Rosekiller

At six o’ clock in the morning Regulus received a phone call, he didn’t know the number so naturally he didn’t pick up, the next time that number called again he was uhhh busy with James, so he hung up again, then while he was on his coffee run they called again, so he blocked the number and went about his day, Evan had sent him a chapter of his new novel to review and he liked it,
As he was walking down the street a guy ran past him and dropped something, by the time he picked up what the guy had dropped and turned around, he was gone, he looked at what was in his hand, it was a note, in horribly familiar writing it read;

Stop ignoring her, you know better.

As if on cue his phone rang, he took it out of his pocket, it was James thank god.

“Hello?”

{Hi baby, I’m really sorry but I might be home late tonight we have a food critic coming in, sad emoji}

Regulus chuckled.

“Did you just say, sad emoji?”

{nod, and now you did too red heart emoji}

God he was so silly.

“Okay, but other than that how late will you be getting back?”

{Around midnight probably, s’okay?}

“Yeah it is, do you want me to wait up?”

{You don’t have too, but that would be nice}

“Okay I’ll see you later, love you Jamie”

{Love you too Reggie!!}

He hung up with a smile on his face, he almost forgot about the note key word almost, he crumbled up the note and tossed it into a nearby bin, he then made his way over to Emmey’s, Emmeline had asked him to bring her a rock, he didn’t ask why he just got a rock, once he made his way inside the cafe, Em was there waiting for him with an impatient look on her face, she held out her hand.

“My rock?” he handed it to her, and she threw it at someone, that someone turned out to be Mary.

“Why did you just throw a rock at your girlfriend?” She shrugged.

“Bored, plus she said she wouldn’t love me if I was a worm”

“Emmeline, worms are disgusting” he deadpanned, then he walked over to Mary to make sure she was okay.

“You okay?” she held up a weak thumbs up.

“I’m so drained, why do I adult?”

“Because you are one?” He sat down next to her, Emmeline disappeared behind the counter to get something.

“Did something happen at work?” she nodded her head.

“This case, It’s fucking depressing, look here” she took out her tablet, and pulled up an Article.

“This is the written story by Rita, I just covered this earlier today” he took the tablet from her and read.

[ Article by Rita Skeeter.

This morning at four am, the body of Christopher Howard was found at an abandoned shed located in the ‘Highgate Woods’, Howard’s body was found by a hunter and his dog who happened to be in the area,
His body had been placed in a seating position on a chair identical to that of a throne,

His head had been cut off and placed in his hands, his left eye had been stabbed out of its socket and his skin had been carved around it leaving his half skull visible, in replacement of the head were a bouquet of flowers specifically Roses, The yard have found no leads other than, a picture found on the crime scene of the masked killer.

Authorities are now looking for a male in his early twenties with dark brown hair, around 5 '11 [is that short?].

If you know any information regarding someone close to this profile please contact the following number—----]

As Regulus takes a closer look at the picture he tilts his head, this person kinda looks familiar, he sighs, and hands the tablet back to Mary.

“Well?” she asks.

“Depressing; No, Unfortunate? Yes” she scoffs and shakes her head just then Emmeline appears with a tray of two milkshakes one chocolate and one caramel, plus some tiny fruit bowls, she places the chocolate one in front of Mary and the other in front of him, same with the fruit bowls.

“Hey do you mind if I stay here for a while, I want to surprise James by picking him up today” Emmeline smiled.

“Of course Reg, the shop closes at nine tonight, but I have some things to take care of so I’ll be here until just before midnight, that okay for you?” he nods.

“Great! Mar are you gonna stay with us?” She shrugs.

“I haven’t got anything better to do”.

_________________________________________________

After Mary and Emmeline head home Regulus starts his 20 minute walk over to James’ restaurant,
Emmeline made him two coffee’s she said it should still be warm by the time he gets there, as he walks past the alleyway near the record shop he gets the feeling that someone is following him, and sure enough he hears footsteps behind him.

He walks a little faster and mumbles something along the lines of ‘need to get there fast’, the footsteps behind him quickens, by now he’s practically running his careful not to spill the coffee, but he also isn’t looking where he's going.

