The world was silent.
Not the kind of silence that meant peace but the kind that hummed with pain, heavy and endless.
Sebastian's eyes fluttered open to the color of ash gray dust falling like snow through broken beams. The heat still clung to the air, the scent of burnt metal and smoke choking his lungs.
He tried to move.
Pain screamed through his ribs, sharp and deep, but he forced himself up, one trembling hand bracing against the cracked concrete.
The world tilted sideways for a second his ears ringing until his vision cleared enough to see the destruction around him.
The warehouse was gone.
Walls half-collapsed. Flames eating what little was left.
And Isabelle.
Sebastian's heart stopped.
"No" His voice was barely a rasp. "No, no, no"
He staggered forward, searching through the debris, through the haze of dust and smoke. Each breath hurt, but he didn't stop. He couldn't.
"Isabelle!" he shouted, voice cracking. "Answer me!"
Nothing.
Only the hiss of dying fire. Only the echo of his own heartbeat pounding like thunder in his skull.
He shoved aside a half-burnt table, splintered wood tearing his palms open, blood mixing with soot. "Come on," he whispered hoarsely. "Where are you, sweetheart"
Then faintly a sound.
A cough. Weak, trembling. Real.
Sebastian froze, eyes wide, before he moved faster than he thought his body could. He followed the sound to a collapsed section of the wall, heart hammering, lungs on fire.
There buried beneath a mess of crates and dust he saw her.
Isabelle.
Her hair was matted with ash, her skin streaked with soot, one hand half-buried under debris. But she was breathing.
He dropped to his knees beside her, his shaking hands tearing away the rubble. "Isabelle! God Isabelle, look at me."
Her eyelids fluttered. A faint sound escaped her throat a whisper, broken but alive. "Sebastian?"
The moment shattered him.
"I'm here." His voice broke on the words. "I've got you, baby. I've got you."
He lifted her gently, pulling her against his chest. She hissed in pain, and he immediately froze. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry. Just stay with me, please."
She blinked slowly, dazed, tears carving clean tracks down her dirty cheeks. "Are we are we alive?"
He gave a choked laugh, the sound rough and wet. "Barely."
Her lips curved weakly. "You look worse than me."
He brushed her hair back, his hand trembling. "You always did have a habit of making me look bad."
A flicker of a smile small, fragile passed between them. Then the reality hit again, sharp and cold.
He looked around. "We need to get you out of here."
"No." She caught his wrist weakly. "You're hurt"
"Doesn't matter." He cupped her face, firm but gentle. "You come first. Always."
She tried to protest, but he was already moving, sliding an arm under her legs and another behind her back. His ribs screamed, his vision blurred, but he lifted her anyway.
Every step was agony.
Every breath was fire.
But he carried her through the ruins, past the smoke and broken glass, out into the night.
Outside, the rain had started cold, heavy drops falling from a black sky, hissing as they hit the burning wreckage.
Sebastian dropped to his knees in the mud, still holding her close, as firefighters and sirens finally screamed in the distance.
Isabelle's head rested against his shoulder, her breath faint but steady.
He pressed his forehead to hers. "You're safe now."
Her lashes trembled. "You came back for me."
He let out a shuddering breath. "I'd burn a thousand times if it meant you opened your eyes again."
Her hand brushed his cheek. "Sebastian"
He caught it and kissed her palm a long, trembling kiss that tasted of ash and tears. "Don't talk. Save your strength."
"Don't leave me," she whispered.
He looked at her really looked and felt something inside him unravel.
"I never will," he said. "Not again."
Hours Later
The hospital lights were too bright.
Sebastian sat on the edge of a bed, his arm bandaged, his ribs taped, but he didn't care. His eyes hadn't left Isabelle for a second since they'd been brought in.
She looked pale but alive, breathing evenly under a thin white sheet.
He reached out and brushed his fingers across hers, careful, reverent.
He'd seen too many people slip away.
He'd buried too many ghosts.
But she wasn't one of them. Not her. Never her.
The door opened quietly. Liam stepped in, his face drawn and streaked with soot. "They said the fire was deliberate."
Sebastian's jaw tightened. "I know."
"She's still out there, isn't she?" Liam asked quietly.
Sebastian's eyes flickered toward the window, where rain streaked the glass. "Evelyn doesn't stop. She never did."
Liam exhaled. "Then what now?"
Sebastian didn't answer for a long moment. He looked back at Isabelle her soft breathing, the faint movement of her hand in his.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low, dark, and calm. "Now," he said, "I end it."
Liam nodded once and left without another word.
Sebastian leaned back, his hand closing around Isabelle's again.
He bent down and whispered against her ear, voice breaking.
"You gave me something I never thought I'd have again a reason to live," he said. "And I swear when this is over, I'll make sure the world never touches you again."
He kissed her forehead gently.
Outside, the storm raged harder, the city lights dimming under the rain.
Inside, the fire between them the kind that destroyed and rebuilt began to burn quietly again.