Title: Abandon All Hope

Summary: Melisandre thinks she's reached an understanding with Sebastian but an incident at home threatens to sunder the peace.

.

Sebastian was standing at the edge of the cliff, a few feet away from a dead tree. His hands were curled into fists. The argument with Ominis had been harsh. She had caught a part of the conversation. Ominis had accused Sebastian of playing a dangerous game and Sebastian had taken offense, claiming the boy didn't care about anyone but himself. Sebastian had stormed out of the castle. Melisandre had followed him.

"Sebastian. We should talk."

He looked at her and frowned. "About what?"

"I heard the argument you had with Ominis."

He didn't meet her eyes. "Ominis doesn't agree." He lifted his gaze. "Are you having doubts?"

She shook her head. "No… But maybe there's another way. A safer way."

He recoiled as if he had been struck in the face. "Another way?" he almost hissed. "Did Ominis put you up to this? He did, didn't he? I'm not backing down. We've come this far. Anne is waiting."

There it was again – Anne. "But Sebastian… I don't… know if I can." Her shoulders slumped but she did her best to maintain eye contact. "Crucio… Imperius? How far have we got to go before it becomes too much? What if something goes wrong?"

A muscle jerked in his jaw. "You're giving up. Considering it. You're giving up on Anne."

"You're not listening to me," she said. Stubborn foolish boy, she thought. Yet she was the greater fool for having gone so far with him. "I'm not giving up on Anne, but maybe there is a better option to take."

"Don't you think I've tried every other option?" He retorted, almost in a growl. Steadying his tone, he added, "Everyone else has given up. Everyone but me. If you want to give up too then you know where the door is!"

She bit her lip. "I'm not walking away."

The anger dimmed from his eyes. He covered his face with his hands for a moment. When he faced her again, she could see the regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just I can't give up on Anne when everyone else already has."

She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch, but he was tense. "I want to help her as best as I can. Ominis is worried about you and so am I. We're in this together. I will not abandon all hope." For the first time in weeks, he smiled at her, and she was reminded of their earlier days together when everything seemed so innocent.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," he murmured. He turned his body around to face her.

"We'll find a way to save Anne and I think whatever powers I have…. Might be the key to helping her. Isolde was able to use her powers to take pain away… I don't know how yet, but what if I could do the same?" Or not. Maybe it was cruel to offer him false hope. What a crap girlfriend she was.

"I'll take what I can get."

She smiled. "Then we'll do this my way, yeah? I just need to complete a few more trials and I'll know everything. We will save Anne, but you must be patient. Can you do that? For me?" Maybe she was getting through to him. Maybe this madness would end. Maybe he wasn't too far gone yet.

"I really would be lost without you," he replied softly, raising a hand to caress her cheek.

"I'm with you all the way." He had that look in his eyes again – the look of admiration and desire. She half-expected him to lean in and give her the kiss he had promised for a while now. But just when it looked like he was ready to move in, he glanced over his shoulder. There were smoke clouds billowing in the near distance – his village.

"Anne." He pulled away from her and started sprinting down the side.

Melisandre cursed, pulled out her wand and raced after him.

.

Goblins had raided the village. Several of them had thrown torches at the hay-strewn huts setting them alight on fire. Flames danced from house to house. Each one was consumed by the fire. Melisandre raised her wand and ran towards a group of goblins. "Accio!" She lifted a goblin into the air. Sebastian capitalized on the goblin's temporary weakness and blasted it.

More goblins kept coming, but that only made it easier to deal with them. Stupid goblins. "Incindio!" she exclaimed, sending a wave of flame in all directions. The goblins caught alight on fire and screamed but their cries were deafened by the hissing of fire. More goblins charged. One of the bastards even cast a shield. Well, she had an easy way to get through that. "Leviosa!" Sebastian finished the job.

