By the time he stepped back out into the hall some twenty minutes later to find a much calmer Regulus still waiting for him, Sirius had managed to get himself into a better mood. He and his little brother were going to go out to a pub, get caught up, and possibly get completely smashed. What with all that had happened between them, Sirius had never really had the chance to try to get Regulus drunk. He grinned as he adjusted the big red hat with the almost comically over-sized feather and asked, again, "Do people really dress like this here?" His grin just got wider as he saw Regulus struggle for a moment to suppress an amused smile.
"Actually, yes, they do," Regulus said. Which was certainly true enough, but left out that he'd found that particular outfit ridiculously silly the first time he'd seen it. Seeing Sirius in it was even worse, though he had to admit it confirmed his initial impressions of the outfit. It was more suited to a Gryffindor, and did make the wearer look like a complete git.
"At least I manage to make this look good," Sirius said. The red outfit bore a passing resemblance to something from the 17th century, and would have looked ridiculous and out of place at home, but he actually liked it.
Regulus had to stifle a snerk at that, and was then startled by a sudden arm around his shoulders. He quickly jerked away, and looked at Sirius in surprise. Then he frowned. "Don't, Sirius. Just... just don't."
"What's wrong?" Okay, so he knew that was a stupid question, but that didn't keep Sirius from asking it. Somehow, he had his little brother back and they were even on the same side. He still didn't know exactly what had happened, but he'd decided that he was going to try not to screw things up. Second chances were too rare to be taken lightly.
Regulus just sighed. It was best to try to establish some barriers before things got out of hand. "Sirius... I know you're only here so Mikoto can find a way for you to leave. Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. Now, I understand you already have a PINPoint," he said, retrieving his own from a pouch on his belt. "I'll show you how to add the coordinates for Alexandria."
Sirius blinked, caught off guard by Regulus's calm acceptance of an odd piece of muggle technology as much as his words just before it. "I didn't know you were here, Regulus."
"And it doesn't change anything that I am, Sirius. Please don't pretend otherwise. Now, the coordinates -"
"Of course it changes things!"
"No, Sirius. It doesn't, and it can't. Unless you're trying to tell me you're thinking of staying here." Because if he was, they were going to have a long discussion about that.
"I... no, I can't..." There was no way he could just abandon Harry, and Remus, and everyone else and just disappear into another world.
"Good. It's nice to know you've learned not to run away from your responsibilities. Now, do try to pay attention. I'd rather finish this discussion at the pub instead of in the hallway."
Sirius still felt like he was missing something here, but maybe it would make sense soon. Some of it, he knew, could just be that Regulus wasn't in a mood to just forgive him. There were a lot of past issues there. For that matter, not all of them were his fault, but at least he was willing to listen. Trying to shift the topic a bit, he said,
"I guess that's a good idea, if we don't want Valia Pira sticking her invisible nose in. That ghost is as bad as Myrtle. She started in on me in the bathroom, explaining everything from how to adjust the water temperature to a lecture on soap." To make it worse, he'd looked around but hadn't been able to find where she'd been hiding. It had sounded like she was in one of the walls.
Regulus wasn't surprised. After Sirius had gone in the room he'd had actually told Valia Pira to give Sirius detailed step-by-step instructions for taking a bath, and not to tell Sirius she'd been instructed to do so. Not that he was about to tell Sirius that. "Valia Pira isn't a ghost. She's..," he stopped himself at the thought of how long it would take to explain a computerized artificial intelligence that was essentially the 'mind' of the building they were in. "Look, one thing at a time, Sirius, and the first thing is to get to Alexandria."
Regulus found it easier to explain the PINPoint coordinate system if he focused on the explanation and tried not to think about just who he was explaining it to. Thankfully, Sirius kept quiet as he showed him the stored coordinate string for Alexandria on his own PINPoint and explained how to enter the information and store the coordinate string on Sirius's. "Now, luckily, these devices can't splinch you. In a lot of ways they're a good deal more pleasant than apparition, but you'll still want to be careful you have correct coordinates saved."
"... just weird," Sirius muttered.
"What is?"
"You, preferring some muggle device to magic."
"If something's better, I've little reason now not to say so. I've already checked to make sure I can't be sent a howler for it. You can't tell me you're going to miss feeling like you've been squeezed through a tube."
"Well, no, not really."
"Well, then... let's see if you were paying attention." And then Regulus pushed a button on his PINPoint and was gone.
Sirius pressed the same button on his own PINPoint and immediately had to shield his eyes from the bright summer sunlight. It was a sudden difference from the cool blue artificial light of the Desert Palace. That he hadn't been out in a long while probably didn't help, but it didn't take too long for him to adjust and get a look around at the new location.
A statue of a knight with a plumed helmet and sword stood in the middle of a very large cobblestone courtyard. Plaster and wood rowhouses that wouldn't have looked that out of place in Diagon Alley surrounded the circular area, and behind them he could see the tops of windmills elsewhere in what seemed to be a fairly large town. The sky held only a few puffy white clouds and a good many more white pigeons.
Some of the latter would occasionally land to rest on the statue or the cobblestones themselves, and Sirius had to suppress an urge to change form and chase them. It was a beautiful day, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go back indoors just yet. Bright, warm sunshine. No one calling the Aurors to report the mass murderer loose on the streets. It would be way too easy for him to get used to this.
Regulus just quietly watched a few moments longer. It almost seemed like Sirius had completely forgotten he would be there, which he had to admit caused some oddly conflicted feelings. He'd quickly squelched them, instead taking note of how pale Sirius looked out in the sunlight. Had it been necessary for him to go into hiding? If the war had gone on for sixteen and a half more years, perhaps.
Then he noticed just what part of the view Sirius was currently appreciating. "... Sirius, please don't stare at the guards."
"They're girls."
"Yes, I know they are."
"They're girls in leather and metal bathing suits."
"They're the Alexandrian City Guard. They are in armor. They are also armed."
"Nice legs, too..."
Regulus fought the urge to facepalm. He was certain the guards had noticed by now. In fact, he was fairly sure one of them was trying not to laugh. He did have to admit that, given the uniform, they were likely accustomed to this kind of reaction from people not so familiar with the city. Trying to think of a way to put a stop to this embarrassment, he said, "What would your wife have to say about you ogling the local law enforcement?"
"I'm not married," Sirius said, though the reminder of law enforcement was enough to get him to stop looking at the guards. He wasn't a fugitive here, but best not to press his luck.
"How can you still not be married," Regulus managed to say after a shocked moment. "It can't be for lack of interest. I remember how you behaved in school." At least Regulus could say he'd never been caught in an embarrassing situation in a broom closet. Sirius and that Potter menace both had seemed to try to snog any girl who wouldn't say no. And could be annoyingly persistent to the ones who did say no, from what he recalled of Potter's interactions with the Evans girl...
"I never really had a chance," Sirius said, almost absently. He didn't like this particular change of topic very much. It was skirting close to things that, well, he supposed they'd have to discuss soon enough. Maybe going back indoors would be worth it as long as said indoors was a pub.
"But..," Regulus still couldn't come to terms with this. It had been over sixteen years, and even with a war... how... "What about the McKinnon girl? You had some on-and-off thing all through your seventh year. I thought that..."
"She died in 1981. Her whole family was killed." A few months before James and Lily had died, and he'd been sent to Azkaban. The pub was sounding like a better idea by the second.
Oh. Well, he'd really said the wrong thing there. "I'm sorry to hear that..." Regulus thought it might be best to change the topic, though it still disturbed him to think that their family's future was more on the line than he'd realized. He'd thought at least Sirius would have children. He started to walk, slowly, in the general direction of the pub. But before he could think of what to say, Sirius managed to turn the topic around on him.
