We Got Lots Of History

New Reality

My heels clicked against the dark marble floor.

Tic. Tic. Tic.

Familiar and unfamiliar faces looked at her with visible disgust.

Traitor. Monster.

That was what they seemed to be whispering. Maybe she had become a monster. People claimed that she had betrayed everything they
stood for as Arrors and that she had seduced Theseus just to get here position at the
Ministry back.

Part of her desperately wanted the rumors and the whispers to be right. Everything would be better than to be faced with her failure. She was being cruel to herself, she knew that, yet she couldn't bring herself out of the downward spiral that consumed her mind, it was as if she had been stuck in an endless circle, the only thing that kept her at bay was her friends. The ones that made sure to never leave her alone too long as she had the tendency to lose her connection with the word when she was stuck in her thoughts. Minerva had thought that if she continued her usual routine, she might find herself hiding under the shadows waiting to emerge. It was one of the few times she had been incredibly wrong. If anything, it had the opposite effect on her, becoming even more closed off, only reviewing cases and trying to solve them as fast as she could just so that she would go home. Theseus, on the other hand, tried to make sure that everything she might need was given to her at any moment, trying to go along with her and staying on her good side desperately. He could recognize the signs of depression; he had seen her in such a state before. He knew he had to encourage her to get out of the house, to do something, even walk with Dahlia but to no avail. When he tried, he was only greeted with a blank stare and the ghost of her presence for hours to no end. He just wanted his Cassie back, he only hoped that this was a two-month long period of continuous bad days, it was as if she was lost on a dark tunnel with no source of light and she wasn't even searching for the exit, no matter how vigorously he and the others waved the torches to light her way.

The first change was subtle, but he wouldn't have missed it, even if he tried. It was a rare Saturday morning that he could laze around in bed with her in his arms, and it was only for that reason he was shot awake when his hands met the cold sheets on his side. He had never in his life sprinted so fast to search the house and he was greeted with the sight he longed for years. She was standing at the middle of the kitchen hastily throwing pieces of bacon at a frying pan that sizzled with boiling hot oil and she snuck small pieces at the eager dog standing by her feet begging her for more treats. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he couldn't help but hug her from behind, pressing his chest to her back and lovingly kissing her hairline as she swayed left and right on her spot. He lifted her and sat her on the counter as he took over the cooking, keeping a hand on her things and drawing comforting circles. It was an odd day he knew that and he didn't want to get his hopes up. But the next day he came across a similar and yet different sight of her watering the plants, and the next sitting at the garden with a book as Dahlia run around her territorially. Each day was a different habit that made his day slightly brighter when they were both home exhausted from work and stumbled into each other, trying to open the front door. Yet those small slivers of happiness disappeared into the middle of the night as her screams woke him up, reminding him of the torture she had endured or when her body froze in the middle of a mindless task and her eyes took that haunted look. Maybe that was why things at the office had quieted down or maybe it was the fact that he tore them a new one, for the way they treated her. Whichever was the case her presence at the office was welcomed and people sook her out for advice or a simple comment in their cases the way they used to. But those dark memories seemed to hung over everyone's faces fearing for the day that Grindelwald would return, they were not  foolish enough to think that they had won the war they were merely waiting as he was bidding his time and gathered more forces for his return.
Because he would be back and that was a fact not a mere belief.