-:- Subject 13's Butler -:-
.:A Kuroshitsuji Fan Fiction:.
Author: AoUsagi
Summary: Ciel takes the leap into Oblivion, only to wake into a strange white-washed world of beeping machines and white-coats doctors. The only thing that seems real is Sebastian, who steals him away from the hellhole laboratory to save him from the sick sake of science.
BeforeNote:
Gee wizzickers, guys, I sure am glad you all could make it here to read this.
Okay I'll stop with the sucky Jan Valentine jokes before they get profane.
Yeeah…recently I've been getting myself wrapped up in the intensity of Hellsing Ultimate, but I have yet to find the last two episodes of the series on DVD, plus the other two episodes of the Dawn, which has REALLY got my attention. I mean, holy HELL. WALTER. Rrrrr, dat man…so calm, so cruel…rrrr gives me the shivers just thinking about him. I'm considering writing my own Hellsing fanfiction, but I doubt I'll get the characters right, so I'll probably just end up not doing it and reading all the Walter x Alucard fanfictions out there until my eyes bleed.
Anyway. Here is chapter twenty-seven. I mean, like, FUCK. Almost thirty chapters and we're almost halfway through the story. The end is all planned out, just a few minor details to smooth out before I can consider where I'll start the beginning of the end.
In the meantime, read all the mushy sharing of feelings between Ciel and Sebastian! Look at them, all cuddled up together like- OH WAIT THIS ISN'T THE AFTERNOTE, MY BAD. *gets slapped for spoilers*
What are you still doing here. Go read! I've already given you a hint as to what's to come, not that anyone reads these before notes anyhow…
- Mercy
…
I've got another little gimmicky riddle for all of you. See if you can figure it out. It's got to do with the Dispatch case file on Ciel, and Sebastian's laptop. Go for it, crazz-crackers of goodness! And don't forget to gimme all your love in reviews! I like, live on that stuff. Mmmmmmm-
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nine-Six-Four-Nine-Two
-:-
First came the knock, and then, the door to his office opened a crack to show the face of Dispatch agent Alan Humphries. The concern on his face knitted his brows together as he peered into the office through his glasses.
"Sir?"
William T Spears looked up from his desk, where there were stacks of paper shuffled messily around, on top of files and folders full of case work of varying contents and importance. The sheet he was in the middle of citing was shoved to the side, and William sighed as he sat upright in his chair.
"What is it, Humphries? Make it brief."
"Uh, w-well, Sir," Alan stepped into the room and gave his superior a quick bow. "It seems that our security team ran into some trouble with a few children on the street this morning. We got a call just a little while ago about some kids slashing their vans tyres, delaying them in getting to the convention."
Will's brow twitched ever so slightly in agitation.
"And?" he asked tersely. Alan swallowed.
"Well, they still made it to the convention and set up security as per your orders, Sir. However it took most of the morning for the mechanic to replace the slashed tyres on the three security vans. Nonetheless, all went according to plan."
"And the Phantomhive child?"
"Ciel Phantomhive and his guardians were in attendance, just as you guessed, Sir." Alan nodded, pulling a report file out from under his arm, and opened it, reading its contents. "Agent Sutcliff reported back that the entire group was there, even the doctor from the London Metro Hospital, Doctor Angeline Red. It appears that they all went undercover as to avoid suspicion, but met some trouble with a couple of Hospital agents."
This news caught Will's ears. "They weren't apprehended?"
Alan shook his head. "No Sir. Agent Sutcliff reported that he felt he was in no position to stage the apprehension alone, as back-up and the security team had yet to arrive. However the group remained at the convention the entire day, and no further hindrances were encountered."
"What about the Hospital agents?"
"They're downstairs in the holding cells. Agents Knox and Slingby arrived on the scene shortly after the dispute between the Phantomhive childs group and the two agents sent to recapture Ciel Phantomhive, however the agents were caught fleeing the convention – they haven't said any more than that the Phantomhive child is more dangerous than he looks." Alan Humphries stepped up to William's desk, and, reaching over the piles of paperwork precariously stacked everywhere, he handed a set of photographs to his superior. William looked over the photos – they were amateur shots, taken at a distance and quite often the image was mostly blurred. However they clearly showed a scene in the main foyer of the convention centre, with a young man dressed in white taking on the Phantomhive child with a rapier, and the Phantomhive boy was holding his own against him while the other agent from the Hospital held a gun on the rest of the group, keeping them at bay, including the infamous Doctor Michaelis.
"So the Hospital agents were apprehended, but nothing was done about the Phantomhive group? Why not?"
"Once again, Sir, Agent Sutcliff apologizes for not taking action, but he feared a reaction from the public should he tried to intervene; especially since it appears that the Phantomhive boy managed to win himself quite a fan club." Alan handed over a few more photographs, and William browsed through them quickly. They were shots of a cafeteria, obviously within the Huxters arena of the convention, and the shots showed Ciel Phantomhive talking with a couple of young girls, signing their shirt collars. He looked nervous, a little surprised, but William only expected that. The boy had, after all, been locked away in an isolation tank for three and a half years. It was only to be expected that he was still getting used to be within this world, this realm of reality, interacting with people. But something caught William's eye in the corner of one of the photos – it was the silver haired young man that been detained at the Dispatch for a short while not that long ago. He was standing in a line a little way off, waiting to be served, but he was watching the Phantomhive boy closely.
