Tina reluctantly opened her eyes, and woke up to a completely black room, containing nothing but the chair she was tied to, gagged, and she was very painfully sore.
Where am I? she wondered. She didn't remember anything from last night. She tried to recall, sitting in the dark. She attempted to pull her arms away, but to her surprise she wasn't locked there by magic. There was an actual metal padlock with chains, binding her to the chair.
Well this was absolutely cruel. If she had her wand, it would take seconds to unlock it. Then she realized how lucky she was that they locked her. She nodded her head over to her pocket, where the bowtruckle Newt had given her was hiding.
Bowtruckle?
Her memories came flooding back. The first date with Newt, Mason.
Mason. She knew something was off about him when she saw him at MACUSA every day. She never thought he would actually kidnap her though.
She shook herself out of her thoughts. First, get this gag off. It took a while, but she finally got it off with a lot of work and quite a bit of muffled curses under her breath. Finally she looked down, and saw her bowtruckle still hiding. She smiled encouragingly.
Her delicate bowtruckle climbed out from underneath her pocket, and it looked at her. She felt love for the little creature.
"What should I call you?" she mused. It continued peering up at her. "Well, if you're going to be mine, I'm making you American. Your name is Lucy." Lucy seemed happy at that. She then started to climb around her back and found the padlock, working her way through it.
Then she realized her wand was still in the slim pocket Queenie had sewn on the inside of her dress. How did he not find it on me? she wondered.
Then Tina heard footsteps approaching. She began to panic. A door she hadn't noticed before opened, and Mason walked in. She tensed.
"Well, someone's awake," Mason said, leaning down in front of her. Her mouth twisted in disgust.
"Who do you work for?" she asked, scowling at him. He smiled innocently.
"The One and Only," he said, cocky. Her mind could barely proceed it. He worked for Grindelwald? She had no clue he had been so close to her home. Or maybe she didn't. She still had no clue where she was.
"How long," she asked dully, energy gone. There was no way she could get out of here. Not without help.
"From the very beginning," he said cheerfully. "Which reminds me. He asked to see you specifically. And your guy that follows you everywhere," he added, grimacing. "In fact, you're kind of being used as bait."
She was surprised at his grimace. Did he actually have feelings for her? It didn't matter anyway. "I don't want to see him."
He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Aren't you and MACUSA constantly trying to track him down? I'd hate to see you miss this opportunity," he continued.
She felt the temptation eating at her, and she hated how she couldn't walk away from this, and he knew it. Grindelwald knew it. How did he know her so well?
"Fine," she said. "Just give me 10 minutes."
He laughed at her. "You're chained. What do you need time for?"
She felt the last click on the padlock unravel. She slowly felt her boots for her wand, and spoke. "Guess you're right," she said slowly, whipping out her wand and paralyzing him. She levitated him in the air, enjoying his scared expression. "I wouldn't need time to get ready unless I wanted to escape."
She chained him to her chair, and took his wand. "Doesn't feel good, does it?"
She walked away with her bowtruckle, feeling quite proud of herself. "We're a pretty good team," she said to Lucy, smiling. And they walked out the prison doors, locking it behind them.
She was feeling the true meaning of feeling free until she ran straight into a figure. "Oh no, I'm so-" She froze.
A man dressed in a suit peered down at her. She felt it getting harder to breath. This couldn't be who she thought it was.
The stranger curled his lip. "Looks like I'm witnessing a prison break," he said. "Well don't let me interrupt." Then he took out his wand and had her hands behind her back faster than she could blink. She glared at him, realizing who he was.
"Grindelwald." She gritted her teeth. "Didn't think you'd be so close to home."
He smirked. "Well, my home usually isn't here, but I've been making sure to keep a close eye on my captors." He studied her. "How did you get out of my prison so easily? It wasn't locked by magic," he said suspiciously.
She smiled. "Sometimes it doesn't take a spell," she said. "Though I did have fun tying up Mason," she confessed snidely.
His confident smile disappeared. "How did you get out?" he demanded. Tina looked around, ignoring his question and enjoying his obvious discomfort.
