Chapter 17

That night, Ciel found himself back at Sebastian's bedside. Unable to sleep and worried sick, he could only sit back and watch the butler sleep, occasionally stroking the man's ebony bangs back over his head to keep them out of his sweat-slicked face.

Ever since Claude had started giving him regular doses of the cure, he found that Sebastian coughed less and less, and the amount of blood that he vomited up became smaller and smaller. But the deathly-sick look on the butler's face remained the same and there had been no word from Claude on his fever.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, sir?" the Trancy butler asked as he walked into the room, preparing another dose of medicine to the two ill demons: Sebastian and Thompson.

"I can't sleep." Ciel mumbled.

Claude didn't argue. Like the many times he had done before over the past day, he turned Sebastian's head to one side, plunged the needle into the muscle of his neck, and pushed the medicine into his body. This time though, the moment the needle pierced his skin, Sebastian let out a slight noise and moaned slightly as the medicine was pushed out of the needle.

As Claude disposed of the syringe, a weak voice caught his attention.

"Are you done poking me with needles, now?"

Ciel drew closer to Sebastian as the butler's eyes began to flutter open.

"It's nice of you to join the living, Sebastian." Claude remarked, "How do you feel?"

Sebastian let out a raspy chuckle, "Like I could run a damn marathon, how do you think I feel?"

The thickness of the sarcasm in Sebastian's voice was a rather prominent sign of his recovery.

"Well," Claude shrugged, "I'd suppose you feel like death, more or less."

Sebastian nodded, "Exactly."

"It's nice to know you're getting better, Sebastian." Ciel commented.

Sebastian rolled his head and looked at the young earl with a questioning glance, "It's late, isn't it, Young Master? What are you doing up at this late hour?"

"I couldn't sleep. You've had us all worried sick."

A slight smirk crossed the butler's lips, "Are you going to try to cuddle up on me like you did the night before?"

Ciel blushed. So the butler knew about that did he? He wondered briefly if Sebastian knew about him crying himself to sleep, as well. But if he knew about the earl crawling into the bed, he was probably aware that he had cried, too, no doubt.

Too proud to confess to it, Ciel could only avert the butler's gaze, "I don't know what you mean."

Sebastian chuckled and nodded, "Whatever you say, sir."

Claude checked Sebastian's temperature.

"You're down to 200 degrees. Looks like it's going to be a fast recovery for you."

Another smirk crossed Sebastian's face, "Naturally . . ."

As Claude exited the room, Ciel did end up crawling back into the bed with Sebastian. They held each other much like a father and son would do, but neither one of them fell asleep right away.

"Young Master?" Sebastian piped up suddenly, "Could I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Ciel asked.

"Exactly why was that Trancy brat cuddling up on me the night before?"

Ciel never did answer that question.

As it was expected, recovery came quickly for Sebastian. In a few days' time, his temperature lowered until it was in a completely normal range for demons. The healthy, youthful glow returned to his skin, bringing color to the sickly grey his skin was before.

Just the same, Thompson also recovered. The smaller demon was reunited with his two brothers not long after awakening and he was back to work with them not long after that.

The two violently ill demons that had been on the verge of death not a few days before had now made a full recovery.

Soon it came time for Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian, and the rest of the Phantomhive household to return to their own manor.

"I would like to thank you for everything." Sebastian said to Claude and Alois, "Not just for helping me, but I did take notice to the hospitality you showed to my young master and . . . well, those four."

"You should know that the cure was in you manor's garden the entire time." Claude pointed out, "If you would have known that you could have been treated just as comfortably in your master's mansion."

"I knew the herb was there, but I also knew at the time they had not ripened. They were a lighter brown when I had seen them; hardly effective enough to treat my condition, and with the way I was getting even I saw no other alternative."

Claude nodded, "Personally, I wish we could have had you cured sooner. I had vials of the cure stored away just in case someone were to come to me with it and need it, but apparently the Demonic Plague has been running ramped in our realm. I had one demon after another started coming to me for treatment and I quickly ran out."

"I guess you're the one demons come to get treatment for their illnesses, eh?"

Claude shot Sebastian a look but didn't say anything.

"Do they even know how this epidemic started in the first place?" Sebastian asked.

"I was told there was a demon hound that was infested with fleas that were carrying the Bubonic Plague: The Black Death. Does that sound familiar, Sebastian? The sickness you spread over five-hundred years ago had mutated into the Black Flu."

"No need to rub my nose in it, Faustus. I get it."

From the carriage, Ciel called for Sebastian. The conversation ended there and the Phantomhive butler returned to his master's side; back where he belonged.

As the carriage pulled away, Alois and Claude were left alone in the front drive.

"I still don't understand it, Claude." The blond-haired boy said, "Why didn't you obtain Ciel Phantomhive and punish Sebastian when you had the chance? You had plenty of chances!"

"It wasn't the right time for that, my lord." Claude replied blandly, "I believe I told you this a few days ago. I can't make that blasted raven demon suffer a fate worse than death if he's already suffering death alone. Believe me, sir, you will see Ciel Phantomhive again, and when you do I shall carry out your revenge."

Alois smirked.

"That's my Claude!"

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE 6/2/2014

"I know, what a way to end a story that had so many ups and downs and twists and turns. And in the end i decided to tip-toe along the lines of the second season. I know it wasn't the most satisfying ending ever, but, HEY not too shabby, right?

And now i do believe i shall be working on 'Black Butler: Eternal Vows' now; a love story between Sebastian and Claude. Feel free to check it out if you're interested."

-BlackButlerFan13

"P.S. : I have an official page on Facebook, for updates on In-Progress works and future works.