Sometimes he was an infant. Sometimes he appeared on the face of a stranger in a crowded street.
Sometimes his was the voice of his best friend.
And, sometimes he would remember.
Most of the time, he did not. He was simply 'intrigued' by him... or 'drawn' to him like an invisible thread was tied to both their thumbs.
Though the demon did remember.
He remembered when he used to call him 'Sebastian' instead of 'John' or 'Jack' or once, even 'Vincent'. He remembered when that man in the bar used to be a child full of hatred... when his eyes would glow with secrets instead of intoxication.
He appeared differently in every time; in every life. But yet he was always the same. His soul was everlasting. It never changed, grew or aged in the least.
----
The demon hadn't killed him.
----
The man in the bar was gone with the next train.
----
In 1902 he reappeared again in London.
This time as a cat. Its fur was matted; singed by countless days in the sun. He was living in the back alley of a barber-shop.
He purred as he nuzzled into that pale, slender hand.
----
By summer of 1904, the cat was gone.
----
It had been going on like this forever, it seemed.
He decided to use the name 'Sebastian' again.
----
When he befriended the teen in line for the train, there wasn't even a hint of recognition in his eyes.
"Well... nice meeting you, Sebastian."
though he said it the same way.
"See you around."
----
And then he was a child again. A student at a kindergarten in 1915.
"He's shy."
His Mother whispered.
"But not unhappy. He'll make friends. Just give him some time."
It seemed the best friend he had made was he, the teacher.
And the demon knew that he remembered. He saw it in those blazing eyes.
He quit that job when the boy moved schools.
----
Time was an illusion.
----
He appeared as a stranger again in 1928. His scent washed through the busied streets before the demon caught a fleeting glance of that slate-gray hair.
He disappeared.
----
He thought he saw a ghost.
----
"Why didn't you kill me, Sebastian?"
----
"I dream about you every night."
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"I don't know who you are."
----
"Yes, you do look familiar."
----
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
----
"Sebasatian."
----
Those were all things he had said to him.
----
And again he met him.
But this time, he was in the eyes of an old man in a nursing-home garden.
His gaze was heavy and the demon knew... the demon knew he remembered.
"Ciel."
"I have been waiting for you for sixty-five years."
His old heart was weakened, the demon soon learned. Their talks were long, and their voices were hushed when the whole building went dark and they were the only ones awake. The demon would stay with him until the nurse kicked him out.
It stayed like this for ten years.
The demon was relieved.
Until his heart started to fail.
He was barely ever awake, any more. The only times he'd actually greet the raven-haired creature was on rare occasion, when the nurses came in to wake him up to check his vitals and give him food and clean clothes.
The demon was watching him die again.
He should've killed him a hundred years ago, he knew that... so he didn't have to watch him be killed over and over and over again.
"I'm dying, Sebastian."
"I know."
He had asked him to take his soul. But the demon wouldn't do it. He simply couldn't do it.
But that night, when he was leaving, the old man uttered 'goodbye' instead of 'goodnight'.
He knew that when he came the next morning he would only find an empty room.
----
Funerals were never his forte.
----
After that, he stopped searching. He stopped caring or looking for his face in every cab-driver.
He stayed silent.
He should've killed him.
----
There was his scent again.
'Stop following me.'
----
He saw that face again in 2009, on a college student he met in a coffee shop.
It was pouring rain when he took shelter in that cafe.
He bought him coffee, talked for a bit.
"I feel like I've known you forever."
He left him his number.
They became friends... lovers, for the first time.
"You have."
His lips were so soft.
It was all so new.
But he knew that immortality was a curse.
But all good things must come to an end. And the demon would rather be the cause of a broken heart... a face that he would remember always... rather than see him die one more time.
So, when winter came, and Ciel started to remember, he left out an open window one night.
For this time when they met... this time there was something different about Ciel. Ciel had said something he'd never once said to the demon before. And that was,
"I'm sorry."
So that's what he left Ciel; on a little folded paper-napkin stuck under a coaster on the dining-room table.
Just an 'I'm sorry.'
He left him.
He didn't know whether he'd ever meet him again.
----
He'd started to remember.
And Sebastian didn't want to forget.
----
He left him when winter came.
YOU ARE READING
When Winter Came
FanfictionSometimes he was an infant. Sometimes he appeared on the face of a stranger in a crowded street. Sometimes his was the voice of his best friend. And, sometimes he would remember.
