Hello everyone. I am back with another chapter because I was very pleased with the response the first chapter received. Please enjoy it.
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Finally, Ciel decided to go to Sebastian's room. He rose from his chair and walked to the door before opening it and stepping out into the hallway. He walked silently, the pale sunlight pouring through the grand windows and illuminating his petite frame. He soon realized that he did not know which door lead to the room of his butler. There was a door in every direction you could look, all identical. Finally, Ciel came upon one that had the letters SM engraved just above the doorknob. It was small, but it was there. Ciel stood in front of it for a minute, trying to figure out what to do. Should he knock? Call out to Sebastian? Listen to see if he was there? He decided to knock.
Ciel gently tapped his fist on the door twice and leaned his head close to listen for an answer.
On the other side, Sebastian already knew who it was. He sat up in his bed and called out, "Come in."
The door barely opened and froze ajar for a moment. Then it opened a bit more and Ciel slid in, closing the door behind him.
"We need to talk."
"I figured you'd come here," Sebastian commented with his ever present smile. He reached over to open a drawer in his nightstand and removed a thick, black book. "I am sure you have many questions. This book contains all the answers. You'll be here for a while. Take a seat." Sebastian gestured toward a chair near his bed.
Ciel sat down and smoothed his pants before staring expectantly at his butler. "Well?"
"Ask a question."
"I don't even know where to start. First of all, how severe will this become?"
Sebastian sighed and looked blankly at Ciel before stating, "It becomes extremely intense. I do not wish for description of the foulest symptoms to reach the Young Master's ears. Let's just say that you should not be present in the peak of my illness." This pipiqued Ciel's curiosity, but he knew better than to prod further into the subject.
"Okay, next question. How long does this last?"
"Uhm... the worst would be 3 months."
"Three months?" Ciel cried, leaping from his chair.
"At best I will have to remain in bed for one. You see, since demons live for so much longer than humans, they have to be sick longer." Ciel cast him a confused glance. "Let me try to better explain it. If demons live ten times longer than humans, they must be sick ten times longer than humans. However, demons live for an eternity. Therefore it is difficult to predict how long it will last. Considering human colds last two days to a week, saying a demon cold will last for one to three months seems to be a fairly accurate prediction. If this is a cold."
"I see. Hopefully this will pass as soon as possible. What kind of medicine to demons take and where can I get it?" Ciel toyed with a button on his sleeve as he listened carefully for answers.
"For each type of sickness there is a different medicine. The ingredients the medicine requires varies from demon to demon, depending on the things they like."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see later." Sebastian motioned to the book.
"Fine. So what type of sickness do you have? We will prepare the medicine immediately."
"It's impossible to tell right now. We will only know later, when my condition becomes worse. There are many possibilities at the moment. The most likely is the common cold, but we can't be sure. Taking the wrong medicine can have fatal results."
"Fatal? We have no choice but to wait, do we. In the meantime, what should we do? Surely the way humans tend to sick people cannot be similar to the way demons do."
"Young Master, I do not find it fair for one to make assumptions about my kind." Sebastian grinned and continued. "Loving kindness is not common among demons (as you can imagine) but it doesn't hurt either."
"Loving kindess? Do you think I am capable of tenderly nursing a demon back to health?" Ciel laughed dryly and crossed his arms.
"Nothing is impossible," Sebastian replied, tapping his fingertips on his leg. "The problem is, as I mentioned before, demon sicknesses can become very severe. So much that a human would have died from it. However, because I am indeed inhuman, I can get along just fine. Surely if anyone else were to find out that I survived through my condition, we would be discovered. The only person who knows about me is you. Therefore, the only person who can 'tenderly nurse' me back to health is you, Young Master."
"Something is telling me you are getting some kind of twisted entertainment out of this." One corner if Ciel's mouth twisted up into a bitter half smile.
Sebastian's lips curled into a silent grin, choosing not to comment. He could feel his stomach becoming unsettled but ignored it.
Suddenly, Sebastian felt bile forcing it's way up and out of his stomach. He snapped forward and clenched his jaw, squeezing his eyes shut in pain. His throat burned from acid, his stomach twitching and tightening. He let out an agonized moan.
"What's wrong?" Ciel tensed up as he moved quickly to Sebastian's bedside, unsure of how to react or what to do. His hands hovered in the air, hesitant to make any moves.
The butler could hold it in no longer. Thin, runny black fluids came pouring out of his mouth, his throat muscles clenching and unclenching in a sickening way as Sebastian's stomach emptied itself of acids. He didn't want his master to see this. Him, in his time of weakness or the revolting fluids that made up a demon. He never wanted Ciel to know about what demons really were. He was too young.
Ciel bit his lip, drawing blood. This didn't even process in his brain as his mind was reeling. He needed to do something. Something. He couldn't just stand their like a fool while Sebastian was obviously in such pain. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as he suddenly became aware of his pulse. He needed to think fast. "S-Sebastian!"
When the flow of liquid stopped, Sebastian remained silent. He didn't want to look his master in the eyes after that. Hell, he barely had the energy to lift his head enough to look Ciel in the eyes. Instead, he let his lids fall shut again and focused on breathing normally. His hair was sticking to his damp face, he hadn't even noticed the sheen of sweat coating his body until now.
Silence filled the room.
"Sebastian..."
Ciel brushed the man's hair away from his face. Gently, as if he might break. That was the least he could do. He caught sight of Sebastian's exhausted facial expression and for the first time in a long time, he felt genuinely worried about someone.
"Heh. And you call this the common cold." Ciel's lips turned up ever so slight at the corners as his fingertips remained in Sebastian's hair.
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Sorry this took so long, I've been busy working on a comic version of my other fic called "Where did the Contract Mark Go?" Thanks to all the people who reviewed the first chapter, you fueled this chapter 100%! I would not have written any more if you guys hadn't commented. Thanks a bunch! I will write the next chapter ASAP. Please do not hesitate to inform me of grammar mistakes and type-os.
Bye for now.