Newt x Reader || A13

15 | home

His lips cover my own in an embrace that is frantic, desperate, and everything I've been craving.

For a second, the two of us exist separately. We're not trapped in this maze, our memories having been scrubbed away, but free of the grievers that pursue us not just under the moon, but throughout the day as well. We remember where we were from, who our parents were.

Who we were.

It's a perfectly unrealistic, idyllic world.

But a world which seems entirely possible for just this moment.

At first, I'm unsure of what to do, surprise eminent in my response. Then, I come to life under his touch.

My nerves are alight, an excitement radiating through my lips down to my toes as he kisses me with an urgency that lets me know he's wanted this as much as I have.

I let my eyes close, bringing a hand up from his waist and placing it in his sandy hair, pulling him closer. Under his lips, I come undone, yet at the same time, I feel whole; complete.

I feel him smile against my mouth for a brief moment as he pulls away in the slightest, giving me time to catch my breath.

When I open my eyes, he's looking at me, brown eyes clouded with desire. A warmth spreads throughout my body.

It's nice to feel wanted.

Without a word, I tug on his hair and bring my lips to his again, rain pouring down, soaking us through.

Newt's hand finds my cheek, and all thoughts of Julian are eddied from my mind. It's Newt: all him, and only him.

Finally, he pulls away, a small smile on his face. I look down at my feet, my lips still tingling.

My boots are soaked through from the torrential downpour, scratched and muddy from the maze.

I feel a hand on my chin, gently pulling my face back up.

Newt smiles, a big one, and from the way his eyes crinkle at the corners and the light in his irises, I can tell it's a real one. I crack a smile as well, unable to repress my happiness in this moment.

"Thank you." He says, his voice a hushed whisper.

"For what?" I ask, letting my hand fall from his hair and back to my side. He pauses for a moment before reaching for it, intertwining my fingers with his.

"Coming home." He whispers. At his words, I lean into him, wrapping my arms back around him. He lets me bury my face into the crook of his neck, and he rests his chin in my hair.

I feel complete.

As I close my eyes, he leans down and whispers to me, his lips brushing my earlobe.

"First to survive a night in the maze," he chuckles, "who would have thought?"

I don't answer, simply shutting my eyes tight.

Through the fabric of my inside jacket pocket, I can feel the cool blade of Julian's blade pressed against me; a hindering reminder that the maze at night is just the first of our problems.

I shut my eyes tighter, pressing my face further into his chest, and breathe in the familiar scent of Newt.

- - -

I wince as Clint threads the iron needle through my peeling flesh. It comes out the other side crimson, then threads through the other side of my thigh wound, bringing the severed skin together.

"Shuck, that kills!" I wince, then shut my mouth. It's not the greatest choice of words.

The thought is almost enough to bring tears to my eyes once again.

"Sorry." Clint says apologetically. I nod and allow the keeper of the medjacks to do with my sorry limb what he will.

I haven't been able to look at it since I returned.

"He knows what he's doing." Minho enters, and I sit up straight. Clint looks up, his face grim.

"She's been-" he starts, but Minho's eyes skim my leg, and he holds a hand up, cutting Clint off.

"Give us a minute, yeah shank?" Clint nods a little too fast and exits the medbay, leaving Minho and I alone. I stare after skeptically before turning back to Minho, who, as soon as he hears the hatch swing shut, leans towards me.

"He said goodbye to me the night before."

I pause, totally confused.

"What?"

"Julian." Minho winces as he says the name, "he came into the homestead the night before you guys left, and he said goodbye to me." My mouth falls open.

"But it was supposed to just be a day trip- he runs them every day." I say. Minho simply looks down, dismissing the thought.

His eyes bore into the ground for several seconds.

Finally, he puts his head in his hands as a sign of submission- sadness.

"I just don't know what to believe."

I've never seen Minho like this in the month I've been here for.

"He was one of my best friends," he says, "they both were."

I watched him die.

I watched them both die.

"He-" I start, but find myself biting my tongue. I know I have to tell them- warm them, but I can't bring myself to talk about Julian right now.

Having watched him die, I feel closer to him than I ever had.

Minho seems to understand my silence. He drops the subject as well.

"Well I'm glad you're back." He finally says.

There is no spite nor backhandedness in this comment. He's genuinely happy I'm safe.

I give him a small smile.

"I am too."

"We all are." He stands, "well- I'll leave you to rest and recover." He gives my leg one more grimace, then exits the medbay, leaving me completely alone.

I sigh and lie back in my hammock. Clint's wrapped a bandage around my leg, but now I want to see it myself.

I can't run from what happened last night forever.

I unwrap the bandage carefully, and as it comes off, my stomach drops.

The wound is healing, and it's not bleeding anymore, but that's where the good news ends.

Throughout my right thigh, beginning from the stab wound, my veins are beginning to turn to black. It's spreading outwards from the wound itself where my tissue is almost completely purple and black.

It draws the breath from my lips and the blood from my face.

I'm not miraculously immune as I had been in the maze last night.

Because on my leg, branding me for death, is the mark of a griever's sting.