"So, what about you and Mikoto?" Sirius asked, checking out more of the scenery as they walked.
"It's not that sort of relationship, and it never will be."
"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, teasing. They'd left the courtyard for a broad street lined with similar houses.
"Yes, I'm very sure. We're not even the same species. You did notice the tail, didn't you?"
Wait, what? "Yes, but... I just thought she'd had some transfiguration accident."
"No, it's actually normal for her kind. They all have tails. And there are other, less noticeable differences." One of the ones he'd found more perplexing was when Mikoto had told him if she ever had children naturally, instead of growing them in a laboratory like her kind normally did, then she would lay eggs. It seemed so much more normal from the Black Mages than from someone who almost looked human.
"So, what's really going on with her?" For the half a moment of silence that followed, Sirius thought he wasn't going to get an answer to that.
"She's the one who found me when I arrived in the Nexus," Regulus replied, trying not to think of all the details just yet. "If she hadn't... all those people who think I'm dead wouldn't be mistaken."
Despite the summer sun, Sirius couldn't help feeling a bit chilled. There had been hints, but until then he'd almost managed to convince himself that Regulus had somehow come here on purpose... part of some sneaky Slytherin escape plan. Something in the way Regulus tensed every time he even skirted near the subject gave Sirius the bad feeling that the real story was something worse than anything he'd imagined, even when he'd thought Regulus had been killed by other Death Eaters.
"We've been studying comparative magic," Regulus said, moving away from that topic yet again, at least for now. "The basic underlying principles of magic here on Gaia are mostly compatible with that of our own world. So far all the spells I've tried from before have worked here just as they should. Gaia, though... Most of the spells we know don't have equivalents here. No one's seen need for most of them, I suppose. Gaian and Terran magic is..." Regulus trailed off for a moment, thinking of how to explain.
Sirius decided to just stay quiet and let him, for now. If he thought back, he remembered this... how Regulus could be enthusiastic about something he was studying. It was a shame he hadn't been in Ravenclaw instead. Maybe things would have been different.
"All the spells that originate here are wandless and nonverbal, but they're actually not difficult despite that. Perhaps because that's the way they're meant to be. They're almost like a controlled form of the accidental magic that children do. They're far more tiring to use, and they're not as specialized... so they do have their downsides as well. But some of them can do things that..." He trailed off again. Things that just wouldn't have been possible in their world, or at least were thought not to be possible. But that came too close to something he didn't want to discuss until he reached the point where he had to.
There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Sirius decided to break it. Thinking it better to stick to recent events, he asked, "So, if Valia Pira isn't a ghost, what is she?"
"An artificial intelligence in the Desert Palace's computer network," Regulus said, expecting that some of that likely wouldn't make any sense to Sirius. "Essentially, the building has a mind of its own."
Sirius tried to remember where he'd heard the word 'computer' before, and could only vaguely recall it was some muggle thing or other. It didn't seem to make any sense with the rest of what Regulus said. There were spells that could make things seem like they could think. Paintings were a good example. But muggles didn't have things like that. And everyone knew you couldn't combine all that muggle electrical stuff with magic.
"I'm certain you've noticed all the ornate metal filigree? All of that is part of Valia Pira's systems. Mikoto's people really weren't the sort to make things that served no purpose, even if they could make the end result decorative. Among other things, she controls the security systems. For example, she can redirect incoming PINPoint teleportation, apparition, or other similar forms of travel so that one always arrives in one of the holding cells. I expect she could prohibit or redirect outgoing travel as well, if there were a need to, or intentionally splinch intruders who tried to apparate within the Desert Palace."
"Sounds like a really complex bit of magic." It had to be. It was hard to imagine Regulus being that comfortable with it otherwise.
"It's not. Well, not entirely," Regulus replied. "Although, interestingly, Valia Pira can use magic as a part of the defenses... at least if someone's intruded far enough into the Desert Palace to try to damage her computer core. It's interesting to think a technological construct could do that, but Mikoto's said that sort of thing was quite common with her people's magitek."
Magitek? Now that was a strange and unfamiliar word. And from what it sounded like... Sirius wondered if maybe, in this world at least, you could get muggle electronics to work with magic. But... from what he'd seen of Alexandria, he hadn't really noticed anything electronic. Didn't that require all those overhead wires near the streets? Either things here were really different, or he was still missing something.
"We're here," Regulus said, causing Sirius to jump slightly. He wondered what his older brother had been thinking about to be so distracted.
The building stood at the 'corner' of a bend in the cobblestone street. It didn't really stand out at first glance, being made of the same wood and plaster as the rest of the buildings, with the same wooden shingles and diamond-patterned windows of colored glass. Above the entrance, however, was a wooden sign shaped like a pair of wine glasses, with a couple blue stars above. The weathervane on top of the building also had a blue star. A sign to the left of the door had the word 'Tavern', below that specifying that the place was the Morning Star Bar, and listing a few of the daily specials.
A bark of a laugh from Sirius got Regulus's attention, and he looked over to see his brother reading the sign. It wasn't hard to guess it was because of the place's oddly appropriate name. "That's just a coincidence," he said, as he pushed the swinging doors open. "Try and find seats, would you?" he said to Sirius, before going to talk to the barmaid.
As Sirius followed Regulus into the pub, he couldn't keep from thinking how strange it was to see Regulus in a place like this. It wasn't that the place looked rough, but that it seemed too common. It was almost cozy, with its large round wooden tables surrounded by low backless stools. The decorative stars and wineglasses theme continued above the bar, and he still found that amusing. Most of the customers looking like the sort of decent, normal people he had trouble imagining his little brother 'lowering himself' to associate with... much less be on a first name basis with the barmaid, who was apparently named Maggie. Sirius forced himself to shake off the shock and find seats. He really hoped he was going to get an explanation that would cover this.
Regulus couldn't shake growing unease as he made arrangements for lunch. He wasn't even sure what Sirius would like to eat, but he hoped there would be something he'd like. He looked far too thin, really. He'd be here a month, no matter how awkward that would be, so maybe something could be done about that at the least. He hadn't yet told Sirius how long it would take for Mikoto to finish with the portal scans. He expected that wasn't going to be a welcome topic. At least if the time difference remained constant, Sirius might only miss a bit under three years instead of over a decade and a half. Looking around, he noticed Sirius had picked a table in a corner where they'd be marginally less likely to be interrupted. It was nice to see his brother had learned some sense of discretion over the years. He wondered just how to approach some difficult topics as he headed for the table.
Sirius just grinned as Regulus took a seat. "So... Maggie?"
Regulus blinked, puzzled. Why was Sirius asking about the barmaid. "What about her?"
"You know her well enough to call her by her first name. So..."
Oh... not this again. "I don't think she has a last name, Sirius. And, no, I'm not dating the barmaid. Actually, I'm not dating at all. It hasn't really been high on my list of priorities. So, you can quit asking if I'm involved with every girl I speak to."
Sirius blinked, wondering if that was actually a sensitive topic for some reason. He'd just been kidding around, but since he'd only asked about two girls so far it made him wonder why Regulus was so defensive about it. He was briefly distracted form the thought as Maggie brought over their drinks. She'd brought the rest of the bottle with their mugs, and he made a mental note that he wasn't going to get far in getting Regulus drunk if his little brother planned on sticking with honeyed mead. Although it wasn't a bad place to start.
