Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Talking to Thomas the second he came back to bed had been the plan at least. Maybe they were more tired than they thought or Thomas just had a lot to say to Jorge, but both of them fell asleep before he returned. 

Then again, when Newt opened his eyes the next morning it was to a still empty spot in the centre of the bed. He pushed himself to his elbows tiredly, a frown on his face, and Minho rolled over too, Newt likely having woken him up. He noticed Thomas’ absence just as Newt had and shot him a look that had him shaking his head.

He didn’t know where Thomas was. No way would he have gotten up before them if he fell asleep after them either.

Newt stumbled his way out of bed, Minho muttering that he was gonna see if Fry made anything to eat, and shoved his feet in his shoes. He went back out to the main area they first met Jorge in without a second thought. He found his and Minho’s answer almost as soon as he got out there. Over at the table that Jorge had been at when he spoke to them all was Thomas, slouched in a chair with his neck tilted awkwardly back on it. Newt resisted the urge to smile at the sight, figuring Thomas must have fallen asleep while talking to Jorge or just after they were done.

A glance out the window told him it was still early, the sky a mix of oranges and dark blues that suggest the sun still wasn’t completely out yet. He crossed the room towards Thomas and when he got close enough he put a hand on either of the arm rests and leaned in to murmur. “Tommy.”

With a snort Thomas’s head jerked forward and he groaned, hand coming up to grip his neck. 

Yeah, Newt would bet that it would hurt.

Blinking blearily, Thomas looked up at Newt. “Newt?” 

“You fell asleep out here, Tommy,” Newt helpfully informed him, a small smirk pulling at his mouth. “It’s still pretty early, you can probably get a bit more sleep in the bed before we go.” God knew sleeping in a chair wouldn’t leave one feeling well rested in the slightest and from a survey of the room more than half their group was still asleep. 

Thomas rubbed a hand over his eyes before cupping Newt’s face and tiredly pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Minho still out?”

Newt shook his head with a small smile. “He’s looking for something to eat.”

He stepped back as Thomas stood slowly, nodding in reply to Newt’s words. He pressed a hand to the boys back and urged him in the direction of the bed and didn’t glance away from his shuffling form until he saw him collapse onto the bed he and Minho slept on the night before. Eyes darting around the room once more, Newt then wandered over to what must’ve been the kitchen, Minho standing next to Frypan, shovelling food into his mouth. He looked up when Newt got closer.

“Where was he?”

“Fell asleep at the table. I just sent him to the bed,” Newt replied as he grabbed a can for himself, not hesitating to start digging in.

Before Minho could say anything else Brenda came into the kitchen, plopping down onto the counter with a smirk. Newt narrowed his eyes as he ate his food but didn’t say anything. Didn’t have to apparently. 

“You know, I’ve heard a lot about you two.”

Minho raised a sarcastic brow— don’t ask Newt how he knew it was sarcastic, he just did— and bit out. “Back at you.”

Brenda only seemed thrilled at the borderline antagonistic attitude Minho had, a shark-like grin growing on her face. “Thomas was like obsessed with the two of you. The handsome muscled boy and pretty blond boy he met during his travels.” It took everything in Newt not to flush at the words. There was a warm feeling in his chest at the realization that Thomas actually spoke about them— to at least Brenda— further proof of how much he must’ve liked them even then. 

Frypan was grinning. “When did he tell you about them?” He asked, jerking his chin between Newt and Minho. “These two assholes were dating before they got together with Thomas and waited until Thomas came around and kissed them both before telling us. Shocked the hell out of all of us.”

Minho snickered into his food, likely forever to be amused at just how their group found out about their relationship.

“Thomas first started mentioning them when he travelled with them for a month a long while back,” Brenda said much to Newt's surprise. He wouldn’t have thought the short month they spent together would be enough to really get Thomas talking about them. Then again, God knew he and Minho spoke of Thomas enough after that month. 

Brenda shot Newt and Minho a grin. “We knew he for sure liked one of you, we just didn’t know which one. Me and Jorge had a bet going for just who it was— imagine our surprise when Thomas comes to visit and reveals he’s dating both of you.”

“Who bet on who?” Newt asked curiously, twirling his spoon in his hand. 

“Based on everything he told us, Jorge thought for sure it would be sarcastic-always-looking-for-adventures Minho for the win.” She pressed a hand to her chest with a devious smile. “I, on the other hand, thought for sure it would be stubborn, sharp-tongued Newt. Thomas seemed the type to be a sucker for a pretty face.”

“My face is plenty pretty,” Minho sassed at her with a scowl. 

Brenda rolled her eyes while Frypan laughed. “You can chill with the looks too, by the way.” She told them both bluntly. “As far as I’m concerned Thomas is family, nothing more nothing less.”

That was a relief, not that either Newt or Minho let that show on their faces. 

“Were you surprised they told you they were dating a third person?” Brenda asked Frypan then with an openly curious expression. 

Frypan shrugged. “Kinda, but I think that’s just ‘cause they were a two person relationship in our mind for like ten months. But as long as they’re happy.” Things like that were why Frypan was one of Newt’s favourite people. He really wasn’t one to judge and always wanted to make sure the people around him were happy. “Were you surprised when Thomas told you?” Frypan asked Brenda. 

“Nah,” Brenda said with a shake of the head, her expression a bit amused but mostly serious. “If anyone in the world needed two people to take care of him it would be Thomas.”

The words made Newt curious but he didn’t question it, feeling maybe this was something he should talk to Thomas about first rather than this girl. Newt excused himself not long after that, heading over to find Alby so they could discuss things for a bit. It was a good few hours before everyone was up and Jorge said they’d head out to Lancaster to speak to someone he knew first. There weren’t any protests, better than the aimlessly wandering they’ve been doing for the last three months. Jorge and Brenda had been very happy that they had multiple rides and the two had jumped in with Jeff and Clint. 

So, their hunt for the Right Arm started up again.

It didn’t take Newt— or Minho— long after that to realise that something was up with Thomas. The boy wasn’t nearly as affectionate as he usually was and even his habit of kissing their cheeks before going to sleep had disappeared. They were both edgy about it and Newt absolutely wanted to discuss things but at the same time there was something that had him thinking if he pushed this everything would fall apart. Minho must have been in agreement, considering the usually blunt and upfront boy hadn't breathed a word either. So the three of them remained in this tense standoff where they all still were in this relationship together but there was this wall of… something standing in between them all.

Thomas was also obsessively twirling that coin of his lately which only made Newt and Minho more antsy.

Jorge’s first lead proved to be useless, as did the second and third, but the fourth one had something. (A good four and a half months after they joined up with Thomas’ friends in their search for the Right Arm). “They live about a five hour drive Northwest from here,” the man was saying, gesturing off in the direction he said. “More North than West, you’ll pass by these boulders that look like spheres and that’s how you know you’re headed in the right direction.”

They were currently in Des Moines and the guy Jorge wanted to talk to was a skinny thing, with a scraggly beard and a pet dog with grey and black spotted fur who panted happily at his side.

Jorge glanced to where the man pointed and asked. “What’s their story?”

The guy shrugged. “I’ve never met them personally but rumour has it if you want some intel on WCKD they’d be the ones to ask. Maybe they know about this anti-WCKD group of yours.” Their group started exchanging looks when the guy mentioned WCKD and only Thomas and Brenda seemed to remain unaffected about the name. Brenda was only watching Jorge with her arms crossed while Thomas was staring off at nowhere in particular, fiddling with that coin of his.

“Thanks for your help, Joe,” Jorge said, shaking the man’s hand heartily. 

The man grinned back, revealing a smile with a few missing teeth, and waved off his thanks with ease. “Be careful though, heard they’re not that fond of strangers.”

So they finally had a lead— possibly. 

They all jumped back in their vehicles within the hour and were headed out to the mysterious place these people apparently lived at. Alby had made a point to tell them all before they left that once they thought they saw the building to slow down and wait for the others, not wanting anyone to head in without backup. Jorge was driving Jeff and Clint’s vehicle, which was likely why their group was the first to make it to the outskirts of where they needed to be. Minho rolled up next with Harriet on his tail; it only took Winston a few more minutes to show up after that.

Heads poked out the windows while others opened their doors and stood up with an arm on the roof. This had to be the place they were looking for; it was an older looking cabin with extra boards put up in random places. There were two rows of windows which suggested it was two stories and off to the side was a smaller looking shed.

That was all they could gleam from this distance and Jorge spoke up.

“I don’t think hiding the vehicles would be much use,” he said with a glance over at them all. “If they’re not fond of strangers they probably keep an eye on their perimeters. Probably heard us coming already considering how open and empty this place is.”

Alby was nodding his head. “Take out some plugs,” he said instead, already hopping out of his vehicle. “Should we take weapons?” He asked, sounding like he wanted to but unsure if it would be wise.

Jorge made a face. “I don’t think weapons would make them open to helping us…”

That’s what Newt was thinking too...

With great trepidation they all left their weapons behind, locked up in their no longer working vehicles. Together they made a steady pace towards the cabin, eyes darting every which way for any sign that these people knew they were here. There were scattered bits of either big broken items or car parts all around that they had to weave through and Newt spared a hopeful thought that these two didn’t have guard dogs like Jorge and Brenda.

It was dark by the time they came up on a more visible path about fifty feet from the cabin and its front porch. The only light were the few lanterns that these people apparently set up around their home, but they were enough for them to see where they were going with ease. Thomas was the first to start walking up to the porch, looking at each of the windows as he stepped forward. 

It was only a split second before it happened that Newt noticed the tripwire on the ground, Thomas’s ankle triggering it just as he shouted. “Thomas!” 

A series of clangs and the sound of things moving fast had everyone ducking where they stood. Newt’s eyes squeezed shut as Minho grabbed his arm and when only silence followed he opened his eyes. 

Thomas was pushing himself upright, arms tightly wound with some rope and a frown on his face. He looked over at them and went to likely ask someone to untie him when—

“Hands in the air!”

The sound of a gun cocking was just as alarming as the trip wire had been and everyone rushed to follow the order. A girl with dark hair about their age was climbing down the two stepped porch with a rifle aimed at all of them. She didn’t spare Thomas a glance as she kept her eyes trained on the larger group. Another click behind them let Newt know that her partner was now behind them.

“Who are you?” She asked sharply, the barrel of her gun aimed at those in front— Newt, Minho and Alby.

“I’m Alby,” Alby started off calmly, moving his hand as much as he could at the rest of them. “These are my friends. We were looking for some answers and were told you might be able to help us.” The girl didn’t seem at all phased by his explanation, her expression dark and her aim unwavering as her eyes darted between them all silently.

“Rachel?”

All of them glanced over at Thomas, still on the ground a couple feet to the left of the girl, and while she didn’t let her gun down for a second she did jerk her head towards Thomas, eyes widening when she saw him. “Thomas?”

Okay… Thomas knew these people. Newt’s eyes flickered to Minho and Alby, the two looking just as confused as him.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the girl said distantly. 

Thomas laughed delightedly. “I could say the same about you.”

It was like Thomas’s laugh was the thing to shake the girl— Rachel— out of her shock. Between one second and the next she dropped her gun to the ground and ran over to Thomas, falling to her knees in front of him and pulling him into a tight hug. Thomas was still tied up so he couldn’t exactly return the hug but Newt could see him lean into it. 

When Rachel pulled back she cupped Thomas’s face between her hands, her thumbs moving tenderly over his face. “ How are you here? I thought you were dead.”

Newt stared at the smile on Thomas’s face, a warm and relieved thing, his eyes never leaving the girl's face. It was by far the happiest they had seen him since the whole WCKD bomb dropped. Minho apparently agreed as he muttered. “I don’t like this girl either.” 

There was a huff behind them and Brenda commented. “You realize you can’t hate every woman in Thomas’s life, right?”

Shooting her a look over his shoulder, Minho retorted. “I can try.”

Sonya and Harriet were both snickering under their breath and Newt rolled his eyes.

The sound of footsteps behind them had heads turning and they watched as a boy with brown hair and a button nose moved past them towards Thomas and Rachel.  Rachel finally released her hold on Thomas— about time in Newt’s opinion— and they both looked up when the boy reached them. 

“Aris,” Thomas greeted with a grin while Rachel untied him. 

The boy, Aris, shook his head and held out a hand to haul Thomas upward. “I swear, Thomas, you either have the worst luck possible or just an impossible amount of good luck.”

Thomas wrapped him in a hug with another laugh, arms all but enveloping the slightly smaller boy. “It’s good to see you too.”

Rachel had gone to pick up her gun again, swinging it so it was strapped behind her back, and asked. “So, who are these people?”

“My friends,” Thomas told her happily, something that had the girl smiling at him fondly.

“Well,” Aris said as he and Thomas stepped away from each other. “Welcome, Thomas’s friends. Why don’t you come on in.” Without another word the two headed inside, Thomas urging the rest of them to follow him after the pair. 

The inside of the cabin wasn’t exactly a five-star resort, but in these times it was a very homey and stable place. They were immediately in a big open area that had a kitchen in the far left corner that must’ve undergone plenty of repairs and a once-a-living-room area with a fireplace. There was an old dusty couch and a chair in the living room and a table with three chairs around it in the kitchen. Aris and Rachel put their guns away while the rest of them looked around curiously. There was a door that led to what might’ve once been a bathroom and a staircase with a broken railing that led upstairs, the latter of which Aris was quick to go up while Rachel moved towards the kitchen.

“How long have you been here?” Thomas asked as he leaned against one of the kitchen counters, the others either standing around or finding a place to sit. 

Rachel crossed to the cupboards while she pushed up her sleeves and started pulling some things out. “We found this place about a year ago and it’s held up good. We get some trouble every once in a while but we hold our own.”

“I’m not surprised,” Thomas said with a smirk, getting a matching one back.

“How long have you known Thomas?” Minho asked next, his tone just tense enough to have Alby shooting him a warning look.

Rachel glanced at him. “We met Thomas when we were like nine or ten. Lived together for a few years before me and Aris went on the run.” Aris’s voice suddenly called Rachel and she held up a finger to say 'wait’ at Thomas before she went to see what the guy wanted.

Minho had moved closer to Thomas by now, Newt not far behind him, while the others continued to scan their surroundings with open curiosity. He leaned against the counter and Newt could practically hear the comments swimming in his head. Was this the girl Thomas was talking about long ago? The girl he met as a kid that he thought maybe he could have had something with but they both went their separate ways before that happened.

“So, this Rachel—” Minho started off stiffly, his arms crossed. “She the girl you talked about? Before?”

Thomas glanced at him, having been staring after Rachel much to Newt’s reluctant annoyance, and huffed softly, his expression growing amused. “No, she’s not,” he said first off, turning to face them both more fully. “Aris and Rachel have been together since they were like twelve; the two are pretty much soulmates. They’re the closest thing I had to a brother and sister.” The answer had both Minho and Newt relaxing and Thomas didn’t miss that either. He laughed again, his face openly fond, and pulled them both closer by the back of their necks to kiss their cheeks. “You can relax. No need to be jealous.”

Minho scoffed. “I wasn’t jealous,” he said in a sullen tone, which had Newt rolling his eyes with a smile. Perhaps their jealousy should be ebbing, they were coming up on two years since they first started their relationship with Thomas after all, but then again with all the secrets they kept maybe they didn’t have the strongest of foundations going on. It was something Newt knew they needed to work on sooner rather than later.

“How long have you been with these guys, Thomas?”

Thomas turned once more when Aris spoke, the boy and Rachel coming back down stairs. The latter went to make something for them to eat while the former raised a brow in their direction.

“I met Newt and Minho about two and a half years ago, started travelling with them about two years ago.” He said first off with a gesture at both of them when he said their names. “Mostly everyone else I just met around five months ago— except for Brenda and Jorge,” he added with a point at the pair. “I met them when I first got into the Scorch.”

“Teresa didn’t leave with you then?” Rachel asked quietly.

Newt watched Thomas still at the name and the boy swallowed before he shook his head. “No, she didn’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Aris said quietly. “I know how close the two of you were.”

With a glance at Minho, he and Newt silently put together that it was this Teresa who Thomas maybe could have had something with.

Thomas seemed ready for the topic to change which thankfully Brenda did with her usually abrupt manner. “How exactly do you three know each other?”

Rachel and Aris both glanced at Thomas before they answered, the three sharing a silent beat of information. “We lived together, this group of people took us in as kids.”

“Why’d you run away?” Frypan asked as he moved closer with a silent offer to help Rachel to which she gladly slid some things over to him. Newt eyed the various multi-coloured bracelets on her wrists as she did so, a few with little pendants dangling on the end.

“They weren’t very nice people,” Aris told him with a shrug, slouched against a nearby wall. “Thomas was the only good one out of the bunch, he helped us run away.”

“Why’d you need help?” Sonya asked quietly as she sat down at the table, Harriet taking the spot next to her.

Rachel let out a scoff. “Because they were shitty people. The kind of people who wanted to decide every single move we made and were ready to stop us if we tried to leave.”

The more Newt heard about Thomas’s childhood the more worried it made him about the boy. 

“We wanted to ask you about the Right Arm,” Thomas said suddenly, posture mirroring Minhos, arms crossed and leaning against a counter. “People say you guys have the scoop on WCKD, so we wondered if maybe you knew anything about their enemies.” Aris and Rachel both looked at Thomas when he spoke, another silent bout of communication happening between the three and Newt was starting to think they could read each other's minds.

It was Aris who answered the inquiry aloud. “Sorry, but we don’t know anything about the Right Arm.”

Sighs were heard throughout the room, disappointment at coming up on yet another dead end. Gally in particular looked ready to punch something but Ben started murmuring something to him that had him calming down.

“It’s getting late, you guys staying here tonight?” Aris asked with a look over all of them.

“Yes,” Thomas said at once and no one made a move to protest. 

One, it was pretty late, and two, it seemed that these three deserved a reunion longer than a mere hour— especially considering two of them believed the other to be dead all these years.

The food Rachel had grabbed was apparently quick to get ready and while she and Frypan finished it off, Aris showed them all where they could sleep. They had a couple cots and sleeping bags and the placements were all up to them with the exception of one room upstairs that was Aris and Rachel’s. After everyone had eaten it didn’t take them long to start heading to bed, conversation falling to low murmurs. 

Newt and Minho had set up their spot in one of the spare rooms upstairs, the fact that it was three of them usually giving them a bigger spot than the others. Minho had already headed up but before Newt went Thomas grabbed his wrist. He looked over at the boy who was watching him with an expression that looked more vulnerable than usual.

“I’m gonna stay down here a bit… I wanna talk to them without… you know, everyone else.”

Smiling softly, Newt nodded. “Of course, Tommy, I kinda figured you’d wanna. We’re set up in the room upstairs, first door on the left.” 

Thomas nodded in understanding, eyes already going back to where Aris was cleaning things up, a furrow in his brow. Newt half wanted to stay to offer some kind of support but he already knew that this was something the boy needed to do on his own. So he went upstairs, laid down with Minho, and perhaps neither one of them should have been surprised to wake up the next morning with a bed still empty of Thomas. 

Minho let out a sigh as he got up, throwing new clothes on while Newt continued to lay down, mind spinning about how to fix things with Thomas if he wouldn’t talk to them. He stayed there for a few minutes after Minho left before getting up to get dressed too. He tried to make the bed somewhat neater, straightening out the pillows and blanket to how they were when they first got up here. Their sleeping set up had been an easier task than the others, a cot and blankets already laying in the corner of the room.  Newt was just finishing straightening out said blankets when shuffling feet entered the room. 

He glanced up and saw a bleary eyed Thomas coming in, the same look he had when he fell asleep at the table after talking to Jorge— he assumed the same thing happened at Aris and Rachel’s table. When Newt tossed the edge of the blanket to the side Thomas didn’t hesitate to drop into the opened space. He still seemed half asleep so Newt wasn’t expecting it when Thomas gently grabbed his face to pull him closer, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. He let go as quickly as he grabbed him and let his head drop to the pillow with a sigh. 

Thomas had two modes when it came to going to sleep— either he spent hours trying to fall asleep, likely his anxiety keeping him up longer than he’d wish, or he’d be out in seconds, his own exhaustion forcing him to succumb to sleep as soon as he was in a semi-comfortable position. 

It was this very thought that worried Newt about his— twice now— habit of falling asleep at tables. Did he sit there all night long stressing about things or was he just so tired that he was asleep before he could move to an actual bed?

Neither option was all that great in Newt's mind. 

He stared at a sleeping Thomas for a few moments longer before heading downstairs. There were only about half of them awake, all of them currently in the kitchen. Like last night Rachel and Frypan were making food, this time with Sonya and Aris’ help. Harriet and Alby were sitting at the table while Minho was perched on an unused counter. 

“You can travel with me and Harriet,” Sonya was saying happily. 

Newt dropped off the last step and raised a brow at the room. “What’s going on?”

All eyes darted to him but it was Alby who said. “Aris and Rachel are gonna come with us to find the Right Arm. They have some people they think they could ask a few questions.”

Newt nodded easily enough, crossing to stand next to Minho. 

