Solomon's Purgatory:
Chapter 12:
"Please may I come with you?" Ciel requested politely. "I've been worrying about Sebastian a lot."
Wordsmith looked down at him and Ciel stuck out his lower lip so he looked openly worried. It was probably going to take a lot to persuade Wordsmith to take him considering that he had never properly met Sebastian. It took five seconds of manipulation for Wordsmith to relent.
"You can come with me, but if the doctor says that he wants to speak in private, you have to stay outside. Be careful about talking to Sebastian as well, he's technically never met you," he warned.
Ciel understood. He didn't know that much about head injuries and waking up from comas however, he knew that Sebastian would be disconcerted by him asking questions about the secret society considering that they had never formally met. He would have to be careful about how he asked.
On the car ride to the hospital Wordsmith started asking about his application to the Pudding Club. Ciel answered evasively before remembering that he did have a few questions that Wordsmith could answer.
"Drug taking is a problem at all schools, how does Weston College deal with it?" he enquired formally like he was part of a debate team.
Wordsmith took his gaze off the road to give him a confused look and then had to brake suddenly at the roundabout.
"That's an odd question to ask. I wasn't aware that Weston College had any drug problems amongst students," he answered after they had passed the roundabout. "I've only been working here for just over a year though."
In some ways talking to Wordsmith was just as bad as asking McMillan. Wordsmith thought everyone was well behaved and trusted everyone whereas McMillan was more in denial that everything was all right. He moved onto another area.
"How do you discipline pupils? It's not in the handbook."
Wordsmith nodded approvingly.
"That's a good question. There has never actually been a student expelled in the history of Weston College."
Ciel was momentarily surprised by that fact until he remembered the types of pupils attending. Most people's parents were rich or influential enough to ensure their children wouldn't get kicked out.
"No one gets caned either. Punishments are left up to the prefects and housemaster. I haven't had to punish anyone yet," Wordsmith admitted. "I threatened a student with cleaning the toilets using a toothbrush once last year though."
That probably hadn't gone down well with whoever it was. His mind flashed back to something Bluewer had said the old canteen. 'Anyone caught gets worse than a detention'. It likely meant anyone they caught would end up like Sebastian which was interesting because Sebastian hadn't been pushed off the roof at the time.
"What happened after that?"
His housemaster smiled ruefully. "He complained to his parents who in turn complained to the head master who told me off. Fortunately, no one seems to break the rules so I haven't had to make another decision like that."
Strangely enough Ciel could think of a lot of rule breaking that was going on at Weston College under his nose. Even he had broken the rules by going out of curfew and entering a restricted area. If that had escaped Wordsmith's notice, it had to have been easy for the secret society to sneak out and take drugs.
Wordsmith pulled into the hospital and the next ten minutes were occupied by trying to find a parking space. After that he followed Wordsmith into the main building and to the Critical Care ward.
His housemaster announced who he was and who he came to see and was buzzed in. Ciel appreciated the security measure as it meant that he was safe from the secret society. Then he realised that if it had been easy for him to pressure Wordsmith to let him come with him, someone like Bluewer would have an even easier time.
The doctor in charge of Sebastian came to meet them and was puzzled by the sight of Ciel.
"This is Sebastian's roommate and the one that found him," Wordsmith explained. "Is there anything you can't discuss in front of him?"
"There's just some medical details and one important issue about the patient," the doctor paused. "He didn't wake up unaffected: he has amnesia."
When he heard that Ciel felt that his salvation had slipped from his grasp. He needed Sebastian to tell him what he'd found out. Without him, he might as well join the Pudding Club and tell anyone recruiting him for the inner sect to go away and hope he would survive until the end of the school year.
"How bad is it?" Wordsmith asked worriedly.
"He's missing the last year from what we can gauge. You might get more hints from him and I want to see if he recognises you and his roommate."
Ciel swallowed. Sebastian was going to be confused because if he was missing a year of memories, he would think that Joanne Harcourt was still alive and sharing a room with him. He didn't want to be the one to tell him that Harcourt was dead.
"Is he doing okay aside from the amnesia?" Wordsmith moved the focus of the conversation.
"His appetite is off, other than that and the broken limbs, he's fine to have short visits. Please do not distress him," the doctor requested. "He's seems to be taking it in his stride, but be careful."
Ciel followed Wordsmith into the ward and immediately locked gazes with a familiar pair of eyes. Sebastian was sitting up in bed staring right at him and then his eyes averted to Wordsmith. Ciel looked at him curiously. He hadn't been paying attention to Sebastian's appearance when he'd been bleeding out and had only seen a photo of him since.
His head was covered in white bandages with a hint of black hair poking out. His skin was a unhealthily translucent white, but his red eyes were focused and analytical.
