"and we wait until one of us caves."
Summary: f!MC cures Anne and isn't needed anymore. Sebastian is set to prove her wrong.
based on the prompt from the wonderful @spaceyaceface 's fic challenge. I've had such writer's block recently so thank you for the inspiration!! it's short and rushed and terrible but oh well!! I had fun!!
She’d done it.
She’d cured Anne.
It had taken two years of intense study, sleepless nights spent tracking down all the literature they could find, but just a few days from graduation, MC had found a way to reverse Anne’s curse.
She stood a few paces back from the open door to the Sallow house. Her eyes followed Anne as she danced across the room in Sebastian’s arms, Ominis laughing and cheering along with them. The warm candle light spilled out of the door, but it didn’t reach MC.
She was too far away.
Her heart ached, and not just from the stress of performing the spell. Seeing them so happy- happier than they’d ever been before- made her realise something.
She could never make them as happy as Anne made them.
The hole that Anne’s curse had created in their trio, that MC had temporarily hoped to fill, had just been closed again. There was no space for her anymore.
She didn’t resent Anne for it; not for a second. She only resented herself for not being able to provide her two favourite people with the joy that Anne could.
So, with a heavy heart, MC turned her back to the Sallow house, to her best friends, and walked away.
As her feet carried her forward, out of Feldcroft and into the thick, surrounding forest, she carved their faces into her mind so she would never forget them. Ominis’ perfect cheekbones, slightly crooked nose and his fascinating eyes. She traced her consciousness over Sebstian’s messy curls, his round cheeks and thick, furrowed brows.
She was doing the right thing by walking away, she thought to herself, she was taking herself out of the equation. They wouldn’t have to feel obliged to include her and they could all return to their golden days of being the infamous Sylytherin trio.
She was doing them a favour.
The sun had set fully now and MC realised she’d been wandering aimlessly in the woods without keeping any sense of direction. The thick tree cover hid the moon from view, though it cast white, dappled light around her feet. A sharp wind blew northwards, striking her nose and cheekbones with an icy fist. She flipped the hood of her cloak up and tried to disappear into it, resigned to continuing to just walk forward.
“Not even going to say goodbye?”
She spun around, her heart in her mouth, to see Sebastian standing a few feet behind her. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.
MC stared blankly at him for a moment, before coming to her senses.
“It’s late. I didn’t want to interrupt you guys.”
“Don’t lie to me,” He said abruptly.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Behind his anger, there was betrayal. Hurt.
“So, you’re leaving then?” Sebastian asked with his tongue in his cheek.
MC avoided his gaze, “It’s better this way, for you, and for Ominis.”
“How?”
“You’ll be happier-”
“No, how the hell could you think that?”
She took a step back at the harshness of his words.
“What do you mean-?” She said softly.
Sebastian took a step forward and swallowed, the whites of his eyes turning hazy beneath the moonlight.
“You honestly think-” His voice was strangely shaky, “-that I could be happy without you?”
His words took her by surprise, but she was used to his intensity.
“You are happy without me, Sebastian. Anne’s back and I’m so honoured to have given that to you. Now you can move on with your life.”
She spoke gently and with a small smile across her face. She had found peace with her decision, and turned again, this time facing the forest with a new acceptance.
The moment she took a step, however, Sebastian shot a basic cast at the ground beside her, capturing her attention again.
“Don’t you dare.”
His face was contorted in a way she had only seen once before.
It was the day he’d killed Solomon. More specifically, the moment Anne had left him. His cheeks glistened with wet tears and his chin was screwed up in frustrated concentration.
“What are you doing?” MC asked, raising her eyebrows.
She couldn’t help but choke on her own breath and fight the urge to run back to him, to wrap her arms around him.
“I’m not letting you leave.”
“Sebastian, I can’t stay here. There’s no space for me anymore.”
“There is and you can, you’re just choosing not to. I won’t let you.”
She stared at him, her head swirling with so many emotions she felt faint. The easy thing to do would be to agree and go back to Feldcroft. But the easy thing wouldn’t make him happy in the long-run. She knew that. He had to rediscover life with Anne and Ominis first. MC wasn’t a part of that.
The silence between them grew. Sebastian set his jaw firmly and planted his feet. MC wouldn’t let herself be swayed by his stubbornness.
“So what do we do now?” She asked lightly.
He took a heavy breath.
“We wait until one of us caves.”
MC couldn’t help but smile, and even the edges of Sebastian’s mouth twitched upwards. Something about his expression, his utter determination, made her bottom lip wobble.
Maybe, she had been too quick to run. Maybe.
“I can’t make you happy like Anne does,” She sighed.
Sebastian shook his head, “I don’t want you to. You make me happy in a way she could never.”
“Sebastian, I-”
“I love you.”
“You love Anne too-”
“She’s my sister, MC. I love you in an entirely different way.”
“Friendship is one thing but-”
“No!” He yelled, taking several steps forward towards her, “You’re just not getting it, are you?”
He lunged toward her, grabbing her face roughly in his hands and pulling her in. He pressed his lips onto hers, hungrily wrapping his arms around her like a man possessed. MC couldn’t help but reciprocate, parts of her lighting up that she’d never felt before. She reached up to knot her fingers in her hair, a surprised groan being pulled from her chest.
When he finally pulled away, his eyes were red and his face blotchy. MC could taste her own tears on her lips, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She laughed a little at her own ridiculousness.
How could she ever leave him?
Sebastian laughed too, his eyes searching her face to understand her expression.
“Damn,” She sighed, “I think I caved.”
He drew her to his chest and held her tight, rocking lightly from one foot to the other.
“I could never, ever lose you,” He mumbled into her hair.
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✦ Reprieve ✦
A oneshot smut comic told in 6 parts
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3 - coming soon]
Pairing: Sebastian x f!Hufflepuff!MC x Ominis
Synopsis: It's their seventh year and Clementine, aka "Em", has been running herself ragged and hardly taking the time to rest. She finally decides to take a brief nap in the Undercroft where no one could possibly find or bother her. Aside from two Slytherins, that is...
A/N: Updates will be slow! This is my first time doing something like a multipage comic, so it's all trial and error and learning new things for me 💗
12/6/23: Updates will now switch to be every completed 2-4 pages! With that, the number of total parts of this series is now out of the window – I have no idea how many parts this will end up being lol 🫣
all reprieve-related/tagged posts | my art | support me on ko-fi
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