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Sebastian had let Niklas take the controls for the descent to the surface of Malta, while he moved on to the freight compartment, which they'd turned into a makeshift sleeping room for the five of them during their flight from Rheinland. As the Deneb dropped through Malta's atmosphere, the young boy helped his mother, Emilia, and Niklas's wife, Hannah, to put on rebreathers to protect them from the cardamine. Thomas, his boyfriend, had managed to take care of his own, as had Sebastian once he was done helping others. Everyone was set just as the Ragnar-class ship rumbled and shook from the final impact against the landing platform.

"I'm still not sure about this, Sebi. I mean, what do you know about this man?" Emilia spoke, her normally soft, aged voice made harsher by the mask covering her face.

"Mom...," Sebastian started. He hated the nickname, though he'd never told anyone that. Every time he heard it, it made him feel like a little kid. The only person he hadn't minded using it was Hunter. He never bothered to think about why. "He rescued us from the Unioners. We were dead in the water. Don't you think that accounts for something?"

Hannah nodded her head in agreement, and Thomas came up to stand beside Sebastian, taking his hand and entwining their fingers. "Mrs. Wolff, I think Sebastian is right. He clearly has shown he's willing to protect us. That means a lot."

Emilia shot her son and his boyfriend an annoyed glare, but gave her non-verbal acquiescence by saying nothing more. Niklas came back from the cockpit, rebreather already in place. "I'm ready to release the loading door," he said, looking to Sebastian for approval. Rather than doing so, however, Sebastian walked over to the release controls and pressed them himself. There was a hiss of air and then a loud whine as the aged metal door pulled away from its frame, and slowly descended. When it was about two meters off the ground, the hydraulics gave out, and it dropped the rest of the way. The loud clanging sound was enough to cause the entire party to cover their ears.

"Hell...," Thomas muttered. "This thing is falling apart. I'm really glad we're on solid ground." Mutters of agreement came from the rest of them. With a look toward his boyfriend that showed his regret, Sebastian gave Thomas's hand one last squeeze before he let go. They'd been warned not to be affectionate with each other in public on Malta, because the Maltese were not used to dealing with that type of thing. It would hurt both boys, but they'd accept it for the sake of survival.

All five walked down the rear ramp of the Ragnar, and onto the landing platform. Sebastian and Thomas stood at the front of the group, Emilia in the middle, and Niklas supported the very pregnant Hannah at the back, helping her to walk. When Shadowwalker spoke, it was Sebastian who answered for them all.

"Thank you for bringing us here, and for rescuing us. We're grateful," the young blonde said, reaching up and rubbing at the back of his neck. It was a trait he and Hunter had shared when they were nervous. He noticed it halfway through the gesture, and forced his arm back to his side, trying to be nonchalant about it. Sebastian wasn't overly concerned about the soldiers as he listened to Shadowwalker talk to them. He knew enough about the Maltese to know their homeworld was heavily protected, and five random strangers showing up was not an every day occurrence.

A pang of pain went through Sebastian's chest when Shadowwalker talked about Hunter being dead. "He's not dead. I'm going to save him." The thought forced its way into the Rheinlander's consciousness before he could stop it. But, he said nothing. He just waited for Shadowwalker to address him again. When the Maltese man extended his hand, Sebastian smiled. He had read enough books. He knew shaking hands was not their custom, but he returned it anyway.

"You shook my brother's hand once, didn't you?" Sebastian asked, his voice shifting emotionally. His eyes moistened a little but he managed to restrain tears. He stopped himself again, nodding firmly. "Your cruiser, right...," the young boy trailed off. "Of course. If you have medical personnel, I would greatly appreciate it if they took a good look at Hannah," Sebastian said, motioning to the pregnant woman. "She's very pregnant, and hasn't had a good look over from a doctor in nearly a week. She's due in less than a month, and I want to make sure she and the baby are healthy." Just like that, Sebastian's voice went from that of a young boy, lost, to a man, taking charge.

There was no doubt it would flip many times over the coming days and weeks. For now, however, Sebastian was content for he and his family - or what was left of it - to be safe.

