Chapter 1
The waves were violent, a fight in the water, whether to resist or to submit. To push itself away or pull in. It's trapped in the cave, like a bowl overflowing, with no exit for the water to get out. So it roars, it screams and crashes into the walls. Infected by the dark magic that shouldn't be there, oozing with vapours and foaming with disease.
The boy coughed, rough and harsh but it was barely heard over the wails from around him. His head tipped back, his black hair at odds with the froth of water that teased at his feet. He gasped for breath and let himself fall, his body sagged and his head wobbled before he hit the ground. He tried to get up but he could barely lift his knees before he was on the ground once more, pain shaking his body.
"Oh come on." A familiar voice called out from next to him but it couldn't be. "Can't give up again, can you?" Regulus let his head move on the podium, his eyes were heavy as he turned to look up. The breath was knocked out of him as his chest caved and he just stared. "What? Not excited to see me, little brother?" Sirius spoke, his smile wide as he shuffled around the rock. His hands stuffed into his muggle leather jacket and his hair a mess around his face. It was Sirius.
"What?.." Regulus whispered, sitting up and he watched as Sirius moved around the rocks to walk closer. Another cough punched out of his chest. "How?.." His mind reeled as he watched his brother. His brother.
Sirius walked around the podium and poked his head over to look in the bowl, "You got pretty far, barely any of it left. Try hard." His head moved to the side so he could see his brother as he sneered at him before smiling. His hand traced the accents in the podiums stone as Regulus was left speechless.
Regulus shook his head softly, "What are you doing here?" He whispered into the air, Sirius turned back to look at him and shook his shoulders. "I have no idea, what are we doing here?" He questioned as he looked around the cave and leaned over to look into the water. "That does not look nice..."
Regulus stayed speechless against the podium, a hand coming up to brush against his face and hair. When his hand brushed down again he glanced over to his brother to find him crouched beside him on the floor. "So, what are we doing here?" Sirius whispered to him and Regulus just shut his eyes and sighed. "I thought you grew out of this whole rude thing phase?" Sirius sighed out the question as he crossed his arms.
"Rude thing phase?" Regulus questioned back to stare at his brother, "Really?" He narrowed his eyes.
Sirius raised his arms, "I'm sorry I said anything-" He apologised before mumbling. "It clearly wasn’t a phase..."
Regulus sighed again and Sirius stood up with a groan. "So, what are we doing?" He put his hands on his hips and rolled against the back of his feet soundlessly. Regulus side eyed him but Sirius was still looking around the cave and at the podium.
He sighed against the stone once more before turning to his brother, deciding to divulge. "I'm trying to get the locket." His hand flicked upwards before falling harshly.
Sirius looked into the podium curiously again, "What for?" He questioned down at his brother.
"To destroy it." Regulus bit back as he started to move his body around, trying to feel it past the ache.
"Why would you wanna destroy it?" Sirius asked with a frown, "It's pretty..." He mumbled as he looked down again at Regulus, almost pouting.
"It's a horcrux, Sirius." Regulus groaned as he squeezed his head with his fingers, he looked at Sirius to see him looking with a particular look and raised an eyebrow. "What?" Sirius moved his hand in a circle motion and bobbed his head slightly, Regulus rolled his eyes. "It's a dark object that allows someone to live longer, made by murder. So, you know, not a good or pretty thing. Did you even attend Hogwarts?" Regulus whirled on him with the question, annoyed.
Sirius scoffed, "I did attend Hogwarts, I just did something more fun with my time then studying." He smirked as he shrugged one of his shoulders, holding himself higher.
"Right, that's the reason." His eyebrows raised and head shook as he got ready to stand, his shoes squeaking against the wet rock.
Sirius nodded his head with tight lips, "Definitely not a phase..." Regulus just rolled his eyes as he stood, stumbling slightly and Sirius reached his hands out but never touched him. "So, you gonna finish this- lovely soup.." His face crumbled and frowned as he looked into the bowl once more.
