***

Blair stood in the soft sand staring out over an endless field of black and gray ashes.

"There you are," a familiar voice rang out from behind her.

Without turning around, Blair called out monotonously, "why are you here?"

There was the sound of footsteps, then a response. "Gally said I might find you here," the voice spoke, much closer than it was before.

Finally Blair turned around to see Thomas just feet away. A hot breeze tossed her short hair gently. Thomas walked closer until he stood next to Blair. For a moment, the two look out over the ashes in silence.

"It hurts," Blair broke the silence.

Thomas gazed down at her to his left as he replied, "well, you should've kept it wrapped." He touched her hair shoulder with delicate fingertips.

Blair looked at his hand on her skin and corrected. "Not there," she replied, moving her hand to tap the left of her chest right above her heart, "here."

Before he could speak, however, Blair did. "I promised I'd take her to the safe city one day," she told him.

Immediately Thomas felt his own heart ache. "Why does it hurt so bad?" Blair asked in a helpless and lost tone, a voice Thomas had never heard her use before. "I've been around death my entire life, but it's never felt like this."

"..That's just what happens when you get attached to someone," Thomas explained as he thought of all the friends he'd lost in his time.

"Attached," Blair repeated, as if it were a foreign word. "Like..you're attatched to Minho..?"

Thomas felt his heart sink at the mention of his friend's name. "Minho, Newt, Brenda," he listed, watching the breeze carry ashes away, "all of them. They're like family to me."

"Then Gally is my only family left," Blair stated.

Thomas turned to her and peered down into her face. "Hey, what about us?" He asked with a small grin.

Blair met his eyes with a look of confusion, as if to ask what he meant. "Me, and the others," he clarified.

With a simple nod, Blair looked back over the ashes. "You're not staying here," she spoke in a monotonous voice, "you only came to rescue your friend."

Thomas didn't tear his eyes from Blair's face; she looked like a painting against the setting sun. "You're right, we're not staying," Thomas confirmed. "But neither are you."

This caught Blair's attention, and she looked up into his gray-green eyes once again. "We're gonna get Minho outta there, and we're gonna go far away where WCKD can never find us again," Thomas described as he took a step toward Blair, their bodies only inches apart now.

"We'll go with the Right Arm, and they'll take us too a paradise like nothing we've ever seen before," Thomas continued softly, his breath tickling Blair's chin and lips, "and you, and Gally, are gonna come with us."

Blair was stunned by the closeness of the handsome teenager. She'd never minded being so close to anyone before, but something was different this time. Something about the gentle tone of his voice, the calm look in his eyes, the warmth of the heat radiating between their close bodies, drove her heart crazy. And when she felt Thomas's warm hand envelop hers, her heart jumped so high, Blair thought it might've popped.

But nothing could rip her eyes from his.

"I want to bring you with me," Thomas spoke so softly, it was almost a whisper.

The feeling the bursted in Blair's heart and mind overwhelmed her. "I am," she began breathily, a small pause between her words, "..attached, to you. Not like Gally or Maya, but I am attached..."

Thomas chuckled the slightest bit and nodded, "I think I know what you mean."

There was then silence as they stared at each other's eyes for what felt like ages. Thomas felt his heart racing in his chest as he finally moved, wrapping his arms around Blair's waist. It all happened so quickly, there was no time to react. And withing the second, their lips crashed together.

As quickly as it happened, the rest of the kiss was slow and hesitant. Their mouths molded together perfectly, as if made to fit with one another. And when they parted, it was like a whole new world.