He ran onto the road just as a truck was coming on, just in time someone grabbed him he didn’t know whether it was out of fear, or exhaustion, but he just sat there, hoping this person would let him go, the one day he doesn’t have his knives.
He hears the other person breathe a sigh of relief, was it relief that they caught him or that he wasn’t putting up a fight, he thought back to the note; the handwriting was exactly like his father’s,
He knows it's fake because Orion’s dead[sorry I meant Onion], it was his turn to sigh in relief when he heard the voice behind him.

“You gave me quite a scare there Reggie” he tilted his head up, he felt tears in his eyes, why was he so scared? Oh right, this happened before, the last time didn’t end well.

“Hey don’t cry, I’m right here” James hugged him tighter, and he let out a shaky breath though it was more of a sob[ha sob S.O.B. Sirius Orion Black eh? I’m sorry].

“Someone was- behind me-they were following me I wasn’t thinking-”

“Hey it’s okay love, let’s go home yeah?” he nodded. It was only now that he noticed he had dropped the coffee’s, a voice came into his head.

“Why did I give birth to such a failure, you can’t even do one simple thing?”
The boy cried harder.

“Oh stop with the tears Regulus! How many times do I have to tell you Boys don’t cry! How do you expect to protect your sister like this?” he didn’t have a sister though, why was she saying all this horrible stuff about him and Sirius, Sirius? Where is he? Why isn’t he here?

Where did he go?

“You insolent child Listen to me when I’m Talking to you, Regulus, Regulus Arcturus Black! Reg-”

“--ulus? Reggie?” His eyes snapped towards James, he looked around when did they get home?
James smiled at him. “There you are Love, lost you there for sec” he mumbled a weak apology and looked at the ground.

“Hey you have nothing to be sorry for, if you're willing can you tell me what happened?”

“I stayed with Emmeline and Mary so that I could pick you up as a surprise, no that’s not where it started”

“Take your time Reg, where did it start?”

“At six, I got a call from an unknown number, so I switched off my phone, it happened again three more times until I blocked it, then while I was on my way to Emmey’s this guy runs past me and drops something,it was a note…in my Father’s handwriting”

“What did the note say?”

“‘Don’t Ignore her, you know better’” and he did, at least he thought so, stupid Regulus can’t protect anyone, can’t do anything.

Useless,

Useless,

Useless,
Useless,

Useless,

Useless,

use-”Don’t let the dead taunt you, this is not like last time okay, nothing bad will happen to either of us okay?” he nodded. And James smiled.

“I’m gonna go whip up something quick okay? I’ll be right back” after giving him a quick kiss on the head James walked over to the kitchen.

Regulus sat on the couch for a few minutes, before James' phone rang. “Love your phone!”

“Can you answer it?”

He picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

{Boy’s don’t cry Regulus}

His heart sank.

“Who is this?”

{You don’t deserve love, your just a dumb puppet, My puppet}

After those words the line cut dead, James came back into the room and he looked at him with wide eyes.

“Who was it?”
_______________________________________

Remus was acting strange ever since that weird box showed up last night,
Sirius knew he didn’t sleep that night, he had finally fallen asleep earlier this morning so Sirius got Teddy and made his way to the kitchen, now he wasn’t a good cook on his own, but if he had a recipe if would be a different story,
So he pulled up a chocolate pancake recipe, and he got to work. Cooking with a baby is easier than he thought, maybe it’s because he's so much like Remus, he thought. Honestly it’s annoying, you carry a child for nine months and all they have from you is your eyes, what the hell?
But the cherry on top is that he looks like your younger brother when he was a baby, of course Teddy’s cute because Reggie was cute, but the audacity to then push him away in favour of his Dada? Shame.

Once he was done plating he went to wake Remus up, he stepped quietly into the room to his surprise Remus was already awake and he was just sitting still, he stared out of the bedroom in a daze, something was wrong.

“Moony?” He turned to Sirius.

“Why did you leave?” his voice was shaky like he’d been crying, then Sirius knew…he had been, he walked closer to the bed, Teddy still in his arms, he carefully pulled Remus into a hug.

“Remus what happened? Is this about that box?” he flinched, bullseye.

“I’m sorry I tried but he-” he started crying, Teddy put a tiny hand on Remus’ cheek, he was pouting.

“Dawa, cry?”

“Yes now what can we do to make him feel better?” Teddy’s face lit up.

“Wug!” Teddy practically jumped into his arms. “What happened Moony?” he asked gently, Teddy cuddled more into his arms.

