Lone Flame on the Water:
Disclaimer: I own neither the Harry Potter series nor Regulus Black, and I am making no profit by writing this. A little bit at the end was sort of inspired by Jigoku Shoujo. I'm not sure if I need to put that, but for good measure, I don't own that either.
Author's Notes: I was going to extend on Regulus' reasoning, but it made the piece feel too heavy and far too long. It's a little on the long side compared to how I wanted it now, in fact. Reviews much appreciated.
He was alone.
It would have been funny for his family to see him now, drenched and shivering, with a death grip around the locket in his hand as he staggered almost drunkenly back to shore. His throat burned and he'd wanted to drown himself, to have everything over with and to be out of the burning pain of wrongness, but something told him he couldn't -
He had given up everything. A traitor to the Death Eaters, to his family, to his brother. A traitor to himself.
He knew his time was nearly up, but he had his Lord's prize – well, not his Lord anymore, and no longer his possession. He didn't know how to destroy it – he would have to hide it, far from where his family would find it. Maybe he could send it to Sirius, the only person he was sure wouldn't turn around and give it to his Lord.
He couldn't stop thinking of him as his Lord.
In that black water, he could swear he'd seen the dead. Inferi. They'd clawed at him, as if they wanted him to become one of them, and Regulus had laughed because it was hysterical; in ways that counted, he already was. He was the walking dead.
Between the Inferi, light had seemed to reflect from the water, like candles floating on the water – candles for damned souls. Maybe one would be his – for damned he certainly was – or maybe they all were. Maybe they were his candlelit vigil – "to Regulus Black".
But nobody would ever come, because he was a traitor to everybody. Presumably he'd always just be a rogue Death Eater, even in memory. Betraying his Lord was, he knew, signing your own death warrant. His Lord knew no mercy.
Yes, Regulus was alone. At least this way, nobody was being dragged down with him.