"If anyone should be concerned about that, it's you," Regulus said, after the barmaid had left again. "You're thirty-six years old, Sirius. Once you're home and other things have been settled, you really should try to find someone. Unless, of course, you're planning to never have children purely to spite our parents." If he was still being that stubborn and ridiculous, they were going to have a lot to discuss over the coming month.
"No, they had nothing to do with it," Sirius said. The mead wasn't bad, though he was sure he'd want something stronger soon enough. "But if you're expecting me to start putting together a list of eligible pureblood witches..."
"I'd really rather you didn't," Regulus said. Normally he didn't like to interrupt, it was impolite, but the idea made him just a little nauseous. Once, he knew, it wouldn't have bothered him in the least. That seemed like a lot longer ago than it really was.
Sirius blinked at that, not sure if he heard right. There was a brief pause in conversation as Maggie brought over a tray with soup and sandwiches.
"We'd be related to most of them, albeit distantly in most cases," Regulus said, once the barmaid had gone. "But I would think, given the people you were associating with the last I knew, that you'd have some chance of finding a muggleborn witch who might be able to put up with you." Unless they'd all been killed, which was quite a disturbing thought.
Sirius kept going over the words in his mind, trying to spot the sarcasm that should have been there and hadn't. But, no matter how he tried, he couldn't manage to reconcile what Regulus had just said with anything he could ever imagine his little brother saying. It was almost enough to send him right back to thinking he was dealing with an impostor. "Either I misheard that, or we're going to need stronger drinks than mead."
"If you think you heard me say I'd rather see you with a muggleborn witch than a pureblood, then, no, you did not mishear," Regulus replied, shifting a bit uncomfortably in his seat. That particular lesson had been one he'd learned far too late, a result of Mikoto's attempts to explain her genetics research. "As for stronger drinks, not until you've eaten something. I don't want either of us to get ill." He thought Sirius already looked like he'd been ill, and didn't want to compound things.
There were a few moments of uneasy silence, during which Sirius had to admit that the food here was actually quite good. "I still don't get it. You had the family motto painted over your bed... and now you're acting like you don't even remember it. How do you get from that to this in six months?"
Regulus was relieved to find there wasn't anything wrong with Sirius's appetite, though he wondered if that would change soon. The realization that he was out of ways to avoid this discussion had certainly affected his. He didn't know where to begin, and he wasn't sure he could talk about some of it.
"Regulus?"
Instead of an answer, Regulus retrieved something from the belt-pouch he wore and placed it on the table.
Sirius stared for a moment, and then picked it up just to be sure it was real. It was an embroidered family crest, of the sort that would have been on their dress robes all those years ago. The family motto was rendered near-illegible by partially washed-out reddish brown stains that covered most of the crest. "There's blood on it," he said, stunned, as he recognized what would have caused those stains.
"Don't worry, it's just mine," Regulus said, thinking back. He'd had no choice in the end, not one that he could live with. Only one he could die with, and he didn't even know where to start explaining. His life hadn't mattered, and he didn't think Sirius would ever understand why it had had to be that way.
There was an odd tone to Regulus's words that Sirius couldn't make any sense of. Distant, dismissive, distracted... Whatever caused it, he didn't like the implication that he wouldn't care. "That's a hell of a double standard, Reg."
"What?" Regulus said, puzzled as he tried to pull himself away from unpleasant thoughts.
"You're allowed to pester me into getting cleaned up and dressed, fuss over making sure I eat something, and I'm supposed to be just fine with this?" He put the crest back down on the table. "Regulus, what happened."
"I don't know where to start. If I start when you left us, we'll be here till next morning. I... I suppose I should just get to the point. That would be best, given your usual attention span..." Trying to talk and not think about what he was talking about wasn't easy.
Sirius noticed Regulus was shivering slightly, and he seemed to be trying to avoid something. He'd guessed that whatever happened was bad, but this was making him more uneasy by the second.
"He - Look, he's no lord, all that other nonsense sounds ridiculous, and I'm not going to pretend I'm on good enough terms with him to call him by an idiotic nickname that he made up for himself in school. His name is Riddle. Tom Riddle. And he made a Horcrux. I don't expect you'll know what that is, given your dislike of books in general and the ones in our family's library in particular."
"I know what it is," Sirius said, wishing he hadn't eaten anything yet. Their father had said certain books in the library were off limits until they were older, so Sirius had just had to sneak and skim a few pages. Some of the contents were so disgusting, it had just fueled his dislike of his family that they even had such things in the house. "How did you find out about that?" He couldn't imagine Voldemort telling just anyone. "Was that what the letter was about?"
There was an almost nod from Regulus, who looked pale and haunted. "He asked to borrow Kreacher. I wasn't told why. He nearly killed Kreacher testing the defenses he'd placed around the Horcrux. Kreacher only survived because I'd ordered him to come back to the house when he was done. When he recovered, he was able to tell me everything... and..." No, he didn't want to think about that part. He had to keep it distant, gloss it over, get past it quickly. "I stole the Horcrux, so that it could be destroyed."
"You stole..." Sirius trailed off, boggled by this latest surprise. Either Regulus was a whole lot braver than he'd ever thought his brother capable of, he was completely insane, or both. "Were you trying to get yourself killed?"
There was no answer. Sirius looked at his younger brother, a dreadful suspicion growing that the answer might have been 'yes'.
Regulus kept his eyes averted, looking at the tabletop but not really seeing it. "There wasn't any way to avoid it. I'd found out too many things he wouldn't have wanted known. I knew the defenses were likely to kill me, and if they didn't... what then?" And then he looked up at Sirius. "One side in the war would have thrown me in Azkaban, the other would have had me tortured and killed. And if I'd managed to run? They'd have targeted everyone I cared about until they managed force me out. Family might mean nothing to you, but I couldn't do that."
Sirius didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't tell Regulus that even that hadn't worked. Their father had disappeared shortly after Regulus, along with their uncle Cygnus. Mother had locked herself in the house and gone even madder, and was long dead now. Their grandparents had also died while he'd been in Azkaban. As far as he knew, only their cousins remained... one a Death Eater, one married to one, and one disowned. "What happened to the Horcrux?"
Regulus remembered seeing the locket, dangling from Kreacher's thin fingers. He tried to push the memory away. "I ordered Kreacher to take it, to leave and destroy it. There was no one else I could trust. With the locket gone, the D-," he frowned and corrected himself, "Riddle should have been vulnerable."
Sirius winced at that, thinking of why there hadn't been anyone except that miserable house elf. "The letter..?"
"I suppose, when I wrote it, I still had a little hope you'd see a way out that I'd missed," Regulus admitted. "But, if not, I wanted someone else to know what I'd found out. Not just about the Horcrux, but other things I'd overheard." Things about Sirius's 'friend' Pettigrew in particular, though he wasn't sure how to approach that topic. If Pettigrew had turned like the others expected he would, Regulus hoped he'd died before he'd managed to do too much damage.
So many things made sense now. Even the way Regulus had reacted all those years ago when he'd seen Padfoot in the park. Sirius remembered how he'd looked stunned for half a second, and then the uneasy and slightly unhinged laughter. He must have thought it made perfect sense to see a Grim. He'd left only a moment later, and Sirius couldn't stand thinking that Regulus had knowingly gone to what he'd thought would be his death, believing his big brother hadn't cared enough to try to save him or even just show up to say goodbye. Perhaps he'd even thought the 'Grim' was proof that Sirius wasn't going to be there.
"Your soup's getting cold," Regulus said, despite that he still didn't feel like touching his own food.
"I was there..."
"What?"
