Chapter 14

Ciel was welcomed home by the usual sight of Mey-rin, Finny, Bard, and Tanaka standing in the manor's front drive, smiling and waving at him. Much to Ciel's disappointment, however, Sebastian wasn't with them to help welcome him home and escort him inside. He'd be incredibly concerned if Sebastian didn't bother to return to the mansion. Would Sebastian go so far as to abandon the contract?

It was Tanaka, instead, who approached the carriage and opened the door, while the other servants were left to carry Ciel's things inside.

"Welcome home, young master," the elderly steward said with a bow, "I trust these fine young men got you home safely."

"They did," Ciel replied, stepping out of the carriage, "Has Sebastian returned, by any chance?"

"He did. He arrived back at the manor a few hours ago, but he hasn't been feeling very well."

Ciel nodded in understanding, "Where is he?"

"He's gone to his room to rest up a bit."

Ciel nodded again and made his way inside. He vowed, no matter what condition Sebastian was in presently, that he would settle things between him and the demon. Whatever grudge he still bore against him, whatever made him growl at him back in the forest, and whatever had happened between them a few days ago would all have to be settled, right now.

The servants' quarters were a foreign environment to Ciel. They were dark and gloomy, and it didn't help that Sebastian's room was located in the basement, near the wine cellar; the typical space where every butler was. And even so, Ciel didn't feel the least bit comfortable down here. Even he had never really gone downstairs to where the servants worked.

Even so, the butler's room was still easy to find; a very ordinary looking door ajar just passed the wine cellar making it very clear to him that someone had gone inside.

Ciel peered into the gap of the slightly open door. He could see that Sebastian's bed was empty and neatly made. No one sat in the chair that was at his writing desk. His view of the room without moving the door was cut off there. If Sebastian were somewhere inside, he'd gone somewhere else he didn't want to be seen.

Ciel took the liberty of knocking on the door, hoping for some sort of response. Technically speaking, he was the head of the house and could go wherever whenever he wanted inside his mansion, but . . . if Sebastian was in there and he was still upset, he at least wanted to allow him his privacy, if he asked for it.

This is not the case as Ciel received no response from anywhere within the room.

Ciel knocked again, "Sebastian? I'm coming in."

Ciel pushed the door open and entered his butler's room.

Instantly, he could see where Sebastian had been hiding. He was curled up in corner between his writing desk and a wardrobe. His head rested against the wall with his arms resting on his knees. He appeared to be asleep; uncomfortably so. Beads of sweat covered his face, which had a slightly strained look to it, as if he were fighting through some sort of mild pain. He didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact Ciel was there.

The earl approached Sebastian slowly, "Sebastian, are you all right?"

Sebastian didn't respond. The only comfort Ciel had in that was the fact that Sebastian was still breathing.

Ciel wasn't sure of what he should do. Should he leave and come back later? What if Sebastian chose to leave again in that span of time? Should he stay with him? It wasn't exactly becoming of an earl to stay by a sickly servant's side, but how often did propriety apply to him?

With a small sigh, he sat down beside Sebastian and chose to wait. To pass the time, he thought about what had happened over the past couple of days. When he thought about the enchantment Sebastian had activated back in the woods, he couldn't help but think of what it might have taken to do it. The demon had to face Satan to achieve it, first and foremost, which must have taken a large amount of courage. To Ciel, it would have been like if he had gone to the Queen and said, "Yes, I have nothing left I need to accomplish. I'd like to kill myself."

He shuddered at the thought.

Now that Ciel had begun to think about it, nothing he had done over the course of these past few days made sense. He had sent Sebastian away in a fit of rage for simply hiding information from him ; information he'd probably have told him sooner or later anyways. Why did he bother to listen to Angela? Why did he let the things she said get to him? Sebastian was ordered not to lie, and he hadn't lied.

Then there was the fact that he allowed himself to be taken care of by someone other than his own servants; Claude, Hannah, and the triplets. They were an unusual bunch, more so than his own servants. But then all he could think was that they were an unusual bunch for the unusual boy called Alois. Really, the only people he needed to take care of him were his own servants, not someone else's.

"I'm alright, sir."

The sudden voice came from Sebastian, who shifted slightly beside him. His voice sounded groggy and the weak; not much different from when they were back in the forest. Not only that, it was pained.

"Sebastian, what's the matter?" Ciel asked, "You sound like you're in an awful amount of pain."

Sebastian let out a small sigh, "My internal organs are trying to function. The only organs that are working properly at the moment are my heart, lungs, and brain."

"And . . . everything else?"

Sebastian shrugged, "It might take a few days, but they'll come back, eventually."

Ciel couldn't help but think how painful it must be to endure something like that; to wait, completely conscious and aware, for every organ to come back to life and start to function properly again.

"I'm sorry."

Sebastian lifted his head, but he didn't he did not look at Ciel, rather he just stared into space, "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry for the way I treated you."

"You're forgiven."

Ciel shot him a confused look, "What do you mean? I snap at you, I force you away, you kill yourself because of me, I activate the reversal and bring you back, and in the end you're just going to tell me 'You're forgiven' and move on?"

Sebastian smirked, "Yes."

"Why?"

The butler finally turned to him, "Because . . . at the end of the day, no matter what, I'm still your butler."

The confusion on Ciel's face only grew, "What?"

"Wasn't it you who said that I didn't have to act pissed anymore? Was it not you who said you had all the answers you need it now? And I'm almost positive I heard you say that you didn't care if I tried to hide them and that we could forget that our little disagreement never happened."

Ciel scoffed, "So you could hear me."

"Every word."

Ciel crossed his arms, "Then why did you run away from me? Why did you snarl at me like some kind of pissed off beast ."

"Wouldn't you be upset too if you woke up to someone you recently fought with straddling your body like a succubus? I thought you might have been someone else, then I was still fairly unhappy with you, and then I came here and got over it."

Sebastian let out a sigh as he shifted back into his previous state of being curled up against the wall. It was almost as if speaking alone was exhausting him.

"Can I ask you something?" Ciel piped up.

"Of course, sir."

"What was it like, after you died? What kind of place was it?"

A look of bliss crossed the demon's face as he replied.

"Nice. It was very nice, and peaceful."

"Where were you?"

"I was asleep, wrapped in my mother's arms. And she was singing that song."

"The song you sang to me all those years ago?"

"Yes. If I could have named but one thing I've been wanting to remember all my life, it was that god-forsaken song."

Ciel looked at him, "Do you think you could sing it?"

Sebastian chuckled, "some other time, perhaps. I'm too tired right now."

Ciel couldn't help but laugh.

"Then get some sleep, you idiot. We can discuss this tomorrow."