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Newt wouldn’t necessarily call what he’d done, lying. Technically, no one had asked him if Credence was still alive, they’d all assumed that a mere handful of wizards would be able to take down something that Grindelwald had wanted to use as a weapon with just a few spells.
To be honest it was no one’s fault but their own and Newt was doing them all a favour by actually cleaning up their mess.
Not that Credence was a mess, in any shape or form.
The boy was unique and powerful and hurting. An obscurus that destructive spoke of years of abuse and neglect. Just the thought of the flash of pain in the young man’s eyes made Newt’s chest ache.
That was why he was wandering the New York streets instead of boarding his boat like he should have been.
He’d never turned his back on a wounded creature and he wouldn’t turn his back on Credence…he wouldn’t fail again.
Tracking an obscurial was damn near impossible and that was probably why Grindelwald had failed because he’d been so caught up in admiring the explosion that he’d only concentrated on the source but Newt knew better.
An obscurus was not only a part of an obscurial; it was them, literally in Credence’s case. Therefore, find the obscurus and you’d find the obscurial and finding this particular obscurus was easy enough as long as you knew what to look for.
Newt paused at the corner of a decrepit building, his eyes scanning the streets as he rubbed his fingers against the claw like marks etched into the stone.
Credence’s marks had started to lower a few hours ago and now Newt could follow them on foot. While the question of where the other man was heading was still in the air, the fact that Credence was definitely heading somewhere was obvious enough. The path didn’t meander or change like it probably would have if Credence knew that someone was tracking him.
Instead it was heading in a straight line, straight towards someone or something…or, if Newt’s guess was right, straight towards home.
Glancing around the street Newt frowned at the small congregation of children gathered before a crumbling old building just across the street.
As he watched the children slowly drifted away, vanishing back into the crooks and crannies that they’d crept out from.
Newt’s gut instinct had saved him and his beasts more times than he could count so he didn’t question himself as he crossed the quiet road.
Then with one last glance up and down the street Newt apparated.
Inside the building was still, dust hanging heavy on the air as it clogged Newt’s nose but it was the silence that caught his attention.
“Credence, I know you’re here,” Newt whispered, keeping his tone even and soft so as not to threaten the young man.
There was no response but honestly Newt hadn’t expected one.
“I know you’re hurt and scared but I only want to help you, Credence,” Newt coaxed, taking a step further into the gloom of the building, his eyes catching on the walls that had been smashed open, like something angry had torn its way through them, towards or away from something.
“You almost let me help you before, do you remember?” Newt asked, stepping over a heap of rubble, ignoring the way the hair on his nape rose as a gust of wind tousled his hair.
“Mr Graves…”
The voice was soft and pained but it seemed to come from everywhere at once so Newt didn’t bother to try and track the source.
“…he said he wanted to help me but he lied,” Credence accused and Newt inclined his head.
“That wasn’t the real Mr Graves,” Newt explained. “I don’t think either of us have ever met the real Mr Graves, to be quite honest. That was a man called Gellert Grindelwald.”
Credence was quiet for a long moment and Newt would have been worried if not for the glimpse of dark smoke that he could see hovering just behind him. He was almost certain that Credence hadn’t noticed that Newt was watching him through the shattered glass shards embedded in the wall and he didn’t want to spook the other man so instead he removed his coat.
Folding it carefully, Newt set it down before sitting.
His move sent the dark smoke spiralling up and back for a moment before Credence seemed to resettle.
“I’m not sure why Grindelwald was pretending to be Mr Graves but I can hazard a guess as to why he was trying to convince you to join with him,” Newt offered up, watching as another slither of smoke slipped from a crack in the wall, joining with the mass hovering just above Newt’s head.
“Why?”
Credence’s voice was almost petulant and Newt could help the smile that twitched at the corner of his lips at the sound of it.
“Because you’re much more powerful than you know,” Newt whispered.
The mass in the air bobbed for a moment, writhing as it flashed red and golden before more smoke rushed up to meet it. The pieces of Credence converged; melding with each other and for a second Newt was almost convinced that he could see a pair of eyes watching him from the darkness.
“Is that why you want to help me?”
