Chapter 482
Letting go
Chapter 482 Letting go
The stone necklace that was twisted into an "8" shape not long ago was now twisted into a braid, wrapping around the wrists of Wade, Hayley and Mabel.
Fortunately, the three of them were relatively young and had thin wrists, so the length of the stone necklace was just enough.
Wade looked at the pale Hayley and said softly, "Don't be afraid. No matter what you see later, you just follow me. When I say 'leave', you leave immediately. Do you understand?"
During the experiment, Dumbledore discovered that the spiritual world was not a cage. Not only could its owner easily expel outsiders, but if those who entered the spiritual world of others with the help of the necklace wanted to leave, it was only a matter of thought.
Haley nodded, then whispered: "I'm not scared... I just... I didn't know Mabel had become like this..."
The girl pursed her lips and was so heartbroken that she almost cried.
"The Obscurus has been eating away at her life force, making her weaker and weaker, so we have to expel the Obscurus from her body," Wade said.
"I understand." Haley nodded vigorously and said, "As long as I can help Mabel, I can do anything!"
Although she is still young, she has never given up hope after going through hardships. She is like a small grass that grows tenaciously from the cracks in the rocks. Her thin body hides an extremely strong and sensible soul.
Wade also nodded and looked towards Dumbledore. When he heard the headmaster chanting a spell, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
In the blink of an eye, Wade woke up and the world in front of him had changed.
The place looked like a village, with tall, narrow houses on both sides of the road, like pages of a book, with small windows and closed doors on the front.
This place looked like it should have been a closed place like a prison, but now it has almost become a ruin. Most of the houses have collapsed or are shrouded in black smoke. Some have their doors and windows blocked by thick mud and are already sealed.
There is a cold wind blowing constantly in this world, making people feel cold all over.
"Vade."
Hayley whispered, unable to help but take a step closer and grab Wade's hand.
Wade calmed himself down, took Haley's hand, and walked forward along the concrete road, away from the black smoke that exuded an ominous aura.
The village didn't look big, but after walking for a while, the road ahead seemed so long.
Suddenly, the two heard a crisp laughter. Wade turned around suddenly and saw a collapsed house. Inside, there seemed to be a scene of an amusement park. A little girl was running over with a balloon in her hand, smiling.
She smiled happily, but her figure was translucent. There seemed to be someone running behind her, but the figure was blurry, and the surrounding scenery looked like a poor quality holographic projection.
A second or two later, the girl suddenly disappeared, and the amusement park scene in the room also suddenly disappeared, replaced by an empty old house with only a shriveled red balloon on the ground.
"Wade, are there ghosts in the spiritual world?" Haley asked tremblingly.
"No, that's not a ghost," said Weed. "That's Mabel's memory."
But the girl had been cast into a forgetfulness spell, and her memory was incomplete. Even the house in her spiritual world had turned into ruins. Now only that fleeting picture remained.
Haley turned around and took a deep look at the collapsed house. Suddenly, she saw the little girl running over with the balloon again, but the color on her body seemed lighter, and the whole picture seemed to be evaporating.
—Mabel is dying!
Haley realized this very clearly.
She was originally being pulled by Wade, but now she was pulling Wade instead, walking quickly forward, her eyes anxiously searching both sides.
Through some broken, cobweb-covered windows, they could now and then catch glimpses of Mabel's memories.
Some were reading, some were lying by the window as if thinking, and some were squatting in the corner crying. Almost all of the Mabels, big or small, were also only shown in one or two pictures, and they disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Haley was so anxious that she couldn't help shouting, "Maybelle - Maybelline - come out - I'm coming to find you -"
The entire spiritual world suddenly shook violently, and the two of them could not stand steadily. Wade quickly grabbed Hayley and was surprised to see the houses on both sides quickly retreating.
In the blink of an eye, they had crossed dozens of miles before the houses slowed down and gradually stopped.