"Humphries."
"Yessir?" Alan asked, and William held up the photo.
"This young man." He tapped Pluto's picture with one finger. "Why is he at the convention? If he was detained here, then how would he have known about the Phantomhive groups plans to attend the function?"
Alan looked truly surprised as he readjusted his glasses and took a closer look at the photograph. "I-I don't know, Sir…"
William's expression hardened, and he stood suddenly, his desk chair scooting back harshly over the carpeted floor.
"We may have a leak."
Alan's eyes widened. "Sir, you don't mean – "
"Yes, yes I do." Will turned away from him and out the open window, but Agent Humphries could still see his face reflected in the windows glass. "And if we have a leak, a double agent, then everything we've been planning could go to waste." He turned back to Alan. "Double security on the conference room, Humphries. But do it discreetly."
"Yessir," Alan nodded quickly, hardly in a position to disobey orders. "Is there anything else?"
"No."
Alan looked up, and he was shocked to see a look of disappointment on his superiors face. "S-sir? Is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing." William quickly straightened himself up. "I'd rather not do this, but I will need to do a thorough investigation of our entire team myself. Suspicion will be raised if its made into a big thing, and we might find ourselves becoming more and more deserted of agents more each day. We can't afford to lose any more officers, unless they're the culprits."
"D-do you want me to help you, Sir?"
William shook his head. "No. But I will trust you to keep this quiet from the other agents, Humphries. Word moves faster than sound in a place like this, and I won't be sure who I can trust until I get to the bottom of this. It can't be coincidence that this man, Pluto, who is a collaborator of the Phantomhive group, just happened to turn up at the convention along with the Phantomhive group itself. He must have gotten inside information while he was here, somehow."
Alan nodded. "Of course, Sir. Will that be all?"
The question hung in the air with the silence for a moment, and it seemed as if William was having in internal conflict with himself. But Alan didn't press the matter, merely awaited an answer. Finally, his superior sighed and waved him away.
"Yes, that's all. Now go. Your first objective is the security of the conference room – from now on, there will be no one privy to the future plans of the Nine-Six-Four-Nine-Two Case besides myself and the very closest of our agents. That includes Agents Slingby, Knox, Sutcliff and yourself." William said, and Alan bowed to William's back and collected up the photographs scattered on Williams desk before retreating out of the office without another word.
As he headed down the hallway to the elevator, Alan eyed everyone he passed. There were several agents that could be potential suspects of being double agents, he reasoned. Everyone had their secrets here. He wondered who William suspected – obviously, he trusted Eric, Ronald, Grell and Alan himself enough to keep them in the loop of the case. This would mean dramatically changing the current plans for the future of the case; either that, or making undercover plans that would be executed in secret from the rest of the Dispatch Society. With a sigh, Alan stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the lower levels – he had an interrogation to attend with Eric, and the whole idea of a double agent was just making his head spin.
He gazed up at the ceiling of the lift on his way down, up at the fluorescent lights that lit the elevators interior with a cold, blue-ish glow. Who could be trusted? Who could be suspected? Who was leaking top secret information to the Phantomhive group? Mulling over the questions, he found himself absently running his fingers over the case file that had been tucked back under his arm. The file was only ever taken out of its secure location in a safe in the vaults of the Dispatch, deep underground, when it was crucially needed. Alan had been filing the reports from Grell away in the vaults when he had read their contents; he thought it vital that William was briefed of the situation in person – besides, his next task after filing the reports had been to inform Will that the two agents from the Hospital had scheduled for an interrogation any moment now. Checking his watch, Alan sighed as the elevator finally dinged its destination, an automated voice chirping from the speaker up in one corner that he had reached his desired floor.
Taking the case file out from under his arm, Alan looked over the well-worn, hand-written words that labelled the thick manila folder that was full of official documents, witness reports, hospital testimonies and medical files on the entire Phantomhive group. First, it had only contained entries about Ciel Phantomhive, the boy who had mysteriously died three and a half years ago. The Dispatch had begun a more thorough investigation after the suspicious disappearance and supposed suicide of Doctor Sebastian Michaelis; his medical file was soon also added to the folder, along with his entire medical team – another doctor, Bardroy Atkins-Brown; a nurse, Mey-Rin Maddigan; and a young intern, Finnian McInnes. They had all disappeared off the face of the earth roughly a month after Ciel Phantomhive died. Now they had all reappeared – along with the mysterious young man Pluto, who was rumoured to have been a mechanic for the Hospitals less reputable machinery needs. Alan didn't know how many more allies the group had tucked up their sleeves, or how they had all escaped from the Hospital in the first place.
Heading down the hallway towards the interrogation room, Alan thought about the name the case had been christened with. Nine-Six-Four-Nine-Two. The case files label was originally scrawled in a Japanese print, back when there had been a connection with the Dispatch agents in the Tokyo branch of the organization. But the links between them had become severed after the financial break-off with the London branches government benefactors, officially setting the London branch up as an independent agency, working on its own resources and funding. Beneath the Japanese print on the label, someone had written the English translation of the case file number beneath the original print. Alan had excelled in his other languages classes in school and throughout university, and could fluently speak seven different languages by the time he was twenty-four, including Japanese, when he was recruited to work for the Dispatch. He knew the meaning to the case file name, and he knew how it read in Japanese. He knew exactly why it had been titled those numbers; they reflected upon the very first piece of evidence the Dispatch had procured from the Hospital regarding Ciel Phantomhives disappearance.
