Hey guys! So obviously, I need to preface this story by apologizing to my previous readers. I had uploaded this story a while back, but wasn't feeling happy with the direction of it. So, I took it off and have spent a month or so writing and rewriting and I think I finally have it to a place that I'm happy with. The story is nearly all written, so I'll try to update it every few days or so. (It's still all about Newt and whumpage and all that goodness, don't worry)
To any new readers, thanks for reading!
*As a warning, this story does include torture, but nothing too major.*
Enjoy! :)
Chapter 1: Face to Face
"Credence, I owe you an apology."
Graves stood, arms spread wide, looking through 3 busted, brick walls at the skinny, shaking boy. He had made a serious misjudgment, but he hoped it wasn't too late to salvage the situation.
"Credence." He watched the boy carefully. "You can control this."
At these words Credence looked up at Graves; the shaking was becoming uncontrollable.
"I don't think I want to, Mr. Graves."
Suddenly, Creedence convulsed and his body erupted into a huge, swirling billow of black smoke. For a second, Graves thought Credence was going to smash right into him. Instead he swerved away, floating through the streets in a flurry of black smoke.
In a split second decision, Graves procured a note from his wand, sending it soaring through the air to the MACUSA headquarters, his mind racing ahead.
It read: I have the obscurial. Don't send reinforcements, it'll only make things worse. I'll send another note if backup is necessary.
With a sharp crack, Graves had disapperated, following Credence's trail.
Around the same time...
Newt, Tina, Queenie, and Jacob looked at the streets below.
With a start, Newt saw Credence: a billowing, thunderous black cloud, moving quickly down the empty streets, an eerie roar emanating from within the mass.
"Look, there!" He pointed and the others looked, they all gasped.
With a burst of adrenaline, Newt turned to Tina, thrusting his case in her arms.
"If anything should happen, look after my creatures."
Suddenly, he sprang from the building and with a crack he was gone.
"Newt! Oh, geez..."
Tina turned to Queenie, thrusting the case into her sister's arms.
"Here, look after this."
Tina followed Newt's lead, jumping off the building and disappearing with a crack.
Queenie turned to Jacob, holding out the case.
"Here, honey. Hold onto this."
Jacob grabbed Queenie's arm, stopping her.
"Woah, woah, woah, I'm coming with ya!"
Queenie looked away anxiously.
"Oh, but it's too dangerous for a no-maj."
Jacob looked at her earnestly. "But you said I was one of you."
"That's true, but..." Queenie looked at Jacob, reading his mind, his thoughts going back to the war. She took a step toward him and placed a hand on his cheek. "Oh, honey. I never knew." With a crack, they disapparated.
On the streets below...
The black mass that was Credence came to a stop above a subway tunnel entrance, funneling downward until he was a boy once again. He looked around, nervous, before he descended the steps to the tunnels below.
Off in the distance...
Newt and Tina crouched behind a car, watching as Credence disappeared from their view toward the tunnels.
"I'll go after him. I think he'll listen to me."
Tina started standing up, but Newt gently grabbed her arm, pulling her back down.
"Let's both go. Just in case."
A smile pulled at Tina's lips and she nodded, trying to suppress the rising of butterflies in her stomach the arose from Newt's touch. Together they jumped out from behind the car and raced down the steps towards Credence, completely unaware that they weren't alone.
In a nearby alleyway...
Graves watched as Tina and the man he had recently come to know as Newt Scamander sprinted down the stairs toward Credence. Taking a moment to collect his thoughts and formulate a plan, he stepped out from the shadows and slowly made his way toward them.
In the tunnels...
Newt and Tina skidded to a halt once they entered the tunnels, both noticing billowing smoke gently cascading down the tunnel wall. Tina placed a hand on Newt's chest, indicating him to remain behind. Cautiously she made her way toward Credence.
"Credence. Credence, do you remember me? My name's Tina. I...I work for MACUSA, the magic government."
She looked nervously back at Newt, who gave her an encouraging nod.
"Do...do you remember that day I came to your home Credence? I stopped your mother that day. I'm sorry that I couldn't stop her again. You see, I got in trouble for what I did. But...but that doesn't mean I can't help you now, Credence."
She watched in amazement as Credence slowly turned into himself, now sitting on the ground, hugging his knees. He was looking at Tina with innocence and fear.
Tina smiled kindly. "Newt and I, we can get you out of here, Credence. We can help you learn to control your powers. Help you learn what it means to be a wizard."
Tina watched as Credence's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Can I come over to you, Credence?"
Credence nodded and Tina walked closer, this time with more confidence.
Suddenly, a bright blue flash illuminated the tunnel and Tina twisted around as she heard Newt cry out.
"Newt!" She watched as he flew through the air towards them, landing on his back. Almost as soon as his body hit the ground, he was on his feet again, sending a flurry of hexes toward Graves, and running toward Tina and Credence.
