(Timeline: slightly before the Mutant Registration Act is ruled unconstitutional.)

(Continued from Justice of the Church.)
--

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Escape from one psycho who would happily torture me for the rest of his life, get caught by another psycho who could torture me for the rest of mine.

Sebastian was squirming in his chair. It seemed like he had been waiting forever. Of course, time seemed to go by much slower when one was waiting in an eight-year-old body. The minutes dragged on after the three men had dropped him off in bare room, given him a change of clothing, and told him that Mr. Antonescue would be in to see him shortly. Sebastian let his legs swing off the edge of the chair that was too big for him, back and forth, back and forth. It was like waiting to be called into the headmaster’s office to be spanked. Did they still do that in schools these days?

What did Hunter want with him? He could have finished him off back at the Church of Humanity if he had wanted to. Maybe he had tried, and hadn’t been able to kill him. Maybe he was going to finish the job tonight. Sebastian swallowed the lump in his throat and continued to kick his legs, back and forth, back and forth.

Hunter had debated what to do with Sebastian for quite some time. Not a single person has lived after assaulting him with wood, and to begin with Hunter had no intention of letting Sebastian be the first. The orders to capture him were originally so Hunter could have the pleasure of killing him with his bare hands.

However, he had promised Paragon that he would not kill him. Relations with his daughter were strained enough at the moment, and putting more blood on his hands would be unlikely to help. Instead he resolved to talk to the man, but not without out a look into his past. He'd found several things that when looked at through the eyes of someone who was centuries old, show signs of the same person popping up repeatedly though out the ages. It also seemed like Sebastian had been around a lot longer than he had.

So Hunter, dressed in his usual attire of a sharp expensive suit, entered the cell where the other immortal was held. He found it amusing that Sebastian was now a small child, something Hunter could snap like a twig in his fingers. The looping life cycle seemed like a sensible way to maintain one's life forever. "We need to talk," he said as he took a seat opposite Sebastian.

Sebastian froze in his chair as Hunter entered the room. He had forgotten how tall the dark immortal was. Silver eyes seemed to flash in Sebastian's direction. Sebastian's own blue eyes were wide and his face was a shade paler than usual.

The expression on Hunter's face was unreadable, which was almost more terrifying than when it was twisted by rage and hatred. More terrifying, because Sebastian didn't know what to expect but perhaps also because everything seems scarier when one is eight years old. Hunter's voice was similarly smooth and expressionless, with a silky snake charmer quality to it.

>"We need to talk."

Sebastian responded the same way he would have the first time he had been a child, when he was constantly afraid of unprovoked electrocution. “Y-yes, sir,” Sebastian answered with downcast eyes, showing submission and respect. The slight stutter had been unintentional, but nevertheless revealed his fear.

What did this bloodthirsty man want with him? Sebastian didn't dare ask.

Sebastian radiated fear in the way only a small child can. Children's fear is nothing like that of adults. Adults, when they are truly afraid can be come gibbering wrecks that are equally pathetic, if not more so, but there was something about the fear of a child that set it apart. Hunter took a moment to drink it in. To enjoy that fact that he had a man who had lived for a very long time, longer than he had, trembling in fear at his very presence.

"How long have you been alive?" he asked. He already had people begin to scour history for anything that might be Sebastian. However, Hunter had gone to great lengths to avoid being detected across the ages, and it was likely that Sebastian had as well. He doubted his people would find anything.

Hunter seemed pleased with himself, like a cat who had caught a mouse and was content for now just to play with it. His voice was almost soft enough to sooth a child, if the child didn't expect the voice to be followed by a sudden violent reversal.

>"How long have you been alive?"

It was such a long time ago that he had been born. So many memories blended together that Sebastian's childlike mind was confused. It was hard to think, to force all the memories to make sense, when his brain was so busy feeling afraid. His mind felt frozen. Sebastian didn't know the answer to Hunter's question. What would happen if he answered wrong?

“I-I d-don't know,” Sebastian finally stammered, more afraid to make up something incorrect than to admit that he didn't know how old he truly was. He didn't even know how long it had been since he had first met Hunter, in the dark and bloody church. He remembered how brave he had been the first time he had faced the dark man opposite him. He wished he could be brave now, too.

The immortal didn't know. Hunter had been alive for over four hundred years, yet could still accurately answer as to how old he was. If Sebastian couldn't answer then either he was paralysed by fear, which Hunter's acute senses were registering enormous amounts of, or he had been alive for so long that he truly didn't know how long he had been alive.

"How long does your life cycle take?" Hunter asked, taking a different track now. He would try to ask a question that the man/boy should be able to answer. Hunter had still not decided as to how he was going to deal with Sebastian, but for now he was content to simply ask questions.

Sebastian's last answer seemed to have been satisfactory, or at least, he wasn't being punished for it. For now it seemed that the vampire was content simply to ask questions, albeit difficult ones to answer for an eight-year-old child. Sebastian relaxed a hair's breadth, figuring that not knowing the exact answers might be okay after all. Thus comforted, but still with a healthy amount of fear, Sebastian gave the best answer he could to the dark immortal's second question.

“It d-depends. Maybe a hundred years, normally, but I can make it speed up or slow down or go backwards.” Sebastian got an idea; perhaps if he showed the older-younger man what he meant, he could impress him. Then Hunter might decide not to hurt him after all! Sebastian's face brightened and he sat forward eagerly, “I can show you, if you like!”

So the cycle was controllable. Hunter had assumed as much considering the form he was looking at, but wanted to confirm that it was not just subconcious control. "Accelerate to the peak physical prowess of your human form," he instructed.

Perhaps then he'd have his mind less clouded by fear. This child was so terrifide that Hunter had to ask specific questions to get answers. If Sebastian was older Hunter might be able to get across what he wanted without beeing here all night.

Shifting older would apparently be preferable to both of them. Sebastian wanted to grow back into his more normal, more fearless self. He started shifting, growing older at a rate of a year for every ten seconds. After a minute he had reached puberty and hit for the next thirty seconds his growth accelerated even faster as everything from his bones to his vocal chords stretched to their full lengths.

As he grew, his thoughts also matured. Suddenly shifting older seemed like a bad idea. After all, Hunter hadn't tried to kill him as a child. He had showed no qualms about killing him as a twenty year old. Yet, he had demanded that Sebastian shift to his prime age, and not doing so was possibly the more dangerous of the two options.

Another minute and Sebastian looked approximately the same age as Hunter. His chin sported its usual scraggly goatee that came along with his young adult self. Even his horn had grown and inch or two. He was still rather shorter than the dark haired immortal, but it was as tall as he was going to get.

“Thank you for your patience,” Sebastian stated politely. All traces of fear were gone from his voice, for he no longer had any reason to be afraid. He would heal from whatever the other man could do to him, as had already been tested. “Do you have any other questions for me?” There was an almost undetectable note of sarcasm in the statement.