Heir of Sallow

***A hit of that heaven and hell, a helluva high

CW: SMOOTSMOOT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

She felt like she was being watched, but when she looked around, she couldn't see a thing out of the ordinary. She frowned as she thought she saw movement in the tree line, but nothing after.

"You alright?"

She turned her gaze back to her father, whose gaze was also looking in the direction she'd been looking in.

"I'm fine, dad."

He'd just put the head of the snowman up on the top. Charlie knew their yearly snowman was probably childish, but considering how much she enjoyed being out in the snow, and how much Sebastian loved any excuse to act like a child, it was one of her favorite activities. It was the first without Toby, but Toby was never one for cold weather. He preferred the sun and beaches.

"Alright," he murmured, pulling an old scarf around the neck of the snow man as Charlie shoved a carrot in the middle of the head, then pushed two black buttons in for the eyes. "What's his name this year?" Her father asked.

"Oh, I get to pick a name?" Charlie asked, surprised. "Sick of Jack Frost?"

"Jack Frost will always be the superior name for a snowman, but I will allow you to name him this year."

"Does it have to be a man?"

"Don't push it," Sebastian said with a mocking glare.

Charlie smiled and put a finger to her chin, trying to think of a good name. "I might have to think on it for a bit."

"Take all the time you'd like," Sebastian said easily. "But everyday he goes without a name, it's Jack Frost," he told her, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Dad, can we please talk about the magic you used?"

He froze, studying her while trying to school his expression, but he was about as good at it as Charlie was. He looked weary and ready to defend himself.

"What about it?"

She'd have to word it carefully. She wasn't sure what had made her feel so sick about it the night of. Perhaps that she knew that not everyone was there for reasons they thought true. In a way, they'd all been innocent, but she also knew they'd taken lives when needed as well. Death wasn't new to her by any means, but the magic he'd used on Ryan... It was a lot to take in.

"Was it quick for them?"

"Unfortunately." He said it unapologetically. He had no regrets, no remorse, and she wondered if this was what he was like when he'd been searching for a cure for her aunt Anne.

She breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't suffered.

"Charlie, make no mistake," he said softly. "I went easy on them for you. I didn't want you to see more violence than you had to."

Easy on them? Charlie wanted to scoff, but chances were, the spells Sebastian would have preferred to use would have drawn it out a bit longer.

"Are you mad at Hawke?"

This time, her father's expression turned thoughtful. "No. By your own words, you acted like an idiot-" Charlie's expression deadpanned, but her father continued. "- and decided to do things by yourself. He kept you alive and well and even got you out at the risk to himself from either the group or me. He did what he could." A pause, then "could have done without seeing him kiss you."

"No, I mean about him being with... whatever group that is in general."

Sebastian's brow furrowed as if it were a silly question. "No. He was manipulated as a child. The minute that vow was in place, it was over for him. I've been doing research on Podex, and he's been underground for a while it seems. No one kept tabs on him after he was forced to retire for some bloody reason. They knew he went to live as a muggle and nothing else. But the experimentation he was found to be doing..." Sebastian shook his head slowly. "Hawke's lucky to be alive."