Chapter Two
Sunlight filtered through the curtains, warming his face. His alarm clock continued it's monotonous beeping, but he just couldn't be bothered to hit the snooze button. His bed was far too cosy, and there was a comfortable warmth pressed up against his back, an arm hanging loosely over his waist, that made it clear he'd had an enjoyable night. He must have picked her up from a club... though... he couldn't remember going to a club the night before. In fact... surely there were no night clubs in the English countryside-
"Mmm, your sleeping face is adorable, Sebby~"
…
"Argh!"
Sebastian's eyes snapped open, leg shooting out to expel the unwelcome intruder from his bed. Grell crashed to the floor in a blur of red.
"Don't be so cold..."
"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" Sebastian demanded, his usual civility forgotten in the early hour.
"I thought you might be lonely on your first night in a new place," the obviously mentally-challenged redhead crooned, resting his chin in his hand and looking far too comfortable sprawled on Sebastian's floor.
It was a fact known to very few, his mother and Agni possibly being the only ones, that Sebastian Michealis was not a morning person. Low-blood pressure and all that. His usual polite composure was no-where to be seen if his temper was remotely shaken any time before ten o'clock.
Unfortunately for Grell Sutcliffe, it was just gone seven thirty.
"Whoa, Sebby, so rough!"
Sebastian, dragging Grell by the scruff of his scarlet nightdress, grasped the door handle and threw it open.
It should also be known that Sebastian's usually impeccable smarts were somewhat dulled by early mornings too. If it had been ten oh one, he probably would have realised that the door he'd just flung open wasn't Grell's, but Will's. The mistake was quickly realised as a home-made harpoon narrowly missed lancing him through the chest.
Just another morning at St. Victoria's Asylum, as Sebastian would soon come to realise.
Sebastian thought his morning couldn't get any worse. Then Agni took him to breakfast.
The dining hall was pretty empty, though apparently it was never particularly full. The number of staff working at St. Victoria's was quite minute. Sebastian had assumed there would be quite a lot of people, so was surprised. Apart from the people he'd met the previous day, there were only a few faceless cleaners and nurses.
Ronald, Will and Grell were already there, Grell more than a little worse for wear after Sebastian had shoved him into Will's room and shut the door. Will was cutting what might once have been an omelette into squares meticulously, obviously ignoring Ronald, who was trying to start a food fight.
Food being used roughly, here.
Agni concealed a chuckle behind a cough, watching Sebastian's eyes widen as he took in the spread.
Charcoal was apparently the theme of the day.
"You get used to it, Sebastian, honestly. It tastes better than it looks," the Indian man tried to reassure, choosing odd bits of blackened things and putting them on Sebastian's plate. He sympathised, he really did. Agni knew perfectly well what a picky eater Sebastian was, especially considering he was such a good cook that other people's food just didn't match up. He probably would have been better taking a chefs role rather than an Orderlies.
"You met Bard?" Agni asked, steering clear of Will & Co's table. You could practically see Will's fuse shortening.
"Briefly. He was... preoccupied." Sebastian poked at what he assumed was bacon, half-expecting it to oink.
Agni laughed, "He usually is. He does like to experiment in the kitchen."
The experiments should have stayed in the kitchen, Sebastian thought, as he took a brave bite and almost retched. Agni was right, it did taste better than it looked, not that that was much consolation.
Once they'd choked down enough to prevent starving, Agni led Sebastian towards the main building. Despite himself, Sebastian was actually growing nervous. If he was having this much trouble with the staff, how was he possibly going to handle the actual patients?
Agni must have noticed his tension and assured him it was probably going to be a quiet day, that it had been relatively calm for a while now.
That soothed Sebastian for all of five seconds.
As soon as they stepped through what must have been the hundredth security door, a blaring siren almost deafened them. Those nameless nurses he hadn't nor did it seem likely that he would meet were rushing by, panic clear in every movement. Agni grabbed one in passing, asking what was going on.
"A-Alois!" she gasped before sprinting away. Apparently this meant something to Agni, who's eyes widened, and he sped after her. Sebastian, clueless and curious all at once, was following him before he even realised it.
Agni skidded to a halt in a doorway and Sebastian almost crashed into him, just about managing to catch himself.
"Not again," Agni hissed, actually hissed, before slowly going into the room.
A knot formed in Sebastian's stomach, the 'food' he'd eaten before almost making a comeback.
In the middle of the room, amidst the squealing nurses and hesitantly approaching Agni, was Hannah. She was silent, lips pressed tightly together against the building scream begging to be let free. Blood streamed down her alabaster skin, staining her once pristine dress. Trembles shook her, but she didn't move, not an inch, in fear of unbalancing the boy straddling her.
