Tina was slowly backing up against the bank of the storming river, deflecting the spells of the two acolytes that had cornered her. Overall, it was a two-to-one battle, and they'd been caught off guard on that February morning in the forest surrounding Theseus' house. Still, Tina put up a fight. She'd been able to stun one or the other for a little while, but never both at once, and she was growing weary. 

A sudden blast of magic that she couldn't completely deflect set her off balance, and then she had lost her footing, and then she was falling, down, until she hit the hard cold water below. 

It was cold--oh, so cold--her muscles all stiffened and for a moment even her brain went numb. The rapids pulled her under, then she broke above the surface again, gasping for air. It was all she could do to keep her head up. The deafening crashing pounded in her ears. She felt like she was being pulled to and fro by a thousand icy demons. 

Merlin's beard, she thought. I'm going to die. 

This was it, then--of all the magic- or war-related ways she could have died, she was going to drown. She could barely swim in still, peaceful, warm water, and this? suffice to say a few seaside visits as a child could never have prepared her for this. 

She'd lost her wand when she hit the water--she wasn't even sure she had remained conscious. She weighed her fate. Could she apparate, without her wand? She'd never had to, and the danger had prevented her from ever trying. Was there any other choice? Already her body wanted to commit itself to the tossing of the waves, to let it carry her away, to plunge her beneath the surface and dash her against the rocks. She'd have to be to really focused, to apparate. She had to think of somewhere really vivid, somewhere real and tangible in her mind. She took a deep gasp of waterless air and shut her eyes to concentrate. Theseus' house would be the ideal place--but no, she had to be specific. The living room, by the red velvet sofa where she had sat between Newt and Jacob last night listening to Theseus read. The sofa to her right, facing the armchair Theseus regularly occupied. The sun would be coming in through the window just beyond his chair this time of day; filtering through the faded curtains and finding itself in patches on the ornate red and gold rug. 

But there it was again, another crashing torrent yanking her under and filling her lungs with freezing lakewater. She opened her eyes, if only to see where the light was. She couldn't quite push herself back up to the surface. A shadow drifted above her and then something was plunging towards her--someone. A hand reached down and it was all she could do to extend her hand just enough to be pulled up. As soon as they broke the surface Tina gasped for breath and began to cough and choke on the blessed nothingness of air. She had been underwater longer than she realized.

"Tina, are you alright?" It was Newt's voice. He had an arm supporting her around her waist, struggling to keep the both of them afloat. 

"Tina, you need to help me, alright?" He yielded to the current, only fighting to stay above water. "I need your help, Tina, okay? I've got you, you're alright, we've just got to get to the bank, alright?" 

Tina was coughing violently into his shoulder now, clinging to him like a child, all strength sapped from her. She might have been crying. There was too much water to know. 

"Can you try to kick for me a bit, Tina? Just to help to stay afloat, I'll get us to the bank, alright?" He began to stroke with his one free arm towards the side of the river with the gentler slope. Tina finally summoned enough strength to kick her legs, still clutching Newt with both hands. 

"There you are. We're nearly there. You're alright." 

As the rocky terrain grew closer on their left Newt reached out, grasping at the roots and boulders for an anchor. Finally the water slammed them up against one large rock--Newt shielded Tina with his body, taking the blow and then quickly wrapping his arm around the boulder. Slowly but surely, amassing cuts and bruises, they hoisted themselves up onto the bank, Newt all but dragging Tina. 

They collapsed, face-up, on the pine needles and dead grass. Tina's hand fidgeted about for Newt's, and they held each other's bloody hands loosely, no longer having to cling for life, but neither wanting to completely let the other go. When she had finished coughing up what water had slipped into her air passage, Tina began to shiver violently. She rolled towards Newt. "I'm cold," she said. He turned to her and pushed the wet hair out of her face, still catching his breath. 

"Come on," he said finally. He pushed himself up to his feet and put out a hand to help her. She'd gone horribly pale, her teeth chattering and tremors spreading through her whole body. Newt tried to warm her, rubbing her arms up and down as she stepped in to him, even his cold wet body providing more heat than the air around them. He held her for a moment, as she buried her frozen nose in his shoulder, then took out his wand, which had remarkably stayed securely at his side. "Let's go home," he said, one arm still holding her close. 

Tina could feel them moving, apparating, but she didn't look up from Newt's shoulder. Then she felt the warmth of the house around her--hardly even warmth, just the lack of the stinging cold wind and air that had threatened to freeze her wet clothes and hair in a breath. Newt held her for another moment, rubbing her back. "You alright?" he asked finally, stepping back to look her in the eye. She just looked at him, too overcome to speak. He reached out and stroked the river water and tears from her cheek. "You're alright," he said, as a statement this time. He drew his wand up, pointing it at her. "Let's get you dried off." He blasted first Tina, then himself with a jet of hot air, then pulled a blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her. "Sit down," he said, guiding her to the couch. She was still tremoring all over, her eyes vacant and her mouth slightly agape. Only when Newt stood and turned away did she snap back into reality, reaching out for him as he began to walk away. 

"I'm cold," she said again. 

"Alright," Newt said, taking her hand and kneeling in front of her. "Let me start a fire then, alright?" 

"Sit with me," Tina said. Newt smiled. "I will, just let me start the fire first, alright?" 

Tina barely nodded and he gave her hand one last squeeze before turning to the fireplace. She watched his every movement as he carried the logs over and arranged them carefully, then started a roaring blaze with a flick of his wand. 

"There we are," he said, and sat next to Tina on the couch. She shifted closer to him and made herself small under the blanket. 

"What about the others?" she said suddenly after a moment. Newt shook his head and smiled. "They'll be alright. I can go back to them once I know you're alright."

Tina pouted a little. "I am alright. I'm alive," she said as if that was the standard for being alright. A realization hit her and she said, "you saved my life," quietly, gazing at the floor and then turning to Newt. He smiled softly. "I almost didn't," he said. They looked into each other's eyes for a little while, until Tina dropped her gaze again and said, "I thought I was going to die." She drew a haggard breath. "I mean, truly...going to die." 

Newt pushed his lips together in a sympathetic gesture and carefully pushed her still-damp hair behind her ear. "Were you afraid?" 

Tina bit her lip. "I don't know. I don't think I felt fear as much as...regret."

Newt furrowed his brow and she continued. "It's like when...you have a list of things you need to do in your head, and you just completely forget that one really important thing until it's too late to do it. I thought I was going to die, and then suddenly I thought of all the things I hadn't done yet, and all the things I hadn't said, and all the people I wished I could see just one more time..." Tina inhaled slowly and looked at Newt, hoping her eyes told him he was one of those people.

"I suppose that's something we're all going to have to come to terms with, in times like these," he said. Tina nodded. "But that's the thing--it's not like I've never been in a life-threatening situation before; there have been plenty of times where I thought I could die, or even that I would die, but this--I thought I was dying, right then, at the very end of the line, and I was alone." She took a shaky breath, reliving the moment. Newt put his hand on hers, so suddenly for someone like him that it startled her, and she turned to look into his pained and sincere eyes. 

"But you weren't alone," he said, and pressed her hand tightly. "Tina, I won't ever let you die alone."