The next thirty minutes felt more like an eternity to Ciel. He'd been able to round up the other servants, just in case he needed them when the door finally opened again.
The door opened to a room, the windows open, three bodies strewn about.
Bard frowned as he held a candle up to examine the room, first seeing the body of Sebastian's father on the floor, then seeing Sebastian and his mother on the bed. When he got a bit closer and held the candle out, he could see the shreds of fabric on the bed and the floor, the young butler's pale skin looking even whiter in the moonlight. His clothes had all been torn away, leaving him naked as the day he was born. Goosebumps from the winter air littered his skin along with the sheen of sweat, a few red scratches, and another substance Bard refused to even think about. He looked over the other man's body, quickly looking back at the other's head and shoulders when he noticed to drying blood between his thighs.
"Mr. Sebastian's naked and dead!" Finny gasped from behind Bard, looking close to tears. "Just like his parents, only they're not naked…"
"I'm not too sure if he's dead." Bard replied, walking over to Sebastian to gently press a couple fingers to the side of his neck and check for a pulse. "Yeah, he's alive and kicking."
Ciel frowned a bit as he stepped into the room hesitantly as Sebastian began to stir and whine softly on the bed, hating the way the man sounded so pitiful, like a wounded puppy.
"Mey-Rin, can you get a blanket for me? Finny, can you do me a solid and shut those windows?" Bard asked the other servants, who nodded and complied almost immediately. "Hey, Sebastian, can you hear me, buddy? Can you open your eyes? I promise it's not bright, so it won't hurt."
"It hurts. My whole body's on fire." Sebastian whispered between whines of pain as Mey-Rin ran back in with a blanket.
"I know, buddy, but you're gonna be okay. Just bear with me for a bit, this might not feel great." Bard replied, draping the blanket over Sebastian before reaching under him so he could pick the man up in his arms and carry him.
Sebastian whined in pain as Bard moved him around until he was wrapped in the blanket and held in Bard's arms like a baby.
"What do we do?" Ciel asked over his butler's moans of pain, still in awe of the lengths his butler had gone through for his sake.
"Well, I think the only things we can do right now is give him a good bath and make sure he sleeps long and hard, young master. It might be a good idea to call a doctor in tomorrow morning, too, just in case he develops a fever or anything." Bard replied.
Ciel nodded and moved to walk with Bard down to the servants' bathroom so they could wash and bathe Sebastian. While the bathtub filled, Ciel sat with Sebastian resting on his lap, holding the taller man close to himself. "You're going to be alright, I promise." He said softly to him.
"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked him softly, panting a bit from the pain that continuously lit flames along his entire body.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. You did a great job protecting me, Sebastian. You were extremely brave." Ciel replied, gently rubbing the other man's arm as he held him on his lap.
Sebastian smiled up at Ciel at that, letting the other just sit with him until the water was ready. He eventually grew used to the sensation of feeling as if his body was on fire inside and out, along with the growing pressure just between his shoulder blades, as if something wanted out.
Bard washed off Sebastian's body while Ciel washed his hair, the young earl having to remember how Sebastian did everything to have any idea what to do. Mey-Rin and Finny brought in a towel and a fresh nightshirt for him.
"Do you think he'd feel better if I brought in one of those cats from outside?" Finny asked as he watched the pair wash the butler, who looked as if he could doze off once again at any moment.
"That might not be a good idea with young master in the room. Maybe save it for tomorrow." Bard replied with a small smile as they finished up. "Okay, Sebastian, I'm gonna lift you up and out now."
Sebastian just hummed in reply, letting Bard take him under the arms and lift him out of the hot water. He whined and squeezed his eyes shut at the harsh stings of pain that shot up his back from his hips when he was moved out of the tub.
"How do you feel, can you stand?" Bard asked with a small frown.
Sebastian just nodded and held his eyes shut. His legs shook a bit underneath him, but he pushed himself to endure the pain that coursed through his body as he was dried with the towel and helped into his nightshirt. With that, he was slowly guided down the hallway to his bedroom, Bard on his right side and Ciel on his left, both of them keeping close.
"Just one step at a time. Don't rush yourself." Ciel said to the butler who limped and winced with each step he took. He gently helped to guide Sebastian down to the bed, hating the way the man whined loudly as he sat down on the mattress.
"Just get some rest, okay? Don't worry about the schedule or anything tomorrow and sleep for as long as you need to. You're getting the day off and we'll have a doctor come in to make sure you aren't sick or anything." Ciel said to his butler once he was laying down in the bed.
"Okay, master. Thank you." Sebastian replied softly to Ciel, only barely opening his eyes as the younger man pushed some of his wet hair from his face.
