Newt x Reader || A13

I wake to a cold sweat.

My eyes blink open, adjusting to the low light; the sun has not yet risen over the walls of the maze.

I strain my eyes, expecting hazy vision due to my illness. 

Yet everything is in focus.

I press a hand to my forehead.

Cool to the touch; I'm no longer feverish.

And now that I'm aware of it, the pain in my thigh has been reduced to a dull throb, yet I am still at unease.

Hurriedly, I sit up and reach for the bandages on my leg. They fall away without much resistance.

As I peer down at my skin, my face pales and my stomach drops.

It'd hardly dared wish for it, but against all odds and reason, it's happened.

For there, replacing what previously existed as brutalized, purple flesh, is a leg completely unmarred by injury.

Though impossible to fathom, the skin is pink and supple, leaving no trace of the Griever's sting.

- - -

I kneel by the water tub, letting my hands drift aimlessly through the water. The cool wetness surrounds my fingertips as they drag against the slight resistance of the water.

Between my fingers is the shirt which I wore into the maze. Gingerly, I run my hands over it, slowly cleansing it of stains. As I work, a sickening crimson spreads throughout the tub, each second of the cleaning causing my stomach to settle a little heavier.

It's impossible to tell who it belongs to, the blood in the water. Maybe it was Gabe's, having sprayed up from below where the griever tore him apart, ripping his flesh and scattering it on the maze walls, or maybe it was mine.

Maybe it was Julian's.

Every time I think about it, my head pounds. I shut my eyes and try to block out the thoughts.

When I blink, a familiar face is peering at me through the water.

"Feeling better?" Newt asks. I meet his eyes, and my grimace cracks as I try to offer a smile.

"What do you think?" I shake my head sarcastically. His grin fades, and he is silent for a moment.

He's wondering what I am. He's wondering how it's possible that my griever sting disappeared.

A touch on my thigh startles me out of my thoughts.

"A miracle." He says, and I look down to see his finger on my skin. Instantly, my cheeks heat and I curse myself for the reaction.

It's hard to focus on the moment, but I steady myself enough to find the words to voice what I've been pondering for the last night.

"Unless it's not," I say quickly. Newt looks sideways at me, confused.

"What do you mean?" He runs a thumb over his lower lip, a motion that is now familiar to me.

"No one has ever survived a sting." I say, my voice just above a whisper. "They change- until they can't remember anything, until they lose their minds. You told me yourself." He stares at me, and I watch as realization dawns in his brown eyes.