"In the park. I was there, but I thought it was a trap so..." Sirius tried to think of a way to explain, and realized the simplest way was obvious.
Regulus frowned to himself, using his spoon to poke idly at a carrot floating in his soup. He hadn't seen anyone else there. Something nudged him in the side, and he nearly fell off his stool in surprise when he looked over to see a large black Grim-like dog. A Grim. He'd seen a Grim in the park, though that one certainly hadn't been giving him the sad puppy-eyes look this one was. Could it be that... A quick glance across the table confirmed that Sirius was no longer sitting there. "You're an Animagus." Memories of overheard school nicknames suddenly made a lot more sense than they had at the time. "Of course... Padfoot." He wondered if Potter and Pettigrew were Animagi as well... but even though he really should bring up Pettigrew at some point, he didn't feel like turning the conversation towards Potter any time soon.
Padfoot wagged his tail and gave Regulus a doggy-grin. He knew he'd figure it out. Then he put his head on Regulus's knee and gave him the sad puppy look again.
Regulus didn't know how to react. Sirius had read the letter, and he hadn't just ignored it. Regulus didn't know if it would have really changed anything if they'd had a chance to talk, but that somehow didn't matter as much as knowing that at least Sirius had cared enough to show up. But that didn't change that Sirius still had to leave in a month. If Padfoot had really been a dog he might have tried scritching his ears, but it was different when he knew the dog was really Sirius. "Even as a dog you look underfed," he said, grabbing a sandwich from the platter and trying to feed it to the dog in an attempt to cover the awkwardness.
He soon found that coaxing 'Padfoot' into eating something was easier than getting Sirius to do so, as strange as that seemed. Regulus couldn't help thinking of questions he'd like to ask. While one of their professors in school had been an Animagus, McGonagall had seemed to treat anyone from Slytherin with a level of suspicion that bordered on hostility. He couldn't imagine asking her about it ever ending well.
By the second sandwich he was back to a less pleasant line of thought, namely reconsidering the current situation. In retrospect, he rather thought he'd handled things badly. Sirius was going to leave in a month no matter what happened during that month, and then it was very likely he'd never see him again. That hurt worse than if he hadn't shown up at all, even without all the additional issues. But in all the shock he'd nearly forgotten a very important lesson he'd learned over the last half-year or so. In the end, you regret the things you didn't do or say as much as the ones you did. Trying to keep Sirius at a distance might hurt less in the short run, but he knew he'd regret it more if he did.
Instead of reaching for a third sandwich, he pulled the big black dog into a tight hug. "I've missed you so much. I'm glad you were there, even if I didn't know it at the time. There were so many things I wanted to say... I hope some of them wouldn't matter after sixteen years, but... I never stopped hoping you'd come home. And, even if you didn't... You're still my brother, and you always will be." He blinked back tears and quickly added, "Whether you like it or not," in the half-hope the snarky comment would break up some of the awkwardness of the rest of the confession. Even if some disaster happened within the next few minutes, at least he'd said it. Feeling the dog squirm, he let go.
Sirius changed back, wondering how many more surprises this day was going to have. That hesitation in the park was creeping its way higher on his personal list of bad mistakes. "I was too late. I changed back, but you'd already apparated away. I was just a second too late..."
"It's not too late, Siri," Regulus said, though he could only hope that was true... and he knew that in a month, it would be too late.
The last time he remembered Regulus calling him that, they'd been kids. Once they'd started Hogwarts they'd been in different houses, had different friends, different interests... Some of Regulus's he could never have agreed with, but it seemed that wasn't going to be an issue now. They'd just grown apart, and Sirius knew that wasn't completely his fault even if the last big mistake was. Sirius kicked his stool closer to Regulus's before sitting back down. He put an arm around his little brother, grinned, and asked, "Just what are they putting in the mead here?"
"Prat," Regulus said, smiling and giving Sirius a shove that was carefully calculated to be far too light to actually push him away. It was actually a relief that Sirius had broken up the uncomfortable mood.
"You're right, the soup's getting cold," Sirius said, making a bit of a face after a spoonful and then casting warming charms on both their bowls. And if Regulus was set against any stronger drinks until they'd both eaten something, then it was his turn to start pestering about that. Regulus had barely touched his food, and once he had to start explaining everything Regulus had missed in the last sixteen and a half years Sirius was certain he'd need something stronger than mead. Sirius thought he still had a little longer before that, as Regulus's story seemed to him to be missing an ending. "So, how did you escape?"
Regulus tensed, and nearly dropped the spoon he'd just picked up. "I... I didn't."
"What?" That made no sense to Sirius, though it seemed clear he'd asked the wrong thing... Regulus had gone pale again, and seemed strangely distracted. "But... You're here. You're all right..."
"Sirius..," Regulus shook his head as if to clear it, trying to focus. He picked up the stained crest from where he'd left it on the table. "Please understand that there are some things that... I just can't speak about. I can't even think of it. I... I was there, and then I was in a bed in the Desert Palace. Ask Mikoto later, she'll be able to fill in the details better than I can." He placed the embroidered patch back in the belt pouch he wore, hoping Sirius wouldn't press on the topic.
"All right," Sirius said, keeping an arm around Regulus. "The important thing is that you did get out of there, somehow. Was there anything else you wanted to tell me, or is it my turn."
"Well," Regulus hesitated for a moment, poking at his soup with the spoon again without actually eating any of it and stifling the thought that Mother would have scolded him by now. "I would hope this is unnecessary after sixteen years, but... about your friend Pettigrew..."
"He's not my friend," Sirius growled.
Regulus nodded. "I'd overheard... well, some thought it wouldn't be a year before he turned. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You would have warned us." Sirius winced at the thought of finding out about Peter before the rat had become a spy. A year before he'd started passing information to Voldemort, and two years before... ... Oh, hell.
Regulus had noticed that Sirius's moods seemed just a little unstable, but that hadn't prepared him for this. Sirius had pulled away with a horrified look on his face and despite his already unhealthy pallor, had somehow gone even paler. Regulus wasn't certain he wasn't about to be sick. "Sirius?"
"If we'd known not to trust him..." Sirius muttered, barely a whisper. Because it wasn't just James and Lily... How many deaths had Pettigrew's treachery caused before that? The McKinnons? Most of the Bones family? The Prewett brothers? There was likely no way to know, short of torturing it out of the rat. Maybe not even then.
Regulus decided he'd have to trust that Maggie could be discreet as he waved the barmaid over. "I believe my brother is in need of something stronger than mead. I'm not familiar with the drinks here, so perhaps you could suggest something."
While Maggie blinked at the situation, she otherwise behaved professionally enough that Regulus was fairly certain there wouldn't be any difficulty. And none of the other patrons in the Morning Star Bar were taking any great notice, wrapped up as they were in their own problems. He already had some suspicions as to what might have caused this, though seeing this sort of reaction from Sirius was still a shock. Clearly, Pettigrew hadn't been found out quickly enough to prevent some catastrophic harm. To make it worse, now that he thought of it, 'he's not my friend' wasn't past tense. Pettigrew was still alive.
After the barmaid had gone to retrieve something with a dangerously high alcohol content, Regulus tried to see what else could be done. "Sirius... I don't know what it is that Pettigrew did, but..."
"It's my fault..."
"It most certainly is not," Regulus snapped. That kind of thinking needed brought to a quick end. "What Pettigrew did is Pettigrew's fault. I know that sounds simplistic, but you shouldn't blame yourself for his poor decisions... or mine. I had little reason to believe you'd read that letter, much less actually show up. I clearly underestimated Pettigrew's importance and ability as well... I thought, if he turned, he'd be quickly found out." I thought it was a problem I could safely leave to you, he didn't add aloud. There was no need to make things worse. "Perhaps I should have sent you a howler, but... there would have been the risk of someone overhearing."