These houses seemed much more complete and spacious, obviously from Mabel's memory before the wizard tampered with them. However, more than half of the houses had been swallowed up by the black fog, and the dark smoke was spreading like vines towards some of the intact houses.
Wade also saw a complete swallowing process -
Mabel was lying on the laboratory table with a numb and silent expression. A man dressed as a doctor was inserting a thin needle into her arm. There were three or four people watching and discussing with interest.
Suddenly, the glass shattered with a "crack" sound, and black fog rushed in. The doctors and others disappeared in an instant like punctured balloons. A moment later, Mabel on the operating table appeared at the window, and she seemed to have become the incarnation of black fog.
She looked outside with her lifeless eyes, as if she was staring at Wade and Hayley, or as if she was coveting other intact houses.
Then, the black fog rolled in, and Mabel disappeared.
Wade took a deep breath and suddenly found something unusual in a room. He quickly said, "This way!"
He pulled Haley over and saw two Mabels in a room that was about to be shrouded in black fog.
There was not only Mabel, there was even a Haley in the room, and several other children who were captured for experiments. They were sitting in a circle, playing the game of rock, paper, scissors.
"Maybelle! Maybelle!"
Haley screamed, and she stood on tiptoe and knocked on the window several times, but the two Mabels in the room seemed to have heard nothing. Wade reached out and grasped the door handle, and with a "click", he pushed it open.
Haley was stunned for a moment, then ran in immediately.
Both Mabels were wearing the same robe, but one of them was holding a black rag doll. Upon closer inspection, the doll's facial features were a bit like Mabel's.
When Wade and the other man walked in, the rag doll's eyes suddenly turned, and its eyes stared at them intently, which was chilling.
In the spiritual world, Wade's wand was still by his side. He waved it gently, and the rag doll yawned and slowly closed its eyes.
Haley didn't see this at all. She walked straight to Maybelle who was holding the doll, pounced on her, and hugged her tightly.
Mabel, who seemed to be immersed in the game, suddenly woke up. She looked at the two of them in shock and said in surprise: "——Hailey?!"
……
“So, this is my spiritual world?”
After some explanation, Mabel finally figured out the current situation. She looked at the friends around her who were still playing rock-paper-scissors, hesitated for a moment, and walked out of the room.
She held Hailey in one hand and still held the doll tightly in the other hand. "My world...how could it be like this?" Mabel murmured.
"The Obscurus is eating away everything in you, Mabel," Vader explained, walking over to her. "You have to let it go, or you'll die soon."
"...let go?" Mabel didn't understand: "Mr. Scamander...and Mr. Dumbledore, aren't they using magic to separate the Obscurus?"
"Yes," Vader said, "but because you subconsciously didn't want the Obscurus to leave, their magic failed."
Mabel was confused for a moment and asked, "Then how can I cooperate?" She looked around and shouted, "Get out of my world, Mo Mo Ran!"
"—Is that all?" Mabel asked afterwards.
Vader shook his head. "I need you to put down that doll, Mabel."
"A doll? But... this is something my mom gave me... what is this?!"
Mabel seemed to see the doll in her hand only now and was frightened by it, but even so, she did not throw the doll away.
"I guess this is how the Obscurus changes in your spiritual world. It confuses you and makes you unable to let go," said Wade.
Mabel looked at the black fog covering the house and asked, "But...what are those?"
"Those are also obscurations. They are about to take over your entire world, but the key is the part that you are never willing to let go of."
Wade said patiently, "As long as you hold the doll in your hand, the Obscurus will be tightly entangled with your soul, and Mr. Scamander and his men will not be able to separate the Obscurus from you."
"Please, throw it away, Maybelle," Hayley said through her tears. "I don't want to see you die."
"Okay...ok." Mabel agreed, but when she was about to throw away the doll, her arms began to tremble again and she was unable to let go.
Haley simply snatched the doll away and threw it hard!
The next second, the doll appeared in Mabel's arms again, and it had opened its eyes and was grinning at Haley who had her eyes wide open.
