Sebastian's Cinematic Records are seriously off the hook. Amelia found herself conflicted, if whether she should be laughing at Grell's reaction or at Sebastian's records. But with every laugh she made, she was reminded of the uncured pain in her bleeding stomach.
"Ho-ho-ho~" Tanaka 'said', holding his same old teacup just sitting in one corner.
"Waaaaah! Mister Sebastian!" Finnian wailed at the said butler, probably because he destroyed the garden again.
"A-After adding a few cups of detergent, the bubbles just began to overflow!" Mey-rin said, as almost her whole body's covered with bubbles.
"Cooking is an art!" Bard roared, his hair burnt and in an afro. With a cigar in his mouth, he was looking at Sebastian as if he wants to destroy the butler. As if destroying the kitchen wasn't enough.
Ciel took glances at the lady beside him and decided that he should ignore her. Because for him, what was even worth laughing about at this moment? Or about anything at all? 'Has she seriously forgotten that we just lost an Aunt? But perhaps... this is her defense mechanism?' He tried not to deem her crazy as well.
"Wait! Wait! Wait a moment! Who the hell are they?! Your memories are not dramatic at all!" Grell shouted, flailing his/her/its arms. Sebastian smirked as he exhaled, holding his wounded torso. "That's because my life for the past one year has been like this. That's why they aren't 'dramatic'." the butler explained, and even rolled the 'r' as he said the last word.
"And they haven't even changed or improved?" Amelia sighed exasperatedly, and considered Sebastian's patience as another, entirely inhuman aspect. Whereas, for those three servants back at home, the housekeeper thought of their imperfections as an entirely-human-to-the-bone aspect.
"Yes, Mia. A year with those three fools has always been like that despite me, having taught them everything." He replied with a look that says, 'I-know-right-it's-annoying'.
Amelia snapped her fingers and smirked, "Then, I guess maybe your teaching methods—someone like you, for them—are rusty." she too, rolled the 'r' and got the reaction she wanted from the demon: a deadpan.
"Hey! Stop disturbing us, you bitch!"
Grell quickly made his/her/its way to Amelia, whose attention was at Sebastian and Ciel only. The brunette was too slow for a Death God; she is a human and with or without her bleeding stomach, Amelia still would have failed to avoid Grell's kick, right where her stab wound was.
Without any scream and with gritted teeth, Amelia flew a few steps back and landed on the cold and wet stone floor. And still, her concern was Ciel. She figured that Sebastian would have already rushed to his side, and now her eyes met with Grell's brightly lime-like green ones.
Amelia grinned, and spat out the blood from her mouth at the Death God. But she's already passed out, with her eyes closed, and missed the chance to see how Grell had reacted.
"Ugh! Well, with that pest out, it's time for you to show me more! I demand some interesting things!" he/she/it turned to face Sebastian who, was instantly behind him/her/it.
"It's a pity, but you will need to pay to view the rest of them. Now, for nearly killing the Young Master's cousin," Sebastian pulled his gloves tight and cracked his neck and knuckles, with a small build-up of rage inside him.
"My apologies, I let the other one escape." Sebastian said, a hand over his chest after William had dragged Grell away. "Forget it. It's not… important anymore." Ciel sighed, looking down on his dead aunt on the cold stone floor.
Sebastian felt his Young Master's cheeks with his blood-covered gloved hand, "Your body's cold. Let's quickly make our way back to the city's mansion. As I promised, I will prepare some hot milk for you." He said with a smile.
"I guess you are right. What about…" Ciel turned to look at Amelia who was a few steps behind them. "Is she too…?" Ciel paused, silently hoping his cousin's not gone too.
"Do not fret, Young Master. She's alive, only unconscious and weak after losing such an amount of blood." Sebastian began his duty as a typical butler as he checked and made sure Ciel was fine. "Although, I must say, Mia's quite strong to have been able to withstand for a long time—longer than what I've expected—even as she continuously lost blood." Sebastian commented as Ciel tried to stand up, but led to him almost falling face-first.
Sebastian quickly caught him but the young earl just slapped his hand away. "There's no need for you to support me, I can stand on my own." Ciel took a few steps forward, lowering his head.
"I just feel… a little tired, that's all. Let's go, get Thea—I mean, Mia, and have her wounds treated. The police would soon find Madame Red's body anyway."
Sebastian then went on to carry Amelia's body and they went back to the city mansion. After lying the housekeeper's bloody body down on her bed, he provided a bit of first aid. "Ah yes, the Master's hot milk shall come first, as long as her heart beats then I have nothing to worry about." The demon murmured to himself and he paused midway through his trip to the kitchen. 'Worrying about a human—me—ah, it's because I am starving, is all,' Sebastian then, fulfilled his promise of making hot milk for Ciel and threw away any other intruding thoughts.
