Saving Newt

Chapter 30

Hey,
Thanks for reading.
I'm now able to update more because we have moved hotels in a new location with wifi 😄
Thank you so much for being so patient when I wasn't around to update, I really appreciate your patience and understanding. I am very sorry about this situation, but am delight with your patience.
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Enjoy,
Annabelle_the_reader
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'Brianna! Brianna! Wake up!' A strong, masculine voice said, shaking Brianna firmly awake. She opened her eyes, blinking up at Alby in almost confusion. 'I had a few med-jacks take a look at you, they say you should be ok now, or do you want me to get them again?'

Brianna shook her head once, blinking into the sunlight of the Glade. She hadn't passed out for long, but it felt like hours since the fight. Alby and Brianna were alone in the field as all of the keepers were waiting for them in a Gathering and the others were going back to their jobs as if nothing had happened.

'Come with me.' He said and Brianna took his hand, hauling herself to her feet, and padded across the Glade with him. Brianna had to walk a little bit faster than usual next to Alby's big strides, but she ignored the pain in her legs as much as possible and walked quickly to the Gathering. 'We have a Gathering to decide how we should proceed with the events of earlier today.'

They ambled into the room full of keepers. Thomas and Brianna were the only ones there who weren't keepers. She felt slightly awkward considering whenever she was in a Gathering, she had usually done something wrong.

'Take a seat.' Alby said solemnly, gesturing to the seat beside Thomas. Brianna awkwardly sat down, feeling the attention of all of the Gladers on her, Thomas and Gally. In her opinion, she had aided their situation by ending the fight and so was a little distressed that she had to be in the spotlight like that.

'I think we all know why we are here.' Alby starts and the room immediately falls quiet. His tone is authoritative, stern, but also calm. In Brianna's opinion, it was one of his best features that no matter what he said, people felt inspired and relaxed by it. His word was command and it maintained the order of the Glade. 'There was an incident involving Gally, Thomas and Brianna. It must be added that both Thomas and Gally broke he law stating that you mustn't harm another Galder.

Alby continued to go into further detail about the event to those who weren't present to see it. Newt came over and stood behind Brianna. He sent her a small smile and placed his hand gently on her back, slightly rubbing circles on it to relax her. Brianna didn't realise how tense she was until he relaxed her.

'Are you alright, Brianna?' Newt mumbled softly, gliding into the seat beside her. His hand gently combed through her hair and then dropped to her side. He removed her hand from her side and placed it on his own lap, gently running circles across her palm.

'I'm ok.' She whispered back, returning his small smile kindly. Although Gally had hit her hard enough to knock her out, she refused to show this and confidently held her head high, refusing to show any kind of weakness.

'Sorry.' Newt mumbled into her hair. In this time, Newt had shifted his chair even closer to her own, so that Brianna was practically sat on top of him, her left hand in his lap and their feet entangled. Brianna barely noticed that her head was on his shoulder and he was gently stroking her hair.

'Brianna?' She heard Alby say and her head snapped upwards to see that every Keeper of the Gladers was staring at her expectantly. Embarrassed, she shifted herself away from Newt, not wanting to seem reliant on anyone or weak in front of the Gladers.

She cleared her throat. 'What?' Brianna asked. This was received by some of Keepers smirking and giggling at them. A few released some quiet whistles and hollers.

'He wanted to know what you think we should do about Gally and Thomas, Brianna.' Newt mumbled softly into her hair, kissing her cheek at the end. Brianna realised that Newt was acting a little more public with her than usual, making her suspect that perhaps after she passed out someone made a few snide comments and he wanted to remind them that she was his.

Gally sighed irritably to her left, frustrated with her inability to listen properly. Brianna smiled weakly at him and pushed herself further up her chair, trying to shrug off Newt without anyone noticing her reluctance to kiss him in public.

'I want to know why Thomas was angry Gally. Before we make any rash decisions, I think we need to base our assumptions on fact and understand how justifiable Thomas's anger was.' Brianna said assertively and most Galders raised their eyebrows in confusion as if she had just committed a crime. It seems as though it didn't occur to anyone to discover the context to their fight before as singing suitable punishments.

'Well then, Thomas, enlighten us.' Alby said almost frustrated. He didn't like it when order collapsed in the Glade and found it of the utmost importance to restore it as quickly as possible. Alby didn't like to slow down decision making, particularly on punishment issues.

Thomas glanced at Brianna, then back to Gally. Brianna's eyes followed them and noticed that Gally was staring awkwardly at his feet. His eyes briefly met Thomas, as if begging him to be merciful.

'I can't pass on the blame.' Thomas began with a small shrug. 'I shouldn't have harmed Gally and I shouldn't have got angry. Gally just said something that made me a angry.'

'What did he say?' Alby asked, suddenly more curious than before.

Thomas opened his mouth, then closed it again. His eyes met Gally's in understanding, then he turned back to Alby and said strong, 'It's not worth repeating.'

Brianna swallowed a lump in her throat as she was stunned by what Thomas had said. Thomas didn't seem like the type to usually get angry, and his words confirmed her assumption that it was something terrible. She noticed Gally redden and bit his lip nervously. Newt finally spoke up, his arm tightening around Brianna's waist, 'What was it about.'

Thomas averted his attention from Gally and onto Brianna. By the way he was looking at her, Brianna knew what Thomas was going to say before he even said it. 'It was about you, Brianna.'

Her jaw dropped.