Into The Flames (Sebastian x Reader)

Beneath the Surface

When I was done, Mey Rin helped me step into the bath. The water swirled around my calves, the petals sticking to my damp skin, as I lowered myself slowly into the warm pool. The oily water washed over my shoulders in opalescent waves as I sank up to my chin into the bath, letting out a low sigh of contentment as the pleasant aroma that mimicked a garden in spring filled my nostrils.

Mey Rin set a fluffy, pristinely white towel on the stool next to the bath and then ducked her head to me as she backed from the room, calling out to me, "Please let me know when you're finished, my lady. I'll just be next door, readying your outfit for the day."

She pulled the door shut behind her with a soft click, and all at once, I was alone once again.

I let out a long breath and leaned my head back against the cold porcelain of the tub, my eyes tracing the patterns that ordained the ceilings above me, hazy and obscured with steam.

I raised my hands out of the bath water, a few of the petals stuck to the wet skin, and studied them for a moment.

They should have been dirty. Filthy, even. Dirt under the nails, in the crevices of the knuckles, worn and calloused palms. Torn and cut from a life in the Underworld of London.

But they weren't.

There wasn't anything on my hands to show that they had ever been used. Not by a normal person. The gloves prevented any wear and tear, kept my skin enveloped and untouched, soft, clean, new, innocent, even while they hid my dark secret.

I let them drop back under the surface of the water, away from sight, and sunk deeper into the bath, closing my eyes as I submerged myself fully.

Under the surface, everything was quiet. The only sound was the water moving around me. The rest of the world's sounds were dulled and far in the distance, they couldn't reach me here. And I wondered, for a brief moment, what would happen if I just stayed here, silent, under the water, never coming up for air again. Would it always be this quiet? Or would my thoughts eventually grow louder than the quiet and drive me mad?

Breaking through the surface, I opened my eyes, water cascading down my cheeks and over my lips, sticking on my eyelashes as I blinked to clear my vision. I pushed myself up and out of the tub, the heavy, warm air of the bathroom clinging to my skin as I reached for the towel, and even in the temperature of the room, as I wrapped the towel around myself and quickly pulled on my gloves, I shivered.

I knew the answer to my silent question. The thoughts were always too loud. Even in a crowded room, they drowned everything else out and drove me mad. One day, in the quiet, they would succeed.

I pulled the towel closer to my chest and hurried out of the bathroom, leaving the pearly surface of the water lapping at the edges of the tub, almost like a whisper, as I shut the door behind me on the water and the beckoning silence beneath its surface.

Mey Rin stood next to the wardrobe, in front of a long mirror, and as I entered the bedroom, she turned to face me, smiling as she held up a pair of clean undergarments and petticoats. "I've everything ready for you, my lady!"

Dropping the towel at my feet, I stepped into the undergarments and then the petticoats. I had never worn anything like this. No, wait. That was a lie. I'm sure I wore things like this when I was younger, but seeing as how I had blocked those memories from my mind, this was almost like the first time.

I rolled my eyes as I thought of Sebastian and his obvious disdain for the clothes I had been wearing the night before. The dirty pants, the shirt and jacket two sizes too large, the shoes with holes in the toes. The only part of my outfit I had ever taken pride in was my gloves. They were long and made of a thick, dark velvet, encasing my fingers and forearms perfectly. I kept them spotless and if they ever showed signs of wear, I replaced them immediately. '