Maggie brought over something that was apparently meant to be taken in small doses, judging from the glasses that arrived with the bottle, before going back to the rest of her work. Regulus still had some misgivings about strong liquor, but calming draughts weren't available on Gaia.
Sirius poured himself a glass and downed it in a single gulp. Regulus's attempt to take on some of the blame hadn't really helped, though at least it had reminded him that everyone had underestimated Peter. Even if he'd been told then, would he have believed it? "We knew there was a spy. By '81 we knew someone had been leaking information to the Death Eaters for at least a year. We'd had too many losses, too many things that went wrong. James and I thought it was Remus..."
"Lupin? Why?" A second later Regulus thought of one obvious reason. "Because he's a werewolf?"
Sirius wondered if you could still call it a surprise when you were starting to get used to being surprised. "How long have you known about that?"
"I had my suspicions in First Year, but didn't really confirm it until Second. I spent most of that year trying to decide what to do about it." Ideas that had ranged from just keeping it quiet, to getting Lupin expelled, all the way to shoving Lupin off the Astronomy Tower if need be. "I didn't really like the idea of you sharing a dorm with a dangerous beast, but... in the end I decided he was reasonably harmless with proper precautions and didn't tell anyone."
Second Year for Regulus would have been Third Year for the Marauders, and Sirius remembered they'd only just started looking into the possibility of becoming Animagi. They'd soon learned they had a lot of transfiguration to learn if they wanted to do that, and it had taken them until Fifth Year to pull it off. But after that... It had been wonderful. And he'd thought it would never change.
Sirius seemed to have lapsed back into silence that didn't seem mired in guilt or depression, so Regulus decided to just let him be and keep a quiet watch while he ate a sandwich.
The soup was gone before Sirius spoke again. "It wasn't just that. Remus kept disappearing, and he wouldn't tell us where he was going or what he was doing. I've never held his condition against him, but... we thought maybe it was getting to him."
Regulus frowned slightly at that, picking over it in his mind. "I'm not sure I would have jumped to the same conclusion," he admitted. "Lupin never seemed like a fool, and any spy with even a fraction of sense would have an alibi for such obvious absences. I'd be more likely to assume he had a girlfriend he didn't want you teasing him about, than to think he was a traitor."
There was a bark of a laugh from Sirius at that suggestion. "We tried a few times to set Moony up, but he always squirmed out of it. No, it turned out he was trying to make contacts in the werewolf community, but on Dumbledore's orders. And he was told not to tell anyone else."
Regulus could see where part of that made sense. Most of the werewolves had tended to side with Voldemort, given that changes in certain laws would have been a benefit to them. The opposition hadn't really been promising anything. Trying to get some of them to at least stay neutral would have been a very sensible strategic move. And keeping it secret, when it was known there was a spy in the Order... Regulus frowned slightly. That he wasn't so sure about. On the surface, it made sense not to risk the spy finding out any more than was unavoidable... but it seemed to have done more harm than good. If they'd known for a year, finding the spy should have had a higher priority. Understanding why Lupin was disappearing would seem to rule him out, or at least provide evidence in his favor, so why have him conceal it from his friends? Except... Pettigrew had been one of his friends.
"Regulus?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to seem like I was ignoring you. I was just thinking... It's odd that Lupin would have been told to conceal what he was doing in a way that would have made him look more suspicious to the rest of the Order. Unless, of course, Dumbledore might have suspected one of the other Marauders was the spy..."
"It wouldn't surprise me if he did," Sirius said with a sigh. Everyone had thought it was him in the end. Most of Wizarding Britain still did. And even though they were wrong about that, it had still been his plan that had given Peter the chance to betray James and Lily.
"But... Why was Riddle still there? Why wasn't he dead before Pettigrew could become a spy?"
"I'm not sure, but... I think the Horcrux hasn't been destroyed yet," Sirius said. It would explain so much, like how Voldemort had survived having his own killing curse backfire on him.
"Kreacher would have done as he was told, Sirius. I know you don't like him, but - "
"I never said he didn't try. That explains him, too... Locked up in the house and trying to follow an order he can't manage to pull off, it's no wonder he's gone mad." As far as Sirius was concerned, the house elf had always been a miserable little toerag... but he had to admit Kreacher was more unhinged than he remembered the elf being when he was a child. He'd put it down at the time to solitude and old age.
"No... I... Why wouldn't he be able to destroy it, Sirius? I never meant to do that to him..." The idea that he'd told Kreacher to do something that he couldn't do made Regulus feel almost ill. But why would it have been that hard to destroy the locket?
"I don't know. We'll just have to find out... But it's the only thing that makes sense. Voldemort... Riddle... he should have died in 1981."
"He should have died a good bit earlier than that, if you ask me," Regulus commented, irritated it had taken that long for even a botched attempt.
"I really wish he had," Sirius said, and poured himself another shot from the liquor bottle.
"I think you may want to go easy on that, Sirius..," Regulus said, frowning slightly at the bottle's label. "It's something from Condie Petie, and from what I've heard the dwarves are very heavy drinkers."
"It's not bad stuff," Sirius said, this time only downing half the shot glass for now. "Flavor's a bit strange. Any idea what they put in it?"
"Judging from the smell, possibly gysahl greens. It's a plant native to this world. Chocobos really like them."
"Chocobos?"
"Giant birds. Most don't fly, and they're used to pull carts or are ridden like horses." It was strange, now that Regulus stopped to think of it, how quickly he'd started to become accustomed to the differences on this world. But that was no reason to get off track... "What happened in 1981?"
"Everything," Sirius said, and finished the rest of the glass. "There was a prophesy about the Dark Lord's defeat... James and Lily had to go into hiding. So did the Longbottoms..."
Regulus raised a hand slightly as if he were in class, to get Sirius to pause for just a moment. "Lily ...Evans?" He couldn't think of another Lily, at least not offhand, and wanted to be certain.
"Potter, actually. She and James were married in '78. That was before you... I mean, I thought you would have known..."
"I had other things on my mind than keeping track of James Potter's romantic interests. How did that ever happen? He didn't use a love potion on her, did he?"
"Of course not! Why would you think that?"
"Because I remember her calling him a toerag repeatedly, saying she'd sooner date the Giant Squid, hexing him on multiple occasions - including one time that put him in the hospital wing for nearly a week. And, my personal favorite, resorting to muggle fisticuffs and punching him in the face in the Great Hall in front of almost everyone in school. It was a great source of entertainment and, if she hadn't been a muggleborn, I might have sent her a thank you card. I can't understand how she would have gone from that to marrying him."
"James took a pretty hard hit to the ego when his parents were killed... You do remember that, right?"
"Yes, I do," Regulus said.
Noticing Regulus's tone and expression had gone cool and formal again, Sirius frowned. "You weren't involved, were you?" He was almost certain Regulus had been Marked that same year.
"No, and neither was anyone else in the family. I asked around as soon as I'd heard, but even Bellatrix had the sense not to cross that line."
"Line? What are you talking about?" Sirius frowned when Regulus didn't answer. "We thought they were killed because they refused to side with the Death Eaters, and James planned to join the Order just out of school... if there's something more to it, Regulus, tell me."
"Everything really does have to be spelled out for you, doesn't it," Regulus said, and sighed. "It was also a warning that even our family wouldn't be off limits if we supported the 'wrong side'."
