the sweetest con [d.m]

twenty

She throws up as soon as she Apparates to the precinct — and it's pure luck that Deiji has just arrived back from Azkaban too, giving her team orders on what to do next.

When her friend sees Mavi kneeling on the grass, heaving, she immediately rushes over, worry clouding her features. "Mavi? What the fuck are you—"

"Take me there," Mavi gasps out, gripping onto Deiji's arm so tight, she's sure she leaves bruises. "Right now, Deiji."

"What? What are you—Let's get you inside, okay? I'll get you some tea—"

"No." Mavi's voice doesn't even sound like her own. She can't think straight, can't make sense of up or down, left or right. "Take me to him. Now."

Something flickers in Deiji's dark eyes as she searches Mavi's face. Whatever she finds — it seems to make her shudder. But she understands. Deiji always does.

She helps Mavi to her feet and Apparates them away.

———

There's only one place she could've gone. He's sure of it.

———

Mavi stands right outside the stone door.

There's no way to see inside the cell — and that should make her nervous but she feels nothing. It's like ice has spread throughout her body, starting from her heart and radiating outwards.

Deiji stands a step behind her. She hasn't said a word the entire time — but Mavi can feel the concern rolling off her in waves.

"I'm not letting you go in alone," Deiji says finally, so quiet in the eerily silent labyrinth of Azkaban.

"Good," Mavi responds, her voice blank. She keeps her gaze fixed on the door. "I'd probably kill him if you did."

Deiji tenses. "Mavi, can we just talk about—"

"Open the door." Again, her voice doesn't sound like her own. This Mavi is demanding and in power — nothing like her usual self — and that's what seems to offput Deiji. "Please, Deiji."

Her friend hesitates — but then steps forward and taps her wand against the stone, murmuring an intricate pattern of spells. The stone quakes and trembles as the door gives way, opening with a loud groan that echoes throughout the catacombs.

Mavi steps forward into Merrick Aumutage's cell.

———

He has to take several minutes to Occlude before he can find it in himself to head back to the prison.

———

Looking at Aumutage makes her fight-or-flight instincts flare to life.

He sits in the corner of his cell, dirty blond hair in strings around his face, picking at his shackles like he can somehow undo them with just his fingernails. Mavi remembers those fingernails digging into her skin as he dragged her across the earth, as he tossed her into the grave he'd made for her.

For a long moment, Mavi has to pause and gather herself together, banishing thoughts of that night, removing the memory of soil coming down around her, clogging her nose, her throat. She can still feel it — like a noose around her neck, tightening until she can't breathe.