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Wednesday had seemed like the longest day of the semester. By time classes were over, Clementine felt as though he could sleep for days. His eyes were heavy, each step felt like he was dragging a ball and chain along, and his body screamed at him to sit down. His worsening condition didn't help, but he pushed through it.

          He followed Elliot, Mavis, and Mathew out into the courtyard, where several horse-drawn carriages were waiting to take the students to Ulrora Slope. From there, Clementine and his allies would board a locomotive to Ripperton.

          He glanced over at Elliot as he chattered to the others about the city he was born in. It saddened Clementine to know that if he was successful in getting Elliot to work out what he was, then he'd be saying goodbye to his roommate. But at least both Elliot and whoever he had possessed would be free. And what better way was there to thank Elliot for sticking by him than helping him with his unfinished business? Clementine felt this was the best thing to do for him.

          They didn't head straight for a carriage. As a light flurry of snow fell around them, they stopped by the fountain and waited for Sebastien to join them. Clementine listened to Elliot and Mathew compare Serenity Week memories, and he noticed that, although she was smiling, Mavis seemed to look a little disheartened. He suspected it was probably because she didn't have any stories to relate to Elliot and Mathew with. If Clementine didn't feel so tired, he might try to shift the conversation to something she could become more involved in, but all he could think about right now was when he'd be able to sleep.

          He sat on the edge of the fountain, watching as the other students got into carriages and left. But when he saw all seven of the remaining Ravenblood emerge from the academy doors, he tensed up, hoping they wouldn't see him. His heart beat a little faster as he watched them head for one of the three remaining carriages, but to his relief, they all climbed inside without noticing him.

          "Is Sebastien even coming?" Elliot mumbled, looking down at Clementine.

          "Yeah, he said he was. Maybe he got caught up with something. He'll be here," he said confidently.

          "Well, he better hurry up. I don't want to miss the train."

          "What happens if we do? Is there a train two?" Mavis asked.

          "The trains from here to Ripperton and back are every three days. If we don't make this one then we won't be able to go."

          "Should we go and look for him?" Mathew suggested.

          Clementine sighed, looking over his shoulder at the doors. But as he set his eyes on the academy's front doors, Sebastien stepped outside wearing his fur-trimmed leather jacket and chapka hat. They all watched him hurry over, and when he joined them, he smirked at Clementine.

          "Sorry, got caught up," he said.

          "Yeah, well, let's not waste any more time," Elliot uttered, heading over to the carriage.

          "You okay?" Sebastien asked Clementine as everyone followed Elliot.

          He nodded. "Yeah. You?"

          "I am now," he said, holding the carriage door open.

          Clementine climbed inside and took his seat. Sebastien got in too, closed the door, and sat beside him.

          "What do you do for TheWeek of Serenity, Sebastien?" Mathew asked.

          As the carriage started moving, Sebastien moved his arm around Clementine's shoulders and shrugged. "Nothing, really. Family dinner, a little party."

          Clementine felt no desire to try and shrug Sebastien's arm off this time. He sat there, actually finding a little comfort in his contact.

          "My auntie will make us all the best Serenity Week dinner," Elliot said excitedly. "Roasted meat, mashed potatoes—and the chocolate cake, ugh. I can taste it already."

          "Stop, you're making me hungry," Mavis giggled.

          "How long is this train ride?" Sebastien asked.

          "About three days each way," Elliot answered.

          "We are going to be gone for the whole week," Mathew said.

          "Don't worry, though. Mathew brought his cards, and I brought some books, so we'll all have plenty to do to pass the time," Elliot assured them.

          As Sebastien squeezed his shoulder, Clementine looked over at him and frowned.

          "I'm sure we'll find something to do," he said suggestively.

          With an embarrassed scowl, Clementine looked away.

          "Oh, did I tell you about the time it became so icy in the city that they had to get a fire mage to come and clean up the roads?" Elliot asked.

          Clementine could feel himself falling asleep. Elliot's voice drowned out, as did the sound of the carriage's wheels moving along the snow-covered road. His eyes were heavy, and he tried to keep his head from drooping, but sitting there doing nothing was enticing his fatigue to ensnare him.

          But then, Sebastien pulled him closer and made him rest his head on his shoulder. He didn't disapprove. He sighed quietly, relaxing his body against Sebastien's, and as Elliot continued nattering on, Clementine let himself slowly drift off to sleep....

