"This is… Unreal…" Ciel said, staring ahead of her.
They were finally there, in the demon world. To the humans, it was aptly named Hell. But Ciel was definitely not expecting the site before her. It was the Phantomhive manor, exactly as it was in the human world. Well, not exactly. Instead of grey bricks or stone, the estate was built entirely of a darker, almost black stone. The large green leaves on the bushes and trees that lined around the house suddenly replaced by the glowing white flowers from the realm before, this time they were not accompanied with the black roses beside them. No need for candle light or street lamps, the bioluminescent white from the hundreds of thousands of roses was light enough. It was quite breathtaking.
And finally, this entire estate seemed to sit upon a perpetually black sky, which seemed to blend into a lighter navy color as it progressed into the horizon. There was not a star in the sky. "Did you do this?" She asked as her butler set her down.
"Well of course my young mistress." His voice had an annoying tone of amusement behind them. "If I cannot do the simplest task of manifesting my lady's house in the demon world, then what kind of butler would I be?"
Ciel rolled her eyes, not really sure what kind of other answer she was expecting. "I meant, how?"
"It is one of the abilities I will teach you in due time, my lady. It's called manifestation. I will first teach you how to manifest small objects. As you become stronger, I can begin teaching you how to create the more difficult things, like entire buildings… Even living creatures."
Ciel nodded, trying to soak all of this in. "You've done this sort of magic before… When you recreated my mansion the first time, correct?" She asked. He simply nodded. No wonder the mansion that stood in place of the one that burned down was perfect… Even down to the cracks of the pillars. It could only be demon magic.
She strode confidently through the garden, not taking her eyes off of her surroundings. The roses were beautiful, and the grass beneath her was not green at all, but black. She bent down and picked up a blade, twirling it in her hands.
Sebastian tilted his head, smiling as he examined her. His young mistress's reaction to the new realm was quite adorable. He cleared his throat, "Does everything please you, my lady?" He asked, "If it does not, please tell me now so I may alter it to your liking."
Ciel stood up, and raised an eyebrow at her new estate, "Why have you made it so… Black?"
Sebastian looked up at his creation, trying to think of a way to explain it, "Well you see, as there are building codes that must be followed in the human world, there are some here as well."
The young woman stopped and looked up at him with a quizzical brow. He continued, "As strange as it may seem, the King likes things in his realm to me aesthetically pleasing to him… As the regulations of a demon creating their home, they have free reign of the size and amenities…. It really is limitless, as long as the demon has enough energy, then they can expand their home as large as they wish. The only thing the king does enforce is that whatever you create must be black."
"How macabre…"
"Well, it is Hell my lady." Sebastian reminded her with a smile, as if teasing her for forgetting. "What other color pallet did you expect the king of this realm to mandate?"
Ciel frowned at him, not wishing to entertain him with an answer. With a sigh, she walked on, folding her parasol, "If it is the rules of the realm, you and I shall abide by it."
Sebastian nodded and bowed as his young mistress walked through the new threshold. He glanced up at a nearby tree. There was a spot on the white roses that was its foliage, a small black snake. His eyes narrowed at the creature, and gave it a polite nod, before following his mistress. The snake whisped its tongue in the air, before receding back into the roses.
"You did mention a king…" She said as she looked around, hiding her awe against as she looked at her foyer. Exactly the same, though the marble ground and walls were now replaced with obsidian. In the human world, a black house with a black interior would be considered some sort of pagan, evil place. But of course, it was the norm in the demon world. She hated to admit it, but this king of this world was right in one regard. It was aesthetic as hell, and the demon part of herself was very pleased living in the darkness.
"Yes, my lady." Sebastian followed her as she made her way up the stairs, knowing where to go to find her room. "He goes by many names. Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Hades, The Devil… But to us subservient demons, we are to address him as royalty. King Lucifer, or simply as 'your highness', pleases him."
Ciel simply sighed. It was a long day, and she felt an exhaustion that plagued her for some time now. There she was, as a new being, in a new world, and now she's introduced to a new ruler. As strong as she was, this was too much to handle in a day.
Sebastian seemed to pick up on this. "I shall tell you more about this tomorrow, my lady. Right now, you should rest." He opened the door to her room.
Her room seemed to be exactly the same, though the walls were decorated with blue and black wallpaper. "I suppose you're right…" She stood by her bed and stretched out her arm, the signal for Sebastian to begin disrobing her.
Sebastian smiled, gently undoing the laces of her corset first. "My word, I assumed undressing yourself was within your demon capabilities… I suppose I was wrong."
This unnerved the young demon. She turned around and swatted his hand away, "Fine! I'll do it myself, worthless servant…" She muttered as she reached around to her back, attempting to finish the unlacing that the older demon had started.
Sebastian stepped back and gently covered his mouth with his finger tips, trying hard not to laugh as he watched his young mistress curse and grunt in her vain attempt to remove her corset from the back. It would seem that despite her many changes, her pride had remained stagnant. He rearranged some things in the room to keep himself occupied but still close, guessing that it would take a minute or two before his young lady would give up and ask for assistance.
