#blackbutler — Public Fediverse posts

Grell in this pretty dress, might turn it into a full illustration one day.

Fromm 2024

https://www.tumblr.com/grelleswife/708738104776900608?source=share

Grell in this pretty dress, might turn it into a full illustration one day.

Fromm 2024

https://www.tumblr.com/grelleswife/708738104776900608?source=share

Grell in this pretty dress, might turn it into a full illustration one day.

Fromm 2024

https://www.tumblr.com/grelleswife/708738104776900608?source=share

Grell in this pretty dress, might turn it into a full illustration one day.

Fromm 2024

https://www.tumblr.com/grelleswife/708738104776900608?source=share

So… women in suits…

From 2024

Some simple figure practice ft my favorite catgirl 💖

From 2024

Quick warmup, she deserves titties she can let out 😔✌️

From 2024

Maybe this year I'll finish this thing I started in 2024, who knows lol.

Doctors recommend doodling your wife regularly to stay healthy 👍

From 2024

Sketch I did for Pride Month 2024, I might finish it this year :]

Weston boys! An extrovert and his adopted introvert from my AU 💛💙

From 2024

I know Sebastian is very refined and committed to the aesthetic, but I really want to see him as a horrifying feral monstrosity more often. Give me more monster dad 🙏

From 2023

Another sketch from my main Black Butler AU that I now think looks awful and plan to redraw. Also including my original ramble:

Trying to write a Black Butler AU with some fluff where Sebastian and Ciel have a parent-child like relationship WHILE keeping them in-character (Sebas more than Ciel tbh) and still basing it on canon material but making changes and making said changes make sense requires a bit of work ngl.

I mean, I know it’s just a project I’m doing for fun and technically there’s nothing stopping me from going nuts and making them completely OOC and disregarding canon at all, but I feel then it’d become a separate story with new, original characters who simply happen to be inspired by Kuro (which is also okay, and who knows, maybe in the future I’ll repurpose the whole thing to create my own Kuro-inspired original story, even if I don’t think I’ll ever fully lose interest in Kuro, this cursed series has me in a chokehold lmao).

Sebastian is the hardest one to write, though I think I’m finally more or less figuring it out. I didn’t want to write him as suddenly learning to love the way humans do thanks to the power of cute children or something, as it just didn’t feel natural (or I couldn’t personally make it feel natural, I know other people have managed to write that concept very well). What I have so far is that when he does act nurturing he’s simply imitating the behavior of human parents he has observed, but he doesn’t love the kid the same way humans do because he literally doesn’t have that ability. BUT that doesn’t mean he feels nothing at all and that it doesn’t mean anything to Ciel, after all this weird creature is the one who saved his life and raised him with care and patience. The closest comparison I can think of is the relationship between people and “unusual” pets like reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc. We know they can’t love us the way other people (or even other mammals) would but that doesn’t make our bond any less significant! Some bits of canon material also come in handy here, for example I based the fact that familiar Sebas finds Ciel adorable as a kitten on the canon fact that he likes squishing his cheeks because they remind him of a cat’s paws 😂 Just know he’s an awkward demon who doesn’t know how to human but is doing his best 🥺

I think in Ciel’s case I have more freedom since he is, after all, human, and a human’s personality is strongly shaped by their environment and life experiences. Like, what exactly counts as making a character OOC? Sure, I can agree that in a fanwork set in the exact same universe with the exact same events as in canon there’s some things a character would never say or do, but I think AUs were created as a way to explore what-if scenarios. What if this character had been raised by different people? What if they had grown up in a different place? What if this or that event hadn’t happened or had gone differently? Tbh I think it’s just fun to explore endless possibilities, it’s maybe a form of character analysis in some way. And if we think about it, canonverse Ciel was originally sweet, shy and affectionate, and if he’s the complete opposite now it’s only because he went through an utterly horrific and traumatic event that forced him to grow up before his time and toughen himself up because it left him with little to no support system, on top of having to be hyper vigilant because the only thing that “saved” him from that is a literal demon who wants his soul and is haunting him.