Regulus turned to him, "Soup?"
"You're going to drink it, no? You drink soup. I thought you'd know this since you attended Hogwarts."
Regulus stared at him, watched him flick his hair and carelessly shrug his shoulders while crossing his arms. It was Sirius, it was all so Sirius. His mind slightly cleared as he breathed in the salty air, the ache in his bones settling. He watched Sirius, stared around him and at him. Watched him move his arms closely and the strands of his hair.
Sirius backed away slightly, "What?" He looked down at himself and smoothed his hair. "What's wrong? Is there something on me?" He asked anxiously as he looked around with more vigour.
"You aren't a ghost, are you?" Regulus whispered, forcing himself to stand and stare. Not entirely ready to hear the answer, any answer.
Sirius just scrunched his nose, disgusted at the idea. "A ghost?!" He cried out at the idea. "No- I would never die this young, too many people would miss me." He joked and Regulus let out a wet laugh before raking a hand through his hair.
"So youre my imagination..." His head shook as he laughed again, feeling how dizzy he felt with his hand taking some of the pressure off his head. “A hallucination..”
"Hey! That is rude." Sirius, or whatever it was, shouted and Regulus saw him come closer before feeling like he had been hit on the head.
"You're offended?" Regulus asked, confused, as he rubbed his head and looked at Sirius, even more confused. "Why are you offended? You aren't even real?!" Regulus shouted back, mainly at himself, and his shoes squealed as he stumbled forward, a hand caught him on the podium.
"I am so real! How can I be here if I'm not real?" Sirius questioned back and Regulus opened his mouth to retort but found himself speechless. "Answer that one! Answer that one." He held his hands out and smiled proudly.
Whatever it was, it definitely acted like Sirius.
“Why am I arguing with my hallucination?” Regulus mumbled as he looked away and into the bowl where the shell half filled lay, there was barely any water left. A full shell would make it all disappear. He stares at the water more, watching his face sway in the bowl. Sirius soundlessly stands next to him, he can see his face next to his own from his peripheral vision but the water only held his own. The locket lay darkly at the bottom.
“You know..” It started to whisper and Regulus was already rolling his eyes, it annoyed him like Sirius too.. “To drink the poisonous soup water you need to actually put it into your mouth and then you need to do this crazy thing were you swallow, you know using your throat-”
“Shut. Up.” Regulus seethes as he pushes Sirius away from him, a cold chill ran across his arm as he came into contact with him and watched him stumble backwards.
“What the fuck was that for?” Sirius questioned as Regulus stared at him and then his hands. “You know I was just trying to help! If you weren’t being a coward and stalling then I wouldn’t have to say anything! Think about that, rude little brother?” He crossed his hands and turned away but Regulus was stuck staring at him, his mind racing with thoughts and possibilities.
“You…” Regulus mumbled, “What are you?”
Sirius turned back with a roll of his eyes before he sighed. “I’m your brother.” He answered plainly and the words crashed hard into Regulus, like the waves against the shore. He was knocked speechless, never expecting to hear those words again. His mind reeled, a headache that kept thumping against him. So, he turned away from Sirius quickly and took a shell full of the ‘poisonous soup water’ and downed all of it at once.
Pain slammed into his body and sent him stumbling, the shell broke as it cracked on the rocks, Sirius grabbed him as they both fell to the floor. It was impossible and yet Regulus fell back into him anyway. They lay on the floor, the sharp rocks below poking into them and Regulus let himself be pulled. Let himself be held. Let himself hear the murmurs.
He let and let and let because he wanted.
