𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 - TMR, Gally

037 - Banishing

Gally's POV

"Stay here." I told Valerie, pushing my hammer in her hands to hopefully bent time and not make her see whatever the hell was going on.

Then I rushed away to the screams, soon finding Ben pinned down to the ground by Newt, with a blood-covered shovel next to them. Ben was struggling, but talking. Sweaty, his eyes dark, veins dark too, and blood coming from the side of his head.

My first worry was her. Ben was her best friend. He got stung, and I knew he would be banished. Same thing that happened to her brother. One of the main reasons she tried to— well.

"Lift his shirt!" Alby commanded. They did as he told them to and indeed, a horrible infection was growing on Ben's stomach. Purple, a deep hole, with even more visible veins around it. Drops of black blood came out of the wound, and I nearly had to avert my eyes.

Shivers went down my spine. This was not about me, I should not have been reminded by my own story, yet I was. I never really noticed Clint and Jeff taking Ben away from us, and everyone started to wander off.

By this time, I did notice her standing a few feet away from us, staring at the Med-jacks and Ben, though their backs were turned to us. And somewhere I hoped she didn't recognize her friend.

I cupped her face, forcing her to look at me instead of the others. "Gally!" Panic was in her eyes. "Who is that? What happened? Why-."

"Valerie." I warned. "Please stay calm, alright?"

"What happened?" She continued to ask as I pulled her over to a log, sitting both of us down.

"I need you to stay calm." I repeated. Because I didn't want her to hurt herself. I wouldn't enjoy it if she started crying in front of me, or if she got angry. "Got that?"

She nodded. Her eyes were still wide, face confused.

I breathed in. "It's Ben." A pause. "He got stung."

I waited and waited and waited, watching her face for some kind of reaction. But all she did was blink a million times.

So slowly, because she deserved to know, I continued. "He will be banished."

Then she bursted out. "HE-."

"Val." My hands on her shoulders. She stared at me, and I could see the happy twinkle in her eyes slowly fading away, replaced by pain and sadness.

"What?" She stammered, as if she wanted to hear a different answer. "No."

"I'm sorry."

She was shaking her head. Long. "No."

I didn't know what to do. "Look-."

"No." She whispered. I didn't know if the realization was still hitting her or if she was just trying to contain herself. "No, no, n-."

"I-."

The pain in her eyes was too much. "I don't want to lose anyone else." She was still whispering. "Can't we— can't we do something? The serum. D-do we have the serum?"

"It's too late. He's past the Gone too far." I replied, talking quietly too.

She blinked a few more times. It costed me a while to realize what she was doing; holding back tears. Always for a reason I didn't understand. She was free to cry, even though it hurt me.

"Okay." She swallowed. Tucked her red, beautiful hair behind her ear. "Okay."

She or the situation was anything but okay. "Val-."

"How long until the Doors close?"

I sighed quietly. "Not so long. In now and half an hour."

"Okay." She said again. "I'll go... feed Josephine." Then she left.