Kaleidoscope || t. scamander

Haunted

"I'm fine."

That was an understatement, alright.

Newt's cerulean blue eyes were insistent and intense, practically burning right through his older brother's skull as he watched the said man force the tears down his throat.

"Theseus, it's been six months."

Theseus knew.

He knew how much time had passed since Leta's death and Grindelwald's escape. He had counted the days as they fell through, one after another like empty pieces of blank spaces he couldn't quite grasp. Life, to him, had become strangely numb and isolated ever since the day he walked home and realized that he was all alone. He'd been confused, almost wanting to call out Leta's name and almost expecting her beautiful visage to pop out from behind his bedroom door like she usually did whenever she came home as a surprise.

But Leta was gone. And the pain was too much.

Granted, Theseus wasn't one to wallow in sadness and definitely did not hold his alcohol well. But for once in his life, he found himself downing bottle after bottle of firrwhiskey in hopes of dulling the numbing pain tight against his chest, in hopes that this emotional turmoil he was feeling would judt go away and leave him alone. And it did for a little while, when he was drunk to the point he couldn't feel a thing. But the mornings came. They always did. And with mornings, the memories flooded back right before his eyes as though it had just been yesterday he saw her disintegrate amidst the white blue flames.

"Theseus," Newt's voice brought him back to reality, not that it was any better. The older man tilted his head upwards, dazed blue eyes meeting Newt's concern.
If this had been any other situation, Theseus would've scoffed. Newt had never been one to talk about emotions and yet, here he was, awkward and stumbling over his words and also pained by Leta's recent death.

Who knew the brothers would reunite in such a way?

"Look, Leta wouldn't have wanted you to do this." Newt agitatedly glanced between the bottle and Theseus's face, "We're all hurting. But life goes on. You can't hide in here forever."

Theseus wanted to laugh out loud. But doing so would just remind him that there was no familiar soprano to join in, and thus clamped his mouth shut instead.

"Reginald wanted me to give this to you." Newt fumbles in his coat pocket before producing a letter, which he handed to his brother before speaking once more, "We're all worried about you, Theseus. Reginald told me he wanted you back on the team. Said that maybe it would do you good to keep yourself busy."

Words didn't seem to register in the Auror's brain no matter how much he tried to focus on the letter's content. Words like I'm sorry and hurt and pain jumped out at him, but other than that, he just tossed it aside on the couch without a second glance, which caused Newt to fumble uncomfortably in his seat.

"When did he say that?" Theseus's question caught the younger Scamander off guard, but he quickly replied, "as soon as possible. I bumped into him today at the Ministry. They had some paperworks I still had to file."

Theseus's lips couldn't help but quirk up as he remembered of how much of a pain in the ass his brother could be when it came to bending rules over and backwards. This was definitely something that they butted heads about; what with the older sibling always being one to stick by the rules and be thorough with everything, while the younger one had more of an impulsive flare.

"Maybe you could meet him tomorrow. It'd do you good to get out of the house."

Theseus's eyes dropped to the ground, "I don't know if I can do that."