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“Why would he not be?” Sebastian asked as Elaine continued to slowly lead them to the music. How strange people on the other side of the wall were, dancing like a turtle trying to walk up a staircase. He had to admit though, having Elaine lead was nice. It felt good to let someone else lead him for a change.
The very notion of Elaine’s maybe-fiancé not thinking about her while she was missing seemed preposterous though. How could anyone lucky enough to be Elaine’s not think about her regularly, even? Maybe Elaine just feels she’s insufficient enough for her maybe-fiancé, given her self-loathing and overly pleasing personality.
“We just.. uh. Left on bad terms is all. I don’t think he’ll be wanting me back anytime soon.”
Sebastian’s blind eyes squinted at the half-truth in the sentence, and he felt her hand in his tense somewhat. What could Elaine have done to her maybe-fiancé? Elaine was steadfast and naive, sure, but she couldn’t hurt a wren if she tried.
Unless she was dangerous. And she lied to him about everything. Maybe Elaine wasn’t the sweet, caring, and bold girl he thought she was. Perhaps she was sent to play him by the Warden-
“Sebastian, are you feeling alright?” That damn question again! Why did she care whether he was alright or not? All she needed him for was to get her back home.
His eyebrows creased together for a second, and his left eye twitched as he could feel her gaze fixating on him. Then immediately, he slid on an easy grin and replied, “Of course I am, are you? You seem quite tense yourself.” Sebastian paused for a moment, thinking carefully about his next words before he just barreled into one of his more important questions, “What happened, between you and him, then?”
Did Sebastian feel bad for poking at a clearly private memory? Yes. But he couldn’t go on without knowing what happened between her and this maybe-fiancé. Elaine could be dangerous, or worse she could be hurting herself over nothing.
Her foot suddenly knocked into his and they stumbled together to the right before Elaine righted them. And they stopped dancing too, what a shame. Pinpricks of pain dug into his arm as he quietly stood holding her. A small frown grew on his ivory face as the silence dragged on.
“I-“ Elaine snapped her lips shut with an audible click against her teeth. Sebastian’s frown grew longer, and his eyebrows furrowed at her hesitation.
They stood there for a moment as the music swayed and swung back and forth with the other couples around the fountain. Abruptly, a nearby rook crashed into Elaine from the back.
As Elaine stumbled into Sebastian and he impulsively wrapped his arms around her waist in a tighter hold, the ruffled and aged rook with its purple cloak called out, “Oh! I’m so sorry, please forgive me, miss.” As the rook’s partner mumbled behind it about young children being such a bother to everybody else.
Red hot blush crawled into Sebastian’s cheeks as Elaine put her smooth claws onto his chest to snap her head to the distressed rook. “It’s fine, really. It was my fault we stopped.” She queasily smiled at the old rook and its wife.
The lady rook stepped up beside her partner and audibly tsked as she looked up and down at the two of them. Thankfully, before Sebastian’s eyebrows could try to attempt murder, the old rook pinched its wife’s arm before she could open her beak again. The squawks were even more pleasant than the music.
“Again, me and my wife are terribly sorry for bumping into you two. Young love shouldn’t be spoiled by two old croaks like us.” The old rook wisely said to them as it grabbed its wife’s arm and scurried off to the markets.
Elaine bounced out of Sebastian’s arms and tried to call out, “Oh, we’re not a couple!” With no success. Which reminds him, she hadn’t answered his question about the maybe-fiancé that she left outside of the wall.
“Well then,” he assumes she had turned at some point as her voice wasn’t as soft as when she tried to correct the old rook couple, “we should probably head back, can’t get too distracted.”
Sebastian hears her talons come up to shift her hair away from her face. In the moment, he wishes he still had his eyes.
“Thank you, Seb.”
Sebastian smiles at the nickname, thoroughly distracted from his original goal, and swiftly replies in kind, “Of course!”
“…for what?” He adds on awkwardly as he realizes that he has no idea why Elaine would be thanking him. The entire dance he had been making her uncomfortable.
“For indulging me! I really enjoyed leading the dance for once.” Elaine tells him like it was supposed to be obvious. The people on the other side of the wall were weird. It was common for anybody to lead the dance here inside the wall.
“It doesn't just have to be the one time.” He says, hopefully looking down in the right direction at Elaine’s face. He thinks she’s beautiful, even if he can’t see her.
Without notice, Elaine takes one of his hands in her cool, smoothly feathered hand and starts walking the way they came.