“Plus it’ll be nice to spend more time with Thomas,” Rachel added as she started putting stuff into bowls. 

“How come Thomas didn’t run away with you guys?” Harriet asked casually, leaning back in her chair. 

Rachel and Aris frowned and it was the latter who said. “We asked him to but Thomas had some… unfinished business that made him reluctant to leave when we did.”

Unfinished business? 

“Why did you think he was dead?” Sonya asked next. 

With a bit of hesitation, as though she were choosing her words carefully, Rachel said. “The people we lived with wouldn’t take kindly to others leaving— they’d see it as a betrayal of some kind.”

“There’s a reason we needed Thomas’ help to leave,” Aris added as he wiped off his hands. “They did everything to make sure you couldn’t and without help it was a hard thing to do.”

“That was a big reason I asked Thomas to come with us when we left, I thought they’d for sure figure out he helped us and that they’d kill him for it.” 

Bloody hell, what kind of people were they living with? Some cult?

“Plus,” Rachel added slowly with a worried expression on her face. “Thomas’s mental health in general hasn’t always been good, so even if he did get away I wasn’t sure how he’d manage on his own…”

Newt glanced at Minho who had his own frown on his face. It was suddenly clicking that these two would have been living with Thomas when he first made those scars; might have even seen it happen. They had lived together from ages nine to fifteen; Thomas got his scars when he was twelve.

“We’re glad he found you guys,” Aris said in a forcibly cheerful tone, shooting them all a more genuine looking smile. “Thomas was always big on making friends but growing up he didn’t get to spend time with anyone his own age until he met us.”

Sonya beamed at the two of them, always managing to seem cheerful despite the topic or situation. “We’re glad he’s around too. He’s dating Newt and Minho, you know.” Newt shot her a look, one she only grinned unrelenting back at, making him roll his eyes. 

“We know,” Aris said in amusement, his eyes darting to them. “Thomas talked about you both a lot last night.”

Well— didn’t that make Newt feel better about where they stood with Thomas these days. 

“Never thought I’d see the day Thomas was obnoxiously in love” Rachel said in an exasperated voice, though the smile on her face took out any bite in the words. 

Sonya looked curious. “He never dated anyone when you were kids?”

“Well, to be fair, we went our separate ways when we were around fifteen, so there weren't a whole lot of dating years in there.” Aris told her as he started handing out cups. The others were slowly starting to wake, some having come down stairs and others sluggishly getting dressed. 

“Some people date before then,” Harriet commented idly. That was the thing most didn’t realize about the girl. She had a generally too-cool-to-care attitude but make no mistake, she was just as nosey as Newt’s sister. 

Rachel was already passing out the remaining cups, putting the ones meant for those who weren’t awake yet on one of the counters. “Closest would’ve been Teresa but god knows that wouldn’t have worked.” 

“Why not?” Newt asked. 

Aris wrinkled his nose. “They were too similar and too different in all the wrong ways.”

“Seemed perfect at a first glance,” Rachel chimed in, her back to them as she put stuff away. “But once you looked deeper they would have only ended up hurting or betraying one another.”

One day Newt was gonna sit down with Thomas and explain his life to him and then get the boy to explain his life to Newt in return. He kept getting random pieces here and there and, honestly, it was driving his curiosity up the wall.

The conversation was put to an end there when Gally came into the room with a demand to know what they were doing next. The plan was to finish packing up some stuff— Aris and Rachel having a few helpful things they could bring—, lock up this place and head back to the vehicles. So while everyone bumbled around to finish off whatever they needed to do, Newt went upstairs to wake up Thomas.

Minho had been volunteered to rig up some pulley for a pretty awesome gun system that went on the back of a vehicle— not that he wouldn’t have already wanted to do that. Alby was certain they could squeeze it on the back of his truck but it was definitely a multi-person job.

Either way, it was just Newt and Thomas on the second floor of the house.

Thomas was cocooned in a mess of blankets when he got there and a small part of him was reluctant to wake him up. He first grabbed the three of their bags, making sure everything was inside, before he moved over to the boy.

“Thomas,” Newt called, gently pushing a hand through his hair while he did so. Rolling onto his back, Thomas groaned quietly before forcing his eyes open. He spotted Newt right away, hard not to with him crouched above the boy, and smiled tiredly. “What’s going on with you, Tommy?” Newt asked seriously and he watched as Thomas' smile fell, his expression going through a mix of emotions before settling on cagey.

“What do you mean?” Thomas asked by way of diversion but Newt wasn’t going to let it go this time.

He curled his hand where it was still wound in Thomas’s hair, fingers moving to linger behind his ear. “I mean you’ve been acting off since we were at Jorge and Brenda’s. Since you found out we were at WCKD.”

“No, I haven’t.”

Newt shot him an unimpressed look. “You have, Tommy. You think we wouldn’t notice? It’s obvious even if you weren’t twirling that coin of yours constantly.”

Thomas didn’t have a reply to that, his eyes darting away from Newt’s face.

“What’s bothering you? That we didn't tell you ourselves? That we were there at all?”

The second question had Thomas’s eyes widening and he blurted. “Why would that be an issue? It wasn’t your choice.”

That was a relief to hear; still, Newt pushed on. “Then what is it?” He waited in silence as Thomas opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again only to shut it once more. The boy shook his head, apparently not having any words. “Do you still want to be with us?” Newt asked hesitantly, half not wanting to ask it in fear of a negative answer but needing to know.

“Of course!” Thomas said, sitting upright now, the blankets pooling at his waist. He cupped Newt’s cheeks in his hands and his face was so earnestly open that it was a little hard to see. “I want to be with you for as long as you’ll let me be with you.” He swore, his fingers gripping just a tad too tight in their desperation.

It was another weight off his shoulders to hear that, the pure emotion in Thomas’s voice telling Newt that the younger boy was at least being honest about this. He leaned forward to press his forehead to Thomas’s. “Then what is it?” He whispered softly into the space between them.

Thomas shut his eyes tightly and Newt could hear the lump in his throat he swallowed back. He shook his head again and finally Newt relented, seeing that forcing this now was only causing Thomas’ anxiety to get worse. Still, that didn’t stop him from cupping Thomas’s face in return. “Hey.” He waited until Thomas’s eyes opened once more. “We love you. We’ll always love you. Nothing you say or do is gonna change that, okay?”

“Okay,” Thomas whispered, and even though it didn’t sound as if he believed him entirely, Newt let it go for the time being.

“We’re gonna be leaving soon,” Newt told him, carefully removing Thomas’s hands from his face as he stood. “I already packed your things and there's some food on the counter for you.”

“Okay,” Thomas said again, watching Newt gather all three bags and head out the door. 

Minho was frustrated.

There was a part of him that hated that he was, more for the fact that he didn’t want to feel like he was putting pressure on the people around him to act a certain way— at least people that weren’t Gally. 

Thomas was being confusing, and Minho was so sure it had to do with them not telling him about the whole WCKD thing. Then again, it’s not like Thomas was open about his past. But then he did just have the whole WCKD thing dropped on him like it was no big deal, which made it seem like Minho and Newt were going out of their way to keep it a secret.

Frustrated.

Minho had been willing to overlook the whole ‘Thomas didn’t come sleep with them cause he crashed after talking to Jorge’ thing, but then gone were the kisses after that. To say he had been shocked after the first time Thomas had gone to nap between destinations without his customary routine— that being the aforementioned kisses— was an understatement. Newt had been too, as much as he tried to hide it.

The morning he woke up after they got to Aris and Rachel's cabin he had been disappointedly unsurprised to find the bed only occupied by him and Newt. He tried his best not to be pissed or upset about it and had gone downstairs determined to keep things in a good place— or as good a place as they could be in these days. Minho found Thomas asleep at the table, back bent uncomfortably and head pillowed on his arms. When he woke him up the younger boy was disoriented and maybe that was the reason he had been his normal affectionate self. Thomas had snagged Minho’s wrist before he could walk away, pulling him into a warm hug and pressing a kiss to his cheek before stumbling his way upstairs.

It was a split second of normalcy that Minho wished would be a constant again.

That was about a week ago and since then they had started traveling once more, following Jorge— and now Aris and Rachel’s— possible leads. It wasn’t going as great as any of them hoped it would but at least they were all sticking close together which Minho was actually pretty happy about. 

He wouldn’t deny he was also kind of reluctant to find the Right Arm while things with Thomas were still so uncertain. Minho was still determined to drag that asshole to the Safe Haven when it came down to it but Thomas was stubborn and wily which had Minho not all that certain in his ability to succeed.

Not that he’d say that out loud.

He knew Newt had spoken to Thomas the morning they left the cabin and he seemed more sure that the youngest of the three of them still wanted to be in this relationship— a relief to Minho, really— but he hadn’t been able to figure out what was bothering him.

The thing that had Minho scared happened about three months after going on the road again; about two and a half weeks after Minho’s birthday.

Their group had met up at the ranch near the Southwest side of the country, planning to relax and regroup for a couple of days before carrying on. The ranch was one of Minho’s more favourite spots. There was a nice open area in half of the building while the other half had a bunch of penned off sort-of rooms— horse pens clearly— that served as bedrooms. It had the privacy that most would want to a certain degree but didn’t have them all isolated on their own either. The whole place was a bustle of activity since they arrived and it was while Newt was talking with Alby over some maps that Minho noticed Thomas wasn’t in the room.

He had taken a quick stock of everyone there and realised Thomas, Ben and Winston were missing. The former was asleep in his and Gally’s area but the last two Minho wasn’t sure about.

Turning, Minho headed down the hall that split off each room on the left and right and he only made it about half way when Winston came out of his room, grinning as he passed him to go back to see the others. That just left Thomas. Their room was empty, save for their cot and blankets on the ground, plus their bags. This meant Minho would be going to look for him outside. It was later in the evening, though not so late that it was completely dark out. The sun was almost completely set, hiding behind the distant sandhill tops but still offering some light to help Minho see.

He found Thomas before the boy saw him. Sitting with his back against one of the broken down buildings not far from the ranch, Thomas was twirling his coin in hand. Minho didn’t slow his stride for a second as he headed towards him and had just opened his mouth to call his name when Thomas placed his coin on top of his thumb. It was a heart stopping moment that had Minho moving faster— and it was a true testament to Thomas’s distraction that he didn’t hear his footsteps getting closer.

As quick as can be, Thomas' thumb jerked upward, sending the coin spinning through the air and Minho reached him just in time to catch the thing high in the air, clutching it in his fist. Thomas’s eyes widened as he saw him and Minho couldn’t explain the feeling in his chest, a tight and ugly thing that was equally broken and worried.

“I’m gonna keep this for a while,” he told Thomas firmly.

The fact that Thomas just did this scared the hell out of him. The memory of the boy that he and Newt had only just met telling them he only ever flipped it if he was actually planning to do something ringing clear in his head.

Thomas looked tired and a bit resigned. “Can you at least tell me what it landed on?”

“Heads,” Minho replied without missing a beat.

Shooting him a look, Thomas said. “You didn’t even look.”

“You didn’t ask me to look,” Minho retorted calmly. “You asked me to tell you what it landed on and I did.” He tucked the coin away then, letting it drop to the bottom of his pocket and leaving its results forever a mystery. He didn’t miss the way Thomas watched his hand’s movements but he eventually looked away to stare out into the desert.

Not saying anything else, Minho stepped closer to Thomas and held out both hands to him. It only took a moment before the boy grabbed them with his own, letting Minho haul him upright. As soon as he was standing, Minho wrapped his arms around Thomas’s shoulders, tucking him into his chest and squeezing him tight. After a beat Thomas’s arms were clutching around his waist, holding him even tighter if that was possible.

“What’s going on with you?” Minho asked in a wavering tone.

Thomas only burrowed further into the hug. “I love you.”

“I don’t like that you’re saying it like a goodbye,” Minho replied cautiously. “Do you want to leave?”

When Thomas pulled back Minho thought for a split second that he was going to do just that, but to his relief Thomas only moved enough to see his face. “I would stay with you and Newt forever, if you’d let me,” he whispered, hands coming up to hold Minho’s face gently.

“Then stay.”

There was something bothering Thomas, that much was obvious, but as more time went on it felt as though the boy was sure Minho and Newt were going to be the ones to call it quits or leave, unlike him. 

Something that only confused the hell out of them both.

Minho had worried in the beginning if maybe Thomas wouldn’t feel as a part of this relationship as he and Newt. The two of them had known each other for years after all and had been dating for three months when he joined them, but the boy always managed to seem perfectly at ease with them; like he knew exactly where he stood in their lives and was happy to be there.

Newt and Minho had never been overly physically affectionate with each other, mainly because they knew each other so well that a lot just went unsaid, words and actions unneeded half the time. They had been all for Thomas' affection largely because it felt like another way they could reassure him that he was just as important to them as they were to each other. They hadn’t known at the start if Thomas needed words and loads of affection to feel loved but they wanted to cover their bases and Minho felt it paid off.

“Let’s go inside,” Minho suggested, his voice not one up for arguments though still keeping it gentle. Thomas nodded slowly, though he didn’t move until Minho did. Minho grabbed the boy’s hand firmly as soon as he let go of Thomas, walking him back towards where everyone else was still inside. “You’re going to sleep with us tonight and you’re not getting up until we do.” He said firmly as he led Thomas back inside.

Since the night before Jorge's, the three of them haven’t really slept in the same bed. It was like Thomas was trying to avoid it, either falling asleep elsewhere or just staying up. When it came to sleeping in the vehicle he either napped alone or moved to the front seat if one of them wanted to get some rest. If he did sleep in the bed then it was after Minho and Newt were already asleep and he was gone before they woke up.

“Okay,” Thomas said quietly, hand squeezing Minho’s.

Everyone was as Minho left them, all oblivious to what had just happened, but they wouldn’t all remain that way. While Thomas walked over to where Frypan was waving him nearer, a can of something in hand, Newt was eyeing Minho and he knew it would take the blond only seconds to realise something was wrong. He shook his head at him, telling him this was neither the time nor the place, and went to grab something from Frypan as well, grinning at him in thanks.

They were going to head out towards Albany tomorrow, Jorge trying to track down a contact of his who was in the wind at the moment. Most of the plans they were making were honestly not of use, mostly just things they could ask people while Jorge and a few others went to talk to whoever they needed to talk to. The night wrapped up not long after that, their habits of spending long nights recapping what they’ve been up to kind of unnecessary considering they have all been doing the same things these days. 

For the first time in a long while Minho, Newt and Thomas all got ready for bed together. Newt seemed mildly surprised about the change but didn’t say anything— never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Minho dropped onto the bed with a soft sigh, Newt not far behind him, and after a brief hesitation Thomas crawled into the space between them. He curled up facing Newt and Minho wrapped an arm around his waist tightly. Maybe it was a combination of his long day, or just the fact that it’s been a while since he slept somewhere that wasn’t the back of a jeep, but Thomas dropped off almost instantly, his breathing growing deep in a way it only did when he was out for the night.

Minho laid in silence for a long while, wanting to enjoy the moment while it was here. He could feel Newt’s expectant presence but he didn’t say anything yet, not sure how to even say it. He eventually decided to go with his usual blunt manner. “I caught him flipping the coin outside.” Newt’s hand, which had been cupped around his elbow and moving in slow soothing circles, froze. “I caught it before it could land and took it from him. I’m gonna keep it till we get to Albany.”

“What do we do, Minho?” Newt asked quietly. “How do we help him if he won’t say anything?”

It’s exactly what Minho had been thinking ever since he found Thomas outside. He had come up with a plan that wasn’t ideal but was the best thing for now. “I say we give it until our next stop at a safe house, if he’s still not talking then we’ll talk to Aris and Rachel.”

“Why them over Brenda and Jorge?” Newt asked quietly.

“Cause the only thing Thomas has always been tightlipped about is his childhood and they’re the only ones who were there for it,” Minho pointed out, absently aware of Newt’s hand moving idly again.

He heard more than saw Newt’s nod. “What makes you think they’ll tell us anything?”

“They love Thomas,” Minho murmured. “Maybe they haven’t seen him in years but they do and I’d be willing to bet they’d do anything for him— especially considering they thought he was dead all this time.”

“Alright… we’ll give him more time and if nothing changes we’ll talk to them...”

In three days time they were pulling into the edge of Albany, parking and hiding their cars, and starting their walk further into the city. Albany was a pretty big place, similar to that of Salt Lake City and Detroit. The streets were packed with people moving about and the rush of voices was almost constant. There weren’t many young kids here, most likely because it was known as a weapons place. They had set up in an old bank at the edge of town but the population of the city had most of them leaving their things locked in the vehicles and those with weapons keeping them on them at all times.

“Okay,” Jorge said with a glance at them. “My guy usually hangs out around a certain type of people so I’m gonna go head off to find them. Stay safe and keep in touch.” He said the last bit while tapping his hip. 

As it turned out Aris and Rachel had a few more earpieces, like the ones Alby and the others found long ago, and some extra radios. Newt, Minho, Aris and Harriet all had some in their ears now while Alby, Gally, Jorge, and Jeff had the radios. It made keeping in touch much easier, thank god, and let them separate a lot farther so long as every group or pair had at least one person with a means of communication.

Minho had been roaming with Frypan— Newt and Thomas heading off not far from them— and was stopping every now and again to speak with the odd person. Thing about people in Albany, they were a lot less pleasant than most places, people more biting with their words. The earpiece in Minho’s ear whirred and Jorge’s voice rang out. “My lead was another bust, amigos.” Frypan glanced at him when he let out a sigh and he shook his head, the boy getting a disappointed look as well. 

“Let’s give it another hour and then we’ll head out,” Alby said next.

Tapping Frypan’s arm, Minho gestured for them to head down another street as he murmured Alby’s words to him. It was when they were just coming out the other end of the street that Minho spotted them.

“Shit,” he blurted and Frypan froze beside him. Minho’s hand went up to his ear— he couldn't tell the others. “Shit.”

It seemed telling the others wasn’t necessary as Gally’s sharp voice cut in. “WCKD’s here.”

Alby's voice came on almost as soon as Gally’s went out. “Everyone stay alert and—”

Three sudden bangs sounded and Minho grabbed Frypans arm as everyone started screaming. His eyes darted around desperately for any sign of Newt or Thomas and came up frustratingly empty.

“This way, Fry,” he said, dragging the other boy with him down the street away from the chaos. 

“Who’s got eyes on everyone?” Alby demanded roughly. “I’m still with Winston.”

Slowly the answers trickled in amongst the running and ducking. 

“Me and Brenda are with Jeff and Clint,” Jorge chimed.

A sudden cluster of people had Minho losing sight of Frypan and his heart stopped in his chest. His head spun around, trying to spot his friend in the crowd before more bangs forced him to start moving again. 

“I found Aris and Rachel,” Alby called himself next, the crowd loud even through his radio. 

Minho ducked down an alley and slammed into someone, his fists were already raised in case it wasn’t friendly when the head of familiar blond hair registered.  “Found Minho, anyone got eyes on Fry?” Harriet spoke up from behind Newt; Sonya and Thomas beside her looking around with alert eyes.

To Minho’s relief, for a change, Gally spoke. “I got Fry.” 

“We can’t leave like this,” Jorge said next, his voice tight. “WCKD will be watching for vehicles, we need to find somewhere to lie low.”

Newt pushed Minho in another direction and all five of them were ducking into a building and running through it as fast as they could. It was a long building, some old stripmall or something, and when Minho’s eyes found the other exit it was just in time to see it blasted open. 

“We got trouble,” Harriet said sharply into the radio. “We’re in the stripmall.” She cranked her volume down after that, tucking her radio out of sight.

All five of them stumbled to a stop and turned tail to start running back in the other direction, trying their hardest to ignore the pounding of footsteps behind them. Another bang went off and it just missed all of them, hitting a column to their right and setting off sparks of electricity. Minho didn’t know if it relieved or terrified him that they weren’t trying to kill them but rather take them alive.

“We’re on our way,” Alby was saying in his ear. “Who’s closest?”

Ben’s voice came next, his tone worried but determined. “We’re on top of the next building over. Gally took out one of the WCKD guards; he put on his uniform and is trying to sneak in for backup now.”

Another bang sounded, only this time from their right, and Minho only had a split second to notice the small plate-like item that landed on the ground in front of them before it set off a boom that had all of them flying in random directions. Shaking his head, Minho spotted Newt nearest to him and crawled over, the girls not far from them. He was just getting ready to stand when the click of a gun sounded behind him, stopping his actions.

Newt’s eyes were wide, his body sprawled out, and Minho turned his head slowly to see the end of a gun aimed at them both. Another soldier was holding one to Sonya and Harriet, silently motioning for them to get closer to Newt and Minho; all four of them forced to remain sitting on the ground.

“They’re caught,” Ben called in a rush. “I see more guards coming. They’re near the centre of the building.”

Minho’s eyes darted around the room and he spotted Thomas about twelve feet away, slowly pushing himself up and shaking his head like Minho had. There were seven guards, two more coming closer to their group of four, one by Thomas and the other two standing in front of where the way to the exits were.

