, especially now, was beautifully nightmarish and sinfully delightful. His soul had nothing to do with him, it was his outlook. Without that Ciel would have had nothing to begin with and now he was starting to gain what he had lost.
"Very well put, master. I'll see to it that you be appropriately taught and that you, as always, will come out on top, victorious. Your first test will be on the demon basics and history, it's the easiest test, I doubt you'll do any wrong there, in fact I have full confidence that you will pass every test."
"Do you truly believe that or are you just kissing my ass?"
"A little of both," Sebastian replied with a wink.
"Such a fool, but you're my fool. My foolish butler. I am foolish too."
"No, not necessarily, just blinded I suppose. No need for apology, like you said, actions speak louder than words."
"But words are needed too. So we are both right."
"To admit that I am right is a treat to hear out of your lips, my lord. I lay in wait of what you might say to me next."
"Don't expect so much from me and I won't expect so much from you."
"Agreed, master. One could not expect much from someone so small anyways."
Ciel stood there in silence, tipping the scales of rage and annoyance. He raised his hand, prepared to slap him but to Sebastian's shock he pet him-like some sort of…well, pet! He summoned him to rise so they may look at one another fully. Ciel stood close to Sebastian, the front of his shoes touching the front of Sebastian's. Ciel touched his own head then Sebastian's lower stomach, humming questionably to himself.
"Yes, I am short, but for such a short person I am tall in my way of thinking, am I not?"
"Indubitably. You have always been more mature than your age let on. It is one of the things I have fancied about you."
"Once I control my powers you won't be able to call me short. I want my size to match my brain. Then I suppose you will not be able to call me young lord anymore."
For a moment they just watched the other stand still, so close they could practically waltz with one another, so close they could almost make out their other's heart beat. Sebastian had never wanted to be so close to his master, until he changed, until he stopped acting like a brat and acted like himself with added maturity. Then they both did something strange, they both laughed. They laughed with each other, at their follies, at his poor excise for a joke, at anything they could find funny at that moment, until they had to stop and regain some sort of composure. Then they just beamed at their opposite, finding companionship once more, finding conversation engaging once again, finding each other tolerable and then some.
Ciel stood on his tippy toes, still barely able to go any higher than Sebastian's chest and placed his head on it, exhaling a bit noisily from his tired laughter. Sebastian placed his hand upon his master's head, curious as to what he was doing.
"Master…?"
"We are both akin to one another. Remember that, will you? I believe that neither of us is better than the other. We are of the same cloth, you and I. I chose you and in turn you chose me."
"Yes, it was destiny. Something I never truly believed in."
"Will you help me, then?"
"It is my duty-"
"Forget duty; help me because you want to. Because you're my butler by choice, not by contract."
"I once read a way to end one's contract without the other wanted to. I could have done so, but then you became different and I saw a spark of the old Ciel I knew. I will train you, my lord, and together we will rise once more, straight to the top, or the bottom more like."
"Then say it, say those words, accept what I say not as a command but as a statement."
"Yes, My lord."
They became partners then and Sebastian remembered something else as he watched Ciel go into the hallway, being tugged on the jacket sleeve by Cinis. He remembered the time Ciel had been desperate to use a magical camera on him to see who he cared about the most but out of curiosity Sebastian tried it on a sleeping Ciel. The outcome? One Sebastian now recognized as true. Sebastian was the person Ciel cared about the most. He didn't just need him, he depended on him, because he was all he had left, because despite the fact that he knew Sebastian would eat his soul he still cared for him.
"Well," Sebastian said aloud to himself for no one was there but him, "Of course, it all makes sense. For I am his loyal servant, now till the end and beyond. For even though he calls me a pawn he views me as much more, even as a chess piece I stand at some value for in losing once piece you cannot play the game. So, in that end, even a king needs a knight to save and protect him and what good is any king without his knight?"
