REDEMPTION.
[ chapter twenty ]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

THE WIND BLOWS GENTLY through the thin sheet of fabric hanging over the doorway as Thomas shoots up in his bed with a loud gasp. His hands land beside him on the bed to keep himself grounded as he tries to regain a clear mind. Still not fully acclimatised to the strange surroundings, he slowly swings his legs off the bed and he keeps his head hung low. A grunt of pain passes his lips and a moment later he's lifting up his new clean shirt to reveal the bandage pressed over his wound. And that's when everything hits him.

The Last City. Newt. Teresa. Evelyn.

Dropping his shirt, he slowly raises his head, his mouth slightly agape as he turns to look at the door. His brows furrow at the bright sun light shining through the tiny holes in the fabric, and he's quickly standing from his bed and trudging towards the exit.

Squinting his eyes against the sun, he pushes the curtain back and steps down from the hut before stopping in astonishment. At least ten metres in front of him is the wide open sea, overlooked by tall cliffs and dotted with shallow rock pools. His gaze carries along the beautiful horizon until they land on a distant boat floating out at sea.

Then a joyful shout catches his attention, and his head snaps in the direction of the noise. Eyebrows still creased, he steps around the hut and that's when the Safe Haven comes into his view. He stares over at the settlement, his lips becoming dry and his eyes threatening to spill tears as he watches large groups of people laugh with one another and work together. It sends him right back to the moment he first laid eyes on the Glade.

Desperate to find his friends and to make sure Evelyn made it, he begins his walk through the busy area. He steps over vegetable patches and dodges excited people, just like Evelyn did several days previous. His head turns in every direction as he takes it all in, and the soft sound of the waves keep his mind at bay. But the whole time he's looking around at this new place, he's also searching for her.

He comes to a stop on the path when he notices the familiar group of his friends coming towards him. His eyes flick over each of them; Minho, Gally, Fry, Brenda, Jorge and Aris. But not her.

Minho studies his close friends expression, and immediately he knows what he's doing. He recognises the soft desperate gaze as Thomas' eyes flick over the Safe Haven. It's the same gaze he always had in the Scorch when Evelyn was on her on very last legs. And even now that they're safe, Thomas still looks for her to make sure she's safe, never once caring about himself. It's always her first for him. In the most cliche way, she is his peace.

"Eve?" Thomas is the first to break the silence while his eyes are stuck on Minho, noticing the empathy behind his gaze, "Please don't tell me. . .," His lip quivers slightly as he speaks and tears are on the verge of falling, "Is she. . ?"

He can't even bring himself to speak the terrifying words. He can't even imagine having to stay alive with Evelyn. It's unfathomable.

Minho shakes his head gently, and a soft smile breaks across his face as he watches the relief wash over Thomas. Nodding his head towards the blue water and soft sand, Minho says, "She's on the beach. She'll be happy to see you, Thomas."

After hugging and having his friends greet him, Thomas was quick to set off down the beach. He wasn't sure if he'd ever felt sand before, or experienced the sea in person, but it was everything he imagined it to be, if not more. It was beautiful, having the sun reflect from the water and soft pebbles wash up onto the beach to create a puzzle. But as he spots Evelyn crouched on some rocks a few metres from the shore, his mind is quickly taken from nature's beauty and to her's.

He comes to a stop just before the rocks, watching silently as she swishes her hands in the cool water with her back to him. He can't prevent the corner's of his mouth to lift as he looks over at with admiration and he sees the relaxed expression covering her face. And the sight of seeing her in such a soft way makes his heart warm, knowing that the both of them are free.

While her fingers dance in the water, Evelyn can feel his loving gaze burning into her back. But, this time, she doesn't tease him or tell him to stop out of spite. No, this time, she just allows them to be and look out across at the peaceful sea. She lets the silence hug around them both, because she knows now that everything's over. They're finally free to be kids again.

Slowly she raises from her crouched position and turns fully to face him. A wide smile sliding onto his lips as he watches her steps precariously over the rocks towards him. Once her feet hit the sand, she's barrelling towards him and wrapping her arms around his neck while his arms instinctively curl around her waist in a warm embrace. She buries her face in the crook of his neck and Thomas drops his forehead to her shoulder as the both of them allow the tears to roll down their cheeks.

With each others salty tears now staining their shirts, they slowly pull away to gaze over at one another. Evelyn bites her lip as she studies his face and he examines her beautiful green eyes.

Finally, she lets out a laugh of joy, "We made it."

His face beams at the infamous sound of her real laugh while he moves a hand to cup her cheek and brush away the droplets rolling down her skin, "Yeah we did, baby."