"It's not a problem. Now get some sleep, okay?" Ciel replied with a small smile to the other man as the other servants left the room so the butler could sleep. Once they were out, Ciel took the chance to press a soft quick kiss to Sebastian's forehead. "Sleep well, Sebastian." He whispered before finally pulling away.
It took Sebastian a couple seconds to register what had happened. When he finally did, however, he couldn't help but break into a happy grin, figuring he might not get something like that for quite some time, if ever again. So, he'd commit the feeling of Ciel's soft, warm lips on his skin to memory and cherish it for the rest of time.
Despite the countless horrors he'd been through in the past hour and the way his body felt like it was being ceaselessly bathed in fire, Sebastian slipped asleep to the happy thought of Ciel kissing him, and the possibility that he'd do it again one day. If he was a good enough butler, he might just get another sweet kiss from the other man. Perhaps it would be on a cheek or his nose or his forehead again. Maybe Ciel would take a different route and kiss his eyelids. However, a kiss on the mouth would never happen, and he knew he was an idiot to even slightly hope that it would.
Sebastian didn't stay asleep for more than a couple hours longer, the pain growing stronger and stronger once again until he was writhing in his bed and sobbing. Instinctually, he turned over to his stomach and arched his back a bit as he felt the pressure build up further and further between his shoulder blades until, finally, it released with the sound of fluttering feathers. All at once, the pain and fire was gone once again and he felt perfectly fine.
A bit hesitantly, Sebastian sat up to kneel on his bed and reach behind him to see what had happened on his back. He felt his eyes go wide when he felt the torn back of the nightshirt, then the soft, downy feeling of feathers underneath. Deciding that shirt was ruined, too, he took it off before going over to the small mirror on his wall to see if he could examine himself.
When he saw his face, however, he gasped and stumbled back away from it, falling onto his bed once again. He took a few deep breaths before working himself back up to look at himself once again.
He hadn't thought it was possible, but his skin seemed to have gone a shade or two paler. His dark eyelashes had gotten longer and thicker, and his face seemed to have a healthier shape, the bones of his cheeks less evident. He ran his tongue around his mouth, opening it up to the mirror to find that his back teeth had sharpened to points like fangs. The most striking difference, however, had to be his eyes. Instead of the deep brown they'd once been, they now were a deep wine red, and almost seemed to glow in the darkness of his bedroom.
He turned his head to inspect his back, only to find that a pair of large black wings had sprouted from between his shoulder blades, like an extra set of limbs. He looked down at his own body, blinking when he found that he wasn't as skinny as he'd once been. Instead, only the base of his rib cage could be seen now, and he'd gained a layer of lean muscle on his body. His shoulders had broadened a bit and he didn't seem quite as gangly and awkward as he'd been only hours before. He wiggled his toes a bit, noticing that the nails had gone completely black on his toes as well as his fingers. He didn't know what exactly had happened and what had become of him, but he knew he most likely wasn't human anymore.
He stood in front of his little mirror, silently wishing he looked more human so he wouldn't scare anyone. If they saw him like that, he'd be put in a circus's freakshow in an instant. As he wished it, he watched his back teeth return to normal and his new wings seem to disappear completely. He figured that would have to do, as his nails and eyes didn't seem to want to change.
So, Sebastian donned another, fresh nightshirt and moved to crawl back to his bed and pretend everything was normal.
"Let's get this finished, we're running late as it is. Of course, who knows whose fault that is." He heard a voice say from somewhere in the house.
Sebastian left the bed silently, quickly making his way through the house, grabbing a broom to use as a weapon until he found something better.
"Oh, hush, we're not that late. Besides I was very busy." Another voice said dismissively.
Sebastian frowned when he found the sources coming from a pair of men in suits on the second floor, the two of them moving to go into the guest room where they'd left the bodies of his parents until they could call the Undertaker to take care of them properly. He held tightly to his broom, not thinking much before he jumped up to the banister of the staircase, perching on top of it silently. He slipped down to the floor once again, readying the broom as the pair tried to work on the locked door. He silently raised the heavier end of the broom over his shoulder, poising himself just before swung it at the heads of the intruders.
Just before the bristled end of the broom could connect, one of the men in the suits reached up and grabbed the base of the broom, looking over his shoulder at Sebastian.
"I thought I smelled something wretched." He said, his partner next to him peering over and breaking into a wide grin to show off his pointed teeth.
"Well, hello there. I don't think I've met you before." The partner said, moving over to get closer to Sebastian until he was practically pressed flush against them.