He stopped just short of the door that would take him into the interrogation room, and a door room that housed a side room that had a sheet of one-way glass dividing the two rooms opened, and another agent, several years his senior, stepped out. He had a mop of blonde hair combed to one side of his head, a set of dark cornrows plaited up the other side. His tired eyes caught sight of Alan from behind his blue-tinted glasses, and stretched with a yawn as he straightened up.
"So." Eric Slingby said, and Alan nodded. They turned and faced the interrogation room door together. Just beyond it, was the first of the Hospital agents, waiting the interrogating they were about to deliver unto him. Alan had glanced over the report before he'd headed up to tell William – first up was an agent by the name of Charles Phipps. "Ready?"
Alan took a deep breath, before reaching for the steel door handle. "As I'll ever be. Let's get this done."
-:-
Dinner that night had consisted of a variety of take-out. First, Finnian had opted for pizza. Bardroy and Pluto had wanted something Chinese. Mey-Rin had suggested sushi, which Sebastian had agreed with because of being slightly more healthy than the previous options. Ciel had sat back and watched them argue over take-out menus and phone numbers for various places, thinking not so much about his stomach but more on the Hope Piece diamond of his fathers. Now, he was sitting with a plastic cup of lemonade on the small side-table beside him as he curled up in one of them plush armchairs of the hotel room they were all sharing for the two-day convention, Sebastian's laptop balanced on his lap as he worked his way through his second slice of pizza. In the end, the group had agreed on pizza and sushi, leaving the Chinese take-out for another day.
Ciel had discovered that browsing the internet was a fascinating past-time, and despite some early on issues with figuring out how to work the machine without making it freeze up and fail to work properly after a couple of keyboard-smashingly frustrating incidents with Pluto hovering over his shoulder showing him how it all worked, Ciel found working the laptop surprisingly easy once he got the hang of it. So for the rest of the evening, he had been browsing the internet, tentatively tapping in commands and searching them up. It was almost like browsing through a library; a sea of information, and it was all there, it was all just a matter of being specific enough with his searches to come up with what he wanted.
First on his list of things to investigate was what had happened three and a half years ago, before the experiments had begun.
Childrens Hospital London Dispatch Association investigation – Dispatch agent death, and Sebastian Michaelis.
At the press of a button, a list of viable options lit up the search page screen. Ciel wished he had known the real name of the Hospital, instead of just calling it 'The Hospital' all the time. Luckily, a familiar name came up in one of the search tag descriptions;
"Karnstein Children's Hospital Investigation: Agent's Accidental Death"
Ciel was drawn in by the name 'Karnstein'. It sounded like something he had once investigated as the Queens Watchdog, but the memories were fading more and more each day. He clicked on the link and a news article appeared. Skim-reading it, he got a very basic outsiders look at what Grell and Pluto had told him about what had happened to the Dispatch agent that Sebastian had murdered, but had covered the murder to make it look like an accident. Apparently the agent had suffered a snapped spinal column after tripping up on a concrete curb; his neck broken as he hit a garden bed wall sharply, his death instantaneous. There was no suspicious evidence that he had been purposefully killed, and the conclusion was that he had tripped and fallen whilst doing some outside investigation.
Ciel felt something turn over in his stomach – and it wasn't pizza. Sebastian had told him that he had been the one to kill that agent – he hadn't tried to deny it or cover it up to Ciel; he had been honest. That mans death was the basis of Grell and Sebastian's truce. There were only select few people who knew the truth behind the agents death; Ciel could count them off on one hand. Himself, Sebastian, Grell, and Pluto. He didn't know if Bardroy, Mey-Rin and Finnian knew, but they all seemed to be completely oblivious to Sebastian's darker nature, seeing only the role-model doctor, and the charming, badass man who had rescued Ciel – no, technically, he had rescued all of them – from the hell that was the Hospital. They idolised him and followed his word to the letter, but he wasn't just a god in their eyes. He was a friend. Ciel wondered if he could ever truly stop imagining Sebastian as his butler – he still had moments where Sebastian would hand him something, tell him some titbit of information, and Ciel would see in him the daintily dressed butler with the kind eyes and the smirk on his lips. But reality was harsher to bear; Sebastian was still sporting a few cuts and scrapes on his arms from a few weeks ago when he and Ciel had taken the tumble from their ab-sailing expedition down the side of the hotel wall and into the skip full of picture frames and the mattress. And Ciel had seen a couple of deeper cuts that marred Sebastian's body, too; on his chest and his abdomen, on his back – wounds that he kept hidden from the others, cleaned and bandaged in his own time after he thought Ciel had fallen asleep.
