Princess of the Glade

Epilogue

"KILL ME!" And then Newt's eyes cleared, as if he'd gained one last trembling gasp of sanity, and his voice softened. "Please, Tommy. Please."

With his heart falling into a black abyss, Thomas pulled the trigger. 

Silence. Absolute silence. Lights overhead, flickering in and out of Newt's vision. He tried to move his arms, to touch the shadowed figures overhead, to ask what was happening, but he felt weighed down, so heavy that he could not move. The light in his vision intensified, and he squinted his eyes, trying to block out the intense glow. It penetrated his eyelids, into his vision, into his very heart, so he could not feel or think or speak. All that existed was light. Then, quite suddenly, the brilliant glow receded. 

Newt opened his eyes, taking in the clearing before him, filled with people that he knew. A woman, looking just like him, and a man, with his eyes. The woman wiped tears away as she embraced him, and the man clapped him on the back. When he spoke, Newt knew his accented voice like he had the route through the ever-changing maze, rolling over the vowels in his name. Newt knew who these people were, and where he was. 

He was finally home. He wept, with joy, and with understanding, all the memories that had been robbed from him returned, as if they had never been gone. He brushed the long blonde hair away from his mother's tear stained cheek, as she uttered a single word. 

"Lizzie?" He shook his head, cradling her cheek in his. 

"Not yet, Mum." She smiled at him, despite the tears running down her face. 

"We'll see her soon enough, love." Newt felt as if he would burst, as if his heart could not take any more of this joy. But, it could. 

"NEWT!!" 

His mother went to correct her. "His name is-" 

But, with a flash of fiery red curls, a small figure catapulted into Newt's arms, and he instantly knew. He held her tightly, full out sobbing now. 

"Annie. My Princess." She clutched at him, crying earnestly into his shoulder, nose running rapidly. He didn't care. He held her tighter. 

"My Princess of the Glade."