Chapter 11

The transformation that happened in both houses over the course of the next couple of weeks was stunning for anyone who watched it happen. One house was slowly becoming a home, and the other was turning into an empty shell of what it used to be.

The neighbors and coworkers of the Phantomhive family watched them look for Ciel on their own, until they started to give up one by one. Vincent Phantomhive, the master of pushing down his emotions and feelings until they disappeared, gave up first. He decided that he no longer wished to burden himself and his work life with thoughts of what Ciel could be going through. In his mind, he was mourning the death of his only biological son, even though they never interacted as family members.

Alois and Claude gave up when they realized how long it had been. The teenager had been missing for almost five months. The more probable outcome was that Ciel was dead, and the remaining chance of him still being alive quickly dropped when they entered the fifth month.

Rachel was the last to give up, as expected. Ciel was her only biological child, being impossibly close to becoming a miscarriage. Rachel was born sterile, and when she found out she was pregnant, the developing fetus became their little miracle. He was born too skinny and too quiet, immediately put in intensive care for malnourishment. He grew up pushing away everybody, only making friends that were close enough to work on school projects and study with. The aspect of family slipped his mind as he learned that he preferred solitude over spending time with other people. Rachel had attempted to dote on him and spoil him, but he refused. He wasn't interested in being spoiled or babied, and it quietly tore her up, not being able to show her happiness that she was able to have her own child.

Now that he was gone, Rachel clung to every bit of Ciel in the house, accidentally falling asleep in the chair in Ciel's room with old photo albums of the stoic child open on her lap.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mey-Rin returned late from her trip to find Ciel and Sebastian getting along like old friends. Ciel's cuts and bruises healed well, mostly leaving scars criss-crossing over his torso. She ran a few physicals on him, along with the test on his eye that they were both dreading. She had waited until Sebastian was back from a meeting with Will before telling him the news, knowing that Ciel would benefit from Sebastian's ability to make him feel better. Fortunately, the cut itself was healing just fine, allowing Mey-Rin to remove some of the stitches on the ends of the cut. Unfortunately, the effects of the infection had already settled into his eye, causing it to cloud over and render the eye blind. The next time she visited them, she brought a black silk eye patch that Sebastian fastened for him.

Mey-Rin left the room to make tea when something happened that neither of the males fully expected. As soon as Mey-Rin would not be able to see them, Ciel wrapped his arms tightly around Sebastian's waist and burying his face into the taller man's stomach. Sebastian's breath caught in his throat before he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Ciel's shoulders and nuzzled the soft blue hair.

"Sebastian, I forgive you." Ciel whispered as wet tear stains joined the paint splatters on Sebastian's grey v-neck. Mey-Rin quietly returned, opening her mouth to say something before smiling and silently walking away, careful to not interrupt the two males. Sebastian hummed and gently rubbed small circles in the teenager's back, chucking when he tried to suppress a yawn into his chest.

"If you are that tired, take a nap." Sebastian suggested, now stroking the soft blue hair. Ciel tiredly nodded and stumbled towards his bed, drifting to sleep in the small spot that was clear of blankets and motioning for Sebastian to cover him up. He chuckled and fulfilled the teen's wishes, untying his eye patch and tucking him in. "See you tomorrow, Ciel." He whispered and heard quiet mumbles in return as he switched off the lights.

The man smiled to himself as he walked downstairs to the kitchen, trying to locate Mey-Rin. He found her in the living room, grinning from ear to ear. "What the hell are you grinning about?" He asked, helping himself to the lukewarm cup of tea sitting on the coffee table.

"You and Ciel are adorable. I knew he would like you." She informed him, drinking the last of her now cold tea.

"I doubt he likes me that much. He barely knows me, and all that I have done to him." He drank a bit of the tea and cringed slightly, trying to not insult Mey-Rin's ability at making tea.

"If you don't like my tea, don't drink it. If you don't know each other that much, ask him questions about himself and get him to ask you questions in return. Take him on a tour of the house if you feel particularly trusting." She took the cup of tea out of his hands and took it to the kitchen, returning with a cold bottle of water. He took it from her and messed with the cap in his hands nervously.

"I can't do that. He will run away." Sebastian pulled his knees up to his chest and picked at the growing hole in his jeans.

"You don't know that. You also don't know how lonely he was before all of this. I doubt he'd run away from you."

"And you do know?" He asked her skeptically.

"Yes I do, actually. You don't know what we talk about during his physicals. Just show him around, it will give him more room to stretch his legs and more subjects to draw. He might even give you company while you work on new paintings." Mey-Rin finished her tea and took the cup to the kitchen, grabbing her jacket on the way back. "He mentioned how beautiful the forest is. You know that there's at least a fence around the forest, and he doesn't run. Think about taking him for a walk or something. I'll see you later." She left the curled up man to his thoughts, driving back into the city. Mey-Rin had received a page from the nurse on duty saying that a family was requesting her to look at the father, who had collapsed out of bed that day. She had a record as one of the best doctors in the hospital, and those requests happened often.

She donned her white lab coat and took the clipboard with the patient's file, walking into the examination room.

"Hello, you can call me Mey-Rin, and I will be your doctor. So, which one of you is Vincent Phantomhive?"

I'm so so sorry. Life has been busy and hectic, with the 16th being my 16th birthday and tomorrow being the first day of school. I hope you enjoyed it enough for it to tide you over until the next chapter. Next I will update Arranged by the Parents.

Song of the Chapter: Mama by EXO-K