Chapter Text
When Regulus was younger he adored his parents. All young children do, don’t they? No matter what happens, no matter what their parents say, no matter what their parents do, no matter how their parents treat them.
You fight, you make up, you still love them.
They yell at you, you apologize, you still love them.
They punch you, you apologize, you still love them.
But then you grow up. The older you get the more you start to understand everything around you. The heroes you used to worship turn out to be just people. People who do bad things, people who don’t love their children, even when their children love them so, so much. Some parents even see their kids as objects, means to get what they want.
That’s how it was for Regulus. Growing up he did love his parents, he really did. He’d do anything for them, give up everything for them. In fact, he did give up everything for them. Something he regretted every single day.
But he moved on. Life moved on. And that’s not a story for now anyway.
Regulus and his family live in a village just outside of London. Well, they like to call it a village but in reality it is one of three very special camps. Camps filled with demigods.
The Hallow is a safe place for European demigods to stay. A place where they can be around people who are like them and understand them. A place where they are taught how to use their abilities. A secret place, reserved for only the best demigods. Reserved for only the richest, most powerful families. Reserved for only supporters of Tom Riddle.
Riddle is a very powerful demigod. Every single one of his ancestors on his mother's side of the family, back all the way to ancient Greece were demigods as well. It is rumoured even, that he is a decent of Heracles. Though other rumours say it was actually Achilles. And then another rumour says it was Perseus. Thanks to his exstensive ancestry, Riddle is, in one way or the other, a demigod child of pretty much every God that ever existed. On top of that his father is the king of Gods, Zeus. Riddle had founded the camp, to create a place for the more important demigods, and was the leader of it.
Regulus used to love living in the Hallow. It used to be a lovely place. They were well protected there, safe. He had his friends, his family, he went to school and trained. He was told he was special and that someday he and all of his loved ones were going to change the world. Some prophecy given out when his older brother was born, Regulus didn't exactly know what it was, nor did anyone, really. Riddle was the one the prophecy had been given to, and he'd never shared a single thing of it.
But then Regulus grew up. The ideas that had once sounded so lovely, so magical now sounded evil. School and training to control and use their powers for protection turned into training for war. Regulus could see it now, who Riddle really was. What he was capable of, what he was going to do. To them. To society. To the whole world. Of course his brother had known about this all along, Regulus had simply been too young and naïve to truly understand. You see, Riddle has some very interesting ideas on the world. He believes demigods shouldn’t be hiding out as they are now. He believes they should be ruling the world, being worshipped by what he called 'mortals' the same way the Gods are.
With each day the desire to leave this place grew stronger, but that wasn’t an option, wasn’t it? At least not if you wanted to leave with your heart still beating. Riddle had shown them he wasn’t one for exaggerating. If you leave, you do so in a coffin.
Or so this is what Regulus had always believed. Until he and his two best friends, Evan and Barty found themselves in the living room of Lily Evans. Lily Evans is a demigod as well, a demigod who just turned 18. Which is the age where demigods start attracting dangerous monsters who would very much like to kill them. Some demigods start attracting monsters months, or even years before their eighteenth birthday and others months or years after. As soon as a demigod turns 18 they get picked up by other demigods from camp Hallow. The saved demigods are taken to the village to be trained for Riddle’s army.
To find the new demigods Riddle kept some monsters in the basement of his villa. If the monsters started acting weird one day Riddle knew a new demigod had turned eighteen. Whenever this happened he picked out a small team of demigods to follow the monster to wherever the new demigod was.
Regulus, Evan and Barty had come to pick up Lily. Things had been going fine. They confirmed the girl was a demigod then told her what was about to happen.
“The Hallow?” Lily asked. “I thought there was only one camp for Greek demigods, camp Phoenix?”
Regulus fell silent. He frowned to himself, memories and broken promises shooting through his mind like deathly canons of fire. Camp Phoenix.
Regulus had heard the name of the camp once, it was the place his brother had wanted to flee to. He hadn’t believed it was real, still didn’t. Damn it, why did Riddle have to be this good at manipulating people? So unfair.
He looked at Lily, at the ridiculous mismatched clothing she was wearing and wondered if he should trust her. But to be honest, apart from her questionable fashion choices she seemed like a smart girl. Maybe he shouldn’t even want to believe her. But the strange feeling of hope he felt when she mentioned the camp did it, he should at least hear her out.
He rubbed the sweat that was forming on the palms of his hands on his black trousers. Which now had stains on them, amazing. After taking a deep breath in hopes to steady his breathing and his beating heart he looked over at Lily and asked her, “What do you know about the camp, Lily? How do you know it even exists. Tell me everything you know.”
And so Lily did. She explained how her mother had been a demigod who went to camp Phoenix. How she had known ever since she was a small girl that she’d be going there as soon as she turned eighteen.
She kept talking and simultaneously confirming what Regulus had hoped to be real for so, so long. With every word his heart picked up more pace, with every word his brain screamed out, telling him to go there. Lily was a great story teller, she moved her hands around to indicate the wideness and the beauty of the camp, with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes the entire time. She made it sound so beautiful, and she had never even been there herself.
Suddenly, Orion’s voice came through Regulus’ earpiece “Regulus, what’s taking so long? You should’ve been at the car five minutes ago. Do you need assistance?” It felt as if a big hand clawed around his heart, squeezing it harder and harder. Fuck, they were on a time limit. They couldn’t just randomly leave everything behind could they?
Their home, their family, their friends, their childhoods. But could and should are very different things. Maybe it’s about time they start living for themselves. Maybe they should leave, now that they still can. Riddle’s army grew bigger and stronger by the day and war could be there any moment now.
This was probably their last chance at getting out in time. If they didn’t they would be fighting at Riddle’s side. They would be murdering innocent people for something they didn’t believe in.
They would be feared. They would have to fight hard, against gods, monsters, human armies. Regulus would be stuck forever. Stuck with his family. Stuck with his past. Stuck with abuse, and so many other terrible things. Stuck with the decisions he had made in the past, decisions that had let him here. To another moment where he was going to have to make a decision. The most important decision of his life. And this time he wouldn’t fuck it up.
Regulus looked at his friends and thank the Gods they had been so close for so long. Regulus could tell they were thinking the same thing. He could see it in their eyes, in the tilt of their heads, in their raised eyebrows. In the language that was made whenever people spent their lives together. Relying on one another.
This really was their chance. Their one very precious chance at freedom. Lily knows of the camp, she knows where it is, she knows the people there. She can get them there.
Regulus turned on the microphone in his earpiece and spoke to Orion. “Dad it’s fine. She’s just taking a bit long packing all her stuff we’ll be at the car in a bit.”
They needed to think fast now. Were they really going to do this? “Barty, how much money do you have on you? Enough to get us to… wherever camp Phoenix is?” he asked, giving Lily a look. “Oh camp Phoenix is in the U.S.” Lily said. “Long island.”
“Uhh if the plane tickets are about the same price as a certain amount of a certain something then yes that’d probably be enough” Barty said, eying Lily suspiciously. Well, they were just going to have to trust Barty on this one, oh that sounds like a fucking nightmare.
The boys looked at each other. They really were going to do this then. Something Regulus should’ve done a long time ago. Something he could’ve done with the person he loved most if he hadn’t been so stupid. But now, finally, after all these years they were leaving. This was their one chance and they were definitely taking it. And so they did. They fled.