Work Text:
Lost cause:
A person that can no longer be changed for the better.
That's what they called us,
From the very day we were declared serpents.
Your first class in these hallowed halls,
Was not on floating feathers or brewing cauldrons,
But on the two factions of this unfamiliar world.
One which hated you for the color of your tie,
The other which hated you for the blood in your veins.
A singular word out the mouth of a hat,
Paved the road of your entire life.
How is this fair?
Only we seemed to see how it wasn’t.
I found you in the astronomy tower that night,
And you cried into my long frail arms.
And at that moment we knew,
It was the first contact of two bound souls.
That the fates had tangled up our strings,
And as long as the world was against us,
We’d stand, hand in unlovable hand.
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
Barely eleven years old,
Yet you learned how to survive.
With each jeer from a lion,
Your eyes grew dark,
And your face grew stony.
But you kept going,
Kept learning.
Because maybe,
Just maybe,
If you read every book,
Mimicked every mannerism,
You'd truly belong.
You wore my brother's discarded skin.
You were safer that way,
No matter how much it chafed.
So I taught you how to lie,
And you taught me how to love.
Our coldness was solely a performance,
But it would've been my reality.
I’ll forever fight to repay that debt,
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
Twelve years old now,
What's wrong with being clever?
Nothing, I said.
Everything, the lions said.
Clever, ambitious, determined,
Why does this make us bad?
The truth is it doesn't.
The truth is,
The only thing that turns a snake's heart cold,
Is the furious roar of the lions.
So we kept each other warm,
Scales pressed against scales.
Two people who shared all the joy,
And shared all the pain.
An unshakeable bond,
Built on traded homework,
Stolen glances and shaky hugs.
Two people who held on tight,
Through nightmares or daydreams,
And chanted our ceaseless mantra.
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
You were thirteen when you finally snapped.
Couldn't bear the weight anymore,
And resentment took hold.
If they'll always treat you like you're bad,
Why shouldn't you be bad?
They handed you a shoe,
Told you it would fit.
They saw it on your foot,
Even when it was hidden,
In a box beneath your bed.
So why not wear the goddamn shoe?
Why not be who they thought you to be?
Because,
No matter how hard you tried to make it fit,
It would always pinch your toes.
Leave your heel blistered and bloody.
So let me lick your wounds.
Let me squeeze your hand,
Hold you close,
And whisper in your ear.
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
At fourteen we found an outlet.
Wrapped tape gently between fingers,
And pounded our fists against bags of sand,
Until our knuckles were bruised and bloody.
Tried to drain the endless well of fury,
That threatened to spill over at any moment.
We yearned to take it out on our peers,
Hear the crack of a nose breaking beneath our hands.
But we didn't.
We couldn't.
That's the difference between a snake and a lion,
A lion doesn't think before it hits.
Can't see the link between actions and consequences,
They think it makes them brave.
We know it makes them stupid.
But one day when the time is right,
When the stars align and the water stills,
Our turn will come to fight.
Burn anything that crosses our path.
To fulfill an oath written in blood:
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
The summer I turned fifteen,
I lost my guiding star,
Returned to school with a hole in my heart.
But you returned with a smirk on your face,
Kindness in your eyes,
And a joint in your pocket.
We lay in the very spot we met,
Watched the way the smoke formed rings,
How it told a story with its dance.
You were my lighthouse,
A spot of light in my sea of darkness,
Showing me the way to shore.
And for a few short hours,
All the weight lifted from our young shoulders.
Giggling like the kids we never got to be,
Unrestrained grins shone off our faces.
I thought then that I didn't need my brother,
Because I had something better.
I had you.
A sister who promised to fight,
Me and you against the world,
Forever.
We were sixteen years old,
When I lost you.
She held open her arms,
And you leaped into them.
Walked straight into the lion's den,
Without a backwards glance.
And oh how the serpents hissed,
But this was war,
And you'd chosen your side.
You didn't bother asking me to join you,
You knew it was too late.
That my skin was already stained,
Irreparably tainted by Him.
You weren't the first to promise you'd stay,
And you weren't the first to leave.
Did you change your mind about me?
Or did you know all along?
Was there a moment everything changed?
Or were your fingers crossed behind your back,
When you promised it would be,
Me and you against the world,
Forever?
I forgave you at seventeen.
I've always thought I was a survivor,
But maybe everyone was right.
Maybe I am just a coward.
But if I am,
I know it's not because of my scales.
Because you have them too,
And Cas,
You are so so brave.
And you are so so good.
They will call you a lion in snakes clothing,
But they will be wrong.
You are not courageous in spite of your fangs,
You are courageous because of them.
Lions lead with their hearts,
And it's true that you follow yours,
But you lead with your mind.
Remember who you are,
They can never take that from you.
I'm sorry it became,
Me against you.
Please don't let this be our forever.
All my love,
-Regulus Arcturus Black