So I just wanted to create this alternative timeline where maybe things aren’t as terrible, or they start out as terrible but then some good things come from the most unexpected sources. Ciel is five years younger and thus has more time to process everything and try to heal as he grows up. Sebas isn’t entirely a bastard and willingly does nice things for the child, even if he still doesn’t understand human needs, and while he stills views him as a potential meal (at least at the beginning) he’s actually respectful. There’s another demon who understands humans all too well and is happy to lend a hand. His friends and the relatives he has left are more involved in his life. So Ciel more or less has a support system now, albeit a weird dysfunctional one, and doesn’t entirely lose his sweetness (also like… he’s 5/6 at the beginning of the story, we really can’t expect a preschooler to be an edgy emo who craves violence and revenge ☠️). I imagine he grows up to be just as calculating and cunning as canonverse Ciel, maybe even just as ruthless in his job because it’s a requirement, and is still pretty much a little shit, but this Ciel is not as cold and undemonstrative. He’s still very much an introvert who prefers to be left alone, but he smiles (as in genuinely smile) more often and it’s a little easier for him to express emotions and feelings (more through actions than words, but still meaningful). Hell he may allow himself to be playful and silly sometimes if he’s in the moment.

And if it wasn’t clear from the picture, little Ciel ADORES Sebastian. Sure he’s (understandably) a bit skittish around him at first, but once they bond he comes to fully view him as a parental figure. Yes, he’s hurt, sad and traumatized, but he’s still a resilient little kid, and with enough kindness Sebas can coax his old self to come out of his shell, and until the kid becomes more independent they’re like a mama duck and her lil duckling. Their constant banter and bickering when he’s older is more a teens being teens thing than anything.

From 2023

Sketch I did to answer an ask by a mutual on Tumblr, from my main Black Butler AU. I'd like to redraw it one day.

This was my answer:

While I’m no expert on how children’s minds works, I’ve had my fair share of interactions with small kids, plus I was a small kid myself once and I remember what it was like, and BOY did I have a wild imagination. Like, to give just one example, when I was that age I used to think a “life insurance” was some kind of magic spell which prevented you from dying 😂
If our Phantomhive babey isn’t much different from other average kids his age, then I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to assume his young mind would come to a “Sebastian is my parent now, therefore I’m their child, they’re a demon, therefore I’m probably gonna turn into a demon myself” conclusion, especially if we keep in mind the influence of factors like living in a world where magic is very real, Sebas looking like Vincent and thus looking very familiar to him, etc. He probably even heard some people at some point comment that often adopted kids end up taking after their guardians in a lot of ways even if they aren’t related by blood and he took it literally, bless his heart 😭 (I know I would’ve come to a similar conclusion at that age so again, not very unrealistic lmao). Sebas then has to sit down and patiently explain to him that no, he won’t develop cool demon powers, and assure him that he’s still special in his own way 🥺
About the nails, oh yeah he definitely does that 🤭 I already headcanon him as pretty gnc and kind of a fashionist (I mean, that’s also not much of a stretch considering how he dresses in canon, like even if it wasn’t intentional… Yana your character looks gnc as fuck) and in this AU I love the idea of him having a fascination with Sebas’s genderfuckery and wanting to match them. It all starts with him shily asking his demon to paint his nails so that he can at least pretend to be a cool pretty demon, then as he gets older he develops a liking to high heeled footwear and starts wearing more elaborate outfits (Nina Hopkins couldn’t be happier, finally a male client who isn’t awfully boring!).

From 2023

Daily old piece 260!

From my Black Butler AU, smol bean and his emotional support Sebunny 🐇 I'd like to redraw it one day.

From 2023

Daily old piece 248!

