Reincarnation
Chapter 13
It had been a long day for Ciel. Mondays were never good for him and this one had been especially desponding. Now that Sebastian knew he wasn't a reincarnation Ciel no longer had a great advantage over him. He still had some tricks up his sleeve, but there were small and trivial compared to the advantage that he had had. He was also no longer confident that he would be able to carry out what the Grim Reapers had ordered him to do as well as what his ancestor had requested him to do. Also having to make sure that his right eye was always hidden by his hair was a pain and disorienting his sight as well as playing havoc with his depth perception.
Due to his pileup of stress Ciel swapped his usual quick shower for a long soak in the bath and felt his worries temporarily ebb away into the steaming hot water. He had fun going back to his childhood and giving himself a Father Christmas beard making snowmen out of bubbles. He had also considered lighting some scented candles, but that was one step too far into femininity for him, although he knew Alois did it.
A sharp knock at the bathroom door punctuated his half an hour of forgetting that he was a descendant of Ciel Phantomhive and that his loved ones' lives hung in the balance if he didn't make a contract with a demon for his soul.
"Young master Ciel? It is nearly 9 o'clock and you have school tomorrow," Sebastian's voice called, muffled by the door.
Ciel opened his eyes and yawned. Time had flown by too quickly for his liking and reminded him that he had a time limit.
"I'm coming," he replied and stepped out the bath and pulled out the plug. He picked up his pyjamas to put on. The thought of Sebastian seeing him in a towel was embarrassing for him.
Sebastian was still waiting outside five minutes later when Ciel finally exited the bathroom in his blue and white striped pyjamas with his wet hair covering his right eye and dripping water onto the collar. He clicked his tongue and tutted.
"If you go to bed with wet hair, you will catch a cold," the butler reprimanded and pulled the boy's towel out of his hands and rubbed his hair dry with the towel like he had done for the boy's ancestor over 100 years ago.
The action felt pleasant to Sebastian and he remembered again how he had enjoyed serving his human former master. Making jokes about how incapable he was at physical tasks, enjoying watching him concoct his nefarious plots and touching him whenever he could... Admiring his glowing pale skin when he washed his hair in the bath...
He stopped rubbing and pulled the towel away from Ciel's head. He patted the boy's head with his gloved hand to check for moisture.
"Your hair is dry now, young master Ciel," he said quietly and handed the wet towel back to the boy.
"Thank you Sebastian," Ciel replied. "Good night."
He turned away from the butler and walked down the hallway to his bedroom. Alois was sitting up in his bed on his laptop.
"You were a long time in the bath," Alois commented as Ciel slipped in on the other side of the double bed. "I was waiting for you, but you took so long I started reading some nice Yaoi manga." He rotated the screen towards Ciel who flinched when he saw the picture on the screen.
"You should stay off the dodgy websites, Alois," he yawned and snuggled into his bedcover. "Good night."
As Alois clicked away on his laptop Ciel pondered the altercation he had just had with Sebastian. His touch had felt familiar for some reason and he had found himself enjoying it. He stared down at the ring that was hanging from his neck on a chain. He always wore the ring as he was afraid of losing it or it getting stolen, but now he wondered if it really was the best thing as it was clearly having some kind of effect on him.
That night Ciel had the most vivid dream he had ever had.
It was his tenth birthday and he was running through his house which didn't look like his normal house- it was too big, looking for his parents. He found them sprawled on the floor in the lounge, lifeless with blood pooling around them and bright flames building over the room.
The next thing he knew he was trapped in a cage being sold to a cult of sadistic and bloodthirsty mask wearers who branded him on his back. He could feel the searing hot pain of the brand.
Then he was lying on a hard block of stone, about to be sacrificed by a person in a raven black cloak and mask.
As the dagger was raised to stab down he shouted out loud, "There is no such thing as God in this world!"
Ciel woke up with a piercing scream. His hair was messed up and beads of sweat were dripping down his face. As he was recovering his breath in short gasps, his parents and Sebastian burst into his bedroom, all in their night clothes and dressing gowns.