“Minho, Gally’s one of the guards watching you,” Ben murmured in his ear. “He’s the third one on the left. Everyone else is here and we’re working on a plan.”

Despite the offer of information, Minho didn’t let his head turn or even try to tell the others. A quick glance up showed a large skylight with missing glass panes and he could see the top of the building Ben and the others must be on. The sound of slow footsteps echoed through the room and Minho and the other’s looked over sharply.  A man dressed similarly to the guards, minus the masks and extra padding, was walking towards them. He had a ratlike face and dark hair growing grey.

“Shit, that’s Janson.” He heard Aris say suddenly. 

Alby’s voice spoke up, as tense as Minho felt. “Who is he?”

“He used to be the Head of Security for WCKD before it fell. He likely runs the company now.”

That was not good…

Brenda’s voice came on next. “Minho, do you think you can get Harriet to move in a way so she can press the talk button on your radio? It might help to have ears in there.”

Minho glanced over at the girl and she was already partially watching him. He let his eyes flick to his left, turning his head slightly so she could see his ear piece, and then darted them down to where she put her radio. She nodded slowly and started to move so subtly it was almost unnoticeable.

“We got you.” Ben said and Minho tilted his head, halting Harriet’s movements.

The man kept strutting forward slowly, though he didn’t spare Minho and the others a glance, his eyes trained on where Thomas was still half lying on the ground. The only reason Minho and Newt were staying in place and not rushing to help Thomas was because of the guns currently aimed at them.

Finally Janson stopped a few feet from Thomas, a smirk on his face. “Thomas.” Minho froze as the man apparently recognized Thomas. He watched as the brown haired boy looked up, his face stubborn and— if you knew him well enough— wary. “You know, Thomas, I’ll admit,” Janson said conversationally, hands behind his back and that smarmy smirk still on his face. “A big part of me really did think you died that night. I suppose it was too much to ask; you always were a stubborn thing. Like a cockroach clinging desperately to life despite having so little use being alive.”

Eyes darting to Thomas’s face again, Minho couldn’t even begin to guess what was going through his mind. The lack of voices in his ears made him wonder if the others were making a plan or if they were just listening in on this conversation.

“Tell me, Thomas, was it worth it?” Janson asked caustically, raising a brow. “Look at you now, living in a slum. You could have lived an easy life with WCKD and instead you threw it all away— and why? For the sake of a bunch of kids born with a gift they didn’t have to work for. A gift they didn’t deserve.”

Thomas was glaring now, his jaw clenched as he sat up more. “Whether they deserve it or not doesn’t matter, it’s their gift!” His words were sharp but firm. “I don’t regret it. WCKD got what it deserved, what they were doing was wrong .”

Janson scoffed derisively before his face grew mocking. “What about poor Ava?” He asked softly with a tilt of his head. “Do you not regret that either, Thomas? Do you not regret killing the woman who raised you?”

That seemed to strike whatever chord Janson wanted, Thomas’s eyes darting away for a split second before they steeled over. “I did what I had to do.”

Minho couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Didn’t even fully understand what he was hearing. Whenever he thought over to— or he and Newt theorised about— Thomas’s childhood, not once did WCKD ever come up as a possibility. Why would it? They had been there, they had seen all the kids WCKD had corralled together like lab rats.

“And here you are now!” Janson said grandly, finally looking over at their group, taking in their likely wide eyed expressions. “Did you know it was them?” He asked Thomas, glancing back at him. “I suppose you couldn’t have, right? You never saw their faces, never even got to learn their names.” His mouthed pulled into a twisted grin. “Isn’t it delightfully ironic, Thomas? All those years you spent hiding from us, keeping under our radar, only to be dragged back to WCKD’s feet by the very kids you gave up everything to save.”

It was like having a bunch of confusing pieces of a puzzle and finally being given the one that made them all click into place. Thomas’s increasingly anxious attitude as they crossed paths with WCKD, his reaction when he realised they were the kids who WCKD had captured before their fall, why he seemed to think he was going to lose Newt and Minho any day now.

“You’ve upset a lot of people, Thomas,” Janson told him frankly. “I’m sure you haven’t been gone long enough to forget what happens when you upset WCKD.” Minho watched Thomas’ jaw clench, his fingers curling into the ground at his side. “Some want to have a straight forward revenge; your head on a stick and all that. But me—” Janson pointed to his own chest lazily and finally moved closer to Thomas. “As far as I’m concerned, by the time I’m finished with you you’re gonna wish I put a bullet in your brain.” No one had any time to react when Janson’s hand darted out and plunged something into the side of Thomas' neck.

“Thomas!”

“Tommy!”

A much louder bang went off and the wall opposite of Minho and the others exploded, debris hitting the soldiers nearest it and sending them to the ground. The sharp ring of a gun went off and another went down and Gally sprung into action beside them, aiming his stolen gun at the guard nearest him.

Janson's voice started barking orders. “Fall back! Get the kid!”

Minho pulled Newt up, the blond grabbing his sister’s arm at the same time while she grabbed Harriet’s. Unlike the soldiers, they headed towards the explosion and the sight of some of the others coming in with guns raised was a relieving one. Not one that Minho could focus on though, his eyes trained on the guard who had grabbed a limp Thomas.

“They got Thomas!” Minho shouted, already rushing off in the direction they went. The streets were even more chaotic now, the explosion likely an even bigger fear inducer then the gun shots had been. 

Ben’s voice rang out a few minutes later in his ear. “The WCKD vehicles are starting to move out!” 

Minho’s eyes darted around him and he spotted Harriet with her radio in hand. He didn’t even bother to ask before he pulled it out of her hand. “Which way are they!”

“The South side of the city, about three blocks down and one to the left of where you are now!”

Dropping the radio in Harriet’s hand, Minho took off as fast as he could, shoving past people without a backward glance. He felt his heart pounding loudly in his chest and his fear had his steps feeling like he was trudging through mud. When he made it to where Ben had instructed Minho found nothing but an empty sandy area with tire tracks on the ground and dust curling in the air. A bright flash caught his eye and Minho walked forward slowly, crouching down and numbly picking up what he spotted.

His thumb ran along the edge of the coin he had just given back to Thomas that morning and he felt shaky in his fury, his heart thundering in his ears now and his jaw clenched.

“He’s gone...”

Minho glanced back over his shoulder to where a pale and panting Newt was standing, hands at his side and face full of despair. He forced himself to stand and Newt’s eyes darted to his hand, recognizing the coin in an instant and opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. Minho walked over to him, ignoring the sight of a solemn Sonya and Harriet standing behind Newt, and pulled him into a tight hug.

How long they stood there; Minho didn’t know, but eventually Sonya spoke up. “Why didn’t they try take us?”

“Because,” Rachel said quietly, making Minho look over to where the others were slowly approaching. “Capturing a bunch of Immunes wouldn’t have been as important to Janson as his revenge on Thomas.”

“What the hell just happened?” Gally asked, his voice not nearly as accusing as Minho would have expected at any other time.

Alby looked around at them all. “We should head to the furniture factory; it’s less than a two hour drive away. We can talk there.” There were silent nods of agreement all around and he looked over at Minho and Newt. “You guys can’t drive.”

Minho didn’t even offer a response, still trying to wrap his mind around everything that just happened, his fists clenching so hard that Thomas’s coin was digging into his palm.

“I’ll drive with them,” Jeff offered, stepping forward immediately. Alby gave him a nod and, after another glance around their group, told them to get moving. 

The drive to the furniture factory was, like Alby said, almost two hours long but to Minho and Newt it felt like mere minutes. Jeff didn’t try to make conversation, only speaking once they arrived and that was just to let them know they were there. No one bothered to gather their things for the time being, everyone was more concerned with talking about what just happened.

“How do you guys really know Thomas?” 

Of course Brenda was the first one to speak, her face tight and arms crossed as she stared at Aris and Rachel. Her hair had grown quite a lot since they first met her and Jorge, no longer short and close to her head, but now just above her shoulders.

They were all seated or standing around the tables in the factory. Brenda and Jorge were leaning beside each other against some pillars close by, frowns on their faces, while Gally and Ben were leaning against a wall. Newt and Minho were sitting near the middle of the table, Sonya on Newt’s left, running a hand over his back almost constantly. Aris and Rachel were standing near the head of the table and at Brenda’s question they shared a glance before sitting down. 

“We grew up not far from the Last City,” Aris started off slowly, running a hand over his jaw anxiously. “When we were ten WCKD took us in. They gave us this big spiel about how we could help save the world and who could say no to that? Especially when they were offering food, clothes and a safe place to sleep.”

A few of those who had been at WCKD were nodding slowly in agreement, having gone through a similar experience when the company got them. Though they didn’t get taken in until they were around twelve and up.

“They told us we were going to be the future scientists of WCKD— me, Rachel and Teresa. Then they introduced us to Thomas, who they said would run WCKD one day.”

“Run WCKD…” Frypan said in confusion.

Gally had a frown on his face. “He was one of them. You all were” His words sounded accusing but those who knew Gally well enough could hear that it wasn’t intentional.

Still Rachel glared at him. “We were kids, sold this idea of building a better future.” She glanced over at the rest of them, her eyes lingering on those she was told had been at WCKD while her fingers picked at one of her bracelets. “I get that you might be pissed and I don’t even want to imagine what else WCKD put you through during your time with them, but you need to understand— You were with WCKD for… two years? Three years?” When she got a faint nod from Harriet, Rachel said. “I get that that must’ve been horrible but Thomas was with WCKD for almost ten years.”

What?

Minho was staring at the girl with disbelief on his face and he felt Newt grab his hand tightly.

“Ten years,” Brenda repeated slowly with wide eyes and furrowed brows.

Aris glanced at all of them. “Thomas was five when WCKD took him in, they pretty much raised him, he doesn’t have any memories of a life before them. He was their first Immune. Their first experiment.”

“What made him turn on them?” Harriet asked and she got a few looks. “That Ratman said Thomas threw it all away, that he pissed WCKD off.”

“Thomas was always a bit wary of WCKD,” Rachel told her with a complicated look on her face. “But I think the last straw was the Maze Trials.”

Alby frowned. “What’s that?”

Rachel scoffed derisively. “It was WCKD’s next ‘big thing’.” She sat forward, her expression growing heated. “You see when they started looking for the cure for the Flare, WCKD thought the Immune would be the key. They figured out when put in fear-inducing or stressful situations that whatever it was that made kids' Immune got stronger.”

“They created the Maze Trials for a more in-depth experiment,” Aris added quietly. “There were gonna be two at first, one for boys and one for girls,— WCKD was planning to go out to round up more kids— and they were all going to be put in these mazes.”

“They were gonna be forced to live there,” Rachel cut in sharply, her face disgusted. “Living in the centre of this maze and expected to find their way out while these creatures that WCKD created terrorised them! Fifty kids in each maze and WCKD expected— at most— five to ten kids to survive. They said even that was a bit optimistic. If the project showed promising results then more Immunes would be rounded up and more mazes would be created.”

“Forty-five dead kids for a single maze was optimistic…” Winston said slowly, a look of disbelief on his face.

God — they knew WCKD was a company of terrible people, but this was just beyond what they ever imagined. Minho felt his hand clench tighter around Newt’s, his free hand digging into the edge of his seat.

“That’s when Thomas turned on them? When you guys ran?” Sonya pushed, her hand still moving soothingly on Newt’s back.

Rachel looked over at her, her fury simmering slightly. “We knew for a while that WCKD wasn’t the company they wanted to make themselves appear as but when they brought up the mazes…”

“It was not wise to show doubts,” Aris told them solemnly. “These were people all devoted to WCKD’s cause, so if they thought for a second you didn’t believe it…” He shook his head. “Thomas understood though. When we told him our plans to run away he supported it, encouraged it even, he said WCKD was corrupt and promised to help us get out.”

“I wanted him to come with us,” Rachel recalled with a distant look on her face. “I was so sure if WCKD put it together that he helped us run away that they’d kill him. Then Thomas told us his plan. He said he found some people that could help him stop WCKD for good and that he had to stay until it was finished. He said he couldn’t leave until he knew all the Immunes got out.”

That sounded like Thomas, Minho thought to himself. Stubborn and determined Thomas.

“Thomas knew about the Right Arm,” Ben said suddenly, looking startled at his own revelation. “Why hasn’t he said anything?”

Rachel shook her head and sighed as she twisted her hands together. “Thomas doesn’t know anything about the Right Arm. Yeah, he found them but that was years ago and he deliberately refused to learn anything useful about them barring the basics of information. He didn’t want to risk WCKD finding him out and trying to get information out of him.”

“After he left the Last City he said he never tried to find them,” Aris told them, reaching out to gently stop Rachel’s anxious movements. “We asked him that first night and he said it was never in his plans for him to go with the Right Arm. He thought he’d die taking down WCKD.”

Another thing that sounded like Thomas…

“Was he right?” Minho asked blankly, the first thing he said since Thomas was taken. Everyone looked at him but he kept his eyes on Aris and Rachel. “What Janson said. Did we drag Thomas back to them?”

“No,” Rachel said without hesitation.

When it looked like neither Minho or Newt believed her, Aris spoke up. “Thomas is a good guy, and he does go beyond what most people would, but he isn’t a pushover. You of all people should know how stubborn he is. If Thomas doesn’t want to do something, he won't; WCKD learned that the hard way.”

The words weren't nearly as soothing as they should have been. Honestly, ever since it finally clicked what was bothering Thomas and what happened this evening, all Minho could think was how he and Newt all but sent Thomas back to the place he spent so long running from. The place that, from the sounds of it, made him feel like he shouldn’t be alive.

“Who’s Ava?” Brenda asked quietly. “Thomas’s mother?”

Rachel scoffed. “Not hardly. Thomas’s parents died before WCKD found him; Ava was Dr. Ava Paige, she was the one who ran WCKD. Out of all of WCKD she had the most hand in Thomas’s life growing up— which made sense considering Thomas would have her job one day— but she wasn’t a mother of any kind.”

“Thomas was an experiment to her,” Aris said outright. “A tool to be used and nothing more.”

“Thomas killed her,” Gally said from behind them, his burly arms crossed as he kept his eyes on the pair.

“He would’ve made sure he did,” Rachel answered quietly, without looking back at the boy. “If Dr. Paige was still alive I have no doubt the Maze Trials would have happened; Thomas would know that too— he knew her better than anyone.”

The constant barrage questions finally seemed to stop and a silence descended over them all as they absorbed everything Aris and Rachel told them. 

Winston looked around the room. “What now?”

Harriet was the one to answer, much to Minho’s faint surprise. “We go get Thomas back.”

“Go to WCKD?” Ben confirmed.

“Yeah,” Harriet said in a tone that wasn’t to be argued with. “This is the kid who saved us from that hell hole. It’s about time we return the favour.”

“Hell yeah!” Frypan cheered, looking ready to leave right then and there. One by one everyone voiced their agreement in going to get Thomas, standing or sitting straighter as determined expressions grew on their faces.

Minho felt his fury and fear pivot, all of the energy it was taking from him suddenly funnelling into this mission. “We need to leave as soon as we can.” 

“We’ll leave at first light,” Alby said to the room. “I want everyone to go over all their supplies, check their ammo, we head straight to the Outer City from here.”

People got up and started moving after that but Minho and Newt didn’t move, neither did Sonya, Aris and Rachel. They listened to the hustle of everyone around them before Newt glanced at the two people who knew Thomas the longest. “Thomas asked you not to say anything,” he said to them both, the question more of a statement.

Aris and Rachel gave them apologetic looks. “He was worried you guys would hate him for what he was a part of.” When Minho opened his mouth to protest, Rachel spoke over him. “We told him you wouldn’t but Thomas still didn’t want to say anything.”

“Why wouldn’t he want us to know?” Sonya asked with wide eyes. “He saved us, if anything we’d thank him. He was a kid when WCKD got him, we wouldn’t blame him for that…”

Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, Aris said. “That doesn’t really matter when you blame yourself. Thomas always had trouble as seeing himself as anything other than a WCKD product.”

Minho let his eyes fall shut and swallowed back a lump of emotion in his throat. 

Newt suddenly muttered, “I’m gonna go outside,” and Minho felt him let go of his hand and get out of his seat. He didn’t go after him right away, didn’t even open his eyes actually. He wanted so much to be a confident and positive rock for Newt to lean on right now— just like he always had been— but he didn’t know how . Minho felt like the world was swaying under his feet, making it impossible for him to gain any traction. What help would he be to Newt now?

“Go see him.” Finally opening his eyes, Minho looked over at Sonya who was watching him with a fierce expression. He took a breath, getting ready to say just what he was thinking, only to be cut off— “I know you’re a mess, but so is he. Be messes together.” Sonya said sharply. “If there’s one thing you can learn from the last few weeks it’s that keeping all this bottled up and ignoring it is not going to help.”

She was right… It’s exactly what Thomas did and who knew what was happening to him now.

Suddenly every memory of his life at WCKD came rushing back to Minho in a sickening blur. The machine they strapped him to that had him seeing his worst nightmares as if it were all really happening. Alby’s shaking form as he whispered about them putting some chip in him that would make him feel like he was being electrocuted from the inside out at the press of a button. The screams that, near the end, were always echoing down the halls.

Minho pushed himself up, not even replying to Sonya as he went after Newt.

He found Newt sitting with his back against one of the tires of their jeep, hidden from view of those coming in and out of the building. Plopping down onto the ground next to him, Minho pressed his shoulder against Newt’s and didn’t say anything. 

“I don’t know how to do this,” Newt whispered. “I feel like no matter what I do… I let him down.”

Minho swallowed thickly. “Me too.” He felt Newt’s head land on his shoulder and pressed his cheek to the top of the blond's head. “We’ll bring him back. Then we’ll kick his ass for being so stubborn,” Minho finally said after the silence dragged on too long.

Newt snorted.

Eventually Minho pushed himself to a stand again, holding out both hands to Newt exactly like he had to Thomas only a few days ago. Just like he did with Thomas, the first thing Minho did was pull Newt into a tight hug. “Let’s go to sleep,” he murmured to him. “I know it feels like we won’t be able to but we’ll be no use to Thomas tired.” After a beat, Newt nodded and let Minho lead him back inside. This was a bit of a turn around for them, usually Newt was the logical and calm one in most instances while Minho wanted to run headlong into things without pausing.  

But this wasn’t a situation they’ve been in before. 

Once first light came they all packed up and all but flew to the Outer City. It took just under a day with no stops, everyone electing to take turns napping in the vehicles and swapping drivers. The Outer City was a familiar sight for all but Aris and Rachel. Even Brenda and Jorge had lived here for some time, though they never crossed paths with Gally and the others as it was a short period they spent here before leaving all together. The sun was still out of sight, likely to rise within an hour or so, and the city was mostly dark. A lot had changed and a lot remained the same, some faces were familiar while most were strangers. 

Upon getting into the city Gally, Ben and Winston went to find Lawrence. 

Lawrence was the leader of another anti-WCKD group though his far more extreme than the Right Arms had been. He had sought out to destroy WCKD and kill them while the Right Arm had set out to save the Immunes inside first and foremost. They were hopeful that the man may have some way into the Last City, Gally recalling him having a back up plan if the Source that helped the Right Arm couldn’t get them through the front gates. As for the rest of them, they headed to a place most hadn’t been to in years. The same hideout Gally and the others had lived in long before meeting Minho and the rest, and the one they all shared together after WCKD’s fall.

It was an old underground once-cellar that most never realised was there. Tucked down an alley and underneath a dumpster was a small hole just big enough for guys like Frypan and Gally to squeeze through. It was covered with a flat piece of rock so the ground looked normal whenever the dumpster was moved.

The place was only one room that wasn’t the biggest around, especially compared to the farm and warehouses they’ve found over the years, but it would fit them all comfortably. The tallest of the guys would have to be careful with their heads in certain spots but it had four old cots and a mattress that have definitely seen better days, two tables— one circular, the other rectangular— with nine chairs total around them both. 

Plus Frypan had his set up for his cooking, a place for making hot meals and counter space against the far left wall, including a small cupboard that the boy had been beyond pleased with back when they stayed here.

It was a sight that, at any other time, would have filled Minho with nostalgic fondness. Now though, he barely gave the room a second glance, already moving to the area he knew Gally and the others had stored maps of the city back when they lived here. Newt was right at his shoulder, watching as he rolled the map out on the table, and everyone else started setting the place up— taking out their things and putting other things away.

“Alright,” Alby said to the room at large. “Gally, Ben and Winston are gone to see Lawrence. Jeff and Clint just left to get a layout of the city, they’ll make sure things are the same and note any important changes.” He pointed over towards the girls. “Sonya and Harriet, I want you to go find a high point and see if you can get a look in the city, whether it’s buildings or any highground surrounding it.”

The Last City, much like before, had towering walls over what remained of it. No doubt after what happened a few years ago their security would be tighter.

Alby looked over at Aris and Rachel. “You guys remember what the Last City was like? Enough to act as a guide?”

The two nodded seriously. “Yeah, we mapped it out when we were getting ready to run away, most of it should be the same.” Rachel told him firmly.

