As Time Goes On - A SebaCiel Story

Chapter 83: Listen

Sebastian's POV

The tension between my love and his cousin has become thick enough to slice with a butter knife. They have come to an understanding and yet, they fail to understand one another.

But worst of all, his cousin fails to understand herself.

She stands before me now, that blatant fear so obvious that her skin has lost all colour. It is not me that she fears. It is not God. It is the little girl she used to be, who flirted with Hell in the form of Alois Trancy and got her fingers burned.

"Sebastian, I trust you still. I'm so incredibly sorry about what I said about you. You love him so much that you granted him immortality, I understand that. I-I come here as the girl who used to place bonnets on your head and bows in your hair, I-" Tears roll down her cheeks as she sits at the foot of my Lord's bed, holding a handkerchief in her hand as she desperately tries to compose herself.

The memories of the girl she used to be fill my senses and my heart, the emotions that my love has been feeling for so long are only now beginning to show within me.

She sits before me not as a child I tolerated, but as the woman I have come to care for. As a sister, my little Lord's sister. Not a cousin nor a girl but family.

"I want to know what-...I want to know if what Trancy...if I am a virgin, Sebastian."

I waste no time in my answer, no time in easing the sweet young woman's pain, her sorrow.

"Yes, Lizzy. You are. Ciel was."

"But he-"

"I know what he did to you, my dear friend, but you remain a virgin. Your honour is in tact. I wouldn't lie to you about this. I never lied about it when Ciel asked the same question. Virginity is a social and religious concept that I believe should never have come into existence. It was made to shame young women into purity. But Elizabeth, in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of the Devil, you are a virgin. You only give up your virginity the day you make love to someone you truly want to have sex with. It is never taken by force. It is your will that breaks it, not the state of your hymen."

"Sebastian...thank you!" She jumps up to hold me in her arms, but this time, it feels right. She is free.

"Do not thank me for the truth, Lizzy. Thank the power of your will for giving you the strength to ask such a difficult question."

"You're right Sebastian, I should be the one to thank you. For supporting my cousin when she needed it most." Ciel's smooth, even-toned voice bellows from the door frame. My lover's eyes sparkling like the stars in the night sky.

"You're the only person in the world who will never have a reason to thank me."

"I have many reasons but it would take an eternity to list them all. As they arise, I will never forget my manners." He saunters over with a caring purpose, gently taking the hand of the woman who only untangles from our embrace now. "Lizzy, you are my sister. In my heart you are my sister and as your brother I must tell you that only you have the power to choose what you are. A Midford, a Phantomhive, a Michaelis. A Lady, a wife, a Mother. A leader, a follower, a spokesman. I am not able to decide what you are, what you are is what you choose to be. If you wish to bed Finnian before marriage then you are no less of a woman than you are now unless you decide you are. If you wish to wait until marriage you are no less of a woman than you would be if you didn't wait. I am no less of a man for falling for a man. I am no less of a man for choosing to become intimate with a man before marriage. And I am no less of a man for telling you now."

"No, no you're not. You're braver having done so."

"And you are braver having come to ask my demon for advice. I knew I taught you something a lot more important than how to play chess."

"I didn't need to be taught to know that Sebastian Michaelis, the demon that he is, is the most trustworthy person I've ever known."

"And I didn't need to be taught that to realise it for myself many years ago. Back when love was a lie to me."

"It's all too real, my darling, our dear friend has just come to know it's true power."