oh god, see me
so all the scrapped ending content keeps making me sad. good thing i have an au where happy endings are the inevitable! didn't feel like posting this to ao3 yet so if you don't have context to the ocs mentioned / used don't think too hard about it.
Sebastian reunites with Mama Solace after years of separation and coverups.
words; 2,662
Things had settled into a state of calm.
P.AI.nter, decidedly, liked the Aquarium. After hours, he was allowed to roam - a makeshift body on wheels allowing him to take the elevator down and cart around as he desired, painting scenes from the tanks and the waterpark, going up to the roof to catch sunrises and sunsets and clear nights.
Anything, anything was better than the cold and unfeeling gray of the Blacksite’s halls. They felt so much happier – despite Sebastian’s warnings and misgivings about the Ministry, their trust had proven well-placed so far.
Everyone seemed happier, really. Viorel had managed to call his dad when they made landfall and wept on the phone. Cephei had seemed intrigued by all the things land had to offer, running around with Echo whenever the park was closed to poke around. Millie had been relearning to dance on her new legs, Tobias and Elliot – already inseparable – had made a habit of camping out around every corner of the place, treating every night like date night as if making up for lost time. And Audie, of course, had been over the moon to be back in their element, socializing with all the staff at the Aquarium to catch up on what they’d missed.
So that left Sebastian. Sebastian, who still hadn’t fully taken his ease ever since they arrived onsite. Sebastian, who always eyed the staff that had been taking care of them with a critical eye, who growled whenever one of the doctors approached a member of their hodgepodge “family” unexpectedly. Sebastian, who refused to let himself relax, anticipating another betrayal.
“One of us has to be vigilant,” He’d grunted in reply one day when P.AI.nter asked why he was so on-edge; “The Ministry is no different from Urbanshade. I don’t trust it, and I won’t let us get hurt again.”
Still, it felt unfair. They’d been there for half a month by this point, readjusting to living on the surface, waiting for the proper procedures to play out between the Ministry and Urbanshade to guarantee they wouldn’t be hunted down or “reclaimed”. At the Aquarium, at the very least, they were protected - Director Hart assured them of that much, so Sebastian deserved to relax.
But how?
His own abilities were still woefully limited, in the body he had currently. He thought about what they could do, rather than what they couldn’t; what Sebastian had longed for most in their time underwater. And a memory came to mind.
They’d never told Sebastian, but on more than one occasion, they’d caught a breakdown on the cameras – watching silently as he curled up in the far corner of a room he’d been scavenging in, or simply fled to, and wept, calling out for his mother in a state of weakness he wanted no-one to see.
His mother, then. Surely it couldn’t be hard, now that they were connected to the internet again. Humming with certainty, P.AI.nter began to browse the web, windows popping open and closed on their screen as they sat in the corner of the group’s shared room, alone for now. It was dinner, after all – and he, being the only one without a stomach to fill, decided to skip it in favour of his brainstorming. Circuitstorming. Whatsoever it was called – a good move, because he could move in secret like this.
Articles about the arrest. Interviews. Names – his sister’s. Her Facebook. Contacts, and –
There she was.
… Now what?
He grunted to themself, puzzling over the question. It had been so long, would she really bite a stranger messaging her saying, “Hey, your son’s alive! Come get him!”?
It seemed foolish to try, but he had no other starting point. So, making up a quick burner account, he opened a private message to her and shot it off.
> Mrs.Solace? You don’t know me, but I know your son. He’s alive. Would you like to meet him?
—
“Sebastian?”
His earfin flicked as he emerged from the water, shaking out his hair. Audie hopped out beside him, sitting on the edge of the pool. The dolphins continued to swirl around his tail, occasionally nosing at him to try and instigate play again until he hauled himself fully out and slapped the surface with his tailfin to make them disperse.
Director Hart stood in the entryway to the room, seeming troubled as she approached them, and he grimaced.
“Did Echo get stuck somewhere again? Cephei said they were watching them,” He huffed impatiently; “Go bother it for –”
“No, Sebastian, it’s… We have a visitor asking for you.”
“What?”
Him and Audie’s voices answered in unison, both of them stiffening as their minds jumped to the worst. He glanced down to them, jerking his head.
Urbanshade – it has to be Urbanshade.
“Get everyone in the room.”
“Right.”
As they collected a towel and hurried off, he faced Director Hart, growling lowly.
“What do they want?”
“It’s… A woman, Sebastian, I don’t think she’s the threat you think she is,” The Director spoke slowly, searching his gaze; “Wayland’s taken her to one of the conference rooms to wait for now. She was very insistent that you were here.”