Sebastian was about to push him away when the other man in the suit grabbed his partner by the long, red hair and pulled him away.
"And you won't be meeting that thing. Demons only ever make things difficult. They're much more work than they're worth." He replied sharply.
"You need to get out of this house now. I don't know who you are, how you got in, or what you're talking about. Get out of here before I'm forced to kill you." Sebastian replied with a hard frown, making the redhead's two-toned eyes go wide behind his glasses.
"What do you mean you don't know what he's talking about?" He asked softly. "Willy, he might just be a newborn. You can't seriously want to fight a baby, practically naked demon, could you? Not that the latter's much of an issue."
"I'm going to choose to ignore that last comment. I don't care how young it is or how much clothing it's wearing. He started it and I'll end it." The other man replied with a hard frown.
"I'm not a demon. I'm nothing special. I'm just a butler." Sebastian said softly with a small frown.
"He really is just a baby. Do most demons leave their fledglings so quickly? He doesn't even know what he is." The redhead thought aloud with a small frown.
"Take a look at yourself in the mirror and then look me in the eyes and tell me you see a human. You're a thing. Now, if you're done having an identity crisis, you can leave us alone to do our work and we'll be gone."
"I can't do that. I'm sworn to protect this house and the master that resides in it from intruders." Sebastian replied, picking his broom up again, making a mental note to carry a weapon on his person at all times from then on so he wouldn't have to resort to using something like a broom. "My master is asleep. You will go quietly so you don't wake him."
"Ah, you hear that? The baby is sleeping. What a wonderful reason." Will said with a roll of his eyes.
"Tell me why you're hear and why I shouldn't smash your head against the wall." Sebastian replied, feeling his patience wearing thin.
"We're reaping the souls of the bodies in that room for judgment."
"When you're done, will you leave immediately?"
"Yes. We will have nothing else to do."
Sebastian frowned before reluctantly setting the broom aside and walking forward to unlock the door to the guest room for the pair. "You must agree to leave these bodies unmolested and let them have their peace."
"A demon that cares about the well being of a couple corpses. That's new." Will said with a small frown.
"That's my business. Get your job done and get out before I break your glasses." Sebastian replied with a small frown, letting the pair into the room and lingering in the hallway, just in case.
Sebastian watched the pair go into the room, the redhead looking back at him over his shoulder. He could hear the redhead, whose name he soon learned was Grell, whispering softly to his partner about whether or not it was good for a newborn demon to be all alone so quickly.
"Of course it's not, but there's nothing we can do. Maybe this will work out. He'll get comfortable in his new body while surrounded by humans. Perhaps it'll make him docile and easier to work with." The other man replied before they got to work.
"Elisabeth Theresa Michaelis, wife of Peter Andrew Michaelis and mother of Sebastian Alexander Michaelis. Born September third, 1850. Died January 29th, 1892." Grell read out as the woman's life played through in front of them, a lot of it containing happy memories of her little son, one of the last ones being seeing him as a butler in that manor. He glanced out at the door of the room, quickly putting two and two together and swallowing. "No additional comments."
"Peter Andrew Michaelis, husband of Elisabeth Theresa Michaelis and father of Sebastian Alexander Michaelis. Born March 12th, 1846. Died January 29th, 1892." Will read out, watching the life play in front of him. Most of it was spent with his wife and son, the man working tirelessly to try and make sure their little boy grew up to be a great man, despite their place on the social ladder. His last day was spent being constantly reassured that his son had grown to become someone he could be proud of. His very last moment had been spent staring at the face of his son, screaming at himself to use his last breath to tell his son how proud he was. In the end, though, he waited too long, and his vocal cords had been torn out before he could use them. "No additional comments."
Grell sighed softly as they finished up. "Just wait for me outside, okay? I'll be right there, I promise." He said before moving out to the demon sitting against the wall in the hallway.
"It's not so bad, you know, not being human. Your parents were really good people and they were really proud of you. They're going to a better place now. They'll be at peace forever." Grell said softly, crouching down next to the demon and wrapping his arm around the other's shoulders.
"That's good. I should be crying right now, but I can't." Sebastian replied softly, letting Grell hold his shoulders.
"That one's not your fault. Unless something happens to their mate, a demon really can't cry. They only ever truly shed tears for a mate. It doesn't make you a shitty son or anything. It just makes you a normal demon."
Sebastian just nodded and sighed a bit, letting Grell rub his shoulder a bit.
"I'll see you around, Sebastian." Grell finally said, happily pressing a kiss to his cheek that left a red lipstick stain on his skin before the other man went back into the guest room and slipped out the window, leaving him totally alone in the manor with his thoughts.