"Let's go!"
He grabbed Tina's arm and she grabbed Credence's hand and the trio took off running as fast as they could from Graves, sending hexes from over their shoulders. They skidded around a corner and Newt grabbed Tina's shoulders, she was still clutching Credence, who appeared to be in shock.
"Listen, Tina. You have to get Credence out of here. If my suspicions are true, Graves is far more dangerous than we realized and his motives for wanting Credence are definitely sinister."
Tina nodded, understanding what Newt was implying. Newt panted, looking around, expecting Graves to appear at any moment.
"Take Credence to your place. Then send a message to Dumbledore, explain everything. Tell him to come here as quickly as he can. Tell him it's of the upmost importance."
Tina looked at Newt with wide, scared eyes. "But, Newt, what about you, let's all go..."
Newt shook his head; he was losing patience. "We need a distraction..." He looked at Tina intently, staring into her eyes. "Don't come back for me without Dumbledore. He's the only one who can stop him."
Tears sprang to Tina's eyes and she leapt at Newt, wrapping her arms around him. After a moment of shock, Newt returned the affection, but then quickly pushed her away; they were losing precious time.
"Go, now."
Silent tears were running down her face as she gripped Credence's hand once again. With a small reassuring smile, there was a crack, and they were gone.
Newt turned to sprint down the tunnel until he heard a snap through the air. As he was running, he turned to deflect the spell, but he was too slow. A blue shock struck him on the side and with a grunt, he was thrown through the air and onto the ground once again.
He was slower to get up this time. Another blue flash came at him but this time he was able to deflect it, barely. He shot a couple of hexes toward Graves, who was quickly walking toward Newt, but Graves deflected them with ease, as if he was swatting away a fly. In response, Graves sent a flurry of blue flashes at Newt.
Staggering backwards, Newt felt sweat bead on his forehead as he deflected the first spell. He gripped both hands on his wand as he deflected the second spell. By the time the third spell reached Newt, he didn't stand a chance. Again, he was knocked to his back, gasping for air, his wand had flown from his hand and was lying about 6 feet away.
He rolled onto his side and tried to scoot towards it; painfully aware of Graves footsteps, which were getting closer.
He cried out and squirmed, rolling onto his back as another flash struck him. Again, he attempted to scoot towards his wand, but he knew it was no good, he could feel that Graves was now standing near.
Newt knew it was coming. As much as he tried, he couldn't hold back the scream that erupted from his mouth as another blue flash struck his spasming body, this one lasting much longer than the others. It felt like every nerve in his body was on fire and every muscle he had was being painfully constricted.
Finally, it ended. He laid there, gasping on the ground, looking up at the dirty ceiling of the tunnel through half lidded eyes. He heard a whoosh as he saw his wand fly overhead into the outstretched hand of Graves.
"Now, now," Graves was kneeling next to Newt, one hand placed on his chest. "Don't tap out on me now, there's so much that I need you to tell me. First, where did Tina take Credence?"
Newt responded by looking up at Graves with as much determination and hatred as he could muster, even though all he really felt was fear.
Graves smirked and stood up, pointing his wand in the air. A silvery, orange stream shot from the end of his wand. It hit the ceiling of the tunnel and spread outward, shielding them in a dome that was about 50 feet from end to end.
"There." Graves stood over Newt, admiring his handiwork. "No one in or out."
He crouched down by Newt again.
"Where is Credence?"
Newt smiled slightly with anticipation. "Why would I tell you? Gellert Grindelwald."
Grave's smirked dropped and he stood up abruptly, staring down at Newt with contempt. With a flick of his wand, Newt was brought up to his knees and his arms behind his back. Invisible bonds secured him in place and he swayed slightly against them, breathing heavily.
Grave's slowly circled Newt. "That's right...I am Grindelwald. I must say I'm impressed that you figured it out. However, that's irrelevant. I'll ask once more: where is Credence."
Newt set his jaw and stared off into the distance. He was aware what was about to happen to him, he just hoped that it wouldn't last long; he hoped that Dumbledore would be coming to his rescue soon.
Newt tensed involuntarily as he heard the mumbled words a split second before he felt it.
"Crucio!"
Newt had been through his fair share of pain in life. That was part of his job description, dealing with dangerous creatures. But nothing he had ever experienced even came close to this. He had heard of the effects of the cruciatus curse, but he never thought it would be this excruciating.
He heard his screams bounce off of the walls and pain exploded over his whole body. It felt like someone was poking him all over with white hot knives.
It suddenly stopped and Newt was left sagging against his invisible bonds, panting and sweating. Grindelwald knelt in front of Newt, looking at him with mock concern.
"Where's the boy?" It came out as a harsh whisper that Newt barely heard. He looked down at the ground, trying to maintain his composure. Suddenly, Graves grabbed Newt's face, roughly jerking his head up so they were eye to eye.