He glared. "We'll see how long you can act so ignorant after I'm done with you," he growled. Tina shrank back as she could literally feel dark magic radiating from him. But she quickly straightened. She had to prove she wasn't going to be as easily pushed aside as the last time they had met.
She looked away. "Newt will come. And he isn't going to fall for a trap," she said confidently.
A smile started to appear on his face. "That's exactly the problem," he said, mocking the sadness on her face. He walked away laughing, dragging her along with him with his wand. "You are the trap."
***
Newt had been panicking for he didn't want to know how long, and hadn't taken a break from panicking. At all.
"Newt," Queenie said gently. "You have got to stop panicking. I can hear your thoughts louder than anything I've ever heard in my life."
He felt a shot of guilt shoot through him. "Sorry, Queenie," he mumbled, but he didn't stop pacing.
"I couldn't go to sleep last night because your thoughts were blasting so loud. You need to sleep. I need sleep. We're going to need it if you're going to find my sister."
"I know," he said. He looked out the window. How did life keep going on for other people? He felt like his life had completely stopped since she had left, exactly a day and 9 hours ago. How was he supposed to keep repeating his normal routine if one of the normal things in his routine was gone? Or people, in this case, he mentally corrected.
"When was the last time you sat down?" Queenie asked.
He paused. "I don't quite remember," he admitted.
She took his shoulders and forced him down on the couch. It was like his muscles completely shut down, exhaustion overtaking his body.
"Wow, you were tired," Queenie said, surprised. "I wasn't sure how exhausted you were. You didn't seem tired at all."
He put his face in his hands. "How am I going to find her? She could be anywhere." He felt hopelessness wash over him, stronger than before.
She sat down next to him, hugging him. He hugged her back, feeling grateful he had some type of family to comfort him and reign him back. Since Tina had been kidnapped with the guy from her work at MACUSA, he had been through a couple of stages.
First he was in complete shock. He just stood, leaning against the wall, waiting for her to come back. Though Queenie had eventually shaken him out of it. Next, he had been so angry, he didn't remember the last time he had been so infuriated with someone. She had calmed him down, though that was probably the longest stage. Now, he felt completely hopeless. He wasn't sure where all this protectiveness of Tina came from, but he wasn't enjoying her gone. Usually, he pictured Tina reigning him in.
"Definetly," Queenie agreed, shaking her head as she read through his thoughts. "And your welcome. And I think I can help you through this stage. I have a surprise for you."
She stepped outside for a moment, and then brought out a very familiar face. He grinned.
"Not possible," Newt said, unable to keep from grinning back. "Jacob?"
Jacob opened his arms, smiling. "Hey, buddy!" Jacob said. "I've been waiting a while for this reunion. I heard you gotta get your girl back again."
Newt hugged him briefly. "I'm glad you're here," he said. "I need to find Tina, and you know New York better than anyone I could think of. Any places to start on the top of your head where you would kidnap someone?"
"The sad thing is, I actually do, which I would never picture myself saying a couple months ago," he muttered. He spoke up. "Yeah, I'll show you a few in a couple of minutes. Let me just get my shoes on."
Newt felt a little happier that one of his closest friends was back. He quickly got his shoes on, but he saw that Jacob was talking to Queenie, and he left them to it as he walked into his room, staring out at the window.
He looked around his room, and then pulled out his coat. He reached in to his pocket and held out the letter he had received from Leta. He had been debating whether to open it for days now. He had kept it close to him just in case, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was inside. Thinking about her brought back very painful memories that he would rather forget. He wasn't sure what she was to him, or for that matter, what he was to her, but he didn't want to dwell on it. Before he started to get too deep into thought, he leapt up from the bed and saw that Jacob was just about to get him.
"Ready?" Jacob asked, grinning. Newt nodded, returning the smile. "Let's try not to get killed or arrested or do something illegal this time though," Jacob said, looking at him, teasing.
"It would be smarter to stay away from those categories," Newt admitted, unable to contain the laughter he felt he was always attempting to restrain around his friend. They walked out the apartment door.
"So," Jacob said, walking on the street with Newt by his side. "I got a couple ideas of where he'd be hiding Tina."
He nodded, hiding his anxiety. "Can you give me the addresses, and we can split up, cover more ground?"
