Descent-- Sequel to Masquerade

2. Stupefy

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

-Macbeth

******

Addie's POV

*****

"Shall we die just a little?" Grindelwald said slowly, as if savoring the taste of each word. His lips curled maliciously as his wand pointed at my neck before trailing down my arm to the brand of the Deathly Hallows.

   I forced myself to look straight at him. I did not speak.

   "Do you know who said this?" he asked carelessly, wiping off my blood on his robes, "but of course, the question you are thinking is not 'who' rather than 'why'." He chuckled as he looked down at me, as I shook violently, my body tensing for another round of torture. "Oh, poor poor Adeline," he coaxed, "you miss your mother, don't you? How sad and vulnerable you look, little child. You remind me of another child, a boy. He, like you, possessed such power. We both could have had the world!" his voice rose to a shout, his eyes flashing angrily, "he had the Obscurus inside of him, eating away at him each time his foster mother beat him, just for being different. Is this how we should live? In fear of dirty blooded Muggles? No, no—" he sighed, "we must be strong, we must be POWERFUL!!!"

  I shook at the force behind his words. "Oh, poor poor Creedence," his voice echoed through the walls, shaking his head sadly. No more poor Adeline, but poor Creedence. I felt a mixture of hatred and fear at a name that I had never seen.

   "But you—" his eyes glinted unnaturally in the light, "you will be more than he ever will be, child! You possess the immortal bloodline of your mother and my own power, you are just like me. You are me. You will gain power and you will bring Albus Dumbledore to me so that I may show him the light. You can do that for me, won't you, Adeline?" he patted my head condescendingly.

   I forced myself to nod.

  "Good," Grindelwald praised as he stood up and looking down on me, he raised his wand. "Now be a good girl, скъпи мой," he said with a glint in his eyes, "and get up. I am not done with you yet. Despite the deep hatred in your veins for me, you are allowing me to read all of your thoughts. There will be a time when you will even surpass me, but that time is not now. I'll make you immune to every single torture curse—" he grinned, "and what better to improve than to practice?"

  He flicked his wand and there was a flash of red light and I heard screaming in the back of my mind.

  Stay standing.

   Don't fall.

   I felt my body growing numb from the horrible agony, fading...falling away.

   Why couldn't I feel anything?

  I looked into those cold green eyes that mirrored mine.

  He said that I was just like him.

  Don't fall.

  Don't back away.

  I stood and stood.

  But inside, I was falling.

*****
   
Light bleakly made its way through the curtains, while the air remained dusty and grey. The whole world seemed to be silent, waiting to wake up from a slumber. I watched the sun bleed into the clouds and the dawn became more clear through the sky. I waited to see the darkness fade and felt the familiar relief whisper across my skin. Safety.