Epilogue- Where the Wild Things Grow
Lila was shaking as she felt Newt's weight lift off of her to stare at the black fabric that was floating down from the explosion. He stood up. She looked up to see a dark expression on Newt's face. Darker than the time that he had to give up Pickett to Gnarlak.
Mr. Graves had moved up to the platform and was staring off at the falling black fabric, "Credence." He breathed, angrily. His plan had fallen apart. Someone would pay for this. The Aurors took a couple of tentative steps forward as everything settled down, "You fools." Mr. Graves hissed, "Do you realize what you've done?"
Lila helped Tina up. President Picquery stepped forward, her wand still out, "The Obscurial was killed on my orders, Mr. Graves."
"Yes. And history will surely note that, Madam President." Mr. Graves turned around, wand still in his hand, and advanced toward the group of imbeciles, "What was done here tonight was not right."
"He was responsible for the death of a No-Maj." The President justified, "He risked exposure of our community. He has broken one of our most sacred laws."
Still walking forward, Mr. Graves continued without hesitation, "A law that has us scuttering like rats in a gutter." He hissed.
Lila leaned closer to Newt to whisper in his ear, "Something's wrong." For someone so high up in the government chain and close trustee to the President... For him to be saying words like this, against his President's orders, something had to be up, "Be ready." She leaned back and saw Newt barely nodded. He got the message.
"A law that demands that we conceal our true nature. A law that directs those under its domain to cower in fear least we risk discovery." Mr. Graves stopped his advancement and threw his hands up in the air and sighed, "I ask you, Madam President… I ask all of you…. Who does this law protect? Us?" He pointed at himself, "Or them." He turned his pointer finger up at the ceiling. He dropped his hand and shook his head.
He turned and began to walk away, "I refuse to bow down any longer."
"Aurors!" Madam Picquery ordered, "Arrest him and escort him back!"
Mr. Graves was halted by a glowing shield over the caved in exit. He stared at it before nodding and turning back to face the American Aurors and began to walk faster towards them. He was the one to attack first, sending a blue jet-stream toward the group.
Newt shielded Lila from the blasts as the Aurors began attacking at force. Mr. Graves, it seemed, had enough power to his shield to advance closer and closer to the Aurors without becoming winded. He kept on advancing and at the same time managed to take out three of the guards surrounding the President.
Lila took one look at Newt and knew he had an idea, "Do it." She whispered. Newt just put his hand into his pocket and took out the Swooping Evil that he had scared the crap out of her before and swung it in the direction of Mr. Graves. It swooped over the heads of the Aurors and distracted Graves for long enough that Newt raised his wand and slashes it through the air. Out of the spell slides a crackling roupe of supernatural light that wraps itself around Graves like a whip. Mr. Graves tries to hold it off as it tightens, but staggers, struggles, and falls to his knees, dropping his wand.
"Accio." Tina called and Mr. Graves wand flies from where he dropped it into Tina's outstretched hand. Mr. Graves looked around at the group with deep loathing. Newt and Tina slowly advanced and Lila crept forward, but slightly behind Newt.
"Revelio." Newt commanded. Mr. Graves transformed before Lila's eyes. She gasped as his hair turns from dark to pale blond and from dark eyes to bright blue. A different man now knelt where Mr. Graves was. Lila's eyes widened as she recognized him from the wanted posters in the Blind Pig. She took a step back.
Madam President takes a couple of steps toward him.
"Do you think you can hold me."
The President straightened up, "We'll do our best, Mr. Grindelwald." Mr. Graves- Grindelwald- stared intently at Madam Picquery, his expression of disgust and then it turned into a small, derisory smile. Yes, this would work quite nicely with his plans. A small hiccup, for sure, but very nicely.
