One of Us | Jegulus

Two

It was worse when he woke up again.

Every inch of his body ached. Every breath stung like needles in his chest. He could barely lift his head.
He felt terrible.
Apart from himself, there was nobody in the room. Thank goodness, because he must have looked terrible. How did he end up in this situation again?

He groaned and tried to lift himself up a bit. It was a clear mistake. A sharp pain shot through his spine and he cried in pain.
Merlin, it wasn't like this before, was it?
No... he recalled his immense exhaustion and weakness. Sure, his limbs ached too, and his skin was on fire. Still, not in the slightest comparable to what was happening to him now.

The door to the room flung open.
"Whoa, what happened?" Someone called with an alarmed voice.
Damn it, they must have heard him. Regulus turned his head. Potter was hurrying towards the bed and he reckoned he also saw that Lupin boy standing in the doorway, apparently hesitating to enter. It was too difficult concentrating on something that distant, though.
James stood close to the bed now. "Merlin, Regulus, you look dreadful!"
"Oh thank you very much!", Regulus hissed. These few words costed him a great effort. Something was definitely very wrong.
He hated that he wasn't at the same level as James. So he tried to sit up again. But regretted it soon.
"Argh, what did you do to me?" He groaned, his voice trembling. His skin felt so hot and he was starting to sweat.
"What? I didn't do anything. I'm not... fuck, let me check you, alright?"
"No! Piss off!" He shifted away from the older boy. As if he would let him come close ever again, after whatever it was he had done to him while "fixing" his wounds.

"Damn it, Regulus, for all we know your injuries could be infected. Or cursed, even. We don't know what hit you. Yesterday, all I did was closing your wounds because otherwise you would have bled to death!"
"It was him, then", Regulus said determined. Oh, how perfectly he could imagine Sirius sneaking up to this room when everybody else was busy and cursing him. Just for his amusement. Or to watch him die slowly and humiliatingly. Probably both. He didn't knew. He couldn't think that deeply, too exhausting. But about that one thing, he was quite sure.

"Sirius would never do that!", Lupin suddenly said, raising his voice from his distant spot at the door.
Oh, they just didn't know him, like Regulus did. The real Sirius.
"Oh you're all so naïve. One day he will betray you all, just like he betrayed us", he mumbled.
He noticed how James grew tense. "Don't say something like that", he said quietly. Regulus snorted and still tried to get into a more graceful position. He was a Black after all and didn't want to appear like a sick, helpless child to people like them.

There was an awkward silence. Regulus exhaled shakily. He was desperate. "Just leave me alone already."
They didn't listen, even worse, now Remus stepped up to the bed as well.
"You should eat something", he suggested.
"Yeah and you should shut up."
Lupin sighed. "If you don't even want to feel better  not our problem. It's not on us if you die out of stubbornness."
Regulus scowled at him. "I'm not dying, what the hell!"
"Well you already look like a corpse", James admitted. "You should see yourself."

"Fuck you", Regulus mumbled. He rolled himself on his right side and turned his back on them. Can't they just leave him alone? He didn't understand why they even bothered to keep him alive at all.
Clearly Sirius didn't want him to be and the other ones probably just acted out of pity.

. . .

He didn't saw his older brother all day. After he finally got rid of the other two, he tried to sleep again. Lying awake was too exhausting.
When he woke up again in the middle of the night, everything felt even worse.
And now that he also felt the growling emptiness in his stomach, he bitterly regretted that he declined any food earlier.
There wasn't even anything to distract himself. Not that he had the strength to. But if the only thing he could concentrate on was the pain, it was going to be a long night.
And since he had practically slept the last 24 hours, he doubted that he would be lucky again this time.