Carve Me Open / r.l. + s.b. /

Game Over

"Please be alright," he murmured, eyes closed in prayer.

Damn it, he didn't even really pray all that often. Not for what mattered. He only turned to God in his time of need; a selfish reason to turn to God. He wondered if all of this had to do with the fact he never worshipped the right way. Was he a bad man? This had to be some sort of punishment – this separation anxiety. No mortal human could endure this over and over again unless it was some sort of test; God was testing him. Remus knew he was failing.

"Oh my God," he heard Lily holler from the other side of the hallway.

That buzz in his chest heightened, clenching around his heart painfully.

Sirius.

He darted from the window at full speed, his feet carrying him without much of a thought process. He was there; he really came. James had been right all along, as per usual. Padfoot was alright. Remus felt the smallest of smiles tug at the corners of his mouth. Maybe he had passed the test.

He approached Sirius from behind, out of breath. He really needed to work on that. In his arms was Regulus, bloody and yellow faced. Remus stiffened.

"What happened," James hurried over. "Who did this to him?"

Remus circled his lover, looking at the limp, crumpled figure of his younger brother in apprehension. He was covered in blood, robes and hair damp with crimson liquid, and his nose appeared to be broken. His silk shirt – torn at the shoulder – was fisted in Sirius' hand. Sirius hadn't spoken a word since his arrival, his chest rising and falling at alarming rates; Remus had seen him like this before. He was panicking.

"James, get a nurse," Remus ordered.

James nodded frantically, disappearing down a hallway. Lily's eyes were glued on Regulus' broken body, frantic, shallow breathing echoing through the waiting room like the winds of a tornado. Remus was overwhelmed, unsure of whether or not to pay attention to Lily's oncoming panic attack or Sirius' mental overload.

Remus took Lily by the shoulders, "I need you to breathe, Lily."

She nodded but it would've appeared the words went in through one ear and right out the other. In fact, her breathing only worsened. She snubbed the idea of looking away from Regulus, away from such a traumatic image. It was only worsening the effects of her meltdown. Lily vigorously shook her head, hair spilling over her blanched, tear stained face.

"I can't," she cried. "I can't handle this, Remus!"

"I understand, Lily, but you must calm down," he begged. "Breathe in and out. I need you to just take a breath."

James returned, familiar faces following after him. Fleamont, McGonagall, and Dumbledore stormed the waiting room, stoic and passive as per usual. Remus would never understand how they kept their cool in circumstances as such. Three of them were about to lose their fucking shit, and here they came, cool and collected as though these things occurred regularly. Perhaps they did during wars.

A nurse and healer took Regulus from Sirius, with a bit of a struggle, and carried him behind the swaying doors of the Emergency ward. Sirius' eyes, glassy, watched with reluctance, unmoved by James' pacing and cursing.

"I won't lose someone else," he swore, looking to the adults for some sort of reassurance. "We've lost enough, damn it. How many more?"

Dumbledore approached James, a soothing hand rubbing his shoulder, "Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war."