He gazed out at the heap of snow piling in front of him. To the vast tundra before him. To the massive silhouette looming far beyond the horizon.
Never however, did he look down at the tombstone. The boy feared that had he seen it, his father's name carved into it, the thin carapace of ice slowly forming over it….. that it would become a reality.
The fields of snow they used to frolick in. The treks they made across the frozen rivers. The annual trip they made to that gargantuan mountain - the painful, boredom-inducing fortnight of travels he used to loathe…. It all seemed like a distant memory to him. He found it hard to believe that his father only just recently passed. That the eternity he had spent mourning him was but three days, a mere seventy-two hours in non-grieving time.
He looked up at the night sky, at the stars his father used to love so much, then at the trinket at his neck - the one his father had left behind. It was a crescent of dull silver, reflecting the moon's luminosity. He fiddled with it for a bit, reminiscing in memories of the past, before finally mustering the courage to look at it.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ARCTURUS
It felt odd to him. It wasn't as if he didn't already know the truth, but that didn't stop the tears from falling. It was too plain. Too still. It reflected nothing of the warm, cheery man it belonged to. And now, that name was slowly being swallowed by the ice.
He crouched in front of the gravestone, tracing his fingers over his father's name. They were cold now. Unmoving. Unresponsive.
"Hey, Sirius?"
He manages through his thin, cracked lips. His voice cracked halfway through. Something his father would have made fun of, were he still here.
The woman standing behind him finally stepped forward. She hesitantly extended he hand in an attempt to comfort him, to grab his shoulder and tell him that everything would be alright, that she was still here for him….. but she stopped herself mid extension. She looked away, towards Heavenscrape mountain, or perhaps even past it. A moment of silence ensued, before she eventually broke it.
"…. Yes?"
He stopped fiddling with the trinket. After a short pause, his grip around it tightened as he stood up and turned around to look Sirius straight in the eyes.
"Dad…. is- was…. asecretive man."
He took another pause to wipe the tears and snot with his furry sleeve before continuing.
"He- he never told me about himself or his past, not even once. I'm sure he had a reason for that…. but…. we found him frozen in a solid block of ice…."
Sirius flinched at those words. Her gaze averted even more as he continued.
"…. how was that even possible….? And this…."
He further tightened his grip on the trinket. It glowed faintly with lunar light as he did so.
"…. what the hell is it?"
Another moment of silence followed as Sirius struggled piecing her thoughts together. She had known Arcturus for a long time - far longer than his adoptive son ever did. She knew why he'd been so hesitant in telling him the truth, and of course, she knew that truth as well. Or rather, it was because she knew the truth that she knew why he refused to relay it to his own son.
She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. A beat of sweat ran down her neck in spite of the freezing temperatures, albeit it was a cold one.
"…. A witch did it."
Sirius paused, analysing the boy's face for any reaction he'd made. His expression hadn't changed, not even a hint of surprise from that revelation. He continued listening intently to her explanation - a reaction to which Sirius could only sigh. His mind was already made up.
"Witches are…. god's curse, and heaven's blessing."
Tears welled up in her eyes as well, as she continued explaining.
"They are an abjectly evil race hell-bent on wiping out humanity. One that wields the gift of magic for their own abhorrent gains…. Th- That…. Is the kind of loathsome, spiteful, malicious, deceitful, creature…. which took your father."
Sirius' voice trembled uncontrollably as she spoke, and yet the boy, as if enchanted, hypnotized, by her explanation,by his own subtly building hatred, slowly burning wrath…. Never picked up on it.
"…. Your father happened to be a witch as well, yet he defended humanity regardless of what his own kind thought of it."
She glanced at the gravestone, at the name embedded on it, with an unreadable expression.
"…. As with your father, I, too, am a witch. As for the trinket…. As a witch myself, I can feel it. The astral energy emanating from it is unimaginable. I can only assume that he imbued it with all of his powers before perishing. In other words…. Whoever wears that, shall wield the powers that made Arcturus the legend that he was."
A moment passed as the boy collected his thoughts. And then….
"…. Then with this power…. I'll avenge him. By ridding this world of their evil. I'll kill them all."
Sirius flinched. Not at the words, but at the hint, the mere inkling of fury behind them. She had seen it before, and it only brought forth bad memories. Ones she could never forget. Ones she never looked back on fondly. She only had herself to blame for that reaction. She couldn't have expected any other outcome.
"…. Very well then. I shall accompany you, as your father's former ally…."
The boy looked back at the grave, at the world of endless white surrounding it, before turning and walking toward the cabin. The snow swallowed the sound of his footsteps and before long, he was no more than a shadow in the drifting white.
Sirius stayed. She stayed for a long time. She knelt beside the grave, brushing the snow aside. She refused to allow it to be swallowed whole by the snow. It needed to be seen. She couldnt bear for him to vanish so quickly.
"…. and as a sinner."
She mumbled under her breath, her breath turning to mist and the mist scattering into the harsh winds. Finally, she turned around and followed the boy back to the hut.