ᵗʷᵒ 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 ⁿᵉʷᵗᵐᵃˢ (ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ)

In The Midnight Hour

NEWT POV

I brace myself for the bullet to pierce my skin, for death, but it doesn't hit me. I hear a thud. Someone stopped it. My jaw drops and my heart starts beating faster. I look around. It's Minho. I drop to my knees.

"Oh my god, Minho." I gasp.

Blood blossoms from his chest. 

"Newt..." He breathes, his stomach jumping. "You...need to...make sure that...Thomas is okay. That everyone...is okay."

"No." I say, shaking my head, tears falling from my eyes. "I can't lose you. You're my best friend."

"NEWT!" He shouts. "I'M DYING! You need to promise...to look after them..."

"I-I promise." I sob. "I promise, Minho."

"Thanks, Newt...Good-goodbye." His breathing stops and so does mine. 

I let out a strangled sob. 

"What is wrong with you?" I breathe, rising to my feet. "You just killed a teenager." 

"And I'm going to kill another." She says.  We hear feet stomping in the building. "But I guess not now. Bye, Newt." She disappears into the night. 

I drop back down next to Minho, sobbing. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Cries of my name. Thomas's voice. But I'm numb. He was my best friend for my entire life that I can remember. I let someone drag me back to bed but I'm not taking anything in. Not any of the voices, words, touches. 

My thoughts are all blurred together. Tears won't stop running down my cheeks. The doctors are mad, saying I just had major abdominal surgery. Thomas isn't mad, just concerned. I can only think one thing: I got Minho killed. It was my fault. I did this. Not IMAT, not Aurora, me. I killed my best friend. 

Thomas hasn't left my side. He keeps trying to make me eat, make me drink, make me take a shower. But I refuse. I can't do anything but dwell in the horror of what had just happened. I haven't told anyone about what Aurora said. 

I feel Thomas's hand on mine. "Newt? Newt, I need you to listen to me."

"Tommy, this was all my fault." I breathe. "I killed Minho."

"What?" He says. "No, Newt, no. No, you didn't kill him."

"It's my fault." I repeat. "He was trying to save me. I should have died. I keep living. But I'm supposed to die. WICKED knew it, Aurora knows it. I'm supposed to die. Not Minho, not anyone else. Me."

I can see Thomas's heart break. 

"Newt..." He puts a hand on my cheek. "Newt, this isn't your fault. Anymore than it's my fault Chuck is dead. And that isn't my fault, is it?" I shake my head. 

"No." I mutter.

"Exactly." He says. "This isn't your fault, okay?"

"But it is, Tommy." I say, my breath shuddering. "I know you don't want to accept it, but it's true. I need to die. I have to. The world wants it, needs it. I've almost died, what is it now, four times? And people keep saving me. And you know what? Everyone's who's ever saved me is dead. Except you. I keep killing people, Tommy. It's all my shucking fault." Silent tears fall down my cheeks.

Thomas looks at me. "Newt...the world doesn't need you dead. But I need you alive. I cannot do it alone. And it is not your fault."

"My best friend is dead." I whisper. 

"I know." Thomas says. 

"You're all that's left, Tommy." I say. "Promise you'll never leave?"

"I promise." He says. "I won't ever leave."