She spotted Anne and Solomon fleeing their house. Anne, weakened by her curse, fell to her knees. Solomon hadn't noticed and Melisandre wasn't close enough to help the girl. A goblin charged at Anne, a curved dagger at the ready. Anne screamed.

"Anne!" Solomon screamed as he flung a goblin aside.

Sebastian charged forward and jumped over a charred goblin corpse. He thrust his wand forward and yelled, "Imperio!"

The goblin froze. His knife a few inches away from Anne's exposed neck. The creature ran into the flames and killed itself.

"Sebastian…" Melisandre murmured, catching her breath in between deep gasps. She looked towards him, not failing to notice the triumphant gleam in his eyes. It was as if he had found a cure to save Anne. "No… You didn't have to do that…" she whispered. A strange, unsettling feeling overcame her. It was like carrying weights on her shoulders but it was coming from within her chest.

"Anne!" he called, rushing towards his twin sister.

Anne screamed and crawled away from Sebastian as if he were one of the goblins trying to kill her. "Stay away!"

Her brother came to an abrupt halt, the blood draining from his face. "Anne?"

"Sebastian!" came the bellowing roar of Solomon. The adult male sauntered over and stood at Anne's side protectively as if to shield her from a monster. "What have you done?"

"I saved Anne! That goblin was going to kill her!" Sebastian protested. He pointed his wand at Solomon. "Would you have stood outside and watched it happen?!"

Solomon glowered. "You idiot boy!"

Never had Melisandre seen a fire burn so cold.

Sebastian didn't back down. He glared. "You don't care, do you?! You'd let her die!" he was almost shrieking at the top of his lungs, consumed by a burning rage.

"Enough!" Solomon roared. "I've tried to reason with you, Sebastian, but you've gone too far! Casting one of the Unforgivable curses is a great sin but you had to do it in front of your sister! Do I need to remind you she has been cursed?"

Anne clutched her stomach, a spasm of face crossing her face. "Arghh," she exclaimed, her knees buckling.

Solomon rushed to her aid. Once she was stable, he turned to Sebastian. "Don't ever come back," Solomon snapped, his voice low. He pointed a finger at Sebastian. "I don't want you near Anne. You're only making her condition worse."

"That's not true."

Solomon's expression hardened. "Listen to yourself dammit! You think experimenting with dark magic is going to make you a hero? Then you're more of a blind fool than I thought and I'm ashamed we share the same blood. You're dead to me, boy. You'll be kissed by a dementor soon enough." He then turned to Melisandre. "Don't damn yourself to Azkaban for him." He picked up Anne and carried her away from the burning village.

Sebastian drew in a deep breath, his wand hand at his side. Melisandre kept her distance unsure if closing the gap would prompt him to lash out. "I had to save her…"

It was almost as if he was trying to justify his own actions. She wanted to do something – anything – but what could she do? Solomon's warning was real. Anne's fear was real. They both thought Sebastian had crossed the line. "Sebastian…"

He wiped his eyes. To his credit, he was maintaining a somewhat calm demeanour. "That goblin would've killed her… I just… Panicked. Cast the first spell that came to mind. Is that so wrong?" His body was trembling so much he couldn't hold onto his wand. It fell onto the grass. "Why am I the only one who seems to care about her? Uncle thinks he's protecting her – from what? A cure? Hope? Why can't he see?"

She came to his side. Carefully, she extended a hand towards him, gently brushing her fingers against his hand to test his reaction. He flinched but didn't pull away. Trying her luck, she grabbed his hand and pulled him in her direction, so he was facing her. Peering up at him, she said, "You did what you thought was right. In time, they'll understand." Solomon would never come around but there was still hope for Anne to accept Sebastian's actions. If she loved him enough, she'd accept his faults too. Wasn't that what love was? Acceptance of flaws? "We'll get through this."

He drew in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He didn't release her hand as if he found some comfort. "I don't understand why they've given up. Even Anne seems to not believe anymore – as if she's accepted this fate."