“Just breathe.. breathe..” He let the Sirius talk into his hair, hold his shaking arms. The touch soft, barely there. He breathed through the pain that shocked his body and kept in the screams to cry out. He felt Sirius’s chest move as he breathed in harshly, “That’s not good.” He heard before hearing the water splashing near them, he moved to turn his head and look at what had made him exclaim. His own chest expanded from his sharp intake. “Definitely not good…”
They both watched as something crawled from the water, a corpse with mangled skin and seaweed coming off of it. It groaned impossibly and stopped just on the shore line, a wave crashing over it as it just stared at them. Sirius and Regulus were paralysed as they stared, horrified. Then it screamed. A nasty, high pitched, broken scream.
That's when it started to scrambled, to crawl, to run.
That's when the rest of them showed.
Regulus fumbled, pushing up from the rocks to grab his wand and just before the creature could jump onto them he lifted it and threw it back into the water. The large splash caused the creatures to stop, to turn and look at where the dead body had been thrown. As if they were alive, as if they could think, feel, as if it made them angry. Regulus was horrified, Sirius was speechless.
Then they ran, fast and loudly rattling against the rocks to get to them. Regulus was about to lift his wand again when Sirius grabbed him from behind and pulled him away, he pushed him away and ran to the podium. He needed to get the locket, he couldn’t leave without it, all of this would be for nothing. “Regulus!” He shouted for him and ran to get him, once the locket was in his hand Sirius pulled him away and through the stone. Around the wall of rock that was behind them and to the other side of the small island, Regulus stumbled and squeaked against the wet rocks as his body whined in protest.
He did not question the presence of the other, of his brother, he couldn’t with his head pounding and bones rattling. “Get in!” Sirius shouted as he moved to the other side of the wooden boat to the rope that tied it to the shore. Regulus didn’t question as he stumbled into the boat, groaning in pain as his legs lifted to get in, the creatures pushed closer and one was about to leap before Regulus hit it away.
“Sirius!” Regulus shouted and he watched as his brother mumbled, failing to untie the knot. He groaned as he reached forwards and pulled Sirius into the boat, his arms flailed behind him. “What are you doing? We need to-” Sirius’s words were cut off by Regulus setting fire to the entire rope, disintegrating it into nothing. “Or you can do that.” He heaved as he grabbed a paddle and started to move as Regulus pushed the boat away and off the shore.
One of the creatures managed to jump onto the small boat just as they had floated away and off the island. Regulus backed up from it as he crouched, perched on the tip, its head moved side to side and some of the flesh fell from its face and onto the boat. Sirius groaned behind him, “Now that’s just-” He complained as his body shook and he tried not to gag. The creature jumped and just as Regulus was about to lift up his wand Sirius was already in front of him and knocking the creature with the ore in the face.
He stumbled backwards with the ore in his hands and Regulus stared at him as he shook his head. The creature had barely moved, resilient to the physical violence, Regulus sent a spell that barrelled into its chest and sent it flying away. “You and your muggles.” Regulus mumbled as he sat down and grabbed the other ore.
“You and your muggles.” Sirius mocked him as he went to sit opposite him, “You seem to be trying to save me and my muggles.” Sirius pointed out and Regulus looked back at him but ignored him as he started to paddle away from the island. He sighed and did the same but looked behind them, “Oh my god.” He sighed and Regulus looked up to see the hoard of creatures swimming after them, dozens of them climbing over themselves on the island and back into the water. The island was no longer visible, a glacier of bone, flesh and agony.
Regulus moved faster but from the potion before it strained him more than it should. His movements, however rushed, were stiff and unyielding, making the boat move slowly against the waves in the water. As a wave crashed into the side of the boat it tipped and the brothers had to hold onto the sides of the boat to keep themselves inside. “I really hate the water-” Sirius started to complain before a hand clawed onto the boat, the bone scraping at the wood as it pulled itself onto the boat. Sirius shrieked as he used the ore to hit the creature, he hit and hit and hit until the creature was washed away by another wave. Once it was gone he turned to look at his brother, “You need to move.” Regulus was already rowing away.
