Surrounded by Doubt | Kuroshitsuji

Chapter 7 - Nightmare

It's hot.

A drop of sweat made its way down Ciel's face, his clothes were plastered to him as if he'd just endured a rainshower. He threw off the heavy covers despite feeling drained of life to slightly open the window, just enough for some fresh air to make its way into the room.

The outside looked quite gloomy now compared to when he stood by the window earlier and watched Finny run around in the garden. He figured that the sky would soon shed tears by the looks of a couple darker clouds dominating the heavens not too far from where the manor was.

As he was about to close the window, the overwhelming warmth once again hit like a wave. Ciel decided that there was no problem with leaving the window open for a few more minutes, only until Sebastian came back, that way the butler could close it instead and he himself could go lay down in bed.

This time the covers were even chillier on his skin than when Sebastian had put him down earlier. It felt comfortable with the cold touching his warm body, sweat still ran down the side of his face despite the icy cold wind from the window hugging him.

Ciel crawled under the covers when the wind started to give him goosebumps, he thought about shutting it but having used all his energy to walk there, open it and wander back to bed, there was no choice but to wait for Sebastian. Surely the butler would be here anytime now he whispered to himself.

The wind was howling, cold air kept entering the room and darkness started to cover all the walls. He could see from where he sat in the bed that there was no longer a sun outside, only a dark sky was visible. Rain was starting to pour down, it made such a loud noise. Ciel's head was throbbing, not even putting his hand on the pain seemed to relieve him of it. With the closing of his eyes to make it more bearable, he drifted away into sleep.

He woke up coughing, it was difficult to breathe, tears uncontrollably running down his chin making his vision blurry. He wiped them off with his sleeve before putting a hand on his mouth. He was sweating, it felt like his limbs were going numb. Why was this feeling so familiar?

Ciel looked around as his chest was tightening, it was getting harder to breathe. Only darkness surrounded him, there was nothing else to see except for a weak beam of light dancing outside of the door. Shadows started grasping everything around him leaving only the door to escape. There was nowhere to go. Forced towards a door he didn't want to enter in fear of what was waiting for him on the other side.

"Seb.." he was cut off when the sound of a million shards of glass hit his eardrums. Reflexes told him to crouch and move his hands to block the deafening sounds piercing through his body. The screeching pitch moved closer, no matter which way he turned, it was always behind him. Creeping up like a panther stalking its prey, waiting to be close enough until Ciel felt a breath over his shoulder.

He dared not to look back and instead headed for the door. Whatever was following him had the intention of ripping his body apart and he made the most logical choice at the moment. Though he regretted the decision the moment the door closed behind him as scorching flames made an attempt to claim him.

Hand still on the handle, now trying to return back inside only to realise it was locked, Ciel closed his eyes.

When he opened them again a great conflagration encircled him, it was difficult focusing with all the smoke and fear making themselves known but he could tell he was no longer in the mansion. Memories of the fire that had taken his parents flashed by as trepidation was about to consume him whole. But despite the agonising pain overwhelming his thoughts, for only a second, he managed to pull himself out of the pathetic state he was currently in and closed his eyes.

"SEBASTIAN!"

...

Everything went quiet.

He could hear faint footsteps closing in on him as he stood there, a shiver made its way through his trembling body.

"Boccan?"

The words echoed around, going quieter and quieter until it was a mere whisper before completely fading into nothing.

Ciel plucked up the courage to slowly open his eye only to witness a dark silhouette emerge from the shadows. Two magenta orbs with slit pupils were approaching, with them a cold ambience extinguishing the fire around them, leaving only a dark void with the two of them together.

"Sebastian?.." The demon walking towards him didn't have his butler's familiar face, but instead, the form that Ciel had encountered when they first met.

He could feel his own breathing getting heavier as the demon came closer, he wanted to run away but this time his limbs were not only numb but frozen as well. Knees weakening to the point where he collapsed, his hands hitting the dark ground when catching himself, the pain of what felt like nails piercing through the palms of his hands made his body push itself back. He landed on his rear and watched the blood from his hands drop down.

The tight grasp of a cold hand grabbing his chin forced him to look up and meet the inimical demon's gaze. The grip got tighter, Ciel could feel fingernails perforate his skin causing a tear to run down his face. He raised his hand to pull off the eyepatch concealing a violet eye overflowing with fear and boiling rage..

"SEBASTIAN, I ORDER YOU TO LET ME GO RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Ciel cried. He stared deep into the demon's ravenous eyes.

"My my, you seem quite ill-tempered at the moment my Lord" The former butler hissed, showing his true colours while slowly moving his face towards the boy without letting go, observing him like one would a grand meal.

"Of course that won't be an issue from now on.." The demon continued.

As it all went black, Ciel winced from the touch of a hand on his shoulder, he couldn't see nor do anything yet the pressure from the hand kept pulling him till he saw a faint glimmer of light.

Ciel's eyes snapped open once more, he was covered in a cold sweat, still slightly shaken up from everything he'd just been through. The cold touch on his shoulder was still lingering on him, he slapped it away without hesitation, his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to escape his chest, he looked around to ensure himself that none of the horrors had followed him when he met the gaze of one butler.

The terror he had just endured once again came flooding in the shape of feelings and memories as he with fear in his heart let his eye met the crimson before him.