"You just said no one in the family was involved," Sirius growled.
"No one except Grandfather Pollux's baby sister. James Potter's mother, Dorea," Regulus snapped back. If there's one thing he could never stand, it was how little Sirius seemed to care about their family. More than that, he'd seemed to hate all of them... while at the same time forgetting that when he'd run away, he'd still been with family. All the pieces were right in front of him, and he'd never put it all together.
Sirius just gaped for a moment, and then blinked. He'd been made to copy out the family tree so many times when he was little, but he'd done his best in later years to blot out as much of the memory as he could. It wasn't exactly a surprise that he and James were distantly related, since most pureblood families were... but for James' mother to actually be a Black had completely slipped his mind. Meanwhile, to add to his shock, Regulus was reaching for the liquor bottle.
"I took the Mark shortly afterward," Regulus said, looking at the drink he'd just poured and uncertain if he wanted to actually ingest something that smelled like that. "Someone had to... to prove you were an anomaly, to prevent further repercussions." Before he could talk himself out of it again, he tried to gulp down the drink... and nearly choked on it. It was vile, and it burned... and though it certainly wasn't the most horrid thing he'd ever drank in his life, he was immediately concerned it could cause flashbacks to that if he had any more. He resolved to stick to mead from that point on.
Sirius glared at Regulus. Was he really trying to blame his being a Death Eater on Sirius leaving their crazy family and trying to have a life of his own? "You would have done that anyway."
"Would I? Did you even notice the only one in the family who had was Bellatrix? It's nice to know you think I'm as much of a fanatic as she is. I won't deny that I believed in the cause, until I saw what was actually being done for it... But Father considered such direct involvement too risky, and beneath us. Mother was worried sick, especially since you were gone. I'd had some warnings from Cissy, and I... I was sixteen years old, Sirius. I wasn't even legally of age. Fool that I was, I actually thought it was a special honor to have the chance to redeem our family's reputation. Don't tell me you're stupid enough to believe the same."
Maybe it was the two shots of dwarven liquor, but Sirius found himself having trouble untangling just who Regulus was angry at for all of that... himself, Sirius, the other Death Eaters, all of the above? He tried to focus on what parts of it made sense. "I'd never think you were like Bella."
"Well, there's at least that small comfort, then." An awkward silence followed for a few moments before Regulus decided to prompt Sirius back onto topic. "Well? You said the Longbottoms and the Potters," he had to suppress lingering disbelief, as he still couldn't picture James Potter married to Lily Evans, "had to go into hiding..."
Sirius nodded. "The prophesy mentioned a child born at the end of July, and Alice and Lily were both pregnant. Neville Longbottom was born July 30th, and Harry a day later on the 31st, so it could have meant either of them."
It took effort to hide his distaste at the idea that James Potter had managed to breed. Regulus could only hope the child took after their mother.
"It was my idea," Sirius said, looking at the liquor bottle and trying to hold off the urge to pour a third drink. He needed to be coherent enough to finish this. "They used the Fidelus Charm. It was my idea to use Peter as the Secret Keeper, but let everyone think it was me."
"I see. Pettigrew revealed their location, didn't he." Regulus didn't even really need an answer to know it was true. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said. He understood now why Sirius had suddenly reacted so badly to their conversation. Of course Sirius would take it particularly hard if something happened to James Potter, he thought, and then tried to tell himself there really was no sense in being jealous of the dead.
"I don't think I believe you are."
Regulus almost found it a little amusing, much like when Sirius had caught on to the Nexus time differences. Sometimes his brother wasn't a complete idiot. "I am. I'd rather not see Riddle gain any kind of advantage, and I detest the idea that Pettigrew actually managed to do as much harm as he did. Worse, that he did so in a way that, unless I completely mis-guess, you're at least partially blaming yourself for. It was not your fault he was, shockingly, good enough at being a spy that you didn't realize what he was."
"It was still my idea."
"Yes, and it was a good one," Regulus said. He was actually a bit pleased to hear of Sirius coming up with something almost sneaky enough to be worthy of a Slytherin. "You would have been the obvious choice in that situation, where Pettigrew... well, clearly he had more of a knack for being underestimated than either of us realized. Had Pettigrew not been a traitor, I expect the deception would have worked brilliantly. You've managed to twist it around and think you came up with a horrible plan, when the real problem was that Pettigrew was a horrible friend."
"That's an understatement," Sirius said, thinking of all the rat had done.
"For what it matters, you have my condolences on the rest as well," Regulus said, having thought the full matter over. "I won't pretend I liked James Potter... But while I would have been amused to hear of him being turned into a budgerigar, or better yet forced to relocate to Australia for the rest of his life, I wouldn't have wanted him dead."
The mental image of James as a budgie was just too ridiculous, and Regulus being the one to suggest it only made it more so. Sirius only barely managed not to laugh, and immediately felt guilty that he almost had.
"I know you might find that hard to believe, but... He was your family. I had to accept that a long time ago. And I know how much it would... how much it must have hurt you to lose him."
Even after two glasses of dwarven liquor, Sirius could spot the what Regulus hadn't said that time. The teachers at Hogwarts had sometimes said he and James were as close as brothers. They never said that of him and Regulus, and they actually were brothers. James had been family, and Regulus hadn't... or at least that seemed to be how Regulus saw it. The worst part was, Sirius couldn't even say he was wrong.
"It's worse that his wife and child were involved. That should never have happened..." What he'd once thought about muggleborns had been such a colossal mistake, and with that particular misconception destroyed Regulus could easily admit that Lily Evan's death was tragic. From what little he'd seen, she'd been a very talented witch. And children should always be off limits, no matter that he'd once associated with those who might have thought a half-blood should be drowned at birth like a mongrel pup.
"Harry survived."
"Well, that's some good news, then."
"Lily died to protect him, and when V- ... Riddle went to kill him, the Killing Curse backfired. He should have died when it did."
"But he didn't," Regulus could see that was what Sirius had meant earlier. The locket had to still exist. There weren't exactly a lot of ways, even in theory, to survive the Killing Curse. In fact, the situation covered the only one he could think of... and one that he wouldn't have thought would be quite that effective. But one other detail didn't make sense... "Lily's death protected Harry, but... How can that be, Sirius? I've heard of the possibility of certain kinds of protection like that, but it requires someone to willingly sacrifice themselves for another when otherwise they would have survived. And I can't imagine any reason why Riddle would have wanted to let her live, or even allow the option... He's always found killing those who get in his way to be the simplest solution, and she was a muggleborn besides."
"I don't know. I... I can't imagine that, either, but something must have happened. By the time I got there... I'd gone to check on Peter, and he was missing, but there weren't any signs of a struggle. I went straight to the house, but it was half destroyed, and James and Lily were already dead. Hagrid had found Harry upstairs in his crib. I offered to take him, but Hagrid said he had orders to take him to Dumbledore. So... I went after Peter."
Regulus stayed quiet as Sirius spoke. He knew with some things it was best just to get past it and hope no one interrupted because then you only had to think about it that much longer. That didn't mean he didn't already have some disturbing questions. Hagrid had managed to get there before Sirius... with orders to take Harry. That meant Dumbledore had already known Harry's parents had been killed. That idiot half-giant couldn't apparate, he was certain. He wasn't even sure the big oaf could do magic at all... certainly not legally, since he'd been expelled. Regulus remembered hearing rumors that he'd actually killed another student and that Dumbledore had somehow kept him out of Azkaban. Why Hagrid was even allowed on the school grounds was something he'd never understood. He was certainly not someone Regulus would have left a baby with, even if the baby was Potter's, and doing so only showed how disturbed Sirius's state of mind must have been. There was something else about the whole thing that just felt wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it yet.