“What can we do?” Minho interrupted with a steely expression.

Alby glanced at him, his eyes darting to Newt, before he said. “I want you to wait till Gally and the others get back. What happens next depends a lot on what they manage.”

Minho opened his mouth to protest, ready to say he was going to do something other than sit around waiting but Newt’s hand on his arm stalled his words though and after looking over at him he sighed and nodded once. After that it was a lot of anxious straightening out of maps and supplies while they waited for Gally to hurry the fuck up. When he finally did show, the only thing that kept Minho from all but tackling the asshole was Newt’s hand curled around his bicep. 

Gally looked… relieved, which was about as positive as the guy could be. Minho barely spared a glance at Ben and Winston when they crawled in just after the guy.

“What’s the word?” Minho asked impatiently before Ably could even open his mouth.

“Lawrence said he has a way into the city,” Gally said first off, never one to beat around the bush. His words had sighs of relief from all around the room while Minho felt the coils of anticipation start to weave through him. 

Alby nodded at Gally. “What else?” He prompted looking between all three of them.

“We were pretty open about why we were there,” Ben said. “Lawrence was a bit difficult at first but when he heard the guy who screwed over WCKD and helped him get his revenge years ago was caught and we wanted to rescue him he was a lot more helpful.”

That didn’t exactly surprise Minho but he was still relieved to hear it all the same. 

Lawrence had been obsessed with WCKD from what Gally’s tales had told. He believed the company had abandoned the great masses to the virus and was hoarding a cure for themselves. As someone who had been bit— nose clean off and everything— Lawrence took great offence and had wanted revenge for years. So, it made sense he’d be willing to help out the guy who helped him out years ago.

“There’s tunnels under the city,” Gally said next, standing tall and expression serious. “Lawrence has an entrance way and he said he’d let some of us in.”

Newt frowned. “Some?” He repeated.

Ben glanced over at him. “Lawrence doesn’t wanna risk too many going and WCKD figuring it out and storming the tunnels.”

With a nod, Newt looked around the room. “Well, let’s start making a plan then. We know how we’re getting into the city… how do we get into WCKD?”

There was a noise behind them and Newt and Minho— as well as everyone else— turned to the sound. Aris and Rachel were stepping forward, reluctant but determined expressions on their faces. 

“We have an idea.”

“So, how smart is this idea of yours that you won’t say?”

Aris glanced over at Minho when he spoke, lifting a hand in a so-so motion after his question registered.

They were currently climbing a building not far from where they found WCKD’s new headquarters. This one— unlike the towering figure the last one had been— was only three stories high, though it stretched about two blocks long. The one bit of good news they’ve had so far was that the walls seemed to be almost entirely windows, which meant their view inside was fantastic. As Aris stepped over the lip of the roof, Minho didn’t hesitate to do the same, feet landing on smooth cement. Newt, Alby and Rachel were already here, the latter with a pair of binoculars in hand. The sky in front of them was a bright mixture of oranges and pinks, the sun getting ready to duck out of sight for the night. 

“How’s it looking?” Alby asked them as soon as they were close.

Minho dropped into a crouch beside the trio. “As expected. A hell of a lot of guards— I don’t see how we’re getting in stealthily.” His words were said casually but Minho felt anything but, his muscles tense and ready to move while his heart pounded determinedly in his chest.

“We need someone who has access to the building— and a couple of WCKD guard uniforms.” Rachel replied, still looking at WCKD.

Newt had a skeptical look on his face. “I know Gally still has the uniform that he stole and it shouldn’t be hard to steal some more— but how are we getting someone who has access to the building without alarming WCKD?”

Aris grabbed the binoculars from Rachel, peering through them himself to where she just was. “We aren’t asking them to keep quiet about it and we’re using her.”

He held the binoculars out to any one of them while Rachel pointed over in the general direction. Minho was quick to snatch them, bringing them up to his face and scanning the length of the building.  

It was easy to find who Aris and Rachel were talking about, the only person currently seated inside— the odd person walking in and out of view off to the side. She looked to be about their age, her hair dark and expression serious. She was wearing a white lab coat and her hair was pulled back out of her face.

“Who is she?” Minho asked as he handed the binoculars over to Newt.

“Teresa.” Aris and Rachel said as one.

The name was familiar, the fourth kid WCKD had taken in alongside Thomas, Aris and Rachel. None of them had ever been given a rundown on what happened to her— looks like they knew now.

Newt passed the binoculars on to Alby as he asked. “What’s her story here? Would she help?”

Aris grimaced. “She won’t help willingly, which is why we won’t give her a choice.”

“Why wouldn’t she help?” Alby asked with a frown, clearly remembering her name from before. “She was one of you, surely she’d want to help Thomas.”

With a scoff, Rachel said. “Look where she is right now, Alby. There’s no guards around her, no one holding a gun to her head. She’s with WCKD because it’s where she wants to be. It’s why Thomas— or me and Aris— never told her about our doubts. About our plans to leave.”

Why this girl would want to continue to side with WCKD when the three people she was likely closest to had abandoned their cause was beyond Minho. Didn’t she see the wrong in it all?

“Why is she so with them?” Newt asked quietly. “I mean— you guys, Thomas, you all saw through WCKD. Why can’t she?”

Rachel sighed, turning her back on the building to look at them. “Teresa lost both her parents just before WCKD took her in— it’s kind of always how it goes. Her dad died early on but her mom…” Rachel rubbed a hand along her jaw in an uncharacteristically anxious motion. “Her mom got hit hard with the virus, kept hearing things and saying she was seeing shadows…”

Aris spoke up next, clearly picking up Rachel’s struggle on the topic. “Teresa had to lock her up in one of the rooms and then one morning Teresa’s mother woke her up saying that the hallucinations stopped and when Teresa looked inside the room… she saw that her mother had clawed out her own eyes using her fingers.”

Holy shit.

That seemed to be Newt and Alby’s reaction too, based on their wide eye looks.

“Teresa is determined to find a cure,” Rachel said firmly. “She’s determined to make sure no other kid goes through what she’s been through—”

“—seemingly oblivious that she was gonna let kids be put through a hell of a lot worse—” Aris chimed in.

“—and when it comes down to it, nothing’s more important to her than finding that cure. Not even Thomas, who— arguably— is the person she loves most in the world.”

Well, what the hell did they say to that?

It left an ugly feeling in Minho’s chest to hear that this girl supposedly loved Thomas. Maybe because she was the only other person Thomas thought he could have had a future with some day.

“This is why you said what you said about her and Thomas,” Newt said suddenly, drawing looks from Aris and Rachel.

Aris tilted his head silently. “Thomas and Teresa are the smartest and most stubborn people you could ever meet. When they want something they won’t stop till they get it.”

“And they both wanted to save people but they wanted to do that in two very different ways,” Rachel murmured quietly, looking back at the WCKD building. “And neither one of them was ever going to compromise on that.”

“Too similar and too different in all the wrong ways,” Minho muttered, remembering what Aris said back at the cabin. He got two resounding nods at that and Minho looked back at the building, though without the binoculars he didn’t have a hope to see her now. “So how do we get her?”

“We wait till she leaves for home and then we make a distraction— a lure.”

With a frown, Newt asked. “How do we do that?”

Rachel glanced at Aris. “We were thinking we’d let her get a glimpse of one of us.”

With a nod, Aris told them. “Teresa is too obsessed with knowing to leave things alone. If she thinks she saw one of us, she’ll have to follow and see if it’s true.” Well alright then, they had a working plan, now all they had to do was put it in motion.

First thing was to find a building that wasn’t being used, that way they didn’t have to drag her all the way back to the Outer City. It was an easy enough task actually. They found a bank that was being remodeled and a little sign out front that said when construction would take place. They’d be out of there by the time the workers came back.

Getting some WCKD uniforms also wasn’t that hard to do. They waited for two guards to be on their own and with swift movements, Minho and Gally had them both unconscious and on the ground in seconds. They managed to snag another one on their way back to the base, which was great news— it gave them more wiggle room in planning.

Though a lot of them had wanted to come into the city for the rescue mission, only a handful of them actually could. Minho and Newt were a given, Alby was their leader so he was coming, Aris and Rachel knew WCKD and this ‘Teresa’ so they were also here, and Gally, Brenda and Jorge were the last three to be a part of it. Gally because he was their connection to Lawrence, and the last two because if shit did hit the fan, Minho— and Alby and Newt— were certain they’d pull something amazing out of their asses to help.

He still remembered very clearly all of Thomas’s stories about those two.

It was by late evening the next day that their plan was ready to roll. Everyone in the Outer City was prepared for a quick escape and those inside were tense and ready to go.

“You know, we met Thomas for the first time not far from here.”

Minho— and everyone else— glanced over at Brenda when she spoke, surprise colouring their faces at the comment. Jorge nodded his head with a considering look as he glanced over at her. “‘Met’ might be the wrong word but that is true.”

“What do you mean?” Newt asked from his spot closer to the door where he was perched on a short wall that was only about three feet off the ground.

“The day WCKD fell, me and Brenda came into the city,” Jorge told them all with a faint grin.

“You guys were here,” Minho said in surprise. “You came to fight?” He assumed slowly, half not believing it even as he said it.

Brenda laughed and shook her head. “No, while everything was in chaos we came to loot a couple places. You know, steal some rarer items that one just can’t find in the scorch.”

“Should’ve expected that,” Gally acknowledged in a commemorating tone that had Brenda pointing a teasing finger gun at him with a wink.

Alby had a frown on his face when Minho glanced over at him and before he could question what the guy was thinking Alby asked. “Why was ‘met’ the wrong word?”

Jorge and Brenda shared a look before the older man said. “Thomas was unconscious when we first found him.”

Crossing to sit on the table Aris and Rachel were sitting on, Brenda glanced around absently as she said. “We thought he was dead at first, it was clear to see he took a skydive off a building. He was just lying on the ground and there was blood all around him.”

Minho’s hands twitched at his side as she spoke, just the thought of Thomas in that kind of way was leaving him anxious and jittery— especially now of all times.

“We found a pulse though,” Brenda said as she shot them a look that silently said ‘obviously’. “Took care of the cut on his head straight away, then Jorge hotwired a car that was nearby and we got the hell out of here. Put the Last City in our rearview mirrors. It didn’t occur to us back then that he had anything to do with WCKD; I mean their fall was the major thing happening at the time but we thought—” Brenda suddenly cut off her own steady stream of words and Minho knew what she was going to say without having to hear it.

They thought Thomas had jumped on purpose. If they took care of him afterwards then they would have seen his scars and anyone would have assumed that his fall hadn’t been an accident.

“What happened to the car?” Rachel asked curiously, and Minho wondered if her easy side step of Brenda’s obvious cut off was because she knew exactly what the girl was going to say too. Probably. 

“We dropped it off at the edge of Carson and torched it,” Jorge replied with a grin. “Didn’t want to risk it having a tracker so we didn’t keep it.”

“Smart move,” Gally commented.

Minho vaguely remembered Thomas telling him and Newt about this back when they first met. Or, at least telling them how Brenda and Jorge helped him out when he first entered the Scorch, a big reason he kept on going back to see them. He also remembered Thomas explaining that the two had taken care of him when he got hurt. When he fell. At least Newt’s worry about it being an intentional fall were unfounded; he fell with WCKD when taking the company down.

“Thomas bailed while you guys were asleep,” Minho recounted out loud, getting amused looks from the pair.

“Yeah, that asshole,” Brenda said with a roll of her eyes and a fond smile that had a few of them chuckling. “We wondered what happened to him for a long while then about four months later he showed up again.”

Jorge started handing things over to Minho and Gally for their next mission even as he spoke. “Could never predict when that boy would show up, he was always a bit squirrely, but we made sure he knew he was always welcome.”

Aris looked between the man and Brenda. “You never asked him to stay?”

“Oh, we did,” Jorge said with an amused smile. “Thomas doesn’t like staying in one place though. At least we know why now.”

“What do you think is the reason?” Minho asked him, different ideas coming to mind but wanting to hear Jorge’s opinion.

When they got Thomas back they would continue their search for the Right Arm and the issue of Thomas not wanting to stay in one place was still something that needed to be addressed. It made him even more anxious to hear that Brenda and Jorge did try to get Thomas to stay with them and, even after years of knowing the boy, hadn’t been able to convince him to do it.

Jorge started moving some things around the room, seemingly having to keep moving in some way— a common trait with him from what Minho had observed over the last how-many-months. “I think it’s a combination of things. After being locked up with WCKD for most of his life, the entire life he remembers at least, unable to ever leave and then immediately thrust into a circumstance where he had to constantly keep moving in order to stay safe… They’re both very real situations that would leave staying in one place too long a difficult thing.”

“How do we change it?” Newt asked quietly, a frown on his face.

With a considering look, Jorge finally paused. “Slowly, I would suppose.” He answered with a careful tone. “Try keep him in cities longer and longer without making him completely anxious—”

“— we can capitalize on your guys’ meetup spots,” Brenda added firmly, kicking her legs back and forth idly. “Longest we convinced Thomas to stick around was nine days. I think the cities make him more worried.”

“Our meetup spots are more private and isolated. Easier to see any threats coming,” Alby caught on quickly with a nod.

Letting out a breath, Minho felt more relieved knowing they had some kind of plan to get Thomas more comfortable to stick with them longer. He was surprised to hear Thomas had stayed with Brenda and Jorge for nine days— five was usually his max when traveling with them— but like she said he was probably more comfortable at their place. From here on out they would push it as much as they could when traveling in cities and then they would try to stretch their time at their meetup spots. Meetup spots was probably the wrong word considering they were constantly together now— their resting spots were more accurate.

“We should get moving.”

Starting from his thoughts, Minho glanced over at Aris when he spoke, the boy’s eyes trained on the now darkening sky visible through a high window.

“I agree,” Gally said as he flexed his fingers unconsciously. “The sooner we get this girl, the sooner we get Thomas back.” For the first part of their mission it would just be Gally, Minho and Aris heading out in order to bring the girl back to their temporary base. 

Newt was now standing near the door as they readied to go, staring at Minho with a mixture of emotions and he didn’t hesitate to kiss the blond, his hands firm on either side of his face. “I’ll be back.” He promised quietly and only when he got a nod from Newt did he let go.

Gally and Minho were hanging back for the most part, while Aris led the girl to the spot they wanted her in. It left an uneasy feeling in Minho’s chest to let the boy head on in without them but he and Rachel seemed confident in what they were doing. Sure enough, just like the two had said, not long after Aris turned the corner and stopped a few paces away with his back to them, Teresa came behind him.

“Aris?”

Her voice wasn’t quite what Minho expected. Actually, he didn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t the soft voice that left this girl who willingly joined WCKD. Aris didn’t reply and Minho and Gally held their breath as she moved closer to him, putting her back to them too. Finally the boy turned, his face determined as he stared at her.

“What are you doing here?” Teresa asked quietly.

With a huff, Aris said. “I should be asking you that, Teresa.”

Minho could see her head tilt, chin no doubt going upward in stubbornness. “I’m trying to help people.”

“By torturing kids,” Aris retorted harshly.

Teresa shook her head but Minho could tell it wasn’t in denial of Aris’s words but rather in frustration. When she spoke again it was with a scary amount of certainty. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the good of the people.”

The nerve of this girl to say something like that. To talk of sacrifice as if she were the one suffering at WCKD’s hands. Minho’s hands clenched into fists and he could see Gally’s face grow furious at his side. Together they moved forward on silent feet, their distraction likely to run out of steam soon.

“I figured you’d say something like that,” Aris said softly and Teresa didn’t have any time to respond as Gally and Minho covered her head. They didn’t waste time to start carrying her away, her voice muffled and unheard by anyone who may be nearby.

It took a lot less time to get back to their base, Teresa’s struggles no match for Minho and Gally’s brute strength. Brenda was holding the door open when they arrived, a triumphant expression on her face as she saw their company. 

They had finished setting up while they were gone. The windows were covered more securely and some candles they must’ve found somewhere were casting a warm orange glow around the room. There was a single chair near the centre of the room and a few others a bit further off near the table Brenda, Aris and Rachel had been sitting on.  Minho and Gally marched the girl to the lone chair, putting her down on it before ripping the cloth off her head.

With gasping breaths, Teresa’s eyes darted around the room, first to Minho and Gally, then over to where Aris and Rachel were standing, then finally to Newt, Alby, Brenda and Jorge. He couldn’t help but notice the look of recognition on the girl’s face when she saw him, Newt and Alby.

As Minho moved back, Gally doing the same on the other side of the girl, Aris and Rachel stepped forward. The former had a frown on his face while the latter was scowling with her arms crossed. 

“Where’s Thomas, Teresa?” Rachel asked point-blank, not beating around the bush. It was a quality Minho was really appreciative of at the moment.

Teresa frowned, her eyes flickering to them before back to Rachel. “Tom left. He ran away after he betrayed WCKD.”

Tom. The nickname had Minho glaring, hardly able to believe the girl would still refer to Thomas by such a familiar name after everything. He felt more than saw Newt step up beside him, his arms crossed, and it simmered Minho’s anger to know the boy was just as upset as he was.

“Enough of the games, Teresa.” Rachel snapped harshly. “Thomas was with us just a few days ago and then your buddy Janson took him and brought him here . We know he’s in the building and you’re going to tell us where!”

With an expression of incomprehension intermixed with disbelief, Teresa’s eyes darted between Aris and Rachel. “Thomas is at WCKD?”

Minho felt a growl in the back of his throat and finally his patience snapped. Stepping forward in front of Aris and Rachel he got close to the girl who was Thomas’ first friend. She leaned back when he got near, her face going hard but the widening of her eyes giving away her fear. 

“Listen closely,” Minho said stiffly, his jaw clenched as he spoke. “Right now all we care about is getting Thomas back. Now I don’t know you and I don’t want to know you, which means I have no issue using less than morally acceptable means in getting answers out of you. I may not be able to hit you but I can get creative.”

“Oh, I’m more than willing to hit her,” Brenda called from behind him, making him want to grin at her blood thirsty attitude.

It took some time, and learning the fact that Brenda and Thomas had no interest in one another beyond a family kind of way, but Minho did really like the girl. She was sarcastic and blunt— two qualities that described Minho to a tee— and fiercely loyal to those she cared about, having no lengths she wouldn't go to for them. Thomas was fortunate enough to be one of those people she cared about and it filled Minho with a great sense of relief that Brenda— and Jorge— would do whatever needed to be done to get him back.

Teresa glanced over at Brenda when she spoke before looking at Minho. “What is it you want from me? I don’t know where Tom is.”

“But you can find out,” Newt countered from where he was still standing with his arms crossed. “You can get us in that building and you can check its cameras, or whatever the hell else you have, and you can find him.”

“And none of this is a request.” Gally threw in roughly. “You either do it or Brenda can let off a little steam first and then you can do it.”

Swallowing, Teresa’s eyes roved over all of them and she nodded stiffly. 

“First things first,” Rachel said, with a glance over at Alby, Minho and Newt. “There’s still the trackers in your necks. I think it’s about time WCKD removed them.” She finished while staring at Teresa, a cold look on her face as she pulled out a scalpel.

This was the part of the plan that had left Minho the most wary. Allowing WCKD to get that close to him again with something that could easily kill him didn’t seem wise. But Aris and Rachel said there was a high chance that WCKD would know the second they stepped inside if they still had them in, so it had to be done. The removal of said trackers was not a pleasant affair. The girl was watched like a hawk as one by one she took out the trackers in their necks and Gally was quick to catch her when she attempted to pocket a scalpel.

All of this took a little less than three hours and night had truly made its way over them. After that Minho, Newt, Gally and Alby put on the WCKD uniforms and they got ready to head back to WCKD. 

Minho and Newt would go with Teresa up to where the camera’s were while Gally and Alby would sneak Aris in through some side doors. Jorge, Brenda and Rachel would be close by outside, ready to back them up if needed. They split up as soon as they were in front of the building, Minho and Newt leading Teresa straight inside and towards the elevators. Things grew tense there when none other than Janson stepped inside. It took every fibre of Minho’s being to not start swinging at the sight of the rat-faced man. The only thing holding him back was the fact that tipping him off would be the worst thing possible for Thomas.

“Teresa,” Janson said pleasantly when he saw her, ignoring the two guards behind her without a second thought. “Working late tonight?”

Teresa nodded. “I just had some ideas I wanted to write down before I forgot.”

Janson nodded, his eyes going to the numbers on the left side of the elevator and pressing the two. “Thomas used to be the same way you know. Always in the lab doing something.”

Minho clenched his hands around his gun as Janson said Thomas’s name.

“Do you ever miss him?” Janson asked, his voice mockingly sympathetic as he turned his head to watch her closely.

Teresa only shook her head minutely. “I haven’t given Thomas much thought in years. He made his choice.”

Janson pointed at her with a smarmy look. “That’s what I’ve always liked about you, Teresa. You never let yourself be blinded from the bigger picture.” The elevator dinged as it opened up to Janson’s floor and it was a relief when the man stepped out. He only took a few steps forward before he turned to look at Teresa over his shoulder. “You never know, perhaps our changing tides are just around the corner.”