Bby Ciel and Crowbastian from my main Kuro AU :]

From 2023

Kuro AU where little OCiel is so sick that he probably won’t have another birthday. In their desperation and after running out of options, Vincent and Rachel turn to forbidden practices and try to summon an ancient demon in hopes that it will save their child. However, they end up summoning a demon that is very battered and weak themself after a previous encounter with another powerful demon. They can’t do much for the child in this state so they offer the parents a deal: instead of accepting a sacrifice, they’ll possess the child and lend him their supernatural powers to strenghten his body and keep him healthy, and in turn the child will provide them a vessel to help them rest and recover. But they will be bound permanently, meaning that even when they recover they can’t stay too far away from each other.

Vincent and Rachel accept and so demon’s and child’s fates are sealed.
The demon thinks this isn’t exactly an ideal situation but it could be worse, they just didn’t want to die. The child is ok, after the initial freak out he slowly gets used to having a horror beyond comprehension inhabiting his body, even starts to curiously experiment will all the things he can do with his new strenght. He directly addresses the demon, more and more often, does this child have any idea who he’s talking to? And why does he talk to them like they are best friends? The audacity! What do you mean? Of course the demon starts to look after him only because they are bound by contract and nothing else! No, they do NOT find similarities between him and a kitten.

Little Ciel recovers and grows up into a healthy young boy, then into a fine gentleman. People who have gotten to know him personally share rumors about the strange aura surroundig him, how he’s so smart, talented and successful but also uncanny, as if he wasn’t entirely human, even getting the feeling that when he talks, they could swear they hear two people talking at once.

Had another thought for my AU: the day of the sacrifice and subsequent killing of the cultists by Sebas, the smell of suffering and death attracts some opportunistic minor demons who gobble up the cultists’ souls. They then start fighting each other over the soul of the child who’s dying in the cage, so Sebas quickly snatches him like “B̷̜́̀͠A̷͇͇͗́C̴̢̘͌̈́̉̽K̸̛̠͕̬̬̐̐ ̴̜̩̌̍́O̶̘̱̱̿F̴̪̺̟͑̂̄F̴̻̒̋͗͐ ̸̝̩̳̂͗̔H̵̼͂̍E̶͓͍̿̔̚'̸͙̪̜̃́͑̕S̶̘̳̔͒̕̚ ̵̖̲͉̿̀͗͝M̸̻̙͖͘I̵͖͕͆̎͂N̶̫̾̉̎̈́E̵̱̤̬͑.” He sees great potential in the kid and at first is pretty possessive of him because he doesn’t want those lesser demons who aren’t worthy of him to have him (he’s disgusted that they ate the souls of those people), but over time he starts feeling protective of him for reasons other than his precious soul. Poor Ciel becomes a demon magnet even after he grows up so Sebas has to be on guard dog mode often.

Had another thought for my AU: the day of the sacrifice and subsequent killing of the cultists by Sebas, the smell of suffering and death attracts some opportunistic minor demons who gobble up the cultists’ souls. They then start fighting each other over the soul of the child who’s dying in the cage, so Sebas quickly snatches him like “B̷̜́̀͠A̷͇͇͗́C̴̢̘͌̈́̉̽K̸̛̠͕̬̬̐̐ ̴̜̩̌̍́O̶̘̱̱̿F̴̪̺̟͑̂̄F̴̻̒̋͗͐ ̸̝̩̳̂͗̔H̵̼͂̍E̶͓͍̿̔̚'̸͙̪̜̃́͑̕S̶̘̳̔͒̕̚ ̵̖̲͉̿̀͗͝M̸̻̙͖͘I̵͖͕͆̎͂N̶̫̾̉̎̈́E̵̱̤̬͑.” He sees great potential in the kid and at first is pretty possessive of him because he doesn’t want those lesser demons who aren’t worthy of him to have him (he’s disgusted that they ate the souls of those people), but over time he starts feeling protective of him for reasons other than his precious soul. Poor Ciel becomes a demon magnet even after he grows up so Sebas has to be on guard dog mode often.

