"Scamander?" A familiar voice called out, and Newt raised a glance to where the British Envoy was sat. He swallowed, looking away again.
"Oh. Hello Minister..." He mumbled, fumbling to close the case once Jacob was out. He flicked the case over to its muggle setting, knowing that he wasn't able to do more to keep his creatures safe. He stumbled to his feet, gazing down at the floor. The Pentagram Room, judging by the pattern on the floor. Heart of MACUSA. He didn't want to be here.
"Theseus Scamander?" Rumbled another voice. "The war hero?"

"No, his omega." The British envoy called back at the same time as the French envoy said "His little brother." A ripple of laughter passed through the assembled crowd, and Newt wrapped his arms tighter to himself.
"I know the English care a lot about their blood purity, but that's ridiculous." Someone muttered. Newt flinched, feeling the back of his neck burn with shame. He felt sick, risking a glance up to where he knew Graves would be sat, at Picquery's right hand side, the same seat Theseus occupied in important meetings back home. When he had consulted for the ministry, he had sat in a chair in front of Theseus - Theseus refused to have Newt sit on the floor. Graves sat alone, matching what Newt expected. Theseus had told Newt Graves had never found himself a partner.

Graves was smiling a little to himself, and that helped take the edge off Newt's terror. Newt was where he was meant to be, meeting with Graves. The - a glance around the room confirmed his concerns - International Confederation of Wizards hadn't been part of the plan, but part of travelling was being able to be flexible and adapt to what was happening around him. Newt tried to breathe slowly, and lift his gaze from the floor.

There was a body floating in the middle of the room, the man from the posters, his face distorted in a way that Newt remembered only too clearly. The girl in Sudan he couldn't save. The one time he thought that Theseus was wrong about him, that They had been right.
"That was an obscurus..." Newt mumbled, and the tension in the room increased. Newt realised at that moment that he needed to get out. He tried to apparate, but the shields were in place. He kept trying anyway, eyes closed in concentration. He couldn't stay here. He was panicking.

Picquery stepped forwards.
"Impound that case! Arrest them!" Newt saw his case snatched from beside him, summoned across the room to Graves' side.
"Give that back!" Newt screamed, trying to point his wand towards Graves, to get his case. His attention focused only on that, until something slammed him to his knees and Graves summoned and caught his wand with a smirk.

Newt's heart raced as he watched Graves stand with the case.
"Don't hurt those creatures, you don't understand! Nothing there is dangerous! Please don't hurt my creatures." Someone had grabbed him, and he was being dragged away, fighting and screaming as loudly as he could. He knew he was going to be in so much trouble, that he was humiliating Theseus by being so undisciplined but that case was his sanctuary and the creatures were his family. He couldn’t give them up without a fight. He kept shouting for it in a desperate attempt to be heard.

Eventually, his voice became hoarse, and he looked around in a daze, despair sweeping through him. His exhaustion was overwhelming him completely. He rubbed at the back of his neck in an attempt to keep himself calm, to stop himself from being scared, but it wasn't working.

There was yelling and laughter from some of the other cells. Newt didn't have the energy to focus on their words. It would be nothing he hadn't heard before, nothing that hadn’t echoed after him at the halls of Hogwarts. He was lost in a spiral of his own thoughts. That he should never have come here, that They were right. If he had behaved - if he had done what he was meant to, if he had been a good omega, his creatures would be safe. Now they were taken by people who didn't know how to care for them, who would be cruel and would use them. His creatures would be frightened. He had failed them.

"I'm so sorry about your creatures, Mr. Scamander. I truly am." Tina said softly, but there was nothing Newt could say in response. He was to blame for all of this. His dreams of writing a book, of saving creatures' lives, those were only dreams. He had brought shame to the family, and he wasn't sure how much longer he would survive. If they thought his creatures were responsible for the attack, then he was already dead or worse. All he could do now was to try and help the creatures, and possibly to save Jacob. Jacob was his friend.

"What's happening?" Jacob asked softly, walking to crouch in front of him. "Are we going to be ... are they going to kill us?"
Newt looked up, managing eye contact for a few seconds. Jacob was afraid, and he was looking to Newt for help.

Newt swallowed, licking his lips.
"No. Not you. They might take your memories, but-"
"They won't kill you either." Tina said softly, crouching down beside him. "You'll probably get extradited back to Britain. And I wasn't involved. None of us will be killed."

Newt snorted and ducked his head.
"I'm not going to get sent back." He whispered.

