Lies (Theodore)

Over the course of the next few weeks, Nyx allowed Theo to introduce her to his friends, she met his best friend and hyperactive baby cousin, even met his girlfriend. Nyx felt jealous of the easy going love they shared and wish she had something like it. She struggled to understand Deimos' humor but appreciated it when Theo took the time to explain a joke to her, this bizarre sensation settled in her stomach, something like contentment as she realized she might actually have friends.

One afternoon she was whisked away from hogwarts to the ever moving base of her master. When she was brought before VOldemort she sunk down to her knees and bowed her head, as the man paced in a circle around her, his robes whispering along the floor.

"I have heard...little nyx you have made a friend.." he hummed "But i wonder if you know who this boy truly is..." Nagini continued circling nyx as Voldemort paused to lean against a desk, looking down at her. She kept her eyes on the stones before her, her heads folded in her lap. "The son of Morana Gaunt."

Nyx's eyes bulged but she didnt move, she couldn't move, she was frozen in place with horror. "No the bitch did not give birth to that boy but she did adopt him. raise him. maybe even love him. My spies say yu have grown close."

She didn't dare speak but she swallowed hard, her fingers carving half moons in her palms. "Did you know who he was?" her master asked cooly "No master" she stammered her voice shaking with anger and fear. "I..i only knew Remus Lupin was his father, he is dead s..so i saw no harm-"

"No harm" Voldemort laughed "No harm you say? stupid girl. that boy only lives to carry on a strong family name and because I enjoy knowing i have those bitches families under my thumb. Do not think for one second if that child wasnt older he wouldnt have attacked you by now, attacked your sister."

Sister, the magic words that always held her like a dog on a leash. "..forgive me master" she whispered barely audible. "I do not forgive." The cruciatus he threw at her had her screaming well into the night.

When she returned to hogwarts it was past breakfast, Nyx decided she would not go to class, she wrote a letter to theo telling him to meet her in the woods, and sent it along with her falcon who flew off to bring him the letter. Now she sat on a cold bolder, her robes hiding the bandages on her arms, her eyes heavy with exhaustion but still her body thrummed with rage.

Theo was quite proud of himself. He was making a great progress with Nyx and reported everything he could to his big brother. In the same time, he grew to like the girl. He pitied her at the beginning, but it grew into something else. He wanted to help her. She was not just a tool anymore. And there were many times he wanted to tell her at least something, to let her know who he was and that he was there to help. Because it was now his mission to look after her.

He headed to the woods as she requested, curious to why she wanted to speak with him alone. It sounded urgent so he hoped everything was okay. "Nyx?" he asked as he approached her, knowing immidiately that something was not right. "Did something happen?" he asked.

She felt it in the shadows the moment he had stepped out of the sun into the black canopy of the forbidden forest. She held up a hand and the shadows surrounded him, wrapping around arms and legs and in her rage she slammed her hand down forcing him to his knees. "Theodore Lupin." she said without turning, "Or should i call you Theodore Gaunt"

The moment shadows caught him, he realized his cover was blown. He had a feeling this had to come. He made a mistake in letting her get to him, in caring for her and introducing her as his friend. There was only so much Sebastian could cover for. "Took you long enough," he said with a sigh, trying to stay calm. It would not help to panic.

"Now before you go all crazy, think about what you are about to do for a moment. There is a reason I came to you. I showed you my life, brought you amongst people I care about. Which means I knew you would find out eventually," he pointed out, scanning their surroundings. He could not fight shadows, which meant he had to get element of surprise on his side if she did decide to kill him.

"before i go crazy" she scoffed, she wrose to her feet and turned to him, undoing the button on her heavy school robe she dropped it to the ground. She wore a simple pair of black jeans and a t-shirt, but her arms were bandaged from palm to elbow, her neck was dark with bruises, her eye had a ruptured blood vessel that added to the madness that simmered beneath the surface.

"This was my punishment for your deception" she hissed "for being your friend, he did this to me. You. Did this to me."

Ted paled visibly upon seeing her injuries. Not only she looked terrible, but it also reminded him of his mother. He needed to let Marcus know that Nyx was in danger or the other twin would back from the deal. And they could not afford a setback. Not now. "Nyx, I am so sorry," he half whispered. "I should have known it was risky to befriend you publicly, but I swear, I am not your enemy. I really do want to help you," he said honestly.

She paced in front of him, the shadows not holding him writhed along the ground in her wake, the ones holding him tightening and yanking his arms back behind him. "Filthy lying little bastard." she cursed "I should kill you, that would please my master. If i brought him your fucking head. How dare you do this time, to Hekate, i do not know if he will go to her or leave her be, but your lies put my twin at risk."

Ted needed to decide which approach to take. He did not want to hurt Nyx by blackmailing or threatening her, but he also wanted to be alive. And she did not seem to step back from her intentions when he tried to be nice. His look darkened and he completely changed his posture, changing from a school boy to a man he grew up to be during his training sessions with Marcus. "Go ahead. Kill me then," he said cooly. "Kill me and be ready to never see your twin sister ever again. Do you honestly believe, that she herself did not fall for the same trap? I thought you were smarter. Your precious twin sis not only knows about me and all of us for ages now. She even willingly joined us," he hissed darkly. "But the deal is a deal. And the deal is off if you kill Morana Gaunt's son. And believe me when I say, that the moment you do that, no Dark Lord in the World can protect you from what comes next," he said.