Some people say Dadbastian makes no sense and it’s delusional because Sebastian’s a demon who just wants to eat Ciel’s soul and views humans in general as livestock. Well, people in real life can and often do find cows/pigs/chickens/etc cute while still being meat eaters. Meat farmers often care a lot about their animals and even are affectionate towards them. I myself raise insects as feeders for my frogs and said insects are my precious adorable babies and I give them the best life untill the end. These concepts can perfectly coexist.
Also those people are mean and I don’t like them.

Some people say Dadbastian makes no sense and it’s delusional because Sebastian’s a demon who just wants to eat Ciel’s soul and views humans in general as livestock. Well, people in real life can and often do find cows/pigs/chickens/etc cute while still being meat eaters. Meat farmers often care a lot about their animals and even are affectionate towards them. I myself raise insects as feeders for my frogs and said insects are my precious adorable babies and I give them the best life untill the end. These concepts can perfectly coexist.
Also those people are mean and I don’t like them.

WAIT I KNOW, maybe the actual confrontation with feral Sebastian is when Ciel gets the contract mark on his eye. Maybe while Agni uses Kali’s power to hold the demon back, Ciel uses the binding spell he has been secretly practicing (since technically any human can summon or even trap a demon if they have access to the ancient knowledge). At the exact moment Sebas breaks free from Kali’s restraint, charges at Ciel and extends a pitch black tendril over him, the boy completes the spell. When Sebas comes to his senses the first thing he sees is his child Ciel kneeling on the floor with a hand over a bleeding eye, and has a “What have I done?” moment.

(All I’m saying is that I’m tempted to go full fantasy AU and make Ciel a mage lmao).

Familiar AU angst hours: I know I said that hunger makes demons weak and vulnerable, but what if it makes them revert back to a mindless state? The longer they go without consuming a soul the closer they are to becoming the feral monsters that they so look down on.

And ever since he became Ciel’s guardian Sebastian hasn’t made a contract with anyone, what with all the time consuming work that comes with caring for a young child. Of course, since demons are immortal they can go years without really starving, but the thing is Sebas had already been a bit hungry when he first found the child. Sure the prospect of raising a little human and gaining his trust so that he’d later decide to make a contract with him sounded fun, but years go by and the Phantomhive boy still doesn’t mention it.

Conflicted, strange feelings start swirling around inside Sebas. While he does care for the kid and even feels protective of him (in his own demon way), he has never stopped viewing him as a potential meal. But if the kid never offers him his soul, does that mean he should just leave? If Ciel grows up and doesn’t need help and guidance anymore, why stay? Saving him and keeping him alive was just an experiment, right? Right?

To make matters worse, he starts to worry when he finds himself often fantasizing about the flavor that the past trauma has added to the young soul. He’s always been a patient calm demon, so what’s going on? Demons can also smell souls, and Ciel’s is mouth watering, oh how he’d love to open up his jaws like a giant wolf and swallow him whole.

Oh no.

He’s losing his mind. He hasn’t even gone looking for souls of dying people all this time, as that goes against his aesthetic. And of course the idiot bastard hasn’t talked to anyone about this. Which is why he doesn’t know Ciel has been studying demonology behind his back, knows everything about demons and contracts and actually plans to make a contract, but what he wants is for Sebas to be his familiar, which means he’ll be bound to him until he dies of old age (the little shit does view him as a parental figure but also wouldn’t mind having a demon by his side to help him gain power and smite his enemies, boys amirite?).

I haven’t fully decided how the story goes from here, but maybe it gets to a point where hunger overcomes Sebas for a while and Ciel has no choice but to confront him and forcefully bind him with the knowledge he has acquired, maybe also with Agni’s help (they have met Soma and Agni by now, more or less at the same point in time as in canon). After Sebas has calmed down, Ciel makes a promise: if he stays with him all his life and becomes his sword and shield, he can have his soul in the end, effectively making him a familiar demon; and in the meantime he can take the souls of any enemies they may kill whenever he gets hungry.

