The quote is from Stain the Water Clear by objectlesson. I first read their fanfiction ten years ago, and it genuinely altered my brain chemistry. So much so that when nostalgia for Kuroshitsuji hit me like a freight train, I somehow found my way back to it. Reading it again a decade later, I was stunned to realize how much of it I still carry with me. The imagery, the metaphors, sometimes almost verbatim. The prose has been stitched into my soul ever since.