Lost and Found [Newt Scamander]

Twelve

The view from the top of the building was breathtaking for all the wrong reasons. Contrary to the evening before, when Kel had looked out at the city with a sort of contented peace, tonight was only filled with the brooding air of prospected death and terror.

The Obscurial tore through the city, wreaking havoc as it plowed through buildings; an unmistakable black mass of twirling tendril of black magic and bound power never fully harnessed until tonight. Kel found himself holding his breath as the mass flew by the building ledge he was on before turning sharply to the right and disappearing down a new block of town.

"Is that it? T-that's the Obscurial thing?" Jacob asked trying his hardest to muster any bravado he could possibly conjure.

Newt joined Kel on the ledge, suitcase in hand, eyes sharp. Focused. But there was still an air to them of unease. "That's more powerful than any Obscurial I've ever heard of." He said, trading a glance with Kel before his eyes landed back on the Obscurial and the trail of disaster lying in its wake as it rampaged around the city. "You're not going to let me go alone, are you," Newt asked and, while he didn't exclusively look at Kel as he spoke, the man could pick up on the deeper meaning behind the words.

"Of course not," Kel answered.

Newt blew out a breath like that response was exactly what he was looking for and turned to Tina, handing her his case.

"If I don't come back, look after my creatures." He said and pulled something out distractedly from his inner coat pocket as an afterthought. "Everything that you need to know is in there." He handed Tina a pocketbook just larger than one would find in any gift shop and passed it forward. The edges, Kel could see, were well used and the pages inside were crinkled from several instances of ink drawings and instructions. A loose leaf caught the edge of it and Kel could just see one of his own potion directions placed within.

Tina's face was alight with alarm as she looked between Kel and Newt. "What are you-"

"They're not killing it." Newt said bravely as he pulled his gaze away from Tina and toward the city. Something hidden flashed just for a moment before his eyes and then he was grabbing onto Kel's sleeve, throwing them over the edge of the building, and apparating away.

Kel felt his stomach twist with the tell-tale signs of apparating and then the world went black.

✧ ✧ ✧

Kel could hear the screaming before he landed-- could see it from the moment he felt his feet back on solid ground.

Muggles scrambled about, shrill cries of alarm carrying through the night as they ran away from the swirling mass of dark tendrils in the center of a clearing of torn-up stone, four intersecting roadways blocked off as the Obscurial crashed into billboards and sent neon signs crashing down in a flurry.

Newt tugged at Kel's sleeve and together they crouched behind an overturned automobile, heads craned around the side when they saw Graves enter the scene.

The man seemed too calm as he walked forward and it was at that moment that Kel knew that Graves was not who he said he was. Kel wanted to move, to draw his wand and confront the man, to ask him why he always seemed to be in the center of all the trouble, and then to put together the pieces of the Obscurial vessel and now this. But he didn't. Newt held him back and gave him a grave look that told him everything words didn't need to.

"To survive for so long, with this inside you, Credence... is a miracle." Graves said, walking forward as people fled past. "You are a miracle." He raised his hands as the Obscurial raged on. "Come with me. Think of what we could achieve together."