Tl; dr: Scrawny Victorian orphan catches demon like a pokémon.

What if in the Kuro Familiar AU the main reason OCiel decided to take RCiel’s name was because, while he loved him to pieces, he was also deep down jealous and a little resentful of his brother’s better health, extroversion and popularity, even at such a young age, to the point he even wanted to BE him sometimes ☹️

Maybe I’ll draw this one day, but imagine Sebastian carrying little Ciel (who’s fast asleep in the demon’s arms after a long play session) to his bedroom, while thinking to himself “I had never observed human younglings in such close proximity and for such long periods of time before, but I have to admit they do have an appeal. Of course, I assume this is an evolutionary development with the purpose of preservation of the species, as people are generally hardwired by nature to find young mammals adorable and thus are driven to protect and nurture them”.

He tucks the child under the blankets and, before assuming his borzoi form and jumping on the bed (something that has become a habit by now) he watches him for a while with curiosity. Still fast asleep, Ciel rolls on his side and curls up into a ball. Sebastian puts a hand over his mouth to muffle a chuckle.

“My goodness, he really is like a kitten”.

Maybe I’ll draw this one day, but imagine Sebastian carrying little Ciel (who’s fast asleep in the demon’s arms after a long play session) to his bedroom, while thinking to himself “I had never observed human younglings in such close proximity and for such long periods of time before, but I have to admit they do have an appeal. Of course, I assume this is an evolutionary development with the purpose of preservation of the species, as people are generally hardwired by nature to find young mammals adorable and thus are driven to protect and nurture them”.

He tucks the child under the blankets and, before assuming his borzoi form and jumping on the bed (something that has become a habit by now) he watches him for a while with curiosity. Still fast asleep, Ciel rolls on his side and curls up into a ball. Sebastian puts a hand over his mouth to muffle a chuckle.

“My goodness, he really is like a kitten”.

Gonna dump a bunch of notes about my Black Butler AU I wrote back in 2023, just to have a backup:

-Like a lot of canon-divergent Kuro ideas I have, this is set in an alternate reality where all kinds of supernatural creatures coexist with humans.

-One of them is demons, there are different subspecies and not all of them eat souls. There was a time where all demons were feared and any human who was suspected of being in good terms with one became the target of a witch hunt. By the late 18th century, however, things have changed a lot.

-There has been an agreement or “code of honor” between soul-eating demons (commonly called Voids) and humans for centuries. Voids need human souls to survive, they cannot sustain themselves with anything else (it’s very rare for a demon to starve to death but they do become weak and vulnerable). Some of them are opportunists who roam in search of dying humans whose souls they can snatch before a reaper arrives. While others are more patient and prefer to cultivate a soul by forming a contract with someone who wishes to. Having your soul eaten is not the horrifying fate you may think it is: there’s no eternal torment, no hell, nothing. Just going to sleep never to wake up and becoming one with the demon. People accept this as another aspect of life. However, there’s one thing that’s unacceptable and it’s demons (unjustifiably) killing humans just for their souls, any demon who does this is considered a feral beast and will be hunted down (there are some methods to kill a demon for good). Even other demons look down on these individuals.

-The longer a human lives the more “nutritious” their soul is. Some Voids will form a contract with a human and serve them through all their life, and when it’s their time to go the person will willingly feed themself to the demon. Other demons even become familiars and stay in the same family for generations, swearing loyalty to the next person in line after they have absorbed their relative’s soul. People consider this an honor.

