Tina stared at the cold, bleak grey walls in the waiting room. They stared right back.
The desolate corridor was populated by only the five of them, and the foreboding sounds coming from the room with the grey door behind them. Tina could hear them now. There was lots of clattering noises, rustling, and the sound of something being wheeled across the floor.
Multiple voices spoke over the top of each other- there had to be at least five people in there. Nobody was saying anything she wanted to hear. There was panic in all the voices, and one overlapped all the others at one point, yelling "Get that thing over here! Now!", followed by rapid squeaking noises and numerous clicking sounds. More voices followed.
"Clip that on. All of them."
"Get the wires."
Tina tried to block out the voices. Listening to them wasn't going to do her any good.
But she didn't think that anyone could have pretended not to hear it when someone hollered "We're losing him!"
Tina's blood chilled. Nobody looked toward each other, all too frightened to move, let alone talk.
Chaos behind the door escalated in response to the cry, and there was more yelling that followed.
"He's dying!"
"Holden, get over here!"
"He's got about a minute... less... for Merlin's sake Jordan, turn the damn thing on!"
"You forgot the cable! Clip it in!"
There was more clicking sounds, then the sound of something whirring, as if it were powering up. Quiet, muffled voices followed. Tina stopped listening and focussed on her breathing, still watching the grey wall on the opposite side on the corridor.
On her left, Theseus was doing the same thing. Both of them were lost in their own worlds, trying not to think about what was happening to Newt in the room behind them.
On her right, Queenie sat with Jacob next to her, gently clasping his hands as he murmured soothing words to her.
Leta was on Theseus' left, trying not to stare at anything but her shoes. She wished she had been there to help him. Tina had, she found out a while ago. Tina had been the reason that everyone held a shred of hope that he'd survive. But even Tina might have been precious seconds too late.
Leta shook her head. She wouldn't think like that. She'd force herself to stay positive. Newt had gone through so much- he couldn't die now. Theseus sensed her sudden movement and turned to face her.
"Are you okay?" he whispered. Hospitals felt like a place for whispering. Nobody talked loudly. Nobody smiled. Nobody laughed. Then again, nobody expected them to. Hospitals were sad places.
"I'm fine."
Anyone who could have heard her would've been able to tell that she wasn't fine. Theseus knew that she wasn't fine. He wasn't fine, either. No one was. But everyone knew that, so nobody pushed each other to talk. Theseus included. He studied her for a moment before turning back to face the wall.
On his other side, Tina had dried her tears since they'd entered the hospital, shoulders back and head held high once more, though everyone could tell that she wasn't fine either. She was probably the least fine out of all of them.
She couldn't erase the image of Newt's mangled leg, the sound of his voice screaming at her to run, and, gods damn her, she couldn't erase the feeling of his lips brushing against her cheek before he die-
Tina cut her own thoughts off. He wasn't dead. He'd make it through. She wouldn't give up on him now. It had been 24 hours since Tina found him bleeding out on the amphitheatre floor, and he'd been rushed to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. All five of them waited outside while Merlin knows what the surgeons were doing behind the door.
A nurse bustled out of the room. Everyone shot to their feet. She was wearing thick black-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose and a pen behind one ear. She had a clipboard tucked under her arm and multiple papers in her other hand.
She had a kind but weary look in her milky blue eyes, and seemed to tell exactly what they wanted to know.
"He's on life support. We're not sure if he'll make it."
The five of them exchanged glances.
"Can we come in?"
The question came from Jacob that time. His face was creased with worry and his eyes were sunken in, just slightly. The nurse chewed on a lip.
"Okay. Try to be quiet. There are more nurses and doctors in the connected room- the one with the green door if something happens. So far he isn't showing any signs of life."
The nurse continued off down the corridor and disappeared around a corner. They were left hovering around the door she'd closed behind her. Leta sneaked a glance at Tina. Her head was bowed, her shoulders squared. She was staring at the floor.
"Do you want to go inside?" Leta asked softly, to everyone, to anyone. There were a quiet mumble of responses, most of which asking whether anyone else wanted to go. Theseus lifted his eyes to the door. He was afraid- no, he was terrified- but his brother needed him, and he needed Newt, too.
Before he could change his mind, he gently turned the doorknob and slipped inside. The rest of them looked at each other. Then the slightly-open door. Theseus didn't need to turn around to know they were following him.
They quietly filed into the room one after another.
