Sebastian felt like sleep still had a hold on him as he felt bile rising in his throat. He pried open his swollen eyes and pushed himself up in bed, only for a stabbing pain to shoot through his temples. When the smell of vomit hit his nose, he couldn't hold it back anymore - and silently thanked Yoba for the bucket already waiting beside his bed. A bucket that was already filled with bile. Not much more came out of him, but he couldn't remember the last time he had thrown up the night before.
He wanted to lie back down, but his pounding headache commanded him to at least sit up. His gaze landed on the nightstand, where a glass of pale yellow liquid was waiting for him. He picked it up and sniffed it but couldn't quite place the scent. When he took a sip, he nearly threw up again. It was sweet but somehow way too salty for a drink. Electrolyte crap. His thoughts drifted to Charlotte, who probably drank stuff like this after training - and suddenly, fragmented memories of the previous night came crashing down on him.
Dancing on the buffet table. Drinking half a bottle of rum. Making a complete fool of himself. And Charlotte making out with Abigail.
He groaned, wanting nothing more than to sleep it all off - but just then, the farmhouse door opened, and Charlotte walked in.
"You're awake," she noted, her voice unusually emotionless.
Sebastian was used to her being annoyed, maybe even angry - and sometimes she'd even laugh in his presence. But now, he felt like a stranger on the subway. She noticed him - but that was it.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose as she walked over to her bed, noticing that Sebastian had added to the contents of his bucket.
"Think you can hold on for a sec? I'll empty it," she offered.
Sebastian shook his head - instantly regretting it.
"I'll do it myself," he said, groaning as he stood up - nearly collapsing back onto the bed when he bent down to grab the bucket.
He staggered toward the bathroom, only to throw up again into the toilet thanks to the sudden movement, before finally flushing down the bucket's contents as well. Instead of heading back to bed, he sank to the floor beside the toilet, resting his head in his hands.
Charlotte might have felt sorry for him - if she weren't so unbelievably furious. She had no desire to help him any further - it reeked of vomit, even though Charlotte had already changed the bedsheets that had fallen victim to Sebastian. And that was after he had already thrown up on her porch - before that, right in the middle of the town square, and even in Jodi's flower bed. She just hoped no one had noticed. And then there was Sam's look when she had carried Sebastian out of the apartment - just thinking about it made her feel nauseous again. That was one way to ruin a birthday. She'd have to fix this. Fast.
"What do you want here?" Sam asked, his expression unusually dark. He had dark circles under his eyes, no doubt the remains of last night's party - but the usual spark was missing. Especially the one that always lit up when he talked to Charlotte.
"Helping with the cleanup," Charlotte replied. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Mum already did it," he said, and Charlotte would have laughed if the atmosphere weren't so unbearable. Of course, Jodi couldn't help herself. But now, Charlotte didn't really know what to do next.
"That was nice of her," she muttered, looking down.
Sam scoffed. "Listen, dude, I really don't wanna deal with you right now." He moved to shut the door in Charlotte's face, but at the last second, she wedged her foot between it. The door was heavier than she expected. She sucked in a sharp breath - her sneakers didn't leave much space between the wood and her foot.
"Dude," Sam muttered on the other side, before reopening the door. Then, without another word, he turned and walked toward his room. Charlotte took that as an invitation to follow.
Sam sank into his desk chair while Charlotte stood there, unsure of what to do.
"Sam… it's not like…" she began, but Sam let out a bitter laugh.
"Like I think?" he scoffed again. "So, what, it's not like you made out with Abby - just to go home with Charlotte right after? Dude, she was completely wasted. You carried her!" he shouted, making Charlotte flinch. She had never seen Sam this upset. He ran a hand through his hair.
"Abigail and I didn't…" Charlotte started, but that was clearly the wrong approach.
"Seb, you've been having sex for months. Even though you KNOW she has feelings for you. And last night, instead of keeping your shit together, you went home with Charlotte - even though you KNOW I have feelings for her."
"Sam, it's complicated," Charlotte countered, but Sam had only just begun.
"No, Seb, it's actually really simple. Last night, you were a shitty friend. Just like that. You broke Abby's heart. And to be honest, I have no interest in being your way of making up for it."
"Sam, you're not - I mean, you don't understand…" Charlotte looked around the room, desperate. The only solution that came to mind was one that Sebastian would definitely advise against.
"You're right. I don't understand. But you know what? I don't even want…"
"I'm Charlotte," she confessed. "And I have been for way too long. Sebastian is lying in my bed, throwing up his guts since last night."
The silence was deafening. Sam remained seated in his desk chair, staring at Charlotte with an unreadable expression. He didn't believe a single word. She had probably just made things even worse with that confession - not only did Sam think Sebastian was a shitty friend, but now he also thought Sebastian took him for a complete idiot.