"What do you plan to do, now that Mia knows what you really are?" Ciel asked his butler, who was standing near the edge of his bed. It took Sebastian a bit of time to properly answer him.
"In all honesty My Lord, Amelia is one of the very few humans who I have sought an interest in. And from what I have known about her so far, I am quite unsure of whatever it is that I must do." Sebastian answered rather bluntly, earning a scowl from Ciel.
"Are you not satisfied with my answer?"
Ciel's silence and glaring continued, which made the demon sigh. "Unsure whether you will kill her now, or have her soul after you have mine; is that it?" He drinks some milk, awaiting the butler's answer.
"I believe so—as I said, I have yet to decide. But it all depends on her," he pauses and crosses his arms before continuing. "There are times when her reactions are a bit unpredictable. There is one thing though, which makes me truly interested in her. And that is, the fact that I have yet to find out what it really is that gives me an unexplainable sort of feeling towards your cousin."
Sebastian confessed and saw that Ciel raised a single brow before finishing the rest of the hot milk. Everything he said was to be trusted, because he vowed to never lie to the young Phantomhive.
"The bottom line, My Lord, is that she is an interesting human; much like someone I have known for the past two years." Sebastian replied with a small, sly smile making its way to his face; a little teasing as revenge for making him confess and talk for a while.
Ciel placed the cup down after drinking its sweet and yummy contents, acting nonchalant over the fact the he was the one being referred to. "'Interesting'? That's a first for a demon like you to brand a human—especially a woman—who is not me. I'll be looking forward to more of this." He then proceeded to lie down after wiping his lips with the napkin on the tray. Sebastian stepped closer and tucked him in his soft blankets.
"Just make sure her wounds heal. I'm dead tired already." Ciel turned, hugging his pillow in the process as Sebastian blew out the candles, letting the moon's rays penetrate the darkness.
"Understood, Young Master." Sebastian made his way outside into the darkness of the mansion and went his way to Amelia's bedroom, about to 'follow his master's orders'. A small mischievous smirk made its way to the butler's lips, already thinking of possible scenarios that could occur once the housekeeper regains consciousness.
A few days later…
Amelia was still in bed, fast asleep. She stirred, and felt that with every miniscule movement she makes, it would only cause her pain. And this woke her up in the most terrible way possible.
She was still lying on her back with her eyes wide open and awake. There were still hints of dizziness in her head as she tried to look around with as much as her eyes can give her.
"Ah, I'm in my room. That's one good thing," then she tried to lift an arm and found that she was mostly covered in bandages. She looked down, raised the blanket and was pleased to see that her stab wound has been taken care of. "I feel like a mummy from Egypt." She realized, and didn't want to see herself in front of a mirror at the moment.
"Who on earth would…" then there, the door opened welcoming a man clad in black, looking handsome as ever—the demon butler.
Amelia would have spared him even a small smile, if only she wasn't reminded of the recently discovered fact that Sebastian was for real, a demon.
'Yeah, he's a demon who feasts on souls of human beings, a human just like my cute little cousin Ciel. This bastard.'
"Good morning, Mia."
Her forest green eyes looked at the clock standing in one corner of her room. "It's afternoon, is it not? If so, then why are you here? What do you—!" she held a curse and a scream in, from escaping her lips, as she tried to get herself sit upright. Amelia winced in pain as memories of her Red Aunt who was the cause of the annoyances she was experiencing right now, flooded her mind.
She gasped again, realizing that that aunt too, was dead. Killed.
"I'm checking on you since I was asked by the Young Master to make sure your wounds heal so you'd go back to normal. And it seems your wounds are worse than what I have expected, so don't move too much yet." He replied with that annoying version of his smile. Sebastian still put up his perfect butler act, but Amelia wouldn't ever forget the truth. She was stabbed, not diagnosed with amnesia.
"Thank you for informing me, you could have told me sooner before I tried to move." She glared at the demon who stood beside her bed. "So, you did this? All of this? Not even a doctor?" the housekeeper pointed a finger to herself which was really, mostly covered up in bandages.
Sebastian rolls his eyes—a mere servant to be treated by a doctor? That's illogical. Nonetheless, Sebastian answers her questions. "Yes; I do believe that I possess quite an extensive knowledge about medicine." Amelia remembered she was a servant, even if she were Ciel's cousin, and regretted ever asking that. "And it's pleasing that you have finally woken up, for you made me do your work once again. It's been a year since I last did your duties." The butler added, causing the lady to scoff.
"How long has it been since… that night?" Before she deals with him, the housekeeper wanted to know if Madame Red has been dealt with properly.