But Ciel found himself watching Sebastian now, as the raven-haired doctor reclined in one of the other armchairs, watching the TV and making quiet conversation with Bardroy, and he thought back to one time, only a few days ago, when he and Sebastian had been sharing the room in Lau's opium den. Ciel had woken quietly in the middle of the night, and looked over to Sebastian's side of the bed. The doctor had been typing something into the laptop, the screens brightness turned all the way to the very lowest setting as to not disturb Ciel's slumber. After watching Sebastian for a while, Ciel had almost fallen back to sleep, but Sebastian had yawned and stretched, before setting the portable computer aside to stand up and stretch again. He'd removed his shirt, revealing his ghostly pale skin to the shadows and the moonlight that spilt across it. He'd been wearing a bandage around his midriff that he had proceeded to change, revealing that the wound was actually on his lower back, just around his right hip. He had silently swabbed the deep, slowly healing graze that marred the otherwise flawless skin, save for the brand mark on his left side. Then, he had re-bandaged himself with a fresh dressing, slid out of his jeans and into a softer T-shirt, before gingerly climbing into the bed beside Ciel. There had been enough space between them that Ciel couldn't feel Sebastian's body heat, but as the doctor closed down his laptop and set it aside, settling down for the night, he had been lulled back to sleep by Sebastian's calm breathing, the soft rustling of the blankets between them as the doctor made himself comfortable.
It took a lot for Ciel to remember that, despite everything that the man was capable of, Sebastian was still only human. He wondered if Sebastian was plagued by the guilt of killing someone so that he might live. If Sebastian had been the one who had been killed by the agent, would any of this have happened? Ciel shook the thought from his head – he vaguely remembered a time in his past life where Sebastian had supposedly died. It had been planned, he thought, but still, the shock of seeing his butler laying dead on the floor with a fire poker stabbed through his abdomen and his blood splattered across the carpet was enough to send Ciel's mind reeling. And despite how he felt now, intimidated and a bit scared of Sebastian, distancing himself, he knew that if Sebastian were to die or be killed, his whole world would collapse. Ciel was almost startled as he realized that his whole existence of the last three years had been determined by Sebastian Michaelis – there wasn't a decision that was made without the mans consent, there wasn't a hesitation or action without thought of consequence. He depended on Sebastian more now than ever before.
"What's with the face kiddo?"
Pluto almost made Ciel jumped a foot out of his armchair – waking him from his dazed stare, he realized that, while everyone else was preoccupied with the television, Pluto had noticed Ciel mindlessly staring off into space. Ciel glanced around – everyone else's eyes were still on the TV – but Sebastian was watching him curiously.
"Uh – n-nothing. Don't scare me like that." Ciel grumbled, feeling his face heat up. "I was just thinking, that's all."
Pluto chuckled softly. "Well don't think too hard, kid. Smoke'll start comin' out of your ears." Then, he straightened up and addressed the rest of the room. "I'm gonna hit the hay for the night – see you all in the morning."
Bardroy, Mey-Rin and Finni waved and bid him goodnight, and soon after Pluto had disappeared, they began to yawn and stretch as well. It wasn't long before they too were retiring, and Sebastian agreed that it was time to call it a night. He and Ciel were sharing a double bed in a private bedroom of the hotel room, and the others were sharing a room of four singles designed for a large family mostly consisting of children. As he made his way over to the door to the private bedroom, Sebastian's eyes fell on Ciel, who looked up from the laptop again, closing the search window featuring the article, to meet his gaze.
"Coming?"
"In a moment," Ciel nodded. "I just want to finish reading something first."
Sebastian nodded and silently left the room, leaving Ciel alone. In the other bedroom, he could hear the sounds of the others readying themselves for bed, and now that the TV had been switched off, peace settled around him. He knew he should get some rest too, but there was something that he wanted to look at before he did. Some part of him felt guilty for what he was about to do, but the other part of him reasoned that it was probably going to be worthwhile.
He opened the start window of Sebastian's laptop, where he was greeted by a list of program icons and a search bar at the bottom. He opened a folder labelled 'Documents', and quickly browsed its contents. The documents within it were mostly uninteresting; some were old records from before Sebastian came to work at the Karnstein Children's Hospital, some were old medical essays, notes on gene splicing and DNA transfusions and artificial cell replications – the last couple of things that Ciel looked over all contained big words that he didn't understand, along with diagrams of things he couldn't explain. He moved through them quickly, not wanting to know what they all meant – he dreaded what they might contain, and was glad for his lack of scientific and medical knowledge.
He happened upon a folder that was merely titled, 'Ciel', with no tags, no descriptions, and no way for Ciel to know what was inside. He clicked to open the file, but a pop-up appeared on the screen.
File is Password Protected; please enter your password:
Ciel blinked dumbly at the pop-up, realizing that he had no idea what Sebastian might use for a password. It could be anything; the name of a pet or a friend, a birth date – anything. He tentatively typed in a couple of attempts, but each one was rejected with a "Password Incorrect; please enter your password" message. Finally, he gave up, and went back to browsing the folders before quickly becoming bored and frustrated. He knew he shouldn't be sneaking through Sebastian's personal files, but his curiosity wanted so badly to know what was tucked away behind the five-digit password-protected folder that was merely labelled with his own name. Relenting and shutting the laptop down, Ciel figured that it probably had something to do with him as a patient and test subject under the Hospital's experimental program.