"It was the next afternoon before I caught up to that rat," Sirius said. He hadn't eaten or slept in that time, and wondered now if maybe he should have. Maybe Peter wouldn't have gotten away if he'd been just a little faster. "I thought I had him... He started yelling that I'd betrayed James and Lily, cut off one of his own fingers, then blew the street apart. He disappeared into the sewer with the rest of the vermin. Left behind a finger, his bloody robes, and twelve dead muggles."
Regulus finally worked out that Sirius wasn't just calling Pettigrew a rat because of his betrayal. 'Wormtail'... of course. It must have been his animagus form, which left little doubt that Potter had been one as well. As for the rest, he tried to imagine the scene. He'd often thought of Pettigrew as a weak bully, at most the sort who'd betray his friends with words but never to their faces. That degree of violence only made it all the clearer how easy it was to underestimate Pettigrew. Apparently, he was a good deal more dangerous than Regulus had ever thought he could be, at least when cornered. The reasoning behind the action was a little more confusing. "He wanted it to look like he'd died..? Is that how he escaped?"
Sirius nodded. "Everyone thought I'd killed him... along with all those muggles, and betraying James and Lily to Voldemort. Peter spent twelve years hiding as a pet rat, and I spent twelve years in Azkaban."
Regulus was stunned for a moment. Though he had to accept that long-term dementor exposure would explain a lot of the things about Sirius that hadn't made sense, the idea as a whole was almost painfully ridiculous. "No, that just... That doesn't make any sense, Sirius. I don't care what evidence Pettigrew might have managed to concoct, the idea of you betraying James Potter to... him... is the most ludicrous thing I've heard all week, and given the nature of the Nexus I encounter quite a lot of unbelievable things in a week."
"You don't believe it." Sirius had thought he was already past getting this kind of surprise from Regulus.
"Of course not. It's completely ridiculous," Regulus said. "I can believe some of it... As much as I'd like to think otherwise, being sent to that place would explain a few things... but... that can't possibly be the reason."
"It was." This was almost surreal. Everyone believed he'd done it. Everyone. Enough to where Crouch had gotten away with tossing him in Azkaban without even a trial.
"It would never hold up, Sirius. I can't understand why you'd make one of your pranks out of this, unless it's to taunt me because... Look, I know I've fallen for some fairly stupid things in the past, but I'm not that much of a fool."
Even Remus had believed it... though he'd believed Remus was the spy, so they were even there. But Regulus, who Sirius hadn't really spoken to since his little brother was fourteen years old, thought the whole thing had to be a prank. Sirius just couldn't help it. He started laughing so hard he nearly fell off his stool.
Regulus gave a slightly forced, exasperated smile at this proof of his brother's sense of humor... which had apparently become more twisted over the years. "Really, I'm disappointed you'd try to fool me with something that unbelievable. Even if some might think it had to be you because they thought you were the Secret Keeper, that would fall apart the moment you had the chance to tell anyone of the switch."
"That is where it falls apart," Sirius agreed, still grinning at this.
"What was it really? Something to do with that motorbike of yours, I'd expect. Although twelve years for a Statute of Secrecy violation is troublingly excessive, unless that was part of the joke..."
"It wasn't a joke," Sirius said, managing to sober up in mood if not in actuality. "I didn't get a chance to tell anyone."
"What? Sirius..."
"The DMLE pulled me off the street, and I think I was in Azkaban by nightfall... though I can't really be sure. There were no questions, no trial, and no plans to ever let me out. I escaped twelve years later to go after Peter, but he got away again."
"How could they..," Regulus started, shocked that it apparently wasn't a joke and offended that the Ministry would dare send a Black to Azkaban without even a trial. He cut off when he remembered a very possible 'how'. "Crouch?"
Sirius just nodded, pouring himself a third drink and just looking at it for the moment.
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
Sirius just looked up and grinned at that. "I'm not." The drink was temporarily forgotten as he attempted to subject Regulus to hair-ruffles.
As Regulus tried to literally squirm out of this latest indignity, he spotted someone walk into the Morning Star Bar wearing a cloak of a sort he immediately considered suspiciously concealing. Noticing a detail of the drape of the fabric, he fought the urge to facepalm. Any brief hopes that the person wasn't looking for him fell apart when they headed towards the table. "If you're trying to avoid recognition, you may want to do a better job of hiding your tail, Zidane," he said, as soon as they were close enough to hear without him having to speak loudly enough to alert the whole pub. He considered it a small victory when the ex-thief jumped a bit, muttered a swearword, and started looking to see if his tail was poking out of the cloak in any way.
Surprised at company, even though he shouldn't have been in a public place, Sirius let go of Regulus to look at the stranger. He already felt uneasy, but maybe that was just the reminder of other people in dark cloaks his brother had associated with. The cloaked young man was still trying to make sure the rest of the bar patrons didn't see his face, but was making no such attempt to conceal his appearance from Regulus or Sirius. He actually looked a lot like a slightly older male version of Mikoto. Between that and the mention of a tail... maybe they were related? They had to be to look that much alike. And what kind of strange name was 'Zee-don' anyway? At least 'Mikoto' sounded like it might be Japanese, even if she hadn't looked it.
"A lot of people where I came from wear cloaks on a daily basis," Regulus said, deciding to mercifully end Zidane's confusion as to how the disguise had failed. "I've learned to recognize when someone might be hiding something beneath one."
Sirius took advantage of his brother's brief distraction and emptied the contents of his shot glass into Regulus's mead.
"Hey, is it my fault if I'd like to visit a bar without getting the city guard and maybe half the Knights of Pluto involved?" Zidane said, helping himself to a seat. "Who's this?"
That comment hadn't eased Sirius's worries one bit. What was Regulus doing associating with people who might attract the city guard if they were seen? Though he couldn't help but note that, if they were anywhere else, he'd have a similar problem if he went anywhere public.
"My older brother Sirius. Sirius, this is Zidane. He's the youngest of Mikoto's two older brothers."
"What did you do that would have the guards in here?" Sirius asked, deciding to just cut to the point.
"He looks kind of old to be your brother, but I guess that explains why you both have the same weird accent," Zidane said to Regulus with a grin, before addressing Sirius's question. "Well, it all started when I kidnapped the princess..."
"And a few years later, he married her," Regulus added, ruining Zidane's dramatic pause. "If the guards were involved, they would be here to protect him, not arrest him. At least not this time."
"They oughtta know I can take care of myself. But, speaking of Mikoto... she's still avoiding me."
"It isn't really avoidance," Regulus said. "It's more that she doesn't think you have anything to talk about. You could always try sending a letter."
"I thought she kicked the moogles out of the Desert Palace."
"Mojito and Mogsam have visitor access if any mail needs delivered, they just don't live there," Regulus replied, wondering why his mead tasted just a little odd. "I believe they've been staying in the Mages' Village with Mogryo. Mimosa and Mooel also have access, in case anything has to be physically delivered from Oeilvert."
"Hey, have some pity on the new guy, here," Sirius interrupted. "What's a moogle?"
Zidane blinked in surprise in that.
Regulus sighed. "We used to use owls to deliver mail. There weren't any moogles." He always hated explaining the differences between the world he'd come from and Gaia, if only because the reminders could get depressing.
"You're kidding. Even Terra had moogles..." Zidane trailed off for a moment, wondering if, perhaps, the moogles had come from Terra in the first place. And wouldn't owls end up crapping everywhere? Birds weren't exactly known for continence.
