Edward spent the next few days finding and poring over anything he could find about Sebastian as well as what Ruth had told him. Any bit of informationâeven if it was a stretchâhe took it. Rolf had been increasingly distant as he didn't want to entertain this odd and particularly worrying obsession. Edward didn't seem to notice, though.
Rolf believed Sebastian was truly just an ordinary man and that he and Vienne had the right to love each other. However, his cowardice kept him from saying that to Edward, and he felt ashamed of it. But every time he tried to speak, the words would get stuck in his throat, or he was shut down by Edward. Speaking up seemed useless.
Meanwhile, Vienne was blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Sure, the thought of Edward and her anxiety over him was still there, but she knew not of his endeavors to completely eradicate her relationship with Sebastian.
She continued on as usual, giddily reading her owls from Sebastian and longing to see him every day. Sebastian didn't disclose anything regarding Edward in his letters, so truly, Vienne had no idea what was going on. She was enjoying the freedom she thought she had, and he didn't want to take that away from her.
Ominis was trying his best to keep close tabs on everything, but there was only so much he could do to help. Even trying his absolute best to figure out what exactly Edward had planned didn't do much.
Edward continued to try his best to find out something about Sebastian, but at one point, it felt like it was going nowhere. He wasn't important enough for anything to be written of him. That was until one day Ruth had asked someone to go to London and to dig around through the Daily Prophet newspapers from the past few years after having a hunch that if he had done anything in the past worth using against him, it ought to have been in the paper.
And unfortunately for Sebastian, she was right.
Then finally, a newspaper landed on Edwards' desk one day: an excerpt from the Daily Prophet from nearly ten years ago. His mother told him it was a "rather interesting read" and to not "ask her how she had gotten it." How could this possibly be relevant? Well, Edward found that out the moment he turned the paper over to see the headline.
"Sixteen-year-old sentenced to ten years in prison for murder of his uncle!"
Edward's brows furrowed as his eyes trailed down from the headline to the words below explaining everything. Sometimes titles could be exaggerated to pull you in, but that's when he read the one thing that caught his eye.
The name Sebastian Sallow was printed several times throughout the explanation.
Edward's eyes widened as he eagerly read over the entire thing; joy was rising slowly in his stomach as he read over the words. This was it; this was finally what he needed. He found out that not only was Sebastian charged with murder, but he was also charged with improper use of the Dark Arts, possession of an illegal relic, and use of an Unforgivable curse, which only added to his excitement.
Of course, the paper failed to mention anything that Solomon had done or the abuse that had driven Sebastian to a point where he impulsively felt that that was the only way out of the hellhole he felt stuck in while trying to save his sister. Nor did the paper mention anything of Solomon's neglect that was brought up in the case by Sebastian, Ominis, and their friend that was present there.
However, with all these charges stacked up, Edward wondered why he had only gotten ten years. Perhaps it was because of his age at the time, or perhaps Ominis had pulled some strings to get his sentence shortened. Either way, part of him was upset Sebastian didn't get more time because if he did, he wouldn't be here "ruining" things for him.
But regardless, Edward had a smirk on his face. He had no idea how his mother came into possession of his newspaper that so generously gave him quite everything he needed to drive Sebastian out of town, but he was not about to question it. The less he questioned, the sooner he could get Sebastian out of town and get Vienne to himself.
A plan was quickly beginning to form in his mind, and it was perfect. Claudine didn't know much about Sebastian at all. She had a hunch there was someone else occupying Vienne's mind, but she didn't know about him, and Edward was pleased to know that the first thing she'd be hearing about him was how he was a convicted criminal, an ex-Azkaban prisoner, and that he had taken a certain interest in her daughter.
And that would surely seal the deal for Claudine; Edward already knew it.
Immediately, he summoned Rolf to come to his office so he could tell him the news. His excitement overshadowed his ability to realize just how distant Rolf had become and that he would likely not be on board with this. Edward was too caught up in his own praise train that he couldn't see the difference.
But nonetheless, Rolf came anyway, interested to see why Edward had summoned him so urgently. In the back of his mind, he was hoping Edward had seen how ridiculous this idea was or perhaps even an apology for the way he had acted. But unfortunately, there was a reason why those thoughts were in the back of his mind because he knew that would likely never happen. But a man could only hope, right?
