A Timeline (Female!Reader x Sebastian Michaelis)

Chapter 15

I laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I was chasing sleep with little hope of catching it. So I weighed my thoughts and carefully looked over them as I would a novel. They jumped from worries to excitement, Ciel to the servants to the manor to Ash to Sebastian to memories to my time spirits to Sebastian again to Abberline to Lau to Sebastian once more.

Soon. It will happen soon. You'll have to be quick, Luxxi said. I could feel his Cheshire Cat grin in my subconscious.

"I've been trying," I muttered. "This is practically a failed timeline again."

Didn't the angel say he was interested in you?

You're gonna trust an angel?

No reason not to believe her.

Tell me you didn't just say that.

Ok. You didn't just say that.

Silence. I felt Noxa ready to retaliate.

"You know what. I'm going to bed. Goodnight." I rolled over and pulled the covers over myself.

You're already in bed.

I quietly opened the door to the library. Taking a seat on the couch with my blanket over my shoulders, I lit a candle and brought out a book. Its green cover was worn. The pages were old. The corners were bent. I opened it up and began reading.

"My Lady."

I jumped, turning to the voice. "Oh. Sebastian. Sorry, am I disturbing you?"

"Not exactly." He glanced at my book. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep. That's all."

"You had nightmares?" He guessed.

I chuckled. "If only it were that easy. But no. Unlike a normal human, I don't dream."

"Peculiar. Then what reason do you have for being awake at one in the morning?"

I closed my book. "Well, since I can't dream, I am plagued by thoughts. And often times, I end up not sleeping until well into the early morning. Luckily, my body is more resilient than the average human so I don't really require lots of sleep to function. But it would be nice to sleep."

"You read then?" He looked to my book again.

"This is just to keep Luxxi and Noxa quiet. Sometimes they bicker or converse and that doesn't quite help, does it?"

"You can't silence them?"

I shook my head. "I hear them as I hear my own thoughts. Except it's more like I'm hearing someone else's thoughts in my thoughts. It's complicated."

"What were you reading?"

"Uh, just a light novel."

"Would it help if I read it to you?"

"Like a bedtime story?" I laughed. "It's been a while... a long while since you've read to me." I handed him the book. "Please be careful with it."

He inspected the title. "A Raven at Dawn? I've never seen this before."

"You wouldn't have. Or at least, only you had before." I hugged the blanket closer. "It's our book. I wrote it with you the very first time. The very beginning. Before... before..." I shuddered, huddling myself tighter.

"Before...?"

I stared into Sebastian's eyes, mesmerized by the red-brown abyss that seemed deeper than he led on. They were the same. They were always the same, every timeline. "Before he killed you," I whispered absently.

Sebastian's eyes widened just the slightest. "Who killed me?" He stepped closer to me, intrigued. "Who?"

My throat tightened, unable to push the name out.

You can't do that, Luxxi's voice chided. You're not allowed to. If you tell, it won't end well for you.

"Who?" Sebastian's silky voice prompted. "Who killed me?"

Don't do anything stupid.

I swallowed hard. "He... him... A--"

No.

My vision blurred and I felt my body grow heavier and heavier. I reached a feeble hand out to Sebastian. Then the dark consumed my conscious.