"Moogles are..."
Zidane snapped out of it and cut Regulus off. "Hey, I've got this." He pulled out a small carved flute and played a brief scaled tune on it.
Regulus frowned a bit. It didn't seem right to bother the moogles unless you had a letter for them or some other business. Although he supposed making sure Sirius was added to Mognet records for the month he'd be here would count as a legitimate reason... and he couldn't really visit either of Alexandria's moogles in their usual
locations.
Sirius was just confused, wondering what the flute was supposed to do. Then something small, white, and furry barreled through the pub's swinging doors and made right for their table.
"Can I help you, kupo?"
Regulus could see Zidane grin and guessed he was about to tell the poor moogle no. It seemed best to beat him to a reply. "Yes... I don't think we've actually met, but I'm Regulus Black. My brother Sirius is visiting, and I think it might be a good idea to add him to the Mognet records in case there's any need to send him a letter while he's here."
The moogle nodded. "Haven't met, but I know you from records. I'm Kupo, from the bell tower."
"Yes... I haven't been there, I... It has a rather nice view of the docks, from what I've heard. But aren't you worried about leaving your post unattended?"
Kupo hmmed thoughtfully and then nodded. "One of Moguta's children is visiting, but I need to return soon, kupo."
Sirius was still staring at the creature. It was about the size of a house elf, but chubby and covered in white fur. Its face was somewhere between that of a koala and a cat, it had bat-like wings that seemed too small to be functional, and a single small red puff on an antenna-like stalk right on the top of its head. On top of that, it was talking.
"This is your brother?" Kupo asked, just to verify. He knew who Zidane was, so it was really just simple elimination.
"That's a moogle?" Sirius asked, at the same moment.
"Yes," Regulus said in reply to both, and then had to grab Sirius's wrist before his brother could try poking Kupo. "At least try to pretend you have manners, Sirius."
"What, do they bite?" Sirius asked, watching as the moogle pulled a book and a large feather quill seemingly out of nowhere at all.
"No," said Zidane, "but I did have one threaten to stab me once."
"Both of you are being extremely rude," Regulus said, before just shaking his head and looking to the moogle. "I am sorry about that. Some people clearly weren't raised with any manners, and others prefer to pretend they weren't."
Kupo just nodded, and then looked up from scribbling in the book to give Regulus a smile. "Some also lucky we're professional, not going to redirect their letters to Gargan Roo." A moment longer and he'd finished writing in the book, blotted the ink, and slammed it shut. Both book and quill were vanished away to wherever they'd come from. "Moguo still keeps a sharp knife," he added, almost warningly, to Zidane.
"Moguo needs to learn to take a joke," was Zidane's response, not in the least concerned.
"What did you do to them?" Sirius asked, curious.
Zidane half-shrugged dismissively, before saying, "I guess they just don't like it if you use the flute to keep calling them... for no reason... about seventeen times in a row..."
"No, we don't," said Kupo, who seemed a bit wary about offering the flute he was now holding to Sirius, in light of the latter's amusement.
"I think I can find more interesting things to do than torment moogles," Sirius said.
"He'll be here a month at the longest," Regulus added, trying to reassure the moogle despite that the reminder made him feel uncomfortable. "At least if Mikoto's estimates are correct, and they usually are."
Kupo nodded and handed the flute over. "I should get back to the bell tower now. I hope you have a nice evening, kupo."
Sirius frowned as he stuffed the flute in a pocket and watched the moogle leave the pub. He didn't like the sound of that at all... not when he put it together with Regulus being here six months and that ending up sixteen years. He tried to do the math for how long he'd really be away, and just couldn't get the numbers to make any sense... Maybe they would when he'd sobered up, but all he knew for now was that it would be way too long to be gone when there was a war going on. After one more failed attempt at mental math, he decided maybe he'd better join Regulus in sticking to mead for the rest of the evening.
Zidane watched the moment of awkward silence and tried to puzzle out the reason. After failing at that, he just shrugged. "Hope I didn't interrupt you two catching up, or whatever..."
"By the time you arrived we were just discussing how apparently everyone in Britain has become a complete moron since I left," Regulus said, looking at the inside of his empty mug and thinking about refilling it. "I think we'll find time to cover anything else during the coming month."
"I thought you weren't from Gaia... that just proves it," Zidane said. He knew every place on Gaia, from Treno to the hidden ruins of Madain Sari, but he'd never heard of 'Britain'. It didn't come as much of a surprise, combined with the stories of where Mikoto had disappeared to and other details in Vivi's letters.
"She can't figure it out faster than a month?" Sirius asked. "I don't want to get back and find out I've been missing for years."
Regulus decided he was definitely refilling the mug, and it might be necessary to have Maggie bring over more mead. "She's looking into a way to tear a hole in reality, Sirius. I've no idea how she even expects it to work, though I suppose the offer at least kept you from wandering off in the Nexus and potentially ending up mindcontrolled by alien slugs... If she says it will take a month to analyze the scans she made, then it's going to take a month. I'm sorry you have to be trapped here that long when you're clearly in a hurry to leave."
Sirius was left going over the conversation in his mind again, wondering just what he'd said to set off another round of Regulus being a snarky brat. Maybe it was the time missed? Here he was complaining about missing two or three years, and Regulus had missed sixteen of them. Though, he couldn't understand why, after that, Regulus wouldn't be in a better mood about going home. "Sorry, Reg... I know it won't be as long as you've missed..."
"It might, and it might not," Regulus said. He knew Sirius had to leave, but it was irritating to find him in such a hurry to do so. "There isn't a stable connection to the Nexus, so the amount of time skipped isn't constant. There really isn't a way to know... You could miss years, or no time at all."
"Sounds like there's nothing you can do about it, so you might as well enjoy the vacation." The end of Zidane's tail swished under the robe he was wearing as he thought over the possibilities, while still wondering about some of the other things that had been said.
"I still don't like it," Sirius said, "but I guess you're right."
"Or course I'm right," said Zidane with a grin. "Maybe Mikoto's planning something like the Shimmering Island portal," he added. "That was the one that used to connect Gaia and Terra. I don't know how it worked either, but she might." Anything that kept her distracted from Kuja was a good thing. He still felt that releasing the other Genome just wasn't safe. Not safe for who was something he wasn't all that certain on, but definitely not safe. And because he just couldn't fight off the curiosity any longer, "... What did you mean about alien slugs?"
"Do you remember Natasha?"
"Yeah," Zidane replied, though he only barely did. "Wait... Does this have anything to do with that really weird letter Mikoto sent me about 'containment procedures'?" Getting any sort of message from Mikoto had been strange enough, made worse when it turned out to be a list of detailed instructions regarding someone he'd thought his sister was almost friends with.
"I'd expect so. It's good to know you paid attention."
"Are either of you going to fill me in?" Sirius asked.
"I would, if I had any idea what this was about," Zidane said. "The only time Mikoto's visited, she brought Vivi, the younger Magelets, and two new friends with her. Regulus here was one of them, and the other was a woman named Natasha. Not too long ago I got a letter from her saying that if I saw Natasha again, to lock her up for at least seventy-two hours, preferably keep her tied up or restrained, make sure there were at least two guards and she was never left alone with anyone, and securely contain anything that crawled out of her ears."
"Like a mind-controlling alien slug?" Sirius asked, as he looked to Regulus and hoped for the rest of what had to be a hell of a story.
Regulus sighed. It didn't look like he could get out of further explanation regarding that whole mess. And, on the whole, there were worse topics.
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