Sighing, he unfolded his legs from beneath him and stood, crossing over to the door to the bedroom that he and Sebastian shared. Sebastian had insisted that he and Ciel share a room, for safety sake. Slipping through the door and flicking off the other rooms light behind him, Ciel turned to see Sebastian already sitting on the bed, waiting for him.
"Finished?"
"Yup," Ciel set the laptop down beside Sebastian's other meagre belongings, all packed away neatly into a relatively average bag on the floor next to Sebastian's side of the bed. The doctor didn't have much with him besides a wallet, a mobile phone, his costumes for the convention, a few spare shirts and pairs of slacks, plus a few pairs of underwear and socks. Stepping over to his own bag of sparse belongings, Ciel pulled off the jumper he'd been wearing and traded in his new jeans that his aunt and he had gone shopping for about a week previously and into a softer pair of slacks, before climbing up onto the large bed beside the doctor.
He looked over at Sebastian, and the moonlight caught a glint of something silver resting at the hollow of Sebastian's throat, right between his collarbones.
"H-hey, what's that?" Ciel reached over, curious, but Sebastian blinked and quickly tucked the pendant under his shirt. It was on a silver chain that Ciel had seen hung around Sebastian's neck many times – in fact, Ciel wondered if it was something that Sebastian never took off – but Ciel had never actually caught sight of the pendant itself. "Hey! What is it?"
"It's nothing." Sebastian said gruffly. "Go to sleep."
"No! Show me!" Ciel demanded, grabbing the doctors shoulder and pulling him back to face him as he tried to turn away. Sebastian objected, trying to push Ciel's hands away, and the two struggled for a moment before the pendant finally fell into Ciel's grasp, and the dark haired doctor relented with a sigh.
"Fine."
Ciel barely heard him – he was staring at the design of the pendant. A circular shape, the outer edge engraved to look like small spikes, digging like small prickles into the skin of his palm. The silver crest on the pendant was set against a sapphire blue backing, but it was the crest itself that had caught him completely off-guard.
It was a pentagram. A silver, five-pointed star. The whole pendant was exactly the same shape and design as the Faustian contract marking that Ciel had bore on his eye in the fake reality, when Sebastian had been a demon, the same marking emblazoned on the back of his left hand.
"This is…this…"
Sebastian didn't look him in the eye. Ciel couldn't tear his gaze away from the pendant. It took a long moment of very stunned silence for either of them to come up with something to say.
"Are you okay?"
Sebastian's question made Ciel wonder; was he? He was staring at the same marking that Sebastian had previously claimed didn't exist, and yet here it was, plain as day, hanging from a thin silver Italian chain around Sebastian's neck. He didn't know if this discovery was making him feel…okay.
"I…where….where did you get this?" Ciel found the words tumbling from his lips in nothing more than a whisper, and it took a moment for the doctor to reply.
"I've had it for a long time. Since before I graduated from high school." He said quietly.
"You said this didn't exist. You lied to me." Ciel to feel angry. He wanted to be so furious at Sebastian, but for some reason, he felt nothing but shock.
"I never lied to you. I told you that Faustian contract markings were myth." The doctor said firmly. "But I didn't lie."
"You tried to hide it from me."
"I didn't know how you'd react to seeing it."
"Why, Sebastian?! Tell me why!" Ciel demanded, and Sebastian took a long, deep breath, before exhaling slowly. He took Ciel gently by the shoulders and made him sit back, the pendant falling from Ciel's fingers and landing with a soft thud against the skin of Sebastian's throat.
"All right. This pendant is the one thing that I need to bond us together, as Keeper and Subject." He began, and Ciel watched him quizzically.
"What?"
"Before the experiments began," Sebastian classified. "We were each sent in to see Drocell Keinz for the memory suppression before any of the Subjects were submerged and the experiments commenced. He was to link us by something that was significant to one of us; that thing would then be a recurring theme throughout the experiments – something the patient would always be able to associate their Keeper with. The thing I used was the only personal possession I had on me at the time; this."
Ciel listened closely, but he felt numb.
"So…I…"
"You must have associated the contract marking you received in your hallucinations with this; this was what linked the two of us together as Keeper and Subject, and in your mind, as master and servant." Sebastian explained carefully, and Ciel found himself nodding along, and while he was registering what Sebastian said, he was wondering if he believed it or not. "Are you all right? Ciel?"
Swallowing hard, Ciel nodded again. "I'm…I'm okay. I guess…I guess I was just surprised to see it again, after all this time."
"That's understandable," Sebastian said gently. "I haven't been purposefully hiding it from you, but I've been careful to not bring it to your attention, just in case it stirred some of your suppressed memories very suddenly, which could be detrimental to your health. How do you feel?"
Ciel blinked slowly. "Um…rattled? A bit uneasy…I guess it's a real call back for me."
"It must be," the doctor nodded sympathetically. "And I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I'm going to keep an eye on you for a while, to make sure you're not displaying any signs of mental anxiety or distress because of this."
"Wouldn't I be able to tell?" Ciel quirked an eyebrow, managing a small smile, and whilst he returned the smirk, Sebastian's words were serious.
"You might not even realize its happening," he said. "Shock has a funny way of making one oblivious to what's happening inside of them. If something is too painful, or too frightening, then sometimes the mind will simply not see it, not register it. It can make you suffer without even know what's going on."
