(no subject)

[in_the_cracks]

"What necessities do you live by?" There's just enough edge to Telrim's cool tone to hint at her annoyance. As happens more often than she'll admit to her colleagues, the Controller's using the Sign area for personal reasons. She's leaning against the back of an armchair, arms folded. Sitting is for the weak, perhaps. "What facts of life that can't be changed?"

Comments

[darker_black]

"Yes, I know. I'd never seen much of it before. There are whole lists of laws regarding 'Muggle artifacts'... mostly ones against enchanting them. Almost everything in the Desert Palace would be illegal."

"The Dark Lord claimed things would be different. That we wouldn't have to hide any more. But nothing he did backed that up. I told myself it was a matter of securing power before making further moves... until what happened to Kreacher. And then, well, I'd always had some skill with research. I found out some disturbing things, and the more I learned, the more it made sense. He'd meant none of it. Everything he said was simply to cater to various old families, starting with ones like mine and then to those more and more... extreme in their beliefs."

"He'd wanted our trust. He'd wanted access to our homes... and more specifically, to our libraries. Many of the old Houses had a few very old books hidden away that... wouldn't have been easily available. 'Knowledge equals power' is not an unfamiliar concept to me. And, thanks to Kreacher, I learned what he wanted that knowledge, that power, for.

"All his words were nothing. We'd... I'd killed people, because I believed what he said. And it was all because he wanted to live forever."

[in_the_cracks]

Her attempt at lightness fades into an expression of cautious sympathy - surprise, even, as he reveals how his people were duped. Behind it, the Controller studies him with weary dispassion. She'll give this 'Dark Lord' credit for working out, as they have, how readily his fellow humans can be manipulated. Distracting them with extravagant promises, preying on their misplaced arrogance, all the while working his way ruthlessly through his objectives... why, it's almost Yeerk-like. Regulus's tale doesn't greatly differ from many she's watched play out on Earth.

...Save in one respect of course.

"You lost everything to one ruthless con. Even yourself. And now you're left here." Discarded. Does she need to say the word? Telrim looks away, as if not sure what to add. "So how do you live forever, after all that?"

Hey, she's just a harmless Muggle. It's not like she could use the information - not herself.

[darker_black]

No, she doesn't need to say it. Regulus wipes at his face a bit before he answers. "He'd made a horcrux... I won't go into the details. I don't know all of them, and the ones I do know make me feel ill just to think of it. It means he'd split off part of his soul and bound it to an object. A locket, in this case. That's what he'd hidden in the cave."

"That way, even if someone killed his body, he wouldn't be completely dead. He could come back... somehow."

[in_the_cracks]

"Hm. Backing up your own soul. Not a bad idea, but splitting it - that sounds like a desperate measure. Someone who'd even do that to himself... I imagine the rest of you never stood much chance."

[darker_black]

"If it worked, I doubt whatever he came back as would be human. I'm not sure he is now. Not that it matters. The locket will be destroyed, and once he's mortal again he has more than enough enemies to finish the job."

[in_the_cracks]

She's still not quite looking at him, but her expression is puzzled for a moment. Then she nods. "Then when he needs it, his triumph will disappear out from beneath him. He'll gain nothing from what he's done to you."

[darker_black]

"Yes. And as long as he thinks I'm dead, he'll have no reason to target anyone I knew for the sake of revenge. My parents knows nothing of this, so they'll continue in their quiet support. Even Kreacher doesn't know why the locket needs to be destroyed. They'll be safe."

[in_the_cracks]

"You did well." She means that - if he'd been able to expose his enemy it might have completed his revenge, but that would be messy. The cost might be much higher than playing along a little longer.

She pauses. "Kreacher is the... house elf you trusted, right? I don't think you ever explained to me about house elves. I mean, obviously they're elves who live in your house, but..."

[darker_black]

"House elves... they're small creatures, a little shorter than the young Black Mages, capable of doing wandless magic. They're kept as servants, bound to a particular family. Kreacher's family has been bound to mine for generations."

[in_the_cracks]

"Oh." She sounds surprised. "That's an old-fashioned kind of arrangement." She considers for a moment. "But you must have been relying on him your whole life then. Having someone you could always count on... that's a powerful advantage."

[darker_black]

"Yes, and it's one I don't think the Dark Lord capable of understanding. House elves aren't loyal because of threats or empty promises, but because it's simply their nature. A house elf's highest law is their master's command."

"Sometimes... there wasn't really anyone else to talk to. I expect I know more about house elves than most of my peers who think the mark of a good servant is that you never notice they exist."

[in_the_cracks]

"True loyalty can't simply be bought." She looks at him properly, then, considering him with clear eyes.

"People who serve tend to be overlooked. I'd say it's a wise man who takes notice. You know a thing or two about loyalty too."

[darker_black]

There's a slight nod at the first. It was actually a dreadful insult to suggest paying a house elf, something he'd learned from those talks with Kreacher when he'd had no one else to talk to. It was like saying their loyalty had a price. It didn't. It shouldn't for anyone, but most considered house elves too far beneath them for there to be anything they could learn from them.

