okay now think about it.
modern time muggle universe tom riddle has company that kinda kills people but not directly idk he's responsible for their death and walpurgis(?) too, yk black, malfoy, lestrange families kinda work for him so they are equally responsible for the deaths of those people and one day when he is 17 , regulus is 16, sirius found evidences that shows his parents, basically his whole family, are murderers, his first thoughts are like yeah we gotta get the hell out of here, he wants to kidnap regulus and run away from them but he got caught and beaten up (😔) he is literally taking his last breath when james and lily (on their way to home) see and save him.
meanwhile regulus thinks about their fight from the day before and he is kinda regretting the things he said when his parents comes and tells him sirius is no longer coming back, he is on a flight to another country, continent, he chose this they say. regulus believes them cuz sirius is reckless like that, he moves before he thinks. he fumes at first, like who tf moves to the other side of the world over a silly argument with their sibling, then comes the shame, regret. he is ashamed of himself for the things he said, the last thing he said to his brother is literally "no wonder you don't fit in this family" he doesn't think that, sirius must know he doesn't mean it, he is his big brother, he must know right?? so he calls him, straight to the voicemail, doesn't back down texts him multiple times. for weeks this becomes his routine. and he receives nothing not even "don't call/message me anymore" just nothing.
time passes and he realizes some odd patterns around his parents, their behavior, the secrecy. he is curious, naturally, and slowly starts to dig in. at first it's just some weird insurance documents, then cryptic mails between them and their boss. after some digging he become obsessed with the things he found. his family threatens some people he had never heard of, which means they are not from high society, that's weird.
by now it's been 5 years since sirius left him, he still thinks about him some days but their memories become distant. he is 21 and has new friends he calls family. and when he doesn't know where to look next he calls his friends, they always helped him and this time is no exception. not even 5 hours later he found evidences of the things his family done, he never, not even in his wildest nightmares, imagined his family could be this cruel. and now sirius's disappearance doesn't make sense, was he really in another continent or was he some collateral damage? he just thinks about him. feels like he is gonna loose his mind.
he and dorcas visits one of the victim's family to learn more and gather evidence to fuck his family up, one of his worst fears happens. when they are heading back the lift stops. to be fair he doesn't show his panic and horror but doesn't move either. thanks to his parents parenting skills he learns to be afraid of closed places. trauma responds kicks in and he is suddenly paralyzed, can't move, can't speak, has trouble while breathing. they are stuck there for like an hour and regulus starts to see spots from the lack of oxygen. he wants to say something to assure dorcas, she's panicking, that he's okay, but he can't speak, can't even look her in the eyes. his consciousness is slipping when he realizes dorcas' voice sound louder than before, it's like she is talking with someone, not with him that's for sure. he is not sure if he's hallucinating or not when he hears other voices, muffled but definitely there. he is too young to take the black madness legacy, so he doesn't want to believe he is hearing things, with his last strength he forces himself to look towards the source of the voices. lift's door was definitely closed, but why is it slightly opened now, and keep opening. he doesn't understand what is happening and his eyes starts to betray him when he sees him.
that's it, he thinks, this is the day I die and this angel of death is gonna escort me to hell. he made peace with this fact. prepared himself to die peacefully when he feels warm hands on his face. he is not used to being touched with such delicacy. now he's sure, %100, he is dead. so he let himself fall asleep for the last time. at least the last thing he saw was something beautiful.
dorcas was freaking out since regulus stopped responding her and now seeing him loose consciousness she feels like she's gonna loose her mind. yeah regulus has some weird fears and personality traits but this, this is new. it felt like, since the lift stopped regulus stopped working too, which is weird cuz regulus is a human being, but there was no better example than that. and ever since she heard the voices of the firefighters from the other side of the lift she tried to get them to help regulus. lifts door opened and she rushed them to regulus's side immediately. not even glancing at their face, which is rude but acceptable giving the surcamstance.
