Newt & Rosa (TMR)

The Flare

Prompt: Newt tells Rosa that he has the Flare. This takes place in the Death Cure.

Rosa woke up from her recurring nightmare and reached over, but Newt wasn't in his normal spot next to her. She stood up and quietly tiptoed around the sleeping bodies, trying not to wake anyone.

She eventually found the boy she was looking for in the bathroom, but he wasn't using it. Newt was standing in front of the small mirror that they had in the room. His blonde hair was sticking up in all different directions, but he was still cute to her. He had no idea that she was standing there.

Rosa finally turned her attention to what he was looking at. She briefly saw in the mirrors reflection the black and blue marks that covered his right arm. A lump in her throat formed when she realized what that meant. From what little she knew about the Flare, Newt had to have known for awhile. But he hadn't shared this with her.

She inhaled greatly and words fell out of her mouth.

"When were you gonna tell me?" She choked out, her voice shaking as she now made her presence known to him.

He sharply moved his eyes up to meet hers in the mirror. She then noticed that his eyes were glossy and hers were starting to do the same. The thought of losing Newt made her stomach physically sick.

He slowly turned around to face her and he let out a long sigh.

"I didn't know how."

A tear fell down her cheek and she could tell that he wanted to wipe it away. He just didn't know if that was a good idea right now.

"We're all supposed to be immune. You've been fine all this time and now...." Rosa didn't know how to finish her sentence. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to go back to sleep and wake up to realize that this was all a dream. But she knew it wasn't.

The Flare had gotten so bad that it was now airborne.

"Winston wasn't immune," He said, pointing out the death of their friend all those months ago.

"He got attacked. He showed symptoms right away. That's different."

Newt didn't answer. He stumbled forward, wrapping his arms around her waist. Rosa held onto him tighter than she ever had, not wanting to ever let go.

"What are we going to do?" She spoke again, desperately trying to figure out a plan to help him.

"We're gonna save Minho," He mumbled, still not pulling away from their embrace.

Rosa wanted to protest, but she knew that he would argue. His main priority in that moment was to save Minho. And to keep her safe.