"I love you." Leta waved her wand and the skull was destroyed as she stepped forward to the blue flames

"No!" White light exploded out of Theseus. It blew the blue flames back. He apparated to Leta's side, already unconscious and caught her before her head hit the ground. He looked back at Newt and both men left the mausoleum-turned-amphitheater as Grindelwald's anger thrust the fire back toward them.

Shocked to see the ancient wizard from earlier present at the cemetery, Theseus carefully set Leta on the ground behind a large tombstone to shelter her body and followed the instructions, taking his place in the circle and sealing the curse within it.

Taking in the aftermath, he began to sob as he raced for her body. She had to be alive. She had to be. Please, God, please be alive. He didn't care why she was there, what she'd been doing there with Newt and that muggle. He hated the small voice in the back of his head nagging him that she may have been saying her final 'I love you' to Newt rather than to him. He frantically cleared the hair from her neck, ignoring the way that the skin on her left side was puckered, desperate to find a pulse.

There.

Her heart beat and her chest rose and fell just slightly as it pushed air in and out.

She lived.

"Is she?" Newt's panicked voice preceded his yet-more-panicked face.

"No, she's alive. She's alive, but she needs help. St. Pantaleon's isn't far, but she can't apparate in this condition."

Newt hid his smirk, because of course his brother knew the Parisian version of St. Mungo's off the top of his head. But now wasn't the time to make commentary on the undoubted research Theseus had done for this mission- he needed help. "How do you propose we get her there? I have a Zouwu in my case that can get us there in a matter of seconds if you can stabilize her."

Nodding and drawing his wand from, Theseus bound Leta's body to a stretcher as Newt coaxed whatever a Zouwu was out of the depths of his case. It turned out a Zouwu was a very large catlike creature. "You're sure? That this will be gentle enough for her?"

"He's sure. We rode it here and it felt less dangerous than a broom." That American auror had come up while both men had been distracted, helping the muggle with her.

There was a lot to clean up once he knew Leta was safe, but her explanation was good enough and he magicked her into the position Newt gestured for her to take. "You've got her? You know where to go?"

"No, but I didn't know where the cemetery was either and the Zouwu got us there. You apparate and we'll be there right behind you." Newt made a clicking noise and the cat-Zouwu reared before disappearing. He waved his wand and turned on the spot, reappearing just as the creature crashed through the front door of the hospital.

"No, no I can't go in there."

"Theseus, she's going to wake up soon. The Mediwizard is sure of it. She'll want to see you when she does."

"No, I can't be the one in there. It should be you. Go."

"You're being ridiculous, she loves you. She's going to marry you. Get in there."

"No, I can't. I can't."

Leta became aware of more than the raised voices as she forced her eyes to open. Well, eye. One eye responded and took in her surroundings. White ceiling, tiled floor, scratchy sheet drawn over a very thin gown. Hospital then. Magical? She hoped so. She was so, so thirsty and it would be easier to locate her wand to cast the charm than to wait for those idiots in the hall to quiet down so a nurse could come in and get her some.

The voices? It was two voices she'd know anywhere, even if she had no idea of how she had come to be in this place. It was Newt and Theseus. Why wasn't either one of them in here? And why couldn't she open her left eye?

Concentrating on just this one aspect, she slowly commanded the eye to open and it did. It just felt like it weighed 10 kilos rather that what an eyelid should. It also felt odd as her eye moved, like the skin wasn't skin. With the additional eye open, she found a bedside table and on it, blessedly, was her wand.

Gripping its edge with her fingertips, she fiddled with it until she could grasp it fully and conjure a glass of water. She took a sip and with the relief, she pulled herself up and looked toward the window. She didn't know skylines well enough. She thought she might still be in Paris. She could still hear them arguing outside, but the monumental effort it had taken to get her eye open and then the need for water that her wand had driven, had blocked out the words.

"Your wedding is in a month!"

"It won't be. It won't be anymore."

Crash the glass she'd conjured fell from her hand and shattered, sending glass and water across the floor. The door flew open and Newt tore in.

"Leta, you're awake." He waved his wand and cleared the mess from the floor, sending the offending glassware to the windowsill.

"I'm awake." Talking, making her lips move also took more effort than usual. She turned her head to follow Newt's progress across the floor as he took the seat by her head, on the opposite side of the table. "Newt, what happened?" What she meant was, 'Why isn't Theseus in here? Why is the left side of my face acting so strangely? Why did Theseus say there wouldn't be a wedding anymore? How am I not dead? What happened to Grindelwald? Why did Theseus refuse to come in the room?' But that was a lot, and she wasn't actually sure she wanted answers to it all. Particularly the ones she wanted answers to the most, those were the ones she wasn't sure she could handle the answers to.

"You almost died. You destroyed the skull Grindelwald had, Theseus did, well, we're all really not sure what he did. None of the spells anyone had done had affected the fire, but he yelled when he'd thought you'd died and there was a bright light. The next I could see, he had you in his arms, Grindelwald was screaming in anger, we all apparated out and sealed the curse in the tombs. So, I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to visit your family crypt any time soon." His awkward smile at trying to make a joke at the end softened Leta's expression.

"Newt, I really think visiting my neglectful father's grave is the least of my concerns at the moment." She smoothed the blanket over herself. "So, Grindewald lives. Pity. I'd been hoping to take the bastard out as I died." She didn't try to hide the bitterness in her voice. Grindewald's words to her had cut her deeply and she'd meant to die. She'd meant to kill him with her. She'd failed on both counts, apparently.

"So," Newt had taken to examining the hem on his coat, "so, you did mean to die last night?"