"I went to high school in Zuzu, was captain of the track and field team, my parents got divorced ten years ago, my zodiac sign is Cancer... Sam, I can tell you everything about me if it helps you belie…"
"What the hell, Seb?" Sam interrupted, his eyes still wide with shock, his cheeks flushed red.
"Ask Maru. She knows," Charlotte replied resignedly and sank onto Sam's bed. "She knows everything."
"Dude, I swear, if this is some kind of trick to make me…" Sam muttered, slowly pulling his phone out of his pocket. He tapped on the screen, held it to his ear, and waited for Maru to pick up. Meanwhile, Charlotte stared at the floor in front of her, her thoughts racing. Was it a mistake to let Sam in on this too? She hadn't seen another option.
"Hey Maru, I… yeah, I'm fine, I… glad you enjoyed the party." Sam's expression grew more annoyed as he finally cut Sebastian's sister off. "Listen, Maru, I've got your brother sitting right in front of me… What do you mean, which one? Sebastian, of course." He let out an exasperated sigh. "Seriously, is everyone trying to mess with me today? He claims that he's actually Charlotte…"
And then all the color drained from his face. If he had looked shocked before, he now stared at Charlotte as if she were one of the living skeletons from the mines.
"What do you mean?" he asked into the phone, without taking his eyes off her. Charlotte sighed, watching as Sam grew quieter, his eyes widening even more. When the dial tone finally rang, he kept the phone pressed to his ear a second too long before nearly dropping it.
"Forget everything I just told you," he croaked.
"I know it's not exactly surprising - there's not a single piece of scientific evidence that anything like a body swap has ever actually happened. In fact, Renaissance alchemists occasionally tried swapping the brains of rats - but I'm sure it won't shock you to hear that not a single one survived. Since you two are both very much alive, that's clearly not what happened to you."
Maru sat down on the carpet in Sam's room. She hadn't wasted a second after ending her call with him. "I have to take advantage of the rare moment when my useless brother isn't constantly interrupting me," she had explained at the door before squeezing past Sam into the room.
"But waking up felt exactly like that," Charlotte muttered. "I can't remember the last time I had such a bad headache." Strictly speaking, she knew exactly when - but that wasn't a topic for this conversation.
"Stronger than the one Sebastian is suffering through right now?" Sam asked with a slightly smug smile. He had recovered surprisingly quickly from his initial shock - though he kept throwing Charlotte curious sideways glances.
"I wouldn't exactly call that wizard a scientist," Charlotte said. With a bitter smile, she added, "He doesn't even know how he pulled it off."
Maru shook her head. "Pathetic drunk," she muttered, flipping through the folder she had put together specifically for this research. Inside were newspaper articles, photos of Sebastian and Charlotte before and after the body swap (aside from Charlotte's noticeably worse posture and Sebastian's not-so-gloomy expression, they looked nearly identical), scientific papers - anything she had been able to find.
As she turned the pages, Charlotte caught a glimpse of a thick parchment that was nearly slipping out. Maru would have skipped over it, but Charlotte reached between the pages and pulled it out.
"What's this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The parchment was covered in ornate runes, drawn in dark red ink. Sam leaned in for a closer look.
"Looks like something from the Solarian Chronicles," he noted.
"No idea," Maru said shortly. "It was lying outside my bedroom door yesterday. At first, I thought it was some card from your weird game, but I compared it to Seb's book and couldn't find any similar runes. And Dad doesn't care about this kind of stuff. I haven't had time to look into it yet because of the party. Google wasn't much help either."
Charlotte tilted her head. "It was just lying outside your door?"
Maru seemed to anticipate the unspoken question behind Charlotte's words, so she quickly added, "I was going to bring it to you anyway. Don't worry - your body swap is basically the only thing I'm researching right now."
"I never doubted that - but this has to mean something." Charlotte studied the parchment even more closely, as if she could decipher the runes just by concentrating hard enough. But nothing happened - she felt nothing, except for a growing hunger in her stomach.
Even a pizza from Gus' didn't bring them any closer to an answer - they would have to go to the library to research the runes further, but it was already closed for the evening. Since Charlotte wasn't exactly eager to return to the farm, where she feared Sebastian was still more dead than alive in her bed, she spent some more time with Maru and Sam. It felt good to finally speak freely, without the weird tension that always settled in when Sebastian was around. Charlotte had no trouble talking about her feelings - and she didn't have to worry about stepping on Sebastian's toes.
But when she glanced out of Sam's bedroom window and saw that it was already dark, she decided to head home. Since she was a kinder person than Sebastian liked to admit, she took half a pizza with her - just in case he was capable of eating again.
He was. In fact, Sebastian devoured the pizza so fast, Charlotte was afraid he might feel sick again. But his stomach had calmed down - yet, he wasn't able to go anywhere but to the bathroom and back.
