blood must shed for time to reset

chapter 2

( She is the ash of your cigarette, and the lies from your trembling lips. The ever consuming reminder on your skin that you can scrub, but never erase. She is everywhere and yet nowhere to you. Death by amnesia. )

    — REGULUS BLACK'S EYES
WIDENED, "You don't care...why?" — Circe seemed to of gained his attention now, and though he was shocked, he didn't seem to be repulsed at the idea of her insouciant demeanour.

   They were in a game; she tested his waters with intrepid comments and temerarious confessions, and he reacted. The reaction was important, for she needed to know where his opinions lied, truly. "I don't believe in blood supremacy." she spoke the truth.

   Circe had no idea what she was doing, this went against everything she'd been instructed on. The girl almost feared her tongue, for she knew when his voice responded to the audacious statements, she could be left in plaguing guilt. What if Regulus Black was innocent? Would she be forced to take down someone with a clean conscience? Could she do that?

   The Einar didn't know how strong her will proved to be, and if it even extended to moral targets. Blood would always be on her hands, but she never wanted it to be laced with the red of virtuous victims. She wasn't a monster in its entirety, only half of her was.

    Regulus face softened for a moment before an alarm went off in his head, bringing him back to reality. Thus, his face sharpened and his behaviour went hard. "Why are you telling me this? I don't care. If you want a posse of blood-traitors, go talk to my brother, not me."

   Circe wasn't thrown off at his sudden alter in attitude — she expected this. Nothing breaks away easily, and unwrapping the many layers of the boy would be a prolonged task. However, she wasn't going to break away from him; he had been left his whole life, and so, she made her presence unfaltering. Giving him something to relax on. In order to truly see Regulus Black, she would have to burrow deep within his soul.

   She didn't admit it out loud, but this scared her. She didn't want to know what hid behind the carefully painted surface,; though she could predict heinous abuse and weighing trauma. Walburga may of been endurable at the station, but Circe knew behind closed doors, the mask slipped, and she turned to cruelty.

   Maybe she was this way due to her past of anguish. Where a little girl was groomed into the perfect wife, filled with damaging rules and beliefs. They were all a product of evil. Even Circe, who stood on the opposing side. However, not commanded to kill Walburga Black ( though she wouldn't pass up the opportunity ) she blanked his mother and diverted her attention back onto him.

   His bags were deep, deeper than Mateo's — which said something, for that boy had been through hell —, and from the way his arms sheltered his chest, she could see visible pain. The internal type, which coated his whole body, leaving him in constant ache. The way Regulus' limbs were tight, restrained, used as a guard to protect him from the world. Though he wasn't strong enough, she knew that, he knew that.

   He'd already witnessed so much, and in the moment, Circe almost wanted to kill him. To end the constant cycle of nefarious affliction. Sometimes, people were born to suffer. And sometimes, that was all they would receive from existence.

   "I don't want to talk to your brother, I want to talk to you." she assured him, the insecurity was noticeable. Sirius Black had everything; the marauders, a stable life at the Potter's, freedom, happiness. And Regulus had been dealt with the short stick, forced to be the son their parents needed. He took the weight for the older Black and carried it alone.

   The Slytherin looked up, "Why?"

   "Because he doesn't interest me, you do."

  "I'm not a school project, Selwyn." he responded, trying to conceal his surprise. Not many people wanted to get to know him, either preferring the invigorating company of his brother, or not holding the energy to push through the strong wall he had constructed over the years. So why now? Why her?