Brightest ✯ Sirius Black

✯sixty-four✯

***this chapter has a trigger warning.*** 

{"Am I too late?"} 

Ren watched from the street as a familiar face came down a flight of stairs and out of a spinning glass door. A dark haired man walked behind Cleo with his hands tucked into his pockets, and she turned to speak to him. They exchanged words, hugged for a moment, and then Cleo walked away. Ren noticed that the man watched her leave, and when he turned back into the building, giving one last glance, Ren decided to leave as well.

From the other side of the street, Ren walked in sync with her younger sister, watching. She knew that Cleo was in New York to look for her, and she had half a mind to just shout her name and get it over with, but she continued to watch from a distance.

Cleo walked into a small convenience store on the corner. Ren crossed the street and ducked into the store behind another customer who had entered. She walked behind shelves, catching bits of the conversation Cleo was having with the store clerk. "I'm looking for my sister-" "Have you seen her?" "My family is very worried-". Ren walked back out the door quickly.

"Promise you'll stay safe?" Skander asked, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"Nope," she grinned cheekily.

"I should have known," he muttered. "Promise you'll stay alive?" His eyes sparkled desperately.

"That, I can try to do," she nodded. "Tell your mother I said thank you again."

"I will," he nodded. "Tell Sirius that you love him again," Skander smirked. Cleo rolled her eyes.

"I will," she mumbled. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. "And try to stay safe." He let go, and with one last nod, Cleo promised she would write more often and turned and walked away.

She decided to search in some old fashioned ways. If Ren was here in the city, which she was almost sure of, she had to be buying things like groceries, and figured that someone in this city had to have seen her, muggle or no. When the first shop turned out to be a bust, Cleo left and went from street to street, popping into different shops, cafes, and stores, asking the same questions and showing people the same picture. No one had seen her.

After a few hours, Cleo decided she needed a new approach. Determined to not get disheartened, she knew that MACUSA was the place to go for help. She could at least have some aurors in the U.S looking for her -- Cleo knew how dangerous her sister could be, and someone had to be made aware.

Cleo left the shop she was in and stood at the corner for a moment, breathing deeply the smell of the city after all the rain last night and looking around, wondering how she was supposed to get there. She glanced about each street until she faced the corner opposite her and noticed a single person staring back at her.

It was her. Cleo blinked a few times, but she stayed in place. Ren wore a dark hoodie with the hood up. She had one hand tucked into the sweater, the other bringing a cigarette from her lips and throwing it to the ground before she stepped on it. With one last glance, Ren turned the other way and started to walk.

Cleo's heart was racing, but she ran quickly to catch up, alternating between speed walking and jogging behind Ren at a distance. Ren turned a corner and looked back over her shoulder to check if Cleo was following, before she disappeared. Cleo turned that same corner and came to an alley that was a dead end, and it was empty. She huffed, angry and disappointed. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder and she spun around. Cleo grabbed the wrist of her attacker and twisted it, forcing the person to turn their back to her as she twisted their wrist upwards and shoved them face first into the wall, her wand in her other hand digging into their back.