"Ciel, what was that scream for?" his father demanded, walking up to him.
"I think Ciel had another nightmare," Alois answered for him as he sat up in bed.
"It must have been scary," his mother said and gave him a hug.
Sebastian did not join in the huddle around Ciel. Instead he watched the boy carefully as both eyes were now showing due to his messed up hair. The boy looked over at him and for a split second their eyes met and the boy's right eye flashed purple before he looked away. The demon frowned in puzzlement and decided that it would be beneficial for him to join the huddle.
He leaned over Ciel whose eyes were the normal shade of blue again and patted his head, before saying,
"I hope your nightmare wasn't too scary. Was it because you were reading Poe before you went to bed, young master?"
As he had been expecting, Ciel's right eye glowed for a millisecond with a pentagram that matched the one that was concealed under a glove on Sebastian's hand. The flash was so quick that only Sebastian's demon eyes picked it up, but the Trancy brat seemed to sense something and pushed Sebastian's hand off Ciel's head.
"He's fine now," Alois said forcefully to the butler. "You can all go back to bed now," he added in a much sweeter tone to Ciel's parents and smiled.
Eventually Ciel's parents and Sebastian left the room. The demon butler had clearly wanted to remain for a while, but Alois managed to force him to leave politely.
"Ciel, what was your dream about?" he asked as soon as they were alone. He remembered the last time Ciel had talked about his dreams- it had been something to do with Edgar Allen Poe which Sebastian had just referenced. Alois frowned.
"I-I don't know.." Ciel ran a shaking hand through his hair. "It was extremely upsetting and I was going to die." He winced. "My head hurts now and I can feel a stinging pain in my right eye."
"Do you want me to get you some Paracetamol?" Alois offered.
Ciel shook his head. "I'll be fine, thank you Alois."
He lay back down and tried to relax and empty his brain of thoughts so he could fall asleep. However images from his dream kept flashing in front of his eyes. Unlike last time, the images were clear cut, almost as if it had been a memory. A memory that had been too horrific to forget...
Sleep didn't come for Ciel until the morning.
The next day was grey. The sky was completely raven black with dark cloud blocking out the sunlight. To make the day even more dreary, it was raining heavily with the raindrops filling overflowing puddles on pavements.
Ciel stared out the window disconsolately with sleep deprived eyes. He had a bad feeling about attending school today.
Alois came up behind him. "We're going to have to leave now otherwise we won't get there in time." He picked up a red and white spotted umbrella from the umbrella stand and passed Ciel's plain black umbrella to him. "I've been looking forward to trying out my new brolly for a while."
Ciel accepted the umbrella and stared out the window again. "Alois, do you know what Pathetic Fallacy is?"
Alois rolled his eyes. "There you again with your fancy words. What is it?"
"It is when descriptions of the weather reflect the current mood of a book, a play or a film. It was often used by Shakespeare to foreshadow future darker events," Ciel said thoughtfully.
"It is key in Act 3, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet," Sebastian's voice came from behind him. "It is part of your English Literature curriculum, master Trancy."
"How did you know?"
Sebastian smirked condescendingly. "I believe you handed me all your textbooks and begged me to tutor you."
Alois scowled.
"In any case, you should be getting to school. Something important may happen today and you would not be wanting to be late for it." The demon's eyes glowed a startlingly red.
The pair found that Sebastian was correct when they finally arrived at Weston College after a brisk run through the rain. All the pupils were clamouring around outside in the rain which was not usual behavior.
They walked up the steps to the front entrance to find their Grim Reapers headmaster blocking their way.
"What's going on?" Ciel enquired.
"There has been a death which is currently classed as a suspected murder," Will replied.
Ciel's comment about Pathetic Fallacy had been right on the mark.
***
If you have done GCSE English Literature it very likely that you will know Act 3, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet very well... It is a teacher favourite as is Of Mice and Men and you have to know it in detail to get a high grade.
I also occasionally use Pathetic Fallacy in my fanfics, but this is the first time I have used it in this particular one.