what if? // sebastian sallow

In the Shadow of Ancient Magic

Suggested soundtrack: Black Out Days (Future Islands Remix) - Phantogram

My wand pointing at Anne's heart, I channel all of my energy into extracting the dark energy away from her and into my wand. The process feels extremely strenuous, and I sense the traces of the dark curse fighting to stay wrapped around Anne's heart and aura.

Rookwood's voice starts echoing in my mind on a loop. "Children should be seen and not heard."

"Children should be seen and not heard."

"Children should be seen and not heard."

"Children should be seen and not heard."

I try to block out his voice from my mind as it reverberates around my head excruciatingly loudly, the words distorted from the intensity of the volume.

I continue to ignore it and focus on pulling the dark magic, the world darkening around me as I concentrate.

It feels like I'm tugging at the dark energy without making any progress, and it starts to drain me quickly, both physically and mentally.

"Jazz, are you okay?" I hear Sebastian's voice in the distance, and the comfort of his presence fills me with a renewed sense of determination and energy. I tug my wand sharply back and finally start to feel the dark tendrils slowly loosening and crawling towards my wand. I continue to pull back and watch as a very real, tangible form of energy starts to emerge from Anne's heart.

I hear Sebastian gasp when he sees it. "Anne! I think it's working!" His words sound as though he's miles away, faintly speaking in the distance.

"It hurts, Sebastian," Anne says, her voice so quiet it's barely audible, especially with Rookwood's voice still echoing in my mind.

"Please hang in there, Anne," I manage to gasp, still straining, my wand feeling like lead in my fingers.

After a few long, painstaking moments, the remaining traces of the magic snap away from Anne, and my intense contact with her breaks. She gets pulled sharply out of the wheelchair and collapses onto the floor.

I watch the tendrils of dark magic dance at the end of my wand, feeling strangely mesmerized by them, unable to move.

Sebastian stands up so abruptly to rush to Anne's side that his chair crashes down onto the floor, breaking me out of my trance.

"Anne!" he yells, running over and wrapping his fingers around her wrist, checking for a pulse.

I rush to the kitchen and grab a jar, carefully transferring the magic into it as I'd seen Isidora do in the pensieve memories. The magic sparkles, dark and strange, inside the jar and I have to tear my eyes away from it to turn my attention to Anne. I fill up a cup of water and bring it over to her, splashing some of it onto her face.

Sebastian and I watch her still body worriedly for a few moments filled with pure dread.

Then, to our immense relief, Anne suddenly coughs sharply and slowly blinks her eyes open. Her eyes take a moment to focus on us as Sebastian helps her sit up on the floor.

We all look at each other in silence, the obvious question lingering in the air between us.

"Did it work?" Sebastian finally asks, his voice small and quiet.

Anne stands up slowly on her own, looking at her hands, brushing herself off, checking for any obvious physical changes.

"I...don't know for sure yet. I just feel kind of...numb?" she says, uncertainty in her voice.

"Where would your pain normally be?" I ask her.

"The pain would come on suddenly and intensely, mostly in my abdomen. The cough was unbearable as well, but it would also come and go. I think I'll need a little time to see if it really worked. I don't feel much of anything right now, but...right now that actually feels nice." Anne speaks softly, and I notice her eyes start to well up with tears.

"Are you alright?" I ask her gently, and she breaks, throwing her arms around me and Sebastian, pulling us close to her.

"You have no idea how good it feels to feel nothing. That might sound strange but it's a welcome relief from the unbearable pain. I'm still bracing myself for the pain to come on again."

"Maybe this time it won't, Anne," Sebastian says, his voice low, exchanging a small smile with me.

Anne and Sebastian seem hopeful, but very hesitant to celebrate yet. I guess after all the false hope they have endured, it is only reasonable for them to have their reservations about any potential cure.

Anne looks over at the kitchen, to the jar darkly swirling with the magic I just extracted from her. She visibly shudders. "I hate even looking at that," she admits, the tear stains still visible on her cheeks.

"I'll take it with me when we leave, Anne," I assure her. "I'll make sure something like that never comes near you ever again. Whether or not we have fully lifted the curse, I'm glad I was able to take that from you."

Anne takes a few tentative steps and walks a small lap around the kitchen and the living room. I see a slow smile start to warm her face as she realizes her energy is higher, but she still holds back her emotions.

"Maybe...I'll stay in Feldcroft for a few more days while we figure this out," she says, her warm eyes meeting Sebastian's, her words filled with something other than despair and disappointment for once.

Sebastian's whole face lights up, his eyes warm, his smile the brightest I've seen it in years. "Of course, Anne! Thank you so much for letting us try this. I'll keep my word of not reaching out to you until you want me to."

"I'll send you an owl, Sebastian. I just...I was just tired of the false hope. And I'm scared to even start to believe this worked – I'm afraid to start envisioning a future only to have it dashed again in a sudden bout of pain. I need time to adjust to this, to see how I feel. But I will say — I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off of me all of a sudden, the world feels lighter."

Sebastian and I exchange an excited glance as we wish Anne a good night.

My heart warms as I make note of the fact that Anne sees us off confidently leaning against the front door and waving goodbye, already a noticeable change from the sad, weakened Anne that greeted us on a wheelchair when we arrived just earlier tonight.

Sebastian and I Floo travel directly to the Undercroft, and as soon as we arrive there, he surprises me by suddenly picking me up in his arms and twirling me around. "We might've fucking done it, Jazz!! We might've done it!!! All thanks to you!" he yells, whisking me through the air, peppering my whole face with kisses.

I can see now that he'd only been holding back his celebratory emotions for Anne's sake. I laugh, feeling giddy with joy, at home in his arms. "I really hope we did, Sebastian. I'll be the happiest girl in the world if this works."

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Decided to post a bit of an earlier update because the last chapter left on such a cliffhanger LOL. Honestly, thank you guys SO MUCH for reading, I really appreciate all of you so much and it makes my day reading your comments! <3 I hope you are enjoying the story, and I know most of us are probably here for Sebastian, so definitely more of him to come :) It's been so nice getting back into writing again after years, so thank you all so much for bringing back my motivation!