The shadows were beginning to lengthen as Rei, Sebastian, and Samir sat on the retaining wall outside of Clarke Hall. Scott had sent them outside about half an hour earlier while he finished tending to Christian's gouged leg and blistered wrists. Christian had slept through the entire process, deep in a peaceful slumber for the first time in months. It would be some time before he looked healthy, but at least he could begin to heal.
The events of the afternoon kept replaying in Sebastian's mind, the whole nightmarish ceremony to reunite the split halves of Christian's essence. It had been dangerous, and that was an understatement. The monstrous things that lived on the other side of reality's flimsy fabric, the beast that had tried to drag Christian through the collapsing portal between worlds, and Sebastian had failed utterly to do the one thing he had sworn to do, to protect Christian. Rei had saved him, had risked his own life to fight the demonic thing off of Christian, and seemed no worse the wear for it. He had an ugly red burn across his forehead, and a streak of white through his thick black hair, but if it had made a deeper imprint, it was impossible to say.
"Rei," Sebastian said at last. "Thank you, for everything you've done for him." Rei looked taken aback, but grinned before taking another drag on what had to be his third cigarette in the past 45 minutes.
"It was nothing," he replied. "He is my friend. I wish you would be my friend instead of this acting like a rival. Jealousy, it does not suit you." Rei paused, searching for the phrasing he wanted. "It is too petty." Sebastian took a breath to answer but Samir interrupted. He'd been very quiet since they had gotten back to the dormitory, and Sebastian was not prepared for his next words.
"He doesn't deserve you," Samir breathed in fury, refusing to look at Sebastian. "You're a gutless coward, you didn't have an ounce of faith in him, and you didn't even have the spine enough to tell him." He turned on Sebastian then, his pale eyes blazing, the pupils slits like a cat's. "You let him think for months that you believed him, and if he knew what a faithless, craven, heartless bastard you really are..." Samir gave a snort. "Well, he'll know as soon as he begins to try his strength. He'll see right through you."
Sebastian stared at him, aghast. He couldn't even begin to know where to start. Rei began to say something, but Samir waved him silent.
"You don't even have the guts to shout me down." There was grim satisfaction in Samir's tone. "You coward, he's too much for you now and you know it. He's far beyond you." He turned and started to walk away, but paused to give one last piece of unwanted advice. "If you're wise, you'll cut yourself loose from him as soon as possible, before he finds you out and it breaks his heart." He bared his teeth in an unpleasant grin. "He's suffered enough."
The sounds of the stirring students snapped Sebastian awake. Groaning, he rolled over and fumbled for his phone. 6 AM, middle of July. Was he ever going to stop reliving that day? He sank back against the pillows and stared at the bright screen. No messages from home, no emails from anyone, including Christian. Why should he message or email? Sebastian had broken it off almost two months ago, claiming a need for space. That last confused look Christian had given him had almost been enough to stop him. The shame he felt had been enough to spur him on.
He'd done well, he thought, by not bowing to his own desperate need to reach out to his former boyfriend. Christian needed peace, not be jerked around by his emotions. The space had been less helpful to him, though. Sebastian needed someone to help him make sense of what he had seen and heard, and he didn't quite trust anyone to give him a hand. Samir's words still burned, and he feared that Emmerich, Sean, and even Rei harbored similar feelings.
Sebastian rolled out of bed and got dressed for his morning run before he went to the stables. His grandparents had arranged a new horse for him for his birthday and as an early graduation gift, and he was finally getting to know and train with the young animal. Anatole was years away from being any good as an eventing horse, but it was critical for them to get comfortable with one another. After he got through this one last season of football, he'd be able to focus all of his time on equestrian events.
He felt a twinge of guilt as he trotted outside. He didn't have to go help out in the stables, but that knowledge didn't keep him from feeling like he was skipping work to go on his run. The younger kids didn't resent him for it, and most days he did help out. But his dream, or memory, or whatever he'd like to call it, had put him into an anxious mood, and he certainly didn't need to have any sort of jitters around Anatole. A nice long run would hopefully do the trick.
There are days when it feels like something is trying to send a message across, where themes are repeated over and over again. It didn't take long for this feeling to settle on Sebastian, as the "shuffle" feature on his MP3 player chose to be unhelpful and kept playing songs that brought Christian to mind. Sebastian swore as he ran, finding it hard to fall into that easy, comfortable rhythm. He skipped his usual route and ran down into town, hoping that the change in scenery would get his mind off of matters. The scent of coffee from the cafe, the nightowls heading home to roost, crossing paths with the early risers, it all spoke to their shared past at Arcadia, the times Christian patiently waited up for him just so they could share a quick kiss before Christian went off to bed and he went off to an early class or work-out session. Damn the break, damn Samir, and damn all the rest of it, he was going to call Christian as soon as he got back to the equestrian center. He turned to run back, because damn the rest of his run too, and collided hard enough with someone to be knocked to the ground. He began to apologize, but then realized that he was the only one on the pavement. The other party stared down at him like he was a particularly nasty bug.
"It stinks of the wizard," gurgled the being--Sebastian couldn't tell if it was a man or woman, let alone human. "Every bit, foul, reeking of his magicks and essence. Yes, it might know." Sebastian stared up at it in repulsion as it gulped at the air, its bulbous eyes rolling like a chameleon's. Before he could say a thing to it, it seemed to fold in on itself and disappear. Sebastian hurried to his feet, trying to determine where it might have gone. A quick glance around confirmed what his instincts told him--whatever it was, it had vanished with no trace.
The run back up to the center was taxing. His body ached from hitting the pavement quite so hard, and the repugnant humanoid creature had left him unsettled. He would be glad of a shower and some strong coffee. Something half-nagged at the back of his mind, like he was forgetting something, but any time he tried to retrace his thoughts, whatever it was scurried from him. It couldn't be that important, then, he told himself. He'd remember if it was important.
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