A Timeline (Female!Reader x Sebastian Michaelis)

Chapter 8

I was very correct in what Sebastian would do after he returned. Warily, I helped him in the kitchen while he tested making curry after curry. It was insane how easily he multitasked a hundred things. 

"Sebastian, I have a bad feeling about this... festival." I kept just enough distance to allow him to work. "Call it a futuristic hunch." 

"My apologies, My Lady. The Young Lord has ordered me to win that contest. I will not fail him." He continued adding spices. 

I sighed. "Didn't believe that would work. Well, at least no one dies... necessarily. Sebastian, you think humanity's interesting, don't you? Why does it interest you so much? I mean, you only really need it to eat souls." 

"That is correct. But there is something in humans--humanity--that I simply cannot find anywhere else. Their behaviors, for example." He placed a big pot onto the stove and heated it, adding vegetables and meat. "Don't you find it interesting?" 

"Well, no, not really." I thought it over, rolling ideas around my head like a kid deciding which marble rolled the smoothest. "I suppose I can see how it's interesting. But with so many people everywhere, there's no point to much, is there? Our mortality is only a dull ticking of a metronome. When it stops, we die. And life is a game of luck. You can roll the dice however many times you'd like, but the outcomes would still be out of your hands." 

Sebastian glanced at me before cutting more carrots and onions. "You've an American accent, but I can hear a slight undertone of a British accent. Where are you from, Lady (y/n)?" 

"Well, everywhere and nowhere, I suppose." I kicked my foot nervously. 

"Please." He turned to face me with a devilish smirk. "Elaborate." 

I shifted on my feet, deciding to sit on a stool. "Luxxi and Noxa found me drifting between space and time. You have to understand that worlds and times like this are very delicate. They're all like threads, intertwining. Some never cross. But the earliest I could remember of anything is a light. I held onto that light and floated until I was a child sitting in the rain on a tree branch. Luxxi told me that we were going to be close, closer than friends even. He and Noxa would grant me the use of their powers in exchange for a vessel." 

Sebastian adjusted the temperature of the stove, beckoning me to continue. 

"So I did. Two spirits of time chose me as their host and whenever death or lethal harm was imminent, they would send me back to some point in some past. And I traveled through time in many places and a few eras. But then I touched upon a timeline where a demon served a young noble. He was witty and clever and dangerous. And that's when I knew that my aimless travels were over." I felt warmth beginning to fill my cheeks. "I had fallen for someone, a demon no less. And slowly, he began to love me back. It seemed impossible, but he did. And there were a few timelines where I failed or where he tricked me with my love-struck mind. 

But I have hope. As all humans, I have hope. And I truly hope that I won't fail you, that I won't lose you again, that you will choose me on your own." My eyes were watering. I didn't realize the emotion I had let slip as I recounted my story. 

The butler looked at me with a neutral expression, unfazed by the emotional tale. He looked almost amused, but nothing more so. He then sneered. "I am a demon. Demons don't love." 

I wiped my eyes. "My apologies. Of course not. Perhaps in this timeline, I will fail again." I gave a wet chuckle and stood, smoothing down my dress. "Excuse me, Sebastian." I left, gloves tightening as I balled my hands into frustrated fists. 

Sebastian seemed to frown for a millisecond. But I couldn't be sure.