"Oh," Ciel breathed. "What do we do now, then?"
Sebastian glanced at the clock sitting on the bedside cabinet. "I'd suggest we try to get some sleep. It's late and we have a cosplay competition tomorrow, remember?" his expression softened, and Ciel nodded, relishing the feeling of the tension leaving the air. He felt better, but he was aware of Sebastian watching him as he crawled beneath the covers.
"Okay. Good night, Sebastian."
"Sleep well, Ciel."
Sebastian turned out the bedside lamp, and slid beneath the blankets beside Ciel, and Ciel found himself being dragged under by the need for sleep soon after, too tired to think any further on the subject.
-:-
It was a little bit after three-thirty in the morning when Ciel had awoken, disturbing Sebastian from his slumber. The boy had been in the fits of a nightmare, blabbling and crying and crying out his name, and Sebastian had scooped the young teen into his arms, hushing him and soothing him, wiping the tears away and stroking the boys hair to calm him. Ciel had been dreaming of being experimented on, and the gut-wrenching nightmare had been so bad he'd woken to try and escape it. So Sebastian had been there, to quiet him and to assure him that he was no longer there, he wasn't going to be used as some kind of plaything by anyone ever again.
Sometime after, the boy had fallen asleep again, dozing in Sebastian's arms as the doctor remained awake to make sure that he would be ready should the boy begin to have bad dreams again. As he watched the slate-haired child in his arms, eyes lidded shut and fingers still curled into Sebastian's shirt, Sebastian ran his hand soothingly over the boys hair, a relaxing motion that had helped the boy to rest. The child looked so helpless, so…so peaceful, that Sebastian had almost been able to convince himself that the past weeks had almost been a dream in itself. It seemed like an eternity ago that they'd broken out of the Karnstein Hospital, once and for all. It seemed like a century ago that Ciel had awoken properly for the first time in three and a half years, demanding answers and blabbering nonsense about butlers and demons and earls and the like.
Well…it wasn't quite nonsense.
Sebastian sighed, and thought back on their last conversation – he hadn't lied to Ciel about the pentagram pendant that he wore; everything he'd said had been true. It was just that…well, maybe Sebastian hadn't told him everything about that day when Ciel's memories had been repressed by the young Doctor Keinz.
…
The air was filled with noise, clatter, and the distinct smell of cleaning agents and antiseptics. Doctors and nurses followed by technicians and engineers were swarming around everything, making last-minute adjustments to their machines and equipment. Sebastian had been standing in line for about an hour already, and there were still several Keepers to go before the first night of the project commenced. Sitting at his side in a wheelchair, was the ten-year-old Ciel Phantomhive. The boys head was lolled to one side, his eyes half-lidded, his whole body relaxed, a drip attached to his arm, connected to a liquid pack hooked up to the side of his chair. Drugged. Sebastian had despised administering the anaesthetic, but he knew that for this to work, it had to be done.
Not that he wanted it done, mind. This went against every moral and ethical point of view that he possessed. He cautiously eyed the security guards that were dotted around the large facility floor. They were the only reason he hadn't already pulled out the handgun that was tucked in his waistband and started shooting the mad idiots that ran this place at point blank range. If he could, he would save the children. Every single one of them. And, he thought as he looked down at Ciel Phantomhive, doped up to his eyelids in the wheelchair next to him, this boy would be the very first one to be saved. The sweet natured boy who didn't deserve any of what was about to happen to him. The polite kid who always smiled at him when he had entered the ward every morning with his morning dose of medication for his pneumonia. This was a fate worse than the death that had been publicised on the TV, all over the news and the papers. But Ciel Phantomhive was going to be Sebastian's salvation. The proof of what had occurred here. The reason for him to go through with this in the first place.
"Next!" a security guard called, and Sebastian straightened up from where he'd been leaning against the wall, and as he sighed, a stream of cigarette smoke spiralled away from his lips; the lit smoke between his teeth burning silently. Sebastian readjusted the file of papers he had tucked under one arm, and took hold of the wheelchairs handlebars, steering Ciel over to the doorway where the security guard was standing, ready to usher them inside.
"Doctor Michaelis reporting," he said, making his voice as bored and as monotone as he could. The security guard stopped him before he wheeled Ciel into the next room.
"One moment, doctor. Smoking is strictly prohibited in this facility. Please stop that at once."
Narrowing his eyes at the man, Sebastian silently dared the guard to be the one to act first. Ever since he'd been brought down here, to save Ciel's life, to become a part of this insane operation, he had been the one doctor to break the rules. Smoking just to piss everyone off – it wasn't even as if he liked it. Staying behind after-hours instead of returning to the quarters designated to him, hiding in the supply closet until after the facility had been locked up at night. Everyone knew that Sebastian Michaelis was the defiant one. Even the Directors. But everyone also knew that no one stopped Sebastian Michaelis in his acts of defiance. Rumour had it that the accident with the Dispatch agent hadn't been so accidental, but nothing had been confirmed. But Sebastian was no longer the pleasant, smiling Devil Doctor, known for having all the answers and cures to any ailment. He was bitter. He snarled at his co-workers; he lashed out in random acts of violence against security. But they kept him on as a doctor, merely because he was the best they had. And they all knew that if they let him go, his patient-turned-subject, Ciel Phantomhive, would die for sure.
