Sins of the Father | Sebastian x OFC (Caroline Rookwood) | Ominis x Garreth

Ch 64: Who I Was

AN:

I'm still alive! Sorry, new medication has left me feeling extremely fatigued, nauseated, and drained after a long day... like fall asleep at 7:30pm and not wake up until 5:30/ 6am kind of day. (which is horrible because there are so many things to do).

Last time:

Ominis had retrieved Aunt Noctua from the manor and is planning to still head back for dinners because he wants to remain a step ahead.

Meanwhile, Caroline has found out about the extent of the history between MC and Sebastian (and her effects on his psyche and well being). She grappled with potentially hunting her down but in Caroline fashion found a way to reconcile what "she" would do while also understanding the steps others would do in her stead (like Vincent and Victor Rookwood). They take a trip to the Red Door and we learn her fighting style and that Anne is an absolute beast of a duelist (sort of learn it/ implied).

Anywho... Happy Weekend and enjoy! Sorry it's a shorter chapter!

~~~***~~~

Sebastian

~~~***~~~

As with all things in Sebastian's life, it was not enough for love to silence the doubt in his soul. He needed to, as he often had to do, fight to keep it.

What he had never expected in all eighteen and a half years of his life was to come face to face and go toe to toe with the one person who could remind him how close he had been to losing it all: Anne.

Why Sebastian thought to or even agreed to duel his sister after breakfast was beyond his comprehension when he lay beneath the point of her wand, staring at the impish and proud smile on her face. He supposed it was that inner Sallow in him— the bold, cheeky, and capricious boy who skulked through shadows to satisfy his curiosity. But curiosity had led that Sebastian down a rabbit hole where he became lost and forgotten in the corner of his mind when Anne had been taken to St. Mungo's.

If Caroline's love silenced the doubt in his heart and Ominis' was the kindred spirit that fed his soul, it was Anne that poked and prodded— inspiring and irritating the fire that was him down to his bones.

And if Anne was good at anything, it was being irritating.

Like a book with its corners folded, or the damp cuffs of one's robe after a wash, or the feeling of restlessness as one tried to fall asleep well past midnight— Anne had been a thorn in his side since the day they were born. And yet, he loved her— all the pesky mild inconveniences that made her, her.

They entered this world together, weathered the storms, and he would be damned if he let two measly years away from each other tear them apart.

But that was where the problem lay, wasn't it? He had let two measly years tear them apart.

The girl, now a woman, his sister, and once close confidante returned in a way that was different. It wasn't, however, a terrible sort of different. What was different was the odd sensation of warmth, pride, and fright that shook him, blasted him across the courtyard, and upended him.

If Anne had become a Sallow in her own right when she was away, what had he become? Where had the Sebastian he had known gone? Who was Sebastian Sallow?

"Hogwarts' top duelist, eh?"

Imp wasn't entirely a fitting name for her. Niffler seemed far more appropriate, given her faux innocence and penchant for causing trouble.

"Again," he said through gritted teeth, pushing himself off the ground to brandish his wand.

Anne smirked, skipping to the other end of the courtyard to twirl her wand, "Your call, dearest brother."