Reincarnation

Chapter 12

Whilst his young master and the Alois Trancy brat were at school Sebastian dusted surfaces, polished tables and washed the dishes in his role as the Phantomhive family butler. Once he had finished for the morning he returned to his bedroom and considered his options.

After receiving the two hints from Undertaker he had briefly returned to the underworld to do a little research.

Most importantly he had gained the knowledge that made demons could be killed as their healing powers were slower than a normal demon which explained why he had been able to kill the demon Ciel Phantomhive by tearing his head off. He had stabbed the boy right after he had been turned into a demon, but a stab wound was easy to heal compared to decapitation.

In addition he had picked up hints of tension between the demons and Grim Reapers which shed light on the reaper's involvement with Weston College and the Phantomhive family.

But there were other questions that still required answers. If the current Ciel Phantomhive was a completely different person to the original, why did his soul smell exactly the same? That had been bothering him and he had not picked up any clues to answer that question yet.

For now he could observe the boy and wait for him to make the first move. If not...

He still wasn't sure what the Grim Reapers wanted with him so it would be wise to approach with caution.

Sebastian thought back to his final days the human world with the demon Ciel Phantomhive. There had to be a clue in his memories somewhere of what the boy had been doing behind his back.

1889

It was around half past five in the morning. Sebastian had just arrived back at the Phantomhive townhouse in London after spending five days in the countryside redecorating the manor. He had even been order to rebuild part of it and add a conservatory.

He entered the house via the back door and shook off his sopping wet coat. It had been heavily raining on the outskirts of London and even the perfect butler couldn't avoid rain. Sebastian dried himself off and went in search of his demon master. He found him curled up asleep on the sofa in the study, looking very relaxed and free.

Reluctantly he picked the demon boy up in his arms and carried him bridal style up the stairs to his bedroom. It would be unfitting for a butler to leave in master sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

The boy stirred as Sebastian laid him out on the bed.

"Sebastian? You are back?" he asked sleepily with one eye with glowed a startling red.

"Yes I am, young master," Sebastian replied mechanically, his normal enthusiasm absent.

Ciel sat up and allowed his butler to undress him.

"Sebastian, do you believe in Reincarnation?" he enquired suddenly as Sebastian buttoned up his nightshirt.

The butler looked directly at his master- something that he hadn't done since the boy had become a demon.

"The Grim Reapers possibly have some control over it, but I have never seen it happen. Why do you ask?"

His master laid back down and pulled the covers over himself with a sigh. "It was just a thought. It would be nice if someone knew the real story of Ciel Phantomhive and not just that I was a rich brat."

"If you say so, young master."

The boy was in a whimsical mood, Sebastian thought to himself without much interest. He no longer served the boy with any enthusiasm- there was no reward at the end for him anymore.

"Oh Sebastian, I want to leave this human world as soon as I can..."

Present Day

Sebastian considered the memory carefully. The boy had been very relaxed that day which suggested that he had gotten rid of something, possibly a task that had been bothering him. He had also been interested in Reincarnation, which was now a moot point as he knew that the current Ciel Phantomhive was not a reincarnation.

His young master had wanted people to know the true events of his life, this knowledge had clearly been passed down to the current Ciel Phantomhive through some means- something that had led on from the mysterious secret riddle.

At four o'clock in the afternoon his young master returned from school with his whelp of a best friend. The pair headed straight to Ciel's bedroom, but Alois came back downstairs a few minutes later and entered the kitchen.

"Sebastian, can you give me some help with homework?" the blonde whined annoyingly and sidled closer to him.

Sebastian forced a smile. "I'm afraid I am busy at the moment."

"Ciel wants some help too. He's just getting the textbooks," Alois added and there was a momentary glint in his eye.

"I might be able to spare you some time," Sebastian acquiesced immediately. Finally, he had some time with his young master.

As promised Ciel joined them a few moments later, carrying a stack of precariously balanced textbook and wearing a pair of cat ears on his head. He dumped the books on the kitchen table with a thud and sat down opposite Sebastian with a very red face. It had taken a lot of persuading from Alois to get Ciel to wear the cat ears and he was feeling very embarrassed.

"What would you like help with?" Sebastian asked, eyeing the textbooks and Ciel with interest. Cat ears made his current master look...cute. He felt a desire to reach out and stroke his head. In order to stop himself he steadfastly focused his attention on the textbooks in front of him. Schooling had certainly changed since he had been a teacher at Weston College in the 19th Century.