Sebastian took his time about removing the cigarette from between his teeth. He blew one last puff of the foul tasting smoke, right into the security guards face, causing the man to cough and splutter, before simply stubbing the cigarette out against the guards security vest, grinding the fag into the Kevlar before letting it fall to the ground. The security guard growled at him, clenching his teeth.
"You asshole – " he began, about to launch a fist at Sebastian, who merely turned his back on the man, wheeling Ciel through the doorway into the next room.
"If you have a problem with my smoking, you're free to shove it up your own ass," Sebastian responded boredly, tossing the packet of cigarettes from the pocket of his white lab coat over his shoulder at the security guard, who fumbled to catch the pack of rolled tobacco sticks. Sebastian could hear the snickers of some of the other guards and even a few of the other Keepers who were still waiting in line, but he ignored them. He didn't care if they looked up to him, not only for his intellectual prowess, but also for his uncaring nature towards everyone else. He knew that they idolised him for being the rebellious one; the one they all wanted to be able to be like, but none of them had the guts.
"Spineless cowards." He muttered, just as he was greeted by a young face of the psychotherapist who was to be the one conducting the next stage of the procedure.
"Doctor Michaelis?" a pale hand was extended towards him, and Sebastian only shook it out of courtesy. "My name is Doctor Drocell Keinz. This way please."
The young man with the orange hair led him to a quiet corner of the room, which was really a ward with all of the beds removed and all the curtains drawn to allow the occupants – other Keepers with their Subjects going through the same procedure that Sebastian was about to step into – a degree of privacy. Once behind the curtain of one bed space, Drocell drew the curtain behind them and took a seat at a makeshift desk, gesturing politely for Sebastian to sit in the other chair opposite. Bringing Ciel's wheelchair to a stop next to the chair, Sebastian sat with a sigh.
"Let's get this over with. You're the one handling the memory suppression?" he asked, and Doctor Keinz nodded.
"Yes. I have a few other co-workers here with me to help the proceedings go faster, but we will no be interrupted." He replied. "Shall we begin?"
In response, Sebastian tossed down the file of papers into the desk, and Drocell scooped them up, briefly reading the contents.
"Ah, your submersion plan. Good, good." There was quiet between them for a moment as Doctor Keinz continued to read, before briefly glancing up at Sebastian. "This is…rather complex. A simple concept, but there are layers and layers of complexity here. Your bibliography contains very extensive research into the material you're planning on working with – a very thorough job."
"So give me something more interesting to do on a long night when I have to stay awake in case the kid needs anything," Sebastian shrugged, and Drocell nodded.
"Your research is flawless – I say, you've even studied up on the history of your subject material – quoting several specialists and historians on the topic, covering all aspects. You've even got a pin-pointed time stamp." Keinz looked up at him again, setting the papers down. "I don't think any of the other Keepers have come up with anything this…this deep, Doctor. Are you sure you can handle this?"
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "The other Keepers are going for much broader range of experimentation. I'm keeping this as focussed as possible."
"I see," Keinz nodded. "I assume you are the Keeper that everyone is talking about, the one who is against these experiments?"
"The one and only."
"Well, then because you have such a sharp focus on your subject, then you should have relatively smooth sailing once everything has been established. You shouldn't have to worry, but if you are successful, you will have to be careful."
"Careful?"
Drocell nodded, and listened quietly for a moment for any sounds outside the curtain that divided them from the rest of the ward, before leaning in a little closer. "I have recently finished the memory suppression of Subject number Twelve, Alois Trancy. Keeper Faustus' handed me a file that was a blatant copy of your work – I can tell that yours is of an original mind because of your thoroughness. It was as if I was reading a test paper that a student had hurriedly copied off the person next to him."
"What?!" Sebastian leant forward, suddenly all ears. Faustus…the bastard. Sebastian knew he was trouble, but he hadn't thought that Claude would go so far as to copy his work. The work he'd put so much time and effort into. Damn that man.
"Keep this to yourself, Doctor Michaelis, please," Keinz urged. "Keeper Faustus' work is not as deeply explored as yours is, and I guarantee that you will have far more success in your endeavours than he will. Than any other Keeper, I will wager. But keep a careful eye on your Subject once the experimental procedures commence; Keeper Faustus may try to butt in on your work if he sees that you are having more success than he is."
Sebastian nodded, and Doctor Keinz slid the papers back across the desk to him.
"Well, if that's it, then let's get this done." He said, and Keinz nodded in agreement, and they turned to the boy who had been sitting next to them in the wheelchair beside them the whole time, completely oblivious to the world around him.
"Very well. First, we will need to establish a firm mental bond between Keeper and Subject. Research has proven that a symbolic memento often is key when binding two people together like this; do you have something that he might clearly recognize you and associate yourself and his safety with?"
Sebastian thought for a moment, watching Ciel silently. The boy looked like he was dreaming, of some far-off place, probably a hundred miles away from here. He thought back to the very last conversation they'd had before the Hospital staffed had disappeared Ciel.
'Hey,' the boy croaked, and Sebastian paused in the doorway.
'Yes?'
'That pendant on your chain – what does it mean, Doctor Michaelis?' the question was innocent enough, and Sebastian looked down at it.