He was grinning. A completely mad grin, unhinged laughter bubbling from his lips every now and then, burrowing his fingers further and further into Hannah's left eye. They were buried straight to the knuckle, her blood running down his fingers.
Agni was approaching him like one would approach a wild animal, and maybe that's exactly what he was. The boy's head snapped around, striking blue eyes pinning Agni to the spot, and he twisted his fingers sharply making a pained gasp escape the woman.
Agni froze, "Alois, you're only making things worse for yourself. Please. Get off her."
His only response was to twist his fingers further, another bark of laughter.
It was sick. The look in the boy's, Alois', eyes. The sheer joy at the pain he was inflicting. He was completely relishing every whimper she made.
With a defeated sigh, Agni retreated, addressing one of the several weeping nurses, "Go get Ciel Phantomhive. He'll listen to him."
The woman nodded, fleeing the room as though the hounds of hell were after her.
Sebastian had assumed this Phantomhive person was another Orderly he had yet to meet, so was more than a little surprised when the nurse returned with a young boy.
He couldn't possibly have been any older than Alois, and was dressed in the same plain white shirt and white pants, the standard clothing for the patients of St. Victoria's. With dark, almost blue, hair grazing his shoulders, and one sapphire eye, the other covered by a plain white patch much in keeping with the hospital's clothes. He didn't walk into the room so much as he strutted, not in an obnoxious way, but in a way that exuded nothing but pride. He held a regal air, unfitting to someone so obviously young.
His name was Ciel Phantomhive, and even though Sebastian didn't know it at that moment, he was going to change his life irreparably.
The blue-eyed boy paused at the entrance of the room, raising one slender brow as he took in the sight before him. Like everyone else bar Sebastian, he didn't seem remotely surprised.
"Ciel! I'm sorry to bother you, but... well, we can't get him to stop," Agni murmured, walking to Ciel's side, gaze flittering between the newcomer and the eye-gouger. The boy, Ciel, just looked at Agni, as if to say 'so what?'.
"He listens to you," Agni continued, tone pleading. Agni wasn't a weak man by any means, he could have bodily removed Alois with ease. He was, however, a pacifist. He didn't want to exert his strength over another, especially someone he considered a child, at least mentally. Besides, if they did have force Alois off Hannah, he could hurt her even further.
Ciel donned a contemplative look, gazing over at the blond boy, "What's in it for me?"
Agni faltered.
"W-Well... what do you want?"
Ciel shrugged.
"Nothing in particular."
The Indian man was obviously resisting the urge to tear his hair from his scalp, though if Sebastian had been in his position, he'd probably have wanted to do it to the boy rather than himself. He may have been new to the job, but he was fairly sure you weren't supposed to negotiate with patients.
"There must be something. I can't promise I'll be able to do it, but I'll try! Surely there's something," Agni insisted, desperation seeping in as another choked sob escaped the floored woman.
"Hmm... well, I guess there is something..."
Agni visibly brightened.
"Ash took my marble set off me. Decided it was hazardous," the boy sneered, obviously he didn't agree, "Will you try and get it back to me?"
"S-Sure! I'll do my best. So...?"
Ciel heaved a ragged sigh, glanced back over to the pair in the centre of the room, and bit out, "Alois! Off her!"
As though a switch had been flicked, the boy's head shot round and, as soon as he saw the other patient, the manic grin melded into a bright, almost innocent smile. He jumped to his feet, fingers sliding out of Hannah's socket with a slick pop that nearly made Sebastian wince, and skipped over to Ciel.
"Ciel~ I thought you were ignoring me!" Alois said, the words sounding like song with the boy's musical lilt. Ciel just shrugged again, neither agreeing nor disputing the claim, folding his arms across his chest. He virtually radiated indifference. At least until the blond outstretched his arms, as though to hug the other, and vivid disgust flashed in the one visible eye. Before Alois' touch even brushed him, Ciel had lashed out, slapping the other's hand away.
"Don't touch me with such filthy hands," he snapped before turning on his heel and leaving the room with the same swagger he'd entered it with.
The smile slid from the other's face, an almost-pout reaching his lips, and Agni shot forward to place a hand on his shoulder. As though fearing another eye-plucking incident, Agni steered the visibly depressed boy from the room, shooting Sebastian an apologetic look, "Can you take Ms. Anafeloz to the Infirmary, Sebastian?"
Sebastian nodded, walking over to the shaking woman.
"Can you stand?" he asked gently, kneeling beside her and taking her arm. She gave a jerky nod and, with Sebastian's help, lumbered to her feet. The blood was caked across her nose and chin, already dried onto the now-ruined dress. Despite that, she was walking quite steadily once she found her feet, and Sebastian had to wonder whether this type of thing happened often. Seeing that she was surprisingly lucid, he didn't bother holding back, and asked what exactly had happened.