With those words the elevator shut once more and Minho and Newt let out silent breaths. The rest of the ride was blissfully silent and when the door opened again they were quick to nudge Teresa into moving again. 

They followed her down a long length of halls with only a single turn and found themselves at a silver door. Teresa pressed a bunch of numbers and the thing slid open. The room was a pretty plain one, with no one inside and just a singular desk at its centre. There were monitors on the walls, a few on the desk and one lone chair behind it. Teresa crossed to the computer and immediately started typing on it, the clacking sound loud in the quiet room, while Minho and Newt took off their masks. A muffled bang had them all freezing before Minho and Newt aimed their guns at the door. It proved pointless when a vent dropped open and Aris’s head popped into view.

“Found you,” he muttered before jumping out.

“Where’s Alby and Gally?” Newt asked. 

Aris jerked his chin towards the door. “They’re standing guard at the end of the hall.”

Minho didn’t spare any of that much mind, his eyes already back on where Teresa was still typing, the screen shuffling through different feeds. 

“He’s not here,” she said firmly.

Aris stepped closer. “He has to be, where else would Janson take him?”

Teresa looked like she had a smart response to that but wisely kept her mouth shut. Instead she gestured towards the screen. “Look. None of the offices or hallways have him inside.”

“What about the labs?” 

With a frown, Teresa said. “They wouldn’t take him to the labs.”

“Why not?” Newt asked sharply. “They didn’t have issues taking other Immunes there.” The girl opened her mouth stubbornly but Minho didn’t have the care nor patience to hear her opinion on the matter. 

“Just look!”

Stiffly turning back to the computers, Teresa started bringing up another round of camera views. It only took a few more shuffles before—

“There! Look!” Aris said, pointing at the screen. 

Sure enough, there was Thomas, lying on a steel table in a terrifyingly still position, two people in lab coats moving around him without sparing the boy a glance.

Minho swallowed. “Where is he?” He asked in a hush.

It was Teresa who answered. “... in the pre-Swipe lab.”

Aris’ head jerked to look at her, his eyes wide. “They’re giving him the S wipe?” He asked incredulously.

“What’s the Swipe?” Newt demanded, his fingers tightening around his gun.

Aris looked over at them. “It’s what they had planned to give the Immunes before sending them into the mazes. It basically removes memories. You remember how to talk, how to do basic life skills, they’d even let you keep your name, but everything else— your childhood, your friends, your family— you’d forget it all.”

They were going to wipe Thomas’s memories…

Minho pointed his gun at the screens. “Where is that?” 

Teresa didn’t answer right away, her eyes locked on the screen, and Aris said her name sharply before either Newt or Minho’s patience ran out again. Swallowing once, she spoke in a hoarse whisper. “It’s on the second floor in the South wing… Janson might have guards watching it.”

Minho wasn’t worried about that, his gun locked and loaded. He shared a glance with Newt and the two once more gestured for Teresa to start moving. Instead of the elevator, this time they would take a side stairwell closer to where Thomas was being held. Plus given Janson had just used the elevator they didn’t want to risk him being near the thing when they made it down to the second floor. 

The anticipation and nerves in Minho's stomach was like a lead balloon. With a quick pace their group followed Teresa down the hall until they found the stairwell. Gally and Alby weren’t far behind, close enough to keep track of them but not so close that they drew attention by having a larger group. 

When they made it to the floor Thomas was on, Teresa murmured. “The room Thomas is in is the second door on the left after you make the first right turn, it’ll have a yellow diamond on it.” 

Minho nodded silently, moving forward just enough that Gally and Alby could come on through. 

“Keep an eye on her,” he told them both, jerking his chin at the girl. 

The two nodded silently, faces still obscured by their masks. 

Newt was already moving and Minho and Aris didn’t hesitate to follow, the three of them heading to where Teresa told them Thomas would be. These halls were pretty empty, though they could see the odd person distracted in the labs around them. The sight of the yellow diamond had Minho's heart stopping in his chest and he readied his gun. With swift movements Newt pushed the door open and Minho slipped in, gun in the air. 

There were two people inside; a guy who was standing at some panel while a woman was hovering over a tank. Both went wide eyed at the sight of them and as if on cue an alarm started sounding through the building. 

“Shit,” Aris whispered. 

Minho didn’t even spare another thought, finger already pulling the trigger at the girl hovering over Thomas and his aim darting over to the other guy next as the crackle of electricity sounded. His face pulled into a fierce snarl. “Let him out,” he spat, already hearing Newt move towards the boy while Aris’s head darted out the door. 

The guy hurriedly pressed a button and a hiss sounded through the room, followed by— to Minho’s confusion— water splashing on the floor. Between one breath and the next he pulled the trigger again, stunning the guy just as he had with the woman. His head darted over to Newt when he let out a grunt. 

Thomas was in the tank, though there hadn’t been a tank when they checked where he was, and his body had fallen towards Newt the second it opened.  The water that Thomas had apparently been submerged in was still steadily pouring out onto the floor, trickling slower now as it reached its end. It was Thomas’s limp and soaked form that scared Minho the most, Newt maneuvering him carefully but quickly onto the ground. 

“Thomas! Thomas!” Newt called, holding Thomas’s face between his hands, his lips blue, and slapping the side of his face. 

Minho stepped forward urgently. “Newt, give him CPR. Now.”

With quick movements, Newt began to move Thomas into the position Jeff and Clint taught them all so long ago. Laying flat on his back, tilting his chin in the air, he plugged Thomas’ nose and gave two deep breaths. He moved to do chest compressions next and soon he had a rhythm going. 

One... Two... Three…

Breath. Breath. 

One… Two… Three…

Breath. Breath.

“Come on, Tommy.” Newt muttered desperately as he tried to get his heart going.  The alarm still ringing around them was a distant noise and Minho was glad Aris was here to watch the door because he couldn’t look away from Newt and Thomas.  “Please, Tommy, please.” Newt said brokenly, not stopping for a second. 

With a sudden wet cough, Thomas blessedly started moving, rolling onto his side as he started coughing out water. Newt and Minho let out simultaneous breaths of relief while the former helped Thomas with his struggle. 

Rubbing his back, Newt said. “Let it out, Tommy. Deep breaths when you can.” 

After a worrying amount of time, Thomas rolled back on his back and stared at the ceiling in a daze. Newt grabbed his face again, much more softly this time, and it took Thomas a second to really see him but when he did he grabbed Newt’s wrist. 

“Is this real?”

Minho spoke up before Newt could. “Yeah, baby, this is real.”

Letting go of Newt's arm, Thomas curled his hand around the blond's neck and pulled him into a tight hug. He stared up at Minho with watery eyes and didn’t need to say a word before Minho was dropping to his knees beside Newt, wrapping his arms around the both of them and pressing a kiss to Thomas’s temple. 

“You came to save me…” Thomas whispered slowly, disbelief colouring his voice.  The words had Minho’s throat tightening and he wondered just how long Thomas hoped for someone to do that. 

Newt pulled back, a teary eyed and happy expression on his face. “We all did, Tommy. The whole gang's here— some are in the Outer City; Brenda, Jorge and Rachel are waiting nearby; Alby and Gally are in the hall and Aris is here.” 

He nodded to where Aris still stood at the door and when Thomas turned to look the smaller boy smiled happily at him before glancing at the door warily. “I hate to cut this short guys but I hear people coming. We have to get out of here.”

Finally the alarm swarmed to the front of their minds and Newt and Minho started helping Thomas up. They both clutched him tighter when his bare feet slid on the still wet floor.

Newt wrapped an arm around Thomas’ waist and held his gun out to Aris with one hand. “Here, keep watch and shoot any guards you see.”

Aris quickly took the thing. He pushed the door open again, heading out into the hall first with Newt and Thomas behind him and Minho watching their backs. The halls were pure chaos. There were some guards on the ground and some things in the labs around them on fire. Newt reached for his hip and pulled off his radio. 

“Alby, what’s going on with you guys?”

The radio crackled before Alby yelled back. “We lost the girl and are trying to distract most of the guards! Me and Gally are meeting up with Brenda and Jorge for plan B, just get somewhere safe!”

“Well, shit,” Minho muttered. 

Gally’s voice suddenly came on. “We haven’t seen Janson around anywhere, so keep an eye out there too.”

Aris and Thomas looked at each other. “We should get moving now,” the former said in a tight voice, already moving forward.

As it turned out, Gally’s warning proved needed, the four of them had just come around another corner and none other than Janson was standing at the end of the hall, three guards flanking him.

“Run!” Minho shouted. 

He, Newt and Thomas ducked right while Aris ducked left and a rain of gun shots sounded. 

“Looks like they’re not bloody using tasers anymore!” Newt shouted before he glanced back. “Aris, find the others!” 

Minho just had enough time to look back and see Aris nod and duck out of sight before they were all running for their lives. Their progress was a lot slower, given Thomas was still pretty out of it, his breaths wheezy as he clung to Newt.

A sudden bang let them know that plan B was now starting.

Plan B had been designed by Jorge and Brenda, and to no one's surprise it involved explosives. The floor shook beneath them and they struggled to keep their feet underneath them while still putting space between them and Janson.

“Thomas!” Jansons voice called out. “Must you delay the inevitable?”

They were ducking through another hall, this one small and reaching across two other halls, and Minho jerked his head towards one of the rooms. All but dragging Thomas, Newt and Minho moved towards the room and were relieved to see another open doorway leading to another hall across from them. A voice stopped them. 

“Tom?”

Thomas stumbled to a stop, eyes going wide as he looked at where Teresa was huddled against a wall. “Teresa,” he said slowly, staring at her with an expression Minho would rather not be there at all to be honest. 

“Tommy, we need to keep going,” Newt muttered, already trying to get the boy moving.

“Was it worth it?” Teresa blurted out, her voice tight and angry as she stood straighter and kept her eyes on Thomas. 

“Absolutely,” Thomas replied without hesitation. “Was it worth it for you? Staying here?”

Teresa swallowed, her hands clenched at her side. “I can still find a cure.”

This girl really didn’t give up, Minho thought. After everything, in the middle of what was likely to be WCKD’s second and final fall, and she still felt she was in the right, that she would achieve what she set out to do.

“That’s not what I asked,” Thomas said softly.

What Teresa might have replied would forever be a mystery as another boom sounded and the floor gave way beneath the four of them. In a rain of plaster and wood Minho found himself now on the first floor and he instinctively reached out to grab Newt or Thomas.

He came up empty handed and a sudden rain of bullets had him ducking out of eyeline behind some desks and walls. Minho could vaguely hear the sound of Janson’s voice but couldn’t make out the words as he moved about. Up, down, left and right were foreign concepts at that moment, Minho only trying to find his boys and a safe spot. He ran off in the opposite direction of the chaos and ducked around a corner, slamming headlong into—

“Newt!” Minho let out a sigh of relief before he realised the boy was alone. “Where’s Thomas?”

Newt shook his head. “I lost him in that madness, come on we gotta find him.”

The two took off without another word and Minho listened as Newt called over the radio what their current situation was. Minho was happy to hear Aris was with the others but that left the two of them and Thomas still.

They passed a lot of bodies as they went, WCKD guards and scientists for the most part, and eventually they came up to a portion of the WCKD building that was completely gone, opening up directly to the outside world. There they found another body lying just outside the open portion of the building; this one one they recognized.

“Bloody hell,” Newt whispered as they stepped over broken glass and bullets.

A far cry from the girl they just saw a few minutes ago, Teresa lay motionless on the ground, her eyes still open but lifeless and unseeing. There was blood staining the front of her shirt and her hands were curled loosely at her sides. Beside her body, heading off further into the city, were bloodied footprints— bare footprints.

“Thomas is that way,” Minho muttered, nudging Newt from his blank stare at the girl. He picked up a gun from a nearby WCKD soldier, having lost his own in the fall, and checked its round and found bullets instead of tasers inside.

Shaking his head, Newt glanced at Minho before nodding for him to go first. 

The true damage to WCKD’s building was better seen from outside, the flames licking the top floors and the black smoke steadily rising into the night sky. Minho and Newt didn’t have to walk long while following the footprints. They came along the edge of the building and eventually wound up at WCKD’s front doors.

Thomas was there, in the middle of a heavy fist fight with Janson, and the older man landed a swing on the boy’s jaw, sending him sprawling on the ground. Janson apparently had enough of the fighting, ready to finish things once and for all, as he reached for a gun on his hip.

Minho had his own gun raised and he fired off a shot before the man’s hand even touched the thing. The gunshot was loud and banging and what followed was an unfortunately familiar screech.

“Cranks?” Newt questioned in disbelief, something Minho agreed with.

What were Cranks doing in the city?

Either way, they didn’t stick around to find out, both of them rushing to help Thomas up off the ground and hauling him in the opposite direction of the Crank noises.  Newt already had his radio at his mouth as they helped a limping Thomas move. “We got Thomas, fall back!”

A sudden scream, this one distinctly male and human, rang out and Minho glanced back over his shoulder just as they ducked behind a building and spotted two Cranks clawing at an injured Janson. 

Now maybe WCKD would stay gone.

Finding the tunnel under the city was an easy enough task, there being more than just the one, and Minho finally dropped his gun and rushed down. Thomas came next, Minho holding out a hand to keep him steady as Newt followed behind. When Thomas let out an almost silent hiss as his feet touched the ground, swaying slightly, Minho spun around. 

“Jump on.”

Laughing slightly, Thomas said. “I’m not climbing on your back, Minho.” His laugh was by far the best thing Minho heard lately, the sight of Newt’s happy smile only adding to the experience. 

“Hop on,” he ordered, his voice serious despite his smile. “Your feet are all cut up, who knows what kind of infection you can get down here.”

Thomas relented, but that didn’t stop him from grumbling as he hopped on Minho’s back. “Since when are you a voice of reason?”

“Since your dumbass got kidnapped.”

Newt swatted Minho’s arm but he only grinned back at him and he could feel Thomas' own smile from where his face was pressed against the side of his neck.

The walk back to the others wasn’t a long one but it wasn’t a quick one either. Considering they were a bit slowed down from their own delays, and Thomas couldn’t walk on his own, it was no surprise that the others were waiting for them in Lawrence’s hideout. Newt went up first and he waited to help Thomas climb out. 

Thomas barely had time to look around before he was wrapped up in a tight hug by Brenda, the girl clinging to him in obvious relief. Just as quick as she hugged him she pulled back to punch his arm.

“Do that again and I’ll kick your ass.” She said, though the waver in her voice ruined any intimidation she might have garnered with her words.

Jorge was up next, seizing Thomas’s face and pressing a hearty kiss to his forehead. “It’s good to see you again, mijo.”

Thomas had a happy smile on his face, surprise lingering at the edges of it at the sight of all those who came to save him. The latter emotion left a burning feeling in Minho’s heart but he didn’t let himself linger on it, wanting to enjoy the cheerful atmosphere.

“Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting a kid,” Lawrence suddenly commented from the side with a raised brow.

With a look over at him, Thomas frowned in confusion. 

Lawrence stepped forward and held out a hand. “Name’s Lawrence.”

Understanding alit Thomas’s face. “You’re the leader of the other army that helped the Right Arm,” he said as he shook the man’s hand.

“Yup, what’s left of them now?” Lawrence asked, jutting his chin in the direction of the city.

“I’d say they’re pretty dead and gone now…”

“Janson?”

Minho was the one to answer that. “Shot and then finished off by some Cranks.”

Lawrence’s face turned viciously delighted at that and he glanced over at Gally and gave him a nod.

Newt saw the silent hint and said. “Let’s get going, I want Jeff or Clint to check out Thomas’ feet.” The others quickly shuffled out and Thomas refused to hop on Minho’s back again, already heading out to the door, now shivering from the cold seeping into his wet clothes. With his luck he’d catch a cold next. 

So, just three days after WCKD took him from them, they got Thomas back, ready to resume their search for a better life. And anyone who tried to stop them would be getting their ass kicked by Minho.

By the time they made it to the vehicles Thomas was dead weight on his feet, though he still stubbornly refused to let Minho carry him again. Newt had urged him into the back seat of their jeep while Minho hopped in front, quick to start the vehicle and drive off. The sky above them was steadily brightening, the stars starting to disappear and the sun likely to come out within the hour. It gave Newt an oddly optimistic feeling about life, like they were finally going to be able to live out of WCKD’s terrible shadow.

Everyone had understood that they’d have to wait to welcome Thomas back until they got to the farm, though they had been visibly happy to see him.

While Thomas looked ready to crash then and there, sprawled out in the back of the jeep, Newt forced him into some warm— and more importantly dry— clothes and gave his feet a quick look. The bottoms of them were bloody and he could see some glass and rocks in certain places and it had Newt scowling, wishing Thomas wasn’t so stubborn about Minho helping him. Sometime while Newt tried to get the more easily accessible pieces out of Thomas’s feet the boy fell asleep, exhaustion finally winning the battle against his sheer determination to stay awake.

Newt and Minho didn’t protest, both of them more than happy to just be in the same space as Thomas again.

When they made the plan for the rescue mission it was always in the works that they’d head to the farm next, the closest place they knew that wasn’t crowded with people. It was only a couple hours from the Last City and Thomas spent the entire drive asleep. Newt wasn’t surprised to see everyone else had beat them there, Minho driving slower than he normally would in an attempt not to wake Thomas; though Newt was of the opinion that an earthquake wouldn’t wake the boy now. 

Newt didn’t bother trying to rouse him once they parked, instead grabbing their things and starting to haul them to the barn. When he went inside he was relieved and grateful to see that the others saved the more private sleeping spot for them, Sonya grabbing one of the bags from Newt when he came in and all but skipping over to the area.

“I don’t know if Thomas will be up for conversation just yet,” he murmured to his sister as he put the bags down.

Sonya smiled softly. “That’s more than fine, we get that he’ll probably want to just sleep for a good while. There’s no rush.” Newt smiled fondly at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a quick hug.

When he got back outside Thomas was sitting at the edge of the back seat and staring at Minho with a long-suffering expression. Minho, in contrast, had a bright smile on his face. The sight had Newt chuckling slightly. 

“Come on, Thomas,” Minho was saying cajolingly. “Just a quick trip inside, Jeff or Clint will look at your feet, then you can sleep for the next twenty-four hours if you want.”

Thomas gave a soft huff of amusement at that. “Pretty sure some people are gonna want answers…” he pointed out slowly.

Newt reached the pair then. “They get you need some rest, Tommy.” He told the boy straight out. “They can wait a few more hours to get some answers, now let Minho carry you in.”

With a narrow eyed stare and a roll of his eyes, Thomas finally relented, gesturing for Minho to come closer with one hand. It was a quick affair for the boy to climb on Minho’s back, arms circling around his shoulders and chin resting by his neck.

“Just think,” Minho said as he started to walk, Newt shutting the door behind them. “In a few months time you’ll probably wish I’d carry you like this and I’ll be the one saying no.”

Laughing, Thomas didn’t even reply to that statement which was evidence enough of his agreement.

The sleeping area they were in wasn’t far off from the door, which Thomas appeared relieved about. Minho dropped him near the bed, the younger boy landing on his tiptoes so he didn’t put as much pressure on the bottoms of his feet, and Newt looked around the room and made a beckoning gesture at Clint.

Thomas wasted no time in laying out on the bed, groaning as his head hit the pillow and he stretched his arms and legs. Minho threw a blanket over his middle while Newt sat near his feet when Clint arrived, watching the boy carefully. Thomas didn’t seem all that aware of Clint’s medical checkup, letting the boy pick out the small pieces stuck in his soles without even opening his eyes.

Clint shot Newt a smile. “His feet aren’t too bad, though he should take it easy on walking for the next few days.” His eyes darted to Thomas, who was lying still, while Minho tucked himself beside him with an arm behind his head. “It’s good to have you back, Thomas. Get some rest.”

“Thanks, Clint,” Thomas murmured quietly with his eyes still shut.

There really wasn’t much else to do after that beyond Newt crawling up the bed to claim to spot on Thomas’s left. Thomas was already curled towards Minho and the lack of even the slightest movements told Newt he was almost out again. More than happy for that to happen, Newt curled around his back, wrapping an arm around his waist and feeling Minho’s hand slide behind his back too.

The last few days Newt could barely remember sleeping, the worry and fear leaving a sick feeling in his stomach that wouldn’t let him truly rest. He knew Minho was in the same boat, the boy almost obsessive over making plans to get Thomas back and unable to even sit for a long period of time besides the drive to the Last City. But they finally had Thomas back; everything was now out in the open and they could finally get things on track and just be happy together. Almost as if they were one the same wavelength, Newt and Minho both spoke up simultaneously. 

“Love you.”

Thomas’s returning sentiment was more of a slurred murmur than actual words but it was enough to have both of them smiling and letting sleep claim them for the night.

The next morning, or evening to be more accurate considering they went to sleep just after sunrise, Newt and Minho woke up well before Thomas. Neither one of them made a move to get out of bed; instead they laid there with the younger boy and spoke lowly to one another over his head about nothing in particular. 

