Kaleidoscope || t. scamander

The Battle I

"I love you."

Crack!

Roo almost lost her footing when the ground underneath her turned into the grassy plains of the Champs Elysées, if not for Theseus's strong hold on her waist. She wanted to sit down and process the words he'd uttered a few seconds ago, wanted to bask in the sudden feeling of overwhelming joy that seemed to cause butterflies to dance along her stomach and cause a surge of warmth to burst through her chest. Her eyes were on his the entire time, observing the way he gazed at her with those stormy aquamarine swirls that seemed to prove to her that whatever he was saying was the truth, and her lips ached to feel his mouth upon her own again, just for a second. 

But she knew that this was not the right time to think about it. So she nodded at him once, and they exchanged a look before he nodded and took off, jogging up to the front of the group where she made out the back of Dumbledore's silhouette. The initial flame of sunshine inside her loins slowly turned cold with dread and apprehension, the unconscious negative whispers tingling the back of her mind even though she tried her hardest to brush them off and put them back where they belonged, in the shadows. 

She shook her head and focused her attention back onto the fields before her. Her hand came down to grip at her wand, the firm familiar touch of wood being enough to ease some of her worries.

Glancing quickly to the right to meet Adam's gaze, she flashed him a quick smile that he returned with a nod. In her peripheral, she watched him stand up straighter, a little taller perhaps. 

The plains were brimming with a multitude of wizards standing at the ready, and her eyes got lost in the sea of multicoloured cloaks before her gaze finally snapped to attention to the other side of the field where she was supposed to be looking at all along. She sucked in a breath. Dressed in dark cloaks and not looking a day over sixteen, Roo realized with great horror that this was most of the case for the figures that stared back at her blankly with empty, dead-set eyes. The younger group was flanked by Grindelwald's subordinates no doubt, and she was pretty sure that it included Tina's sister. The younger ones were around the same age as Camilla, if not younger, and something twisted uncomfortably inside her stomach. How sick, she thought to herself, they were only kids. How could he do this? How was this even fair?

I love you. 

Theseus's voice bounced around her brain like an echoing melody. Roo pressed her lips together, allowing the feeling run its course as another thought jolted out to her attention. 

She loved him too. 

She promised herself there and then, that if ever they both made it out alive, it would be the first thing she'd say to him. Her knuckles clenched into fists as she forced the tears back, stood a little straighter just like Adam did.

Screw Grindelwald for causing so much pain, she felt herself repeating over and over, screw him for having put Hawkes in this position, for endangering the lives of all the wizards here just for his selfish intentions.

A tense, cold silence settled over the field. Grindelwald stepped forward slowly, deliberately making use of this attention.

"Well," He started, his coarse voice booming over the Champs Elysées and causing shivers to run down Roo's spine, "It seems like everyone took me at my word this time. How delightfully impressed I am by the diverse number of wizards. I should feel quite honoured, really." 

"We don't have to do this, Grindelwald." Dumbledore stepped up then, and she didn't have to see his face to know that his jaw was clenched, his stance stiff, "We can still talk this through without bloodshed."