-Sebastian is a very refined demon who only consumes the highest quality souls after fulfilling a contract. The day RCiel is sacrificed is the first time someone actively summons him, as all this time he met all his contractees by chance. He eats the human sacrifice’s soul because why not, there’s a first time for everything. However, when he takes a look at all the cultists gathered excitedly looking at him he feels nothing but contempt and disgust, and slaughters them without second thought and without bothering to take their souls. They have the distinctive stench of someone who has done unspeakable things to an individual of their own species, especially to a youngling, and not even demons find these souls appetizing. So nobody would dare to judge him for disposing of them. After the fun bloodbath he senses a tiny presence nearby, and locates it in a cage in the center of the room. A small, frail human lays there, apparently dead, though he still feels their soul flickering inside. Upon closer inspection he notices it’s a young child that looks exactly like the owner of the soul he just devoured. “Ah, twins. How sad”. It doesn’t seem like this child will make it, but waiting until he finally dies goes against his aesthetic, and for some reason he can’t bring himself to either end his misery or leave him there. So he takes the unconscious child out of there, craddling him in his very demon essence, and just keeps him, like a person who has found a wet, dirty, barely alive tiny animal on the side of the road. Besides, if he manages to save the child and he goes on to live, they might make a contract and then he can claim his soul in the end. It could be a fun experiment right?

-From OCiel’s POV, the story starts off very similar to in canon: he still gets horribly tortured and abused. But since in this AU it all happens when he’s younger, his small body can’t take much and eventually he gets so sick and weak that he can’t even stand, and the cultists just leave him to die in the cage while they focus on the stronger RCiel. The day of the sacrifice he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness and can’t fully register or process what’s going on. Unable to tell dreams from reality, he suddenly feels a warm, almost velvety cloak that surrounds him. It’s very comforting and he clings to it with the little strength he has left.

Gonna dump a bunch of notes about my Black Butler AU I wrote back in 2023, just to have a backup:

-Like a lot of canon-divergent Kuro ideas I have, this is set in an alternate reality where all kinds of supernatural creatures coexist with humans.

-One of them is demons, there are different subspecies and not all of them eat souls. There was a time where all demons were feared and any human who was suspected of being in good terms with one became the target of a witch hunt. By the late 18th century, however, things have changed a lot.

-There has been an agreement or “code of honor” between soul-eating demons (commonly called Voids) and humans for centuries. Voids need human souls to survive, they cannot sustain themselves with anything else (it’s very rare for a demon to starve to death but they do become weak and vulnerable). Some of them are opportunists who roam in search of dying humans whose souls they can snatch before a reaper arrives. While others are more patient and prefer to cultivate a soul by forming a contract with someone who wishes to. Having your soul eaten is not the horrifying fate you may think it is: there’s no eternal torment, no hell, nothing. Just going to sleep never to wake up and becoming one with the demon. People accept this as another aspect of life. However, there’s one thing that’s unacceptable and it’s demons (unjustifiably) killing humans just for their souls, any demon who does this is considered a feral beast and will be hunted down (there are some methods to kill a demon for good). Even other demons look down on these individuals.

-The longer a human lives the more “nutritious” their soul is. Some Voids will form a contract with a human and serve them through all their life, and when it’s their time to go the person will willingly feed themself to the demon. Other demons even become familiars and stay in the same family for generations, swearing loyalty to the next person in line after they have absorbed their relative’s soul. People consider this an honor.

-Sebastian is a very refined demon who only consumes the highest quality souls after fulfilling a contract. The day RCiel is sacrificed is the first time someone actively summons him, as all this time he met all his contractees by chance. He eats the human sacrifice’s soul because why not, there’s a first time for everything. However, when he takes a look at all the cultists gathered excitedly looking at him he feels nothing but contempt and disgust, and slaughters them without second thought and without bothering to take their souls. They have the distinctive stench of someone who has done unspeakable things to an individual of their own species, especially to a youngling, and not even demons find these souls appetizing. So nobody would dare to judge him for disposing of them. After the fun bloodbath he senses a tiny presence nearby, and locates it in a cage in the center of the room. A small, frail human lays there, apparently dead, though he still feels their soul flickering inside. Upon closer inspection he notices it’s a young child that looks exactly like the owner of the soul he just devoured. “Ah, twins. How sad”. It doesn’t seem like this child will make it, but waiting until he finally dies goes against his aesthetic, and for some reason he can’t bring himself to either end his misery or leave him there. So he takes the unconscious child out of there, craddling him in his very demon essence, and just keeps him, like a person who has found a wet, dirty, barely alive tiny animal on the side of the road. Besides, if he manages to save the child and he goes on to live, they might make a contract and then he can claim his soul in the end. It could be a fun experiment right?

