hollow // credence barebone

06. on top of the world

...

he was out of breath by the time his feet hit the solid ground again. he thanked himself for not eating, because he felt like the insides of his stomach were ready to spill at his feet. when the nausea retreated and he dared open his eyes, he discovered that he could see nothing but a clear sky and shreds of clouds beneath his feet.

he grabbed onto the first solid thing he found, breathing fast as his eyes darted around.

the girl was just dropping her bag on the stone floor and only paid attention to him after she was done. the flabbergasted look on his face made her chuckle. he was in so much disbelief that he briefly forgot to stutter.

"do you often kidnap people in broad daylight?"

"only the chosen ones."

"only the chosen ones," he repeated, leaning back over a stone wall. "and why-"

"you know what, i used to think you didn't speak too much but suddenly you are yapping quite a lot. is this what happens when a girl teleports you on top of the empire state building?"

his eyes widened, "where?"

"mmm."

"teleports?"

"mmm."

he needed a moment. no, he needed more than a moment. he looked down, where over a little wall down beneath his feet he could see clear as a day a wide panorama of the city reduced to nothing but small specks on a huge canvas.

it was a first time he had ever seen the world from so high up. it all happened so fast that the realisation of what exactly happened came back to him painfully slow. he realised that he was still clutching the leaflets in his hands, but he felt like he had abandoned credence barebone far down below. whatever he was right now was a complete stranger. it was such a great shock to his entire system that everything else he had done in the past few days suddenly seemed less likely than his current reality. and when he finally gathered himself to look back at the girl, she seemed to be thinking a similar thing.

seeing questions appear on his face, she walked over to him and looked down at the ground herself, "i don't usually act on my compulsive thoughts. i am only now coming to the terms that it was perhaps a little rushed and risky. if you were not a magical one yourself i might be sentenced to a long and boring life in wizarding jail."

he swallowed down, "and how... how did you know that i was...?"

she looked at him like he was crazy, "you're joking. you're joking, right? there's such a powerful magic aura around you that even a blind man would see."

credence blinked, "is there?"

she nodded, leaning over the wall and craning her face up, "some things are very easy to see if you know what you're looking for. well, there is always room for mistakes, of course. but am i wrong?"

slowly, he shook his head. she smiled.

"it did make me curious, to be honest. i was wondering why a man like you would be willingly participating in the fairytale the barebones feed to the public. and then i thought, hey, maybe he's not doing that willingly."

it is when credence realised that the girl was particularly perceptive. her grey eyes always seemed to be drilling down to his soul even when she didn't say anything. it was only the third time they met, but she had already seen right through. he was only worrying how deep that gaze went and if she had seen the darkness he was consumed by. but if she really did, she didn't show it. his shoulders slightly relaxed. if she knew, she wouldn't be talking to him like this. the best she'd do would be running away.