"Sure," Jacob agreed. "But no running off without the other," he said firmly. "Don't get yourself killed."
"Sounds good," he answered. Jacob wrote down a couple of places on a faded napkin and they split ways.
He started walking down the first one when he saw another familiar face. Newt stopped dead in his tracks.
A woman was walking in his direction in a navy blue dress, curled ringlets of dark hair that fell loosely around her face. He almost lost his balance from the rush of emotions that came to life in his body. He suddenly wished Jacob was there with him to keep him from falling. He struggled to stand his ground as she approached towards him slowly.
"Leta?" he asked, breathing getting harder. She smiled at him. "Perfect timing as usual," he muttered under his breath.
"You recognize me?" she answered. She walked around him, circling him closely. He felt his heartbeats racing. "It's been years."
"It certainly has," Newt replied, trying not to look at her. She forced his eye contact however, and it seemed, once again, without trying. He wished with all his being Tina was there. Why couldn't she just drag him away from Leta and he could forget she ever came?
"Did you get my letter?," she inquired. Newt looked down, embarrassed. "I knew you wouldn't open it. At least for a while, anyway," she said underneath her breath. "It's a shame you didn't read it."
He shifted his feet uncomfortably. "You don't happen to just be walking around here, do you?"
"No, I suppose not," she said thoughtfully. She circled him, and the intent was clear she was trying to show herself off. He felt his will getting weaker, and he wanted to apparate himself out of here more then he wanted his Niffler to behave. And that's saying something.
"I've actually come to see you," she said, closely watching his reaction. "Even after all these years, I can't get the memories of us together at Hogwarts out of my mind."
In his head, he wholeheartedly agreed. "Likewise." He was afraid to say anything more, for fear of embarrassing himself or saying something he'd regret, which happened to walk hand and hand these days.
"So," she said. "I was wondering if we could catch up?"
Newt immediately stopped all train of thought. "On what?"
"Everything!" she said. "You used to be one of the closest people I had in my life. It's been years. Tell me about your life." She sounded sincere. Then again, she always did.
He hesitated. She waited. He forced himself to straighten. "I'm sorry, but I'm looking for a friend right now. Maybe another time," he said hurriedly, and then started to turn away, determined to read that letter before she could do anything else.
"Tina?"
He winced. Of course. "So there's the real reason you're here."
She shrugged. "I didn't kidnap her, if that's what you're thinking. But I could help you find her."
He sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"
She looked at him, surprised. "What, do you think I always need something in return? You're my friend."
He didn't know what to say. He still felt bitter about her. He finally decided that even though he didn't like it, if it meant finding Tina, he would do it. Everything would go back to normal again if he had Tina.
"Fine," he said at last. "But no strings."
She nodded and held out her arm. He reluctantly took it, and she smirked. "Will there ever be a time when you're not hesitant?"
They apparated together out of the street.
***
Newt blinked. Him and Leta had arrived at a dark, seemingly underground prison hallway. He could barely see. "Lumos," he whispered. He held his wand around the hall. All he could see were glowing eyes in the darkness behind bars, with all different kinds of prisons. Some had metal doors, some were old-fashioned bars. How was he ever going to rescue Tina?
He quickly let go of Leta's hand. He saw her frown, but he was behind caring at this point. They were in the right place. He could feel it.
"How close are we?" he asked.
She smiled. "Almost there," she said, looking around. "Should just be this last turn here-"
Suddenly, everything went dark, including his wand. Then everything turned white, the brightness temporarily blinding.
Newt blinked rapidly, trying to regain his bearings. "Leta?" he called out. No answer. Then his eyes adjusted as he heard a gasp. He turned around and felt a rush of anger surge through him, with a scene so terrible he could never have had nightmares about because of the cruel, twisted way everything clicked into place.
Grindelwald sat on a chair, watching amused as Tina laid motionless on the floor, completely still except for the faintness of her obviously labored breathing. She had blood on her face, her dress from their date was ripped, and bruises were scattered on every part of exposed skin.
Leta stood in by Grindelwald's side, smiling at Newt's reaction.
"Told you I could find her," she said.