Sonya had brought them some food about an hour ago that Frypan made and Thomas’ portion was ready whenever he was. 

When Thomas finally did wake up it was with a roll onto his back and a quiet round of coughing that still sounded too wet for Newt’s liking. He watched as Thomas lifted his hands to rub his face tiredly, letting them drop back down with a sigh. Without a word, Minho held out a familiar coin between two fingers, and they watched as Thomas slowly took it from him, spinning it between his hands carefully. 

Eyes flickering to the edges of Thomas’ scars on his wrists, Newt murmured. “That’s why you stopped resenting that she stopped you… You turned on WCKD, helped stop them once and for all, and if you had succeeded then that probably would have never happened…”

Sighing once more, Thomas curled the coin into his fist. “Yeah. I always found that really ironic— if Ava had just let me bleed out then she’d probably be alive today.”

It was rather ironic. From what Newt had heard from Aris and Rachel, and what he picked up here and there from what wasn’t said, he imagined Ava Paige thought she had an unbreakable hold on Thomas. The kind of hold she— and WCKD— clearly had on Teresa. A reasonable thing to assume considering she was likely the most consistent thing in Thomas’s life back then. 

“You know there’s not a single person here who blames you for what WCKD’s done, right, baby?”

Newt glanced over at Minho when he spoke, the boy's voice uncharacteristically serious and eyes locked on Thomas. When Thomas started to shake his head and opened his mouth, likely to refute Minho's words, Newt cut him off—

“They don’t, Thomas.” He said firmly, his hand coming up to curl his fingers around Thomas’s wrist. “You were a kid, one WCKD manipulated just like the rest of us.” It was clear that Thomas still wanted to disagree but he didn’t say anything, knowing Newt and Minho well enough by now to know arguing would get him nowhere. 

“There any food?” 

Pushing himself upright, Newt reached over to grab the can of food Sonya had brought them, Thomas and Minho sitting up beside him at the same time. He handed it over to the younger boy who didn’t hesitate to start eating, groaning quietly after his first bite.

Swallowing back his words, Newt silently wondered if Thomas had been fed at all since he was taken.

Thomas finished his meal with record speed and it seemed his exhaustion still knew no bounds as when he was finishing off the last few bites his movements got more and more sluggish. Newt snagged the can from his hand before he could drop it and Thomas didn’t offer anymore words as he laid back down, falling back asleep just as quick as he had earlier that morning.

Newt sat upright, still holding onto Thomas’s can of mostly finished food, and shared a glance with Minho. The other boy nodded silently and Newt pushed himself off of their bed and headed out to the main area.

He wasn’t surprised that a few people were still asleep, likely the ones who stayed up later to get things all settled or make sure the farm was secure. His sister was one of the ones up and she was playing a game of cards with Harriet, Brenda and Rachel. Frypan was doing his customary stock of his food inventory, limited as it could be most of the time, and Winston was sitting on a chair near him happily chatting away. Alby was off in some corner with Jorge, the two likely going over some future plans and figuring out what lead they were going to follow next to find the Right Arm.

When Newt got closer to where the girls were all sitting Sonya glanced up and smiled brightly. “Good morning!” She said cheerfully.

With a snort, Newt sat in the empty chair next to her, tossing Thomas’ empty can onto the other table. “You said that when you brought me food,” he reminded her. He only got a shrug in reply before Sonya’s focus went back to her cards when it got to her turn.

“Thomas wake up at all?” Brenda asked him quietly. Her dark hair tucked behind her ear as she was watched him with a weighted stare.

Newt nodded in reply to her question. “Yeah, he’s out again though, stayed up just long enough to eat his food.”

“Well at least there’s that.”

Eyes darting to the back of the room, Newt watched Alby and Jorge point to different areas of a map that they had laid out between them. They each took turns saying something but the pair was too far for Newt to hear anything.

“How long do you think we’ll stay here?”

Newt dragged his eyes to Rachel when she spoke and pursed his lips as he thought it over. “Guess it depends on our plans next and how long Thomas can last here.”

Harriet frowned as she tossed a card towards the messy pile in the middle of the table. “What do you mean?”

“Thomas is a bit anxious about staying put for long periods of times,” Newt told her, drumming his fingers along the edge of his chair as he glanced around the room absently. “We were hoping to stretch out our visits to places to get him more used to not being constantly on the move.”

“So he’ll come to the Safe Haven,” Sonya said astutely, watching Newt with a careful look and he nodded silently.

He had been just as anxious as he was eager about finding the Right Arm since they first told Thomas their plan and Newt realised just how much the boy couldn’t stand staying in one place. Obviously he understood now why he was so against it. Thomas had to spend a good ten years of his life trapped in one place; it made sense that he’d hate the idea of doing it again. Add being on the run for the years immediately following that and he likely had it ingrained in his head that staying in one place for too long was an absolute No . Jorge’s idea was a good one though, one that made Newt a lot more hopeful about Thomas eventually coming to the Safe Haven with them.

If it did exist; Thomas never seemed to land on a specific thought on it, only mentioning Brenda and Jorges opinions, and he’d know more than anyone. Newt, while very hopeful about this supposed paradise that may be happening, was also very used to disappointment and wasn’t going to let himself throw all of his hope into this plan. 

“Harriet, Sonya, you guys packed some of the stuff from the Outer City, right?”

Everyone at the table glanced over at Frypan when he spoke, and Newt could tell— even if the boy hadn’t asked his question— that the ticking of his fingers meant Frypan was coming up short with something. 

Harriet paused to think it over but Sonya quickly said. “Yes! It’s still in our jeep, I’ll grab it.” She wacked Harriet on the arm and Newt smiled as the girl stood up dutifully and followed his sister out of the barn to help her.

Frypan’s attention was already back on his inventory and Newt spotted Winston over by Alby and Jorge along with a tired looking Gally. The sound of Gally’s voice was a lot clearer to Newt than the others in that little group, no surprise considering Gally’s big mouth, but he still couldn’t make out any of the words.

He glanced over at Brenda and Rachel, the former having gathered the cards and now starting to shuffle them while the latter was staring at the ceiling blankly. “You were with Thomas, when he got bad,” Newt murmured quietly, watching her with an analytical look. 

Rachel’s eyes flickered to him and Brenda faltered in her shuffling before she resumed like he hadn’t said anything. The former nodded her head slowly as his question sunk in and she told them. “I was the one who found him.”

His brows lifted faintly and he copied her previous nod slowly, tongue running along the edge of his teeth.

“It was luck that I found him,” she told them both, likely well aware that they both knew about what Thomas had done. “I was supposed to be in the lab with Aris but I went back to our rooms because I forgot one of my bracelets.” She huffed a faint laugh, fingers toying at the edge of one of the many bracelets she had on her wrist, and muttered. “I always wore it when we finished up a project; Aris used to say it was my ‘good luck charm’. Thomas must have snuck a scalpel out of the lab… I found him seconds after he did it. I called Dr. Paige straight away, screamed for her actually, and she came and immediately started to fix him up.”

Newt remembered what Thomas said about the woman who fixed him up, how she didn’t care if he was alive and that it was something she felt she had to do rather than cared to do. It infuriated Newt when he first heard it and he couldn’t wrap his mind around how that could be possible. If this woman didn’t care then why save him? Now he knew. She cared about the immunity in his blood but not about Thomas himself.

“She considered him selfish for doing it,” Newt said tightly, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. 

Rachel nodded stiffly. “She said if he wanted to bleed out the least he could do is do it in a lab where his blood would be put to good use. Where it would actually be of some worth.”

This was a woman who practically raised Thomas. Newt thought he really knew the lengths and vileness that WCKD could sink to but time and time again he was proven wrong. If Minho were out here listening to this Newt knew he’d be swearing up a storm.

“What a bitch.”

Newt glanced over at Brenda when she spoke, the girl's face furious, and it was the memory of Minho saying the exact same thing to Thomas so long ago that had him half wanting to smile.

With a snort, Rachel tilted her head in agreement to Brenda’s comment. She looked over at Newt and her expression was a mixture of emotions. “The thing I remember most about that day was the look on Thomas’s face when I called Dr. Paige.” She shook her head and licked her lips anxiously, eyes darting to where Thomas and Minho were still curled up in bed, hidden as it was from view. “He looked at me like I had just stolen something from him that he spent so long trying to get and was so close to having.”

Neither Newt nor Brenda could say anything further as, at that moment, Sonya and Harriet came back in, each with a box in their hands. Newt pushed himself up from the table, eyeing Alby’s group for a moment before deciding against joining them and turning to head back to his sleeping quarters.

Minho was still up when he got there, though his eyes were mostly shut as his arms were wrapped around a still sleeping Thomas. Crawling into the open space on the left, Newt murmured. “Alby and the others are making some plans for what’s next.” Yawning widely, Minho nodded and started detangling himself from Thomas. 

Despite mostly sleeping a good while for the day, Newt was still pretty exhausted. He knew Minho was too but the boy would go hear what Alby was planning for what’s next— Newt was just too tired to bother with that at the moment. So when Thomas rolled around towards him, face burrowing into Newt’s chest and arm curling around his back, he didn’t hesitate to wrap around the younger boy like Minho just was and just sleep until morning.

The next time Newt woke up it was with a start, his heart pounding in his chest and adrenaline flooding his veins. 

Why did he wake up like this? Because Thomas had jerked upright with a heaving breath, hand pressed to his chest and muscles tensed as if he were seconds from taking off.

Minho apparently was woken up too— Newt would have been surprised if he managed to sleep through that— and he pressed a hand to Thomas' back.

“It was just a dream, baby.”

Thomas rubbed his hands across his face and nodded his head tiredly. Newt and Minho gave him a few minutes, not pushing him to talk or do anything, and then he started moving to the edge of the bed.

Newt watched him carefully. “Where you going, Tommy?”

“Outside,” Thomas answered as dug around, presumably for shoes.

Neither Newt nor Minho protested, instead silently putting on their own shoes and Newt passed Thomas the extra pair of shoes that Ben had on him and gave to them yesterday— he was the only one with the same sized feet as Thomas. Thomas really shouldn't be on his feet, but if he wanted to be outside after being held captive by WCKD for days then Newt definitely wouldn’t try to force him not to. With steps that must’ve been hurting, but the boy determinedly not showing any reaction, Thomas was quick to move towards the door and get outside.

It was still mostly dark out but Newt could tell that the sun would be rising any minute now, the sky along the edge of the horizon lightening subtly. Thomas didn’t go far once he got outside, stopping a few paces from the barn and letting out a heavy sigh as he stared out at the desert that surrounded them. A brush against his fingers had Newt curling his hand towards Minho’s, clutching his hand in return as they waited for Thomas to speak. When he did, he didn’t turn around to face them, instead continuing to stare out to where the sun would soon be rising.

“I loved her, you know…”

The words confused him for a split second but Newt quickly caught on to who he was talking about.

Teresa.

He smothered the ugly feeling in his chest at what Thomas said; he deserved to talk about this, to talk about the girl even if Newt and Minho didn’t know or even care about her.

“She was so stubborn and it made her unbelievably infuriating half the time but for a long time she was the most important person in my life.” Thomas finally turned to look at them, his expression twisted and his face pale, the shadows under his eyes darker than Newt had ever seen them. “I made my peace with the fact that we wouldn’t be in each other’s lives a long time ago… but it was comforting to know that she was at least out there somewhere…”

“You were with her when she died,” Newt rightfully assumed.

With a frown, Thomas nodded. “Yeah. She saved my life. Those bullets were coming for me and she just—” He cut off his words, glancing away from them both.

Teresa was not a girl Newt wanted to know in any sense. Mostly because of his own jealousy from way back when they first met Aris and Rachel. When he learnt the name of the girl who Thomas thought he maybe could have had a future with. Then he learnt more about her and he still wasn’t interested in her. The girl who allied herself with the company that wanted to torture and kill kids. The girl who sided with that company so much that even the three kids she was closest to knew she couldn't be trusted with their doubts.

In another life maybe she and Thomas did wind up together. A life where Thomas wasn’t so good or she wasn’t so stubborn about her beliefs.

Newt would never be okay or even accepting of the choices Teresa had made and continued to make even when so much evidence pointed her away from those choices; but he was grateful that she cared enough about Thomas to save him. That in her last breath she tried to help him in the only way she could at the time.

“I’m sorry you lost her, Tommy,” Newt said honestly. The smile he got in turn was a rather empty one. 

Pushing a hand through his hair, Thomas stepped closer to them, the sun now peaking over the horizon behind him and painting the sky a deep pink. He held out both hands when he was close enough and Newt didn’t hesitate to reach out with his free hand, Minho doing the same on his left.

“So, did you guys miss me?” Thomas asked, his voice lingering with the faint sound of humor.

Minho smiled at him. “Every damn second, baby,” he promised with a wink.

“Even after everything you learnt?”

Newt squeezed his hand tighter around Thomas’. “What’d I tell you, Tommy? We love you. Nothing you say or do is gonna change that.” He got nothing but a tug in response, Thomas pulling them closer as he wrapped an arm around each of them. Newt and Minho were quick to return the gesture, all but enveloping Thomas between them as they buried their faces in the spaces between his neck and shoulder. “New rule,” Newt muttered quietly after a beat. “We bloody talk things out. No more hiding things or talking around issues.”

“I am in complete agreement with that,” Minho answered at once. “Let’s be real, half our problems came from us not being able to talk for shit.”

Thomas laughed at that but Newt could feel his nod of agreement to what they were saying. When Thomas finally made to move out of their little huddle they let him go reluctantly. His eyes darted over to the sunrise before going back to the barn. “Think Fry’s up yet?”

“If he’s not, I’ll make you something,” Minho said, curling an arm over Thomas’s shoulder and starting to lead him back inside. “I don’t know if you know this but I’m actually the best cook out of our group. Just don’t wanna hurt poor Fry’s feelings.”

Newt and Thomas snorted and the latter commented. “Why the hell am I doing most of the cooking on the road then?”

“Same reason.” Minho replied blithely and Newt rolled his eyes fondly at the boy’s haughtiness. Anyone who knew Minho knew the boy avoided cooking like the plague the vast majority of the time. The times he did cook led to the most straightforward of meals, no muss no fuss.

As luck would have it Frypan was already up and starting to make something when they led Thomas to the tables. Newt was quick to make him sit, already a bit worried about him being on his feet for too long, while Minho went to see what Frypan was making.

“Need any help? Tips?” He asked self-importantly much to Frypan’s visible confusion but Thomas barked out a laugh at the spectacle which Newt knew was Minho’s intention.

There were a few people up, though not everyone was close by. Brenda was on the other side of the barn standing next to Jorge waving her arms around tiredly as she spoke to him about something, the older man listening on with an amused smile on his face. Harriet had her guns out and appeared to be making sure they were still in good condition while Sonya sat next to the girl, braiding her own hair as she watched her girlfriend. Jeff and Clint were at the other table, the latter moving over towards Thomas when he spotted him and silently asking to check out his feet. 

While the boy removed his shoes Newt eyed the rest of the room, some people still curled up asleep. Alby was walking around the barn and Newt could see his lips moving silently as he muttered something to himself when he passed each person.

It was something he had done since they left WCKD. Alby would always spend the morning checking over everyone and reminding himself of the important facts that he needed to know for each of them. Whether they had been injured recently, where they would be going next, what their best skills were and what they needed backup for.

Life of a leader, Newt supposed.

The older boy came over to the table once he made his rounds and he shot Thomas a small nod. “Good to see you again, Thomas,” he said as he sat down. When Clint gave an approving nod at the state of Thomas’s feet and went back to his own seat, Newt finally sat down in the chair next to Thomas’s.

“It’s good to be back,” Thomas replied to Alby with a faint smile, shoving his foot back into his shoe. 

“How you feeling?” Alby asked, eyes scanning Thomas with a critical eye.

The action had Newt wanting to smile— Alby had a rather stern and grouchy appearance about him and he could seem abrasive at times but deep down he was a real mother hen. 

Thomas licked his lips distractedly as he glanced back at where Minho was still helping Frypan ready up some food. “I’m fine,” he said, eyes darting over to where Brenda was now skipping over to the table. The girl threw herself into the chair by Thomas and it wasn’t long before Harriet and Sonya joined. Newt imagined the rest of the chairs would be filled out soon enough as the smell of whatever Frypan was making filled the barn.

“Couldn’t have been an easy few days,” Harriet tossed out as she leaned back in her seat. “Most of us know what assholes WCKD can be.”

Minho came over to the table with two cans of food then, passing one off to Newt before holding the other out to Thomas and heading back— to get his own share presumably.

Thomas had grabbed his food absently as he offered Harriet a one shoulder shrug. “Nothing I haven’t been through a hundred times before,” he offered in an off-handed voice, more focused on his food now as he dug in with gusto. 

Hand tightening around the can in his hand, Newt felt his jaw clench at how casual Thomas seemed to be about what he had been through. His words of it being nothing he hadn’t been through before immediately had Newt thinking of the Swipe thing.

They had done that to him before?

As more people filled the tables Newt caught his question behind his teeth, not wanting to air such a delicate topic so openly.

Breakfast was a mostly silent affair, people more concerned with eating than they were with conversation. Newt had to commend them all for not bombarding Thomas with questions— usually they were a bloody nosey bunch. Everyone seemed more occupied with just making idle conversation with those closest to them for the time being. It couldn’t last forever though and when it came time for someone to ask something Newt wasn’t too surprised that it was his sister who did.

“What made you decide you find the Right Arm?”

Rachel and Aris had told them Thomas was always wary about WCKD, told them what they thought the last straw had been, but Newt couldn't say he wasn’t curious about what Thomas' actual answer would be.

Thomas glanced over at Sonya when she spoke, having been staring vacantly at the table in front of him. He licked his lips and appeared to be weighing her question heavily. “I’ve always been certain about the kind of people WCKD were. It was just an easier thing to accept when it was only me who had to deal with it.”

Newt clenched his jaw in order to stop the sharp retort that wanted to escape him at Thomas’ easy dismissal of his own well-being. He couldn’t exactly scold him for something long done with now.

“The Maze Trials and gathering of other Immunes were when I knew I had to do something though,” Thomas said quietly, glancing over at Aris and Rachel during the first part of that statement.

Aris nodded and said. “We told them about the Maze Trials.”

It was Alby who spoke up next as he asked. “Why didn’t you let on about knowing the Right Arm? You always made it seem like you didn’t know much about them.”

Which was more than true. Ever since Newt and Minho first told Thomas about the Right Arm he only ever commented the basics of information; that being the fact that they took down WCKD and saved the Immunes. Even when it came to the Safe Haven, Newt had been operating under the assumption that Thomas was siding with Brenda over its supposed existence— or lack thereof. 

“I don’t know much about them,” Thomas countered first off as he looked over at Alby but he slouched back in his seat immediately after. “When I first got in touch with Mary I told her outright that I didn’t want any details about them. I said I’d give them whatever they needed but I wanted to remain completely in the dark with them…” Thomas’ stare went distant and Newt knew he was recalling the exact conversation he was telling them about. “I don’t want to believe I’d sell them out if I was found out but… well, I knew the lengths WCKD would go for answers; to get what they want.”

They would have tortured Thomas if they found him to be the spy in their company. The fact that he was a kid would mean nothing to them and WCKD would have spared no expense in trying to use him to find the Right Arm; arguably their only true enemy left standing. 

“How did you find them?”

“Who’s Mary?”

The questions were overlapping by Alby and Gally and it made Thomas smile a bit. “I first found out about the Right Arm’s existence when I was around ten; I heard Janson talking about them. I learnt about Mary a bit through other scientists whispering about her to each other and later from Ava herself. She used to work at WCKD but left when the company went bad and I knew it made Ava nervous that she was out there…”

Thomas shook his head and sat up more and clasped his hands on the tabletop. “I was never allowed to leave WCKD but after growing up there I was allotted a certain amount of trust— from Ava most importantly. So I was able to do some things.” He started to wave his hand about in the way Thomas did when he really got into talking and it was a habit that Newt was relieved to see again. “I heard Janson talking one time that the Right Arm was stealing technical gear— radios and comms— off the fallen WCKD soldiers and when I knew I wanted to get in touch with them I added something to one of the soldiers radios and just waited until I heard he didn’t make it back to use it…”

“You didn’t find them. You found a way to make them find you,” Jorge realized quietly with a silent nod of approval.

Given Thomas’ situation it was probably his only option; just look at them, after over a year of looking they still couldn’t find the Right Arm. Thomas had been a lot more limited, confined as he was to the WCKD building, the very people the Right Arm was hiding from, his odds of finding the group at all had been near nonexistent. 