“You told her I wasn’t, right?”
“Of course. That's the procedure. But she started making more of a scene.”
“Fuck.”
As he dried himself off as well, throwing his clothes back on, she received a message on her phone, and read it quickly, her brow furrowing.
“... Oh.”
“What now?”
“Audie wants you in the room. You - oh.”
At her softer, more knowing sound, he furrowed his brow, his tail lashing with agitation. She paused, then looked back up at him with a nod, clearing her throat.
“Come find me in the employee lobby when you’re ready.”
With nothing more, she turned and left. He paused for a moment, puzzling it out for a moment before he grunted and made his way upstairs, checking himself to make sure his tail didn’t dent the walls as he went.
—
“You what.”
P.AI.nter flinched as Sebastian snarled, standing at his full height, his shoulders brushing the ceiling as the rest of the polycule shuffled around nervously.
“I just – you’ve always wanted to see her again! Haven’t you?!”
“You don’t get to be the one to decide that! Fuck, P.AI.nter!”
His anger gave way to panic as he drew a claw through his hair, his tail lashing and knocking over a chair. Cephei and Echo flinched from the noise, and Elliot growled in turn, leaning forward to press a hand against Sebastian’s tail.
“Hey. They were only trying to do something nice.”
“I just –”
He broke off with a sound that sounded somewhere between a snarl and a whine, shaking his head and coiling around the room restlessly, his hands shaking. The rest of the team watched with worry and sympathy, waiting until he finally stilled before they moved again.
He lowered himself down at a gentle tug against his shirt, enjoying the warmth of Audie’s hands against his face first, then Tobias and Elliot on either side after, running their own fingers through his hair to ease him down.
“... I can’t see her like this,” He croaked; “I’m not…”
A million words went unsaid, and he shook his head.
“... What if she’s scared of me?”
“She won’t be,” Millie said from her perch on the bed, so sure.
“What if she doesn’t recognize me?”
“She will,” Viorel insisted from beside P.AI.nter’s desk, also confident in his words.
“How do you know?”
He opened his eyes to meet Audie’s gaze, and they were the one who smiled at him, squishing his cheeks gently.
“Because she loved you enough to come now. Don’t keep her waiting anymore, Sebaba.”
Conflicting emotions haunted his chest and mind as he took the elevator minutes later, coiled into a ball. Though they’d all asked if he wanted company, he’d denied it – this task was herculean enough without his partners looming over his shoulder to watch the inevitable breakdown.
As the doors opened and doctors breezed by, Director Hart was standing in the lobby, perking up at his approach. He swallowed, trying to keep his tail from doing anxious knots as he nodded.
Wordless, she led the way.
This hallway, he knew, led to a veterinary entrance to the Aquarium, but a left turn before that brought them to the conference rooms. He counted three doors before she stopped and knocked on the door. Some hushed words were exchanged, and Wayland came out, nodding respectfully at Sebastian as he passed by. Director Hart turned to Sebastian proper after that, holding the door handle for a moment.
“I’ll be waiting just outside whenever you’re ready.”
“Sure… Thanks, I guess.”
With a nod from her, she opened the door, and he hesitated before slithering inside slowly, keeping the light on his esca out for now.
His mother stood up the moment she watched him enter. She had not aged gracefully – the stress and grief of the past decade had taken its toll. She looked exhausted, haunted and haggard.
Her eyes were wide as she took him in. He watched as she looked him up and down, absorbing how much he’d changed. How inhuman he was.
Surely, He thought, She doesn’t recognize this. How could she?
He hated this.
Every moment he dreamed of just being home again, eating one of her meals, hugging her one last time, it had been undercut by what he’d become. Not just in the sense of his mutations, though that played a massive part.
No, he’d been an innocent man when he last saw his mother. Now, there was blood on his hands, and not every kill had been necessary.
So here he was; a monster by every definition, hunching his shoulders as he met eyes with the woman who’d given him life in the first, who he’d wanted to see - who now, he would give anything to avoid.
She stepped forward, and reached out. Against his better judgment, he lowered himself to meet her touch, the tears gathering in his eyes from the first moment her hands graced his face.
“Mijo,” She said, the word dripping with grief and love, and suddenly Sebastian was a child again.
“Mamá.”
He was much larger than her now, but that didn’t stop his mother from pulling him to her chest and holding him as close as he could while he utterly shattered in her arms, sobs wracking his body. All three of his own arms wrapped around her, loose – too frightened of his own strength, but just as frightened to let go of her, in case this was just an illusion after all.
He’d hallucinated before. But not now, not as her hands curled into his hair and brushed it into place just like she used to.
