blood must shed for time to reset

chapter 18

( and she
                              cried )

—SIRIUS SAUNTERED INTO THE
living room, catching the eye of Remus and Mary. It was midday, and with the strong scent of coffee and dough setting in the oven, could the Black relax. He'd forgotten how soothing the Potter manor was, and how it still felt like home, after all these years. "Hey," he pulled his hands into the pockets of his jeans, "have you seen Regulus and Circe today?"

Remus raised his brows, "No ones seen them. And it should stay that way. They're going to be at Praesidium tomorrow, I can only imagine they're making use of their time together."

Sirius scrunched up his face, "Ew, gross. But that's the reason I wanted to see them! They'll be gone.. and in danger! Why is it so difficult to say goodbye to my brother?"

"They'll be here later; we all planned to meet and discuss what's going down. So for now, let  them be alone, okay? What they're doing is scary, and neither of them are exempt from that emotion." Mary brought her fist against her chin, leaning forward to get a closer look at Sirius.

He let out a sigh, "Yeah, fine. Moony, you wanna go on a walk?"

"Sure." he shrugged, pulling himself up.

"Hey!" the girl called out, "You were supposed to be playing a shot game with me!"

"Mary..." Sirius raised his brows, "It's 4pm?"

"Yeah, and?"

Remus pressed his palm against his boyfriends back, "Let's go. C'mon." — he knew all too well what extreme drinking entailed, in most, and whilst he would never let his friend use intoxication as a numbing drug, he also knew she was at the stage where she was supposed to heal, and so the bottle remained in her hands. Temporarily.

The hurt would come later.

Circe rested in Regulus' bedroom, linen draped across her body, flicking through a peripheral magazine — she proved nervous, and this ate her up. Her opponent was a whole organisation, and it'd raised her from birth to gun. What was she supposed to do now? Turn against it. She hated, hated, hated the place, albeit it still held her short-lived youth. The burning would be the hardest sight for her to swallow.

But she was hungy, no.... ravenous.

Regulus brought his hand against her cheek. To think they'd been strangers once was absurd. He'd seen her layers, she'd seen his. They were one of a pair, and it was pecuilar to seperate them. Where she went, he went. And vice versa. "We're going to be okay. I promise."

Regulus showed his love in words. Circe showed hers in actions.

"Yeah.." she nodded, "I know."

She didn't know. She didn't know. She didn't know.

Regulus dragged his hands through his hair, now dishevelled and fluffed. It always looked like that in the morning, messy and tattered. "Do you remember the book I was reading when I first met you?"

"Carrie. Of course." she responded promptly.

He smiled at her expeditious reply. "After we talked in the kitchens, I spent the remaining hours of the night staring at its cover, consumed by you. I'm— okay this is gonna sound stupid, but I annotated it for you. Well, you don't need to look at it, I was just caught in the moment, but—"

"— Regulus, I want to see it."

"Okay, yeah.." he said, then muttering a spell to bring it to his hands. He was learning from Circe's incantations. The copy was tattered, with strained pages and dust gathering along its exterior, albeit it reeked of Regulus Black. Everything about the souvenir was him, and she loved it.

Circe took the book, bringing her index finger across the edges. It'd been through good use, that she could tell. Then, when she flipped through it was she exposed to thousands of ink lines, blotchy and besmirched. They'd been created during the dead of the night, when life was dormant and feelings were peeking. It was her own piece of him, touchable and to be kept. Albeit she owned more, captured in their elusive touches and moments of pleasure.

She was terrified. The pair were about to fight, and yet here they were, laying out their raw emotions. Fragile and delicate. Like china dolls to a little girl, they could only lead to destruction. Shattered across the floor in calamity, for they were impetuous and wild when it came to destruction, and destruction called them to battle.

How was this fair? But then again, when had anything been fair? They were doomed from the beginning. They were doomed now.

Fate.

"This is.... wow—"

"— I know how much you like personal gifts, and I just thought with everything about to—"

"— Regulus. I love it. Thankyou." she said, heart twisting as his face broke out in a smile. How could she of done this? Fell for the enemy? Tasted the forbidden fruit? Laid with Lillith? This was a fucking storm and she wasn't a human caught in it, she was the water it'd been weaved from.

Whatever they were, it was Circe's fault. She'd created a beautiful monster, and she loved, loved, loved it.

Her hands clutched the stars and she engulfed them. Taking in their texture, their features, the way they glowed as they looked at her. Day in, day out, she'd stared up at them in awe, not realising their eyes were lowered on her. So far away, and yet so close to touch.

She could sleep happy now, knowing she'd had the love of the ages.

But would she ever sleep again? Would the final moment she got to appreciate her constellation be on her death-bed, dying from its blazing body, and the burns it left across her mortal skin.

Regulus Black was her utter downfall, and she'd cascade happily.