Tempest // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 55

Sebastian woke up before Rosie the morning of their practical at Gringotts, unable to get any sort of sleep after he spent most of the night opening and reading through the letters from Anne.

When his owls were being delivered after Solomon's death, Anne never opened them. Instead, she penned back her own letter, letting out all her thoughts with every single one from Sebastian she received.

So Sebastian sat at his small desk in their spare room turned office, opening letter by letter, learning about Anne's whereabouts, her state of mind, her condition.

When she left, they tried to take her to a female orphan school. Anne refused, and moved on all on her own. She'd had a small stint in St Mungos when her health declined, but she plateaued enough to be let out. And that's when she sought out Ominis.

She lived with Ominis and Tadgh for a year or two, until her letters ceased. In 1895.

She was 21.

The curse took her at 21.

With no more letters to open and the sun getting close to rising, Sebastian crawled back into bed, letting silent tears fall on his pillow below as he snuggled into Rosie, who was blissfully unaware of Sebastian's lack of sleep. Until she struggled to wake him at 8am, however.

"No," he mumbled, yanking her pillow from beside him and pulling it tight over his face.

"If you want a job, then you have to," Rosie said, yanking her pillow back and climbing on top of him, practically sitting on his chest. "Get up."

He forcefully opened his eyes, struggling as they felt heavy and weak. And he figured they looked just as bad because Rosie's face twisted to confusion, thumb running across the bag under one of his bloodshot eyes.

"You okay?" She asked softly, relenting in her fight to drag him out of bed.

Sebastian shook his head.

"You read the letters, didnt you?"

Sebastian nodded.

Rosie sighed and shifted down a little, leaning down to snuggle into him and give him a soft kiss on the cheek. "What happened?"

"She was 21."

Sebastian didn't need to elaborate anymore. She knew what he meant. She held him a bit tighter, feeling him sniff as the tears clearly won the battle again.

"I'm so sorry." She mumbled against his hair.

Sebastian shook his head and nuzzled into her, "It's okay. It's fine, we knew it would happen."

But truthfully, it wasn't fine. Knowing she lived for three more years after Sebastian's departure had him questioning once again whether leaving was even the right choice. Three more years could have been enough to potentially find her cure, but instead he abandoned her and left her to die, likely a long and painful death.

But he shook off the thoughts, knowing there was nothing he could do. She was dead.

"Come on, I'll make breakfast before we have to leave." Sebastian said with a final sniff and a shake of his head to forget the sadness.

Sebastian forced himself out of bed and moved sluggishly through the kitchen, making scrambled eggs and coffee for them both. During Rosie's brief absence when he was living alone, he purchased himself a coffee machine and taught himself to make the coffee he'd had with Isabelle. He impressively made one for both of them, complete with the same caramel syrup the cafe served and that made him smile and lift his spirits a little.

As they sat down for breakfast, Rosie did her best to lift Sebastian's spirits, chatting about inconsequential things and Sebastian did appreciate her efforts, but the ache in his heart still remained. Of course, he realised that the people he'd loved like Anne and Ominis and even people like Garreth, who he wasn't truly the best of friends with but still appreciated, were now dead. He was the only one left.