Newt shook his head at the question, focusing on his hands instead. “I was telling you…before. I knew a little girl like you, someone who’d been forced to shove her magic down, to hide it because the people around her thought it was a sign of evil…”
“The mark of the devil…” the smoke that was Credence hissed and this time Newt’s smile was a small, bitter thing.
“You’re no more evil than any woman or man out there,” he responded, “She wasn’t evil either but they let her believe that, so she locked away the evil part of her but you can’t just lock away magic. The more you try, the more it will push back until there’s nothing else, until it consumes the very thing it was created to protect.”
“I killed my mother,” Credence whispered and Newt closed his eyes at the pain in Credence’s voice. “She…I didn’t mean to, I swear it but she was going to hurt Mod and I couldn’t…I didn’t mean to.”
“I believe you, Credence,” Newt replied watching as the smoke smoothed into flesh and skin.
Credence’s arms were wrapped around himself, his shoulders hunched up to his ears and Newt longed to offer the man his coat but instead he held himself still because this next step was Credence’s.
“I don’t trust you, sir but if you can help me, I’ll come with you.”
The words were carefully measured and Newt wondered if Credence had ever been able to say what he thought with the threat of consequences.
“What do you need me to do?” Newt asked.
“I need to find my sister Modesty and make sure she’s safe.”
*O*
Modesty was where Credence had left her, still huddled in the house, her fingers clinging to her knees as she watched them approach.
Newt fought the urge to rush to the little girl as her eyes focused on Credence.
“I’m sorry, Mod, I didn’t mean to,” Credence whispered, lowering himself to his knees. He kept his head bowed and over them Modesty’s eyes met Newt’s before she re-focused on her brother.
“She was going to hurt you and I couldn’t let her,” Credence finished, his fingers curled into claws against the dirty floor.
“Is she dead?” Modesty asked, her voice tremulous.
Credence nodded, his face still turned towards the floor and because of that he didn’t see Modesty unwrap herself and shuffle towards him.
Credence flinched as Modesty petted his hair but he made no other move towards or away from her.
“She’s not ever coming back?” Modesty demanded, staring at Newt but it was Credence who responded to her.
“Not ever,” he muttered and Newt could see the moment that the little girl seemed to realize that her brother was telling the truth because she flung herself on top of him, clinging to Credence as she cried.
“She’s never going to hurt us again, not ever cause you said she’s gone,” she sobbed and Newt stepped away, leaving the siblings to each other.
This was become more complicated than Newt had expected but he’d seen the gentle way that Credence folded himself around Modesty, as if he was afraid to breathe for fear of breaking her.
There was no way that Newt could part them which meant taking them both back with him.
Then there was the fact that Modesty remembered everything that had happened, no muggle would able to resist Frank’s powers but that was a matter for later consideration. First, Newt had to get them all out of New York before anybody started digging.
*O*
Modesty took to the creatures in the case like a fish to water. She lingered close to Newt, hanging on to every one of his words and copying his actions. The smile on her face bright and innocent and somehow unmarred by the horrors she had seen.
Her brother was another matter entirely.
“Credence,” Newt coaxed, stooping so that he could see the place under his table where Credence was curled up.
It had taken one simple mistake, one slip of hand to send the young man spiralling back to the place where they’d started from a few days ago.
The broken shards of the mug that Credence had dropped were already gone, cleaned up with a sweep of Newt’s wand but the action was so much more than just a fumble for Credence.
Thankfully the noise hadn’t woken Modesty, who would most likely have blamed Newt for her brother’s state. She was a suspicious and protective little thing.
“Credence,” Newt tried again, going to his knees so he could see Credence better. “It was just a mug and not even a good one at that.”
Credence shook his head, a move made difficult by the way he’d pressed his face against his knees.
“Don’t send us away; I did it, not Mod.”
The words had Newt’s lips twisting into something that felt like he was baring his teeth. He quickly smoothed his expression because the last thing he needed was to scare Credence even more.
“No one is sending you anywhere,” he offered up.
Instead of soothing Credence’s nerves, as Newt had hoped, the words provoked a flurry of action beneath the table and a second later Credence reached towards him, his hands clutching his belt tightly.
Newt’s stomach roiled at the implication and he longed to set the damn thing on fire.
Instead of voicing his thoughts, he took the belt from Credence, watching the man watch him from the corner of his eye when he set it down.
