ᵗʷᵒ 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 ⁿᵉʷᵗᵐᵃˢ (ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ)

Tainted Obligation

THOMAS POV

She told me to kill him. She gave me a gun. She actually told me to kill him. I tuck the gun away in my pocket and walk into his room.

"Hey, Newt." I say. "Listen, I-"

"I'm sorry, Tommy." He says. 

"What?" I ask, taken aback. "Sorry? For what? You didn't do anything."

Newt stands and walks over to me. "It's always been true. I've always had to die. Since the first day in the Maze, I was doomed to die. I'm not immune, Tommy. And apparently, that gets you killed in this shuck world." He looks me in the eyes. "So do it. Just do it. Shoot me. Shoot me before you have any second thoughts."

I stare at Newt, my mouth open. "W-what? What are you talking about?"

"I heard Aurora said to you, Thomas." He whispers, stepping even closer. "She told you to kill me. And she's probably going to kill you if you don't do it." He reaches into my back pocket and pulls out the gun. 

"I can't do it, Newt." I say, tears brimming in my eyes. "If I couldn't do it when you were a crank, how the hell am I supposed to kill you when you are perfectly healthy?"

He pockets the gun and grabs both my hands. 

"You'll be fine, Tommy." He says. "If you can't do it, I'll do it myself and you can take the credit."

"I don't want it." I say, shaking my head. "I don't want the credit. I want you alive. I don't care if I die. I don't care." 

He puts his hands on my cheeks. "Tommy." I look at him. "You'll find love again. We're shucking kids! We don't even know what love really is, Tommy. You'll have your entire life to fall in love again."

"But I don't want to." I whisper. "I want you. You...you can't leave me. You promised, remember?"

He looks at me sadly. "That was before it meant you dying, Tommy. I'm not letting anyone else die for me."

"Please." I beg. "Please. You can't die. You can't. It wouldn't be really living with you."

"I love you, Tommy." He says. 

"No. No, no, this isn't right!" I choke. "No one else can die for her. For that...that..." 

"I'm not dying for her." He interupts. "I'm dying for the greater good." 

"But that's...stupid!" I cry. "Live for me. Live for..." He doesn't let me finish. He presses his lips to mine, wrapping his arms around my neck. I pull him closer. 

"You'll be okay." He whispers, our faces mere inches apart. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but you will be. And I'll be okay too." He's crying too now. He looks up and shakes his head. "I need you to be okay, Tommy. I'm not gonna be able to do this if you aren't."

"So don't do it!" I plead. "Please!"

"I need you to tell me you'll be fine." He says. "Even if it's a lie. I need to hear the words." 

I start to shake. "I'll...I'll be fine." 

He smiles. "You will be, Tommy. I know it."

He pulls away from me and grabs the gun from his pocket. He puts it to his temple.

"Say anything else there is to say now." He says. "Or don't say it at all."

"But we...we never got to do so much!" I say. "We haven't lived yet, Newt. I can't lose you. I can't."

"You can." He says. "You just don't want to."

He wraps his finger around the trigger. 

"I-I-" My words stumble over each other. 

"Goodbye, Tommy." He says. 

"No, no, no, you can't do it!" I beg. "Please, Newt, please. You can't. Please."

Then, the door slams open and the gun clatters from Newt's hand onto the ground. It's Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth?" Newt says. "What are you doing here?" 

"Newt, you can't die." She says. "I heard what Aurora told Thomas to do. But there's a reason you need to live." 

Newt looks at her. "What are you talking about? Why do I need to live?"

Elizabeth grabs his hand. "Come with me."

Newt grabs my hand too and we follow Elizabeth, in a line like preschoolers. 

She drops Newt's hand in front of a building. 

"Well, come on." She says, opening the door.

Newt and I share a look, but walk in. 

There's a long, white hallway with one door at the end. Elizabeth opens it. It's pure white with an operating table in the middle. Otherwise, it's empty.

"I've been here before!" Newt blurts out. 

"What?" I ask. "What are you talking about?"

"The voice, er, Aurora." He says. "She took me here. But not really?" He shakes his head. "Nevermind."

"What is this place?" I ask, pulling Newt closer to me. 

Elizabeth turns to face us, a huge grin on her face. "I thought you'd never ask." 

She moves over to the left wall. She traces it with her finger until, apparently, she finds something. She pushes in and a buzzing sound ensues. A hatch in the ceiling opens. Something is lowering down. Some sort of elevator. 

"Get in." She says once the thing has lowered fully. 

Newt and I climb in. Elizabeth gets in after pushing the button again. We start to go up. I almost fall backwards but Newt grabs my arm. 

"Careful there, Tommy." He says, grinning wryly. 

The elevator goes up for what feels like a year. Then, it stops. Elizabeth presses another button and it opens. We step out into a huge building.

"What the bloody hell place?" Newt whispers. 

Then, a young asian woman walks over. 

"Hello, Elizabeth." She says. "Thank you for bringing them."

"Um, not to be rude," I say. "But who the shuck are you?"

The lady looks at me strangely. "I'm Cristina Yang." (A/N: YEAH YEAH IK)

"What do you do?" Newt asks. 

"What you mean?" She asks. 

Elizabeth puts a hand on his arm. "This is IMAT."

"You mean the place that has tried to kill both me and Newt on multiple occasions?" I ask, thinking about hoping back into the elevator. Instead, I grab Newt's hand and pull him away from Elizabeth. He wraps an arm around my waist.

"I suppose..." Elizabeth says. "But it's not the same. We need Newt alive here."

"It's true." Cristina says. "Aurora went rouge. None of what she did was under our command."

"Not even implant us?" I ask.

"Oh that wasn't her." she says. "That was one of our surgeons, Dr. Lexie Grey."

Newt nods. "Okay."

"Come along." Cristina instructs. 

We follow her down a hallway. This is giving me flashbacks I'd rather not have. I grip Newt's hand tighter. 

"It's okay, Tommy." He whispers. 

I take a deep breath and follow Cristina deeper into the building. She leads us to a room with some kind of scan.

"We need Newt alive because it seems we've identified a gene in the non-immunes that could possibly save the world." 

"What do you mean?" Newt asks. "How could one gene in a set of people that is rapidly declining save the whole shuck world?"

"That's the thing." Cristina says. "We have a proposition."