Grindelwald is forced to his feet by two Aurors, who move him toward the staircase entrance. As he reached Newt he paused, both smiling and sneering at the same time, "Will we die, just a little." Then he turned his attention toward Lila, "I'm impressed. A filth like you managed to stay alive in a fight against me. Rest assured, I will rectify this mistake." He flashed her a wide smile, showing his pearly white teeth and allowed the Aurors to lead him away up and out of the subway.
Lila shivered and crossed her arms over her chest.
Newt took Lila aside as the Aurors spread out and began to talk among themselves. He saw Jacob and Queenie make a beeline for Tina, so he had at least a couple of seconds to themselves, "Are you alright?"
Lila turned away from the sisterly reunion and stared at Newt, "Am I alright?! You were the one fighting Grindelwald and dealing with Credence at the same time!"
Newt swallowed at the mention of Credence and looked down for a brief second, then looked back into Lila's blue eyes, "Yes. But I'm not the one Grindelwald threatened to kill."
Lila pressed her lips together, "Well, he's headed for the slammer, right? A wizard prison? That's got to be hard to get out of."
"If he's headed toward the one I'm thinking of, then yes. No one's managed to escape from there. Grindelwald is powerful, but I doubt he's that powerful."
"So I'll be fine, right? He'll be locked away. He won't hurt me."
"Hey." Came Jacob's voice. Newt and Lila turned to where Jacob was standing, holding Newt's case of magical creatures, "I figured somebody ought to keep an eye on this thing." He handed it out to Newt who slowly took it back. Queenie released Tina from her hug and both turned around to the group.
"Thank you." Newt stated, nodding.
Madam Piquerly walked up, walking in between Jacob and Queenie, "We owe you an apology, Mr. Scamander." She finished walking by the edge of the platform, a little bit away from the group, staring up at the collapsed ceiling that now reviled open air, "But the magical community is exposed." She looked up to see that dawn was breaking, "We cannot Obliviate an entire city."
"Actually," Came Newt's voice, "I think we can."
Newt's case was set on the floor and the lid clicked open. Then, with prompting from Newt, the Thunderbird flew out of the case, startling the rest of the Aurors, Tina, Queenie, and Jacob. Lila was forced a couple of steps back from the force of the wind, but stood her ground.
The Thunderbird landed and licked his claws. Newt stepped forward, "I was intending to wait until we got to Arizona. But it seems that you're our only hope, Frank." Frank squawked and Newt hugged the Thunderbird's gigantic beak. Newt sighed, "I'll miss you, too."
Newt took a couple of steps back as the Thunderbird straightened up. He took out a clear vile that held blue liquid out of his pocket. Lila's eyes widened as she remembered that it was the venom from the Swooping Evil, the one that took away painful memories. She took a step back away from Newt.
"You know what you gotta do." Newt told Frank. Newt tossed the vile to Frank who caught it in his beak. Then he flew up through the hole in the ceiling. Lila could hear the screaming of the startled crowd that had gathered around the station as Frank flew away.
The Aurors moved closer to the hole, watching Frank fly up into the sky. The bright morning sunlight grew dim as the clouds swirled around turning dark and stormy. Lila thought that it looked like it was going to turn into a huge tornado, the way the clouds gathered and spun.
Lightning and thunder rolled across the city and a blue pulse of light spread outwards in the sky, like a shock wave in an earthquake. Immediately, clouds spread across the sky and rain fell down in buckets.
A huge group of the Aurors that were still left underground went up to help with the city clean up as the No-Maj's were forgetting about the day's events. By now, Lila had gone over to Jacob to talk about what had happened.
Thunder rumbled as the remaining Aurors fixed the damage done in the tunnel by the fight.
"They won't remember anything." Newt told President Piquery, "That venom has incredibly powerful Obliative properties." The lights slowly turned back on in the subway station.
"We owe you a great debt, Mr. Scamander. Now, get that case out of New York." The President responded.
Newt nodded, "Yes, Madam President."
"Shh. Stay behind me you too." Queenie stated and stood in front of Jaocb, "She's going to try to Obliviate you if she finds your still here." At that, Lila hid behind Jacob. She didn't want to forget this. Even with all the danger and running for their lives, she had loved it.