"Surprised to find that from someone sorted into Slytherin?" Regulus asks softly. "Not everyone in the house of snakes is treacherous. Some of us are only so if crossed."

[in_the_cracks]

Her eyebrows draw together a little, a hint of surprise in her regard. Perhaps something sad there, too.

"Regulus, I don't really know where you come from, or what you're supposed to be," she says gently. "All that matters to me is what you really are."

A chance to be judged on your own terms, human. Would you like that?

[darker_black]

Wizard. Black. Slytherin. Death Eater. Regulus has lived his whole life under a pile of labels and expectations. Things to uphold... and, due to the Dark Lord's critical misunderstanding of how Regulus had prioritized certain loyalties, at one time things to betray.

"I don't know what that is," is his honest answer. He finds it ironic, too. Untangling what Voldemort was up to had honed a talent he hadn't before realized for figuring out the motives of others... but it was no help at all in figuring out himself.

[in_the_cracks]

"It seems pretty clear to me," Telrim says. She drops her gaze as she speaks thoughtfully. "You're a dutiful son. You're just smart enough to know what doing your duty means, even if it's not what people want you to do. And you're loyal enough to do it anyway, no matter where that takes you."

She sneaks a glance at him, a momentary sidelong flicker of her gaze, to check his reaction. "You're an exile because you didn't abandon your people. You've had to step outside everything you ever knew to save it. But you're learning. And you're a good friend for someone to have at their back."

[darker_black]

Regulus has gone quiet for a bit, trying to make sure he won't cry. "Sometimes, I think it was easier when I was certain I was going to die. When I think about never going home, never seeing anyone again... it hurts. But if I had to do it over, knowing I'd be here, I know I still would."

"Although, it's a bit of a relief to know I won't see my cousin Bellatrix again..." The attempt to lighten the mood slightly is accompanied by a weak smile. "Even if I told her everything I knew about the Dark Lord, I think she'd more likely Crucio me than believe me."

[in_the_cracks]

Telrim answers with a hesitant smile of her own. "Sometimes being a safe distance from family isn't such a bad thing."

She hesitates briefly, then reaches out to touch his arm gently; an

"I... I don't know if it's any comfort at all. But for what it's worth, I- I'm glad you're here. And Mikoto would say the same... if Mikoto said things like that," she adds, her smile returning, with a wry edge.

[darker_black]

Unlike some in his former circle, Regulus does not believe Muggles are contagious or that you can lose your ability to do magic from getting too close to one. Although, admittedly, he had considered it a slight possibility before Mikoto's occasional lessons on genetics.

This means he doesn't pull away out of concern of 'muggle cooties'. Instead, he just hopes her hand doesn't get too close to where the Dark Mark was. Even though it had faded to invisibility, he knew it was still there. He had several theories on just what that meant.

There's a twitch more of a smile at the mention of Mikoto. "No, she'd never say that. But she might say that if I wasn't here she would have missed out on some interesting experiments in comparative magic."

[in_the_cracks]

Her touch lingers for a minute, almost as if to steady him before she withdraws. "Well, I'm sure that's true as well. But I don't think she's always able to understand how much people mean to her. Never mind admitting it."

There's a fondness in the way she says it, but a sort of regret as well.

[darker_black]

"And much of her focus is on finding a cure for her brother," Regulus reminds, "which is as it should be." With all he'd done for his family, Regulus is no hypocrite that would be upset by Mikoto's devotion to hers... Even if her emotional detachment made him feel like a bug under a glass sometimes.

[in_the_cracks]

"Right. Of course it is. But even with Kuja..." She pauses. "I just worry about her sometimes. She's been through a lot, and it's not over yet. But I think it's good that she has you around."

[darker_black]

There's a twitch of a smile at the mention of it not being over. "When is anything really over? Even when we die, someone picks things up and the world goes on..."

"I'm not sure where things on Gaia are going, not yet. And I've no wish to find myself trapped in another situation without knowing exactly what it is. But I am watching, and I'll help her if I can. I owe her at least that much."

[in_the_cracks]

"I appreciate that. It wouldn't be fair to ask you to throw yourself into the problems of another world, especially not so soon. You both deserve someone looking out for you." She gives him a smile. "And really, don't hesitate to call me if I can make myself useful."

Thank goodness for the meaninglessness of time in the Nexus. Even with the situation back home, she doesn't worry about making that offer.

Besides, if things go very badly, it really won't matter how many diplomatic obligations she breaches.

[darker_black]

"Thank you," Regulus says. It's also suspicious, but he makes sure his easy smile and civil tone conceal that he's thinking that. He's not really sure at all what Natasha really wants, but he's sure there's something. Everyone wants something. "I'm not used to having allies I can trust. Things might have been different if..." He sighs. "But, they weren't, and I tell myself I can't dwell on that... even though that's harder to do than it is to say."