Sinners

The Butler, Occurrence

A knock was heard upon Ciel's office door a few minutes later. The day felt long but it was only the afternoon, lacking sleep for some unknown reason. He was finishing up the last of his paperwork when Sebastian came as he was told.

"Come in."

Sebastian opened the door enough for him to look inside. His eyes meeting with his Master's. "You needed me?"

"Yes, come in. Close the door."

Walking in he closed the door and walked to stand in front of Ciel's desk. A pile of papers were set aside from the ones he was currently working on. Rubbing his temples he set his work aside as he looked up to Sebastian.

"Is Elizabeth still in the drawing room?" He asked as he glanced up from his desk.

"No, she left with Madame Francis a few minutes ago. I was cleaning up afterwards in the drawing room."

"Good."

Ciel's face was strung together under concentration. Sebastian looked at him, as he was going to ask if something was wrong. Ciel collected his words together sooner than he expected.

"You seem different." His voice was almost a whisper. It seemed like he didn't want to say anything about it but was too late. Sounding like he was talking to himself out loud.

"Different? What do you mean by that my Lord?"

"I've been keeping an eye on you lately," Ciel placed his hands underneath his chin. A bored but intrigued expression was readable on his face. "You are still an excellent butler, but a few flaws were made."

"Flaws?"

"Yes, recently when you wake me up in the morning you would appear.... Different."

"Can you further elaborate on the term 'different?' "

"I've known you for a long time, Sebastian. You did everything to a degree of perfection. Whenever the rest of the staff were to mess up you would be there. At times you would show a little while later. You appear like you had restless nights."

"My Lord, I do not require sleep."

"I know what it looks like when a man struggles with sleep. I know the the sound of an irritated voice from the annoyance surrounding them. I know what it looks like when a man has something written on his face with someone on his mind Sebastian, and it's written all over."

They both were quiet as the words lingered in the air. Sebastian was unsure of what to say in those observation that had been claimed. He never noticed any changes with his daily routine. Then again, if he was the one making the mistakes he wouldn't know. He had a pair of eyes watching his every move. Not wanting to leave things like that, Ciel continued.

"Is something troubling you?"

"No, My Lord."

"You never use to be this way."

"I know."

"For a demon, that is something new is it not?" Ciel was paying extra close attention now that the word was out. Something was amiss, even if it is very limited. For some reason, this caught his upmost interest in curiosity.

"To me at least. I never experienced anything of the sort before." Sebastian looked down to his white gloved hands that had no stains whatsoever.

"I demand to know the cause."

"I'm sorry my Lord, but I cannot answer your question if I can't answer it on my own." Looking around the room he eventually looked back to his Master in waiting. "Has the other staff mentioned this occurrence?"