The second Bunty closed the door behind her, Theseus quickly excused himself and stalked up to Leta's room.
The door was locked- she clearly didn't want anyone to come in.
Not bothering to cast an unlocking charm, Theseus knocked firmly on the door. No answer.
Footsteps sounded behind him, and he wheeled around to come face to face with Tina. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet and mumbled something about needing to get something from her room. Slightly embarrassed, Theseus stepped backwards.
Tina slowly shuffled inside and hesitated before clicking the door shut behind her.
Theseus stared blankly at the door, mixed feelings swirling in his gut.
Muffled voices echoed from the inside. Uncertainty grew inside him like a balloon. After a full minute, Theseus sighed quietly and leaned against the wall.
Another five minutes passed. The voices grew quieter, Theseus felt like they knew he was still outside. He tried not to make much noise, and waited outside the door not moving a muscle.
Eventually, it flew open and Leta stalked out, purposefully ignoring him.
"Leta."
She strode past him, heading down the corridor. Theseus immediately followed her.
"Leta, wait-"
She took no notice. Theseus felt his heart dropping like a stone with every step he had to take to catch up with her.
"Leta-"
"What?"
He stopped cold, surprised she had answered him. Leta whipped around and glared at him, fire dancing in her eyes and arms crossed. Theseus opened his mouth, then closed it again. For some reason he couldn't decipher, everything he had bubbling inside him, all of his feelings, everything he wanted to say had just... disappeared.
Theseus stared blankly at his wife.
"I- uh..."
Leta arched an eyebrow.
"Why are you acting like this?" blurted out Theseus. He didn't realise it until it left his lips, but it was exactly what he'd been meaning to say all along. He didn't correct himself, or add anything else, choosing instead to stand his ground and watch her respond.
Leta braced her hands on her hips.
"Why am I acting like this? Why am I acting like this? Maybe I should try going behind your back and lying and then asking you what's wrong!"
Theseus scowled.
"You're not still mad at me about that, are you?"
"Yes I am, Theseus. That wasn't something little you did. Newt could've hurt himself even more!"
"We were all there, Leta, nothing would've happened!"
"You don't know that! Pure luck got you all out of that suitcase safely!"
The door down the corridor opened again, and Tina poked her head out, then, trying to appear as if she couldn't hear their argument, nonchalantly walked out and into the living room. Leta cringed, but hid it well.
"Can we talk somewhere else?" she snapped, irritated. Theseus frowned.
"Fine. My room is free," he muttered, letting her in, then quietly closing the door.
"Our room." Theseus dutifully ignored her indignant remark.
"It wasn't pure luck that got us out safely, Leta! We were careful!" he said quickly, before she could jump in with a new argument.
"Being careful! Taking Newt back into his case was the most careless thing you could have done at that moment!"
"Newt's creatures matter to him! It had been so long, Leta... it was just for a bit!"
"Of course, just for a bit where everything could have gone wrong!"
"It's so hard to see him like this, okay?!" Theseus spat. "He's my brother, I hate seeing him unhappy!"
"I know, but risking his life again isn't the way to fix that!" she shot back.
There were rapid footsteps outside the door, and the two of them froze for a second. Theseus quickly tried to cover it up.
"Risking his life, Leta?! He was playing with Nifflers for a few hours, not jumping off a cliff!" he hissed.
"I don't care what he did!" Each word struck him like a blow. "He is injured! He is supposed to rest!"
Theseus started to snap a response, but Leta cut him off.
"And do you know what disappoints me the most? You lied! You lied about it!"
"I-"
"You said you went shopping! Can you think of a lousier excuse than that?! You aren't being fair, Theseus! You can't go behind my back like that!"
She was sobbing now, hot tears streaming down her cheeks as he stared back at her, a pained expression on his face. Theseus backed down, lowering his voice.
"I know I shouldn't have done it, Leta. But it was for my brother. It was only once- I wanted him to know his creatures were safe, I wanted him to-"
"I don't care if it was only once-"
"I WANTED HIM TO KNOW HE COULD TRUST US!" roared Theseus. Leta reeled back, shocked.
