Fire roared, guns fired from every direction, and buildings tumbled down all around the Gladers. They were trapped in an alleyway, minds so frantic they couldn't decide upon a way out. Newt was slumped up against one of the walls, hitching each and every breath as he fought to hold onto himself. On either side of him, Y/N and Thomas sat, promising he would be ok.

"Y/N, Minho, go get the serum!" Thomas cried out desperately, the tears in his eyes building quickly. He knew better than anyone else that time was running short.

"C'mon!" Minho shouted, pulling Y/N to her feet. Newt raised his eyes to watch as she was being dragged away by Minho, kicking and shouting. With her mind set on not leaving Newt, she would fight until Minho gave up. She wasn't leaving. Not without him.

"Go." Newt croaked out, trying harder than ever to retain his sanity. "I love you but you need to go."

"No—Newt—" Y/N stuttered in both fear and frustration. Newt hardly even looked like himself, collapsed there in the alleyway. Inside, though, Y/N knew it was still him. Newt was still there. He had to be.

"Minho—Gally—" Newt sputtered out their names between heavy, crackling breaths. "Get her out."

With heavy hearts, the two boys obliged. It pained them to grasp her arms despite the screams and drag her away. Neither of them wanted to do it. Her cries echoed in the cold, dim alleyway, resonating in Newt's heart. These weren't the last words he wanted to hear from her. He wanted to hear that she loved him too just one last time.

"I'm not leaving him!" Y/N bellowed, still fighting against her friends. Gally stepped in front to block Y/N's view to Newt, grabbing her shoulders.

"Y/N you need to go." He said sternly, continuing to push her back alongside Minho.

"You run as fast as you can." Minho said to Y/N as they made it out onto the boulevard. He knew he didn't have to say it because Y/N could outrun him any day, but it would divert her focus from Newt.

"I'll cover you guys." Gally insisted, raising his gun, motioning for his friends to start running. The last Y/N saw was Newt's head craned to the side, resting against the brick wall, fighting for breath. Thomas was trying to say something to the blonde, but it obviously wasn't going through. Just before she slipped out of sight, Newt's dark and cloudy locked on hers once more.

Only a couple of seconds later, Newt turned his attention to the brunette crouching before him. "You bloody look after her."

Thomas' expression sank. "D-Don't say that!"

Newt grumbled, wincing in pain. "Look after her for me!"

Still sitting with mouth agape, Thomas didn't know what to say. Newt was going to make it out of this. He was. There was no need to promise Newt he'd look after Y/N when Newt would be there to do it himself.

"Please, Tommy. Please." Newt begged, rolling his head back and forth, trying to keep the sobs in his lungs buried. This was something he never wanted to ask. But he knew he wasn't making it out of this alive.

Thomas promised. Begrudgingly, he promised. If this was his best friends dying wish, he wasn't going to let him down.

___
___

Paradise wasn't so bad. But for everyone who had lived to see it, things would never be easy. With the adrenaline from their veins worn off, the painful events which had taken place finally had a chance to settle in.

No matter where she went, the ache in Y/N's chest refused to subside. She tried everything, like surrounding herself with others in hopes that their voices would drown out her thoughts. But, it failed, just like any other attempt she made to repress memories of the friends she'd lost.

The girl resorted to wandering away from everyone, trying to find peace in the silence. In the middle of beach, she collapsed into the sand and pulled her knees to her chest. Sucking in a deep breath, she fought back the sob which threatened to leave her lungs. The silence was almost painful because it allowed her to imagine what it would be like, sitting here with Newt, Chuck, Alby... She could hear their faint voices on the wind, their footsteps in the sand.

"Y/N?" A downcast, solemn voice asked quietly. Maybe those footsteps hadn't just been her imagination.

Consciousness seemed to return the girl, dragging her from her thoughts. Cautiously, she turned around to see who had found themselves out here at this time of day too. There stood the boy who had lead everyone here straight through hell.

"Hi." She flashed a small smile before turning her vision back to the ocean, waves crashing violently against the shoreline. An orange glow began to appear as the dying sun lowered on the horizon.

"You're out late." Thomas said softly as he sat down beside Y/N, resting his arms on his knees. Y/N could feel his eyes on her, but could also feel the heaviness on his heart. He carried a burden here no one else would.

"As are you." She quipped back, earning a weak smile and small nod.

There was a silence between the two that wasn't uncomfortable, just painful. A heart-wrenching moment in time where it seemed as if life couldn't have turned out any worse. Thomas could tell she hurt just as much as he did. His friends were hers too.

"I promised Newt I would look after you in the end." Thomas confessed quietly, hoping that the mention of the blonde wouldn't send Y/N down a spiral of heartbreaking memories.

"He asked you to look after me?" Y/N questioned sadly. It pained her to know that Newt was so fully aware of the coming of his death that he asked Thomas such a favour.