“There was a note, the person was threatening you and Teddy so I met up with them while you were asleep, when I got to the location there was another note” he reached underneath the pillow and handed the note to Sirius, the note read;

Time’s up, Enjoy the show

From. S.P

Ps.
Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest {I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.} Matthew 11:28.

He let out a shaky breath, but he tried his best to smile. He had to, one of them had to be optimistic.

“Well that’s not good, though the Bible verse is a little much don’t you think?” Remus reached out and wiped something from his face, a tear? Fuck was he crying?

“You know what me and Teddy made Breakfast, I’ll go bring in the plates” before Remus could protest he got up and left the room, he knew exactly where the box was, he opened it god damn it, it was just like the one Evan had, he then heard his phone ring on the kitchen counter he went and picked it up.

“Hello?”

{Hi, Sirius?}

“James? Is everything alright?”

{I can’t find Reg anywhere, I tried looking- but I don’t know where he is}

“Slow down where are you?”

{In The park!}

What the fuck, that wasn’t James, he took the phone away from his ear and looked at the number, he sighed, unknown.

“Listen to me very carefully if you are who I think you are, stay the fuck away from my family or I swear to all of the gods you believe in I will find you and I will kill you” and with that he hung up, It couldn’t be Seph, he would be in jail if it was, oh god.

When did this even start?
_________________________________________________

What has my life come to?

Honestly she should have known bringing Pandora to the mall would be a mistake but oh well, this is the fifth clothing store they’ve been too, anyone else would have found this annoying but not Lily she loved seeing her girlfriend happy, both of them come from bad families so they indulge each other whenever they get the chance,
To say this was a good day was an understatement, honestly Lily was the happiest she has ever been in a relationship[sorry James :(].

Along the way Pandora had met up with one of her work friends Xeno, they and Lily got to talking about books, and as all three of them were chatting away, Lily heard the voice of someone she never thought she’d see again.

“Lily?”
She turned her head and there he was Severus Snape, her once childhood best friend, they haven’t spoken since he called her what he did, as if she wasn’t stunned enough a girl ran up to him and hung on his arm and that girl was-

“Petunia?” Was she seeing this right? Her sister and hi-what![Not a ship it’s just for the plot].

Pandora seemed to share her thoughts by the look on her face, and poor Xeno was just confused.

“What is this fuckery” one thing about Pandora is that she has no filter when she’s-wait did she take her meds today? That little shit told her she did!
“Who are you?” her sister said Lily had the sudden urge to throw up with the amount of make-up on her sister's face. She looked like a brat doll, or something out of Fnaf.

“I’m Pandora, Lily’s girlfriend and who are you?” She looked between Pandora and Lily like she was looking at a bunch of zoo animals.

“And who is he?” it’s not her fault, Lily tried to tell herself, just correct her.

“It’s not He, Their pronouns are They/Them” and this pain in the ass had the utmost audacity to roll her eyes, and say. “What’s the difference if-”

“Don’t finish that sentence” Lily held up her hand, her family has always been conservative, especially her parents, so imagine their disappointment when they found out they had a lesbian daughter that was a fun conversation to have, honestly she used to love her little Tuina, but after she came out it was like her sister was a whole different person, she would ignore Lily and talk bad about her while she was in the room.

Right now the last thing Lily needs is to open old wounds and allow Petunia to hurt her friend and girlfriend, not to mention Snape is there, when things were bad at home she turned to him for help when she told him why things were so bad he called her a-
”Lils?” she turned to see the look of worry on Pandora’s face, she felt herself smile, as long as this woman was by her side she had nothing to worry about.

“I’m fine Pans, anyway it was nice to see you guys, you two look lovely together” Snape shrugged Tuina off his arm.

“We’re not dating” Lily let out a hum, why was that any of her business? It’s not like she gives a fuck.

“Ah I see sorry, and sorry for my sister Xeno, he doesn’t know any better” Panda snorted.

“I’m a girl”

“What’s the difference?” Pandora asked sweetly, god she was heaven sent.

“While ladies we best be on our way, the fortune shop closes at three!” Xeno said in a cheery tone.

Before the three walked away Xeno looked Tuina right in the eye and said.

“By the way you're wearing that wrong” she scoffed.

“How would you know? Do you wear dresses now?”

