"The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're still alive."

-Orlando A. Battista

Regulus was dead.

Regulus -his brother, his baby brother dead -gone.

The news had been delivered to Sirius in the form of a note -a short scribble note from his brother. It had been the first time in years that he had heard from Regulus -sixteen simple words were the last thing that he'd ever hear from him. Those sixteen words were now burned into his mind.

"Maybe you will spare me some forgiveness, dear brother, since I am about to face death."

Now, he was laying on his bed, so many mixed emotions flowing through his mind -the thought of Regulus being dead was overwhelming to him. Although they had not been close in recent times, once upon a time they had been inseparable -once upon a time his brother had not been a Death Eater.

Their relationship had been strained ever since Sirius had been Sorted into Gryffindor -they fought against the force the tried to separate them -their parents. Their parents had this idea that Sirius would taint his brother's views on pure-blood supremacy -they did not want the two to hang around each other anymore. The first step that had ripped them apart was when Sirius left Grimmauld Place -left Regulus. The younger Black had never been able to fully forgive his brother -his sentences always had a bitter edge to them, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. How Sirius regretted leaving because the day that he had left was the day that his brother had changed for the worse. The final straw -the breaking of their last thin bond -was when Regulus had taken the Mark that named him a servant of Voldemort. The pain that had filled Sirius when he told his brother to his face that they were no longer brothers was the worst pain that he had ever felt.

Now he wondered why he had told such a lie to Regulus -he had never, truly, hated his brother. Disappointed in him, yes, but never in his life had he hated him. He -he actually loved him so very much… Why had he never told Regulus that? Why had he never attempted to reconcile? He knew why -it was because he was too proud -something as meaningless as pride separated two brothers for good.

He could regret -he could question himself over and over again -but none of it mattered anymore. It was too late to matter -his kid brother was dead. Dead without the knowledge that his elder brother still loved him.

This was done for Jemennuie's Sibling Challenge in HPFC.

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Thanks Mew for (f)being (f)a fantastic (f)beta!