CHAPTER FIVE
Regulus was upstairs, grabbing an already prepared go-bag from when the whole Barty thing happened. He could hear James heading up the stairs but he didn’t even turn around as he grabbed some extra stuff that he thought he’d need.
“Reg let me explain, please just let me explain!” James pleaded from behind him, it hurt Regulus to hear him this upset but he was too angry to feel bad for him.
“Explain what?! You were sitting on the couch with some woman's tongue down your throat! I don't think there's much to explain there!” Regulus shouts, hating himself for raising his voice but he could feel anger bubbling in him.
“She’s my maker. I didn't kiss her, she kissed me!” James argues, standing in front of the doorway as Regulus turns around to finally look at him.
“It didn’t look like that, your hand was in her hair and so what if she’s your maker? It doesn’t automatically make it better!” He argues back, gripping the straps of his bag tightly as his only thought was leaving no matter what it took.
“You have to understand I didn't kiss her back.” James’s tone softens as he looks at Regulus, his eyes begging as his body still blocks the only exit in the room.
“I saw what I saw now let me go, I needed a reason to leave and you gave me that exact reason handed on a silver fucking platter now move.” Regulus’s voice isn't as loud as it was but there's still venom in it, walking to the doorway but James stands his ground.
“You’re not leaving me, you can't! If you wanted to leave, why didn’t you say anything?!” James stares at him, trying to keep his body still and strong.
“Because I didn't want you to think that I wanted to leave you which i didn’t but you just made it perfectly clear for me. Move.” Regulus is getting more agitated by the second but his care for James didn’t wager one inch.
“I didn’t want to kiss her! You have to understand that, I love you.” James sounds almost pathetic and it makes Regulus feel even guiltier for leaving so suddenly like this but he wasn’t budging.
“You’re not making this any easier for me. Please just move!” Regulus is almost shouting again, just desperate to leave and get this over with.
“No I'm not letting you go til we talk, I just want to talk.” He’s still begging, not sounding desperate but just angry that Regulus won't even take a minute to listen to him.
“I don't want to hurt you so move.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me!”
“James just fucking move!”
The sound hits him first, a blood curdling crack rings through his ears and Regulus doesn’t realise what he’s done until he sees James at the bottom of the stairs, slumped over against the wall by the door. He panics but he can’t let his feelings take over his logic, he grips the bag and doesn’t even look in the living room as he walks down the stairs and out the door.
James reaches behind his head to feel what happened, when his hand pulls away he can see the blood but he can’t help himself as he begs from the door but he’d knocked his head too hard for him to stand up longer than a few minutes, guilt bit at Regulus’s heart as he walked down the street to book a taxi for the airport and a private flight.
The sound of James’s pleas for him not to leave rings in his ears as he finally sits on the plane and lets himself breathe. He sits quietly on the plane, his eyes closed and his head in his hands. Wondering if he’d made a mistake leaving but he couldn’t get the image of James kissing that woman, Lily, or whatever her name was.
Regulus ends up somewhere in Europe by the time he’s off of the plane, the last few rays of sun in the sky as he stays in the airport til it’s gone. He heads to a hotel which knew what he was, having a suite booked for him with a coffin and black out curtains already set up.
He couldn't help thinking about James back home but he forced the thought out of his head and focused on what sights he wanted to see and where he wanted to go. He stayed in the hotel for the night, laying in his coffin as the sound of James’s head hitting the wall replayed through his mind.
His mind races, faintly hearing James’s calls to him but he forces himself to ignore it and just tries to sleep as he pulls the lid of the coffin down.
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James is dizzy and laid on the couch, Lily long gone by now as he absentmindedly calls out to Regulus just hoping he’d answer. He got up and looked at the spot on the wall where he’d hit his head, blood splattered across it but he couldn’t find it in him to clean it up.
He padded upstairs to their room, looking at the mess Regulus had left when he was packing his things and just leaving it before climbing into Regulus’s coffin unable to help himself. He lies quietly, his mind a mess but he was too dizzy for any of it to make sense.
Despite the concussion, he knew better than to fall asleep as he looked around the room and all the memories they'd made in the room filled his mind. The sound of their voices ringing in his head as he made an attempt to cover his ears, their voices still rang out in his head despite how hard he tried.
It finally dawned on him just how bad the situation was. Regulus had left him all because he was stupid enough to let Lily in, it's funny how one little decision can affect the entire course of your life. He eventually fell back to sleep, wondering if he’d wake up because of the concussion.