He entered the Carter Manor and headed straight to Edwards office. "Edward, you called?" He spoke as he entered.
As Edward turned around, he had the biggest smile on his face, and it was possibly the happiest Rolf had seen him in ages. His brows furrowed in confusion as he looked on to him. "Edward...?"
"Yes, I did call. Something wonderful has happened, Rolf." Edward smiled excitedly. But there was a hint of something in his smile that irked Rolf, and it slightly disturbed him. There was just something about this that already didn't sit well with him, and he was already feeling sick.
"Which is?"
Edward grabbed a newspaper off of the table and walked up to Rolf. "See for yourself! This is exactly what we needed." He said, shoving the paper into Rolf's arms. He put the emphasis on us as if Rolf had taken any time or joy in discovering this when he hadn't at all. "Read right here." Edward instructed, pointing at the headline and the section below.
Rolf's brows furrowed in confusion as his eyes trailed down, reading over the headline and the following words. His eyes widened in shock as he read over them. Sebastian, an ex-Azkaban prisoner? Now that he didn't see coming.
Edward could see the shock on Rolf's face, and it pleased him greatly. "It's wonderful, isn't it? Everything I needed to drive that brute out of town has just fallen into my hands. It just kept getting better and better!" He exclaimed with disturbing glee. He was relishing in the suffering of another man, and it was beginning to disgust Rolf.
Rolf read over the words three times, trying to see if he was reading it wrong; he then went to check the date to see if it was a forged paper, but the dates lined up. But something just wasn't right. Sending a sixteen-year-old to Azkaban? Murder was wrong, and Rolf knew that, but something just wasn't sitting right with him, as if maybe the paper wasn't telling the whole truth.
"Sixteen is a little young, don't you think?" Rolf suggested. "Do you think maybe the paper isn't telling the full truth? I mean, he was being raised by his uncle, and his sister was sick; maybe there was something going on we weren't being told about."
Edwards' brows furrowed. "Why do you ask such questions, Rolf? This is exactly what's needed to get him out of the way!" He exclaimed. "Besides, if he's done something like that before, shouldn't we be concerned about Vienne's safety? You already know how violent he can get!" He added, referring to the incident in the bar.
Even with Edward's reasoning, which would usually seem decent, something in Rolf felt like this was just a bad idea. And he knew it wasn't really about Vienne; this wasn't about keeping her safe at all; it was about Edward getting what he wanted.
"There are other ways to protect Vienne, are there not? Or maybe we should figure out more before making accusations, at the very least." Rolf suggested. "We could get into trouble for this if some of it is inaccurate."
Edward shook his head. "The time to act is now, Rolf. I need you to understand that with no questions. You're one of my oldest friends, someone I can trust; you questioning things is certainly not helping." He said with a hint of disappointment behind his tone. "We must act quickly and not a moment too late!"
He took the paper from Rolf's hands and walked back to his desk, putting it in a locked drawer for safekeeping. "Tomorrow, I'm going to the Austens' home and informing Claudine about everything. Finally, this nightmare will be over." He said, filled with self-satisfaction.
"Whatever you say, Edward... Whatever you say." Rolf mumbled under his breath.
***
The sound of thunder, rain, and crashing wavesâflashes of lightning and the initial feeling of fear that just faded into nothingness. No happiness, no emotions... just nothing. The ugly, faceless Dementors and the shouts of agony of the prisoners were all just ringing in his ears.
And that's when he woke up.
Sebastian woke up, bolting up to a sitting position in bed. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he attempted to catch his breath, waking up in a cold sweat. He looked around, trying to ground himself, and quickly realized he was in his bedroom, not Azkaban.
He let out a heavy sigh of relief, falling back onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling, swallowing hard. That was a tough one.
After his release from Azkaban, he had nightmares consistently, but after a while, they faded away and only happened every once in a while. He had broken out of that shell of a person he was after being locked up for ten years, and while his recovery was going surprisingly quick thanks to Ominis, some things still haunted him.
But something about this nightmare felt so specific. Ever since he had met Vienne, he had hardly had any nightmares at all. He didn't know if it was just because he was happier or if there was something unexplainable going on.
But the timing of it felt weird. Once his relationship with Vienne was being threatened, the nightmares came back. Maybe because he wasn't as calm or maybe because he was worrying so much. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he definitely realized something was wrong.