They needed to work through this and Newt would have to start now, apparently.
“Why did you give me your belt?” he asked, brows furrowing as Credence buried his face against his knees again.
“If I’m to be punished it should only hurt me and my things not Ma’s hands,” Credence recited, his voice shaking even as the words flowed smoothly from his tongue like he’d said them a hundred times before and Newt wished that he’d known the evil of that woman the day she’d confronted him on the steps of the bank.
He didn’t know what he’d have done but he would have done something.
Pushing past his fury Newt re-focused on Credence.
“And what am I punishing you for?”
“I was clumsy, I’m always clumsy and stupid,” Credence whispered, fingers digging into the material of his trousers as he spoke.
“So I’m punishing you for the mug?” Newt asked and Credence nodded as best he could in his position. “And any punishment is up to me?”
That got Newt another, even more, hesitant nod.
“Well then my punishment for you is to give Pickett a bath.”
There was a shrill squeak of dismay from Newt’s top pocket at that before Pickett started up a rant that would have made a sailor blush but Newt was more focused on Credence who was staring at him in confusion.
“Pickett? But my belt…” he trailed off, uncertainty clear on his face.
“You did break my mug therefore your punishment is mine to give,” Newt grinned, glancing at the belt. He knew that for some animals, especially the ones that had been hurt, ripping their system away from them only confused them more. He’d have to gradually untangle the twisted punishment system that the man’s mother had instilled in his head but for now, this would do.
Credence bit his lip, eyeing Newt for a moment before he leant forward and Newt shuffled back to give him space to crawl from beneath the table.
Once he was out, Newt gave in to the urge to cast a quick incendio at the belt, pretending not to see Credence’s tiny smile as he vanished the traces of the infernal thing.
*O*
In the morning, Modesty wandered over to Credence as he tried to keep Pickett in the water…emphasis on tried.
The little girl paused, her head cocked to the side for a moment, her large eyes roaming Credence’s form, settling on the empty loops of his trousers.
Her gaze snapped away from Credence then, finding Newt’s across the space that separated them and Newt held his breath as she watched him for a while before nodding as if he’d done something to gain her approval.
Newt didn’t let out the breath he was holding until Modesty turned away from him to help Credence.
There was something between the two of them that was terrifying in its intensity and Newt was grateful for it. He couldn’t imagine what Credence would have gone through without Modesty acting as a buffer and confidant.
Newt also made a mental note to write to Queenie and find out just when her abilities had manifested.
*O*
The first time Credence gave in to the obscurus after New York was when he stumbled across the arctic wasteland where Newt housed the other obscurus.
The snap of the canvas closing caught Newt’s attention, dragging it away from the mooncalves just in time to see a flash of darkness slip across the white backdrop.
Newt was on his feet in a second, racing across the space.
The second he yanked the flap open, Credence exploded.
The obscurus howled as it writhed, expanding and contracting like the pulse of a heartbeat.
The other obscurus floated high above Credence’s form, still protected in its bubble as it twisted sluggishly.
“Credence!” Newt shouted, skidding across the ice towards the two. “Don’t hurt her, Credence!”
That made both of them pause and there was a soft whoosh as Credence’s form plummeted, hitting the ground and spreading out like a blanket of shadows that licked at Newt’s feet.
“She’s all I have left of her,” Newt whispered and the shadows, that were all that was left of Credence, pulsed for a second before twisting themselves back into their human form.
“She’s happy here.”
Credence’s voice was a gravely mess but Newt turned towards it, only to find Credence still staring at the bubble.
“I could feel her calling me,” Credence explained, his eyes meeting Newt’s before skittering away.
“Like calls to like,” Newt guessed and Credence nodded slowly, his gaze moving back to the bubble that had floated closer to him.
“Can I stay here, just for a little while?” Credence asked and while Newt wanted to say no, wanted to keep them both apart…to keep Credence from seeing what could’ve happened to him, he couldn’t. Instead he shrugged off his robe and wrapped it around Credence’s shoulders.
“Ten minutes,” he told the young man and Credence ducked his head, one hand already reaching out towards the bubble.
Newt forced himself to leave them there, like a macabre display of past and present.
It wasn’t until the flap had closed behind him that he really realized that Credence had talked about the other obscurus as if it was still alive.