. : Sebastian of Havfrue : .

Sebastian watched Kendrick leave the clearing. He could barely stomach the guilt after what he had said and after Laura's face. Kendrick had murdered children for no reason, and Sebastian had stood aside and allowed it. Bile rose in his throat as Kendrick left the clearing. The more time he spent with the pirate, the longer he began to regret not standing up to his parents and insisting they worked without the pirates. He may have gone to war, but he knew that his soldiers would only fight other soldiers.

He turned back to Laura. Agatha had moved beside her throughout, and her eyes were wide. She leaned over to murmur something to the brunette. Laura was watching Kendrick vanish before she lowered her hands and let the fire drop. She leaned down to respond to Agatha, but froze, her eyes locked on him.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed as she let out a shuddering breath that condensed as if it were cold out. Her eyes went wide, and out of focus, staring at nothing. Her breathing began to quicken, her expression hazy.

Tedros nudged him, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Is this normal?"

Sebastian made a move to respond, his hand gently picking at the crab and shell crest on his chest as a source of nervousness, but froze as she dropped to the ground, her body twitching. The blue grass around her began to ice over.

Ice spread out rapidly in a circular motion, creating white frost patterns on the navy grass, despite the heat that was pouring down on Sebastian's freckled face. The air temperature around them began to chill, the sweat on Sebastian's neck cooling, and he had a sense that if he reached back, it would be frost.

Agatha instantly dropped to her knees in the cold grass, the pink uniform doing nothing to stop the chill on her knees., grabbing Laura's shoulders. "Laura? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Laura's body twitched, and her eyes drifted in and out of focus. The frost spread out of her body and began to creep around the clearing, towards the base of the surrounding trees.

"No, it's not," Sebastian watched her body move on the ground. "It's always been fire with her. I've never seen anything else. Especially the exact opposite of the magic she favours."

"You have to help me," Agatha huffed, trying desperately to hoist Laura up, but failing. "she needs to go to the nurse. Something is wrong."

Sebastian snorted, but a twinge of guilt pulled at him. Kendrick wouldn't hesitate to leave her. He would say to let her die.

He could sense Tedros watching him, waiting for a move on what to do. He didn't want Tedros to look down on him either, not when Sebastian had worked so hard to become a leader and somebody the boy could look up to. 

Sebastian let out a breath of air and dropped his hand off the sword. He had to help. He didn't know what was wrong but didn't want to be the reason she died in the clearing instead of him getting the opportunity to fight her properly.

"Come on Tedros." 

Tedros made a noise that sounded like relief and followed Sebastian as he went over.

Sebastian hooked one arm over his shoulder, and Tedros took the other. He instinctively moved his head away from her hands. A phantom throb of pain flashed over the back of his own hands as he recalled the burns that had rested there. She didn't make a move, however, her weight slumping forward into both him and Tedros. 

Sebastian flinched at the chill that seeped through his clothing. Every time he had been close to her, she had radiated heat. The cold seemed to radiate from her body, pressing into him. A thin layer of frost began to develop on his shirt where her hand brushed.

Sebastian winced and moved his head away from her hand. The burns were bad enough, he didn't need to be frozen to death as well.

"We just have to get her to the good castle," Tedros spoke, matching his step with Sebastian as they hobbled their way out of the blue woods, and towards the castle. Agatha followed closely behind, her face stricken with concern.

Sebastian avoided eye contact with the other princesses as they carried Laura across the blue field and towards the good castle. In the distance, the evil students were returning to their own residences, and Sebastian noticed, with a breath of relief, that Kendrick was nowhere to be seen. 

They stumbled onto the cobblestone path, and straight into the castle doors. Frost followed them, chasing after Laura. It made spiral patterns over the floor of the glass castle and made grabs for their ankles. 

They had made it to one of the staircases, with the intention of taking her to the med wing. Sebastian stopped however when a shout ran out.

"Sebastian, Tedros, Agatha,"

Sebastian looked back at Professor Dovey, who looked slightly frazzled and was coated in a thin sheen of sweat. She wore a high-necked velvet gown and jogged up to them.