Ciel and Alois looked at each other. "History," the pair said at the same time.

Sebastian tore his eyes from Ciel's head and focused his attention on what they were saying. "Which period in particular?"

Ciel handed the butler a textbook with GCSE History: The American West written across the cover.

"This should give you an idea. We have to know everything about the American West. Luckily its only a fifty year period that we have to know in detail."

Sebastian flipped through the textbook. The Gold Rush. Cowboys and Cattle Ranching, Homesteaders were what most of the pages were about. There was also helpful highlighting of key words and summary questions on each page.

"I will read through the later and set you some questions. Why are you both so behind in History?"

He could guess the answer though- he had met their teacher.

"All Mr. Sutcliffe does in our lesson is brush his hair and paint his nails," Alois complained. "I regret choosing it as a GCSE now, but the teacher we had last year was fine."

"What other subjects are you doing?" Sebastian enquired, interested to know what was part of the modern school curriculum.

"Maths and English are mandatory as is Science, but the science you do depends on your ability. I'm doing double whereas Ciel does triple which is separate sciences because he is a brainbox."

"What subjects are you doing, young master Ciel?"

Ciel looked up from his chemistry revision guide. "History, French and Graphics. I also do business instead of Student Development."

Sebastian's mind noted that all those subjects were perfect for someone that wanted to run a business as he had tutored the other Ciel personally and he guessed it was under Vincent Phantomhive's influence that Ciel had taken those subjects. He wondered what the boy really wanted to do.

"What do you want to be when you are older?"

Ciel shot Sebastian a sharp look which contrasted with the fluffy cat ears that he was wearing. "It has already been decided. I'm the successor of Funtom."

Ciel was always sensitive on this subject so Alois decided to intervene before Sebastian probed any deeper and Ciel said anything he shouldn't.

"Sebastian, can you help me with this Maths' question?" he whined and spotted the glare that the butler sent him for interrupting his conversation with Ciel.

"Of course, master Trancy," the black haired butler smiled sweetly. "Will you be needing help with anything else?"

"Could you possibly teach me everything you know about Science? The teacher I have is even more useless the Mr. Sutcliffe."

"You have Mr. Smith don't you?" Ciel said. "I've heard rumours about him. Apparently, despite not being a Chemist he taught the Year 11 students Chemistry last year and botched everything up from marking coursework to teaching the syllabus and some students missed out on getting into the colleges that they wanted as they got such a low grade."

"Why is he still teaching if he is such a bad teacher?" Sebastian asked wonderingly.

Ciel closed his chemistry book and shrugged. "I don't know. He teaching the not so clever students at the moment and I don't think there would have been anyone with the right qualifications to fill the vacancy that would have been left if he had been fired."

Alois huffed next to him and slouched dramatically. "It's all right for you, you don't have him as a teacher."

"I'm not sure about that. My Physics teacher is looking pregnant and will end up going on maternity leave so I will probably get him as a cover. That's why I'm trying to learn everything now."

"That is an annoyance," Sebastian agreed and his eyes glinted crimson momentarily.

Alois stared at the butler as he talked to Ciel, noting how the demon perked up whenever Ciel spoke to him and how his eyes were always drawn to the cat ears on Ciel's head. He decided to test out Sebastian's reactions for fun as well as future reference. He cleared his throat and spoke in his best innocent voice.

"Sebastian, did you know that it is rumoured that your ancestor Sebastian Michaelis was in love with Ciel's ancestor and the reason they mysteriously disappeared was because they were eloping as it was illegal for men to be gay under the rule of Queen Victoria?" *

The reaction was immediate. Sebastian's face flushed red and he looked shocked as if the thought had never occurred to him. Alois looked over at Ciel and noted with surprise that his face was also tomato red.

Alois burst out laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face, Sebastian! I was only joking about the elopement part."

Ciel joined in and the pair of best friends laughed together, enjoying the carefree atmosphere that they had created which was a rarity in Ciel's life as he had only been created as a pawn which would sacrifice his soul. The pair had no idea that everything was going to be irreversibly changed forever starting with an event that was about to occur.

***

*: This fact is actually true. However women were allowed to be in same sex relationships.