Piquery and her Aurors turned around to leave and then she stopped and turned back around, as if remembering something, "Are those two No-Maj's still here?"
Sighing, Jacob and Lila stepped out from behind Queenie.
"Obliviate them. There can be no exceptions." The President ordered. Everyone stared at her, hoping that she would change her mind, but, "I'm sorry, but even one witness…" She trailed off, "You know the law." She sighed, "I'll let you say goodbye." Piquery and her Auror guard left the tunnel system.
Lila closed her eyes before opening them. She didn't look at Newt as she walked with Jacob up the staircase, Tina, Queenie and New trailing behind them. When they came to the top of the stairs, they stopped and turned around as Queenie grabbed the back of Jacob's pocket. "Hey, hey. It's for the best."
Lila still wouldn't meet Newt's eyes.
Jacob breathed out, "Yeah. Yeah, I was never even supposed to be here." His voice broke, "I was never supposed to know," He shrugged his shoulders, "Any of this." He sniffled and continued his speech, "Everybody knows Newt only kept me around because…. Hey Newt, why did you keep me around?"
"Because I like you. Because you're my friend. And I'll never forget how you helped me, Jacob."
Jacob sniffled, "Oh." Tears welled up in his eyes and Queenie walked up the last few steps to place a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey… I'll come with you." Both of them chuckled, "We'll go somewhere." Jacob laughed weakly, "We'll go anywhere. See, I ain't never gonna find anyone like you."
Jacob laughed, shook his head, and pointed behind him with his thumb, "There's loads like me."
"No." Queenie shook her head, "No. There's only one like you."
Jacob gave a big sigh and smiled, "I gotta go."
Lila sniffed as Jacob turned away from Queenie… the women that he could never have. Which made her think, if she was never going to remember any of this… oh hell. She turned away from Jacob and rushed to Newt to give him a huge hug that seemed to last forever.
It was only when she heard Jacob clears his throat that she reluctantly pulled back and gave him a quick peck on his cheek causing Newt's neck to turn red, "Thanks for savin' me."
Newt stammered, "A-any time."
Lila swallowed, "I guess it's time for me to go. Even if my ancestry is magical, I'm clearly not. Rules are rules. It's not my world. Seeing it was an amazing accident. I loved every minute of it, but… I don't want you gettin' into trouble if the President finds out you didn't Obliviate me." She sighed, "Goodbye Newt."
"Besides," Jacob stated, "It's just like waking up, right?"
Newt nodded and Lila and Jacob glanced at each other before grabbing each others hands. They stepped backwards a couple of steps before they felt the rain hit. They both closed their eyes and felt the memories of magic, wizardry, the Thunderbird, the Obscurial and all of Newt's magical creatures in the case fade from memory.
Lila blinked and saw that she was standing in front of the train station, her hand held in a stranger's hand. She yelped and tugged her hand away, "Hey- wait, aren't you Mr. Kowalski from the bank?"
Mr. Kowalski blinked and seemed as startled as she was, "Yeah, wait, where am I?"
"I was gonna ask you the very same question, Mr. Kowalski." She placed her hands on her hips.
"Well, let's find a Button. Our memory's clearly wanky. Something must have happened." Jacob suggested.
"Good idea. You lead."
Lila sighed as she closed her apartment door at the end of the long day. Apparently her work had been attacked by a gang. She and a bank customer, Mr. Kowalski, whose name she had learned was Jaocob, had been taken hostage. At some point in their kidnapping, Jacob and her had planned an escape.
The escape had worked, but had cost them their memories. Her boss, Mr. Bingly had given her paid time off to recover. She saw it as more of an incentive for her not to sue the bank than for her health. Anyway, after a long grueling interrogation at the police station, then Mr. Bingly's own inquiry, she was bone tired and hurt all over.
