Summary: The obliviation charm was probably the nastiest spell that was ever created. Credence would vehemently agree if he knew about its description. As it is, he already hated the unknown person who made all of them forget about the existence of magic. Because it meant they had to start all over again
Disclaimer: This is apparently needed so I'll just put this out here that Fantastic Beasts is not mine. I'm just using it to fuel my imagination. (Haha) Anyway, I hope you like this.
Note: This might be Gen only. I am not sure if I ever put romance but if I decide to do it, please know that there's absolutely going to be slash. Those squicky in this, please click the back button and look for other stories. Credence is also kinda OOC. Don't care though. I like mine more. There will also be differences in this one and canon.
UNEDITED and I have no Beta. Sorry in advance and enjoy reading.
Something in Me
01:
Credence felt like he had been wading into a murky sea for the longest time and had just woken up from a nightmare full of darkness. He felt like he found himself once again, his mind now becoming sharp than the sluggishness he had felt before.
He felt free.
He also felt like he had abruptly crashed into the ground full of spikes and finally having it penetrate into his skin.
His head hurt like he had been bashed by a bat multiple times in just an hour. He did not mind it though as he felt his mind finally clearing up once again.
He remembered everything he had forgotten.
He remembered how he had first known magic up until how his memory about it was wiped without any permission from him, without even considering his basic rights to be the one to decide what to do about anything concerning himself.
They took away the memory of the one thing that made him confident, the one thing that made him different from his stepmother, the one thing that helped him become who he was before.
They made him into someone he did not even recognize. The Credence Barebone in his memory is not the person he was before they nonchalantly took away his memories.
It was only midnight when he caught a glimpse of the small clock beside his bed and his head still has that splitting headache but he still decided to stand up and walk towards the bathroom. The pain would go away any minute bow anyway he was sure. And it wasn't as if he was a stranger to pain.
He had to see.
He had to see.
He stared at the mirror in blatant disbelief, eyes wide as he took in the style of his hair, his clothes down to how dangerously pale he looked.
He looked sickly and pathetic and completely not himself it was all he could do not to vomit at the implication his appearance suggests.
They murdered him. They took away what made him, him and recreated him into this pathetic MESS! As if it wasn't enough to take away his memory, they had to change his entire personality!
They murdered him!
Credence stared at himself in the mirror, his black eyes reflecting the raging fury at the injustice done to him. At how they played with him as if he was their pet project.
Even his magic, the usually warm feeling of it giving him comfort anywhere and anytime, calmly buzzing just beneath his skin while still hiding, and more importantly under his complete control was tarnished.
It's angry and tended to lash out when his emotions took for the worse according to the new memories he had access now. Angry and hurt and so needy of his attention, unable to connect with him and him with it, even communicate with it as he had usually done every hour of every day. He had feared his magic, not knowing what made everything around him strange and violent when he got angry or sad. He was afraid and had tried caging it and his magic's hurt doubled, making it even more violent when it manifested.
He had forgotten. He did not remember. Those people took away his knowledge of his own magic!
It was only then he remembered one detail that he had not even thought of as he was contemplating on punishing the person responsible for the mess he was now.
His sisters.
Chastity and Modesty... Did those people also wipe their memories? Did they not remember?
Were all of them robbed of their own right to know their own magic?
. . . . .
He despised how he had to do something like this, remaining as the pathetic Credence Barebone who only knew that something is wrong with him and terrified of being called a witch by his terrifying stepmother, but it is necessary. At least at the moment.
Just because he regained his memory doesn't mean he had to start the plan he had on ready and standby before he was violated in a worse way than he could ever imagine considering he did not have any resulting physical injury from that spell.
Only a memory wipe and an overhaul of personality, he thought to himself sarcastically, still angry at that fact. Credence did not think he would ever get over it that easily. He did not even think he would ever get over that at all.
His magic, so unusually alive and even more active than, eager to be used again and soaking up and feeding onto the positive feelings he had for it, turned dark as it had been all those years ago before he even managed to work with it, like it had been for almost a month of his... unknowing self.
It fed onto his anger, doubled the feeling of the intensity of his anger and released a wave of aura to expel the negative energy it accumulated in that short amount of time - merely a few minutes really - out of his body onto his surroundings.
Luckily, no one he knew was around him. Unluckily, the wave was noticeable as several light bulbs in the street blew. Windows were all broken and all the doors were opened rather forcefully. A strong wind is also blowing all around.
Despite the chaos around him, he ignored them and gave a chastising feeling towards his unusual magic, which gave him a warm pulse.
It's happy. Credence' lips involuntarily twitched into a smile and the warmth spread across his entire body. He sighed at that and decided to leave it at the moment.
He'll just have to make sure it won't happen again.
He looked around him and even asked for his magic if there were any magical people spying on him. It was one of the reasons why he could not do what he had planned before.
There weren't. He gave a sigh of relief and started walking towards the place he was forced to call home at the moment, groceries at hand.
If those magical people had taken his memories the first time, who's to say they won't do it again if they found out that he remembered again? Also, is recovering taken memories normal? Or was he the first case? Without facts, he could not arouse suspicion from them.
He did not want to be experimented on. Those people might have magic but their still human. They still have the desire to know things they could not understand, he was sure of it.
Besides, he still had to help his sisters unlock their memories. Wait, what is the effect of that spell? Did they erase memories when hit or just block it? If they erased it, then it won't be in any of their minds and even he would not be able to remember it. If it was just blocked then it'd be at least easier.
