Crescendo: A Fantastic Beasts Newtina Fanfiction

Chapter 45

       "I'm right here," Tina repeated softly. 

       She moved closer to him, and without warning, a pair of arms roughly pulled her to his chest, enveloping her in a desperate and constricting hug. Newt buried his nose into her shoulder, and tugged her so close that she was now sitting directly beside him. 

       "You're real," he echoed. "Tina, you're real. You're alive and safe."

       Tina rubbed his back reassuringly, moving her palm around in small, repetitive circles. She felt him shuffle closer, tightening his hold around her waist. His head rested on her shoulder, and he was swallowing rapidly. She kissed him on the cheek, and wrapped her arms around him to return the hug.

       This gesture seemed to calm Newt ever so slightly. He was slowly stopping to shiver. His breath had grown more regular and consistent, and he no longer had to fight to draw air into his lungs. He was warming up in her embrace too, the icy coldness fading slowly away from his skin.

       "Do you want to talk about it?" Tina asked gently.

       Newt stayed silent for several long minutes. "It was Grindelwald. He had you, chained up to a stake," he began hesitantly in a shaky voice. "We were both wandless, and Grindelwald, he had the Elder Wand. He kept on firing all sorts of curses and jinxes at you, Tina, and I was just standing there, unable to move, unable to help. And – and you were screaming, so heartrendingly, and Grindelwald – he just stood there and laughed. And I couldn't do anything, Tina, I couldn't move!"

       He drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and continued. "He had me bound by some brand of magic, I was immobile and he kept on tortuirng and torturing you. You – you were screaming and crying and I couldn't even do a single thing. And then, once he was – was done with the torture, he set fire to the stake you were tied to, just like the Salem Witch Trials. The flames were surrounding you, and they kept on rising higher and higher and I – I couldn't do a single thing....not one single thing..."

       Newt gulped,  uncried tears making his eyes shine in the dark. "And at last, the fire – it covered you, and you were – you were gone..."

       Tina swallowed, forcing down a lump in her throat. She brought her hand up to Newt's messy mass of hair, stroking and combing it gently back into place.

       "It was just a nightmare, Newt. It – it wasn't real," she whispered.

       "It felt real," he murmured quietly, his voice breaking. "I can't bear to lose you, Tina. What if I did, and it was all my fault?"

      A sharp stab of pain and grief pierced into her heart. Tina hated to see Newt like this, so broken, so helpless and so deep in despair. "You'd never lose me. I'm here, and here to stay," she said.

       Newt didn't respond, but pulled her closer to him so that their bodies were pressed together. He nestled into the crook between her neck and shoulder, and Tina could tell that he needed to be comforted further, to be assured. She hugged him tighter.

       "You'll never lose me. I'll try my hardest to stay alive if I ever get into danger, and my hardest is pretty hard, Newt," she said softly. "You would never, ever lose me, and I would never lose you, either."

       "How do you know?" he challenged, defeat and fright clear in his gaze.

       "I have a feeling inside me telling me so," she replied insistently. It was true. She could feel a relentless confidence tugging at her gut, telling her that everything would be alright in the end, and it kept on tugging, and tugging, and tugging. "And my instincts are never wrong."

       "Can you promise you'll never truly leave me?" Newt whispered, his voice wobbling precariously. "Promise me, Tina..."

       "I will never truly leave you," she said firmly, but gently. "I promise."

       A sense of peace lulled over her as she said these words. She couldn't remember making a promise that had an actual meaning to her in a long time. 

       "And I will never truly leave you. I promise," Newt murmured into her shoulder. 

       Tina believed him with all her heart. They stayed like that for a long time, enveloped in each other's warm and bracing arms, rocking slowly together back and forth. The American witch heard Newt inhale deeply, and when he let the stream of air out, he seemed to be letting go of many other dark feelings along with it. 

       Tina closed her eyes, and she sensed Newt do the same beside her. They shared their warmth, and everywhere they were touching, it was as though they had melded together. Gradually, their breathing lightened, each drawing comfort from the close presence of the other. Together, they fell asleep intertwined and connected in every possible way, and made their way into the unknown black depths not as two seperate beings, but as one merged soul.