-From OCiel’s POV, the story starts off very similar to in canon: he still gets horribly tortured and abused. But since in this AU it all happens when he’s younger, his small body can’t take much and eventually he gets so sick and weak that he can’t even stand, and the cultists just leave him to die in the cage while they focus on the stronger RCiel. The day of the sacrifice he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness and can’t fully register or process what’s going on. Unable to tell dreams from reality, he suddenly feels a warm, almost velvety cloak that surrounds him. It’s very comforting and he clings to it with the little strength he has left.

Gonna dump a bunch of notes about my Black Butler AU I wrote back in 2023, just to have a backup:

-Like a lot of canon-divergent Kuro ideas I have, this is set in an alternate reality where all kinds of supernatural creatures coexist with humans.

-One of them is demons, there are different subspecies and not all of them eat souls. There was a time where all demons were feared and any human who was suspected of being in good terms with one became the target of a witch hunt. By the late 18th century, however, things have changed a lot.

-There has been an agreement or “code of honor” between soul-eating demons (commonly called Voids) and humans for centuries. Voids need human souls to survive, they cannot sustain themselves with anything else (it’s very rare for a demon to starve to death but they do become weak and vulnerable). Some of them are opportunists who roam in search of dying humans whose souls they can snatch before a reaper arrives. While others are more patient and prefer to cultivate a soul by forming a contract with someone who wishes to. Having your soul eaten is not the horrifying fate you may think it is: there’s no eternal torment, no hell, nothing. Just going to sleep never to wake up and becoming one with the demon. People accept this as another aspect of life. However, there’s one thing that’s unacceptable and it’s demons (unjustifiably) killing humans just for their souls, any demon who does this is considered a feral beast and will be hunted down (there are some methods to kill a demon for good). Even other demons look down on these individuals.

-The longer a human lives the more “nutritious” their soul is. Some Voids will form a contract with a human and serve them through all their life, and when it’s their time to go the person will willingly feed themself to the demon. Other demons even become familiars and stay in the same family for generations, swearing loyalty to the next person in line after they have absorbed their relative’s soul. People consider this an honor.

-Sebastian is a very refined demon who only consumes the highest quality souls after fulfilling a contract. The day RCiel is sacrificed is the first time someone actively summons him, as all this time he met all his contractees by chance. He eats the human sacrifice’s soul because why not, there’s a first time for everything. However, when he takes a look at all the cultists gathered excitedly looking at him he feels nothing but contempt and disgust, and slaughters them without second thought and without bothering to take their souls. They have the distinctive stench of someone who has done unspeakable things to an individual of their own species, especially to a youngling, and not even demons find these souls appetizing. So nobody would dare to judge him for disposing of them. After the fun bloodbath he senses a tiny presence nearby, and locates it in a cage in the center of the room. A small, frail human lays there, apparently dead, though he still feels their soul flickering inside. Upon closer inspection he notices it’s a young child that looks exactly like the owner of the soul he just devoured. “Ah, twins. How sad”. It doesn’t seem like this child will make it, but waiting until he finally dies goes against his aesthetic, and for some reason he can’t bring himself to either end his misery or leave him there. So he takes the unconscious child out of there, craddling him in his very demon essence, and just keeps him, like a person who has found a wet, dirty, barely alive tiny animal on the side of the road. Besides, if he manages to save the child and he goes on to live, they might make a contract and then he can claim his soul in the end. It could be a fun experiment right?