Sebastian was able to hold his focus now, and push his emotions aside. They were always under the surface, bubbling, ready to come back up, but he needed to focus. He wasn't just responsible for himself any more. The 16-year-old was now responsible for four other lives. That wasn't something he was going to take lightly. His brother wouldn't have taken it lightly. When Shadowwalker commented on the handshake, Sebastian gave him a genuine, boyish grin. "I know. I've read about your people in books. They're...really fascinating to me." Sebastian hoped his words wouldn't come off as insulting.

When Shadowwalker ordered Hannah to be taken to the hospital, Sebastian and Niklas both stepped forward. "Hey, wait a second!" Niklas complained.

"Yeah, you can't...," Sebastian started, but trailed off. He reached out, grabbing Shadowwalker by the shoulder as the man turned away, making sure to get his attention again. "I'm sorry, and I know you helped us, Shadowwalker, but I'm not comfortable with Hannah being taken off to a hospital on a planet she doesn't know by herself. Will you please at least let her husband, Niklas, go with her?"

Niklas stood halfway in between Sebastian and Hannah, supporting his wife but looking angrily in Shadowwalker's direction. It didn't really matter what the Maltese man said: he would not be separated from his wife, no matter what happened.

There was no need for it, though. The Maltese man leading the group of soldiers seemed content to let Niklas leave, so he did with his wife. Emilia and Thomas followed closely after Sebastian. When the soldiers were all ahead of them as they walked, Thomas reached out and trailed his fingers down the center of Sebastian's back for just a moment, a gesture of reassurance. Emilia swatted the older boy's hand away from her son. "Stop that right now," she said as quietly as she could. "You know not to do that."

Sebastian kept a stoic face, despite what was going on between his boyfriend and his mother. When they entered their final destination, all three of them were equally impressed. Even the aged Emilia looked over the bright, tall ceilings and the beautiful structure of the home and couldn't keep the awe off her face. "It's beautiful...," one of them whispered, though it wasn't clear who in the hushed atmosphere of the house, the acoustics distorting the sound slightly.

Thomas stared after Shadowwalker when he left. Sebastian stood beside him. The three of them looked between each other, mildly confused. "He's...just going to let us lounge around on his ship? With no security?" Thomas asked. Emilia also looked mildly disconcerted by it.

Sebastian, however, seemed to catch on more than anyone else. Playing over Shadowwalker's words in his mind, and the man's gestures, and the statement about talking to the ship, the young boy got a big grin on his face, a genuine smile. "The entire ship...it's automated. It's watching us right now. He's watching us. He doesn't need physical security. The ship is his security!" And there was no mistaking how impressed Sebastian was by that.

Emilia took one of the long sofas to rest on, and Sebastian and Thomas plopped down together on a smaller one. They held each other, just soaking in everything that had happened in the last three days. They assumed in the privacy of Shadowwalker's ship, they were safe to be affectionate, but there was none, really, other than intertwined young fingers and the occasional soft-spoken word as the three of them got the first fitful rest they'd had in a while.

The remnants of the Wolff family, as well as Thomas, rested as best they could for several hours. The sofas that were aboard Shadowwalker's ship were more than comfortable, but Sebastian and Thomas insisted on sleeping together on one of them, curled up as close as possible. That decision abbreviated the comfort of the furniture, though they still managed to get a fitful sleep because they were together.

Sebastian rose first, his hair tousled and his eyes full of sleep. Normally he would try to pull himself gently out of Thomas's arms, but the discomfiture that came with waking up in an unknown place caused him to yank himself into a seated position, pulling Thomas's arm uncomfortably with him. "Hey!" Thomas protested, his voice groggy and complaining. "That hurt."

"I'm sorry, Thomas," Sebastian said, reaching up with the back of his hands to scrub his eyes. The young boy blinked several times, then let out a soft giggle as Thomas's breathing returned to the familiar cadence it took when he was sleeping, despite the blonde's rough tugging at his arm. "He could sleep through a bomb," Sebastian thought, sighing a little as he reached down to kiss Thomas on the forehead, wiping his boyfriend's dark hair out of his eyes. "I love you," the Wolff boy whispered, before pulling himself up off the loveseat they shared and taking a fresh look around the space they occupied.