Ciel cursed, twisting a bit to see the mirror. Perhaps if she just saw where the damn laces were, she would be able to undue them. Suddenly, she stopped and straightened up upon seeing her reflection.
There was a beautiful young godess standing before her, and it took a few blinks for her to realize that she was looking at herself. She knew she was a beauty as a human, now she looked otherworldly… Her skin was pale before, but now it seemed to be as soft and glowing as porcelain. Her navy curls shined with a luster that was never there prior, even with all the hair treatments Sebastian had brought to bath the locks in. She had her same blue eyes, the other behind her eyepatch, but it seemed to have an ethereal glow and beauty to it. She was sure if she were to look into the eyes of a mere human, they would automatically be drawn to their alluring gaze, like a deadly but lovely trap. She gently lifted a hesitant hand to her face, her blackened nails a contrast to her white skin, reminding her of the black and white glowing roses in the world between worlds…
Sebastian had finished polishing off a candelabra, setting it back on the top of the unlit fireplace. He turned around, seeing if she was ready to accept his help, when he saw her current situation. He gently smiled, walking up behind her.
Ciel did not turn around to him, but simply looked at his reflection. He was the man she saw as having no contenders to match his handsomeness. She looked back at her reflection. Now that she was a demon, her beauty seemed to rival his own.
Sebastian kneeled down and began to unlace her corset, breaking her of the trance, "Along with other enhancements such as strength and speed, your attractiveness rises as well so as to allure and entrap humans…" He said, unlacing all the way to the top. The corset was allowed to fall to the ground. Ciel blushed, looking down. He gently placed his fingers on her chin, and made her look back at the mirror, his face inches from hers, "You should not be ashamed to admire yourself, my lady… I have.." his voice was like silk as he continued to undress her.
"Well, how do you feel being around someone more beautiful than you?" She asked, taking his advice and looking at herself again in admiration.
"In my eyes, you were always my superior in loveliness.." here was that silver tongue again.
The noblewoman blushed furiously, "Stop saying such seductive things! I am your superior in every way, you do not speak to me like that!"
Sebastian smiled wickedly, "Ah, so you did find my words seductive!"
"As if!" She blushed, looking away. She lifted up her arms, still not looking at him, "Just finish your job already, so that I may go to sleep."
Sebastian nodded. He got her undressed her and redressed her with swiftness, having her white nightgown drape down her body, all the way to her ankles.
"Hurry it up Sebastian, I want to sleep." She ordered as he undid her hair, letting her long navy locks fall over her back like a waterfall that reached to her knees. He nodded, grabbing a comb quickly, removing his gloves with his teeth.
Oh how he loved to do her hair. It was strange how much pleasure he took from it, perhaps it reminded him of the fur of a cat. One of his most favorite parts of the day was when he got to comb her hair before she goes to sleep. But Ciel waved him off, telling him to forgo the 100 brushes tonight. The demons argued back and forth for a bit, Sebastian argued that her hair needed specific maintenance, she argued that she was too tired.
Sebastian put on his gloves, doing well to hide his disappointment, but considered all that his young mistress had gone through today he decided to put her needs above his. He bowed as she climbed into bed, "Then I shall leave you to sleep, my lady." He said, turning to leave.
"Stay.." She said so softly, human ears would not have been able to hear it.
Sebastian smiled, half expecting her to say that. "Yes, my lady." He said, moving to the corner of the room where he usually would stand when she made such a request. He looked over to see her head still peeking out, looking at him with a conflicted expression. "Did you need anything else mistress?"
Ciel didn't want to say it… She rolled over to one side and patted the empty side beside her.
A devilish smirk came on the butler's face as he walked over, "My my, young mistress. What will people say when they find you sleeping in bed with your butler in the afterlife?" He teased.
Ciel blushed, huffing as she to face the other way, "Nevermind then! If you really don't want to then leave!"
Sebastian smiled, closing his eyes as he kicked off his shoes, setting them aside. He thought about the times where his young mistress would ask him to stay until she fell asleep. The demon would stay just as he was ordered. But there was only one other time his young mistress asked him to actually sleep in bed with her, the first night after their contract. When she woke from night terrors, the poor nine year old hesitantly asked for him to climb in with her. That was her 'rebirth' after the tragedies that happened to her, and it seemed that to commemorate her second rebirth as a demon she asked him to join her again. He smiled at the parallels, as he removed his black tailcoat, then his vest, then his tie, leaving only his white inner shirt which he unbuttoned two buttons, and his black trousers.
The young noblewoman felt the soft bed dip on his side. She turned around to face him, feeling more ease. She wasn't sure how she was going to handle this first night, but having Sebastian so close to her made her feel very secure. She opened her eyes groggily to see him stare at her with a gentle expression. The young woman didn't care if he stared at her; she was so tired, she was sure she was gorgeous in ways that would keep his attention for a while. She was even too tired to react to him stroking her hair, for she knew he enjoyed caressing their gentle curls. The action did a great job lulling her to sleep, with no nightmares to haunt her in the night…
AN: Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liiiiiike, if you do leave a review! If you don't, please leave me a review to tell me what I can do to improve my writing! Again I do not own Black Butler, that credit goes to the amazing Yana Toboso!