Rolling the eye that easily responded, she glanced at the ceiling. She didn't have it in her to console her oldest friend now, not when she really just wanted his brother to walk through the door. Why hadn't he yet? "Yes, Newt, I did. I didn't go there with the intention of killing myself. But when it looked as though it was going to be you and Theseus or me. The greater wizarding world or me. When it became clear that he would pause whatever he was doing with the skull and I could destroy it, but that would mean that I died, I made my peace with it."

"I see." He abruptly stood and walked to the door. These rooms clearly weren't meant for peaceful sleeping or privacy. "Thes, get in there."

"Newt, I've said."

She heard their voices and decided to clear up another mystery as the brothers argued. She conjured a small mirror

"And now I've talked to her, she's awake, and I'm telling you that you need to go in that room right now or I'll hex you."

"Newt, we both know-"

"That my wand is out and yours is not. You may be the better duelist, but not when I'm prepared and you're not, now get in there and talk to her."

Leta smiled in spite of herself. She could picture the scene in the hall, Newt threatening his older brother on her behalf. Still, if Theseus didn't want to see her, it certainly backed up his claim from before about the wedding no longer happening. Finally looking down in the mirror, she gasped at the same moment that Theseus opened the door.

She looked up at him, frozen in the doorway.

"Are you all right? Do you need anything? Water, food, another blanket?" He was so concerned, but wouldn't approach her.

She didn't blame him, not now that she'd seen her face. "Theseus, I didn't know. I'm sorry. I've just looked in a mirror for the first time. I understand if you want to go."

"Leta?" he closed the door behind himself and walked quickly to her side, grasping her hand. "Leta, what are you talking about?"

She closed her eyes and memorized the feeling of his calloused hand in hers, running her thumb along his knuckles for what could be the last time. "I've just seen my face. I heard you arguing with Newt in the hallway and saying that we're not getting married in a month's time and now I know why. I understand." She tore her gaze away from his face and down to their hands. "You can go, Theseus."

He lifted his free hand and leaned across her, lightly tracing the marks across her face. Grindelwald's cursed fire had caused raised welts to mar her face. It looked like water trickling down that would never dry. It was why her eye was slow to respond as one of those marks ran from the corner of her left eye down to her upper lip. "Can you feel that?"

She'd been holding her breath, trying to feel his fingers. "Barely. Theseus, don't."

"You think I'm that shallow?" He straightened up in his chair, still clutching her hand.

Looking back up into his eyes, she let out a disbelieving scoff, "excuse me?"

"Leta, you think that I would end our engagement because you were injured? Because your face now has these marks? You think I love you for an unblemished face?" He shook his head.

"It's never made sense for you to love me, Theseus. Scamander isn't a name that commands power, but you're making such a name for yourself in the ministry and to want to saddle yourself with a Lestrange? With me in particular? I felt so lucky and I love you so much that I never questioned it, but part of me always thought-"

"That I was only in it for your beauty."

Dragging a hand down his face, Leta took in his appearance fully. He was still in the clothes he'd worn to Paris. They were singed and it looked as though he'd washed his face and hands since the cemetery, but hadn't had a proper wash. He looked as though he hadn't slept.

Looking back up and pinning her with a stare of great intensity, Theseus spoke very deliberately "Leta, I've said this many times before, but apparently you didn't believe me. I need you to listen now. I love you, Leta Lestrange. I love you for who you are. I love you even when I sometimes let my own demons worry me that I'm a replacement for Newt to you. I've loved you and defended our relationship when those in my department suggested that a wife with a more docile past would be advantageous. I threatened to jinx Nott into the next century when he brought it up. I love you."

It was everything that Leta wanted to hear from the man she loved. But, "Then why did you tell Newt that there wouldn't be a wedding?"

Theseus opened his mouth to speak and closed it, tried again, tried for a third time, "You tried to die. And I stopped you. You wanted to die and I saved your life against your wishes. I didn't even want to come in this room for feat that the first words out of your mouth would be ending our engagement."

"You thought that I would be so mad at you for saving my life that I wouldn't want to marry you?" she gaped at him.

"Is that silly?" he looked sheepishly from the chair.

Matching his smile, she replied, "I suppose no more silly than thinking that you wouldn't want to marry me because I'm not pretty anymore. Theseus. I didn't want to die. I wanted to save you. Between the two of us, the world needs you more. I know that I'm the perfect candidate to join Grindelwald with my name and my," she cut herself off, "well, my attitude at school. I knew he would pause and I could destroy the skull. I thought I could buy you time to escape. I'm not angry with you."

Standing from his chair and sitting on the bed, pulling her as close as he could in his arms, Theseus took a deep breath. "I'm afraid I have to contradict a couple of your points. The world is most certainly not better off with me as opposed to you and," he tipped her chin up to kiss her lightly on the lips, "You are still breathtakingly beautiful. You now have some battle scars to match mine. They show that you're brave. That you're willing to fight and to sacrifice. If you'll still have me, I can't wait to marry you."

"Of course I'll have you, Theseus." She strained up to kiss him again, more deeply this time. "But I'm afraid I have to call attention to one of your earlier points that struck me." His only response was a quizzical look. "You mentioned being a substitute for Newt? Have I ever given you that impression?"

Rubbing a hand up and down her arm, Theseus hesitated. "No, but you two are clearly close. And for a moment, when your almost last words were 'I love you,' a part of me wasn't sure who you were looking at. I've let a horrible nudge of jealousy become much larger than it should be."

Echoing his words back, Leta smiled, "I have said this many times before, I need you to listen now. I love you, Theseus Scamander. Your brother is a friend and nothing more. He never has been. When we were children and I was so starved for love, I may have thought it had the possibility of being romantic. But I was wrong. And then I met you. You are everything I could want in a husband and everything I was unaware I needed with my past. You are my future and the one I want to spend each morning waking up to and the last person I see each night. I love you." His smirk descended on her to kiss her once more, "and I can't wait to marry you."