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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Aurelia's light blue eyes looked as if an ocean had been encased inside of small glass marbles. "You're alive..." She tried to say but it came out in a loud sob. Then the smooth spheres appeared to be cracked; the ocean had started to leak, little water droplets streamed down her rosy cheeks. Her lip quivered like a newborn taking its first breath, then all at once, she felt her body buckle under some invisible weight. Her knees cracked against the pavement, hands quickly following suite to prevent complete collapse. Her mind struggled to accept what her eyes had seen.
The world fell silent, as if Aurelia's frantic gasps for air between each sob had rendered the city empty. There was a moment, however brief, that she thought it had been in her head. She refused to look up, fearing that it really was just her imagination taunting her. Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder. It shivered with the rest of her body in a way that made it almost undetectable, brushing so gently that it could have been mistaken for the wind. She hesitantly glanced up, but there was no denying the soft brown eyes that met her gaze.
It really was Credence, with his hair that shone like the sea at night and irises like unvarnished oak. They still drooped as if permanent in their sorrow, but there was something different. A glimmer of hope that burned auburn within them. It was only after she had memorized every single feature on his face when she realized it was him touching her.
"D-Don't cry..." The boy said in his hushed tone. Nothing had changed about his voice. It was still quiet, questioning every word he said in fear he'd get in trouble. In death, Mary still managed to haunt him.
"I'm so-sorry." Aurelia managed to choke out. "I just missed you so much."
The blonde witch wrapped her arms around Credence, tears seeping into his shirt. The boy tensed at the sudden contact. His hands were frozen out in front of him, eyes wide and staring into the darkness as if it might tell him how to react. It took her words a while to sink in, and when they did his anxiousness fell back into shock again. "You... did?"
Aurelia nodded against his chest, knowing that her voice was lost in her snivelling. Credence's hand had only barely swept across her back when a gasp permeated the air around them, and it didn't come from Aurelia.
The blonde's head whipped around, eyes landing on a small girl in front of her apartment. Modesty was standing there, face drained of any colour it previously had. Her hands gripped at either side of her dress and her lungs wheezed with every gulp of oxygen she tried to take. She looked absolutely terrified.
Modesty took five very wobbly steps back, arms shielding her body like she was expecting Credence to attack her. In that moment, Aurelia felt something. A build up of force emanating from the eight-year-old whose pupils flashed white for barely a second before she ran inside. Her fear of magic had began to fester.
"Sh-She's scared of m-me..." Credence whimpered, head bowing and shoulders slumping forward.
"No, of course she's not." Aurelia forced her voice out of her sore throat. She was lying, and she knew it was wrong of her, but she couldn't bare to upset Credence with the truth. Not after spending so long believing him to be dead. "She's just confused, don't worry about it." She pushed herself to her feet, giving Credence one more look of disbelief before turning to her apartment. "I'll go talk to her, will you still be here?"
Credence dared not look up, hands fidgeting close to his body. His hat use to calm him down at least a little, but he didn't have it with him anymore. The boy shook his head. "N-Newt... told me to bring you s-straight back."
Aurelia paused, mind finally accepting that he was alive but starting to work out how. "Newt? You were with him?"
Instead of answering, Credence reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin slip. He timidly held it out to her and Aurelia wasted no time in retrieving it. Her eyes scanned the piece of paper, looking over the outline before moving to the large black font. 'One way: England'. The ticket had a puncture mark through the 'a' in the destination.
"You used it?" She asked, having completely forgotten that she had given it to him. "And... met Newt on the ship?"
The barrage of questions had Credence become nervous again. Any progress he had made with Aurelia had vanished when he did. "Yes." He forced himself to say.
"He's at Tina's, right?" The blonde asked, concern flashing across her face. She thought he'd become a little more confident away from Mary, but now she could see that it wasn't going to be that easy. It was embedded in him. "I'll meet you there."
Credence didn't answer, nor argue. He just turned and left. Aurelia took this as a sign of agreement but also as confirmation that she still had a lot of encouraging to do before he could communicate with another person.
The warmth of the apartment hit her unexpectedly. She hadn't noticed how refreshing the cool night air had been until she felt her body grow hot again; like she had just stepped into a sauna. This wasn't her main concern though. She tried to ignore how the heat seemed to seep into her skin as she searched for the young girl. Modesty was found hiding in a closet, eyes watering and teeth chattering. Whenever Aurelia reached out to her she'd cry as if burnt by the idea of a witch touching her... or maybe it was the thought that Aurelia was speaking to an Obscurial that scared her. A dead one at that.
No matter how hard she tried, Modesty refused to leave that dark crevice. She seemed convinced that Credence had returned to kill her and that Aurelia was going to let him. After what she had witnessed she couldn't blame her, seeing her adoptive brother had pushed Modesty over the edge. Any small hope of her accepting magic as a gift disappeared and Aurelia didn't know how to fix it.
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Author's note: Incredibly short chapter this time (Technically a filler chapter) because writer's block is a bitch. I hope this was okay for now :)
