𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓'𝖘 𝕷𝖎𝖔𝖓: 𝕮𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖙

Homebound

Birds were chirping. The sun was streaming in through the window, lighting up dust that floated through its warm beam. Ciel could hear the sound of bugs humming as he opened his eyes. His head was pounding, and the thin white curtains were doing nothing to close out the light that was straining his eyes. "When did Sebastian change the curtains?" Ciel grumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Now the curtains were far too thin to do their job, and their color was not helping in the slightest. Ciel pushed himself up, going to shut the open curtains when he noticed the bed dip. Ciel's hand slipped against the fabric of his covers and brushed against something warm. When he saw what it was, the Earl jerked backwards and fell to the ground with a thud and a wail.

Now there was a dull pain in his wrist growing to match the one on the back of his head. "Ciel?" A familiar voice sleepily called out. "Ciel, are you alright?" She yawned and the Earl couldn't believe his ears. Ciel scrambled to his knees, almost tearing the comforter and sheets off of the bed as he hauled himself back on top of the mattress. "Ciel?" She asked again, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as the Earl gawked at her. "What's wrong? Is my hair that bad?" She giggled at her own joke and it was enough to knock what little air was left in Ciel's lungs right out of them. The way the sunlight was creeping across her skin made her look like an angel. Her lacy white nightgown was pooling fabric and ribbons around her like the folded wings of a dove.

"If you keep making that face, it'll stick." She stretched her arms out above her head, letting out a soft sigh as she let them fall back down to her sides. There were no bags under her eyes. She was smiling softly at him like she had never seen anything cruel in the world, her eyes pure and untainted with the blood of her sins. She was a picture of perfect health, her teeth shining as she smiled and every line and curve of her body was soft and supple. There was not a single scar on her face or hands, and she sat with the posture of a perfect lady.

"Y-Y/N..." Ciel trailed off. He was afraid if he said even just her name, she would disappear. But instead she hummed in response, looking at him with doe eyes. "Y/N, what happened to you?" She was not at all like he remembered her. The Y/N he knew had bags under her eyes, a face littered with imperfections, a darkness in her eyes to balance out their bright shine, and she had just as many sharp lines and jagged edges as she did soft curves. And when she smiled it was like looking at an eclipse, not staring blankly into the sun. Whoever this was, it was not Ciel's Y/N.

"What happened to me?" She repeated his question in a voice that was far too innocent, and it was in a perfect British accent. No matter how much they had worked to conceal Y/N's original accent, Ciel had always noticed that in the morning it crept into her words. Her accent would dance through her words until she had breakfast and finally woke up completely. Whoever this was spoke without the slightest hint of Y/N's accent seeping into her words. "What do you mean 'what happened to me'? I've been here with you, nothing's happened to me."

Whoever this was, it wasn't Y/N. "But you were gone," Ciel insisted. "The Undertaker, he-"

"What about the Undertaker? Is he okay?" Y/N asked, looking very concerned.

"He-he took you!" Ciel sputtered. How could she forget that? They would've just rescued her. Realization hit Ciel like a carriage.

"What do you mean he 'took' me? I've been with you all night. I haven't gone anywhere. That is, except to ring for a glass of water. Are you feeling well?" Y/N placed her hand on Ciel's forehead and he fell backwards once again, trying to get away. They had never rescued Y/N. Ciel had no memory of ever retrieving her with Sebastian, Agni and Soma. "What's wrong? Did you hit your head?"

"Stay back!" Ciel shouted as Y/N began to crawl over to him. Ciel felt the cold wood of the headboard against his neck as he backed himself against the wall. It felt like his world was spinning as the Earl gasped for air. He bunched his fists into his hair as he tried to calm down. His blue and purple eyes scattered across the room, looking for something familiar to latch onto, but they found nothing. Ciel did not know where he was. The room looked normal, but he was certain it was neither of his rooms, nor was it one of Y/N's or a guest room at either the town house or the manor. And it was certainly not the dusty and cobweb-covered room Ciel remembered falling asleep in last night. "Where are we?"