Crimson Rivers

"I would like your company,"

"Well, I am scared of who I am, sometimes. I'm just more scared of being someone I'm not,"

Slow and swaying. Just holding on because we can, because there's some other life out there where we can't, where we don't, where we're a great, big tragedy—and we're so thankful it's not that one," Regulus croaks.

You can learn through loss to better cherish what you have, and be thankful for what you got. It's awful, mostly, but you look back and there are glimpses that you can't bring yourself to regret. The inevitability of endings can't remove all that came before it. That still exists, and we get that, and we keep that. And that's—that's special.

kiss after kiss after kiss—and all he can think about is the moon and the stars, how they can't steal them or keep them, but it's worth it to love them anyway.

So, James smiles and presses forward into the blade until it digs in just a little, then whispers, "You're hesitating, love."

The thing about healing that no one talks about is, it's painful. Getting better hurts. It's not something that's just easily done and over with. Bruises have to ache before they fade, and cuts have to bleed before they scab, and breaks have to set before they mend. Sometimes, healing is harder than being hurt.

He's not a servant, not as Remus is, so why does no one see him? Remus sees him. He's looking right at him, and he has no desire to look away.

"I won't hesitate," Regulus warns him.

"Not even for a second?" James challenges, his smile softening until it's more sad than anything else, and Regulus…

Regulus hesitates for a second, one too long, and James' smile grows again as he turns to start waving once more.

I'm not going to spare his life and sacrifice my own just because he matters to you. I might not go out of my way to kill him, but if that's what it comes to, Sirius, I won't hesitate."