He put a thumb to his chin and looked at the ceiling as if the answer was there, as if he was even trying to remember. "Hm, it's been five days already. You slept for five days straight too."
"Five… days? What about the… funeral?" Amelia asked and the butler nodded. She felt bad for not having been able to attend the funeral, because hey, Madame Red was the cause of it all and it hasn't even been months that she has seen her again. 'And yet this… this demon was there!' It angered her that probably, she deserved to be there, more than him.
"Now Sebastian, don't act as if I don't know something really out-of-the-ordinary about you and this world."
His smile vanished and his face looked stern. He went back to the door and locked it; the lady wanted to protest but her gut tells her to just shut up. Amelia felt powerless as she didn't know why she gulped and the hairs on her arms rose, watching the demon. The room suddenly became a bit scarier, colder and darker.
Her heartbeat increased its pace as Sebastian slowly walked his way towards the bed; his eyes were the pinkish-purple demon eyes. A gasp escaped her, so she bit her lips for her to stop giving away that instinctively, she was afraid. 'Well, I... I love purple so I hope he won't be the cause of me hating it.'
"You finally mentioned that, Amelia. I wished you hadn't, however, you're the one who's brought all this upon yourself."
Amelia grit her teeth, never breaking the eye contact she held with Sebastian.
"Shouldn't you be in fear by now? I know you are and I can feel it, since that is your human nature." To the brunette, she felt herself so weak and vulnerable. She was made aware of the fact that she could be killed by him without even breaking a sweat, that he could crush her if he wished to, with just a snap of his fingers.
"You're right, I did bring this upon myself for following you and Ciel that night. Either way, I am quite sure that I would have known: I am smarter than those three idiots, Sebastian. A mere human cannot singlehandedly kill hundreds of Azzuro's men without so much as a scratch; let alone get to the East End in less than a few hours."
She sighs, "Well, I have long since forgotten the reason why I didn't head to bed as what you've told me to do. I just knew that I had to be there, and I felt it." Amelia began, trying to push aside the arising panic. Her fingers fiddled with the blanket covering her lower body, thinking of what to say next. She knew her opinions was to be heard, and she aimed at nothing but transparency and the truth.
"But that was not the case, Sebastian; and if—no—since you are a demon, surely you knew that I was already there: you can sense my presence because of what you really are."
'That is the problem; there are times that I just cannot simply sense your presence.' The butler narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself.
Sebastian then, slowly moves to close the distance between them. "And your point is?" he paused to chuckle humorlessly, "I have never shown a human who has knowledge of this truth with this much patience and consideration, Amelia. Ah, consider yourself 'blessed'."
The brunette smirked despite the trickle of sweat from the side of her face, "Why must a human feel blessed by a demon's mercy? Also, as what I have told Grell, why must any being ask mercy from the likes of you?"
Sebastian bared his fangs, and Amelia's instincts were begging for her to run. But her own mind knew she couldn't, and that she would have to go against him head-on. 'I have faced death a lot of times already that it doesn't scare me anymore. However, I still have one last thing to do before I depart and—?' her thoughts were cut off by Sebastian speaking.
"Anything else you'd like to add?" the demon's voice began to become deeper, and much more menacing.
"Why did you do it, Sebastian? Why Ciel of all humans?" she mustered up enough strength to gulp down all fear to the pit of her still-healing stomach. Her eyes never left Sebastian's as she waited for his answer.
He chuckled as reply, a throaty kind of chuckle, like she was so stupid to not notice the obvious answer. "I was summoned and during that time, I was the only demon around. I'm sure with just that, you'd be able to understand now, wouldn't you? That it wasn't entirely my doing."
Amelia slowly nodded her head, as her mind began to process the answer. Lucky for her that she was already insane, or else her mind would've shut down.
"So, are you afraid of me?"
The question caught the housekeeper off-guard. Her eyes widened a bit, upon not realizing that Sebastian had already crawled on top of her, with both his hands at each side of her head. She was leaning on the headboard, trying to make more space between them, as Sebastian leaned closer to Amelia.
"You are, are you not?"
"Why on earth would I fear you, Sebastian?" She paused, clenching her fists which earned her a raised brow from him.
"Truthfully, I feel that if I had died during the time I ran away, I would havee met you in Hell." A ghost of a smirk was on her lips which turned down quickly in a frown. "But I am a little bit irritated because one, what you're saying right now is making me lose my temper; two, aside from the fact that you're a demon waiting for Ciel's soul, what you're doing right now is annoying; lastly, you won't get the bloody hell off me!"