She stayed silent for so long that Sebastian thought she wasn't going to answer, making him jump when she did.
"I was giving him his usual medication- that's one of my responsibilities as Head Nurse, though usually Dr. Faustus takes care of it... His name's Alois Trancy... He's one of our more... volatile patients. But he'd been so well-behaved lately! I-I let my guard down, I suppose..." she muttered, more to herself than Sebastian, and he had to strain to hear her.
Alois Trancy, he made a mental-note of the name, and to never 'let his guard down' around him.
"He's quite bi-polar, you see... He seemed so content, I just didn't think..."
He'd noticed the bi-polarness himself, actually. One second, sunshine and daisies, then the Ciel boy rejected his embrace, and you could practically see the raincloud hovering above his head.
They finally reached the Infirmary. One of the triplets, he'd have to learn to differentiate between them at some point, took Hannah's arm and led her over to Doctor.
"Oh my! What on Earth happened to you, darling? You poor thing," he cooed, as if to a child, gesturing for her to sit before him.
Sebastian stood off to the side, watching Doctor's hands move around Hannah's face skilfully. He liked this man already, the sheer professionalism he held about him, his obvious passion for his work.
The man tutted, shaking his head regretfully.
"Completely destroyed, I'm afraid. Nothing much I can do but bandage you up. And they're such a pretty colour too, such a pity," Doctor chuntered, placing a piece of gauze over the former-eye. Hannah didn't seem too fussed over the loss, Sebastian thought, as she merely nodded her head at the diagnosis.
"So careless," an unfamiliar voice scolded from the doorway. Sebastian watched as Hannah tensed all over, fisting clumps of her ruined dress and casting her eye resolutely to the ground.
The man who walked into the room was as tall as Sebastian, with slick black hair and odd amber eyes, a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose. He could have been Will's brother, Sebastian thought offhandly, as he strode towards him, back rim-rod straight.
"You must be Mr. Michealis. I apologise for Hannah's error, you shouldn't have had to escort her." His voice matched his appearance, carefully free of all emotion. He ignored all the others in the room, even when Doctor attempted to address him, as though they were beneath him. "I was with patients yesterday, so unfortunately I missed your induction. I am Dr. Faustus. You may call me Claude."
Sebastian stared at the offered hand before him as though it would bite, unsure why. It was like Angela and Ash all over again. This instant, unexplainable dislike. He remembered himself though, his professionalism taking over, and plastered on his for-the-boss smile as he shook the offered hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Claude. You may call me Sebastian, if you like."
This first name business was making him uncomfortable already. They were all insisting on it, as well. It was like when he was at school, and there was that one teacher who always tried to bond with the kids by letting them call them by name. There was a line drew between people, be they students and teachers or workers and their superiors, for a reason. Sebastian, a worker to the core, always found it uncomfortable when that line was broached.
Nevermind that it was usually because the person, and he'd had this experience with both teachers and bosses, wanted to bond in a very unprofessional way.
"Sebastian it is, then. Come along, I'll introduce you to the patients."
Claude left the room and Sebastian reluctantly followed, almost wanting to stay in the Infirmary if only to disobey the man.
The atmosphere on the hospital floor was drastically different than what could only have been an hour before. The alarm was no long screaming, the nurses were walking calmly down the halls chatting amiably with one another, it was as though Alois' attack hadn't even happened.
It was forgotten already.
"Every patient has their own room, which is locked at eight o'clock, and isn't opened again until eight o'clock the next morning. They spend most of their time in the leisure room. That is where the group sessions are held too, every Wednesday morning."
Claude held up his I.D card against the electronic panel as they reached another security door. It swung open immediately, and he ushered Sebastian in.
"Nearly all the patients here only answer to nicknames they've donned. We've found it easier to go along with it, they grow aggressive otherwise."
Sebastian nodded his understanding, following Claude into the leisure room. It was semi-full, and Sebastian frowned. These were the patients, and none looked any older than early-twenties. No-one had mentioned St. Victoria's was a children's institute.
All eyes turned on them as they walked in, all openly curious, and the loud chatter petered out.
"Everyone. This is Sebastian Michealis, a new member of staff. Introduce yourselves."
Claude was even shorter with the patients than with the staff, it seemed.
No-one offered their names, real or otherwise, glancing and whispering to each other conspiratorially. Eventually, one of the older looking boys snickered, lazily sticking his hand into the air and giving a lop-sided grin, "I'm Joker. Pardon our rudeness, we're pretty shy."
This was obviously some sort of inside-joke, and the other kids broke out into giggles.
The boy, Joker, stood from the chair he was lounged across, stretching like a cat.
