Dark New World || Sebastian Sallow

Home isnt a place

Sebastian let out a depleted sigh as he looked at Lena who was now fast asleep on the couch in Aurelia's dorm. His fingers grazed over her forehead and through her hair as he sat on the ground just beside her. He didn't want to take his eyes off her, leave her side or fall asleep in case she found herself woken up by her pain.

Lena did her best to explain as much as she could to Aurelia before she was too tired, but because of her flare up she didn't have enough energy to stay up. Aurelia was good company though, pouring him drinks and reading silently as Sebastian sat with Lena until he knew she was fully asleep. He rested his chin on the cushion by her face and watched her, wondering how much worse this was going to get.

"You really love her, don't you?" Aurelia asks in a gentle whisper, quiet enough to not wake Lena.

Sebastian glanced back over his shoulder at her, giving her a nod with a slight smile. "Of course, I do, she's my best friend."

"She loves you too." She replies, placing a finger in her book. "I can tell by the way she looked at you when you walked up to us in the halls earlier, she's happy with you. I've never seen her smile like that before and even though she's got a lot going on she still seems happy."

Sebastian watched as the raven-haired girl looked at him with a content smile, telling him in a way that she approved of him. He turned a bit to face her as he rested his elbows on his knees and pressed his back up to the couch, noticing the glow of the fire spread across the room and onto Aurelia, casting a tall shadow behind her as she sat on the floor.

"It's not always like this, she has a lot on her mind... all the time and unfortunately it can be pretty overwhelming for her. I mean, I try, when she's upset, I'm there for her but you can only do so much until the reality of what's going on comes back to light but I try to remind her that everything will be okay. That this won't last forever." Sebastian explains.

"You know, not many would stick through such a difficult situation, what keeps you going?" she asks, tilting her head slightly.

"I used to know someone who was cursed..." Sebastian takes a deep breath, thinking of Anne. "Almost everyone around her treated as if they were just waiting for her to die... and she pretty much gave up on hope because of it. Lena needs someone to stay optimistic that we will find a way out of this because we will, I just know it."

Aurelia nodded, running her hand over her shoulder and down her arm. "I truly had hoped that she would've had a better life here, she just can't seem to catch a break."

"She had quite a hard time in the muggle world too, huh?" Sebastian whispered, grabbing his gin filled glass from the floor beside him and took a swig.

"Yes, her father was the worst of the two." She admits, crossing her arms. "Her mother was not much better... The bruises and cuts were sometimes hard to keep up with and I don't know how she did it when I was gone for the majority of the year."

"Bruises? Cuts?" Sebastian swallowed, trailing his mahogany eyes back up to her.

"Er..." Aurelia choked. "How much did she tell you?"

"Well, she just opened up to me about being abandoned by her muggle parents until a few months back. So not much, apparently... though, I can't say I'm surprised she's always been oddly secretive." Sebastian sighed.

"If there's one thing, she's good at it's keeping secrets. She gets it from her home life."

Sebastian nodded, thinking about Aurelia's words and remembering how uncomfortable Lena was when she spoke of her family. He couldn't help but wonder what really happened to her back then.