little immune {the scorch trials} (request)

˜*°• 30 •°*˜

Thomas followed Minho into the tent he'd been in earlier—Y/n's tent—where he found his sister sitting up and chatting good-naturedly with Mary and Newt. To Thomas's immeasurable relief, she appeared much healthier. The fever was certainly gone now.

"Hey, Y/n," Thomas said, taking a seat at the edge of her cot. "Feeling better?"

She smiled and nodded, and Thomas couldn't help wondering if that expression had once belonged to their mother or their father. Not that he'd ever remember either of them. "Much better, Tommy. Whatever Mary did definitely helped me a lot."

"Speaking of ..." Mary started, and turned her attention to Thomas. "I haven't told her yet. I was thinking you should be the one to do it. How does that sound?"

"I—" Suddenly, Thomas couldn't find his voice. "Yeah," he eventually got out. "Sounds great."

Y/n's gaze shifted between Mary and Thomas. "Tell me what? What's going on?"

Mary smirked. "You'll see. Come on, guys." She rounded up Minho and Newt. "Let's give them some space."

Minho gave Thomas an encouraging smile, and Newt squeezed his arm and uttered a quick "Good luck!" before the three of them exited the tent.

Now that they were alone, Thomas met Y/n's eyes and took her hand. "Tommy, what is it?" she said. "You're kind of scaring me."

Thomas took a deep breath. "Did Mary tell you how she used to work for WICKED?" Y/n nodded. "Well, there was something she knew about you and me, something Ava Paige and the staff made us forget. We also just did a test to confirm it, so now we know for sure now. So what I just found out, Y/n ..." He squeezed her hand, as if to make sure she was really there. "I just found out that you're my sister."

For a moment, Y/n said nothing, only stared blankly at the boy she'd just learned was her brother. Even with the voices of the Right Arm members sounding loud and clear just outside, the world—the siblings' world—was quiet. Finally, Y/n said, "That ... makes sense," and Thomas released a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. "I think I kind of already knew, Tommy. Or part of me knew, at least. Since I met you, and even before that when I was watching you in the Maze, I felt a connection."

He nodded. "I felt that, too. Even without all my memories, I knew it was there."

"So what do we do now?" Y/n asked.

Thomas shrugged. "I guess we just ... try to start our new lives. We've never really had freedom before, have we? Let's enjoy it." He stood up and offered Y/n his hand. She took and gratefully and let him pull her to her feet. Without warning, she tackled her brother in a hug.

Laughing, Thomas squeezed her tightly. "Come on," he said when at last they broke apart. "Let's go find our friends."

***

The two joined Newt, Minho, and Frypan who were seated on a rock near the edge of a small cliff.

"I wish Alby could've seen all this," said Newt. His face was full of melancholy. 

"And Winston," added Frypan.

Thomas gripped Y/n's hand. In the other was the small wooden carving that had been given to him by a young boy who lost his life too soon. Shuck, that felt like it had been a lifetime ago. "And Chuck."

Newt's voice was soft and understanding beside him. "He'd be proud of you, you know, Tommy."

Thomas nodded, meeting his gaze. "Yeah."

The group was quiet for a minute, watching Aris, Sonya, and Harriet catching up and laughing around a campfire far below. For a moment it almost felt ... normal. Something the Gladers had never quite known before. But it was nice.

"Hey, Aris!" Frypan called out in the direction of the Group B trio.

Aris waved in return. "Hey, guys!"

Frypan grinned. "I kinda like that kid."

"Yeah," Minho sighed. "I still don't trust him, though." Then he chuckled, making it clear that he was joking.

Thomas allowed himself to enjoy the moment, until another thought suddenly struck him. "Hey," he wondered, "where's Teresa?" It was then that he realized he had not seen her since the Gladers' arrival at the Right Arm. Which meant he had not had the chance to tell her the news of Y/n being his sister.

Newt jabbed his thumb vaguely backwards. "She went up there."

"Stay here," Thomas told Y/n. Heading where Newt had indicated, Thomas clambered over sharp rocks until he caught sight of Teresa, standing with her back to him.

"Hey," he said, coming up behind her, "you okay? What are you doing up here?"

When she turned around to face him, her eyes were filled with tears. Quickly, she returned her gaze to the approaching dusk. "Just thinking."

All of a sudden, Thomas felt very much like he was intruding. "All right, I'll let you be alone." He made to head back down the incline, but Teresa's voice stopped him.

"Do you remember your mother?"

"Uh ..." Thomas stared at her for a moment, unsure what to make of the question. Surely Teresa knew that he couldn't possibly, right? "Not really."

"I remember mine," she murmured. "She was a beautiful woman. Everybody loved her. And before WICKED, she was all I had." A tear slipped down her cheek. "When she got sick, I didn't know what to do. I just kept her locked up. Hidden. I thought she'd get better. But every night, she'd make these awful sounds, like screaming. And then one night, she just stopped. She was finally quiet. So I went down to her room, a-and there was blood everywhere. But she was just sitting there, calm. She said she was feeling better. The visions were gone, she'd taken care of them." Her voice shook. "She took her eyes out, Thomas."

Thomas was rendered speechless.

"There are millions of people suffering out there," Teresa continued. "Millions of stories, just like mine. We can't turn our backs on them. I won't."

"W-what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want you to understand," Teresa pleaded, eyes red from crying.

"Understand what?"

"Why I did it."

That was when the two WICKED Bergs appeared in the distance, heading straight for the Right Arm. So much for freedom.

Thomas stumbled backward. "Teresa ... W-what have you done?"

"Please don't fight them, Thomas," she begged.

"What have you done?!" Thomas repeated, louder. Suddenly, he wanted to be as far away from her as possible. Teresa had betrayed the Gladers. She'd sold them out to WICKED. And just like that, they'd lost their chance to have a life. To be kids.

My friends, Thomas thought as the Bergs grew nearer. My sister. Without caring about what happened to him, he began to sprint down the rocky hill. I can't let them take her away from me.