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Worthless

The bed was cold. It struck him as odd, because Regulus should have been there, warming the space. Stretching, Barty sat up, patting his hair down as he did. He was sure it was a mess, Regulus liked to tease him about it constantly after all.

He completed his routine in the bathroom quickly before padding through to the living room, wondering if he'd find his wayward boyfriend in there, perhaps recovering from a nightmare. The younger man hated to show weakness but Barty knew how much his nightmares affected him.

Finding the living room empty, but the fire burning, Barty frowned. He noticed an apple sitting on the mantle, and picking it up to take a bite, sure that Reg had left it there for him on purpose, knowing Barty's weakness for the fruit, found an envelope underneath it, with just his name written on it in Regulus' elegant scroll.

Leaving the apple aside, he picked the envelope up, slitting it open and pulling the letter out. A feeling of dread was settling in his stomach before he even read the contents.

Barty,

You should know that I hate that I have to write you this letter. In a perfect world, you would never be reading this and I would never have been forced to write it.

But we both know that we live in a world that is far from perfect.

Since you're reading this, it means that I succeeded in part of my mission, but didn't survive it. I'm sorry for that, Barty. Not for dying, because I believe my death meant something, but for leaving you, when I promised I never would.

It was a promise that I never intended to break and it hurts me that it is the one promise that I was forced to.

I love you, Barty. Please know that. I wish that living with you, in our home, was enough, but we both bear a mark on our skin that says it's not enough; that it'll never be enough.

He's mad, Barty. Utterly unstable and nothing like we thought he was going to be. He doesn't care about our world, Barty, not the way we do. He cares about immortality. He cares about himself and his own power and nothing for those of us that follow him and do his bidding.

He has Horcruxes, Barty. I don't know how many, but he has them. He's split his very soul in his quest to make himself immortal, and that is abhorrent. You know the price of soul magic as well as any other pure blood. It is not worth - not for anything.

I don't know if I should be sharing any of this with you, but it's important that I leave someone alive with the knowledge - no matter what you do with that knowledge. You may choose to hate me for what I've done, I don't know.

If you need to cast me as the villain, then I understand and just hope that you know how much I love the very bones of you.

Because I do, Barty. My only regret is leaving you behind.

Please, if you believe nothing else, believe that.

I have to go. I love you. I'll be waiting, Barty, years from now when you die an old man. I swear this to you, and it's a promise I will never break.

I want you to live, Barty. Live and be free, like we never were when we were younger.

Always completely yours,

Regulus Arcturus Black

Barty stared at the parchment as it fluttered from his hand to the ground. The next minutes were a blur of metal in his hand and loud smashes and bangs.

He fell to his knees in the middle of the destroyed room, the metal poker dropping harmlessly from his hand onto the soft carpet, his body completely exhausted.

After everything he'd done to free himself of the misery his father had tried to drown him in, he'd ended up alone anyway. Looking around at the shell of the room he'd called home before the letter shattered his world, Barty cried.

He cried for Regulus and the future they could have had. He cried for himself, for the loneliness that would surely eat him up from the inside now that he was alone once more.

He was broken beyond repair now.

His father must have been right all along, the words he screamed into Barty's face now echoing in his mind with Regulus there to buffer them.

He was worthless.

Written for;

Book Club - Brittney - Immortality / Sharing something important / metal

TV Show of the Month - Moriarty - Barty / Apple / Villain

Dragon Appreciation Word Count - 757

Writing Month Word Count - 757