"Riiight, lemme see. This lovely lady here is Beast, you'll wanna watch her," he winked at the curly-haired woman, who flushed deeply, "And her equally lovely brother, Dagger."
Dagger grinned broadly at Joker, relishing in the minor praise.
"Here we have Peter and Wendy, our resident Neverland couple!" the spiky-haired man announced with flourish, earning a mass groan from the others, Peter swatting at him. They looked the youngest in the room, couldn't possibly even be in their teens yet, true to their names.
Joker swaggered towards the other couch, draping himself across the back of it, "Over here we have Freckles. Don't let her pretty face fool ya, she's a feisty one! And this is Jumbo, our very own B.F.G."
The huge man rolled his eyes, almost fondly, and shoved the man off the couch.
"Over in the corner there is Snake and Drocell. Quiet ones, them," he whispered to Sebastian like it was a well-kept secret, pointing to the table on the far side of the room where two teens murmured to each other beneath their breath, apparently oblivious to the newcomer.
"Well! It's not afternoon yet, so Soma won't be up for a while. Smile'll be in his room, he doesn't come out much, aaaaaand you know about the whole Alois-debacle so no wonders there. That's pretty much it. Say hi to the fresh blood, everyone!"
Well, if that wasn't reassuring...
"Hiii, fresh blood," they all chorused with the enthusiasm of a sentenced convict.
"Come along, Sebastian. Let's get some fresh air," Claude not so much suggested as demanded, striding from the room before he'd even finished speaking, as though loathe to even be there. Sebastian turned to follow him but paused as a hand rested on his arm.
Joker's exuberant grin toned down to an amused smile.
"Welcome to the circus, mate, and good luck. You'll need it."
Leaves crunched beneath their feet as they furthered down the garden paths. Even by Sebastian's standards, the gardens were quite magnificent. Flowers he didn't even know were blooming all around, the grass was perfectly trimmed, even the fallen autumn leaves were in perfect placements as though there intentionally.
It took a lot to impress Sebastian, but he couldn't deny that these gardens were truly something else.
His charming companion did not share the sentiment.
"I told Finnian to have these leaves cleaned away by now," Claude muttered beneath his breath, semi-scowling at them as though they'd killed his puppy. Unlikely, since he seemed more likely to eat puppies than own them.
Claude gestured to a bench across from them, taking a seat and raising an eyebrow when Sebastian didn't immediately follow his lead. There was just something about the man that irked him, made him want act petty, like staying standing even if he didn't want to just because the man had sat first. Remembering himself yet again, Sebastian sat down.
"I was surprised. I'd expected there to be more patients," Sebastian said when the silence became stifling. Claude glanced at him askance.
"They're all rather high-maintenance. Given how much care each of them need, and how difficult it is getting staff, we only take the serious cases. While we're on the subject, Sebastian... a word of caution. You saw what happened to that woman this morning."
"Yes... that was quite awful."
He'd also seen how dismissive everyone else had been, especially Claude, who even went so far as to scold her for it. Not to mention how shaken she'd been when Claude had entered the room.
Sebastian had certainly seen.
"I'm rather glad actually."
"...I beg your pardon?" Sebastian asked, sure he'd heard wrong.
"I'm glad you saw that. Now you will have no silly misconceptions. They may seem like harmless children, Sebastian, but that's part of what makes them so dangerous. As they say, the devil's greatest trick was convincing everyone he didn't exist. Those people will try to convince you they're normal, it's what they do, and they will play on their childish looks and actions to trick you. You mustn't be fooled!"
Claude grew fervent as he spoke, cat-like eyes intense on his own, and Sebastian felt himself growing uncomfortable beneath the other's gaze.
"You mustn't be gentle with them, either. They'll see it as a sign of weakness, and they'll use anything they can against you. Never forget this; they're here for a reason."
And Sebastian realised just why he didn't like this man.
Dr. Claude Faustus was trusted with the role of Head Psychiatrist. All of the patients mental health was in his hands, and yet... he seemed to hate them. He looked on them with nothing short of disdain, and spoke of them with sheer disgust.
Sebastian wasn't a terribly compassionate man, by definition. What happened to other people was just that, as far as he was concerned. It happened to other people. It was none of his business, and he like to keep it that way. His dislike for Claude stemmed not from compassion for the patients he seemed to zealously hate, but for the blatant disregard of what his post so obviously called for.
Sebastian may have had many many jobs over the years, and he always left them just as quickly as he'd started them. He was damn near promiscuous in his work. However, if there was one thing Sebastian Michaelis prided himself on, it was that when he was doing a job, that job was him. He gave the work his mind, body and soul. That was a worker's aesthetics. His creed.
That was why he disliked Claude Faustus.