Prologue
Dear friend across the river
Smoke. Red Smoke.
My hands are cold and bare
Debris flies across the bridge.
Dear friend across the river
There’s nothing but destruction.
I’ll take what you can spare
Another explosion. A figure knocked off their feet.
I ask of you a penny
An auror finishes him off with one ringing gunshot.
My fortune it will be
He keeps walking. Already cocking his gun for this next shot.
I ask you without envy
There’s fire.
We raise no mighty towers
And amongst the fire, there are bodies.
Our homes are built of stone
But while most lie still,
So come across the river
Two are still walking.
And find
Two brothers.
Reggie peels his hands away from his eyes to look up at his brother, but Sirius isn’t looking at him. No, Sirius is staring straight ahead, eyes blown wide. He lets out a soft gasp and Reg looks too.
It’s horrible. The bridge a wreck of bodies and broken parts. Theres fire crackling and a distant grumbling but the world seems so quiet, in a mind-numbing way, like it’s just stopped. Reggie feels a firm squeeze from Sirius’ hand in his.
Of course, it hasn’t just stopped. The fight is still going. A look to the left and they’re faced with the grunts and metallic clanking of another bashing. But this time the auror ends up on the ground. The victor looks up, her eyes searching until they fall on the two brothers.
Reg is pushed back as Sirius instinctively steps forward, shielding Reg with his arm. She steps forward, the fight has left her eyes now as she approaches.
Sirius looks at her, a question in his eyes. The look she gives back is an apology. She nods her head to the left and-
And there. Amongst the smoke and rubble lies their mother.
Reg tightens his grip on Sirius’ arm, but Sirius doesn’t notice. Can’t notice. He needs to breathe. And breathe. And breathe. Short gasps of air are all Sirius can manage before he falls to his knees and he can’t stop the tears from coming. Reggie's arms finding their place around his neck until they fall the rest of the way to the ground together.
The fighter stares at them for a while. She lets her iron cuffs fall to the ground and makes towards the children.
As she carries them away Sirius can look over her shoulder. He sees the aurors. Walking away, putting their guns down. His eyebrows furrow and his fists clench.
It is at this moment, with a fading Piltover in the background, that Sirius decided that he would never lose anyone to the aurors again.