Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter ONE THIRTY TWO - Resettled

(Distractions - Fabrizio Paterlini)

Anne's body was pulled promptly back to Sebastian's chest as he tugged her close, rocking back and forth, just as he had been moments before, though this time relief trapped itself between each motion. Her fingers grasped at air before winding around his shirt sleeves, tucking her forehead to his shoulder.

"Anne." Sebastian hummed to the top of her head, stroking her hair gently. "I thought I lost you..." The words came out shattered and broken but familiar all the same.

Anne's whisper jerked another sob from his chest. "Sebastian."

Ominis breathed out sharply from aside us, his hopes confirmed through her voice.

"Ominis?" Her words strained and muffled as she turned from the fabric of Sebastian's clothes. Her deep eyes locking onto the blonde boy who was smiling to the ground, tears spilling down his cheeks, hands shaking in his lap.

Anne pulled gently from Sebastian's grasp and while his release was hesitant, he let his hold loosen, his fingers brushing the floor as she threw her body into Ominis'. Her nose nuzzled into his neck, his hand on her back and the other wound tight in the hair at the back of her head. His eyebrows pulled tight to the center of his face as he tilted his nose to her hair, shoulders wobbling silently.

Memories of the twisted strands of magic brushed against my skin and I glanced around the room for the reservoir I had created in taking her pain.

Only, the space around us was entirely empty of ancient magic.

My chest felt heavy and heated, my lungs light and unfulfilling.

My breath must have lifted uneasily, catching attention as the warmth of Sebastian's body tumbled suddenly into me, his hands on either side of my cheeks and dark eyes withering into mine for a moment. 

A burdened soul now weightless and grasping for a tether. 

No words touched the tips of my ears but his lips crashed into mine, apologies and appreciation sealed within each kiss.

I let his soul cover mine, a restless hope nearly depleted but now swelling with relief. His fingers hastily tucked messy strands of hair behind my ears though his lips never left mine, the salt of our tears entangled and pooling between our cheeks. 

The broken stitches of our hearts mended with the heat of our devotion.

Realities forgotten.

Only this moment shared between the four of us remembered.

A moment that felt a shattered forever between the cracks, a shock shared, right up until Anne cleared her throat loudly.

"Sebastian, if you could kindly stop snogging the poor girl, I would like to give her my thanks."

Sallow sibling humor spread across the tension. Perhaps a humor used to cope in difficult situations. Perhaps a humor used to forget, if only for an instant, the terrors of actions.

A momentary forgiveness.

The usual relieved breath of a laugh pulled tight at my ribs as I turned from Sebastian's arms and for the first time got a good look at Anne's face.

Her cheeks, filled and pink.

Her eyes, slightly rimmed red but darkness beneath entirely absent.

Her lips scarlet and bright.

Her smile glistened like starlight, vivid and striking.

She looked wholly unlike the Anne I'd known and somehow far more like her brother than I'd ever noticed.

Evidently Sebastian had noticed the difference too, his fingers pulled tight around mine.

"Anne- you look-"

"If you tell me I look like death I swear to Merlin Sebastian."

"No I-"

She didn't let him finish before she had tugged me to her chest, wrapping me in the deepest, tightest hug I had ever had before. I shut my eyelids tight, letting the pain we had shared slip between my fingers as I held her back.

A small flicker in my brain wondered if she knew of her uncle's fate, though it was brushed quickly away as she tugged tighter, accidentally pressing against my stomach and I nearly buckled over from the bought of pain that shot through my gut. I winced and clenched my teeth tight, the smallest whimper slipping between my lips.

She pulled back, letting her eyes glance over my skin. Her brows pulled inwards slowly, confusion dancing between them. Her right hand hesitated a moment before she dropped it to her stomach and pressed deeply, her features entirely unshifting.

Her eyes grew wide and I watched as her face fell slowly, a certain sadness whispering through her lashes.

"You took it..."

Sebastian chuckled gently behind me.

"She took your pain Anne. She-"

"No."

My eyes searched hers for the truth I felt coating my lungs.

Forevers possible for her in a splintered and resettled nightmare.

A nightmare now back where it belonged, beneath my ribs.

"You took my curse."