The silence was shattered by screams.

The servants of the manor were instantly jolted awake by the soul-wrenching cries, each instinctively grabbing any available weapons in the instant assumption that their Young Master was in danger.

When Finnian, Bard and Mei Rin scrambled up the stairs to the master's room, ready to face down any and all intruders that had dared to cross the Phantomhive threshold without the Master's consent, Sebastian was already there. (Not that that was a big surprise; this was Sebastian)

The man was standing at the doorway to the Master's room with a pained expression on his face, gazing into the room through the crack in the door. Struck by the oddity of the scene, the three servants stood at the doorway, unnoticed by the usually observant butler, until Bard took it upon himself to say something.

"Mister Sebastian? Is the Young Master in trouble?"

The man jumped (Sebastian was startled? Alright, something was dreadfully wrong here) and glanced at the blonde with a worried look. "No, Bard. Not that kind of trouble..."

Another scream ripped through the air, causing the black clad man to wince (Sebastian, showing actual emotion other than sadistic amusement and anger? What was going on here?). The screech died down, however, and the man regained his composure and said, "It appears that the Young Master is suffering from nightmares..." He was interrupted by another scream, followed by heart-wrenching sobs and a cry of no, no, no. "...worse nightmares than the usual," he corrected himself, face spasming in utter pain.

Mei Rin blanched as the cries renewed and gasped out, "We have to do something, Mister Sebastian!"

Sebastian only sighed. "I cannot do anything...I have not been called." And that melancholy look settled upon his face again.

Bard's eyebrow twitched. He knew that Mister Sebastian cared for their Young Master, perhaps even more than they did. (He certainly seemed to be closer to him.) But this was ridiculous. All this idiocy about only following the Master's orders and nothing else was simply absurd. Sebastian cared for the haughty Earl, and was the only one the child trusted enough to deal with something like this, so he should help. Bard would go in there and wake the boy himself, but he was sure that that would only serve to terrify him more. Only Sebastian could do something like this for the Young Master. And here he was, looking like someone died, not doing a thing about it.

It was stupid. And that was why Bard risked the infamous Wrath of Sebastian Michaelis and opened his equally infamous Big Fat Mouth.

"Well, that doesn't really matter, does it, Mister Sebastian? I mean, the Master clearly needs you; you don't need an order to know that. Why don't you just go in and wake him up while I fix him some warm milk to get him to calm down? Makes more sense than standing out here doing nothing..." he trailed off when he realized his actions. The other two were gawping at him in silent horror, whilst Sebastian regarded him with a look that often served to prelude whatever wrath they had to face.

The black-clad man was probably about to unleash aforementioned wrath, when another of their little Lord's screams and sobs caused all of them to wince, and he sighed again.

"You're right. I've been a fool."

Bard was coming up with methods of escape when the words registered. He responded with an elegant, "Huh?"

"I have been acting...foolish." The look on his face was one of mingled shame and embarrassment. "It's just that...I'm afraid..."

Sebastian afraid? The two words didn't even belong in the same sentence without causing some sort of paradox.

"...that he won't accept any such actions from one such as I."

There was then an odd silence, where the servants discovered that the seemingly superhuman Mister Sebastian did have feelings after all. And not just any old feelings, no sir. These were genuine feelings for their Young Master. (But who could blame the man for having protective inclinations toward the boy? He was the very picture of cherubic innocence, and surely even the devil himself couldn't resist those eyes.) And he was insecure. Mei Rin found that positively adorable.

They were ecstatic...absolutely thrilled, for lack of better vocabulary, to find that he was, indeed, human. (Not that he really was human. They didn't need to know that, though.)

Bard's expression of incredulousness melted into one of understanding.

"Of course he'll be alright with it, Mister Sebastian! He trusts you with his life!"

The noises from the child's room were getting fainter by the minute, and soon, the boy was emitting soft whimpers, sobbing softly into the pillow.

"It is not quite as simple as that..."

"SEBASTIAN!"

The four blinked.

"SEBASTIAN! SEBASTI-hic-AN! SE-hic-BASTIAN!" The man peered into the room with wide eyes, seeing the boy twisted into his blankets, tears flowing freely, screaming out the demon's name for all he was worth.

Bard looked to glance at Sebastian, and found that the man had raced inside, with uncharacteristic inelegance, and was (they all gawped at this) cradling and shushing the boy whilst crushing him to his chest.

When the three went to bed, it was with a sense of mild bewilderment.

And in the morning, Mister Sebastian (upon hearing garbled questions about the night's occurrences) assured the three that no such thing had happened, and that they must have been dreaming.