Crimson Rivers

Chapter 30

Well, so much for climbing."

Regulus turns his head and heaves a sigh when he sees Evan shaking his head at him. "Oh, get fucked. You know how I feel about climbing, Evan."

"I do know," Evan agrees, winking as he points down. Regulus reflexively follows the gesture, immediately dizzy when he can't see the ground, and he clings to the sturdy branch beneath them as he curses under his breath. When he looks up with a glare, Evan only laughs at him. "Really, the view at the top makes every bit of climbing worth it. That's where we're all trying to go, you know. Just trying to get to the view."

"I'd rather be on the ground," Regulus grumbles.

"You say that as if every glimpse of the top doesn't steal your breath," Evan challenges wryly. "Being on the ground only means you can't get lower. Trust me, getting higher is exactly where you want to be."

Regulus scoffs. "I'm fine here, thanks. But you go on. Don't let me stop you if you're so eager to get to the top."

"Ah," Evan says, his face softening into a sad smile. "Well, unfortunately I can't go any higher than this. I'll never see the top, I'm afraid."

"But you can climb," Regulus mutters, confused. His face scrunches up. "You're, like, the best climber."

Evan breaks out into a grin and bats his eyelashes as he waves his hand as if to say oh, pish-posh. "You flatter me." He chuckles and shakes his head, then tips his head back and smiles softly. "Even the best climbers can fall, lover boy."

"Yes, which means the worst climbers are even more likely to, hence the reason I will be refraining from climbing at all," Regulus declares. "Can't I just stay down here with you?"

"Just because I can't climb any higher doesn't mean you shouldn't," Evan says, jerking his chin towards the sky. "I mean, who could begrudge you that view?"

Regulus tips his head back, his breath punching out of him when he sees James and Sirius perched on a branch high above them, so high that they're framed by a magnificent sunrise impossibly dotted with glowing, glimmering stars. They're kicking their legs happily and grinning, and somehow, Regulus can hear their laughter like it's in his head.

Instinctively, Regulus calls out for them, but they either can't hear him from here, or they don't care to acknowledge him at all, and he really can't tell which it is. He blows out a deep breath, deflating in on himself as he stares up at them with some kind of inner distress. They're so high. There's absolutely no way he could ever reach them.

"You could get there, if only you'd try," Evan murmurs, sounding oddly solemn, and Regulus glances back towards him, only to feel his stomach lurch when he sees a spear driven right through Evan's middle.

"Evan," Regulus chokes out.

"You're closer than you think, Regulus," Evan tells him, lips curling up like he doesn't even notice the spear embedded in his stomach. "All you have to do is climb."

"Evan," Regulus repeats, his voice coming out sharp with a restless, frantic panic that makes his heart race. He stares wide-eyed at the spear. "You... Evan, you-you-"

"It's okay," Evan whispers. "Falling isn't as bad as you think. In a way, it's a bit like flying."

The branch beneath them that seemed so sturdy before gives a devastating and sudden crack, and Evan grants him a faint smile, soft and sad around the edges, before promptly tipping backwards with his hand outstretched. Regulus instantly lunges forward, crying out his name, but he doesn't manage to save Evan the way Evan always saved him, every time.

Their fingers only just brush before hands clamp down on Regulus all over from behind. Cold hands. Clawed hands. Cadaverous hands, dripping with blood, his blood as his skin is ripped into. He screams and fights and calls for Sirius and James to come save him, begging them, but they don't look down, they don't care, they don't stop laughing-