The Unspeakables || N.Scamander

Goodbye

"You sure you have everything?"

Lila couldn't help but chuckle before rolling her eyes, "oh stop fretting, Theseus-kun. I'll be just fine."

It was the day before Lila's departure and to say that she wasn't stressed was a complete and utter lie. She kept having nightmares about trying to get into Japan's Ministry, seeing glimpses of her past coming back to haunt her in batches of scattered memories that always resulted in Lila jolting up in bed in ragged breaths, sweat tumbling down her back as she heard Newt's door opening to check up on her, no doubt.

He'd been very distant since her announcement to go back to her motherland. But she couldn't blame him, not when there were so many things at stake, not when every second that she looked into his eyes made her want to renounce everything she was meant to be doing.

He closed himself off in his suitcase when he wasn't needed upstairs and Lila, thinking that he needed his space, let him deal with the weight that she could feel in her own chest. Words went unsaid, unspoken in the distance that was growing between them with each passing day.

And even now, as Lila was packing up some new clothes she'd bought for the trip, the Mazoologist was still nowhere to be found.

"You know how he is," Theseus said, as if he could read her mind. Lila quickly turned back to her suitcase upon realizing that her gaze had strayrd once more towards the opened suitcase in question.

"What?" She tried to act dumb, though it was clear that he could see right through her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," he sent her a pointed look, "I see the way you look at him."
"Look at who?" She batted her eyelashes at him all too innocently.
"My brother."

"God no," Lila proceeded to distract herself with folding and re-folding her clothes though it was impossible to stop the heat from climbing through her cheeks, "I would never. And honestly it's not possible."

"If you think it's because of Tina, maybe you should think again."

Lila narrowed her eyes at him, "there's too much of an age gap."

Theseus laughed, head thrown back as she threw him the hardest glare she could muster, "what?" She barked at him, "what's so funny?"

"Nothing, just--" he shook his head and his auburn curls bounced around his face, "you are more similar than I thought you were."

It was obvious in the mischievous twinkle in his eye that Theseus was trying to push and pull, tease her in ways to get a reaction out of her. But Lila wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of that. After all, what would she even gain from trying to act on her stupid feelings when it wasn't meant to be?
Stupid. That was what it was. Stupid.

With that, she closed her trunk with a little more force than necessary.

It was with that train of thought that Lila fell asleep that night, Paul the niffler burrowed in the crook of her neck. She stroked him absentmindedly as she tried not to think about going back to a home that wasn't home. Japan in the 1930's would obviously be different. But what about her own house to start with? What about the ministry? Did the Unspeakables Department even exist at that time?

Well. That wasn't something she should be concerned about. Not at this very moment anyway.

Lila wasn't sure when she managed to fall asleep, only felt the soft pressure of a hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake.

Her eyes fluttered, still heavy with sleep, as her mind registered her surroundings. Newt's face.

"Hello," he murmured softly. His eyes met hers and in the early hours of the morning, this scene felt slightly intimate, "it's almost time."