"I thought you weren't seeking asylum?" Tina asked gently. "Queenie said your brother was protecting you, not-" Her voice trailed off, and Newt shook his head.
"Not my brother." He whispered. "Theseus is... Theseus kept me safe."
"Then who? You wouldn't be handed over to someone who wasn't trusted with omegas..." Tina said, and Newt could hear the sincerity of her words. She believed that he would be helped.

"And if they don't trust Theseus?"
"You'd be given to the CIO... The Department of Omega Care's the British one right? They'll take care of you."
Defeated, Newt slumped to the floor and shook his head. He knew too much about their care.
"Like I said. I'm not going back." Incident or not, Theseus's promise held. Graves would execute him before he gave him back to Them.

***

The night seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Newt worried about his creatures, barely hearing what was going on around him. A couple of times he heard Tina snarl, feral, and flinched back from her, but Jacob was on his other side. Eventually, he gave in and leaned against Jacob, allowing him to rub the back of his neck and help Newt stay calm. It was a comfort Newt didn't deserve, but with his own execution imminent he allowed himself that little luxury.

When the guards came to drag him and Tina away, he didn't fight them. He just hung limply in their grasp. When he was pushed into a chair he sat, glancing up only to see that Graves was sat opposite him, a serious expression on his face. There was a small part of him that still hoped that everything would be alright.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble Mr. Scamander." Graves began, and Newt felt his face heat up with a blush - that was true. He had been too much trouble, he should have been more careful. He squirmed in his seat. "Your brother did warn me you'd be quite a handful, but I had rather hoped you weren't going to cause an international incident on quite this scale."

Newt swallowed, forcing himself to look into Graves’ eyes despite his fear.
"Theseus knows where I am?"
"Of course." Graves frowned. "He sent you here, didn't he?"

Newt nodded.
"And you let a pack of dangerous creatures loose by accident?"
Newt frowned and nodded.
"If I had known quite how careless you were, I would have told him to get you to leave the case at home."

"The case-" Newt paused, then glanced back at the guards by the door. He didn't know if Theseus had mentioned the real purpose of Newt's visit in his letter. "I don't travel without it." He finished more weakly.
"And why did you travel here?"
"Appaloosa Puffskein." Newt mumbled.

"This trip was your brother's suggestion was it not?"
"I'd been talking about... I'd wanted to come for a long time."
"But your brother, my lifelong friend, signed the visas and helped buy the tickets... yet you still didn't work it out?"

"Work what out?" Newt asked, gaze still fixed on his case.
"Why Theseus sent you here. It wasn't on some foolish errand for that silly little book. You know what Theseus does for the Ministry?"
Newt nodded.
"And you know that he and I have been friends for a long time?” Another nod. “He worries about me, more than he should, but then he always was a worrier. So he sent you."

"I don't... I don't understand." Newt whispered, and behind him he heard Tina gasp. Graves waited a few seconds, then stood, looming over Newt.
"He sent you to me. As a gift."

Fear spiked through Newt's body, and he tried to get up, only for Graves to push him back down with a burst of magic. Graves chuckled slightly.
"You really didn't know? You've been too difficult for him. How many countries has he rescued you from now? Four?"
"Five." Newt muttered.
"Five. And you do so little for him... he's always said I needed to relax. You were meant to come here, and it all would have been very civil. I was going to let you keep your creatures. Instead, you cause chaos on the streets of New York-"

Newt could barely hear what Graves was saying. Theseus wouldn't have sent him away like that, he was sure of it, but there was a logic to what Graves had said. Theseus had been so insistent he went to Graves on arrival to America.

The obscurus came into view, floating around it's bubble, and Newt realised in horror that Graves had been into his case. His sanctuary, and this man had gone through deep into its heart.
"It wasn't her." He tried to argue in a desperate attempt to save her. His world was falling apart around him, and protecting his creatures was all he could do. "She couldn't survive out of her bubble, she couldn't hurt anyone." He was terrified for his creatures even more than he was for himself.

"You fool nobody Newt. You brought this here with the intent of causing chaos. You wanted to reveal us. In any normal situation you would be executed." Newt sank against his chair, relief flooding through him until he realised Graves was still speaking. "But it is clear from your file that you are damaged. An omega who has been poorly handled, not fully bonded at your age and spoiled by your brother, it's no wonder that you were acting up. That's why you were institutionalised as a child, was it not?"

Nearly frozen with fear, Newt nodded. Satisfied, Graves continued.
"I believe some time in an institution would be good for you..." His voice trailed off, or Newt's blood beat too loudly in his ears, he couldn't be sure. What he noticed though was Graves leaning in closer, reaching out to brush his hand against Newt's own.
"Unless..."