Her expression steeled, eyes no longer looking vulnerable, but cold and unforgiving. Theseus recoiled, immediately recognising his mistake.
"Fine," Leta whispered, somehow more venomous and scarier than her yelling.
"Leta-"
She turned on her heel and wrenched open the door, before stalking out without another word. Theseus' senses stopped working for a split second, and he froze to the spot, unable to move.
It was only when the bedroom door slammed behind her, when he blinked, shook his head, and bolted out after her.
Theseus reached the living room just as she yanked the front door open, walked outside and disapparated, right before the front door smashed closed in his face and he stood, staring at elegantly carved oak wood.
A subtle shuffling noise made him turn, and Theseus suddenly realised he had an audience.
"Um..." Jacob cleared his throat awkwardly. A heavy silence hung in the air.
"Did anyone see where Queenie and Tina went?" he murmured, sotto voiced. Newt shook his head, staring at the floor.
Theseus pressed his lips together, then silently stalked back to his room. Newt and Jacob swapped worried glances.
A while later, Newt found himself standing nervously outside their room, Jacob at his side. He knocked for the third time, uncertainty roiling in his gut.
The door slowly creaked open, and Theseus peered through the crack at them.
"Theseus? We just thought you might want to- um..." For once in his life, Jacob seemed at a loss for words.
Theseus sighed softly and opened the door all the way. Both of them carefully filed into the room. Theseus dropped onto his bed, shattered.
Jacob sat down on his left and Newt paused before leaning his crutches against the wall and joining him on his brother's right. An awkward silence passed.
"Are you okay?" tried Jacob. A nice, easy question, but Theseus didn't answer.
"What happened?"
He lifted his head slightly, still avoiding eye contact. "You didn't hear it?"
Jacob went silent. Newt spoke for him.
"Not all of it."
Theseus hung his head again, burying his face in his hands. "I stuffed up."
Neither of his companions said anything, so Theseus kept talking, though he wasn't exactly sure why. "I meant everything I said- every word of it, but... I didn't mean to say it like that," came his muffled sentence.
The pair considered for a beat.
"Why didn't you go after her?" Jacob said finally.
Theseus sighed heavily again. "She disapparated. I don't know where she is." His voice cracked with pain, coming out than no more than a choked whisper.
"You have no idea?" continued Jacob. Theseus shook his head, then paused, eyes widening and shooting up to meet theirs. He knew, but...
"Theseus," Newt started quietly. Something flickered in his eyes. He knew where Leta had gone, but something was holding him back. Newt could sense it. "Theseus, are you sure?"
He almost didn't respond, but a tiny flicker of fire rekindled inside him, and Theseus stood up, his companions reciprocating after him.
"I think I know where she is," he started, pulling on his coat. He paused to study them- both encouraging, tiny smiles flickering into their expressions. Theseus nodded, now entirely sure he was doing the right thing. "There was this one place- it was a park- where she used to spend hours, whenever she wanted to clear her mind."
Half of his sentence broke off as he snatched his wand from the dresser and determinedly walked out of the room, a smile sneaking its way into his expression. Newt knew he wasn't swift enough on crutches to catch him before he left the house, but Jacob was already on his feet, going after him.
"What?" His slightly panicked voice echoed back to Newt as he disappeared down the hall.
"I'm going after her!" Theseus' triumphant holler was the last thing Newt heard before the front door clicked shut again.
Hi there it's the middle of the week and I should be studying for an assignment but I wrote a few more chapters and I wanted to share them with you because I love you all :)
I know this chapter is short, I don't care, I just really wanted to flesh out Theseus and Leta's argument to create some tension. Uhh- let me know how badly I failed.
I think I did a horrible job of naming this chapter- I'll just elaborate that it's called Chain Reaction because Theseus made one smol mistake and it lead to huge consequences :(
I have a great idea for a crossover, and I'm going get straight into it. YEET
Question: If a Zouwu and a Thunderbird got into a fight, who would win?
That's all for now.
Cateye992, out!