"Hello," he greeted and Ciel found himself being subjected to a piercing gaze again. He looked straight back and Sebastian looked away again.
"I'm glad you've woken up. Is it okay for us to sit down and talk?" Wordsmith questioned cautiously.
"You may," Sebastian said. "You can sit down."
Ciel dragged out the chair that was by Sebastian's headboard and as he did so, he noticed that there was a phone charging on top of the bedside cabinet. It had to be Sebastian's phone. Perhaps he hadn't changed the passcode in the past year he had missing memories and was looking through the phone. He checked the phone again and recognised it as a recent release meaning that it should be new to Sebastian.
"I take it that you've heard about my amnesia," Sebastian asked, distracting him from his observations.
Wordsmith itched the back of his neck nervously. "Yes. It's very unfortunate."
Sebastian nodded and his eyes moved to Ciel again.
"Who is with you?"
Wordsmith faltered. "...He found you and called the ambulance. If hadn't you might not be alive."
Sebastian smiled dazzlingly at Ciel and he blinked in surprise.
"Thank you," he said. "I haven't seen you at school before, do we know each other?"
Ciel didn't know how to answer that. The truth was that he was a replacement for his probably murdered roommate. That wasn't a suitable thing to say to an amnesiac patient who had only recently woken up.
"He's fairly new," Wordsmith explained.
"I see. It's nice to meet you, Ciel," Sebastian smiled again.
Ciel was confused about Sebastian's knowledge of his name and then realised that his name badge was visible.
"...is Joanne going to visit me anytime?" Sebastian asked hesitantly.
There was an odd look in his eyes and disappeared as quickly as it came. Ciel narrowed his eyes. There was something not quite right about Sebastian besides the head injury.
Wordsmith became even more nervous and ill at ease.
"Joanne isn't your roommate anymore, Ciel is."
Sebastian nodded and Ciel guessed he was thinking of how scholarship pupils were treated.
"I guess I'll have to speak to him at another time," he said with a shrug. "How long have we been roommates for?"
Now it as Ciel's turn to feel guilty for telling the truth.
"I arrived on the day you fell off the roof, we never even met."
Sebastian stared at him oddly. "Is that so?"
"It's sounds odd, but this is the first time I've properly met you," Ciel admitted. "I've heard about you from other people though."
The amnesiac smiled coldly and Ciel blinked. Now it was a normal smile.
"What did they say about me?"
"Mey-Rin and Finny like you. My cousin told me you always win everything on Sports Day and McMillan told me you cook well."
"I do," Sebastian replied with no attempt at modesty. "How did you get to know Mey-Rin and Finny?"
Ciel was about to explain that she had been concerned about him and asked after him when he remembered that Wordsmith was sitting next to him. It was obvious that those two weren't supposed to fraternise with Weston College pupils.
His housemaster caught his cautious glance and waved his hand.
"I won't say anything."
Ciel nodded gratefully and explained how they met. Naturally it was an abridged version that didn't mention the secret society or Harcourt.
"It's nice to know that some people are concerned about my wellbeing," Sebastian commented mysteriously.
It was an odd comment to make so Ciel looked at him curiously and Sebastian stared back. It was possible that he was referring to being out of place as a scholarship student, but he had been told by several people that Sebastian had been popular. Wordsmith interpreted it differently.
"I'm sorry about not being able to get in contact with your parents," he said. "The contact number they left doesn't seem to be right."
Sebastian caught Ciel's questioning glance.
"My parents work aboard, but insisted on me going to a British school so I ended up at Weston College because it's a boarding school."
That explained a few things Ciel had been curious about. The fact that Wordsmith was visiting him in the hospital and was getting updates from the doctor had made him wonder about Sebastian's parentage.
Wordsmith's phone began to vibrate in his pocket and his eyes went wide when he checked the caller ID.
"It's the headmaster," he told them. "I'm going outside to take this call."
His departure left Ciel alone with Sebastian. Ciel felt uncomfortable in the amnesiac's presence. Mainly because he couldn't demand answers from someone who had recently woken up from a coma and couldn't remember anything and because Sebastian was a lot more intimidating than he had imagined. He didn't come across as a soppy cat lover like Ciel had been expecting.
Instead he was quiet and analytical and his answers to questions had had a hint of annoyance to them. His manner when he had asked about Harcourt had been strange as well. Ciel's eyes fell on Sebastian's phone again. If he put everything together there was one solution. It was an outlandish solution, but as Sherlock Holmes had said 'when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'.
"Sebastian," he said.
Sebastian looked towards him with a blank face. Ciel pushed forward with his theory. It had to be right.
"Wordsmith's gone so you can stop pretending to have amnesia," he informed him and watched for the reaction.
Sebastian's blank expression became a wide smirk and he raised his eyebrows.
"How did you work it out?"