Surrounded by Doubt | Kuroshitsuji

Chapter 3 - A Stroll down the hallway

Why had Sebastian looked at him like that before closing the door? Was there something wrong? Did the butler notice he wasn't feeling very good? Why didn't he say anything then, well.. He did mention bedrest, didn't he?

Ciel was thinking a little about it as the door shut before him. He had caught the demon practically staring at him, and in return Ciel had held eye contact with the ruby in Sebastian's eyes before they were out of sight completely.

The butler had just left the room. It was quiet now, the only sounds Ciel could hear was his own body taking deep breaths and the winds outside brushing against his window, even though the sun was shining it's warm rays of light over the manor on this silent morning.

Getting out of bed had not proven to be too difficult but walking about had made it clear that Ciel's small body was fairly exhausted despite having slept his usual hours. It was fine though he thought, there was only some paperwork to do today right?

Probably some papers that needed signing, letters to be read and perhaps some more but it should be quick enough to go through. He was feeling extremely tired and sure the headache was killing him but it could've been much worse, he just needed to endure it for a couple of hours and then he would be able to rest he thought, rubbing his hand against his temple to help soothe his mind a little.

The young Phantomhive hier even felt an itch crawling around in his throat leading to a small cough being released. Was he really going to start coughing now? Quite disappointed that he had what seemed to be a cold, Ciel felt a slight wave of relief over the fact that he'd managed to send out the butler just in time of said cough, he had no intention of showing that demon his weak side.

Ciel's feeble legs carried his heavy body to the big wooden door where he took a short break, feeling exhaustion trying to overwhelm him, for a second the boy also thought he heard something in the hallway, although he could be imagining things..

Upon opening the door, causing a slight squeak to escape, he looked around but ended up seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The empty hallway's cold air hit Ciel in the face causing a shiver to go down his spine, still holding his hands on the door to support himself he let go to walk towards his study.

He still wondered if someone was there and tried calling out "Hello?.. Sebastian? . . Is someone there?" But only silence answered. He assumed the workers were occupied with their duties, naturally Ciel didn't expect too much from them, seeing as they were simply inkompetent when it came to their daily tasks, Sebastian was most likely in the kitchen preparing breakfast and Tanaka probably did whatever. With that said he came to the conclusion that the noise he heard must have been in his head or simply been the manor playing tricks, he continued heading towards his study for what felt like forever.

Slowly walking in the long halls of the Phantomhive manor, Ciel felt his entire body getting warmer all the while his vision started to get somewhat blurry. He knew he was not in great health at the moment but that shouldn't stop him.

"I only have a little paperwork to do, what kind of Earl would I be if I could not even handle a little paperwork?" He thought to himself while also letting out a small chuckle.

While taking a short break by one of the windows the boy could feel the pleasant warmth from the sun reach him through the glass. He closed his eye for a minute to really take in the delightful feeling that was growing within him, as he opened his eyelids he chose to stay put for a little longer, just to enjoy the view of the beautiful garden. He even caught Finny in the corner of his eye, the blond was walking around with some tools and his hat on his head. The cheerful gardener was doing his job, well trying to do his job, and smiled brightly while doing so even as he nearly tore down half the garden in his attempt to plant something.

Ciel couldn't help but smile a little himself as he watched the incompitent gardener do his best as he always did. The Phantomhive staff really did consist of some rather odd individuals didn't it?

He had a chef that could not cook without burning down the kitchen as well as the food in the process, a gardener with such immense strength he had trouble controlling it and the plants or interior of the manor usually had to suffer for it, a clumsy maid lacking common knowledge when it came to her everyday duties and Tanaka was an exception of course, having been with the Phantomhives for so long he could practically be considered family.

Then came the head butler of the house. Sebastian was obviously not an ordinary butler seeing as he exceeded in practically anything not to mention that his devilish charms always made Ciel remember what was hiding under the surface of that perfect butler persona. He could not help but think Sebastian might actually enjoy his life as butler a little, the demon had adapted surprisingly well to his new lifestyle and never passed on the opportunity to show off his astonishing skills.

Amused at the thought of ever having "normal" workers, the boy continued following the hallway to get to his destination.

Finally in the study, it had taken Ciel a surprising amount of time to reach the room from his bedroom and now he was doing even worse than before. Still trying to stay somewhat in denial about his illness, a wave of warmth slowly started to hit him. The heat emitting from his body was starting to overwhelm him yet he made it to the desk and tried working. Although not long after starting he had trouble concentrating, his head falling down slightly from time to time.

His eyelids started to narrow the view, it began turning into a battle, a battle he intended to win. Though the weight of a million rocks soon crushed his power of will despite having intended to wave the victory flag. At that point Ciel knew unconsciousness was taking over him as everything around him slowly started to go dark.