"Tell me."
Newt felt a surge of panic rise inside of him as he looked into Grindelwald's eyes. If there was any shred of sanity there before, it was now long gone. Instead, there were only manic, wild eyes. Eyes that didn't care about anyone else. Eyes that would do anything it took to get what they wanted.
"Crucio."
He whispered it, but it didn't make the attack any less vicious. Another scream tore from Newt's mouth. The sound of it was so foreign to him. It felt so surreal. It was like he was watching it all happen from above. He could feel his body shaking and convulsing. He could hear his screams of pain, but it couldn't really be him. Could it? How was it possible that Newt Scamander, the meek, gentle magizoologist, was being tortured by the greatest dark wizard of his time, Gellert Grindelwald.
Grindelwald paused, standing in front of Newt, his face contorted by rage. He barely gave him time to catch his breath before he struck him with the curse again.
"CRUCIO!"
Newt threw his head back and cried out. His mind raced toward Tina and he tried to grab onto the image of her, it was elusive though. He couldn't seem to focus on anything as the white hot daggers relentlessly prodded him. His thoughts drifted towards his creatures, but the happy thoughts were whisked away again. With a jolt, his mind latched onto something else, a new thought of hope.
Dumbledore. Please, hurry, Dumbledore.
For a moment the hope clouded the agony he was in, but it didn't last long. The hopeful thought faded from view until he was left with nothing but the realization of the pain that was completely consuming him.
Tina's apartment, 30 minutes earlier...
With a crack, Tina and Credence apparated in the living room of her apartment. Queenie and Jacob stood up, shocked by their sudden appearance. Tina guided Credence to the sofa, sitting him down.
"Just sit here Credence, everything's going to be fine, I promise."
Tina rushed to her desk in the living room, pulling out paper and a pen, frantically writing.
Queenie darted over to Tina's side. "Teenie, what is..."
Her face fell as she read Tina's thoughts. "Dumbledore...you mean Newt is still down there with him? With Graves..." She read her mind again and her hand shot to her mouth. "...Grindelwald. Oh, Teenie."
Tina continued scribbling frantically. "I have to get this to Dumbledore. It's very important that he gets this as quickly as possible." She rolled the note up and stood up to face Queenie. "Newt's life depends on it."
She rushed past Queenie and opened their owl's cage, tying the note to his leg.
"Jack, I need you to deliver this to Albus Dumbledore as fast as you can. It's urgent."
As if she'd said the magic word, Jack the owl sprung from his cage and out the open window, soaring through the quiet night air.
Jacob finally found his voice, he had been eyeing Credence, who was sitting on the couch in apparent shock.
"Wait, is this Grindlewald guy the super dangerous wizard you guys were talking about before?"
Tina was too busy pacing the length of the living room to respond. Queenie glanced at her uncertainly before she turned to Jacob to respond.
She nodded. "Yeah, he's the worst dark wizard we've ever had."
Jacob's face went slack. "And...and Newt's down there with him right now?"
Queenie nodded sadly.
There was a panic to his voice now. "Well, why aren't we going down there? Or...or calling your magic government for help? Surely they can..."
Tina stopped pacing and faced Jacob. "No, we can't ask them. Unfortunately, we don't know who we can trust over there. Plus…"
She jerked a thumb at Credence, who was completely oblivious. Jacob nodded.
"Oh, right."
"Right now," Tina continued, "Dumbledore's our only hope."
Queenie nodded, reinforcing Tina's answer. "That's right, honey. Dumbledore's the only one that can defeat Grindelwald."
Jacob nodded, not entirely convinced, but a new confused though flitted through his brain. "But, why didn't Newt just come with you?"
A silence settled over the room and Queenie read her sister's thoughts. She was about to respond, but Credence beat her to it.
"It's because of me."
All eyes turned to Credence, who was sitting still on the couch; he was staring at his shoes.
Tina's demeanor softened. "Credence...that's not true."
Credence responded quietly. "Yes, it is."
Tina sighed and sat next to Credence, grabbing his hands in hers. He looked up at her through wide eyes. He seemed so much younger than he was, like a child.
"It is not your fault, Credence. The only person at fault here is Grindelwald...Graves, whatever you want to call him. He tried to use you Credence. He wanted to use your powers, to manipulate your ability for evil."
She squeezed his hands as she saw tears spring to his eyes.
"Newt and I, all we wanted was for you to be safe. Dumbledore, the wizard who's coming here soon, he's a great wizard. The greatest of our age. He'll defeat Grindelwald and save Newt. I know it."
She was aware that she was trying to convince herself just as much as Credence. With a sudden rush of affection, she pulled Credence into a hug and was surprised to feel wetness on her face. She looked up at Jacob and Queenie, who were looking at her with admiration.
Tina could only think one thing though.
C'mon, Dumbledore. Please, hurry.