He woke up, confused by his surroundings. He did know this place. He never felt or slept on a bed this soft before; he always thought these were just make-believe of fiction, simply not real. His parents had those extremely expensive medical mattresses. They were hard as a rock and always hurt his back, even though they were more ergonomic.
He looked around himself, trying to identify his location, but he came up empty. He had never seen this place before in his life, but that didn't mean that he couldn't deduce it.
The first thing he noticed was that there were a bunch of quidditch posters taped to the wall. Thus, this place doesn't belong to muggles. Maybe half-bloods or purebloods—he wasn't sure yet, but he knew he would eventually.
The second thing he noticed was the obvious Gryffindor colours; they were everywhere. Everything was either red, gold, or both. He already had a list of suspects to whom this house belonged.
The last thing he saw that confirmed it for him were the pictures hung above the bed. They contain him. The boy who broke his heart in more ways than one, laughing with his friends and his traitorous brother. But one picture stood out to him the most. It was of him mid-laugh; he didn't even know this photo existed. He guessed it was taken using a Muggle camera because the photo wasn't moving like most of the rest.
He didn't hate his brother because of his beliefs, like everyone thought; he hated him for abandoning him with his parents. Yes, his parents aren't theirs anymore.
Suddenly, he wasn't alone anymore; he had company. The boy to whom he guessed the room belonged is now in the same room as him. Or is he in the same room as him, seeing as this is his room?
He didn't know where to look or what to do with his arms. He didn't know whether to trust him or be defensive. He didn't know anything anymore.
"How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything?
"Prongs, let him breathe for a moment; don't crowd him" said the tall boy Remus.
"Sorry, Regulus," the young boy, or the older boy? He was after all older than Regulus but younger than all his friends; he looked down as if his mother scolded him.
"Where am I? How did I get here?" He had asked them. His brother wasn't in the room yet, and again, he didn't know where his brother was. He hated this feeling of not knowing and the helplessness that came with not knowing anything. He hated this entire situation to begin with.
"You don't remember?" Ah, there he is; his brother finally showed his face to his death eater of a brother. He came in with a tray filled with mugs of tea, but he wasn't sure. It was steaming, so it must have been a hot drink.
"Remember what? Why did you save me?" He had asked them. He was supposed to be dead. He sacrificed his life to make sure the others he cared about lived, even though they probably wouldn't do the same for him.
"Kreacher came and begged us to go with him, saying you were in danger and would die" Sirius explained.
Here is the thing: Regulus knew he wouldn't survive the cave; he was prepared to die there. In fact, he wanted to die in there. He didn't want to live his miserable life anymore.
"I didn't need saving" he spat out to his brother and his friends. "I am not a damsel in distress waiting for someone to save them! I knew what I was doing, and I was fully okay with the way things were going to end," he screamed at them with true raw emotions.
They were all stunned in place; they didn't think TheRegulus Black was capable of emotions, and certainly not crying. But one of them knew; after all, he prided himself on knowing the grey-eyed boy. But even James was surprised a little; he couldn't believe that the boy he loves loved was willing to kill himself and die there alone in that dark and gloomy cave. He couldn't believe that the boy he thought he knew was okay with being dragged down by inferni trying to drown him.
Regulus felt exposed, even naked, despite being fully dressed. Aside from the few tears lining his boy's face and clothes from the inferni's claws
He hated that he was crying in front of Sirius and his friends. The last time he cried in front of Sirius, he was seven, when he broke a vase with Walburga sitting with them. Regulus seemed to hate a lot of things, but can you blame the kid?
"You didn't want us to save you?" Someone asked him; he wasn't sure who, not that he cared.
"I didn't think you would save me," he said, yet he was foolish enough to answer them.
"You didn't think I would save you? That we would save you?" He knew who asked him this time. He would always know his voice—the voice he searches everywhere for, the person he tries to find but always seems to be far out of his reach. But that was understandable; the sun and the stars could never be within a distance of each other; they were destint to always be far away from one another.
James sounded so broken saying that. Because he was. He finally has his eyes opened for him. He can't believe that he let himself leave the love of his life in that horrid house and didn't try to help him after he showed him his arm after his parents forced him to take the mark. Regulus was just a boy trying to survive. What did he have to do, and what did James do in the end? Leave him like everyone else did. Even after he promised him that he would never leave him. Nevertheless, he did exactly the opposite of his promise and proved Regulus' worst fears true.
"I didn't think you would care. Stupid, stupid, stupid, foolish boy. Why can't he keep his mouth shut? "It's not like anyone would've noticed I was missing or cared enough that I died" Regulus truly wants to kill himself now; he wishes he died in the cave or that the ground would just split and swallow him whole right now.
"Of course I- we do care. I- we've always cared" James hoped no one noticed the way he slipped twice while trying to speak.
Thankfully, Sirius was oblivious, and Regulus was too far gone in his head to notice, but Remus noticed. He knew from the very beginning of their relationship but didn't say anything, waiting for them to come to him instead.
"WELL, YOU CERTAINLY HAD A UNIQUE WAY OF SHOWING YOU CARED ABOUT ME!"
"I'm sorry." This time, it was Sirius who spoke.
"It's too late for that now," and with that, Regulus managed to push them all out of the room with his magic. He didn't mean to, not that he noticed, but the others did, and they noted how he managed to push them out without his wand or by verbally speaking a spell to do it wandless. They also noted how they underestimateated him and have failed and given up on him long before they gave him a chance to prove himself, not that he needed to or course, just because they stereotyped him to be like the rest of the Slytherins.