((I really like how this chapter turned out. Hope you all enjoy it!))
*Ciel's POV*
The trip to the new Estate was a boring one. The carriage wasn't quite steady enough to get any proper work done, but Ciel refused to engage in any extended conversation with his butler. It didn't feel right, to share in a game of wits with Claude when he was thinking so heavily on Sebastian Michaelis.
Claude… he'd said that he wanted to help, hadn't he? Sugar into salt… What had the other words been from the morning they'd met? He'd focused so heavily on that one phrase that he'd forgotten the other policies the demon had sworn by. All the same, Ciel knew that the demon's help had only been offered out of hunger; there was no real sweetness between them, despite Claude's occasional, unwarranted moments of affection. They hadn't been allowed then, and they certainly weren't now, and yet they'd happened, and Ciel had never ordered it to outright stop…
I will not be fooled again!
Frustrated, the Phantomhive boy curled up in the carriage's cushioned seat, using his arm as a pillow and forcing his azure eyes to shut. Perhaps a bit of sleep would clear his mind, let him start fresh when they arrived at the new Estate…
It was just another morning in the Phantomhive Manor as Sebastian knelt next to Ciel's bed, carefully buttoning up the Earl's shirt. One gloved hand moved to rest on his shoulder as the butler stood, leaning down to speak something into his ear…
It was too late for words as the dream contorted, the fibers of the room growing fuzzy. Ciel could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, his pulse jumping in his wrist as he tried to get a grip on the situation. In his panic, he reached out, fingers curling around Sebastian's wrist in a desperate attempt to keep him there…
Day into night.
The words echoed loudly in the Earl's mind as the scene grew dark, the morning light from the window fading into a dusky ray of moonlight. "Sebastian," he yelped, confusion keeping him from realizing that it was all just a nightmare…
Sugar into salt.
There it was! Too late for cheer, though, because Sebastian's features were contorting with the rest of the dream. The transformation was slow, like the world had turned to molasses, until finally it was Claude standing in front of Ciel, the Earl's hand still grasping his arm like a life-line.
No, none of this was right! It had to stop, it had to stop now!
"Creature into corpse," the phantom of Claude completed the little rhyme as he twisted the Earl's arm, demonic eyes flashing in the dark bedroom. Fangs emerged as ash fell around the scene and—
"Master, are you alright?"
Was that Sebastian? No, it couldn't be, Sebastian had left… had left Ciel all alone with this golden-eyed monster. Creature into corpse. He was going to die now, wasn't he?
"Master!"
Suddenly Ciel was waking up, his breath caught in his throat as he clung to the closest thing he could find (in this case, Claude, who'd been shaking him awake when he'd noticed the Earl was having a nightmare). Thoroughly traumatized, it didn't even matter to Ciel that it was Claude who'd folded him into his arms, all that mattered was that the dream had finally stopped.
"Master, are you alright?" the demon's voice was concerned, speaking the same words Ciel had heard in his dream. So it hadn't been Sebastian's voice, just Claude trying to reach him from the waking-world. Not surprising, but still…
He slowly caught his breath before replying, "Yes, I'm.. I'm fine, Claude, just a bad dream." He let his head fall to rest on the demon's chest for the moment, regaining his barrings.
The butler's voice was absent as he asked, "About Sebastian?"
Yes. Partly.
"No," Ciel replied, a frown forming on his lips as he added, "About you, actually."
*Claude's POV*
This caused the demon to recoil from holding his master, setting him upright in the carriage as he frowned at the Earl. "What about me, my lord?" his voice betrayed just how puzzled he was to have been the cause of the boy's nightmare. Certainly things had been awkward between them lately, but could it really be because he frightened the child?
The human shook his head at this question though, muttering, "I'd rather not discuss it, Claude." He took a deep breath and straightened the eye-patch he wore over his contract-eye, ruffling his hair back into place and straightening the shirt he wore. Finally, he returned his attention to the demon and asked, "Are we at the Estate, then?"
Back in familiar territory for them, the butler pushed his thoughts about Ciel's nightmare to the side. "Yes, master, I've already brought your things into the Manor," he explained as he opened the doors of the carriage and stepped out, offering the human his hand as he spoke, "I'll show you around now, if you'd like."