Subject A250: The Fangirl (COMPLETED)

Thirty-Five: Don't Cry For Me, Acegentina

A/N: Two updates in one night? Go me!

Her eyelids fluttered open, light filtered in, and Trace was overcome by immediate regret.

"Ugh," she groaned, closing them again as quickly as possible, throwing her arms over her face in a secondary effort to block the light. They felt heavy, like gravity had increased tenfold in the time she'd been asleep.

"Trace?" a voice asked. Clint. Clint's voice. Then, "Newt! Newt, she's awake!"

There was a loud crash from a nearby room, followed by heavy shuffling and startlingly loud bang. Eventually, she heard the door swing open.

"Ace?"

She removed her arms from her face to squint at Newt, who was now alone in the room. He looked as exhausted as she felt.

Still, Trace resolved to be her sassy self; she still hadn't forgiven Newt for taking Teresa's side.

"Oh, are we returning to the nicknames now? Now that I've endured hell you're willing to call me Ace again? I see how it is. My mistake."

"Ace, you know I didn't mean-"

"No, that's fine, Newt. That's fine. Call me what you want. Doesn't change the fact that you took her side. That you told me to leave when all I was trying to do was save our shucking friends while Teresa sat around playing with puzzle pieces. That's no problem at all!"

"You were right, Ace! You were shucking right!"

His words and his reaction shocked her into silence. "I was right?"

"You were right," he confirmed. "You knew the code. Every single bloody letter. I should've listened."

"Damn right you should've listened."

A loud scream echoed out from a nearby room, sending chills down Trace's spine, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut in fright. She knew that voice.

"Thomas."

Newt nodded sadly. "Did the same thing you did. Only the Grievers seemed to like him a little more. He got caught in the middle of the pack."

Trace winced. "How long ago was that?"

"Two nights ago."

"Two nights? How long was I out?"

"Three days." Newt's response was simple, but his tone said something else. She knew those three days felt like much longer than that to him. They sure did to her.

Trace frowned and moved to sit up, but Newt placed a hand on her shoulder, lowering her down before she could even push up from her elbows. She raised an eyebrow at him, questioning his actions.

"Why did you do it?" he asked. "I thought you'd lost the plot. I thought..." he trailed off, his gaze reaching the floor. Trace swore she saw tears pooling in his eyes, and felt her heart shattering in her chest at the sight.

Newt gulped. "I thought you were trying to kill yourself," he said.

All blood rushed from Trace's head and she felt faint. Sick to her stomach. She wanted to scream, cry, and throw up, all at once.

Instead, her voice just caught in her throat, her eyes pooling with tears to match Newt's. She couldn't find a single word to explain herself.

"I thought you would die hating me. Die thinking I didn't trust you. They found the code that night, too. An hour later and I would've come grovelling to you, apologising for ever doubting you. Instead, I watched you scream in agony, over and over again. There was nothing I could do. No way to let you know." Newt sniffed suddenly, stifling a sob. "All I could do was wait for you to wake up."