Her Butler: Sinful

:: Chapter Twenty One ::

~Ciel's POV~

There was fire all around me. My skin seared at the burning agony of the flames of hatred and despair. I could hear my parents screaming and the cruel laughter of the men who abducted me that night. The fire consumed me and I screamed as it singed my flesh and cried out. I called for my mother, I called for my father and when the pain became unbearable I found myself crying for my demon butler.

"Dove, wake up!" A somewhat familiar voice boomed over the roar of the wicked flames.

I felt something cool press against my forehead, and the flames became somewhat bearable. Something or someone gripped my hand but when I looked down all I could see were the flames that had completely enveloped me. What was going on?

"Dove, it's alright." The voice cooed and I felt something stream tenderly through my hair as if someone were dotingly pushing my hair from my face, much like my mother did to console me when I was younger.

I blinked a few times and suddenly everything sharpened into focus. I was in my tent at the circus lying on the bottom bunk and the orange haired ring master, Joker, was sitting at my bedside with his hand in mine. He smiled at me when I looked at him with clarity and I saw the relief flood through him.

"Thank goodness. I thought ye wouldn't be able to beat the fever." He streamed his skeletal hand through my hair once more.

"What happened?" I panicked and attempted to bolt out of bed. Did he know I'd been snooping, did he kidnap me? Where was Sebastian? Thoughts and questions raced through my mind in hyper speed and all the whirling thoughts were starting to make me motion sick.

Joker caught me in his arms and gently returned me to my bed, "Don't move around so much, yeah?" He smiled warily.

Had he been sitting with me, the entire time I was in a delirious state? What had I said in my feverish haze? What secrets could I have revealed to him? My heart started to race and sweat beads began to cling to my skin as I nervously waited. "What happened?" I asked shakily.

"Ye got bit be a poisonous snake." Joker looked away guiltily.

He wasn't acting like an interrogator or a kidnapper or even remotely like a bad guy. What was going on? Was I not a prisoner?

"I'm sorry, Dove, I should have told ye, it completely slipped my mind. Right away ye felt like family. Tis my fault ye ended up like this." He balled his hands into fists and rubbed his good hand into his temple in frustration.

He was showing remorse. Perhaps he wasn't behind all of this evil. Maybe he had absolutely nothing to do with the missing children. What if he was an innocent bystander caught in it all? "I don't understand, if it was poisonous, why am I still here?" I asked quietly.

"Snake has anti-venom. We got it to ye just in time." Joker replied in almost an inaudible voice, "I'm so sorry, Dove." His violet eyes were filled with so much sorrow, guilt and regret. This was really weighing heavily on his heart.

"It's okay." I smiled and my body acted on its own accord, my hand reached out and pulled his away from injuring his temple. I squeezed his hand reassuringly in mine, "Thank you for saving me." My lips pulled into a very rare smile.

Joker stared at me in awe for a moment. His cheeks flushed with color after a moment and he quickly averted his gaze. "I'll be back after bit, yeah?" He said in a rush.