Rotten To The Core

mirror mirror on the wall, who's the baddest of them all

welcome to my wicked world, wicked world

Confused, Regulus looks to his friends to see that they had fear written all over their faces. He knew what that meant. Great. When he turned around he was face to face with his mother. 

“What were you thinking, escaping like that?” she said, in a harsh whisper.

“I needed to see my friends.” he replied, just as quietly.

“You know what, we can talk about this later. For now, I have news,” she paused. “for all four of you” That perked all of their interests, there was never anything so important to say that Regulus’ mother directly spoke to them. They stared at her with anticipation, waiting for her to continue. “You four have been chosen to live in Udiria, and attend Udiria Academy alongside the other pupils.” 

Instantly there was an array of complaining and arguing in protest. Why, of all people, were they chosen? And who's to say they even wanted to go? This went on for a good five minutes before Mother Gothel clearly lost patience and shut them all up with a single raise of her hand. She had the kind of scary authority that made you do what she said, out of pure fear of what would happen if you didn’t obey.

“Do you want to know the only reason I said yes to this invitation?” this time she was speaking to Regulus, looking him dead in the eyes. He did nothing, not wanting to upset his mother in front of his friends. Not wanting them to see what would happen.

“I said yes, because it gets us access to something you can only reach from the other side of the barrier. McGonagall's wand. I want you four to find a way to get that wand, and break down the barrier once and for all.” There was more protesting from Remus, Marlene, and Mary, but Regulus stayed silent. If he could pull this off, his mother would be proud of him. She would be happy. And going to Udiria would mean he would be able to see Sirius again. Despite how angry he was at Sirius for abandoning him, leaving him to take on the worst of his mother’s wrath as she took out her anger of not only her own issues, but her feelings on Sirius running away as well, on Regulus, he had missed his brother terribly and now that he had a chance to see him again, he wasn’t going to let that go. No matter how hard it was to build up their ruined relationship again, no matter how much they shoved each other away, no matter how angry they were at each other, Regulus still wanted his big brother back. 

Looking into his mother’s eyes, he saw that look. The if you don’t do this, you won’t live to see tomorrow look. He nodded at her, understanding what he had to do. 

“Guys, I think we should go. If we can break the barrier, everyone will be free. No one will be left behind with the scraps that Udiria could do without. And once we do this, those bastards will get what they deserve for locking us away.” He looked at them all, at their doubtful faces, praying that just one of them would agree with him. He found Remus’ eyes, knowing he would understand how important it was that they went along with the plan. Sighing, he spoke up. “I’m in,” he said. “Who knows, we might even enjoy it a bit while we’re there” Regulus let out a deep breath of relief. He knew he could count on Remus. 

“I’m in too, I’ve always wanted to see the castles to be honest. They must be beautiful” Mary said. Marlene turned to her, then said “I guess I have to go then, there’s no way I'm staying here without you guys. Anyway, I’m happy as long as I get to stay with Mary. Ain’t nop way they’re splitting us up, not after everything” they smiled, then turned to Mother Gothel who also seemed to be smiling. Regulus didn’t like it, it looked wrong on his mother’s face. 

“That’s settled then, you will all be leaving in the morning when the limo comes to pick you up, so get packing and do not be late.” With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the four of them still standing in the middle of the dock.

For a moment, they all stood in silence until Remus spoke. “I hope you know that I do not want to go, I’m doing this entirely for the escape from our parents” As he said that last bit, he looked at Regulus, a mix of concern and understanding. Regulus flashed Remus another look to say thank you, then, realised the others were staring at him, so he quickly changed the subject. “So, if we’re leaving in the morning we should go get our stuff ready and pack.” 

“I guess so, what do you even bring to a place like Udiria? It’s not like I have an ironed skirt and shirt on hand” Marlene said

“Just bring some clothes and anything else you want, I don’t know. Don’t forget your eyeliner though, I know you can’t live without that” Mary replied, which Marlene laughed at.

“Good shout, ok so everyone go pack then meet back here in an hour for a last day of running around getting fights and stealing shit since we probably won’t be able to do that for a while” Marlene said, and with that, everyone split off to pack.