The Stranger in the Mirror - TMR/TW

Chapter 3 - Minho and the End of The World

Thomas wakes up to rough shaking. His mind feels groggy. But eventually, he figures out who it is. It's Minho, "Come on, we want to be back before dark." Thomas nods and pulls on the pack he'd worn earlier.

Minho lets Thomas lead the way, as he actually knows what they're looking for. But as Thomas looks above the tree line, he can now see the line of darkness. Much closer than it had been yesterday.

He let out a breath, almost stopping there. But he pushed until they were almost to the edge. Minho just looked at it. His eyes were wide.

"See why I couldn't describe it?" Thomas muttered.

Minho reached up to touch it, but Thomas yanked his hand back, "what the heck do you think you're doing?" He snapped.

Minho looked at him in a daze, "I feel like it's... for lack of a better word... calling to me..." His eyes traveled back to the darkness. Thomas felt a sinking feeling in his gut. Almost against his will Minho reached out again.

Thomas grabbed his hand, pulling him back and away. "Thomas... Stop..." Minho said, pulling his hand from his grip. "I'm- hearing the stuff everyone else is talking about, I'm getting headaches, which are more like migraines sometimes... If I'm going to vanish anyway, then we can at least see what's on the other side." Thomas's eyes were wide with fear.

Not Minho- it couldn't happen...

"But they need you- we-"

"Tommy stop." That shut Thomas up, and that stopped his rambling. He hadn't been called that since... "Thomas, the world is literally ending. This is coming toward the safe haven, and everyone's vanishing. This is closer than it was yesterday, right?" Thomas nodded numbly. "Everyone's either going to vanish or get absorbed, by whatever this is. Might as well see if there's anything on the other side..."

Thomas didn't have anything to stop him, how could he? Minho was hurting, he was hearing what others had before they disappeared.

"Thomas," Minho brought his hand from behind his back. Thomas's breath hitched, his skin was... transparent... and it was getting worse. "Only thing I guess I'll say is when this is all over. I hope we go to the same place..."

Thomas nodded. His eyes watering. Minho was the only one in the safe haven that had been with Thomas since the beginning. Well, his only best friend that had survived. Chuck, Newt, and Theresa were all gone. Minho was leaving... now it was just going to be him...

Thomas stood there frozen as Minho hugged him. He actually hugged him. Minho never hugged anybody, that just wasn't how he shared his emotions. That only increased the feelings Thomas was getting.

They were all going to die, and they couldn't even go out fighting. They couldn't fight this. Minho pulled away. Thomas didn't pull out of his shock fast enough to stop him from walking through. But Minho didn't even hesitate.

Thomas waited for an hour, backing up every few minutes as the edge came closer. Minho never came back out, and Thomas gave up. He ran for a few minutes but gave up on that. Walking the rest of the way back.

Jorge ran up to him as people noticed his presence. "Thomas?" He asked carefully, he respected the man in front of him. But that didn't stop him from worrying.

"Minho's gone..." Jorge's breath hitched, and his stomach dropped from Thomas's tone. He'd only sounded that broken a few times... But Minho had pulled him through that time, he didn't know what it would be that brought Thomas out of it this time, assuming someone did.

"Thomas, you were Minho's second in command. What should I tell everyone." Thomas blinked the tears away, he'd cried for his friends. And he would for Minho, but he had to wait. He had to do what he could.