"Yeah..." Thomas sighed, trying to block out the images of his best friend dying right there in his arms. "But I'm not doing just for him."

When Thomas had arrived in the Glade, Y/N was the first he had taken a liking to. Her bravery, curiosity, and kindness drew him in immediately. But, he had always been blinded by everything else going on around him, like how he needed to escape the maze, get his friends to safety, and take down WICKED once and for all. Plus, he knew Newt cared about her more than anything and so never built a strong relationship with her.

"I made Newt a promise and won't let him down." Thomas sounded again, looking to Y/N at his side. Gently, he took the girl in his arms and closed his eyes, slowly taking in the ocean air.

"It's ok to miss him. But I also know he'd want us to keep moving forwards."

Hopefully moving forwards included her. 

It had become routine for Y/N and Thomas to find one another at the beach at dusk. Words hardly passed between them while they sat staring out to the water, but it was a place of peace and comfort where troubles seemed to fade away.

Troubles from the past may have faded, but for Thomas, a whole new set of them arose. Night after night, his feelings towards Y/N grew at an unstoppable pace and everyone could see it, except for Y/N herself. Minho saw how Thomas couldn't keep his hands off of her, always playfully pushing and shoving, checking on old wounds. Frypan saw how Thomas' gaze never left her, always following where she went. Brenda heard because Thomas never stopped talking about her.

"Would you just—" Brenda snapped in exasperation. "Just tell her already?"

The boys face went pale at the mention. "Tell her what?"

"Seriously?" Brenda rolled her eyes and sighed. "Tell her how much you like her."

"Why would I do that? She doesn't like me. And after—" Thomas stopped himself. The mere thought of even saying Newt's name made his heart go numb and not even Y/N had said it since showing up to paradise.

"Umm, you don't know that." Brenda said as she looked to Y/N laughing with Minho and Frypan. "I know about her and Newt. But maybe she's ready to try and start again."

"And what if its not the right time?" Thomas muttered, gaze lowering to the ground sadly.

"Won't know till you ask." Brenda said confidently and stood, patting Thomas on the back.

Those few words kept replaying in his head as he approached Y/N and his friends. It was kind of strange to think that after all he'd been through, this felt like the most difficult situation to navigate.

"Hey, Thomas!" Frypan greeted happily, patting the spot beside him. Thomas pursed his lips and stood stiffly, eyes darting around and never quite looking to Y/N.

"What's up?" Minho asked with a raised brow, slightly concerned. Ever since showing up, Thomas hadn't been the same, but he seemed a little more off than normal.

"I uh—can I talk to you?" He stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Talk to who?" Frypan questioned, snickering a little. It was obvious who he wanted to talk to.

"Y/N." Thomas said quick.

The girl stood and soon found herself walking alongside Thomas in silence, the air was tense and uneasy. "Are you ok?" She asked.

Thomas ran a shaky hand through his hair, every phrase he wished he could say getting caught up somewhere along the way. His heart was beating in his chest like never before and all he wanted to do was run. Like in the maze and the scorch, running was his solution to everything. Hardly ever had he stayed and fought. Running away from the things that frightened him was all he knew. "Ahh, yeah."

Suddenly, he took a long step forwards and cut the girl off, holding a hand out. "I just—I—"

Though he tried, it felt impossible to talk to her about this simple thing. He couldn't even meet her eyes. It hurt because even though Newt had asked Thomas to look after Y/N, he still felt like he was going behind his friends back somehow. If Newt was here, he thought, was this what he would want? Or did he ask him to look after her just to make sure she didn't make a rash decision like he had, all those years ago in the maze?

"I know I told you I promised Newt I would look after you." He let out a heavy breath as he looked to the large stone with all of his friends names carved into it. "But I—"

"You don't have to look after me." Y/N sent a soft smile, though she wasn't sure he saw it. "Newt was just being, well, Newt. I'm okay."

The boys soft brown eyes met hers and though she said she was alright, he knew better. Losing someone who meant that much never left a person the same, it left a scar which would never fade.

"I think I love you." He suddenly blurted out of sheer discomfort, body trembling from both the adrenaline in his veins and the fear of rejection. It was a risk saying a thing like that, especially here. Thomas watched Y/N's body tense. Of all of the ways he could have phrased it, he'd probably said it in the worst way possible. He already had his answer.

But after a moment, the disbelief in her eyes shifted into more of a silent realization. Her mouth opened a little but no words came. Then she shifted her weight and darted her eyes away. "I think I do too."

"Thank god," Thomas sighed in relief before lunging forwards into her body and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. It took a moment before he could feel Y/N's arms wrapping around his torso, but once she did, his entire body calmed. Now he knew how badly he needed her touch.

Maybe Newt had known Thomas loved the girl before he himself even had.