A Butler's Dirty Hands
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A lot of work needed to be done to prepare for the child's arrival, Ciel was pretty busy with matters himself so that left Sebastian to pick up the slack. Oh how he loved his job..
It had been a few days since their family received the tragic news of Lady Francis's passing. Ciel had taken complete control and held the funeral at the Phantomhive manor, since Elizabeth's father ultimately refused to have it at the Midford palace. He wanted no part of it, and he forbade Elizabeth of stepping on Midford property ever again. Of course he had to yell over and through Ciel, who was absolutely irate when he showed himself at the funeral, demanding answers from Elizabeth. Ciel had placed himself directly in the path of Sir Midford, drawn him a line on the tiled floor, and dared him to cross it. Edward had showed as well and when their father chose to attack Elizabeth with nasty words and a snarl, he stood in front of her protectively.
Yes, Elizabeth had quite the entourage at her disposal. First there was Edward, who stood in front of her. Next was Ciel, who intersected Alexis before he could make it to Edward. While Sebastian brought up the rear with a strong hand on Alexis's shoulder. He ultimately escorted Alexis out before there was an altercation at hand. After all, Ciel and Alexis were quite literally toe to toe with one another.
Now that the proceedings were formally done and over with, Sebastian was back to business as usual. Lady Elizabeth's recuperation was left to her own will and, of course, Ciel. That, however, didn't seem to ease his conscious in the least bit. Elizabeth was in a very bad place as it stood. When they laid Francis to rest, in the cold ground, Ciel had to forcibly remove Elizabeth from the Phantomhive cemetery; she was hysterical. It was quite the sight, watching Ciel hoist her into his arms as she thrashed and screamed. Though, uncharacteristically, Sebastian could feel a heavier weight on his chest with each one of her passing screams. His eyes burned for, what felt like, the first time in centuries. He had to swallow hard and take the reigns over the proceedings in his masters obvious absence, as he carried Elizabeth away. There were gasps of mourning and concern for the baby and it's well being under all of the stress of great loss. So much talk about how she should remain calm and how she was embarrassing the Earl. It made Sebastian disgusted at, what he dubbed as, the ignorance of humans. No one was concerned about Elizabeth and her own well being. Not one person prayed that Elizabeth was okay. All of the turmoil was centered around the Phantomhive baby, as to be expected.
So what if Elizabeth screamed out of her mind as she laid her mother, the only woman she would ever love, in the cold ground. She should keep her composure, right? Sickening. She could scream and cry to her hearts content, as far as Sebastian was concerned, it was better to come out than stay in. She didn't deserve to be back seated by these high and mighty friends of her mother's and if they had anything else to say about it Sebastian would gladly have that conversation with them once more.
Sebastian had concluded his search for further information on their vampire acquaintance, but after coming up short he decided to head back to the manor. He found it hard to focus on the task at hand when he had other matters distracting him, and for obvious reasons. He was in a foul mood all together, which was unusual for how carefree he lived. He lived for one purpose; to be one hell of a butler. Though he felt there was a drastic change in morale somewhere along the road, there was no denying that. Meeting Ciel and Elizabeth, practically raising the two, had done something to his cold demon heart. Whether he thought of them as his own children or siblings, was still up in the air, but he cared for them. The meister of tragedy that he once was, took a back seat to the needs of these two young people. Had that made him weak? To allow a human boy to corrupt him was viewed as despicable by onlooking demons and, at one point, by him as well. So what changed?
Sebastian entered the manor and headed up to Ciel's office. The doors were closed and the lights had appeared to be off, meaning he wasn't there at that obvious time. That was slightly unusual though, he was a workaholic. The demon butler carried himself throughout the manor in search of his master. He found him in the attic, looking at portraits from better times. Ciel wasn't the sentimental type at all, so Sebastian stepped around him cautiously. The attic was eerily silent, but he wasn't dense enough to assume his master wasn't aware of his presence. Sebastian folded his gloved hands behind his back and patiently watched Ciel. A few minutes passed by and the Earl took a deep breath. "I've failed."
Sebastian raised a brow and hesitated to respond, "Have you?" Ciel's well postured shoulders slumped down as he rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. "I had so many jobs, I was bound to fail one of them."
"And which one would that be, young master?"
"I'm a lousy husband."
"Is that all?" Sebastian closed his eyes as a smirk slid across his face.
"All that I can think of, yes." Ceil hadn't appeared to be in his usual playful mood, and this disappointed Sebastian. "I did this to her. She gave me loyalty, pledged the best years of her life to me, gifted me a child, and I literally ripped her heart out."
"Are you admitting defeat?" Ciel avoided the question and continued, "I'm a failure to this family name and I certainly don't deserve her. I've done nothing but embarrass her and show her how ignorantly careless I can be. I can't even face her anymore and if I make another move, it could make things worse for her. My hands are tied." Sebastian gave him a few more minutes of silent grace before speaking up once again.
"Are you admitting defeat?"
"Yes."
"Then, you know what to say." Ciel paused before answering him, "Sebastian Michaelis, I temporarily release you of your duty, you may act freely and do as you see fit without fear of repercussion." Slowly, Sebastian peeled his white gloves off and stuffed them into his pockets. His eyes, quite literally, lit up and black feathers drifted about the attic as he turned on his heels, making his swift exit. "Fret not, Ciel, I'll not be gone long."
YOU ARE READING
The Earl of Phantomhive (DemonCielXLizzy fic)
FanfictionWith Elizabeth and Sebastian by his side, Ciel Phantomhive is out to expand Funtom Corporation and perhaps his... family? If Elizabeth gets her way that may be so. However, there is a new rival in the midst who believes he can best the Phantomhives...