Promise Me ➵ Newt [3]

TWENTY | Love Actually

Teresa's P.O.V.

"Do you regret it? What you did to us?"

No.

Because if she hadn't joined WICKED, hadn't called them to inform them on The Right Arm's whereabouts, she wouldn't have discovered the cure to end the Flare once and for all, wouldn't have discovered that Thomas' blood could save Newt and Rose.

Yes.

Because as she thought back to what Rose had said to her, yes, WICKED had performed horrific experiments and tests on them without their consent - and they were only kids. Yes, because releasing a Griever on kids just to punish them was something only an evil corporation would do, yes, because forcing a broken, misunderstood boy to throw a dagger at an innocent child no older than any of them was the ultimate work of the devil.

"I did what I thought was right."

She wanted to find a cure. So she joined WICKED. She wanted to save her friends. So she joined WICKED. She wanted to save the world. So she joined WICKED. She wanted to end everyone's suffering once and for all. So she joined WICKED.

Because WICKED is good.

Now, as she stood atop the flaming roof of the exploded building, facing up the Berg where her friends were, with their arms outstretched and teary eyes wide with fear and wildness, she wondered if any of them would understand her if she told them that. WICKED is good. It really is. But they would all hate her again. They would shun her out, they would ignore her, they would make it very clear that they still hated her for what she did to them. She would always be known as the betrayer, the traitor.

Because that's she is. She is Property of WICKED, Subject A1, The Betrayer. She can't escape who she is.

The cracks on the ground were dangerously close to her feet now. If she didn't jump - that was it, she would die, and her life would be over in a flash, no doubt.

So she could jump. She could stretch out her hands to Thomas, and let him pull her up to safety. She could begin a new life in the Safe Haven, wherever that is, and be brave and endure the harsh looks thrown in her way as she walk around with The Betrayer title over her head as news spread around of what she had done to her friends.

It was noble. It was brave. It was something only a hero would do.

But she wasn't a hero. A hero would never betray her friends and hurt them, even if she never meant for it to happen.