Phantom & Ghost

02

Her soft hand gracefully loosened the grip and fell into her lap. Ciel was frozen in place, his thoughts unstable.
"How...?" A black tear fell from her makeup lined eyes and onto her bare thigh.
"Lizzy..." Ciel breathed out. He was speechless, he had so many questions, but nothing seemed right. One side of him wanted to hug her, wanted to cry into her shoulder and the other side wanted to run, wanted to get far, far away and never see her again. But for now, time was frozen.

A strong hand rested on his shoulder, "Master?" Ciel turned around to see Sebastian towering above him.

"Sebas-" Lizzy started, her gaze immediately flickering to the butler. He ignored her, "It seems that I have located an accomplice of the possible culprit, but we must act fast." Ciel stood up maybe too quick and followed his servant back into the crowd of people, not daring to let himself wonder back to the bar.

Once they had finally located the exit and stepped back into the real world, Ciel had to cover his mouth to stop himself from deliberately coughing. Although he no longer had to breath to survive, the wretched scents of the bar wouldn't leave his senses. It was at that moment he had decided to never go into one of those pigsties for as long as he existed in this world.

"Would you like me to assist you back to the hotel my lord? You've seem to have outdone yourself today." He extended his gloved hand to Ciel who had his back slumped against the bricks of the building.

"No... I'll follow through." He tried to regain his composer, just to collapse back against the wall.

"My lord!"

The truth was, Ciel really did want to return back to the hotel. He wanted to bury his face into the plush pillows and scream his thoughts, but of course he couldn't let Sebastian know that. As far as he knew, Sebastian saw him as a mere weakling rather than a fellow creature of the night. Despite keeping his reputation up, he still let his butler lift him back onto his feet.

"Take me back, I need to get this wretched smell of... human off of my skin." Not only did Ciel give into the temptation of weakness, he also couldn't stand another moment of cigarette stench festering on his clothing.

Sebastian didn't seemed phased by his master's choice of action whatsoever--for after more than a decade of serving the boy, he had quickly caught onto his short tempered fuse. Of course this meant Sebastian would be stuck into bathing the child, rather than continuing the case.
Ciel was forced to walk back to the hotel. It was not like Sebastian couldn't carry him, but the image of a grown man carrying another grown man down the street would be a concerning sight to see from passerby. Sebastian suggested Ciel to return back to his preferred physical state, but all his master responded with was how difficult and a pain it was and how he'd get to it later in the comfort of their hotel room.
At their arrival, the sky was starting to set in late afternoon, clouds starting to drift farther and farther into the sky until the sun completely disappeared, leaving shadows on the city. Ciel was more than anxious to strip off his clothing and return to his old self and he could almost already feel steaming hot bath water as he stepped back into the hotel room. It was immediately obvious to tell the room had been cleaned by room service, the bed made and his night gown hung neatly on a hook in the closet.
Out of his own self conscious, he made his servant stand outside the room door as he returned to his old self, his newfound height being the first thing go. In every way possible, Ciel was elated to be back in his body. The clothing that made came with the shadow of an older him had vanished, leaving back his childish Victorian apparel that were all several shades of black.
"I much prefer you like this my lord," Sebastian commented when allowed back in.
"Shut up." Ciel rebutted, making his way to the wash room.
Since Ciel would never accept bathing in front of strangers, Sebastian always had to reserve the room with a private washroom. This hotel's private room consisted of white a beige decor with a large marble bathtub in the center. Unlit candles lined the walls and the wafting scent of French vanilla already had calmed Ciel's nerves.
"Is this to your liking?" His butler asked as he slowly peeled off his young master's peacoat.
"It'll do for now-" Ciel began, but was quickly cut off by Sebastian's hand taking an unexpected grip on Ciel's miniature and pale wrist,"You're shaking my lord."
Ciel took a notice into how his body was uncontrollably quivering and tried his best to still himself, "There must be a draft in the building."
Sebastian shook off the topic for his master's sake,"We're you able to decipher any new discoveries on our outing today my lord?"
Ciel grunted,"Nothing that'll help with the case, how about you?" Sebastian finally stripped off his master's trousers and lifted him into the marble tub that was filled to the brim with steaming water,"If we hadn't made such an early departure, I would've been able to discuss with the owner of the establishment on the regularity of the husband's late night appearances—if you don't mind, I'd like to investigate that certain bar in more depth." He scrubbed at Ciel's back delicately, catching every crevice in his young lord's bone structure.
"I'm not going back to that wretched pigsty if that's what you're implying." He winced when Sebastian hit a soft spot between his shoulder blades with the sponge.
"As I was expecting from you my lord. Are you planning to stay behind during the investigation?" Sebastian started to inch closer to his young master as Ciel reached his right arm out to be washed.
"I'm not that pathetic, of course I'm going—this is my game after all."
"And I am your loyal pawn." Sebastian almost whispered into his master's pierced ear. Due to his inability to reach over to his other arm, his lips were grazing Ciel's jawline as he attempted to wash his forearm.
Ciel's shivering hadn't seized, despite the warm water that surrounded his whole being. Ever since he and Sebastian took the dash from the bar, he couldn't help but shake nonstop. Was it because of the shock of seeing a person who deemed him dead so long ago?
He ever so slightly turned his head to look over towards the door. What he wasn't aware of, was how close Sebastian actually was. Their faces, centimeters apart, lips almost touching. Ciel closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, but Sebastian's breathing was ever so slightly ringing in his ears. He soon felt as if he could fall asleep like this, yet his demon body wouldn't allow such petty actions like sleep.
This didn't stop Ciel though from leaning his head against Sebastian's shoulder as he was lifted from the tub and towel dried and taken back to the bedroom. Sebastian of course knew that Ciel was very much awake and could at least try to help in any sort of way when it came to changing into his nightwear, yet he couldn't get himself to disturb his peaceful face in any way.
As he scooped him up and placed the boy into the king sized bed, Ciel looked almost dead. Demons also didn't need to waste their energy on such human actions as breathing, but Sebastian had taught Ciel how to fake a breath for public appearance. For himself and all the years he had existed, it had simply become a habit to act as human as possible; no matter where they were. But now, his master's body lay slumped like a pale corpse on a death bed.
When Sebastian was almost certain that his young master no longer needed his service for the night, he blew out the candled light and quietly slid out through the the bedroom door, out into the hotel hallway.