Melisandre didn't have an answer to that. The girl probably had enough of endless suffering. To be in pain every single day was a curse enough on its own. "I don't know what thoughts are going through their head and I don't think we'll ever truly understand Anne's pain. But we can't give up hope."

That seemed to encourage him. He spared her a one of his increasingly rare smiles and released his hand. "Thank you for not abandoning all hope." He picked up his wand. "I'll see you back at the castle. I'm going to put the fires out."

"I can help."

He shook his head. "I need to do this on my own."

She nodded. Perhaps it was some sort of penance for his crimes. "Take care."

.

The last thing she wanted to see was Ominis's face. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, and lips pressed into a thin line. "Ominis. Why am I not surprised to see you here?" Melisandre said.

Ominis pulled away from the wall and stormed towards her. "I told you this would happen. Didn't I warn you about the consequences of playing with dark magic? But you encouraged his recklessness and now look at what has happened!" he snapped. Somehow the boy knew what had happened. Anne had probably sent him an owl.

She was already a head shorter than Ominis, but now she felt like a mouse standing near him. "I didn't… I didn't think he'd use the imperius curse in front of his family. I mean, he saved her from death."

"Maybe death would've been a much better fate," he replied heatedly, his tone laced with venom.

"You can't mean that. You're supposed to be his best friend."

"And a true best friend does their best to stop their friends from doing something stupid."

She winced. Ominis was right. Sebastian was going to lose everything if he kept walking down this path. His desperation to save his sister had been growing in intensity – even his mood had shifted. Gone was the charming rogue from earlier in the year. Now he was prone to emotional aggressive outbursts and unable to think straight. "He's made his mind up."

"You could've stopped him."

"If you couldn't stop him then how was I supposed to fair any better?"

"He likes you in a way he could never like me." Ominis was now an arm's length away from her. "Love is a powerful force. It's what drives Sebastian to save his sister. It's what drives Solomon to protect Anne from Sebastian. But you've just gone along with his stupid ideas. If he falls then you're going down with him."

"Do you think he'll listen to reason?" Melisandre snapped. "I've tried talking to him. I tried telling him we could find another way by understanding this ancient magic I have. But he's impatient – we're not getting immediate results so he's taking matters into his own hands."

Ominis drew in a deep breath and sighed. "We might already be too late then."

She pointed at him. "Maybe you should've tried harder to stop him when he started coming up with these ideas to help Anne. It's not so easy, is it?" No response. Figures, she thought. She lowered her hand. "We both failed him."

"Then he is lost to us both."

She shook her head. "No, not yet. We cannot abandon all hope. There's still a bit of humanity left in him… I know he's still in there, Ominis. I've seen it."

The boy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You really have a way with words… I can see why he's so taken in with you. Very well – I will support him but only because you've convinced me." A pause then his shoulders slumped. "I too have played a role in this. I hope you are right about saving him."

"I know I'm right."

He kept his mouth shut. She took his silence as a lack of confidence. The boy still had doubts and why wouldn't he? Sebastian had openly used one of the Unforgivable Curses despite having a vast knowledge of other spells that could've been just as effective. Was it something he just wanted to do? "You're a walking red flag Sebastian, but Merlin help me, I can't give up on you." What had Ominis said? Love was the most powerful force? She frowned. Was she in love with him? Could a fifteen-year-old experience romantic love? She didn't know. There was no definitive answer. What she was certain of was the importance of his friendship and wellbeing. "Whatever happens next… I'll be there at your side."

.

And that's another one shot down! Sebastian's quest line really had the best story out of the companions. I really felt that Sebastian's story was supposed to mirror Isolde's one and I just wish we had a chance to really cement some sort of a teenage relationship with him. Sigh. The possibilities. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Drop a comment or a kudos!

On a side note, if anyone is interested, I currently run my own writing forum community, so if you are keen just follow the link (check my profile page for forum and discord links - if they don't work, PM me!)