It’s still weird, being blind, he thinks to himself. It’s even weirder though, feeling someone else’s hand in his and not being scared that they’re going to hurt him. And then Sebastian again thinks back to the maybe-fiancé, and a cold feeling grows in body.
Sebastian suddenly stops as they are about to turn a corner onto the main road, yanking Elaine back as he does. “Are you okay, Seb?” Elaine asks him, and he can feel her big eyes staring into him.
“What-“ Sebastian hesitates, remembering Elaine’s talons worriedly pricking into his shirt earlier. He’s somewhat desperate to know though, but is also worried about Elaine. Before all of this, before all of her happened, he wouldn’t have thought twice before putting pressure on someone to answer his questions. His father would be so disappointed in him now.
And just like that, cold blue phantom smoke whisks up his shoulder and runs along the side of his face, reminding him of what needs to be done.
Sebastian clears his throat, “what happened with you and your fiancé? The truth,” he hesitates and then adds, “please.”
He can feel her talons start to dig into his hand. The feeling makes him want to apologize to her and tell her that he was joking. He doesn’t want to upset this balance they’ve come to together as friends. Well. Then again, they aren’t really friends, are they? Elaine needs him to get back home. And he.. he needs her.
A staleness settles over him, as he steps closer to Elaine. Sebastian can feel her shaking, and he concedes to himself and slowly brings up his warm hands to her feathered arms as she faintly flinches back from his hold.
Elaine shifts herself from foot to foot for a few minutes, clearly thinking about trying to run as if she’d even survive without him and the sibling rooks.
Her plans of running seem to fade then, and her arms tense up in preparation for the confession.
She sniffles and finally begins her story, “I’m not supposed to have these- feathers. Or talons. Humans don’t have pink eyes, either,” Elaine blinks solidly as her eyes start to well up with tears brimming on the edges. “So I had to hide it. I couldn’t get angry, or sad, or even happy without feathers starting to grow out of my skin.”
Ah, that’s why her mother kept her locked up. Warden, people on the outside of the wall are strange.
Elaine continues on after a breath, “one night, it was my friends’ birthday party. And- my friend was given a rook as a- a present . And all I could hear was the screaming- and the pain that bird was in.” She fists her hands at her side, pinching her claws into her tender skin. “So I ran. And Charles followed me out. And he wants to cheer me up, you know? I was so sad.”
Sebastian can feel her finally looking up at him, and suddenly dread starts slowly to curl into his shoulders. Elaine resumes, “so he takes me to the wall.”
And, oh, does that make him angry. Sebastian is already connecting the dots now, and he does not like how he thinks this story will end.
“And then he just- proposes! And he tells me he loves me and- and that he doesn’t want anymore secrets. I tell him yes, of course I do he was-.. is the love of my life! And then- Kadena flies in. She was just trying to help, my mother was getting worried. And Charles tries to shoot her, as a marriage gift -“ Elaine stops suddenly as her voice heavily shakes. Sebastian moves his hands down to hold her clawed hands in his, to comfort her. Or at least Sebastian hopes it does.
“And then I lost control. Charles, of course, becomes terrified. I mean- ha what would you do if your fiancée turns into a monster in front of you?” Sebastian would probably say ‘you look wonderful’ and ‘can you still go get me water?’, but apparently Charles isn’t as amazing as Elaine makes him out to be.
Sebastian hears the whimper rise up in Elaine’s throat as she tries to wipe away her tears.
“He, um, he hugs me. After- after he tries to shoot me. He tells me that it ‘must’ve been hard’,” and suddenly she devolves into gasping with laughter, but Sebastian’s frown continues to grow. He knows where this story ends.
Elaine’s giggling stops as she remembers what happens next. It seems like the reality of what Charles did hits her harder than ever. Charles loved her, and Elaine loved him back. They were meant to get married and live together for the rest of their lives. That was the plan.
“He pushed me into the wall.” Elaine whispers grimly, the finale to her cruel tale.
The seconds after are agonizingly slow, and Sebastian steps closer to Elaine. He lifts up his hand and tilts Elaine’s head up towards him. And this time, he’s thankful he can’t see her face. He wouldn’t know what to do if he saw her crying with such sullen realization.
“You didn’t deserve that,” he quietly says to her, like nobody else in the world but she deserved to hear it.
Then Sebastian wraps his arms around her, and holds Elaine close as she softly cries.
He regrets asking her anything at all.