Chapter Text

Gently, without knocking, Ciel Phantomhive opened the door to his butler’s bedroom, slithered inside and silently closed the door behind himself, locking it. On the inside, he pocketed the key, leaned against the dark wood and released a sigh of relief, then took in the sight before him.

The small room was dimly lit by the feeble orange glow of an oil lamp that stood beside a windup alarm clock on the bedside table, no doubt left alight by a hasty Mey-Rin, for the room’s occupant didn’t really need it. A wardrobe to the left, a desk and a chair and a small, unlit fireplace to the right, a curtain-less window. Underneath it, the single bed, heretofore probably never slept on, had now a body in it. Only said body wasn’t precisely sleeping.

The earl did his best to steel his pale features and dignifiedly charged into the room. He stopped by the demon’s head.

“Sebastian, stop this nonsense. Exactly for how long are you planning on pretending to be asleep?”, he nearly spitted, such was his disdain. “Wake up.”

The pale, immobile butler on the bed didn’t show any signs of hearing his master. He didn’t even seem to be breathing, not that Ciel actually believed that he needed to.

Perhaps this death-like state was what made it so easy for Ciel to convince Mey-Rin to call for a priest at this hour of the night. Not that Sebastian would ever need a cleric, even if he really were dying, but because Ciel wanted to speak to his butler in private without anyone actually noticing that he had done so. It was vexing enough that he had resorted to come see Sebastian after a whole day resisting that idea; he didn’t need the servants to know that he had actually done it in the end.

Either way, even if Ciel had tried to secretly come visit Sebastian earlier, he was sure to be stopped by at least one of the Phantomhive staff members, who had apparently been lurking by Sebastian’s bedside at all times during the past twenty hours or so.

Ciel rolled his eyes at Sebastian’s lack of response.

“Wake up, Sebastian. This is an order.”

The very moment Ciel felt his seal react to the surge of power brought on by his order, Sebastian growled deeply, suddenly opening his eyes to reveal only the white of his rolled back orbits. Sudden, sharp, stabbing pain reverberated behind the earl’s own right eye. He fell to his knees, clutching his head and biting his lower lip in an attempt not to scream out loud in agony. The pain disappeared in a matter of seconds but left the boy winded, desperately trying to calm his faltering breath.

Ciel raised to his feet with difficulty, grabbing at the bed covers for support.

Sebastian was back to his previous motionless, unresponsive countenance, but was now laying partially on his side, facingaway from Ciel. The earl seethed with rage.

“Don’t…”, hissed the boy menacingly “… you dare…”, he grabbed Sebastian’s chin with his left hand and squeezed, “… disobey…”, he forcefully pulled Sebastian’s head to face him, “… my order!”

Everything was quiet for a couple of seconds, the only movement coming from Ciel’s restless ribcage and the only sound coming from Ciel’s erratic breaths. Sebastian’s neck was bent in a way that couldn’t possibly be comfortable for him.

Blinking, the boy released the demon’s chin as if he’d been stung and dumbly watched the soft, slow recoil of the pillow underneath Sebastian’s head as the butler’s strained muscles passively returned his neck to a more natural position.

Ciel gulped, trying to ignore the genuine dread that was threatening to overcome him.

“This… this is all your fault, you repulsive… glutton.”, he whispered the last word almost apologetically.

Then, as if catching himself at fault, the boy shook his head to clear it and, once again, steeled his pale, tired features into his trademark despotic countenance.

“Wake up this instant, Sebastian. This is an order!”

The more intense surge of power was followed by an equally more intense agony. This time, Ciel couldn’t supress his scream. And, as his body fell to the ground and almost instantly grew numb on of the cold floor, so did a single coal black feather in his field of vision.

From his privileged position on the ground, the eerie silent room seemed to grow darker and colder. As if mocking him, Ciel’s memories supplied him with a replay of his prize winning performance before the Queen’s butlers, a few months ago.

“You, my butler… You… only you… You were supposed to be by my side until the end. Don’t you dare leave me behind, Sebastian!! It’s an order! An order… An order!!!”.