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writing-intheundercroft · 3 months ago

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what love can do // the sallow twins

Summary: an excerpt from chapter 31 of When We're Older; Anne and Sebastian Sallow finally come to an understanding.

A/N: I've had this scene in my head for an entire year, and I couldn't resist the urge to post this scene between Anne and Sebastian on its own. Required listening included :)

October 1898

Sebastian set the hammer down on the stone ledge, stepping back to examine his work. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at Anne, Ominis, and Theo, who were all a few paces away from him, sitting in the grass. It was late October now, and the highlands were holding on to the last bit of warmth before autumn truly came to an end. Theo thought to celebrate their last hours in the Feldcroft house with a few bottles of wine and Sirona’s finest offerings, scattered across the picnic blanket.

”What do you think?” He yelled back to them.

“It’s a bit crooked.” Ominis retorted, stretching out his legs.

”You’re blind,” Sebastian scowled.

Ominis and Anne burst into laughter. Anne’s head fell against Ominis’s shoulder, and Sebastian didn’t miss the way his best friend snuck a kiss against his sister’s temple. Theo rolled her eyes, feigning a gag as she winked at Sebastian.

A family, Sebastian thought. A merry, fucked up brigade, just as Theo had promised. Him, Ominis, Theo, and Anne, just as he’d always envisioned.

Anne grunted as she stood, wiping the grass off her skirt as she walked forward. She pushed on the wooden For Sale sign that Sebastian had just worked so tirelessly to put up, nodding approvingly when the post didn’t budge.

”Do you really believe Bernie when he says the house will sell by next weekend?” She asked.

Sebastian shrugged. “I was a bit skeptical, but you never know. With the goblin camps and Ashwinders gone, I’m sure more people are eager to move back into the highlands. He said he already had several inquiries from the ad he put in the Prophet.”

Anne backed away, appraising the cottage. “It seems smaller, doesn’t it?”

”Compared to the first time we saw it?” Sebastian teased, knocking his shoulder into hers. “I think we’re just bigger now, Anne.” His mind was immediately transported back to the day they’d arrived in Feldcroft, just a little suitcase to share between the two of them. Feldcroft had once been the setting for family vacations, beach days, trips to visit their grouchy uncle in the highlands. Suddenly, the stone cottage with the thatched roof that was once the setting of daydreams had become their home. There were barely even two rooms, certainly not enough room for three to grieve.

Perhaps that is where they went wrong, Sebastian thought. It made no matter now.

“You know what I mean,” Anne huffed, crossing her arms. She gave him an indignant look, one she might have shared with him when playing a round of gobstones when they were younger. It was a glance commonly shared between them, before any strife had taken over their relationship. She looked both old and new at the same time—his Annie, the one he’d so longed for, was back. She still had her bad days, when the color would drain from her face and she’d spend the better half of an afternoon lying down with a poultice and wiggenweld, but the ratio of good days seemed to surpass the bad. She was steadier on her feet than she’d ever been, cheeks pink and vibrant. Sebastian no longer worried that any terse word or jerk of an arm would trigger her curse and steal the air from her lungs.

“I know,” Sebastian murmured, throwing an arm around her. “Fancy a walk down by the beach?”

The twins sat on a flannel blanket, watching as Ominis and Theo walked along the water’s edge. Theo laughed at something Ominis said, throwing her head back as the blond grinned. The waves along the beach crashed against their ankles; Ominis gripped Theo’s arm tighter, hissing from the cold waves. Her dark waves whipped around her face, lips stained red from the half-empty bottle of wine in her hand.

“Weird to say goodbye to Feldcroft, isn’t it?” Anne asked.

Sebastian shook his head. “Not really. It stopped feeling like home a long time ago.” he echoed, watching his fiancee dance ahead of Ominis. "Do you think you'll come back?"

Anne shook her head. "I'd rather not."

Anne was silent for a moment, chewing on her lip as she mulled over her thoughts. “We should leave him here, shouldn’t we?” she asked. “I thought about having him moved to the cemetery in Hogsmeade since we were selling the house, but I don’t think he’d want that.”

Sebastian sighed, resting his elbows on his knees. “I think so.” His heart thumped against his chest as he turned his head to his sister. “Solomon would want to stay.”

Anne pursed her lips, pulling her knees up to her chest. “Best not to dredge it all back up, isn’t it?”

Sebastian nodded his head, wrinkling his nose as he looked back out to the water. “We’ve gone too long without loving each other,” he said slowly. “For all our faults, I don’t think he would’ve wanted that for us anymore.”

Anne sighed. Her chestnut waves blew in the wind, fanning around her face. “I wanted to talk to you,” she mumbled. “About Cairo.”

“I know,” Sebastian knocked his shoulder into hers. “I wanted to talk about it with you too.”

Anne turned to him, resting her cheek atop her knees. “I know you said no, and that you want to come home to London to be with Theo, but I really do think you should consider–”

“Anne,” Sebastian interjected.

“Don’t interrupt me,” she snapped. “You always do–”

“Annie,” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Would you listen to me?”

“Will you let me finish?” Anne scoffed. “I’m trying to tell you that you should go,” she urged. “I think this opportunity is too good to pass up–”

“I said yes,” Sebastian nearly hollered. “I told them I’d take it. The position.”

Anne blinked at her brother, mouth agape. “You did?”

“I did,” Sebastian murmured. “Theo and I talked about it, and we made the decision together. I wrote to Rothwell right away to formally accept the position. We’re meeting this week to discuss compensation.”

“Oh, Sebastian.” Anne lurched towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’m so proud of you.”

Sebastian tightened his grip around her, burying his face into her shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Anne pulled away, patting his cheek. “Well, I’ll save my lecture for another day.” she gave him a toothy smile. “Thank Merlin.”

