Rebirth {Marauders Era}

CHAPTER 27: SIRIUS: MIND GAMES

Sirius gasped as Decima went limp and clutched her head. He looked at the string, and then at the scissors. This was it, what Nona and Morta has wanted, what Decima had cried mournfully about for many years...and yet, it felt so hard. It was almost too monumental.

Then he felt wisps of Februus' spirit break off from fighting with Decima, and instead focus upon him. Words clouded his head, and he gasped uncontrollably.

"Kill me, please!" Part of it cried, pain deep in its heart. Other parts were more malicious, and told him threats. "You and your friends will die. The future you saw CANNOT be avoided." No...he refused to believe that.

"They're just lies, don't think I can't see that." He said cautiously. "I've been lied to before, I know what it feels like. No one can hurt me more than my own blood."

"Sirius, everything you hold dear will burn! Kill me please!" Sirius shook his head and laughed.

"Don't you understand? All I've been shown, all that I know, was already a threat to me anyways. I never deserved to have the friends I have, or the mentors. Losing them...it might be more than I can take. But I'm prepared to be alone. It's the life I deserve." He shorted and shook his head, feeling immensely bitter. "I'm lucky to have a home, I don't worry too much about the future. I'm glad about what I have now. However...if you are what's keeping us from staying together in the future, well, I'll have to get rid of you. I've already done it with my parents, surely you understand that they are much worse. You don't scare me."

He trudged on. The string was there, the voices trying desperately now, shrieking at him to hurry up, to go away.

"You send an awfully conflicting message, Februus. I only hope you want Death more than life, or else this is going to suck. Whatever, I don't care what you want. You'll never control anyone again. I'm tired of people trying to control me. No more!"

And with that, he snipped down. Then he was thrown across the room, hitting an invisible barrier and feeling something crack. With gasping breaths he watched as the world seemly imploded, and Decima screamed. He opened his eyes to see that he was leaning against a table, with his friends all peering at him worriedly.

"Sirius!" James exclaimed. "You has us worried mate. Don't ever do it again."

Sirius wanted to laugh, say he hoped he'd never have to, but he was interrupted by the crippling pain in his probably broken ribs, and the fact that if Decima wasn't back, it was all in vain. He tied to sir up straighter, to look around him, but James pushed him down.

"Lay still for a moment, mate. Pompom is just checking you out. Once she's done, you can look for whoever that girl is." He looked over his shoulder, and with his thick head out of the way, Sirius saw Nona and Morta gathered around another collapsed body. Morta looked surprisingly calm for not having seen her sister in thousands of years, but she was a god, so who knows, maybe it was just a blink of an eye to them. Nona was blank, she didn't have any expression upon her face, and he wondered if she'd finally lost it. Poppy stood up, and Sirius thanked her silently with a nod, and then he tried to sit up again, this time succeeding.

"Decima?" He said tentatively, watching to see if she was all right.

"Sirius?" A faint voice answered. He gasped. She sounded completely different! Her voice had been sad and whispery in the shadow realm, or whatever it was. Now it held great power, and he understood why she had wanted him dead. Februus had stolen so much from her, even her voice.

She opened her eyes, and he could tell by the raw power that flowed in them as an amber fire. "I am home." She breathed.

"Sister! Long have we awaited your return." Nona said, her voice monotone. Morta snorted, looking sharply at her sister.

"I never got to do this two thousand years ago, so I'm going to now." She slapped her sister, her hand so fact that the the sound of the impact cracked like a whip and echoed throughout the great hall. The rest of the people, who had been standing there in shock flinched at the noise. Minnie started forward.

"That was deserved." Decima mumbled. "I never really thought you were the hands on type, Sister."

"Seriously! Nona and I are the ones who do all the hands on work! What do you do, besides change destinies, not something tangible is it?"

"You know very well it is, Sister."

"Might I ask who you are?" Minnie's clipped voice cut through the argument, startling them, and making Sirius sigh. He was rather enjoying the fight, if he was being honest. It reminded him of him and Regulus before their mother got so terrible.

Regulus!

Was he alright? Mother wouldn't have let him die, but his father? He interrupted the little conversation Nona had taken up with Minnie to ask Decima in a panicked voice.

"It is your brother in danger?" She hyper focused on him. "Perhaps I can help him. Nona, please tell me you still have my knitting needles?"

"I do, Sister." Again, so formal, but finally some life appeared back in her eyes. She handed her sister some silver needles.

"Thank you, darling sister." She moves them around, her eyes never leaving Sirius'. "Regulus Arcturus Black. Ah! Here it is." A small silver string appeared in her waiting hand.

Regulus Arcturus Black, 1979, master of the House-elves.

"No, he dies in 1979!" Sirius stared in disbelief. Then he paled. "That's this year! W-we have to get to him, he could be killed any moment-"

"No. Regulus does not die by the hands of anyone currently living, nor his own. He goes on his own terms, Sirius. What control you have over that is minimal. Your brother...he helps save the world."