It was rather plain, with bleak grey walls and multiple tables hosting pointed silver tools on one side. Just as the nurse had told them, there was a green door at the far end of the room, with a little rectangular window at the top. There were four beds in the room, but only one was occupied. The two beds on the other side of the room had a green curtain whisked around them. A clock ticked sorrowfully on one side- the only sound in the room, bar a high-pitched bleeping noise every second or so. A machine of some sort, Theseus realised with an unfriendly jolt. They'd hooked him up to a life support machine.
Someone gasped quietly and he turned around.
Newt was indeed hooked up to a life support machine, its quiet, pulsing beeps filling the air. He didn't look like he'd recovered; the scratches on his face were still there, and a clean white bandage was wrapped around his head, the blood from a cut on his temple already soaking through the cloth. There was an ominous looking mask strapped across his face connected to a long tube, and multiple little cables taped to his arms, hands and chest, all connected to the machine, but that wasn't what attracted Theseus' attention.
"He's so pale," someone whispered. It was Queenie. She was standing in between Tina and Jacob, a hand over her mouth. Tina was quiet, but she was staring at Newt, her face blank and unreadable.
Queenie was right. Newt was more than pale- he had turned a sickly greyish colour, making his red-brown hair look like fire in contrast. A white sheet was pulled up to just under his collarbone, so his leg wasn't visible. There was no blood on the sheet. Theseus wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not.
A doctor exited the room behind the green door and quietly moved across the ward, heading for the door they entered through. Theseus watched him for a moment before turning back to his little brother.
He stalled a minute, debating whether he should move or not, then slowly walked to the side of the bed. There was a wooden bedside table on the right side. On it sat a filled-out form of some sort and a clear ornate vase filled with water, but no flowers.
Theseus lingered by the bed for a long while.
At one point, Tina walked over to join him. Everyone filed out of the room, deciding that it was best to leave the two of them alone with Newt.
They stood there for what seemed like forever.
"Are you okay?" said Tina softly. Neither of them stopped watching Newt, as if he'd disappear into thin air if they took their eyes off him for even a second.
Theseus nodded, words failing him. He found his voice again in a couple minutes.
"Newt told me about you. As soon as he got back from New York."
Tina ducked her head slightly, and she couldn't stop the tiny smile that sneaked out, despite her efforts to remain solemn. Theseus noticed, and his mouth quirked to the side.
"It was a... pretty hectic situation we'd all been thrown into."
"Yeah... well I know a thing or two about hectic situations," he mused, nodding his head. Tina smiled again- just a little.
Another couple minutes of silence.
Tina found herself studying the filled-out form. It looked like it had been scribbled out in a hurry, and there were a few drops of water soaking through the corner. She did a double-take when she reached the Blood Loss section. She leaned forward to pick up the sheet. Theseus snapped his attention to her, frowning at the written details.
He saw it too.
"Sixty percent blood loss... that's a lot," he murmured, looking back at his brother. No wonder Newt looked so pale.
Tina must've been uncomfortable waiting there, because she shifted on her feet slightly, and Theseus took the hint that it was time to go. He slowly placed the form back onto the wooden table.
"Do you want to go find the others?" he said, still watching the form.
Tina picked it up as a polite request to give him some time with his brother and nodded, only casting one more look at Newt before striding through the grey door again.
Theseus knew he only had a minute, but he didn't rush it.
He dragged a soft chair from the bed next to Newt's and sank into it, watching his brother. As if he'd suddenly get up and strike a conversation with him. Theseus chuckled softly to himself.
No, his brother was in no state to get up, let alone talk to people.
Light footsteps sounded down the corridor, and he could hear muffled conversations outside the door. He had to leave. Theseus stood up and left the chair there- someone else could move it if it was needed. He started towards the door, then stopped halfway.
He turned back slowly, then walked to the bed again.
Theseus lifted his hand and gently stroked his little brother's hair, a tear escaping down his cheek.
More muffled voices sounded, and Theseus stood up again, giving Newt one last glance before shuffling out of the room and closing the door behind him with a quiet click.
Some nice brotherly fluff :)
Guess what??
I hit 100 views!!!! fdl;kjs;gjfdsfg;fkdjg wow! There are literally only two chapters and I've already received so many lovely comments! They just make my day ^^ so thank you.
When I was writing the speech for the nurse, I added a little A/N in Onenote:
This is now an inside joke between my friends.
HE'S GONNA DIE, MAH BOIIS
Next chapter, I'll give a bit more orientation in this story (Where they are, details on Grindelwald's attack, etc). Also, I don't know the first thing about hospitals, so I'm doing a lot of research. There are literally 7 tabs open on my laptop on hospital procedures and things like that TwT
Well, I'm an educated child now
Cateye992, out!