“I think they probably wouldn't have trusted me much at all but the fact that I asked for Mary directly— a name most knew not to say around Ava— and told them I didn’t want to hear anything about what they were doing helped out,” Thomas revealed and he stifled a yawn despite waking not long ago. “Mary, near the end, tried a lot to make me leave my position, she said it would only get more dangerous as time went on. That WCKD would have a list of possible suspects and it wouldn’t be long before they shortened it to just my name…” He shook his head and swallowed briefly. “I couldn't leave though. I spent my entire life trapped there so I couldn't just leave knowing other kids would possibly have that same fate. So I stayed; even after Aris and Rachel left; after the building started getting bombed; after it caught fire. I stayed right until the floors fell out from underneath me.”

“You planned to die that night,” Newt said quietly. He knew it was the kind of conversation that should wait until it was just him, Thomas and Minho but the words spilled out of his mouth before he could think better of it. 

Thomas looked over at him. “I just… always felt that I needed to save everyone. To redeem myself. I had to see it through to the end.”

“Redeem yourself?” Minho repeated sitting forward at once with a stubborn look. “Thomas you have nothing you need to redeem. WCKD did those things. Not you.”

“I was WCKD. I was raised by WCKD. Everything about me came from them.”

Now Jorge approached the table while shaking his head. “No, Thomas. Everything about you came in spite of them. You were a child that WCKD took advantage of just like many others; you don’t need to forfeit your life to make things right. It’s not your wrong to make right.”

And that was Thomas’ main problem. He seemed to think the weight of WCKD’s doings rested solely on his shoulders but they didn’t. He never had any more say in what was going on around him than any one of them did. Thomas had such a big heart but WCKD spent so long taking advantage of his trust and making him feel like he was just as much a part of their company as any of the adults there which was just the farthest thing from the truth. 

“When Mary was trying to get you to leave WCKD did she ever give you a meet up spot?” Alby asked quietly as he saw Thomas wasn’t going to say anything to Jorge and Minho’s words. “A safe place to go?”

Shaking his head, Thomas told him. “I wouldn't ever let her get that far. The closest we got to talking about that was the Safe Haven and I knew that was far off back then.”

The words had Newt and a few others frowning and he asked. “Far off?”

“Yeah,” Thomas said with a small nod. “The Safe Haven is this piece of land far from here that was scouted out by a team Mary worked with. The entire original team was killed by WCKD years ago so only Mary knows where it is.” He glanced around at them all and sat back in his seat and blinked tiredly. “She said before they could go they wanted to find all the Immunes they could— the true future of humanity— as well as gather as many resources as they could. They also had to get their hands on a working cargo ship to help get everything there. All of this would take a lot of time.”

“It’s real then?” Brenda spoke up next; the one person who was arguably the most skeptical of the idea of the Safe Haven’s existence. “There’s actually some paradise out there for the Immunes?”

Thomas nodded slowly. “Yeah. Not just for Immunes; it’s for Immunes and the uninfected. They’ll probably be real thorough in checking over anyone joining them but so long as they don’t have symptoms of the Flare then they would be allowed to go. Most of the Right Arm is made up of people who aren’t Immune after all.”

This was the confirmation they have all been looking for. The guarantee that this supposed Safe Haven was real. Sure they’ve all been moving forward as if it was a real thing but all of them— being used to disappointments— have been working hard not to pin all their hopes and dreams on this newest plan. But now here was Thomas, someone who actually spoke with the Right Arm, who was told directly by them about the Safe Haven, telling them it was out there. Just waiting for people to show up and start a new and better life.

“... and yet you don't want to go,” Minho said slowly with barely concealed disbelief.

“That place wasn’t meant for me,” Thomas answered firmly in that irritating way of his where he was so sure he was right but so far off base. “Besides, even if it was, I still can’t stand staying in one place too long… I’ll go crazy.”

Yeah, they had their plan for handling that, not that they’d say that outright at this moment. 

Brenda leaned forward and sidestepped Thomas’ statement with ease.  “You don’t have any idea where they could be? Even some gut feeling? It’s not like we’re picky with our leads these days.” There were a few snorts at her comment but no protests. Lately they’ve just been traveling the Scorch from city to city on even the most unlikely of leads, desperate for some kind of direction to go in.

Thomas had a frown on his face and he rubbed a hand along his jaw. “Any idea I had I tried when I realized you were looking for them; I even gave Aris and Rachel a list of names to suggest after we met up with them,” he said, which had a few shoulders slumping. “I know Janson figured they’d hide somewhere in the mountains but that was years ago…”

“It’d be as good a place as any to hide,” Jorge said contemplatively, leaning back in his chair as he thought the idea over. “High ground to spot any threats coming and good coverage too.”

It was more than they had ever found in all their searches for answers. Most either didn’t put much weight in the Right Arm as a whole while others said that they had all died in that battle with WCKD. Newt couldn’t help but wonder if WCKD’s most recent fall would have the Right Arm circling once more; after all they were the top gunners for putting an end to WCKD and the company had rebuilt itself after that attack. It only made sense that they would keep an eye on them over the years and if they spoke to Lawrence they would know their involvement which would hopefully lead somewhere.

“Should we just start searching the mountains then?” Winston asked as he looked around the table at everyone.

Jorge made a disagreeing sound in the back of his throat. “That’s a lot of terrain to cover,” he said with a wave of the hand. “We don’t know how deep into them they are either which will make things harder.”

“It’s a start though,” Alby said with a nod to himself. “We should start up a few plans for it now.”

Newt didn’t plan to stick around longer for that as he noticed the increasingly tired movements Thomas was making. So as people began offering suggestions he shared a glance with Minho and the two of them stood, Newt urging Thomas up with one hand. No one protested as the three of them left and it was a true testament to Thomas’ exhaustion that he didn’t protest their actions. As soon as they were back at their bed Thomas sprawled across it and was out between one breath and the next. 

After the night Thomas laid all his cards on the table things picked up to mostly the same as they had before, just with a lot more insight and understanding this time around. 

Thomas’ cagey behaviour from before was gone and Minho was glad they were finally done with the secrets all together. Their relationship was stronger than ever and Thomas was a lot more vocal about his opinions and thoughts; his past connections to WCKD leaving him unwilling to speak up in the past. Minho and Newt were both relieved to have Thomas being his normal self— kisses on the cheeks and all— and they were ready to make sure the boy knew that all the recent revelations weren’t going to change anything badly.

As discussed before they decided to start searching the mountains for any sign of the Right Arm. Despite the high stakes of the whole situation they were a lot more relaxed now that the glooming shadow of WCKD was gone; their group no longer worried about crossing paths with the foul company. It was slow going as they had all decided against splitting up into groups since they figured the Right Arm would have defences high and they didn’t want to risk leaving anyone undermanned. 

They were sticking to the plan of getting Thomas used to staying places too which was a slow yielding goal. In the four months since they started their newest mission of searching the mountains the longest they got him to stay put was thirteen days; which, while double what Minho and Newt managed before, was still not even close to a desirable time. 

A while back Alby suggested they take a break in June, in just a few days time, for as long as needed and go stay back at the farm. The plan was to possibly stretch out the whole month, they’ve been gathering resources and it was a much easier task when they were so bunch together, and Frypan was confident they’d have enough to last them the whole month if Thomas could do it.

Slowly Thomas began to open up to them about his childhood; an action Minho and Newt readily returned. He shared some stories about what it was like living in WCKD and about meeting Aris, Rachel and Teresa. He spoke more in depth about what his life was like when he first entered the Scorch and how different he found the experience to be compared to living with WCKD.

“Ava was not kind or warm by any regards,” Thomas told him and Newt one early morning when they were driving up one of the mountain ranges. “But she was the closest thing I could find to it back then. I used to work hard to make her proud because things would be… easier, I suppose. Her pride was hard earned but it brought a certain level of comfort that WCKD just didn’t normally have.”

It pissed Minho off to no end to think of a small Thomas trying so hard to be loved but being taught he had to work to earn it. To think that what he did earn in the end was just so far from love that it was likely the boy had no clue what that feeling truly was until he met Aris and Rachel. He could still remember the pair's comment on Thomas being big on making friends as a child but not knowing anyone his own age until meeting them at the age of ten.

Thomas was sitting slouched in the passenger seat while Minho drove, hands twisted around the steering wheel tightly, and Newt was leaning between the seat between them, his chin resting on his crossed arms. Thomas seemed more focused on the view around them than his words but neither of them interrupted him.

“Meeting Aris, Rachel and Teresa kind of clued me into the fact that Ava’s ‘kindness’ wasn’t worth everything I was doing and living out in the Scorch and meeting all the people I’ve met cemented it.” He looked over at them and made a face. “I know what Ava had wasn’t kindness but back then it was all I could get.”

Minho wondered if Thomas hesitated when it came time for him to kill Ava Paige. If there was any part of him reluctant to do it. He could understand it, the woman was the most consistent thing the boy had in his life and at fourteen in the world they were in that had to have been a hard thing to sacrifice. Then again, between Aris and Rachel leaving, knowing he and Teresa would never agree on their methods of achieving their goals, and his suicidal idealization… maybe it wasn’t a difficult decision for Thomas. Maybe it was a way for him to get what he wanted without having to feel ‘selfish’ as some more cold-hearted people would say.

It wasn’t a question he would ask anytime soon. Thomas was just starting to open up about that side of things and Minho didn’t want to push him too much and risk him closing himself off again. 

“We’re here,” Newt said quietly, a solemn expression on his face as well and Minho slowed to a stop when the vehicles in front of him did so.

‘Here’ was another area in the mountains that could have realistically housed the Right Arm. They learned pretty quickly that not all areas of a mountain were hospitable or even favourable to stay in for a lot of its own dangers. They went through the mountains along the right side of the country first and then a smaller one down South on the left and were now on the last one. The area they were in already looked promising, mainly because they just arrived at a winding road covered with broken down cars that would keep vehicles from driving up. 

They each got out and glanced over at where Alby was frowning at the cars.

“We gonna walk it?” Ben asked as he glanced at Alby too.

Alby nodded. “Yeah, but keep your weapons ready.” 

Everyone moved swiftly after that, grabbing their guns and removing the spark plugs in the cars with practiced ease. The cars looked to have been here for years and there were a world of reasons for their presence. Abandoned in the chaos, ran out of gas, broken down in the heat, swarmed by Cranks; the list went on.

Despite their readiness it proved unneeded as they continued onward without any obstacles and eventually they found themselves in a cleared out area that was banked by some peaks of the mountain range and all that was there were a few scattered items that were of no use. Still they searched it all and with multiple frowns wondered the same thing.

“They were here, weren’t they?” Sonya asked the question they were all thinking.

Thomas was the first to nod. “Yeah, looks like it.”

There was no true way to tell when the Right Arm left this spot, it could have been a few days ago or it could have been years ago. Minho had a hard time believing they’d stay here long, especially if WCKD was circling the mountains for them. Odds are they had people further out and then when WCKD grew close they left elsewhere.

“Hey, Thomas,” Harriet called from a few feet away and everyone glanced over at her. When she saw the person she was actually speaking to looking at her, she gestured to a rock in front of her. “Looks like they left you a message.” It wasn’t just Thomas who moved towards her and as Minho jumped off a nearby ledge he crossed to see what Harriet was talking about.

It was a pretty simple carving into a large boulder; a drawing of two rectangles, one laying on its side and another standing tall, and there was a wonky circle around the horizontal one. Above that was just one word— a name— Thomas.

“What does it mean?” Frypan asked and his question had Minho, and the others, looking at Thomas. 

The boy had a frown on his face as he stared at it and after a few seconds he slowly said. “... I don’t know.”

Well.

That was a bit disappointing. 

“Let’s get going,” Alby decided then as he looked around once more. “I don’t see us finding anything else and I don’t want to have to maneuver back down the mountain in the dark.”

Neither did Minho. As everyone began to disperse he stepped forward to urge Thomas into moving, the boy still frowning at the drawing. It wasn’t as if it was anything too difficult to remember, actually it would be very easy to remember, so there was no point in standing here staring at it. 

“Meet up at the farm?” Newt asked, since their recon mission was ending sooner than expected. There was a round of affirming sounds as they all started to head back down the mountain after getting yet another disappointing find.

The farm was a favourite spot of quite a few of their friends and it was just cozy enough to almost feel like home if it weren’t for the fact that they had to constantly be on guard in case any looters or people just looking for trouble came along. It was the model place to have in these times but ever since first learning about the Safe Haven their group had gotten into the nasty habit of dreaming big. Not the worst of habits, Minho could admit, but with the disappointments they’ve been dealt in life it was almost asking for heartbreak. They curbed their dreams in the start but ever since Thomas confirmed the Safe Haven’s existence to them it was like they couldn’t stop talking about what life would be like when they got there.

Sonya didn’t hesitate to ask Thomas everything he knew about the place and he had told her whatever he could. It was on some island; there was nothing there now but that would change once the Right Arm arrived; things— plants and foods— actually grew there and the only sand was that on the beach. It was enough to get people talking and Minho found himself listening in amusement as some of his friends got overzealous about their expectations. 

It was around the tenth night staying at the farm that Thomas crawled in between Newt and Minho in their bed and murmured. “You guys have been making me stay places longer and longer.”

They knew it was only a matter of time before Thomas caught on to what they were doing and honestly they had no plans of denying it. Minho had been very clear in his stance about Thomas coming to the Safe Haven and Newt, even though he never said as much aloud, was in complete agreement. 

“You’re coming with us,” Minho replied with his eyes still shut, one arm behind his head as he laid on his back. “So you can get used to sticking in one spot for longer than a few days. If the itch bugs you that much at the Safe Haven then we can go explore the island the place is on every once in a while.”

He had thought it over readily since learning more about the Safe Haven from Thomas. Given the Right Arm had the place picked as the future of humanity he imagined it wasn’t a tiny spot of land. No doubt there would be some kind of scouting missions to explore the place when they arrived and if Thomas needed to be moving about then Minho would sign them up to help in that regard. If they didn’t have plans to do that— which he seriously doubted— then Minho would take the boy on adventures on his own.

“WCKD’s done, Tommy,” Newt reminded him quietly and Minho finally cracked an eye open to see Thomas laying on his stomach, resting on his forearms, and Newt rubbing his arm comfortingly. “You don’t need to keep running and if you give it some time you’ll find staying in one place is the easiest thing in the world if you’re surrounded by the right people.”

Thomas pursed his lips but didn’t offer any kind of disagreement and after all the conversations they had on the subject Minho took the win for what it was.

There wasn’t a snap change in Thomas after their little talk but he seemed more geared up to give sticking in place a try. The odd time he’d get a bit anxious but then Minho or Newt— or anyone who spotted him fiddling with that coin of his— would pull him into a game, conversation or task to keep his mind busy. It was not a herculean effort in the grand scheme of things but still Minho was appreciative of the fact that all of their friends were trying to make this work for Thomas.

It was the afternoon of the seventeenth day at the farm— a new record for Thomas— that they had a breakthrough. Or rather, Thomas had a breakthrough.

They were lounging around and everyone was doing their own things; some playing cards, other’s going over supplies, talking of plans for what to do next. Thomas in particular was sprawled out on the ground with Newt, head pillowed in his lap, passed out after Minho made him do an overly long workout with him. Newt was more focused on his conversation with Sonya and Minho, both of whom were trying to outdo each other with tales of things they’ve done, but when Thomas suddenly bolted upright with a sharp gasp Minho and Newt’s attention snapped to him at once.

Everyone else’s did too but they were quick to be subtle. This wasn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence since they got Thomas back from WCKD though it wasn’t nearly as frequent as when they first rescued him. Minho still thought of the nights where the boy woke up screaming his throat raw and asking if this was real.

“You alright, baby?” Minho asked as Newt started rubbing Thomas’ back. 

Thomas was nodding his head and he pushed a hand through his hair before turning to look at them. “I think I know where the Right Arm is…” Now everyone was blatantly watching Thomas with wide eyes and a few went as far as to wave their hands at him to go on.

“I think they might be in the Maze.”

“The Maze?” Rachel repeated as she got up from the table to step closer to Thomas. “The Maze Trials had only just gotten approved when WCKD fell; they wouldn’t have had the time to build them… do you think they tried to keep the project going after the fall?”

The Maze Trials were a topic that almost always pissed off most in their group. The sick way that WCKD had planned to torture kids so they could bleed them dry later in hopes of finding a cure. It was a topic that sparked Thomas, Aris and Rachel's defections from WCKD all together; the latter two escaping while the former found the Right Arm months prior to take down the company for good.

Thomas shook his head. “The Maze Trials had been a plan of Ava’s for years ,” he told them and Minho didn’t miss the appearance of the coin slowly being turned in between Thomas’ fingers. “She just could never get the support but it was always ready to go. The thing that made me contact the Right Arm was the day Ava told me the Maze Trials were close to being approved. The government was letting them run an introduction operation first by rounding up Immunes and doing tests on them and depending how that went they’d reconsider the Maze Trials. Ava had high hopes for it being approved though…”

The complete lack of empathy the few remaining humans in power had was just a thing of disbelief to Minho. That they would just send off this company to ‘do tests’ on a bunch of children like it was any old job and then consider allowing something like those mazes to be built. It was a true testament to just how desperate some people could be to stay alive and keep their precious comforts; he would bet none of those people spared a thought to the hundreds, possibly thousands, of men, women and children living outside of the Last City.

“Dr. Paige had the Mazes built before she got approval,” Aris realised quietly and his expression screamed; ‘of course she did’. 

It was never lost on Minho that Aris and Rachel always called Ava Paige ‘Dr. Paige’ whereas Thomas only ever referred to her as Ava. Rachel had made a comment some time ago that Thomas had been WCKD’s favourite— Teresa a close second— and it was a fact that always made Minho’s skin crawl.

Being WCKD’s favourite had to be the worst thing possible.

“Yeah, she did,” Thomas said. “She kept it all underwraps of course, didn’t want to get in trouble, she didn’t even tell Janson. There were only a select few who knew the Mazes were being built and it was pretty much just the builders, all of whom were killed to make sure the information didn’t spread. That was where she was going to run to when WCKD started to fall… before I found her that is.”

And then killed her .

“But she told you about them?” Rachel asked quietly with furrowed brows. “I mean– I know she trusted you with a lot but if the only people who knew about them were the builders you would think she would keep it to just her and them then. Or her, the designers and them.”

Thomas’s answering smile was more of a grimace. “It was. I designed the Mazes.”

There were times where Minho could almost forget just how close to the top of WCKD Thomas had been but then he’d make some casual comment and suddenly it sunk in just how involved Ava Paige had let him be even as a child. 

It paid off in the end but still it was wild to even think about.

No one seemed to know what to say to Thomas’ reveal and Alby thankfully took the reins then. “How does that drawing mean the Mazes? Did you tell the Right Arm about them?”

“Of course,” Thomas replied at once. “On the off chance I was killed before getting the Immunes out, I made sure Mary knew where both Mazes were going to be.” He started moving his hands about, his coin now clutched in one fist. “They were both rectangular in shape and the girls’ Maze was going to be a vertical one; they would have had to climb their way out. The boys’ Maze— the one where I think they are— was spread out horizontally; it would have been constantly moving every night, changing on a set pattern.”

Despite all Thomas shared with them about WCKD’s doings he never did go much into the Maze Trials beyond the main goal of it all. Why would he after all? It was something that never happened in the end and knowing more about it would bring nothing but pointless what-ifs. Still, hearing the life they all narrowly escaped living was a bit eerie and Minho could see a few people exchanging glances.

“When did you design them?” Winston asked and his tone was very neutral.

Thomas glanced over at him. “It took years, I didn’t realise she was serious about it at first… The first time I started making them though, I was eight. Ava gave the project to me as a ‘fun’ assignment. Compared to some of the other things I had to do at WCKD I made sure to make the project last as long as I could.”

Designing hypothetical mazes would be worlds better than having to deal with the ‘tests’ WCKD was always so obsessed with running. No one looked at all condemning towards Thomas and Minho knew Winston wasn’t asking out of judgement of any kind but rather just a deep curiosity. In fact, some looked angry on Thomas’ behalf, that WCKD— Ava Paige— would use a child’s fear of being hurt to have him create something as twisted as the Maze’s were one day going to be.

“You think they’re in the boys’ Maze?” Alby repeated and he was leaning against a nearby beam, his arms crossed, having moved closer when Thomas first said he might know where the Right Arm is.

He got a quick nod. “I think so. The girls’ Maze being vertical meant that there weren’t as many overhead protections around it but the boys’ Maze had something around it that would keep those inside from seeing the true sky. It pretty much wielded the whole place from view while it was up and running.” His eyes flickered over to the few boys who WCKD had captured and went back to Alby. “That plus how far the Maze spreads out… If they set up base in the centre then any attackers would have a long time getting in and they’d be able to set up protections wherever they want. If they got the power running then the Maze moving all the time would only benefit them more.”

It was a great theory all things considered; if Ava Paige didn’t want anyone knowing where the mazes were then odds were the WCKD never found out either.

“Why do you think they never started up the project again after WCKD rebuilt?” Rachel asked Thomas quietly. “I know Dr. Paige was dead but Teresa knew about the Maze Trials and their ultimate goal.”

