Softly Comes the Storm
is a canon-divergent Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them fanfiction, in which Grindelwald hands over Credence to a follower of his. Credence is then used as a sex slave alongside Newt Scamander. More plot than expected ensues.
A completed fic by twitchtipthegnawer on Archive of Our Own.
Softly Comes the Storm contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Debatable, but Graves is this. At the very least, he actually gets to show up and do cool things, unlike in canon.
- Adaptational Heroism: Tina gets this, if you subscribe to the school of thought that she was a secondary antagonist in the movie. Or Credence gets this, if you subscribe to the school of thought that his (seemingly) remorseless killing made him villainous.
- Bottle Episode: The first two chapters (and indeed, almost all of the Credence POV portions) are this. Not for budget saving reasons, but because the characters are locked in a house.
- Cloudcuckoolander: As a character with no canon personality, the wandmaker Quintana got assigned this. It makes sense, given that nearly all we know about him was that he knew the secret to hunting rare, magical fish, and that he was paranoid about others finding out that secret.
- Conveniently Common Kink: Averted... more or less. At least the author attempted aversion, with such scenes as Newt being stymied by Credence's submissive tendencies, Newt being squicked by CGL themes, and Graves having to extensively negotiate what kinks to include in his first scene with Credence.
- Darkest Hour: Ironically, it comes in chapter six. Unable to take the abuse anymore, Credence finally snaps. Much the same follows as did in the movie.
- Dark Fic: Barely qualifies, since the original material was perfectly capable of dipping into darkness in the first place. The extreme degrees of violence and rape definitely push it over the edge, however.
- The Dead Have Names: Linda Bogsworth in chapter nine. Credence learns the name of the first person he knowingly killed at her funeral. He handles it as well as could be reasonably expected.
- Depending on the Writer: YMMV on how in character the various canon characters are. In particular, Graves has quite a few popular fanon interpretations.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The protagonists certainly go through more than enough pain to justify the ending they're given.
- For Want Of A Nail: What begins as a seemingly small change quickly snowballs. See What If below.
- The Four Loves: Credence runs the gamut! Storge with Modesty, philia with Queenie and Tina, eros with Graves, and agape with Newt.
- Hemo Erotic: Chapter 10. The extensive knifeplay scene involves quite a bit of Credence getting bloody, but no one drinks that blood.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Credence is this in universe. He has a BDSM scene with Grindelwald, falls in love with Newt, sets up a triad with Graves, and even has sex with nearly all the original characters who show up.
- Matricide: As in canon, Credence can only endure Mary Lou's abuse so long before he snaps.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The whole plot could have been avoided if Grindelwald had just stayed on track with canon. Whether or not canon worked out better for him is debatable, however.
- Plot Tumor: Depending on who you ask, the fic may evolve into this. The earlier chapters are much lighter on plot than the later ones. However, the writer did always plan to have the story develop much the way it ended up doing.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: As a fanfiction made in the author's spare time, some degree of distillation was unavoidable. A notable example of this is that most of the titular fantastic beasts don't make an appearance.
- Precision F-Strike: Queenie in chapter 11. "That's bullshit."
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: This fic does not shy away from the ugly reality of Credence and Newt's situation. If you include sexual assault stopping short of rape, then Grindelwald gets knocked even further down the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Averted for the most part, except in chapter 10. By that point the kink negotiation is long overdue.
- Slash Fic: Very much so. Just look at the
OT3 it centers on! Even most of the clients Newt and Credence are forced to service are men.
- There Is Only One Bed: Credence and Newt have to share a bed while being held captive. It isn't hot.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Averted 100% with Credence. He may be kinky, but he doesn't enjoy his treatment at the beginning of the fic.
- What If?: The differences at the beginning of the fic are slight; Grindelwald lost patience with Credence a bit earlier than in canon, and Newt fell into a trap in an attempt to rescue a magical creature in New York. By the end of the fic, Newt has the Elder Wand, Grindelwald is free from prison, and Graves is rescued by Tina.
