The Indignity of Mortality (Sebasclaude)

12. Claude

The servants were all congregated in the living room: the Triplets in group, whispering and looking bored, and Hannah, by herself, as she looked at her feet - she had never looked Alois in the eye since, well... it went without saying, really. Alois stood up on the coffee table (something that someone of his weight could get away with, but I wasn't certainly was terribly polite) and folded his arms. "Oi! Thompson, Timber, Canterbury, stop gossiping like a bunch of old hags and listen!" I saw the corners of Hannah's mouth twitch upwards, but she kept quiet. "This is important. There's an angel in our area, and it's already turned Claude into a human, so we're going to Earl Phantomhive's since we're the ones with that Leviathan sword... thing. Any questions? Oh, and it also turned Sebastian into a human, I s'pose..." Alois didn't so much as pause for a second before continuing. "Brilliant. I want you all to be on your best behaviour, so that means no fannying about, no gossiping behind people's backs," he paused to glare at the Triplets, "no devouring anyone's souls, and that we will treat Earl Phantomhive with the upmost respect because we have a reputation to uphold, blah, blah, blah, and Earl Phantomhive's incredibly pretty, but you're not to tell him a said that. That's it. Please pack quickly, we're leaving in an hour. Chop chop!" And with that Alois stood down off the coffee table, and turned to me. "Once you're done packing, come to help me." In some ways I envied Sebastian when it came to masters, but I also knew Ciel would never stand on top of a coffee table, swear, and announce he found another bot attractive, and I also knew that, on some level, I did have to admire Alois' confidence.

I was just about to leave to help Alois pack, when there was a nock at my door, so I knew it couldn't be Alois - Alois never nocked before entering, and I doubted the Triplets did either, so I knew it had to be Hannah. "You can come in," I replied. As anticipated, Hannah floated in through the door, and approached me.
"Claude, sorry for slapping you earlier..." I blinked, I'd all but forgotten.
"It's fine. I don't mind." I wasn't going to lie and say it hadn't hurt - it was Hannah, I was merely thankful it hadn't killed me.
"Lucifer bellow, I can't believe..." Hannah shook her head. "I realky don't know what criteria their using for what Angels get to stay in Heaven but it seems to have changed in the past couple of thousand years." Hannah chewed the inside of her cheek, before remembering something, and pulling out a hairbrush. "Oh, and I've been hanging onto this for a while, but I obviously don't need it, whereas, you do." She smiled, handing me the small item, before shrugging and looking ready to leave. "Have a nice day," Hannah stated, before turning on her heel. Of all the demons and humans I'd met, Hannah was by far one of the most confusing - all the signs that she was feeling and thinking certain things were so subtle, and sometimes they conflicted with each other, and I could never quite pin down exactly what sort of person she was.
"Oh, thank you. Have a nice day." And with that, she was gone, out the door and off to who knows where, probably to load her possessions onto the carriage, I would need to do that too I supposed, before going to help Alois. As I stood, staring at the door, I internally begged that Sebastian, now that he was going to be a little more worn out, from being a human, he would maybe stop being so argumentative, and that this wouldn't all be as bad as I was anticipating.