“Oh, my baby,” She whispered; “What did they do to you, Sebastian? My poor baby boy…”
“How –” He choked up, shuddering, his eyes screwed up; “ – How did you know it was – it was me? I’m nothing like… I’m not who I was.”
“How could I not?”
She pulled back – the gesture felt like pulling broken glass from his skin, but he allowed it so he could meet her gaze – and she held his face tightly between her hands, her expression intense and serious.
“I would know you the second I saw you no matter what happened, mijo, you’re my son. That hasn’t changed.”
“... God.”
More tears spilled down his cheeks, and he pulled his mother a little closer, shutting his eyes. His ears flicked as she brushed his hair out of his face. A touch he’d longed for for so long, a touch he couldn’t get enough of, he never would.
—
“How do you think they’re doing in there?”
“Just fine,” Viorel assured P.AI.nter, patting the top of his monitor as the group sat down at their usual table; “We’d definitely know by now if it went badly. It’s been years – give them some time.”
“Mmh…”
The AI’s fans had been humming at maximum since the confrontation before Sebastian left, all too anxious that they’d done the wrong thing. Despite everyone’s attempts to assure him otherwise, P.AI.nter couldn’t help stressing.
It wouldn’t be the first time it had miscalculated a gesture. But to do it over something so heavy felt – it felt –
“Stop overthinking.”
He yelped as Echo flicked his screen, switching gears to glare down at them grumpily.
“Hey! I am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!!”
“Jesus, here they go again,” Millie sighed as Tobias snickered, reaching over to tug Echo away.
“Guys?”
Everyone halted and perked to attention at Sebastian’s voice, eyes widening and shoulders squaring as they noticed the woman standing beside him. He fidgeted, uncharacteristically bashful as he wrung his hands together, his ears twitching and flapping while the woman looked from person to person.
“This is, uh… Hm. I’d, uh, like you to meet my mom.”
“Oh!”
Audie and Cephei’s tails both started to wag, and the former stood up abruptly to offer a little bow of respect that Echo mimicked uncertainly.
“Mrs. Solace! It’s a pleasure!”
Similar words were offered around the table, and Sebastian coughed softly, leaning down to speak to her directly – pointing out each person as he introduced them.
“That’s Tobias and Elliot, Viorel, Millie, Audie, Cephei, Echo, and P.AI.nter. They’re er… Family, I guess, that I met underwater.”
“Mrs.Solace!”
P.AI.nter hurried over, their wheels squeaking on the cafeteria floor as they met her gaze for the first time – and while taken aback by his rushed approach, she didn’t seem offput, merely blinking as he smiled awkwardly.
“It’s me – I was – I’m the one who messaged you! That was me!”
“Oh – oh! That was you! I – I owe you a lot, then, don’t I?”
“No, no! It was my pleasure,” He practically squeaked out, beaming at her properly now; “I – I wanted to help you two reunite. It means everything to me that you came.”
“Why… Did you come?”
Sebastian tilted his head as he finally posed that question, quirking a brow at his mother.
“I mean – some shady nameless guy messages you saying he knows about your missing adult kid, and you fly halfway across the world? Should I be worried?”
“Ay – have some respect,” She tsked, swatting his arm lightly and earning a laugh from a few of his partners at the table; “I didn’t believe him blindly.”
“She really didn’t. There was a lot of skepticism and questioning,” P.AI.nter agreed. Sebastian simply grunted, his tail thumping softly against the ground as he accepted that answer.
“Good evening friends! I see we have another face joining us for dinner – any allergies or sensitivities we should be aware of, ma’am?”
Elaine – Chef Nichols – smiled as she stepped over to the table, clipboard in hand, and Mrs. Solace shook her head, smiling.
“Oh, no, nothing that I know of!”
“That’s my favourite thing to hear! Alright, squishies, what’ll it be?”
“Actually –”
Sebastian started, then hesitated, fidgeting with his jabbot for a moment as he looked down at his mom.
“... I don’t want to ask too much of you, mamá, but… Can you… Can you make some of your empanadas? It’s… I really missed them, and –”
“Ay, mijo... Of course. Why don’t we make them together?”
His ears wiggled as she snagged one of his hands, and he nodded with a creeping smile. Elaine squeaked with joy, eagerly inviting them into the kitchen.
P.AI.nter returned to their spot as chatter broke out amongst those who remained at the table, watching Sebastian and his mother dance around Elaine and Giselle behind the counter. For the first time, Sebastian seemed genuinely at ease and happy, and it made P.AI.nter feel warmer.
Viorel nudged him, earning a grunt.
“Told ya.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m just glad he’s happy.”
“You and me both.”
