CHAPTER 93: DID SOMEONE DIE OR SOMETHING?

When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was her.

Belle.

She was right in front of me, her face close enough that I could see every tremble in her lips, every tear clinging to her lashes before sliding down her cheeks. Her hands were still cupping my face, warm and shaking, her pinkish-purple eyes locked onto mine.

They were beautiful, like fractured gemstones catching the faintest light.

But I knew the truth.

She couldn’t see me.

Those eyes, as radiant as they were, saw nothing at all.

The thought twisted something deep inside my chest, sharp and bitter. For a moment, I didn’t say anything I just stared back, lost somewhere between confusion and something far more... intimate, something that I didn’t want to name.

I tilted my head slightly, letting my gaze wander past her. My surroundings came into focus slowly, the fog in my mind lifting piece by piece.

I was... home.

My bedroom.

The faint scent of cedar and ink lingered in the air, familiar and grounding. The curtains were drawn halfway, letting in the soft morning light that painted the room in muted gold.

Alectra stood a few paces away, pacing back and forth, her long black hair swaying with every movement. Her golden eyes, sharp and furious, kept darting between me and the others in the room.

Behind Belle stood the faces I’d come to know from the academy: Nora, her expression tight with worry; Xavier, arms crossed but eyes uncharacteristically soft; Kent, awkwardly wringing his hands; Annalise, frozen still like she was afraid to breathe; and Lillith, silent, her usual confidence dulled into quiet concern.

They were all here.

All staring.

All waiting.

The tension in the room was so thick it was almost suffocating.

So, naturally, I did the only thing that felt... right.

I smirked weakly, my voice rasping out through the dryness in my throat.

"Did someone die or something?" I muttered, the corners of my mouth twitching upward. "You all look like I just crawled out of my own grave."

Every head snapped toward me in unison.

Their gazes, wide, startled, and filled with worry, hit me like a wave.

And for a second, I almost regretted saying it.

---

Before I could even blink, Belle moved.

One second, she was trembling in front of me, hands on my cheeks, and the next her arms were around me tight, desperate, crushing the air right out of my lungs.

Her embrace wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was the kind of hug that felt like she was afraid I’d vanish if she let go, like I was something fragile that had just come back from the edge of being lost forever.

I froze. Her hair brushed against my neck, soft and faintly cold, her trembling breath warm against my shoulder. She didn’t say anything just held on.

For a second, I didn’t know what to do.

My brain couldn’t catch up with the sudden weight of her against me, the quiet, broken sound of her breathing, the faint wetness that soaked into my shirt.

And then, awkwardly, I lifted a hand and patted her back twice. "Belle," I muttered, my voice coming out rough, "can’t... breathe."

She jerked back instantly, her face a shade of red I’d never seen on her before. "S-sorry!" she stammered, stepping away like she’d been caught doing something scandalous.

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could even inhale properly, another shape slammed into me like a thunderbolt.

A blur of black hair and a sharp cry hit me full in the chest.

I barely had time to react before a pair of arms wrapped around my torso, tight enough to hurt.

"Alectra—!" I wheezed, stumbling back onto the bed as she clung to me like a drowning person to driftwood.

Her entire body shook. Her voice came out cracked, hoarse, strangled between sobs. "You idiot" she choked, "I thought you died!"

My heart stuttered in my chest.

"I thought you died!" she yelled again, hitting my chest weakly with her fist, then breaking down completely, her face buried in my shoulder. "Belle said you screamed and then collapsed, and nothing worked, you stopped breathing-and you—"

She couldn’t finish. Her words dissolved into sobs.

I stood there awkwardly, my arms half-raised, unsure if I should hug her back or just wait it out. The sight of Alectra crying, really crying, was something I hadn’t seen since we were kids. It was mostly the old Sebastian who did the crying.

After a moment, though, she pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her sleeve. Her gold eyes locked on mine, red-rimmed and furious.

"But if you ever do something like that again," she said, her voice cracking but still sharp as steel, "I’ll kill you myself. You hear me?"

"...What?"

Her threat hung in the air, half-ridiculous, half-deadly serious.

I frowned, confusion knitting across my face. "What are you even talking about?"

Pulling myself out of her grasp, I sat up straighter, looking around for answers. The rest of the room came into focus, Nora standing by the wall, pale and biting her lip; Xavier with his arms crossed, his brow furrowed; Annalise and Lilith looking shaken; and Belle still standing there, her hands clasped tightly together like she was praying.

They were all just... staring.

Then, one by one, their gazes shifted toward Belle.

She hesitated, her throat bobbing as she swallowed, and then stepped closer.

When she spoke, her voice a little shaky. "Sebastian... you weren’t breathing."

The words didn’t hit me as hard as I thought they would.

For a moment, I just stared at her.

My mind tried to piece together what she’d said, but it felt like someone had filled my head with static.

Not breathing?

I blinked, slow and unfocused. My chest rose and fell normally. I was alive. I felt alive or at least, I thought I did.

But inside... nothing moved.

No fear. No shock. No rush of adrenaline that should’ve come with hearing something like that.

Just a hollow sort of quiet.

Because I couldn’t really feel much anymore.

My emotions were still scattered, broken pieces that didn’t fit together.

Bits of confusion. Faint dread. A strange emptiness that pressed down like fog.

I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers slowly.

"I see," I murmured, almost to myself. "So... what happened?"