“Yes, save the lecture.” Sebastian chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of reasons to chastise me in the future.”

Anne stretched out, laying out on the blanket. She propped herself up on her elbows, watching Ominis and Theo pick shells. He could still sense the tension in the air, the words that were going unsaid between them.

“And what of Theo?” Anne asked. “What will she do?”

Sebastian bit the inside of his cheek. “Yes, well, that’s the larger part of the conversation.”

“Do tell,” Anne urged him.

Theo had turned to the twins, a hand hovering over her brow to see them over the sunlight. Sebastian waved, which seemed to satisfy her curiosity. She went back to picking sea glass, dropping her findings into Ominis’s palm.

“Theo is thinking about coming with me,” Sebastian confessed. “We wanted to talk about it with you and Ominis today, and then she’ll talk to her father.”

“It makes sense that she’d go with you.” Anne shrugged. “She’ll be your wife soon. And to be quite frank, I’m not sure what exactly Unspeakables do–but Theo’s always seemed one foot out the door on that job.”

“Annie,” Sebastian warned. “You know what it means if she comes with me.”

“I know,” Anne narrowed her eyes at him. “You act as if we didn’t know she’d go with you.”

“She wasn’t sure–”

“Sebastian,” Anne scoffed. “She loves you, and she understands the magnitude of the promotion. I knew she’d come to her senses and support you when the time came.”

The waves crashed against the sand, the sound doing little to appease the knot growing in Sebastian’s stomach.

“You know if she comes with me, she won’t be able to heal you anymore.” Sebastian warned.

“I know.” Anne said. She was looking at Ominis, a tender expression on her face. “You know what I asked Theo the first time I met her, when you brought her to the hamlet?”

“What?” Sebastian asked hesitantly.

“I asked her to help you understand.” Anne said quietly, turning to look up at him with her wide brown eyes. “That you could not take away my pain. And that I’d made my peace with it.”

Sebastian stared down at the sand.

“Sebastian,” Anne whispered. “I want you to go. I’ll be fine.”

“How are you so sure?” He asked fiercely, turning his head up to glare at her. “How can you be so sure that you’ll be okay?”

”I can’t,” Anne gave him a wistful look. “But I’ve spent too much of my life being afraid of feeling. Afraid that the next breath would hurt, afraid of being left behind. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

The twins were silent, only the distant sound of Theo and Ominis’s laughter filling the void.

”Sebastian, I’ve had years to think about it. I'm tired of sitting here, living a half-life. I want to travel the world, live on my own, and be with someone I love. I want feel everything, and not be afraid. And most of all, I don’t want to be afraid of leaving you behind.” Anne cleared her throat.

“Annie,” Sebastian blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears from his eyes.

“Theo has already given me so many more years than I’d ever dreamt of having,” Anne admitted, grabbing his hand. “And I want to spend what little time I have left with him.”

“You really love him then?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah,” Anne blushed, her cheeks tinged pink. “I think I always have. It feels silly now, but I was always so worried. At first, I thought I shouldn’t even bother to tell him my feelings–it would hurt less for all of us, you know? But I couldn’t bear it anymore. I couldn’t not tell him how I felt.”

Sebastian looked back out to Theo and Ominis, who were still standing at the water’s edge. Ominis had just attempted to skip a rock, scowling as Theo doubled over with laughter.

“It is best to get it out there,” he wrinkled his nose. “Do you two have a plan?”

Anne shrugged. “We talked about going to America. Ominis was talking to his superiors about a possible transfer to MACUSA, to work in the department of magical affairs there. He’s been digging into his family history, and thinks he might possibly have some cousins living in Massachusetts. We might seek them out.”

Sebastian rubbed his jaw. “New York is far away.”

“So is Cairo,” Anne pointed out. “You once told me I needed to work on being more spontaneous. So, here I am.”

“Crossing the Atlantic with Ominis Gaunt,” Sebastian snorted. “Couldn’t get more spontaneous than that.”

“I see you’ve told Sebastian.”

Sebastian squinted as he looked up; Ominis was walking towards them, drying his hands on his pants. “Yeah. When were you planning on telling me that you wanted to whisk my dear sister across the Atlantic?”

Ominis flushed, crossing his arms as Theo jogged up to them.

“I wanted her to tell you first,” Ominis confessed. “Felt like that was more appropriate.”

“Did you know?” Sebastian asked, turning to Theo.

She shook her head, but there was a knowing smile on her lips. “No, but I put two and two together.”

Sebastian sighed, turning to Anne. “There’s no keeping secrets in this family, is there?”

Anne ignored him, gratefully taking Ominis’s outstretched hand. He helped her to her feet, a steady arm wrapping around her waist to pull her close. Anne melted into his touch, resting her head against his shoulder as they walked back up the hill to the hamlet.

“I suppose I’m chopped liver then,” Sebastian scoffed.

Theo laughed, holding her hand out for him. Sebastian stood, and they folded the blanket together, fighting the wind. Sebastian threw it over his shoulder, while Theo slid her hand up his back, scratching his vest.

“New York,” Sebastian murmured. “Do you think she’ll be okay? The trip will be long, and I worry about her being so far away. Cairo to London is one thing, but New York–”

“You’ve seen her lately,” Theo pointed out. “It almost seems different now, ever since the two of them got together.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrow. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that the cure for Anne’s curse is a snog with Ominis.”

Theo rolled her eyes, pinching his hip. Sebastian yelped, wrinkling his nose as she laughed.

“No,” she ruminated over the thought, chewing on her lower lip. “But you’d be surprised at what love can do.”

#sebastian sallow #anne sallow #fix it fic is really the name of my game #anne and sebastian sallow #sallow twins #writing-intheundercroft #sebastian sallow x mc #ominis gaunt x anne sallow

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