After tossing and turning in bed for twenty minutes and realizing that sleep would no longer be coming to him, he sat up with a disgruntled sigh, shaking his head. These days, sleep was the only thing that kept him from feeling anxiety, so being kept up in the late hours of the night when he was left alone with his own thoughts was not the most pleasant feeling in the world.
"Something is wrong; I can feel it." He muttered to himself as he sat up.
The situation was worse than he thoughtâhe had no idea that Edward had found out about his time in Azkaban. It was almost like his dreamsâor rather his nightmares in this caseâwere trying to warn him, but he couldn't tell what the warning was.
Finally, he just got up and walked over to the balcony, the feeling of the cool air giving him some temporary relief. "I hope you're having a better night than I am, Vienne." He said to himself. He hoped she was tucked away safely in her bed, resting well, unlike him. Her home wasn't far from his, but he felt so far away from her sometimes.
fin
***
"Are you actually going to do it?" Rolf asked as he saw Edward putting on his coat, readying himself to go to the Austen's home.
"Of course, I am. Do you truly believe that I'm just going to stand by and let the woman promised to me be manipulated by some ex-prisoner? That's ridiculous!" Edward scoffed, adjusting the cuffs of his coat.
When he put it that way, without the proper context, it sounded like he was doing the right thing. But he wasn't; he was doing it for his own gain. He never once mentioned that Vienne was the "woman he loved" but rather "the woman who was promised to him," which told a very clear story of how he saw her. He also consciously knew that there was probably more to the story than what the paper had said, but he didn't care. He wanted Sebastian gone.
"I suppose you're right, but don't you think we should think about this first?" Rolf suggested nervously. "Maybe ask Vienne about him firstâmaybe you have this all wrong."
Edwards' brows furrowed. "Rolf, we have been over this time and time again. Why does it sound like you're on their side? She's being manipulated; are you blind? Nobody in their right mind would pass up someone like me for a criminal unless they were being manipulated and had outside influence." He said firmly. "Vienne is an intelligent woman... She's just playing hard to get."
Rolf almost scoffed, but he stopped himself. "Right, right, hard to get." He muttered under his breath.
At this point, he was fed up with Edward, and he wasn't going to stand for this. He took a deep breath. "I'll go grab that paper for you, then." He said, turning to go to the office.
Did he actually plan on giving Edward the paper? Yes. But he was planning on ripping out the front page and folding it over on the other side so it wasn't obvious. He could only hope that Edward wouldn't notice or open the paper to look for it before because without the paper, his claims were baseless.
"Thank you. I'm glad to see you finally seeing my side of things for once." Edward said smugly as he stood next to the door.
Rolf turned and treaded down the hallway to Edward's office, grumbling to himself about how annoying Edward had become. He wasn't quite sure when the turning point for Edward was and when he started becoming like this, but he knew he hated it.
Once reaching the office, he rushed towards the desk drawer where he had seen Edward slip the paper in prior, ready to rip out the pages and hope his plan worked.
But once Rolf got there, he soon realized that Edward had put the paper in a locked drawer. He cursed under his breath as he scrambled to find the key; it had to be somewhere! He was beginning to panic, worrying that the plan that he had finally built up enough courage to do was going to absolutely fail.
He checked every unlocked drawer, in between the books, under the papers, everywhere. The dread was beginning to really set in when he heard footsteps approaching the door.
"Good Merlin, Rolf, what's taking you so long?" Edward questioned, as he came through the door.
"T-The drawer is locked." He answered hesitantly. His heart was racing because he knew that this was his last chance to stop the impending chaos, and he had failed.
"Oh, right." Edward chuckled lightly to himself before grabbing the key that was coincidentally in his pocket, unlocking the drawer, and grabbing the paper, almost as if he had suspected someone may try to take it before he went to the Austens. "I'll be off now. The Austens are waiting!"
Rolf stood there, eyes wide and fearful. He wanted to run after Edward and stop him, but he couldn'tâhe was stuck in place. He had taken too long and hadn't thought it out; no, he was in no way able to stop him.
"Oh Merlin, what have I done!?"
A/n: Whaaaat me not taking a week+ to get a chapter out?? Its a miracle!!! LOL. Hope you enjoyed reading! I might edit this chapter later but idk. Thank you for all the support! xoxo