Tis' But A Mask

Devils

Summary of Chapter: Sebastian Michaelis reflects on his one and only home. Hell.

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Sebastian sighed slightly as he stepped into fading evening light, a hand running through his already perfectly styled messy hair. Eyes shutting, he grit his teeth ever so slightly, his thoughts alighting on the point of his frustrations. Ciel Phantomhive. His Young Master. Sebastian felt like snorting at that. Oh, how far he had fallen. From prince of Hell, son of Lucifer, to butler, a mere servant. How Lilith would laugh if she saw him now.

His only older sister always had enjoyed mocking him. Also, running him through with a knife. Ah, however, that was Hell for you. Raised from the cradle with weapons in hand. His lips lifted ever so slightly when he thought of the horror stories the maids used to tell of his sister's childhood. They had said that Lilith had come out of their mother's womb laughing like a maniac, had an axe as her first comfort, and set the gardens on fire more than once by the time she was three. Sebastian could say, without any semblance of shame, that he was relived that he had been born several thousands of years after Lilith. She had at least mellowed out a bit by the time he was born. That did not stop her from trying to kill him around three dozen times by the time he was fourteen.

Humming, Sebastian glanced up at the dusky sky, eyes drawn to the Morning Star. His father had once been that star, before he had fallen. That puny little speck of gas in the sky did the title no justice. Lilith had told him once, when he was much younger, of the times before his father fell. She had been around back then, God not yet alerted that she had been born. That had not lasted long. A demon's presence, even in days like those, was very easy to detect if you were an angel. Demons positively reeked of damned souls, poison, sulfur, and the screams of the undying. At least, that was what Lilith had said. How she knew what screams of the undying smelled like, he did not wish to know, and most likely would curl into a sniveling ball if he did.

A sudden feeling struck him, making him go still as marble, crimson eyes wide and unyielding. There was another demon in the area. A quick sniff of the air provided him with their scent, making him relax ever so slightly as he recognized it almost immediately.  Violets, blood, sulfur, metal, and morning dew. Such a odd combination, one that surprisingly suited the one who owned it. Really, did she always know when he was thinking of her? It seemed so, for she seemed to always appear when he had even an inkling of a thought towards her. Where in the seven circles of Hell did she get all that free time? As it was, between making deals so that he would not starve, he rarely had a moment when he wasn't bound in contract. How had it come to this again? Him, working like a slave to get a meal, when once in Hell, he had been spoiled like the prince he was? Before his thoughts could go any further, a voice, one that sounded oddly happy and serious at the same time, with small hints of poison that would never leave, interrupted him just as the air shifted in a indication of another being now standing on the balcony with him.

"Honestly, little brother, you would think that working on a high class estate would mellow ya out a bit, but nooo. Sebastian has to be such a special little boy and worry instead." Growling slightly, the male demon turned and found himself staring into a pair of glowing fuchsia eyes that all his kind shared.

"Hello, Lilith. Or would you prefer Akeldama?"