She set her bag on her table, that Mr. Bingly had given back… apparently she had left it in the bank that morning and had not had a chance to get it during the hostage crisis. She sat down and put her hands in the pocket of her coat.
That was the strangest thing. When she had "come to" outside of the subway station, she had been in pajamas and a coat that were not hers. She sighed and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She yelped as something bit her right hand.
Puzzled, she yanked her hand out to see a twig hanging on her right ring finger with puncture wounds around her first knuckle. It was moving and smiled up at her, waving one of it's tiny little hands.
She shrieked and fell backwards in her chair with a loud thud.
Mr. Kowalski walked into Morton Dale's canning factory, dreading another long, hot workday. In the middle of the crowd, a man bumped into him, "I'm so sorry." Jacob streightend and looked at his suitcase, which was now on the ground.
Jacob sighed and looked back at the man that had bumped him, "Hey!" He shouted. But the man didn't stop walking and was soon out of sight. Jacob sighed and guessed that today was just not his day.
He picked up his suitcase, well, tried to. It was too heavy. Confused, he crouched down and opened up the case to find about twenty, what looked like, egg shells. There was a small handwritten note on top.
Dear Mr. Kowalski, you are wasted in a canning factory. Please take these Occamy eggshells as collateral for your bakery. A well wisher.
Jacob stood up and closed the case with a stunned look on his face. He could finally get out of this dump with the generosity from a complete stranger. He began to smile.
Back at the dockyard, Tina walked Newt toward his ship. They came to a stop by the ramp. Tina sighed.
"Well…" Newt stated, "It's been, um-"
"Hasn't it?" Tina asked, giggling. Her smile faded, "Listen, Newt, uh… I wanted to thank you."
"What on earth for?" Newt asked.
"Well, you know…. If you hadn't said all those nice things to Madam Picqurey about me, I wouldn't be back on the investigating team now. And what you did for Lila, convincing the police that they were hostages and didn't remember anything, that they didn't rob that bank."
"Well, what good would I be if I didn't get them out of the trouble I put them into?" Newt asked with a guilty smile.
"You do seem to get into trouble quite often, Mr. Scamander. I hope I don't have to investigate another of you cases. One was quite enough excitement for me."
"I'll try not to need investigating, Ms. Goldstein." Newt responded, "A quiet life for me from now on. Back to the Ministry. Deliver my manuscript."
"I'll look out for it." Tina said, honestly. Even though some of the creatures had creeped her out, they were interesting, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." She smiled.
The horn blew, signaling that anyone not on the ship, needed to get their buts moving. Newt turned back to Tina, "I'll send you a copy of my book, if I may."
Tina smiled, "I'd like that."
Newt sighed, "Well, this is it. I guess, I'll see you around sometime."
"Yeah. Goodbye Mr. Scamander."
Newt nodded, straightened his coat and walked to the ramp of the ship which read Royal Star Steam Co. He walked up the ramp and stopped at the entrance to the ship he turned and waved at Tina. She smiled and waved back. He sighed and turned to the entrance, nodded at the steward and entered the next leg of his journey.
A/N: Wow, it's the end of the first movie already! Can't believe the time has gone by so fast. This is the first book in my new series called The Thaumaturgy Chronicles. The book 2, which will be titled 'Legerdemain', will be posted on September 7th, 2019 and will follow the regular updating schedule.
Have a fantastic summer and I'll see you all in September! Thank you to my lovely readers, especially to those who favorited, followed and/or reviewed this story. You've all made my day every-time you have done so!
Reviews:
Sparky She-Demon- Thanks! And, yes, there will be a sequel!
AmericanNidiot- Yes! Legerdemain will be out in September!
Momochan77- I know! Things would have been a lot different if they had just understood what he was going through and not "killing" what they didn't understand.
Love . Fiction . 2919- :D
Guest- LadyRedStar- So am I! I'm definitely doing a sequel!
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Posted: July 6th, 2019
