He felt his head go under the water.
Regulus had researched drowning of course, the cave had a lake. When you drown, you don’t feel the moment the tide finally takes you. The water fills your lungs, replacing the air with the water, the good with the bad. Eventually, the lack of oxygen causes you to fall unconscious. You die quickly after, but the worst of it is over, the pain is gone. Regulus waited for that; he waited for the peace to take over. There was no fight. No thrashing. No screaming. Not anymore. He felt the hands drag him further and further down, and he let them. His head got lighter and lighter, his mind quieter and quieter. His body fell limp. His last thought was of his brother.
Regulus Black didn’t feel the moment his heart stopped beating, it simply did, returning to its place in the sky.
