Elite ~ a Newt love story

Chapter 9

Back in the Medhut, Emma had just finished wrapping Thomas's left hand, his knuckles having gotten scraped pretty badly in the fight with Ben.

"I'm sorry," Thomas whispered hoarsely.
Emma glanced up, her face relatively expressionless.
"It wasn't your fault Thomas. Even with whatever memories he had returned, however horrible, it was his choice to react that way."

Turning her back to him she started reorganizing the medicine chest on the small table in the corner.
"You're clear to go now Thomas," she said softly.

Emma heard him leave, door shutting quietly against the frame. Finishing setting everything in order she checked their supplies a second time, trying to keep her mind occupied.

She felt numb, like everything was a really bad nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.
Sitting down on one of the two cots they had, Emma simply pulled a knee to her chest, burying her face in her arms.

The soldier! You monster!

She wasn't sure how long she'd been in that position before Emma heard the Medhut door scrape open again.
She moved her face away, feeling the pressure of someone sitting on the cot behind her.

"Emmy?"

Newt.

"Hm."

Without saying anything, Newt leaned forward, threading his arms through hers in a hug, chin in the crook of her neck, Emma relaxing into his embrace.
"You're going to be okay love."

Alby came a few minutes later, fetching them for the gathering to decide Ben's fate.

Her face was a blank slate throughout the duration of the gathering, completely devoid of any and all emotion, unlike earlier.

It worried Newt; he knew Emma had been close with Ben, but had no idea how she would react. Ben would most certainly be banished, and Newt was surprised and somewhat shocked when Emma had agreed to come to the gathering.

He kept giving her concerned looks out of the corner of his eye, but there was nothing that showed on Emma's face that displayed even the slightest hint of emotion.

The facts had been discussed, and now all that was left was for the Keepers to make their vote.

Most of them agreed that Ben should be banished; he had attacked Thomas with the intent to seriously harm or even kill him, and had also attempted to harm Emma in the process.

But now, it was Emma's turn, to cast in her choice.
Newt unconsciously sucked a breath in through his teeth as they awaited her answer.

"Ben broke a rule. He harmed another glader and then attempted to do the same to me. Banishment is the only option." Her voice was cold, almost lifeless.

She stayed until the meeting was over, then left, slamming the door of the Gathering Hall shut, betraying far more emotion in that one gesture than she had the entire gathering.

Alby pulled Newt and Minho off to the side.
"I'm concerned on how Emma is going to be handling this. She trusts the both of you the most, so I just need you guys to watch out for her, for the time being, but....don't let her know."

The two boys nodded solemnly.

"And she has my permission to not be present at the Banishing. Her being there might make Ben more.... unpredictable, than before," Alby said with a weary sigh.
"It would also make it harder on Emma. I already know her enough to know that she's probably blaming herself for this."

Minho turned to Newt as Alby left. "I'll let you go find her first. She's always been more open to you," he commented with a tired smile as he left the room.
Normally, Minho would've been teasing Newt up one side and down the other about something like that, but even he was down heartened by the whole situation.

Eventually making his way outside, Newt became worried when he couldn't find Emma at first.
He'd checked the Medhut, the gardens, the animal pens.

But then he remembered her tree at the edges of the Deadheads.
As he approached, he saw a figure sitting up against the trunk that could only be Emma.

"Love?" He said as gently as he could.

"Hey Newt." Her vocal tone and facial expression was level, but as he sat down next to her, Newt saw that Emma's eyes were shining with barely controlled tears, and his heart dropped into his stomach.

She usually tried to not show very much emotion during hard things like this, preferring to look after the others rather than show how she was really feeling.

Newt, however, was the exception. He was the only one who had been able to see Emma at her most vulnerable times.
He was thankful that she trusted him that much, but was also saddened that she was so upset.

"Emmy?"

"Newt, who do you think I was? Before the maze."

"I don't know. But do you know what?"
She turned to look at him, a single tear sliding down her cheek, Newt brushing it away with his thumb.
"I don't bloody care either way."

Emma's mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly at that.
Then, her face fell again.

"I just wish I could've done something. Anything. I could've even been trying to make our own serum but I wasn't. I didn't."

"Emmy, you can't blame yourself for something you had no control over. What matters is who we are now, and the choices we make today. Not what happened yesterday."

"What did I do to deserve having someone like you in my life?" Emma said with a broken smile, biting her lip to keep more tears from falling.

Newt smiled at her then, an unfamiliar feeling rushing through him, rising in his chest.
"I don't know, but I do know that I am sure glad to have met you."

Well....I hope you guys liked this chapter. It seemed a little choppy towards the end, and I tried to smooth it out better but I'm still not too sure about it.😕

And its almost midnight, so buenos noches, please vote, and comment on your favorite part of the chapter!😁😴