It was beautiful. Sebastian couldn't get over how attractive the space was, given they were in the middle of a warship. Seeing the exterior outside Malta, he had been intimidated by the vessel's size and appearance. He never expected this could be on the inside. He wasn't going to stay hooked on the scenery, though. He needed a plan, and he needed to talk to Shadowwalker. He needed to know what the man knew about his brother, and what he could do to help save Hunter. In his mind, there was no way his brother was dead. There was no way Hunter would abandon him like that. He knew Hunter had to be safe somewhere.

Padding with socked feet across the floor, the young Rheinlander found his way into a restroom. He stripped himself of the clothes that he'd been wearing for days now, and relief washed over him with the hot water that the shower brought moments later. When they'd arrived, all of them had been anxious to be clean, but sleep had overtaken them first. Sebastian took his time cleaning himself, availing himself of the heated moisture far longer than he would normally. It just felt nice to not be filthy, and he was going to savor it.

Eventually, though, the blonde finally turned off the water, stepping out of the shower. He gripped a towel, slinging it around his waist. He wasn't quite sure where there might be spare clothes, and putting on what he'd been wearing before would have been just...disgusting. "Um...computer?" he muttered, his voice dropped half out of embarrassment, and half out of a desire not to wake his mother or Thomas. He had no idea how to address an AI respectfully. "Could...could you direct me to some spare clothes please?"

There was no audible response, but a series of lights immediately lit the floor. They were soft and embedded into the floor panels, flush with them so that nothing protruded. A smirk curled Sebastian's mouth as he followed the lights out into a hallway and down a bit, and then found the door frame of what looked like a closet also illuminated. He opened it, and inside he found clothes in what looked like every size imaginable. He sorted through them, found ones that would fit, dropped his towel right there in the hallway and pulled them on. Then, he turned to look in the mirror on the inside of the closet door.

Except for the clothes, which were brand new and clearly had never been worn, Sebastian looked like a wreck. It wasn't just lack of sleep, either. Despite the hard lines of his jaw, all the brightness that characterized his countenance normally was gone. There were heavy shadows under his eyes, he couldn't bring himself to manage a full smile, and his hair, even clean and wet and tousled, looked dirty. He looked like he had aged a decade in the last four days. It wasn't a good look on him, at all.

Sebastian pulled away from the mirror, fighting his emotions again. He was disgusted, and angry, and sad. The dark clothes of the Maltese fit him well, the buckles down his chest shifting as he stomped across the room and out into another hallway, away from Emilia and Thomas, where he could speak without being heard. He was loud and his anger shown through, even as his eyes moistened - and not from shower water. "Computer, where is Shadowwalker!? I want to talk to him now!"

And Sebastian awaited the AI's response.

Sebastian hadn't remembered the path they took to board the vessel they were on. Just like the request to get clothes, however, there were lights which illuminated the path he needed to follow. Eventually, the young Rheinlander found his way to an airlock exit, and when he walked through it, he stopped.

The logical realization that the vessel was on the ground in Malta didn't compare to actually seeing it. The young man reached up, running his fingers through his hair, and took in a moment to look over the surrounding areas from his high perch. He reached for his face, adjusting the rebreather covering his mouth and protecting him from the effects of cardamine, but there was no denying how beautiful the planet looked. "It's definitely not Rheinland," Sebastian thought to himself, his face turning a little red as he stopped staring at the view, stepping downward toward the house.

It didn't take him long to find Shadowwalker afterward. The combination of the view and the time it took him to traverse the distance had calmed Sebastian, and when he finally reached the other man, he wasn't nearly as upset as before. He felt calmer. His sensible half also reminded him that coming off as an adversary on Shadowwalker's home planet was probably not a good choice for his and his family's survival.

"Hello," Sebastian said when he finally was in range of Shadowwalker. He didn't hesitate to hold the man's gaze, though his voice sounded odd in his own ears because of the mask. "I need to know everything you know about Hunter, please. I want to know what happened to him. What was he doing before he disappeared?"

Sebastian took the offered seat, a position directly across from Shadow. He was about to open his mouth, and then his stomach grumbled involuntarily. It had been a while since he'd eaten. His face turning red, he looked away from the Maltese man. "Perhaps some food too?" he added, his voice small with the question.

Despite his hunger, the young man needed answers. He stared into the sunglasses that covered Shadowwalker's face, and was glad that the rebreather he wore did not distort his vision, only covering his nose and mouth. "Who were you to my brother, Shadowwalker?"

It was the most burning question on Sebastian's mind in that moment.