What was that spell again?
Obliviate, he thought to himself, remembering that day vividly that was only a month ago. The face of an indifferent man in a robe leaning a little closer to his face before his hand was raised, a wand in his hand and the spell was uttered while the wand was pointed directly at him.
If he had known what they were going to do, he would have fought them. But how was he to know that they would be taking his memories of magic? Those magical people actually utter something, a spell and using a wand to use magic unlike him and his sisters. He had never learned magic the 'normal' way as even his own was different. And both Chastity and Modesty uses magic without a wand quite well, without any spell or incantation.
Also, he remembered someone arguing about not doing it. He remembered how his stepmother had tried beating Modesty and he intervened, allowing her to instead beat his back so Modesty won't be in pain. After all, he is used to pain. He does sometimes use it to take control of his magic when it was about to go out of control at times.
Then a woman came, face angry and determination rolling off on her as she helped him and his sister, using magic to blast his stepmother away from them, making her unconscious as she hit the wall. She also healed them to the best of her abilities as she said that healing wasn't her forte.
"It was Queenie's specialty. I only know healing because Queenie worries a lot," she had said with a slight, strained smile.
She was Tina Goldstein. She had argued against doing it, argued against her apparent superior. It wasn't until they managed to get her away from them that they started the spell.
Obliviate, he thought again. He felt his magic stirring in anger and he fed it a wave of calmness. It stilled, struggled for a bit before it became content again.
He had to start meditating again and strengthening up the now thin walls around his mind to return his control of his emotions back. It was the only effective way he had learned how to calm his magic. He had to control his own emotion as his magic eagerly feeds on them, especially on the negative ones. He hazards a guess that it was because of the negative emotions that his magic twisted into something like he had now.
Also... If Ms. Tina Goldstein really argued against the obliviate spell being cast on him and his sisters as was what his memory was telling him, then she is the only one he can trust at the moment.
Also, his magic, though wary, liked her. That was good enough for him.
He could not afford to trust anyone else. Not even his sisters.
That realization hurt him. Chastity and Modesty were his only anchor, the only ones who had kept him from being homicidal. They were his lifeline and even now that they could not remember the secret they kept to themselves, they were still the ones he holds on to.
His sisters were his confidant and heart and he was their strength and protector. They had each other's back. They were closer than other families out there.
And those people ripped their bond to shreds!
His anger abruptly rose to the surface and his calm and content magic immediately surged up in response, eager to cause mayhem and destruction as was what his emotions were suggesting.
He immediately tried calming himself down. It wasn't as easy as it was before as his wall was still thin but he managed, as well as feeding his magic with the feeling of easiness, contentment, and happiness. It took a few minutes before he finally calmed down.
So, as long as he could not establish the former strength of his mind, he could not get angry. That means he could not afford to think of anything else that would make him angry.
And to stop getting sad over his sister not having the usual bond they have with him along with stopping himself from his usual lashing out at his stepmother as he was the pathetic Credence Barebone at the moment.
This is really going to be hard, he thought to himself.
. . . . .
During these two weeks after he had managed to unlock his memories, he had observed all the people he interacted.
Mary Lou Barebone, his stepmother was still her loathsome self. Only, she had now managed to completely hide it beneath the stern yet caring mask she had created. She's still poisoning the minds of kids about witchcraft and was almost encouraging them to kill a witch on sight with the use of pretty words and misdirection in order to not be called out of her attitude.
Without Credence' former and more importantly, original personality of being unafraid and teaching them to properly know someone first, whether it was a supposed witch or not before condemning them, they would slowly be led into the woman's thinking. It made him grit his teeth, unable to do anything about it at the moment.
Chastity... His sister has hidden her pain under a smile. He had never seen her leave that smile at all, always ready for it to spring up whenever someone talked to her. She also often sheltered Modesty from anything that might be harmful. She had taken everything on her own while caring for the kids, Modesty and pathetic him. He had only seen her smile genuinely when Modesty laughed happily and him giving her a slight, genuine smile.
It hurt seeing her like that, unable to be her protector once again and helping her with her burden.
Modesty... she's a naive child, she has always been. Too trusting and always obedient. Only, her light has been dimming every day. Her genuine loud laughs were being forced by Mary Lou to a stop when she hears it. Forced to only using her beautiful voice to singing that dratted song. Making the melody and lyrics sink into the minds of those kids.
His heart clenches as he sees the differences that is happening with his sisters. He could not do anything for them at the moment. He could not help them. He could not help anyone.
Not when he is like this and trying to be careful to not tip anyone of those people. He did not want to be spelled to forget again.
If it happened again, all bets are off. He would gladly kill every last one of them. Even those he would have to trust.
. . . . .
Ms. Tina Goldstein has been watching them, trying to be subtle about it but failing spectacularly. He spotted her almost immediately, looking on at them while apparently eating a burger.
He pretended to have not seen it and continued with what he was doing, distributing the fliers Mary Lou gave them about the dangers of witchcraft.
She watched until nightfall before she left. Wanting to know where she lived so he could talk to her, he followed and managed to know where she lived.
He had planned on going there the next day as he could not do anything without her help.
Only he could not as he was approached by a wizard by the name of Percival Graves.
TBC.
A/N:
So! I finally got around to writing this one. This was previously only for my facebook page but... reasons. Anyway, this can now be accessed here, AO3 and wattpad.
Comment. What do you think?