Forever Forgotten [Book Two]

Chapter 7

"Graves, please, I understand that you're hurting, but you need to sleep." Tina put an arm around the man's shoulders, as he stood in front of her, trying to get him to pay attention to her advise. Graves' eyes darted around the street that was long darkened by night, searching for any sign that could tell him where Credence could have been taken.

"We haven't searched enough." He breathed, walking forward again.

"We've searched over thirty abandoned buildings, and gotten no where. Graves, we don't even know if he's still in New York."

"He must be. Grindelwald wouldn't have wanted to move too far. Too much effort."

"Even so, New York is still a very large place. There will be thousands of places that they could be."

"Don't you think I know that already? Don't you think I know that there is a huge chance that I will never see Credence again? Don't you think that I know that both him and I will probably be dead before Grindelwald will ever be?" Graves demanded.

Tina stared at him in pity, not knowing what to say.

"I know all of this, Tina, but there is still a chance that he could be saved, and I will not rest until I have searched every one of those thousands of possible hiding places. And if I still haven't found him by then I will search all of America, and then Europe. I will search Asia and Africa and by God I will search the whole of this planet if there is even one slim chance that there is any hope of saving him. I will not let him down. I will not give up."

"You need to sleep." Tina repeated softly. "You won't be able to search for him unless you've rested. Go home, Graves, let Newt and Queenie carry on the search."

Graves thought for a second before nodding slowly and disapparating.

- - - - -

"I won't help you. Whatever your plans are, I would rather die than go through with them." Credence stated defiantly as he sat, curled up in the corner of a shabby room, as far away from Grindelwald as he could get.

"Believe it or not Credence, I don't need your help." Grindelwald replied, his back to the other as he busied himself over looking through maps.

"What?" Credence stuttered.

"I mean, your power will indeed be useful one day, if I ever need it, but I'm the most dangerous and powerful wizard the world has ever known. Do you really think I need the help of a boy to get what I want?"

"I'm not a boy, I'm almost thirty." Credence hissed.

"Quite. Anyway, I don't need you to get the Deathly Hallows, and I certainly don't need you to defend myself or to defeat anyone."

There was a beat as he turned to stare at the other below him. Credence held his breath.

"But that doesn't mean I don't want you."

"That's what this is about?" Credence scoffed. "I didn't know you were that petty."

"I'm petty? No, dear boy, Graves is the petty one. He thinks of you as beneath him, do you know that?"

"No he doesn't."

"Oh he does. He's controlling isn't he? Prevents you from doing what you want as he sees himself as the only one capable of looking after you? Becomes impatient quickly?"

Credence thought back at how life had been like with Graves since Grindelwald had escaped prison.

"At least I acknowledge that you have power."

"He loves me." Credence said, shaking off his thoughts. "And I love him." He added.

"He keeps you caged; keeps you hidden  and doesn't let you express yourself. Have you any friends other than those four other idiots you hang around with? Keeping someone locked up like that: that's not love, that's ownership."

"And you're not keeping me locked up right now?" Credence scoffed.

"That's to keep people out, not to keep you in. That will change shortly soon enough, once I get us out of this country."

"That's why Graves did those things too, though. It was to protect me."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

Grindelwald turned back to his work and continued to study the maps, marking a cross with the pencil he held in his hand. He then threw the pencil to the side and rolled up the map before speaking again.

"You'll learn to love me soon enough, Credence. You'll soon realise that I actually do care about you. I'm not completely heartless, you know, I did have a boyfriend before, until he left me."

"I wonder why." Credence rolled his eyes.

"His morals changed." Grindelwald muttered more to himself than to the man sat behind him. "Anyway, you'll come to realise that I appreciate you and your power, rather than wanting to hide you away and suppress who you truly are."

"Graves is coming to get me. I won't be here for long."

"He won't find you. That god awful Scammander man can't do what he did the last time to find Graves. I've taken extra precautions and charmed this area so that you can't be tracked. No one's going to be able to break you out of here and play hero. Anyway, I have a wand to pick up." And with that he disapparated.

"Fine." Credence said to himself. "I'll just have to be the hero for once and break myself out."

- - - - -

Graves was sat, curled up on the bed, unable to sleep.

It was all his fault.

He should've tried harder to avoid this.

He should've helped Credence with the Obscurus and found a way to cure him of it long ago.

But he was gone, and his own life was soon drawing to an end.

Why had Credence gone out that night when he knew Graves had told him specifically not to do something as dangerous as that?

"Because he felt smothered." Graves sighed to himself, answering his own question.

He had made mistakes; he knew that.

He had been blinded by love and ended up hurting the one person he cared for most of all.

He turned to his bedside table, opening the top drawer. He reached inside and rummaged around for a while before finding what he was looking for. He examined the object, held between he thumb and forefinger.

"I promise you, Credence," he said, voice wavering, "if I am ever lucky enough to get you back, I will correct what I have done wrong and dedicate myself to your happiness."

He kissed the ring and held it close to his chest before finally letting the tears escape his eyes.

- - - - - - - - - -

Whelp. Sorry it took so long to update.

Thoughts?

I quite like this chapter of I'm honest,

I saw the film again last night...

... It was so damn good.