Thomas shook his head with a frown. “They wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without Ava; the whole thing was probably scrapped and abandoned. Teresa would have stuck to the lab and she wouldn’t have had the sway Ava had in professional circles, especially with how young she was, to try reboot the project. And Janson wouldn’t have cared to follow through with Ava’s work, he would have switched immediately to trying to control the masses and get as much power as he could in his position as the new leader of WCKD.”

“Do you remember where they are, Thomas?” Jorge asked urgently.

“I do.” Thomas said at once.

Thomas always figured he would never be completely done with WCKD. When he first arrived there, and they took his name from him and gave him a new one— fighting uselessly to stop them all the while— Thomas thought that it signified from then on out he would be nothing more than WCKD property.

Just like all his clothing said.

He longed to go outside, could spend hours with his nose pressed against the glass as he tried to remember the feeling of the sun on his face and the wind in his air. His attempts to go out always came up empty handed and his request to even stand on the balcony went denied by everyone around him. 

The arrival of some kids his age had both scared and excited him. Thomas had always wanted friends but he was surrounded by grownups who either didn’t acknowledge him at all or would treat him like he was disgusting. It scared him to think of other kids going through what he went through with WCKD though; the tests and experiments they would run on him despite not even being double digits yet. 

Ava put those fears to rest however unknowingly. Before she introduced him to Teresa— and Aris and Rachel soon after— she told them that they would be special guests. That they would grow up to be like the scientists Thomas worked with and that the experiments they have run up to that point— and would keep running as it turned out— should stay between Thomas and WCKD.

He had agreed readily, too relieved that his new friends wouldn’t be hurt to understand that Ava didn’t want them knowing what WCKD was really like just yet. Looking back he could see she wanted to immerse them in it slowly, start with written research, moving up to labs with animals and such, before breaking out the whole human experimentation.

Before she left, after she learnt about WCKD’s true morals, Rachel asked him if he had ever been hurt like those kids. Asked him if that’s why he did what he did. Then she cried when he told her the truth.

At a young age Thomas was certain his only way to freedom would be in death; it was a worthwhile ambition in his mind back then. He was tired of being trapped. Tired of having no control of anything in his life. The world was already ending, people were always dying anyways, what was one more?

He had been so hurt when Rachel took that from him and it took a long time for him to see that what she did was a great thing; a thing done out of love.

When the Maze Trials got pushed forward— when there actually were kids being hurt like Thomas would be hurt— he found he was grateful for Rachel’s actions. Because now he could do something. He could put all his effort into this and if he died trying then what would it matter? He’d get his freedom either way.

Finding the Right Arm was both easy and hard. They were skeptical at first but Mary eventually came around when Thomas made no efforts whatsoever to learn anything crucial about them; when he went out of his way to stop her from revealing things. 

Mary was a true Godsend really. This figureless voice on the other end of the radio who offered to help kids simply because they needed her. When Thomas grew nervous, or scared, or worried about WCKD’s plans and actions he would remember the sound of Mary’s calm but firm voice and it would fill him with this sense of comfort and confidence.

He succeeded in the end though he managed to survive the whole thing. 

Thomas brought down WCKD from within and his last conversation with Ava was something that continuously played in his head those first few months he spent in the Scorch. She hadn’t been overly surprised to learn Thomas was the betrayer within WCKD but Ava had not expected it either. In fact she planned to take Thomas with her— as well as Teresa— when the building was being attacked and starting to crumble around them.

Teresa had been shocked though and while it hurt Thomas to see it, he knew it would have to be done. They would never agree on this and Thomas wouldn’t let her stand in his way of doing what was right. No matter how important she was to him.

Life in the Scorch was hard in a different way than life at WCKD was. It took him some time to catch onto but when he prepared for WCKD’s fall— and the slim chance he would survive the whole thing— he had made sure to figure out everything he would need to know to survive in the Scorch. Despite all its downsides, Thomas found the freedom he gained to make it worth it.

He struggled of course, kept his coin on hand for those days when it got the worst, but Thomas stubbornly kept his feet marching forward even with everything going on around him. He made sure to help whoever he could and to stay far from WCKD’s view when he learnt they were still going. 

Thomas made sure to stop in and see Jorge and Brenda, his unsung heroes back when WCKD fell. He felt guilty when he realised he left without thanking them, despite his head being all over the place at the time, and ventured back to where he knew the pair to be. Then he would leave and come back again a few months later. Brenda and Jorge were always happy to see him and always eager to assure him he could stick around; two things that never failed to make Thomas’ heart feel warm and bring a stinging sensation to his eyes in the beginning.

Then he was stopped by a rather determined Asian boy who said his friend needed help and was unceremoniously led over to a blond haired boy with a nasty cut on his arm. 

Minho and Newt.

That was another time Thomas found himself to be grateful for Rachel’s actions that day so long ago. He wouldn't regret anything that led him to Newt and Minho. 

He wasn’t subtle about it either, according to Brenda and Jorge. The two clocked his crush on the pair the second he started talking about them. Even as they joked— even though he did wind up together with them— Thomas would have just been happy to be friends with them both. Would have taken them in his life in whichever way they would have allowed him to, really.

They hit their speed bump when Thomas learnt that both of them, and quite a few of their friends, had been at WCKD along with him. That they had been tortured while Thomas was allied with the very people hurting them most. He had been terrified at the realization, so sure that they would hate him when they found out the truth.

And how could they not with what they were searching for when he learnt about their past?

It sent him spiraling nonetheless and he convinced himself that he was going to lose them. No way around it. And when he came to terms with that Thomas knew he wouldn’t survive without them; didn’t want to.

Then he was taken and perhaps it was better that way. A certain level of karma for Thomas to be kidnapped by WCKD and forced to go through what the rest of them went through all over again. He had prepared himself to die there, in WCKD’s walls, even though Janson said he would make it last. The man was too impatient and hot-headed at times not to accidentally kill him by going just a bit too far. Thomas had fought near the end, when Janson decided the Swipe would be the perfect thing to give him, forever hide the rest of WCKD’s secrets as well as steal what good things Thomas had, but he went quiet in the end too. Why did he think he deserved to keep remembering Newt and Minho? Brenda and Jorge and all the others too?

To his surprise— to his complete and utter shock actually— they came to save him. Came back to the very place that most have said they’d never go back to, all for the sole purpose of getting Thomas back .

Those days were a swirl of emotions that he could hardly comprehend at times. Being trapped at WCKD again. Being saved. Losing Teresa. WCKD being dead and gone for good. Newt and Minho assuring him that they loved him no matter what…

“You okay, Tommy?”

Thomas glanced over at Newt, the older boy driving while Minho was slouched in the back seat, and he nodded before the question even registered. 

After Thomas’ sudden breakthrough on where the Right Arm may be, the group stuck around the farm for a couple more days before heading out in the direction Thomas pointed them too. It was a long drive, an endless one really, but they were all determined. That determination paid off as the sight of the tall walls of a wide stretched building appeared on the horizon.

Back to WCKD; like Thomas said, maybe he never would truly escape it.

“This is it,” Thomas murmured as he eyed the perimeter of the structure he designed. 

He went into great detail about the inside of the Maze. There was only one exit out of the entire building and it led to an underground control room where WCKD personnel would have observed the kids in. From there they would go into a single hallway that would take them to the edge of each sector of the Maze; eight in total. Depending if the Right Arm got the power on the doors would either be all open— if they had no power— or only a single one would be open for the day as per the original design. 

When they got close enough, that is directly in a wide loading dock covered in sand, they climbed out of their vehicles one by one. Thomas stood at the edge of their jeep as Alby started giving orders to grab some weapons just in case. 

“There shouldn’t be anything too nasty inside,” Thomas said mostly to himself. “The Grievers never did get built.”

“Grievers?” Minho asked as he stepped up beside him and handed him a gun.

“You don’t wanna know.”

Alby came over next and while he nodded at Thomas’ words he still said. “I want to be careful just in case. Odds are they’re prepped for WCKD arriving and who knows how lethal that will be.”

Thomas frowned at that. It was a good point all things considered. “Mary told me to come here; I don’t think she would let them be too lethal without checking the people coming in first.”

“It’s been years, Tommy,” Newt reminded him quietly as everyone else started heading over to them. “She might think what Aris and Rachel thought.”

He was already shaking his head. “No. Mary wouldn’t think that until she saw a body. They’ll be prepared for anyone to come here but Mary will be prepared for me to come here.”

His last conversation with her was one he thought a lot about too when he first got into the Scorch. The desperation in her voice as she told him he had to leave the night Thomas told her they had to act now. (They were about to get ready to test the Swipe on the kids later in that week and Thomas wasn’t going to let that happen.) Mary trusted his word on the matter but didn’t hesitate to tell him that his work was done and he should sneak out when it got dark. Thomas refused of course; had too many things that he needed to make sure got done first after all. 

She hadn’t approved but from the other end of a radio how many miles away… what could she do?

Shaking himself out of the memory, Thomas glanced over to see the others waiting for him to go. “This way,” he said, gesturing over to a low ramp that led to a sealed door. The metal here was reinforced and the control panel operated on a solar panel so the power to it couldn’t be cut. Still, Thomas did know this place better than most and he pulled back a latch that revealed a keypad and pressed nine numbers.  There was a brief moment where nothing happened before a sharp hiss sounded that had hands tightening around guns and then the door slid open.

Thomas was the first to step in and the short hall was dark until flashlights were flicked on. Their footsteps echoed in a way that made Thomas uncomfortable, as if calling attention to their arrival, but he pushed the worry aside as he moved into the control room.

Everything was set up exactly the way Ava had wanted it, some glass walls for more private rooms, screens and monitors all over the place and comfortable chairs in front of desks and tables. The place screamed WCKD in a way that made Thomas wrinkle his nose in distaste and he ignored all of it in favour of heading towards another short hallway. 

This door wouldn't need a code of any kind; it was marked as a plain old ‘Exit’. 

“Which way do we go?” Frypan asked as they all shuffled into the admittedly small hallway that went down endlessly in each direction.

Minho hummed. “That way,” he said as he pointed in one direction at random.

Thomas snorted. “Alright, that way it is,” he agreed and started walking down the hallway. “They probably already know we’re here.”

“From our vehicles pulling up?” Brenda assumed from near the back of the group.

“That and if they were smart they’d put some kind of sensor on any of the doors to let them know when it opens.”

As it turned out the Right Arm did manage to get power into the Maze which meant that the first door they tried turned out to be locked. They kept walking down until they came upon an unlocked one which turned out to be the fourth door they tried. When they stepped into complete darkness Thomas turned on his flashlight but all that was around them were the plain walls of a fifteen square foot room. 

“Thomas?” Someone asked.

“Just give it a second,” Thomas replied to their unasked question.

Sure enough the floor rumbled and after a few seconds the opposite wall slid upward revealing a rather unremarkable sight. Just plain stone floors and another long hallway that led out to an area where large metal plates stood equal distance apart.

Thomas never did get to see the maze he built in its final stage. He got to see holographic depictions of it of course but not the actual real deal. When they reached the end of the small area where the Grievers would have entered and exited the maze he couldn’t help but think that while it was a rather ingenious creation it looked crude and cheap. The metal platings were brown and rusted and as he moved between two of them further into the maze he could see weeding popping out of the stonework here and there.

“So, this is the maze,” Ben commented as he spun around to take everything in.

“No, this is where WCKD was gonna live,” Minho said sarcastically and Thomas heard a thud that he knew was Newt hitting the boy. 

When they got to the more intricate parts of the maze it started to look a bit more higher quality. The stone walls were still towering heights and the pathways were just wide enough for their group to be able to stick close together without bumping into one another. The walls themselves were covered with ivy and Thomas kept his eyes high and low for any trip wires or cameras. 

It was around the fifth dead end they met that someone asked. “Thomas, do you know where you’re going?”

“Hey,” Thomas said with a glance back. “I know just as much as you guys.”

“Didn’t you make this maze?” Sonya asked as she stumbled over some ivy, Harriet catching her in the knick of time.

“It’s not like I have it memorised. I made it years ago; plus it’s different actually being inside of it,” Thomas said pointedly and he started off in another direction that he was almost certain he didn’t walk down before.

“How exactly did she make this project seem fun?” Minho asked slowly as he eyed each pathway that was revealed.

“Well, first of all, it was ‘make a maze’ or ‘be tortured’ so… no brainer,” Thomas replied distractedly and he knew without looking that Minho winced at his reply, not thinking his question through before he said it, but Thomas wasn’t bothered by it by any means as he continued on talking without waiting for a reply. “Second of all, when I started it she told me to make a maze with no exits from the main frame itself with a home base at the centre and then she gave me a rat to put inside of it. The goal was to make the rat go to the edge of the maze and then back into the centre where its nest was. When I was a bit older and more skilled at engineering she had me make another maze but this time one that would change every night.” 

Thomas glanced back at them and made a face. “When I finished that one she told me that the true beauty of the design is the fact that the rat could make it to all ends of the maze and back to its nest again and again but until the people who designed the thing decided to let it out then it would be trapped forever.”

A long silence followed that.

“This lady sounds like she was a real sick person,” Winston said in a disturbed voice.

“Yeah…” Thomas agreed quietly.

Ava had a way of speaking that made anyone who disagreed with her feel like they were either selfish or stupid. She also had such a mild mannered tone of voice that it made it hard to think of her as manipulative or cruel in any kind of way. Thomas still remembered the first time he met her, after he accepted what his new name would be, and at the time he thought she was the kindest person around. It took a while before he realised she was simply the best in a bad situation but that didn’t mean she was good in any kind of way.

She wanted to save humanity, no doubt about that, but she became the kind of person who believed that sacrifices were okay; sacrifices that weren’t her own to make. 

About twenty minutes after entering the maze a loud gunshot rang off that had guns raising and all of them tensing. It didn’t take long for a voice to reach them.

“Drop the weapons and put your hands up!”

“No shot in hell that’s happening!” Brenda was quick to retort, her eyes darting to every high ground she could find in their area.

“Unless you want a bullet in your brain you’ll do as ordered. You aren’t welcome here and are now trespassing.”

The cocking of a gun much closer had Thomas tensing and he knew from the wide eyes of Minho and Newt that someone had a gun aimed at the back of his head. “Drop the guns,” came a much closer order and this time it was followed, the clatter of metal hitting the ground sounding around their group. 

“What are you doing here?” A new voice asked and a hulking figure came forward with a scowl on his face.

“We’re looking for the Right Arm,” Alby told him.

“Why?”

A few of them were exchanging glances but Thomas didn’t move much with the gun still aimed at his head. “We’re Immunes,” Alby said with a gesture between them all. “And we heard the Right Arm was willing to protect the Immune.”

There were a few more men around, all of whom had guns, and they exchanged glances before coming to a silent agreement. “We’ll take you to Vince. He’ll decide if you get to stay or not.”

Well, it was far from a warm welcome but they were getting what they came for. 

Thankfully these guys had the Maze good and memorised and they got to avoid any more dead ends. They could have put the guns down while leading them to the centre of the Maze but beggars couldn't be choosers Thomas supposed.

The centre of the Maze the boys would have been staying in was designed to look like a forest with a larger clearing. (Much better option compared to the winter climate the girls would have had) The Right Arm made themselves comfortable though they clearly weren’t planning to stay here for the long haul. 

“Keep it moving,” one of the guys behind them said when their group slowed to a stop upon entering the clearing. 

They were led a few feet forward and it was there that a blond haired man with a ponytail and a beard stood with his arms crossed. Thomas couldn’t even begin to guess his name and he was realising now that he would have to hope Mary was still alive to vouch for him otherwise he had no real way of proving much of anything. He had his information on WCKD but that was just as damning as it was helpful.

The man looked around at them all. “Who are you?”

“They say they’re Immunes,” one of the guys said. “Though this one here is clearly not,” he added with a jerk of his gun in Jorge’s direction, something that had all of them tensing at.

“Any of you infected?” The blond man asked sharply. “Did you check them over?” 

“Not yet,” a guy said as he neared the group.

Sonya, being on that end of the group, stepped closer to the rest of them and said. “Don’t even think about touching me!”

“Why? You infected?” the guy who was nearing them asked in a growl, his fingers clenching around the gun in his hand. “You turning into a Crank?”

“No! I just don’t want some greasy man putting his hands on me!” Sonya snapped back and Harriet wrapped an arm around her shoulder in both an attempt to calm and protect her. Thomas could see Newt already shifting to get closer to his sister and he felt his heart start to pound with anxiety.

“Vince. What’s going on?” A woman’s voice called.

The sound of it had Thomas’ heart stuttering before a sense of relief filled him and his anxiety quickly ebbed. He turned his head and a woman with dark brown hair and heart shaped face approached them, her expression firm but warm. She looked exactly like Thomas would have imagine; the exact opposite of Ava’s blonde, pointed and cold features. 

Mary.

“Just the usual check-in’s, Doc,” the blonde man— Vince— said and he didn't look away from them.

Mary pointed over at the man that was talking to Sonya and said. “Get away from them. Now.”

“This is protocol, Doc,” Vince said as he finally looked at her, his expression firm but respectful. “Don’t worry, the boys won’t be looking any of the girls over, they know that, Hank’s just paranoid about getting the Flare.”

Didn’t mean he had to scare the girls, in Thomas’ opinion. He didn’t let the words deter him though, instead finally addressing— “Mary.”

Mary looked over at their group before her eyes landed on him and, though she had never met him before— or perhaps she found a way to find out what he looked like— her eyes alit with recognition and she smiled. “Thomas.”

Vince looked surprised at the fact that they knew each other but Thomas was too focused on Mary to make much more note of it. “I thought maybe you guys would have left for the Safe Haven already.”

It has been years after all and while Thomas did think it would take a lot of time for them to get things together he thought the time WCKD spent out for the count would help them move things a bit faster. 

With a soft laugh, Mary said. “We’re almost ready. We’ll be moving to a new location near the ocean— where our cargo ship is waiting— in just a few days. I’m so glad you finally found us.” She looked around at everyone else and asked him. “And who are these?”

“My friends,” Thomas replied at once with a smile of his own. He couldn’t help but look back at them and he could see a few of them were more at ease and others were starting to look a lot more hopeful now that Thomas and Mary were talking to one another.

Mary nodded as she smiled at them all and she glanced over at one of the men still standing around them. “Go get the cooks to make them something; I’m sure our guests are hungry,” she ordered before looking at another man. “And prepare some sleeping quarters for all of them.”

“Mary,” Vince said lowly as he stepped closer to her. “We haven’t even checked them over. What if they’re infected?”

He got a firm shake of the head as Mary replied. “I trust Thomas. After all, none of this could have happened without him. We wouldn’t have been able to save the Immunes without him so he, and any friends of his, are welcome.”

The words had an understanding and shocked expression breaking out on Vince’s face. “... he was our Source.”

It seemed more than just Vince knew the weight of that particular word and suddenly guns were more firmly lowered than the simply looser hold they had been sporting. The two men Mary gave orders to quickly started moving and the others were already starting to make themselves scarce.

“Thomas, come on. I’ll show you all the dining hall,” Mary said warmly with a gentle wave of her hand. 

He didn’t hesitate to follow her, passing by a still shocked looking Vince, and the others were quick to join him. They all couldn’t help but look around the set up the Right Arm had, various tents set up, groups of people and kids all over the place doing the odd task. 

“That Hank guy is paranoid about the Flare?” Thomas asked quietly, wanting to know if the men normally only listened to Vince or if he was just reading too much into things. 

Mary seemed to understand his concerns. “Don’t worry, they follow instructions readily, it's only when people show up that they get a bit extra tense.”

“That happen often?” Minho asked from behind Thomas.

“More when we were in the mountains than here,” Mary replied and when she reached a large tent with tables set up underneath it she gestured for them to all sit down. “Hank lost all his kids— three girls— to the Flare, none were Immune. So he goes the extra mile keeping an eye on an infection; trust me he’s not normally so unpleasant. He’s devoted to protecting kids— Immune and those not Immune— and has been a part of the Right Arm since it started.”

That was a relief to hear and when Thomas glanced at the others he could see they felt the same way. The Flare— talk of it even— always had people reacting in a wide variety of ways and it was hard to predict how anyone would behave in the face of it. With the Right Arm’s goal of preserving humanity it would make sense that they would be extra cautious about the Virus; Thomas actually came into this expecting to be checked over. 

“If women or girls or kids show up they are brought to the medical tents to be checked over,” Mary then said, looking over at the girls in their group. “They would not have done anything out there, I promise you that.”

Food was quickly put on the table and none of them wasted time in making a plate. With the drive out here and then heading through the maze and all the excitement that followed they had all worked up an appetite. Mary didn’t interrupt their meal but she did stay with them and it wasn’t until Thomas was mostly done that she spoke to him. 

“Where have you been?”

Thomas looked up at her. “I got hurt in the fall,” he told her honestly. “I was still inside when the building fell and was out for a while… after that I just lived out in the Scorch.”

Mary nodded her head slowly. “You didn’t try find us.”

“I told you that wasn’t the plan.”

“And now?”

Licking his lips, Thomas glanced over at Newt and Minho before looking back at Mary’s patient expression. “Now things have changed. I think it’s time to start a new life.”