CHALLENGE: Fantastic Beasts One Shot

Newt sat on the train, watching the terrain speed by. He could tell they were getting close. The land had gone from forests, to plains, to arid desert. He looked in aw at the vast orange lands dotted with green cacti, and the never-ending blue sky, stretching for miles and miles. He smiled; it was perfect.
Newt tapped a worn suitcase sitting at his feet.

“Almost there, Frank,” he said.

The suitcase gave a little shudder in response.

Sure enough, within the next twenty minutes the train began to slow until they had pulled up to a run down looking station. The train doors opened and Newt stepped out into the dry air, suitcase in hand, sunlight beating down on him. The air felt dusty, there was no noticeable breeze, and the platform was empty. Newt looked the station up and down; he was the only one who had gotten off the train.
Smiling, Newt walked through the station, past an old wrinkled woman at the ticket counter reading a newspaper.

“Good day,” Newt said, tipping his hat. The old woman didn’t acknowledge him, but eyed his long cloak suspiciously. Who would be daft enough to wear that in weather like this?

Unperturbed, Newt continued on his way, whistling as he did so. He pushed the double doors open back into the sweltering heat. He pulled out a map from his left pocket and briefly looked it over. Looking satisfied, he popped it away and turned left down the street. There were no other buildings or cars in sight.

Newt walked on for another mile or so, whistling the whole way. He stopped, pulling the map out again and glancing it over. Seemingly satisfied, he tucked the map away again and turned on the spot. With a loud pop, he vanished. A lone tumbleweed blew past the now empty landscape.  

Miles away, a startled lizard scurried away at the sound of a loud crack. Newt smiled, looking around, clearly undisturbed the fact that he had just appeared even further in the middle of nowhere than before.

“Here we are, Frank. You’re new home.”

He bent down and unlatched the case. As soon as he did so, Newt was blown backwards by a gust of wind as a giant bird, way too large to fit inside the suitcase, came spiralling upwards into the sky. Not just any kind of bird—a thunderbird. It’s six wings stretched as far as they could go, the bird finally had unlimited space to fly. It spiralled up higher and higher until it was just a little dot in the sky.

Newt slowly got to his feet, and snapped the case shut again. An elated bird song rose from above, and Newt smiled as the giant creature came back into view, landing with a few powerful beats of its wings. The thunderbird nuzzled his head up against Newt, who lightly stroked his beak.

“You’re free now, Frank. Free to enjoy the sky.”

After a few more moments of standing united, Frank let out a little croon and stretched his wings once more.
“Goodbye, Frank. We’ll miss you,” whispered Newt as he watched Frank take to the skies once more, spinning and flipping out of sight, ecstatic to be home once more.

Word Count: 545