“No, I designed it” and with that they made their way to the fortune shop.

____________________________________

After that little adventure the next stop they made was to a bake sale the store was having. While there Lily’s phone went off, she took it out of her pocket and checked her messages.

Unknown.

Un: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10.
14:09

She read over the message again, she felt her breath quicken, she clutched her dress, why was she so scared?
Oh right, she remembered this verse her father repeated it while he beat her with his prayer beads, while her mother and sister watched she remembered her mother praying in the corner.
She didn’t remember anything after that all she heard was an angel calling for her, her angel, her Pandora.

She woke up with cold sweat running down her face, she recognized hers and Pandora’s bedroom, and she also recognized the familiar blonde braidings and caramel skin next to her, she knew the blonde wasn’t asleep, she pulled her closer to her chest.

“Are you feeling okay love?” Lily asked looking down at her, she was snuggled on her chest, with a pout on her face. “You're the one who fainted, are you okay?” Lily chuckled, and nodded her head.

“Now that you're here I am” she scoffed.

“Flattery will get you nowhere”

“It’s not flattery if it's true my love”

She hummed. The two stared at each other for a little bit.

“I love you” she was taken aback by the sudden declaration but Lily replied.

“I love you too fy angel” she giggled.
[my angel]

“Now then are you gonna tell me what happened?”
Lily buried her face in the crook of Pandora’s neck.

“Later” she hummed thoughtfully.

“Cuddle first, talk later?”
She nodded.
She really is heaven sent, curse past Lily for not asking her out sooner.

________________________________________________________________

Curse past Evan for agreeing to this, it was currently half past eleven and Evan had plans big plans to sleep his ass off, but he got a call from Barty telling him to meet him at a park downtown, the same park they walked in the night of their first date, the closer he got to the park,
The more he felt that something wasn’t right.
He tried to shake it off but the feeling wouldn’t go away, he thought back to the phone call, everything seemed normal; Barty was his usual flirty cryptic self.

But it was weird of him to invite Evan out so late at night, once he arrived at the park, he took out his phone and dialled Barty’s number, he picked up on the second ring sounding tired.

{Rosy?}

“Hey Bee, where are you?” he heard a yawn on the other side.

{In bed why? Where are you?}

He felt his heart rate pick up.

“I’m at the park where you told me to meet you-” he cut himself off. “Bee please tell me this is a joke, you're here aren't you?”

{Fuck, okay Ev stay where you are I’ll be right there}

“Don’t hang up…please?”

{okay I won’t just-Shite-I’ll be-I’ll be there soon okay Ev?}

He heard himself sniffle, he wasn’t crying but he was being followed, he knew someone was standing behind him, he heard a car start over the phone, soon he saw Barty’s car pull up yet the person behind Evan didn’t move, Barty ran up to him.

“Are you okay?”
He nodded, then Barty caught sight of the guy behind him, he got out a pocket knife and walked over to him.
He was wearing a cap, and it took Evan a little bit but he noticed a strange smell coming from the man, Barty took off his cap and Evan swore he turned pale.

It was dark but Barty was close enough to see the guy’s face, Evan turned on his phone’s flashlight and almost gagged, it was a corpse a fucking decomposing corpse.

Barty took a step back, he kept stepping backwards until he fell but he just sat there. Evan had seen many emotions from the man before but he had never seen fear.

He called Alice and told her where to find them, he then pulled Barty in.

“T-that’s my dad” Evan winced, so that’s why he was scared. Barty didn’t like to talk about his father, Evan understood, it’s not like he’s close to his own.
While thinking of ways to comfort the other man an Idea came to mind, call him whatever you want, this shite will work.

“Nothing’s gonna harm you-not while I’m around” Barty looked up at him, he might be crying but Evan could see the glint of amusement and confusion in his eyes. But he didn’t protest so he continued.

“Nothing’s gonna harm you-no sir, not while I’m around, Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadays, I'll send them howling, I don't care, I got ways” Barty huffed a laugh.

“Really? I just told you that’s my father’s corpse and you're singing me a song?”

“I thought you liked Sweeney Todd? Want me to stop?” he shook his head.

“Continue, please?” Evan smiled, and pulled him closer in an attempt to shelter him from the cruel world they call home.

He did continue of course, right up until Alice arrived with her crew and even then he still didn’t let go…