Crimson Rivers

Chapter 15

There's the sound of Evan's bowl hitting the ground, and then the first thing James feels outside of the searing, white-hot agony centered on his leg is hands on his face.

Regulus has thrown himself down on the ground next to him, his face alarmingly pale. He's cradling James' cheeks, but only for a second, and then he's ripping himself away to go to the trap on James' leg. James stares down at it as he gasps out choked noises of pain, whimpering and biting his lip so hard that he nearly bites clean through. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

It hurts so fucking bad. James has never-he hasn't felt pain like this before. He's never even broken a bone, so seeing the trap clamped down on his leg is just-so much. It is so much, and James' head reels from how much pain there is. And to think, there are worse things to experience, and greater pains to feel. James can't even fathom it, any of it. He thinks the entire concept of pain is just stupid. It shouldn't exist.

"We-we have to pry it open," Regulus says, his voice sounding strained. James can see his hands shaking. "Evan-"

"I know. I just." Evan exhales and grimaces. "Fuck. Okay, James, this is going to hurt, like, really bad. As soon as we get it open, you need to move your leg free. Regulus, you get one side, and I'll pull the other. Firm grip now. Regulus."

At the sharp call of his name, Regulus gives a violent blink and jolts into motion. He nods at Evan, and they both reach out to carefully grip the sides of the trap. Neither of them pull.

"Just-fuck, just do it," James grits out. He can feel the teeth of the trap buried in his leg, deep enough to scrape bone.

"Together," Regulus rasps. "One, two, th-"

"Wait," Evan blurts out. "On three, or after three?"

"Evan!" Regulus shouts, glaring at him and looking frazzled.

Evan huffs. "It's a valid question!"

"Three!" Regulus bellows, and they immediately start pulling at the same time, which is when James starts screaming bloody murder again.

It almost hurts more being pried open than when it clamped shut, honestly. James' leg immediately starts throbbing harder, wave after wave of pain radiating from his leg all through his body. As soon as he has room, James lifts his leg free and scoots himself back, his shouts tapering off into whimpers as his foot drags along the ground.

When Evan and Regulus let go of the trap, it snaps shut with a clang, blood staining the teeth where it meets. In seconds, Regulus is back at James' side, hands cradling his cheeks once more. James looks at him, blinking tears out of his eyes.

"You're fine," Regulus says breathlessly, his eyes wide, and he's still so pale. "It's fine. You're fine, James. It's not even that bad, yeah? Don't be a baby about it."

"It fucking hurts," James confesses, nearly whining.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. You're fine, baby. It's fine," Regulus rambles, his fingers trembling as they pat down the sides of his neck, more unsteady now than he was in the aftermath of cutting Mulciber's hand off.

"Regulus, you need to get him up, now," Evan hisses. "There's no way the death eaters didn't hear that. I wouldn't be fucking surprised if everyone heard that. Get him to the cave. Go."

"I-I don't think I'll be able to walk," James chokes out, his panic rising until he almost can't breathe around it. Not being able to walk out here, in these conditions, that's a fucking death sentence. He immediately starts spiraling.

"I'll help you. It's fine, I'll help. Shh, you're okay, I'm going to help," Regulus chants, and then he's shifting forward to get an arm around James, helping haul him up.