the_debt_of_time

Dora petulantly rolled her eyes. "Someone younger? Someone wealthier? Someone
not a werewolf?"
"Yes!"
"I don't care! I want you. I love you. Don't do this."
"You deserve a choice."
"I made my choice!" She gripped him by the lapels of his overcoat.
"No. No. Magic did. Fate did," he insisted, trying to gently pry her hands away from
him. This was already hard enough. Saying no to her had taken practise, and it was killing
him to push her away. "You just don't know any better because we jumped right into this,
and I didn't even give you the option to say no."
"Remus, we're meant to be."
"You two are meant to be," Remus told a stubborn Sirius.
"I don't want to be meant to be! I want her to have a fucking choice, so she's not forced into a shit
life because fate thought it would be hilarious to have her bound to the Black blood-traitor!"
"I don't want to be meant to be," he mumbled softly, nearly a whisper as he looked
down. He winced when she placed her hands on either side of his face. "I want you to have
a choice and not be forced into a life because fate decided to bind you to a monster."
She finally pulled away from him, scoffing loudly. "Oh, please. You are not the big
bad wolf that you like to tell yourself you are. You are freaking out because Sirius died, and
Hermione and I were injured, and you think it's all your fault. You can't save everyone,
Remus. It's not your job."
"It is my job! And I... I can't do it. I'm not good at it. Everyone I love dies, and
the future has changed. I changed something. I ruined everything. I don't know how,
but... I lost James and Lily, and Sirius, and Mia... and now.. ." He stepped away from
her, the pain in his chest tightening, the coldness spreading, and his magic stretching inside
of him, trying to reach out for the broken pieces of him that were now lost forever.
"So you think that everyone's gone and instead of clinging to me, you're just tossing
me aside to... what? Make it easier for us both?"
"Hoping to."
"You're a fucking idiot."
"I'm aware."