Black backpack low-slung over her shoulder and wand gripped firmly in her lithe hand, Tina Goldstein marched into the living room, ready to attack the day.
Theseus and his wife were both sitting on the cream sofa, speaking to each other in hushed voices. The former held Leta's hands in his, absentmindedly running his thumb up and down her wrist.
The pair promptly looked up when Tina entered.
Theseus looked professional as ever, clad in his usual grey suit and tie, with his hair combed neatly back.
Tina couldn't help but notice that, not unlike his younger brother, Theseus also owned a (albeit smaller and less battered) suitcase, which leaned against the couch frame, though his was grey.
Just the thought brought a wry smile to Tina's expression.
"Are you ready?" asked Leta quietly, offering her a small smile. Tina nodded, biting her lip.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Newt's still in the kitchen, trying to persuade Jacob that he doesn't need any more breakfast," answered Theseus blandly. He gave a toothy grin. "And Queenie's right behind you."
Sure enough, when Tina whirled around, she was greeted by her younger sister's glowing smile and perfect complexion... as per normal.
"Aw, thank you Teenie," chirped Queenie, sweeping past her. "Are you r- oh, you've already been asked, okay."
She bounced on her toes lightly, as if trying to shake off her own nervousness. Tina smiled crookedly.
"Is Newt okay?," asked Queenie. "He's been acting a little...weird this morning," she continued, disappearing into the kitchen before Tina could respond.
To find out herself, presumably.
Instead, Tina dropped onto the couch next to Theseus and found herself fiddling nervously with her collar.
Muffled voices issued from the kitchen, followed by light, airy laughter- supposedly Queenie's- before the very witch herself trotted back into the living room.
"Tina. Have you eaten?"
Tina refrained from rolling her eyes playfully. "I had breakfast already," she answered somewhat bluntly.
Shaking her head, she forced herself to take a few deep breaths.
It's normal to be nervous. You just need to calm down. Don't take it out on other people, Tina.
"Theseus is nervous too," murmured Queenie softly, moving to her side. Theseus chuckled quietly, sliding his hands into his pockets.
Leta broke the slightly uncomfortable silence, and Tina mentally thanked her.
"Is Newt alright?"
A somewhat uncomfortable pause hung in the air like a low-slung cobweb. Tina found herself noticing that her sister's smile had become slightly tighter.
Queenie dropped her voice to barely above a whisper.
"He's worried," she sighed. "We all are, but I think that he's stressing out a little too much."
"What? Why?"
Tina didn't realise she was speaking until she heard her own words. Embarrassed at the unnaturally high note of concern in her voice, she ducked her head to hide her blush.
"He's worried about you, Teen. Both of you," her sister replied, casting a pointed glance toward Theseus. "He's worried about you getting hurt."
A moment or two elapsed, everyone lost in their own reveries.
Tina chewed on her lip. Hadn't he told her just that yesterday? He'd asked her to be careful, hadn't he?
"We're meant to meet for briefing at the Ministry in four hours." Theseus interrupted her thoughts. "They've given us as much time as they could to prepare."
For some reason, Tina sensed that the atmosphere had become strangely tensed. Perhaps it was the conversational topic about the ministry. Neither Tina nor Theseus talked about work at home, let alone to each other.
Maybe it was Jacob's vague, slightly clueless (though Tina didn't like to think of it that way) understanding of the way things worked in the wizarding world. Maybe it was Newt's complications and countless misunderstandings with aurors. Maybe it was just the fact that no one wanted to talk about work while spending time with their friends- no, family.
They were a family now.
Tina abruptly reeled back into the real world. Leta was saying something about the ministry being generous with their timing.
Try as she might, Tina couldn't bring herself to care about the ministry's generous timing, and a second thought drifted through her brain.
Did Newt talk to Theseus too? About being careful?
Tina opened her mouth, and was about to look towards her sister for conformation, when a deafening crash echoed from the kitchen, followed by a sickening thud that seemed to sound through the very walls of the house.
An intense, eerie silence followed, and Tina immediately got the feeling that something was wrong.
The expressions on the others' faces said the same.
In the corner of her eye, Tina saw Queenie tense up.
"Oh no..."
In a split second, Queenie had zipped out of the room. Tina only spared the others a glance before following her. Without turning around, she knew they were behind her.
Tina strode into the kitchen, and a stinging pain sliced through her foot as soon as she stepped on the tiles. Tina hissed and yanked her leg away.
There was a ceramic shard on the floor where her foot had been.
Theseus and Leta stumbled to a halt behind her, mouths gaping as they watched with the same wide eyes at what had happened.
Shattered fragments of ceramic were peppered around on the kitchen floor, one of which Tina had stood on.
The broken plate, however, was the least of anyone's worries.
Jacob was kneeling on the ground, one arm around Newt and the other bracing himself on the linoleum tiles. Queenie was crouched in front of Newt, hands gently holding him by the shoulders.
Her soft murmurs almost soothed Tina's pounding heartbeat, but she made the mistake of moving closer to him, and her stupid brain pieced together exactly what had happened.
Newt was on the floor, looking peaky and attenuated.
The crutches lay discarded- one scattered across the ground and another lying next to Jacob.
Shards of a shattered plate were strewn across the kitchen.
Newt had slipped and collapsed.
Tina tried to catch her sister's eye, hoping that she could give her an answer.
Queenie promptly twisted around, sensing her unspoken question and stared her elder sister right through the eyes- her look said 'yes'.
Tina's heart dropped to her feet. Then shattered through the floor and fell a million miles further.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Newt was supposed to make a smooth recovery.
If he'd just injured himself further...
"Newt... Newt, look at me," coaxed Queenie gently, turning back. Newt was craning his neck, as if trying to see past her. "Newt. Are you alright?"
He nodded vigorously. "I'm fine."
Queenie clearly wasn't convinced. Jacob stood up for her.
"Did you hurt anything? Is your leg-"
"I'm fine," Newt insisted.
Tina felt rooted to the spot. She wanted to move- she wanted to help Newt- but her legs felt like jelly and her brain felt like it had been struck by lightning.
Tina hadn't realised that she was staring until Newt looked back at her.
She was too busy focusing on the way his blue-green eyes were starting to glaze over, on the way his arm went limp in Queenie's hand, on the way she could see less and less emotion in his eyes, until they slipped shut completely.
Newt fell limp on the linoleum tiles.
Oh hi thanks for checking in, I'm still a piece of gaRBAGE :)
Writer's block has struck again. Help.
In a vain effort to redeem myself from my poor, out-of-whack publishing schedule (I don't think I have one anymore)... I have a meme!
... Yaayyy...?
I don't actually have a meme making app or (I don't even know what you use), so I just thought of this and made it in PicEdit.
Anyway... thoughts on this chapter? Comments? Anything you want to see in the future?
Edit: Thank you so so so much for 70+ followers!!! 🎉🎉🎉
7 is my favourite number, so this is a big milestone for me :) (every time I get a follower it's a big milestone for me >w<)
Thank you for sticking with me :)
Cateye992, out!