Amelia tried to push Sebastian away, but he was too strong for her. Even if she were a lot more healthier and healed, the demon wouldn't budge. Although the brunette had no desire of seeing Sebastian as an attractive person, her hands had felt how muscular he truly was and honestly, anyone put in that situation would most likely find the demon seductive.
"You truly are very amusing! This is the first time in ages that I have met one." He said then chuckled again, and the housekeeper didn't know how to react to whatever that would mean.
"Sebastian please, just get off of me, I swear I'll hit you." I started to warn him, I'm serious about this.
"Are you even strong enough to do even just a little damage?"
The two's noses could almost touch, and the housekeeper has had enough of this nonsense. Amelia Midford has reached the peak of her temper. Once a Midford is triggered, things could go bad for the one that triggers them.
"Well, maybe to your oh-so-handsome face, yes!"
Without thinking much about it, she just slapped him hard. Right in his face, with a little scratch from her uncut nails and eventually, kicked Sebastian's tallywags.
'He's a demon but I do hope that still, even in human form he'd feel pain from that.' She finally got to push him off upon seeing the demon wavering. At least, she got a bit of a reaction from him.
"Look, I'm fine with you being a demon, alright? Your and Ciel's secret is safe with me, and this is a secret I will carry to my grave. Well, the both of you kept mine, so I should return the favor. I may be human, but not stupid enough to even think of exposing something so confidential."
Sebastian glared at her for a while, for what she's done and for what he was about to say.
"It should really be kept or else, once I find out that this information is leaked, I would have no other choice but to kill you no matter what, in whatever way I want to. Understood?" Sebastian placed a gloved hand on the side of his face that had a red hand-shaped mark and some pinkish scratches, and wiped it away for good.
Amelia scoffed and murmured, "Show off,"
"I repeat, for the last time, do you understand that your life is on the line?"
"Yes, I do understand. Anyway, it has always been like a life-death situation for me. I mean, nearly my whole life has been spent that way, in case you're wondering."
Then he proceeded with removing some of the lady's bandages on her arms and legs and put her words to mind, intrigued. The two just stayed there in silence as he attended to her wounds.
"Can't your quick-healing effect work on humans?" she said silently, just to avoid the growing awkwardness.
He stood up without answering the inquiry and fake-smiled at the clean job he has done on Amelia's wounds. He did his close-eyed smile before speaking, "I shall be on my way now to do the preparations for dinner. Please, tell your wounds to heal faster so you won't have to be attended to, by yours truly."
Sebastian turned around towards the door when Amelia decided to tease him, "Why, need my help that much, you one hell of a butler?" she chuckled, to which he answered, "Not quite, however another pair of slightly helpful hands is much desirable than those three fools."
He smirked triumphantly at Amelia, and the latter rolled her eyes. "At least give me something to eat, butler."
"Good night, Mia."
Sebastian closed the door and left the brunette to herself. She stared out the window for a while, thinking of everything that she's found out.
"Ah, but it bothers me more that Sebastian is a demon, than the fact that my Aunt is dead," she paused and stared at her still healing body and sighed. "For a moment, I didn't even think that I was in pain, thanks to Sebastian's constant 'threatening'. That bastard."
She tried to reach for the music box without wincing as much, and continued to talk to herself. "W-Well… Auntie Ann is not… technically not... my—ah!" Amelia sighed at the pain; whether it was physical or emotional, she didn't bother knowing.
'Mia, not now, not now… consider this as your third life, or something…' she stared down at the key and the music box.
"I better concentrate on healing then. Butler's orders."
She might not admit it to herself, but as she listened to the soothing tune and tried to rest once again with her eyes closed, Amelia had thought of what other secrets the master-butler duo still have kept from her.
And the fact, that Madame Red had known about her true identity.
A/N: OH YES PEOPLE, I AM BACK! FINALLY AFTER TWO LONG MONTHS, I AM BACK! *happy dances*
So sorry for the terribly long wait. I missed writing, dear goodness. Sorry if this is kind of short too and uhm, I don't know I kind of feel like Sebastian's slightly OOC here. Lol you guys judge. x) BUT, Then again I FEEL SO HAPPY TO BE BACK!
I'mNotYourAverageItalianChick - Uhm, yes. Just the 'corny' ones though lol. I don't want to spoil you if you haven't been reading the manga, especially in the ship Voyage Arc. Lol. There were some memories exposed there too. I suggest you read the awesome manga of Kuroshitsuji :D
Catovia - *gives you more tissues* I am so sorry I made you cry. nah, not really me but the story of Madame Red. Uhm, a redheaded Ciel would be...idk. but... YES! Thank you so much for agreeing with me. Bless your soul! x) And here's an update for you and for y'all. :D
Whoo whoo more updates to come whoo whoo~