Credence has had a troubled childhood, and as a result of the abuse he suffers at the hand of his adoptive mother, he comes to crave affection from others. Any kind of affection. Aurelia knew him long ago. She was the only one to show any care for t...
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"Are you alright?!" Aurelia's vocal chords felt strained in the panic that constricted her lungs. Despite that, she somehow managed to project her voice right to the back of the room where Porpentina stood.
The short-haired woman nodded, rubbing the back of her neck with a cold towel. "Don't worry about us, we're perfectly fine."
"Perfectly fine?! You were almost killed!" Aurelia could have sworn that she hadn't taken a breath since they told her, it would certainly explain why she was so light headed. "I should have been there... I'm so sorry."
"You couldn't have known." Queenie chirped in, much too upbeat considering the situation. She tapped a delicate finger against her temple with a wink. "I know you would have come if you knew and that's enough, right Tina?"
Porpentina's nod of agreement did nothing to ease Aurelia's guilt. The world seemed to be bombarding her with difficulties all at once, but after so long avoiding all responsibility, she couldn't say it was exactly unfair. A crushing pain suddenly began throbbing on one side of her head, coming and going in a familiar pattern. She quickly held her palm against her temple instinctively, knowing it would do nothing to fend off the frequent migraines. "It's not enough." She said in a low voice, not wanting to risk worsening the pain by being too loud. "I should have found a way."
Silence hung in the air like that suspended moment before a falling mirror shatters on the ground; they all knew that to speak would mean going around in the same circle. They would try to reassure her but Aurelia would never forgive herself, and they'd go back and forth until they were too exhausted to discuss it any further. By now both Porpentina and Queenie had learnt that there was no stopping Aurelia from blaming herself, and to try was almost as tiring as it was for her to carry that self-inflicted burden. It seemed like no one was willing to break the dead quiet that seeped throughout the room, that is until Newt took it upon himself. "The most important thing is that we have the brief case." His voice was even shakier than normal, no doubt due to the awkward stillness within the apartment.
"Not that we lived, but that you have your brief case?" Porpentina sighed, already knowing the answer.
"My creatures were just as innocent as you were in all of this. They didn't deserve to be treated like monsters..." Though his intention was to cease the silence, he only succeeded in making it heavier. It weighed on them all, not sure whether talking would make what had happened any better.
That apartment, for the first time since Aurelia had known the sisters, felt as gloomy as if a dementor was hiding amongst them; leeching off of each one until they were soulless shells. With Queenie there though, it didn't last long. She had somehow managed to channel any positivity left in her body, and in her typical Queenie way, offered it to the rest of them. "You saw Credence yesterday didn't you, Elia?"
This time Aurelia wasn't bothered by the invasion of privacy. Anything was better than the silence. "Oh... yeah, I did."
"What's so special about that?" Porpentina piped up, all too happy to exile the quiet as well. "He's pretty hard to miss with his mother strutting around like she owns the place."
