He runs. He can run really fast, so he does. He runs and he runs fast. His feet are aching, legs burning, and he is certain his lungs are going to explode. He keeps running. A voice is ringing in his head, the voice, his voice. The voice swirls around him, through his ears, in his mouth; he runs from it. The voice is clear and strong, and he isn't sure he could talk if he wants to. His breath abandons him, but that damn voice stays with him. Everything leaves him, but that voice will follow him until his grave. He should have taken Regulus with him. Last "I love you"s follow him and he wishes he had grabbed Reg by his ear. Dragged him out by his hair. He didn't. He couldn't; he had to give him his first choice Reg has ever gotten. He couldn't take that from him.
"Come with me"
"Stay with me"
His mother's screams echo around the both of them, knives that slice through the air. He stands in front of them, he can't let them touch Reg. He won't let them cut his skin. Skin that is thicker than most, but still so very thin. Paper compared to Sirius's. Sirius' skin that has been sliced to shreds with Reg's plea. He can't, he tells him as such; Reg replies the same. The are so similar. He grabs his brother's neck, slips his fingers through his long hair, just like his. Hair so long, mother hates it, despises that both her sons ruin their near perfect appearances. Sirius leaves an invisible mark, a kiss on the forehead. A reminder. Mumbled words that should have been said more to each other, and less to their parents. Two pairs of eyes lock on each other. Sirius's eyes so dark grey from a distance they look brown nearly black, eyes like his mother's. Reg's are light, no mistaking the true grey that they are, blue eyes like their father. Reg's eyes are watering, he thinks his eyes are too. Reg says his goodbye, says those words, with determination. He leaves him. He throws more insults at his mother, more fists at his father; they have to stay pissed at him, forget they even have two sons. Forget that Regulus even exist to do wrong. He starts running.
He doesn't have his motorbike, not allowed to even know what one is, his only way to escape is to run. He realises days later that he could have turned into Padfoot, ran faster, more discrete. He could have called the Knight Bus. He runs instead. His feet know where he is going before his mind does. He passes the pub, the one James and him always go to when he visits, that's when he knows where he is. That's when his brain catches up, when his mind leaves his room with Reg. He's banging on the door before he can even think about the time, how James is asleep. How James's parents are always traveling. No one is going to open the door, no one will hear him. He will have to go back. He can't go back.
James is James, because he doesn't follow rules, he doesn't follow anything but himself. James opens the door.
James knows, he always does. He doesn't ask questions, he just hold Sirius. Hand in his hair, like Sirius's in Reg's. Sobs tear through him. James shirt his soaked he is sure of it. He tries to tell him, tries to tell him about his father's fist, his mother's tortuous spells. HIs words are gasps, James understands them. James helps him upstairs once the sobbing stops, once his lungs decide to do their jobs. He takes Sirius to his room and wraps him up in his sheets, wraps himself around them. James starts talking, telling him that James will figure it out, James will makes sure that everything turns out okay. Sirius falls asleep knowing that James is telling the truth, he falls asleep feeling safe for the first time since school ended.
When he wakes up the next morning he stops running, he stays.