          "Clementine."

          "Huh?" Clementine uttered, opening his eyes.

          "We're here," Sebastien said.

          Lifting his head from Sebastien's shoulder, Clementine glanced around at his allies. They stepped out of the carriage one after the other, and as he tried to fight his fatigue, Clementine sat up straight and scratched the back of his head.

          "Sorry. It's been a long day," he mumbled.

          Sebastien smirked. "Don't be sorry. You can use me as a pillow any time you want, babe."

          Clementine sighed quietly, and once Sebastien climbed out of the carriage, he followed him.

          "The station's just there," Elliot said, pointing down the road.

          Still fighting his tire, Clementine yawned and took his backpack from Sebastien, who had just taken it from the carriage's storage trunk. He stared in the direction Elliot was pointing and set his eyes on a large black-brick building. Its silvery roof shimmered in the moonlight; a few of the academy students were among the crowd waiting to go through the doors, which were guarded by two tall ticket inspectors. A thick cloud of smoke spewed into the air from the other side of the building, and as a deafening whistle broke through the chatter of the crowd, Clementine almost jumped out of his skin.

          "We better hurry," Elliot said. "You guys got everything?"

          Mathew and Mavis held up their backpacks.

          Sebastien pulled his backpack on and then moved his arm around Clementine's shoulders. "I can carry you if you'd like, sleepy mouse," he offered, smirking at him.

          "I'm fine," he mumbled.

          "All right." He dragged his hand down Clementine's arm and gripped his hand.

          Sebastien didn't give him a chance to protest; he pulled him along with him, following behind Elliot, Mathew, and Mavis.

          When they reached the ticket office, Elliot shuffled around nervously. "Uh, we have pre-booked tickets for Elliot Davis and four friends."

          The woman behind the desk nodded and looked over a list in front of her. "That's a...Elliot, Mavis, Mathew, Clementine, and Sebastien?"

          Elliot nodded. "That's right—thank you."

          She reached over and took five tickets from a rather large stack. Then, she handed them to Elliot. "Enjoy your journey."

          "Thanks!" he called, rushing towards the entrance to the station as everyone followed him. "Here," he said, handing them each their tickets.

          "This is a three-day journey, right?" Sebastien asked, taking his ticket from Elliot. "Where do we sleep?"

          "It's a night train, so there's bedrooms," Elliot said, showing his ticket to the inspectors. "Mavis has her own room, Mathew can share with Sebastien, and I'll share with Clementine—"

          "Hang on," Sebastien protested as they all followed Elliot through once their tickets had been checked. "Since when were you calling the shots?"

          "Uh, since I'm the one that got us the carriage in the first place. If it wasn't for me, we'd probably be sitting and sleeping in the same seats for three days straight. Besides, Clementine and I are roommates anyway, so we're used to sharing a space."

          "So? I'm here now," Sebastien said.

          "Oh, swap with him, Elliot," Mavis giggled. "Let them be together—they are boyfriends, after all. Getting in their way is not okay."

          When they reached coach three, Elliot pulled the door open and frowned.

          "It's fine," Clementine dismissed tiredly—he didn't want to have to continue listening to them bicker. "I'll share with Elliot."

          Elliot smiled smugly as Sebastien looked over at Clementine, a look of astonishment on his face. Clementine ignored his stare and followed his roommate onto the train.

          They made their way down the narrow walk space between the coach's cabin doors and the windows. Once they reached the very end of the coach, emerging into an open, lounge-like space, Elliot stopped walking and pointed to the door at the back.

          "That's Mathew and Sebastien's room. The one next to it is for you, Mavis." Then, he looked at the wall behind them. "That's ours."

          Clementine looked behind, setting his eyes on the cabin door. "Okay," he mumbled. "I'm actually really tired so I think I'm gonna head straight to bed."

          "Oh...are you okay?" Elliot asked in worry.

          "Yeah. I'll see you guys in the morning."

          "I'll come tuck you in," Sebastien said with a smirk.

          "You don't have to go everywhere with him, you know," Elliot complained, glaring at the white-haired kid.

          "Leave them alone, Elly—they're in lovey," Mavis giggled, making Elliot sit on one of the couches. "Don't worry, Clemytine. We'll keep quiet so you can enjoy your sleep time."

          Clementine nodded as he turned around. "Thanks." Then, he headed over to the door Elliot had said was where he'd be sleeping.