Charlotte had briefly considered leaving him alone, but she wasn't in the mood to spend the evening with Sebastian's family - that would have been the consequence if she had gone to his house. Besides, she still had to bring the chicks back into the coop after they had spent the day running around their enclosure.
Now, she sat at her kitchen table, staring intently at her hands to avoid glaring at Sebastian. Her anger toward him had grown with every bit of color that returned to his face. They remained in silence until Sebastian finished his pizza and placed the empty box on the floor. He sat sideways on Charlotte's bed, his back resting against the wall, his legs stretched out over the edge.
It was Sebastian who finally broke the silence.
"Do you want to... watch TV or something?" he asked, nodding toward the television—one that Charlotte had probably never even turned on since moving to Pelican Town. She shrugged.
"Why not?" She was about to pull a chair closer to the bed when Sebastian patted the mattress next to him.
"You can sit here too," he offered.
Charlotte didn't feel like wasting the energy arguing with him - especially since she had no real desire to sit on the hard wooden chair herself. So she sat down next to him, making sure to keep a reasonable distance. It still felt strange to be so close to her own body - yet so far from it at the same time.
Without another word, they flicked through different channels - news, quiz shows, romantic comedies - nothing that really interested either of them.
"I can't believe you don't have a single streaming service," Sebastian muttered as he continued scrolling.
"I don't think this thing has been turned on once since I moved here," Charlotte explained with a shrug.
"Then what do you even do all evening?" Sebastian asked, sneaking a glance at her from the side.
That was too much. They were not going to pretend like nothing had happened.
"Well, for one, I don't get wasted and make a fool of myself in front of half the town," Charlotte snapped, throwing him a glare he hadn't even known his own face was capable of.
"Oh, right? And instead, you just sleep around Pelican Town sober?" The words slipped out before Sebastian could stop himself.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me! I don't go around randomly following people into bedrooms."
Charlotte's face turned red. He was not serious.
"OH, REALLY? Then why did Abigail spend half the night trying to prove to ME that SHE'S the best choice for you?" Her voice nearly cracked from the sheer outrage.
Sebastian swallowed. "She did what?"
Charlotte let out a bitter laugh. "Don't pretend you don't know! You're aware she's in love with you, right?"
"She's not," Sebastian said, paling. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Abigail and he had sex. That was it. That was all it was supposed to be.
"She is," Charlotte shot back, about to add something else - until she caught the expression on his face. She paused. "You had no idea," she realized.
Sebastian nodded slowly. How could someone be this blind?
Sebastian's thoughts were racing. He and Abby had a clear agreement. No feelings. Just friendship—and sex. It was simple. And for him, it wasn't a problem at all.
"That's not… we're not…" he stammered, but suddenly, everything around him went dark.
It wasn't just the bedside lamp Charlotte had turned on earlier to make the lighting more comfortable—it had gone out, but so had the television. Charlotte reached for the light switch, flipping it up and down. Nothing happened.
"What the…?" she muttered, standing up.
She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside—the same ones Sebastian had closed earlier in the day. But that didn't change a thing. Thick clouds had already started gathering on their way back from Sam's place, and now they completely blocked out the moonlight.
Usually, the entrance to the farm was illuminated by an old streetlamp, but even that had gone out.
"Power outage," Charlotte murmured and sighed. A flash of lightning shot across the night sky, illuminating the small cottage for a brief second - far too short before the thunder followed. As if on cue, a fierce storm tore at the trees on the farm, their branches thrashing ominously against the roof. The wind howled through the cracks in the shutters just as another bolt of lightning struck.
"Perfect timing," Sebastian muttered sarcastically. But Charlotte didn't respond. Her thoughts were elsewhere - on the worn-out planks barely holding her roof together, on her crops outside, exposed to the raging wind, and on her two little chicks, who must have been terrified. She stepped toward the door, feeling around for her shoes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sebastian asked, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.
"I need to check on the chicken coop," Charlotte explained, already pulling on her raincoat.
"Are you insane?" Sebastian asked, watching in disbelief as Charlotte reached for the flashlight that should be hanging somewhere by the door. When she switched it on, he blinked against the sudden brightness and stared, stunned, as she prepared to open the door.
"Sebastian, I can't leave my animals alone," she said, shining the flashlight toward him. Her expression was determined - there was no way he could talk her out of this. When she pulled the door open, the wind immediately forced it wider, and rain blew into the house. But Charlotte stepped outside without hesitation, struggling to pull the door shut behind her.
The moment Sebastian was alone, another lightning bolt shot across the sky - once again, the thunder followed far too soon. He tried to convince himself that he could just wait inside for her, but that gnawing feeling in his gut made it impossible. Whether it was the lingering effects of his hangover or something else, he couldn't tell - but he got up from the bed, nearly bumping into the chair Charlotte had been sitting on, and fumbled through the darkness in search of her rubber boots.