-From OCiel’s POV, the story starts off very similar to in canon: he still gets horribly tortured and abused. But since in this AU it all happens when he’s younger, his small body can’t take much and eventually he gets so sick and weak that he can’t even stand, and the cultists just leave him to die in the cage while they focus on the stronger RCiel. The day of the sacrifice he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness and can’t fully register or process what’s going on. Unable to tell dreams from reality, he suddenly feels a warm, almost velvety cloak that surrounds him. It’s very comforting and he clings to it with the little strength he has left.

Gonna dump a bunch of notes about my Black Butler AU I wrote back in 2023, just to have a backup:

-Like a lot of canon-divergent Kuro ideas I have, this is set in an alternate reality where all kinds of supernatural creatures coexist with humans.

-One of them is demons, there are different subspecies and not all of them eat souls. There was a time where all demons were feared and any human who was suspected of being in good terms with one became the target of a witch hunt. By the late 18th century, however, things have changed a lot.

-There has been an agreement or “code of honor” between soul-eating demons (commonly called Voids) and humans for centuries. Voids need human souls to survive, they cannot sustain themselves with anything else (it’s very rare for a demon to starve to death but they do become weak and vulnerable). Some of them are opportunists who roam in search of dying humans whose souls they can snatch before a reaper arrives. While others are more patient and prefer to cultivate a soul by forming a contract with someone who wishes to. Having your soul eaten is not the horrifying fate you may think it is: there’s no eternal torment, no hell, nothing. Just going to sleep never to wake up and becoming one with the demon. People accept this as another aspect of life. However, there’s one thing that’s unacceptable and it’s demons (unjustifiably) killing humans just for their souls, any demon who does this is considered a feral beast and will be hunted down (there are some methods to kill a demon for good). Even other demons look down on these individuals.

-The longer a human lives the more “nutritious” their soul is. Some Voids will form a contract with a human and serve them through all their life, and when it’s their time to go the person will willingly feed themself to the demon. Other demons even become familiars and stay in the same family for generations, swearing loyalty to the next person in line after they have absorbed their relative’s soul. People consider this an honor.

-Sebastian is a very refined demon who only consumes the highest quality souls after fulfilling a contract. The day RCiel is sacrificed is the first time someone actively summons him, as all this time he met all his contractees by chance. He eats the human sacrifice’s soul because why not, there’s a first time for everything. However, when he takes a look at all the cultists gathered excitedly looking at him he feels nothing but contempt and disgust, and slaughters them without second thought and without bothering to take their souls. They have the distinctive stench of someone who has done unspeakable things to an individual of their own species, especially to a youngling, and not even demons find these souls appetizing. So nobody would dare to judge him for disposing of them. After the fun bloodbath he senses a tiny presence nearby, and locates it in a cage in the center of the room. A small, frail human lays there, apparently dead, though he still feels their soul flickering inside. Upon closer inspection he notices it’s a young child that looks exactly like the owner of the soul he just devoured. “Ah, twins. How sad”. It doesn’t seem like this child will make it, but waiting until he finally dies goes against his aesthetic, and for some reason he can’t bring himself to either end his misery or leave him there. So he takes the unconscious child out of there, craddling him in his very demon essence, and just keeps him, like a person who has found a wet, dirty, barely alive tiny animal on the side of the road. Besides, if he manages to save the child and he goes on to live, they might make a contract and then he can claim his soul in the end. It could be a fun experiment right?

-From OCiel’s POV, the story starts off very similar to in canon: he still gets horribly tortured and abused. But since in this AU it all happens when he’s younger, his small body can’t take much and eventually he gets so sick and weak that he can’t even stand, and the cultists just leave him to die in the cage while they focus on the stronger RCiel. The day of the sacrifice he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness and can’t fully register or process what’s going on. Unable to tell dreams from reality, he suddenly feels a warm, almost velvety cloak that surrounds him. It’s very comforting and he clings to it with the little strength he has left.