She clenched her fist the shadows wrapping around him, constricting him, tight and painful. "How dare you threaten her." she hissed her jaw tight with rage "if this is how you act then all the stories of your mother is true its no wonder my master wanted her dead"

Theo was in pain. And he was sure there will be bruises if he lives long enough to tell the tale. But he refused to bow down so easily. "My mother? Oh, tell me about her. All I remember was her playing with me in the gardens of Grindelwald Castle, before your precious master took her away from us," he hissed back. "But I know one thing. My mother never lied. She shaped the truth, but she never lied. So if I am really like her, where does that put your sister? There is so much more you don't know Nyx. And killing me won't solve your problems. It will worsen them. So much," he said.

Her rage flared and the shadows tightened even more she paced away from him his words following her every step. With a scream of rage the shadows dropped him, exploding away from him and swirling around her, whispering soothing.

It took Theo quite a while to overcome pain and get up, panting heavily. "I never wanted you to see the bad side of me. You are my friend and I will help you. But yes, I am the son of Morana Gaunt. My mother was who she was and I take after her in some ways," he said finally. "As I already mentioned, your sister knows everything. I can't hurt you or leave you behind even if I wanted to, because deal is a deal. But don't do this ever again for both of our sakes," he added.

"its that blond man isnt it" she spat "Alaric, her handler had you spy on me." the shadows slid up and down her bandaged arm and she felt her body flagging with fatigue. "Your mother killed my aunt and uncle. How am i to believe once your family uses us, you wont kill us as well, finish the job."

"There is so much I wish I could tell you, Nyx," Ted replied only, thinking of his brother with her sister. "Amelia Grindelwald was a godmother to my mother. Elena grew up under one roof with three of my siblings. I don't know what happened, why she and her brother lost their lives, but I guarantee you, my mother and aunt would never do something like this without a valid reason. If they did it at all," he said. "And believe me, I have a solid reason to believe there will be no killing you either. And not just because the deal was that you help and you walk free," he added, yet again thinking of Marcus and Hekate. Marcus said very little, but Ted was not stupid. Whatever the two had going on was more, than proffesional relationship

She remained silent thinking, processing his words she turned to him "And what do you and Mulciber want from us...are we to call your family our masters now?"

"Masters? Hardly. Partners is more likely. We need your help to take him down. And you need our help there as well. Because the moment he is gone, you and Hekate are free to walk away. Together. You won't have to be apart ever again," Ted explained, flinching a bit as he leaned against on of the trees. "Think about that Nyx. You don't owe anyone anything. World might adore him for the peace he supposedly brought, but who is he to you? He made you a living weapon and took your sister away, while the whole World pretended not to see. Just like they pretend not to see me after they took away my entire family and sent me to hide in the shadows. We are powerful people they want dead, yet cannot kill. What has the World ever done for us? Why should we care what happens to it once we get what we want?"

"You speak of a perfect world" she said softly "if my lord catches even a hint of my betrayal he will kill my twin. I would rather end my own life then endanger hers you know that." the shadows wreathed her limbs and carressed her jaw. "The war is won Theodore, your mother is dead. There is no stopping him"

"There is one thing history books don't mention when it comes to my mother. She is incredibly hard to kill," he said darkly, corner of his mouth twitching in a twisted smirk. "Devils never die, Nyx. They keep coming back," he half whispered as if he wanted those words to disappear in the darkness Nyx seemed to be part of.

Nyx frowned as he spoke, a chill ran down her spine and she looked back to him, "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? Your precious master wanted power so much, he decided to use them instead of killing them. My mother and aunt are very much alive. And just how much anger do you think you can gather over a decade of torture?" He said darkly. "He used your mother and then lied to her. He used you. And now he thinks he is safe, that he's won. Are you really going to let him get away with that?"

The wounds that covered her arms and body seemed to burn at his words. To ache and seethe with the idea that she had been put under his knife and wand for this. That every scar on her body had been earned in vein. The shadows writhed hissing in her ears, memories flooded her mind as she thought of every moment spent away from Hekate, of her mother suffering after a mission. Of her sister alone and far away.

"...They didn't kill my aunt and uncle did they..." she said in a whisper as the shadows grew denserer, angrier..

"No," Ted confirmed her suspicion. "Neither they killed Harry Potter or many others," he added. "Your entire life has been a lie, Nyx. So fight for the truth with me, just this once. And then you walk away free woman," he reached with his right hand towards her.

The shadows seemed to burn into her skin, writhing and making her feel sick with rage and sorrow. "My life is a lie" she echoed thinking of her twin, her mother. Everything.

She looked at Theo, at his outstretched hand, his words making echoes in her mind. He had been her friend these last few weeks. A friend, something she was not used too...

Slowly she reached out her hand, the shadows instinctively crawled up her arm to free her bandaged hand and she clasped his and said. "Alright, i'm with you."

Ted nodded to her, giving her a whole different, this time encouraging smile. "I promise he will pay for everything he has done to us and our families," he told her. "But for your safety, from now on, our hangouts, even with Dei and Carina, have to be kept in the shadows. I don't want to see you this hurt ever again," he added, scaning her body for bandages and injuries.

She looked at her arms then wrapped them around herself. "Nothing i can't handle. But if we are not careful i will be ordered to kill you and the others only because of your names."