          He slid the door open, revealing a rather small, cramped little room with two beds, one on either side of the room. The snow-covered world passed by outside the window, the red curtains floating around as the cold wind spewed in through the open top. Both the blankets and pillows matched the curtains, and the walls were a goldish orange.

          While Sebastien closed the window and curtains, Clementine slumped down onto the left bed and sighed deeply. "Thanks," he mumbled.

          Sebastien made sure the curtains were covering every inch of the window, and then sat beside him. "You sure you're okay?"

          He shrugged as he laid back and stared at the arched ceiling. "Yeah," he lied, but as he saw a sceptical frown appear on Sebastien's face, he rolled his eyes. "No."

          With a sympathetic frown, Sebastien leaned onto his arm beside Clementine and looked down at him. "What is it?"

          "Everything," he muttered.

          "Define everything."

          "I just...I don't know how long I have left. I'm getting worse every day."

          Sebastien gazed down at him. He seemed to have a look of pondering on his face, but Clementine could see the sadness in his eyes. "Is there any way you can find out how long you have left?"

          "Can't you tell? You worked out how long I had left before the party."

          He stared at him, his eyes shifting from the left side of Clementine's face to the right. It wasn't clear whether the expression on Sebastien's face was distress or confusion, but after what the kid had confessed to him the other day, Clementine suspected it might be the former.

          "Well?" he asked.

          "You kinda just...smell like..." but he stopped and looked away.

          "I smell like what?"

          His look of distress increased.

          "Tell me," he insisted calmly.

          "I don't know. There's this sort of metallic smell when people are gonna die soon. That's what I smell."

          Clementine wasn't too alarmed. He knew he'd lost a lot of his time because of the poison, but he'd not deny he wanted to know exactly how long he had left to kill the Ravenblood. But the conversation was evidently upsetting Sebastien and Clementine didn't want to worsen it for him. So, he looked back up at the ceiling and let the silence enthral them.

          But after a few moments, Sebastien dragged his hand down Clementine's arm and lightly gripped his bandaged hand. "Why did this happen?" he asked.

          "The grey?"

          He nodded.

          "It's what the disease does. In the last few months, it starts transforming your entire body into this stuff."

          Sebastien caressed his hand for a moment, but then eased his fingers through Clementine's and laid beside him. Their shoulders touched, and as the cabin shook around, Sebastien slowly turned his head to look at the side of Clementine's face. "Why did the Ravenblood do this?"

          Clementine turned his head to look at him. Their faces were mere inches apart, but he did his best not to let it fluster him. "You know where the Ravenblood came from, right?"

          "Yeah. Idiot seers who messed with dark magick to try and gain an upper hand through the war, and then got themselves cursed because they had no idea what they were doing."

          He nodded. "They started looking for a cure or a way to free themselves. They still are—that's what most of their business is these days. But they created a bunch of potions, messed around with DNA and magickal creatures. They eventually discovered gargoyles; they're meant to protect their masters from evil and warn off malicious energies. The Ravenblood thought that if they could somehow harness a gargoyle's ability to banish harmful forces, then they'd be able to simply shake the curse off themselves."

          Sebastien frowned strangely. "So...colligo-interitus came from this gargoyle research?"

          "Yeah. Pure gargoyle blood killed everyone they tried it on, though. They eventually came to the conclusion they'd need the blood of someone with both gargoyle and humanoid blood. So, they created a toxin that would infect and gradually turn people into these gargoyle hybrids kinda like how wolf walkers can bite and turn other people."

          "And...that's what's happening to you?"

          He nodded. "It happened to everyone where I lived. They released the toxin in places like Itamore—places the rest of the world have forgotten about. It didn't work, though. Yeah, it turned people into these hybrids, but they all died after so long. Those people died for nothing," he uttered, anger and sorrow gripping his heart. "That's why I need to stop them. Colligo-interitus killed everyone I knew and cared about, and whatever they come up with next will undoubtedly be worse. They'll get away with it, too; they always do. Their society owns the world's medicine trade and no one's gonna risk losing access to that."

          Staring at him, Sebastien frowned despondently. "I'm sorry, Clem," he mumbled.

          "And what makes it worse is the fact they didn't even try to help us. They just abandoned us and blamed the disease on the war."

          "And now you're serving justice, huh?"