"I will take her from here." Dovey held her arm out.

Tedros spoke before Sebastian could protest. "With respect, Professor, she needs medical attention, this is likely some sort of curse."

Dovey raised an eyebrow. "I admire your courage Tedros, but I am an expert in curses, and I am aware of what is going on. She has a medical condition."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "A medical condition?"

"Yes, Sebastian, a medical condition."

Dovey reached out, and placed a hand on Laura's shoulder, shaking her slightly. Almost instantly, Laura shuddered and pulled her head up. Her eyes refocused, honing back into their dark brown shade. The frost around them crawled back towards her and vanished once it touched her skin, steam evaporating into the glass hallway.

She glanced around, surprised to find where she was, and recoiled slightly when she noticed Sebastian. He could feel her hand heating up on him, and he flinched away, letting her weight slump onto Dovey. 

A condition. He could use that to his advantage, both now and in the future in Neverland. Maybe it would allow him to find a way to defeat her-- or better yet, take her foul fire magic away.

"I will help her now," Dovey spoke. "You may return to your classes."

Dovey wrapped one arm around Laura, and together, Sebastian watched them vanish down a long hallway, towards another staircase that lead to the professors' offices.

Agatha spun, and they both watched as she silently slipped into the shadows, towards the girls' dorms.

Sebastian waited until Agatha was gone, before making his decision, and jogging silently after Dovey.

"Really?" Tedros barked out from behind him, his voice tinged with both amusement and exasperation. "We are following a professor now?"

Sebastian waved his hand at him to get him to be quiet. "There might be more to this condition, what if it helps me get the upper hand?"

Sebastian could sense Tedros rolling his eyes behind him, but the blond boy still fell into line behind them, as they approached the staircase to the offices.

Sebastian paused at the bottom of the spiral staircase. He could hear them above him. 

"-- I'm sorry, next time I'll make sure Elsie dies while I'm not surrounded by other people."

Laura's voice was heavy with sarcasm above them, and Sebastian glanced back at Tedros. They had almost identical expressions of surprise.

How was she getting away with speaking to Dovey like that?

"I might be only a year older than you, but the only thing stopping me from thrashing you is that you need to be alive." Dovey's voice was hard, but there was a hint of fondness.

Sebastian pressed himself against the wall and stepped up the staircase. He could see them reflected on the glass. Tedros came behind him and pressed his back against him. 

"What are we going to do? There couldn't have been a worse time for this to happen."

Sebastian furrowed his brows. Something was going on, more than he was aware of. Maybe his parents knew what was going on.

"I know," Dovey spoke. "We will just have to wait until Elsie is found, and keep you safe until you are there."

A door closed above them, Dovey and Laura vanishing with the slam. Sebastian stopped, looking back at Tedros.

"Well, that was completely useless," Tedros rolled his eyes, heading back down the stairs. His blond hair caught the light, and Sebastian paused, momentarily thrown off by Tedros' resemblance to his father.

"Not entirely," Sebastian responded, jogging down the stairs to stride alongside his friend. "We know now how old she is, and can start looking at birth records. There has to be some sort of hint as to who she is."

Tedrose shoved his hands into his pockets. "Don't you think you are getting a little obsessed?"

Sebastian glared at him. "No, I don't. I think it's going to get me an advantage in the war."

"But she's in the school for good, that technically should make her our ally."

Sebastian shook his head. "No, I'm not the villain, which makes her the villain. We cannot both be the heroes in this story, especially when we aren't on the same side."

He couldn't be the villain, he would never let himself become the villain. A small ounce of shame rose in his chest as he recalled the necklace shoved into a drawer in his room.

"But if you are the good one, that would make Kendrick the bad guy, since he is in the school for evil."

Sebastian crossed his arms as they walked. He couldn't keep thinking about this. He didn't want to know if he had allied himself with a villain. 

"I don't care which school we are in, but I want more information on her."

Tedros groaned. "I'm going to have to help with this, aren't I?"

"Certainly," Sebastian responded. "I wouldn't do it without you. Besides, the sooner we get information, the sooner Neverland can belong to Havfrue, and magic will be vanquished."