'It's a pentagram. A cursed symbol meant to mark out evil spirits from good ones.' He said. Well, that was one interpretation of the marking. The pendant had been given to him on the first day of high school, by a friend who had been moving away with their family. A gift to remember them by. Sebastian had been sad to see his friend leave, but his friend had been plagued by illness since they were very young, and upon bidding farewell to his friend, Sebastian had sworn to them that he would become a doctor, to find a cure for their illness. Later that year he'd heard news of his friends death at the cruel hands of their sickness, and since then Sebastian had thrown himself into his studies, vowing to save others in hopes to redeem himself for not having enough time to save his friend. The boys curiosity had made him reflect back on that moment, reading in the newspaper, in the classifieds section, of his friends death.
'Oh.' Ciel said softly from his place under the covers of the hospital bed. 'Why do you wear it?'
Sebastian didn't want to divulge the boy in the real reason why, so instead, he faked a smile and asked, 'You know how the other doctors here refer to me as the Devil Doctor?'
'Yes?'
Keeping that same fake smile plastered to his face, Sebastian continued. 'Well, by wearing this, I show them that this place is already taken. No evil spirits will come here, to harm you, or any of the other patients. I stand guard here to ward them away.'
'That's weird,' the ten year old boy murmured, slowly surrendering to sleep. Sebastian could see that the child could barely keep his eyes open. 'A demon safeguarding kids from other demons. It's…kinda…ironic, I think…'
Sebastian smiled, more genuinely this time, knowing that the boy couldn't see his face, the childs eyes closed, and Sebastian's face masked by the shadows of the room even as light poured over his frame from the lighting of the hallway. The light switch to the ward had already been turned off, and, whispering a silent goodnight to the child, Sebastian stepped out of the ward.
Coming back to the here and now of the situation, Sebastian's train of thought was derailed as Keinz cleared his throat.
"Doctor Michaelis?"
Without speaking, Sebastian reached up and pulled the long, silver chain up and over his head, untangling it from the slightly longer strands of his silky black hair, the heavy pentagram pendant swinging this way and that as he set it down on the makeshift desk in front of Doctor Keinz.
"This will do," the redheaded doctor said softly, and Sebastian barely heard him as he began to suppress the boys memories, strange words falling from his lips, catching Ciel Phantomhives attention, hypnotizing him, showing him the pendant. Over and over again Sebastian heard his name being said. He heard the words that he'd written on the paper in the file on the desk being said, Drocell slowly over-writing the memories the ten year old child had with the new, false ones.
He tried to ignore the guilt and the shame welling up in his gut.
…
The sleeping form of the boy next to him shifted slightly, but did not wake. Sebastian cast his eyes down over the thirteen year old again, gingerly rubbing strands of the boys slate hair between his fingers. He'd never be able to admit to Ciel just how much he hated himself for allowing the child to be put through all the trauma, all the stress – everything. He'd rather have killed himself than let this happen. He had tried, but had been stopped. Bardroy had found him in the mens bathroom once, cowering against the cold tiles on the floor, gun to his head, shaking uncontrollably. He had been such a coward. But the blonde doctor had told him that he couldn't give up. Ciel Phantomhive, Mey-Rin, Finnian, Pluto and Bardroy needed. He was the one who had all the answers. How could he, their leader, abandon them because of his own selfish cowardice?
Sebastian rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, and forced himself to relax into the pillows beneath his back. He wasn't a coward. He was Sebastian Michaelis. Not the Devil Doctor anymore; not even the amazing, demonic butler that Ciel had dreamt of.
Almost out of old habit, he reached down into the bag of his belongings, rummaging around with one hand, gently as to not disturb Ciel from his slumber, before coming up with what he had been looking for. He tapped a cigarette free from its packet and stuck it between his teeth. He didn't bother lighting it – just the tactile feel of the rolled paper resting between his lips made him feel better. Relaxed. He could get through this, because the boy in his arms was the one and only thing that he had left to work for, to save.
Ciel Phantomhive was his goddamn salvation, and Sebastian knew it.
-:-
AfterNote:
Hey howdy everyone – boy, this chapter was much longer than I expected it to be. Took me about three days to write it, but more like a week to get around to writing the damn thing.
SO TELL ME. can you guess the significance of the case file on Ciel that the Dispatch has? And anyone want to hazard a guess at what Sebastian's password for that file is?
One other note before I sign off til the next chapter; for those who are wondering about the pentagram pendant that Sebastian wears, it actually exists. I found it as a key-chain thingo at an anime store while I was up at the convention a few weeks ago now, and I wear it quite a bit since I took it off the key-chain and put it onto an actual silver chain.
It looks better on Sebastian, though.
- Mercy
By the way. I hate to sound like I'm begging but can we get about ten or so reviews for this chapter at least? One of the problems I've been having is that I'm unmotivated in writing when I get the chance to, so with your encouragement I could get more chapters out faster.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: day two of the Steampunk Convention is about to commence, and we're going to be having a VERY special cameo appearance from one of our readers; a special treat for guessing a handful of characters a couple of chapters back: I'd like everyone to give a warm welcome to Rupanzel (A.k.a, Anna) when she appears in the next chapter of the story!
Keep your eyes out for her!