Hayley rolled up her sleeves in anger, grabbed the doll again, threw it to the ground, stepped on it, and shouted, "Ved, help me! Use your magic to burn this damn thing!"
Wade was about to say something but stopped himself. Seeing Hayley clenched her fists and looked angry, he pointed with his wand.
With a "bang", the doll caught fire. Haley jumped to the side and watched it burn to ashes, feeling very happy.
But when she looked back, she saw that the doll was intact in Mabel's hands, and the smile on her face froze.
"What's going on?" she asked helplessly, looking at Wade in panic.
Wade was looking at Mabel and saw that although she did not stop Haley's actions, she did not show disgust or fear when the doll appeared in her hands. She seemed to be relieved.
"Haley, the doll is just Mo Mo Ran's incarnation in this spiritual world. It is actually everywhere, so no matter how many you destroy, it will reappear."
Vader looked into Mabel's eyes and said, "Unless you let it go, Mabel...but you don't seem to think so?"
"I……"
Mabel looked frantically at Wade and then at Hayley. She seemed to want to drop the doll, but her fingers couldn't loosen.
"Maybel!" Hayley cried in disbelief.
Vader said calmly, "I can understand that the Obscurus has great power, and that feeling of omnipotence may indeed be fascinating, but Mabel, if you die, there will be nothing left."
"Perhaps during this time you have considered Obscurus to be a protector and a friend, but that is not the case."
"It is just a parasite born in pain and darkness. It burns your soul all the time, showing its terrible destructive power."
"Let it go, Mabel." Wade persuaded gently, "Don't dwell on the pain of the past. Life is a long journey. You still have a long future. You still have Hayley and us. Don't stop here."
"Yes." Haley hugged her arms and said, "I still want to go to the movies with you, travel together, eat delicious food together, and lie in bed and chat together at night... Don't leave me, Mabel, don't leave me alone."
Mabel's hands were shaking as she held the doll. She wanted to drop it several times but didn't let go. Suddenly she started crying.
"But Hailey... without the Obscurus... without it... how can I protect you?... I don't want to watch you suffer again..."
She cried and trembled all over, saying intermittently: "Wade, I know you have been pushing yourself to become stronger... You must be afraid of something to do this... I... I hope I can help..."
"I... I'm really scared... I'm afraid that I will become as weak as before... I'm afraid that I won't be able to protect anyone and can only watch the people around me disappear one by one... I would rather die than become like that..."
She cried loudly and it was so ugly that the rag doll in her hand showed a painful expression.
But at this moment, Haley suddenly opened her arms and hugged Mabel tightly.
"I know, Mabel, I know. Because I was very scared before, but then I had a lot of courage... Do you know why I'm not afraid anymore?"
Mabel looked at her with tears in her eyes.
Hailey raised her head, holding back tears, and tried to show a bright smile: "Because I know you still love me! I know that even if we break up, I still have you, and I am not alone, so I am not afraid."
"Whether it was drawing blood or being cut by a knife, it hurt a lot, but it's all in the past. As long as you're still by my side, I can get through it."
"You've always protected me, Mabel—and not just when you're turning into a black monster and killing bad guys. You've been protecting me since you first reached out to me."
Wade also smiled and said, "You are already great, Mabel. It's not just about doing something that is helpful. Your existence itself is important to us."
"So... believe me, believe that we can protect you, and believe that your own value is not just in silence. Let go, okay? No matter what the future holds, we must face it with courage."
Mabel stared at the two of them for a long time with tears in her eyes, and finally, her fingers slowly loosened.
The black rag doll fell to the ground silently.
The next second, Scamander's magical aura extended to this world without reservation, dazzling light fell from the sky, and Wade vaguely heard a sharp scream from the rag doll.
Then, he opened his eyes in the room and saw a dark object struggling to be pulled out of Mabel's chest and sealed into a translucent magic energy field.
(End of this chapter)