(Author's POV)
"Yeah."
"Stefan, I-"
"I know."
"I'm her *brother*."
"Yeah."
Sebastian's voice broke. He put his hand over his eyes and stood there in the cold, breathing hard.
Stefan didn't reach for him. Stefan had never been good at that. Stefan stood a careful arm's length away, looking at the dark pool, and let his brother find his own way back.
"I don't know how to fix it," Sebastian said, when he could speak again.
"You can't."
"Stefan-"
"You can't fix it, Sebastian. That's the part I want you to understand before you do anything else. You cannot give back what was taken. You cannot retroactively be a different person. You cannot say one set of right words that will undo any of it. There is nothing you can do that fixes it. Are you with me?"
"Yes."
"Then the question beco