          "Yeah. I don't plan on letting this thing kill me until I've killed the last of them."

          "Well, you've done a pretty good job so far," he complimented. "There's only seven of them left."

          "Yeah, but I don't know how long I have left. I was thinking of finding a doctor in Ripperton who might be able to tell me, but then again, I'm kinda too scared to find out."

          Sebastien nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Don't worry," he said firmly, squeezing his hand. "We'll kill the rest of them, I promise."

          Clementine smiled a little and looked up at the ceiling. "Are you gonna turn me in right after we kill Lucinda?"

          "No."

          "Why? I would've thought you'd want yours once we'd finished my part of the deal."

          Shrugging, Sebastien looked up at the ceiling, too. "I don't know. I kinda just...wanna spend some more time with you—time where we don't have to worry about Ravenblood and getting beaten up in bathrooms."

          Clementine laughed quietly. "Hey, it was you that started the bathroom trend."

          "You were the one that went in there on his own."

          "Yeah, well...I didn't want anyone seeing me taking medicine. If people found out I was sick, I'm sure I would've had more than just Ian on my ass. I'd be a pretty easy-looking target."

          "Do you plan on telling your friends out there?"

          Looking over at him, Clementine frowned in confliction. Did he want to tell Elliot, Mavis, and Mathew that he was dying? He was sure such a revelation would upset them all, especially Elliot. It would probably distract them all, too. He didn't want that to happen. Their exams were approaching, there were less than half the students left, and they all needed to concentrate now more than ever.

          "No," he answered. "I don't wanna bother them with it. They've got more important things to focus on."

          "Not even Elliot? He might not be coming back to Aldergrove with us, right? You don't wanna be honest with him?"

          He shook his head. "I don't wanna risk giving him another reason to stick around. If he really is some trapped spirit, then I just wanna help him move on."

          "You have a plan?"

          "Not much of one. I'm gonna wait until we get to his aunt's house. Maybe there'll be something there that can help."

          "Do you plan to do all your friends some huge parting-of-ways favour?" he asked with a smirk. "Are you going to ask me to help Mathew get into law?"

          "Would you help him?" he asked curiously.

          Sebastien frowned. They stared at each other for a moment, and when the white-haired kid worked out Clementine wasn't being sarcastic, he looked up at the ceiling and shrugged. "If he makes it to the final ten, then...maybe. I'd owe it to you, anyways."

          Clementine held his tongue, almost letting himself tell Sebastien that his helping him kill the Ravenblood was enough. If Sebastien was going to help Mathew, then he'd let him.

          "Thanks," he mumbled.

          "What about the fae girl?" Sebastien asked, looking over at him. "Are you gonna try help her get back in with her people?"

          "What do you mean?" He turned his head, looking at Sebastien.

          "Well, the only reason she's here has to be because she was exiled. Fae don't associate with other beings, and they certainly don't head to schools where the kids kill each other over the chance to head to the New World."

          "Really?"

          "Yeah. She didn't tell you why she's here?"

          "I don't really know anything about her, to be honest. Can we help her get home?"

          "I think being exiled from the fae lasts forever."

          "Then I wanna make sure she gets into the New World so she can stay with Mathew."

          Sebastien smiled as he gazed into his eyes. "What about me?"

          He frowned. "What about you?"

          "What are you gonna do for me?"

          Clementine turned his head away again. "You're gonna get to turn me in and secure a job on the High Court Council, right?"

          "Yeah, but that's part of our deal. What do I get as a part gift?"

          He scoffed, unsure of what to say. "I don't know."

          Sebastien leaned on his arm again so that he could look down at Clementine's face. "I'm sure we'll think of something."

          As he started to feel annoyingly embarrassed, Clementine rolled his eyes and turned his head to the side. "I'd like to get some sleep now."

          "All right. Let me know if you need anything."

          He nodded.

          Sebastien stood up and smirked down at him. "Or if you'd like to use me as a pillow again, don't be afraid to ask."

          Clementine pouted and shuffled under his bed's covers. "Whatever."

          With an amused laugh, Sebastien pulled the sliding door open and stepped outside. "Goodnight."

          "Night."

          Then, as Sebastien closed the door, Clementine closed his eyes and let himself relax. He was sure it was going to be a long three-day journey, but at least it would give him time to not only consider how he was going to help Elliot, but it also gave him time to think about how he was going to take out the last of the Ravenblood, too.

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