It was a battle, against the waves and the monsters that wanted to pull them down. It was a battle, one Regulus fought alone but he didn’t know that. Looking at his brother, he didn’t think that and it made him fight harder. Not for himself, for his brother, for Sirius. Who was with him. And he didn’t question that, he couldn’t, didn’t want to. For fear of reality, clarity would catch up to him.
Another wave crashed into them and Regulus gasped at the cold shower he was given, as his bones moved painfully and brain rattled in his head. Once the water had retracted he shook his wet hair and reached for the ore but it was gone, swept by the waves, unarmed by the attack.
“You need to keep a better hold on that.” Sirius pointed out, pointing at the locket on the bottom of the boat. Regulus picked it up and put it into his pocket, sighing at his brother. “Hey- I’m just tryna help!” He shouted above the waves and flicked his own hair out of his face. “If you hadn’t come here alone, then maybe this wouldn’t be happening!” He shouted again, using the ore he hadn’t lost to move the boat.
Regulus scoffed as he used his wand to hit any of the monsters coming near them, “What! You’re blaming me? I didn’t ask you to come here Sirius! I didn’t ask anyone because this was my mission! My revenge! This was my plan! My… my good deed..” He screamed back, his voice cracking and muffled by the cries from around them.
Sirius watched him as he stumbled as he stood, “You didn’t have to ask.” Sirius said, his head shaking with his eyebrows narrowed.
Regulus shook his too. “Don’t- don’t say that. I would have had to ask you to talk to me, beg you to talk to me.” He said back, a smile full of resent playing on his face. “I would have had to beg you to even look at me!” He shouted as he flicked his wand and sent another creature swirling into the water.
Sirius scoffed, “That’s not true.” He argued.
He threw his head back, “Not true? How would you know! You aren’t even real!” He flailed his arms around and groaned from the pain erupting up his back.
His brother pointed at him, “I resent that.” He said before rowing again, like it would change anything.
“Resent it all you want! Doesn’t make it true! And we aren’t even moving…” Regulus complained as he looked around the cave and found them no closer to the narrow exit than they were before. As if the water was keeping them still, trying to get them into the water, there was dark and dangerous magic toying with them.
Sirius scoffed again. “Give me a little credit! God, you’re so rude.” He screamed out as he rowed anyway, something around them caught Regulus’s eye. “You know I save you, I help you, I try and talk to you because-”
“Sirius-”
“god knows why anyone would wanna talk to you and then you go and treat me like I’m not even-”
“Stop, Sirius-”
“You know, you’d have been dragged into the water before if I wasn’t here!”
“Siri-”
“You would have been dragged and drowned! Do you want to be drowned? You can’t even swim!”
“Sirius!” Regulus shouted, interrupting him and Sirius looked up at him.
Sirius sighed, “You’ve always been sensitive about that, I don’t know why, it’s fine you can’t swim-”
“No!” Regulus shouted as he leaned forwards and took Sirius by the shoulders, electric running up his arms and making his hairs stand. “Look!” He shouted as he shoved Sirius to look to the side.
“Oh.. no…” He sighed as he saw the massive wave that was growing at the end of the cave, taller and taller the water grew along the cave wall and the boat they gaped in sank lower. Soon they would be at the cave bed, among the monsters that wanted to rip them apart, no need to drown them or try and drag them under the water. Soon there would be none.
“You need to move.” Sirius turned to him but Regulus couldn’t think of anything. Anything plan. Any spell. Anything. Sirius pushed him and he stumbled back as water washed into the boat, “Do something!” He screamed at him but it was muffled by the blood rushing into his head, through his body as it turned cold.
Instead of blue, crystal water, clouds of grey, soft eyes filled his vision. “Are you gonna die here?” Sirius asked, everything was quiet, apart from his voice. Everything was gone, apart from him. “Are you gonna die here, Reggie?”
‘No.’ His breath was knocked out of him as his mind cleared, as his eyes focused and senses came back to him. He stumbled away from his brother as the boat crashed into the ground, hitting the dirt below them and squashing the layer of seaweed that lay there. Cracks, screeches and groans now surrounded them. Water encased them.
There was still an exit, a narrow slither in the rock that they could escape through. They just needed to run. “Run…” Sirius mumbled but his body didn’t move. “Run..” He spoke again, the creatures around crawled. “Run!” They ran.
One spell from Regulus and there was a path to run through in front of them but it was soon infested again. So they fought with an ore and a wand. They slipped and stumbled. They shouldered and jumped.
One stood right in front of their path, a large corpse like a giant, seaweed like chains floating around his body. An array of bones covered him, not his own bones, these ones covered him like clothes. Like trophies. He held one in his hand, like a sword, an axe. It was a bone, long and yellow, someone else's bone that he wielded. That he swung before he started to run. In big, long strides.
Regulus didn’t stop, not as his brother shouted for him, not as the monster got closer. He ran towards him as it dashed to him, rattling darkly before it roared and pulled the bone sword back. Preparing to strike.
“Regulus!” Sirius shouted again as he hit another creature on the head, moving the ore around like a staff. Just before the monster was right in front of him Regulus dropped to the floor, he slid under the monster, right between his legs. He aimed his wand at the monster's throat and threw, “Carpe Retractum!” He whispered under his breath and rope spindled out of his wand, wrapped around the monster's neck and pulled it to the ground. Regulus slid past as it crashed into the ground, its head breaking off from its body and the rope retracted back into his wand.
“Nice one, Reg!” Sirius shouted as he leapt over the heap of bones that lay still. Regulus smiled as he turned away and started to run with his brother on the rock, his shoes squeaking with the scratching of bone against stone. They were halfway to the exit, running and fighting, they had yet to be overpowered, even being outnumbered.
Sirius hit another as it got close and Regulus sent a wave of air that hit many out of their way but the earth quaked beneath them and caused them to stumble to a stop. They both turned, back to back, and looked around. “Oh.” Sirius stopped as he stared at the other end of the cave, Regulus turned to look to see the water that had covered the cave walls was now crashing back down. Violently thrashing into the lake bed as it started to fall back to where it was supposed to be, to where the brothers stood.
They both scrambled as they started to run faster, hitting and running. The waves crashed behind them, threatening to drown them. The creatures lashed at them, threatening to kill them. They were close to the exit, the water was close too, but one of them was grabbed. Tackled. Thrown.
“Reg!” Sirius shouted as he tried to get the monster off, once they had got it off Regulus stood shakily. A hoard stood in their way from the exit, surrounded them. The water was closer, gaining on them. They were running out of time. “You need to get out.” Sirius said, standing around him as he looked around. “You need to get out.”
Regulus tried, he fought and he ran. He tried and tried and tried.
“You need to get out.”
‘I’m trying.’
“You need to get out.”
‘I’m trying-’
“You need to get out.”
‘I’m trying-’
Sirius tackled him, his hands cold and harsh against his shoulders as he held him down. He was unrelenting, even as Regulus fought. He screamed, a broken scream, “You need to get out!” His face was so close, rotten and green. “Get out! Get out! Get out!” He screamed and Regulus screamed too, fighting to get up, to get out. He fought and fought and fought. “Sirius-”
“Get out!”
His wand fell into his hands. “Si-”
“Get out!”
His shoulder slammed into the rocks once more.
“Get out!”
Magic pulsed off of him and instead of being slammed into rocks he hit white tiles, hot white lights attacked his eyes. “Sirius- Sirius- Sirius-” He murmured, screamed. Others screamed around him, gasps and outrage. Hands, warm and rubber, tried to attack him again. So he fought, he screamed and fought, he tried to look and find. He fought until his vision went black, his body sagged and mind stopped.
He fought until the end, until he was stopped, until he couldn’t anymore. He screamed and he questioned, he even commanded. His last murmur a word, a name, a plea and a wish.