༒

NOW THAT THOMAS IS AWAKE, Vince is finally holding a bonfire of introduction and reminiscence, with the rows of seats and pews set up like bleachers at a high school, and the fire burning in front of everyone.

Evelyn is perched between Minho and Thomas. Her boyfriend's hand rests instinctively on her thigh, and her palm is pressed over the back of his hand for his own reassurance.

She stares out at the fire, the memories of monthly greenie bonfires burning into her mind; the lighting of the fire, Frypan's disgusting drink and his lovely kebabs, Gally's fights with everyone, and just every Glader being happy together. The gut wrenching memory causes her eyes to float over the hundreds of faces belonging to the unfamiliar nearby people; the same people she will most likely be spending the rest of her life with. This is the new Glade.

Vince stands beyond the fire, in front of everyone as he begins his speech, "We have come a long way together. So many have sacrificed so much to make this possible," His eyes linger on the older group of teenagers for a moment and each of them send him a nod, "Your friends and your family. So here's to the one who couldn't be here," He raises his mug into the air.

Everyone listening does the same, raising their cups into the air in memory of their lost ones, while Evelyn and Thomas just take in deep breaths and squeeze each other's hands.

"Here's to the friends we lost," Vince adds.

Evelyn's gaze drops to her knife, which she's been fiddling with in her free hand. Her eyes fall further to the handle, where for the past few days since she woke up, she's been working on copying Chuck's carving into the wood in remembrance of the small sweet boy.

"This place is for you. It's for all of us," Vince continues, turning and pointing his own knife towards the large stone placed a few feet behind him, "But this. . . this is for them," He shows his knife, "So, in your own time, in your own way. . . come make your peace," He stabs the weapons down into the table below him before raising his mug once more, "And welcome to the Safe Haven."

The crowd breaks out into cheers and Thomas moves his hands to clap them together while Evelyn just studies the large group, her jaw clenching as more images of the Gladers past through her mind.

She spends so long on the verge of crying that she misses most of her friends climbing down from around her to go enjoy the night with the rest of the Safe Haven people. A gentle hand on her lower back snaps her mind back into the present and she looks over at her boyfriend.

He smiles, causing a gentle smirk to form on her lips. His hand moves to her arm and he slowly pulls her closer to him so her temple is resting on his shoulder. He drops his own head to lay atop of hers as they watch their close friends enjoy the night.

"Look at him," Eve snorts quietly as she watches Minho dance around the fire with Gally cackling at him.

Thomas laughs at the sight too, though a little too loudly as seen as soon as the noise leaves his lips, Minho's head snaps their way and his finger raises to point at them.

"Why are you laughing at me?" He shouts, and begins to jog up towards the couple, causing Thomas to chuckle and Evelyn to groan.

"YOU ALL WANT SOME FOOD?" Frypan's voice booms over the crowd, causing Evelyn's back to straighten at his word and she's soon standing up.

She pats Thomas' shoulder, "I'm sorry for leaving you but I have missed Frypan's food so much," She smirks, beginning to descend the stairs towards the cook, "You want anything?"

Thomas smiles, as he motions for her to go, "Just get me whatever," He watches as she nods in understanding before practically running towards Fry, who stands with open arms and catches her in a hug.

Minho lowers himself down beside Thomas, noticing how the boy's eyes follow Evelyn's every move carefully, "Hey, she's gonna be okay here," He hums, "This is gonna be a good home for her, for all us," He nudges Thomas, finally getting the dark haired boy to look at him.

"Yeah," Thomas agrees before his eyes drop to his intertwined hands.

Sighing at his friend's obvious sadness, Minho digs his hand into his jacket pocket and brings out the necklace. He dangles it in front of Thomas, "You had this on you while you were passed out."

With cinched brows, Thomas reaches out and slowly curls his fingers around the metal cylinder attached to the string. He recognises it to be Newt's necklace that the blonde forced him to take just moments before it happened.

"Figured I'd keep it safe for you," Minho says.

Thomas runs his fingers over the rough string and the cold metal as he nods, "Thanks, Minho."

Eyes full of sympathy, Minho begins to raise from the seat while patting Thomas' shoulder one last time before he leaves, "See you out there."

Thomas finally snaps his head up to watch as his friend leaves him alone, "See ya," He calls quietly, earning a smile over the shoulder from Minho.

Sucking in a deep breath, Thomas wraps the dark string around his fingers before pulling the cap from the cylinder and noticing the edge of rough paper sticking up from the top. Curiosity getting the best of him, he pulls out the sheets and unrolls them to reveal his best friend's shaky handwriting. Quickly, he folds the sheets and raises a hand to cover his mouth as he realises what Newt did. He left Thomas a letter, knowing he was going to die.

Lowering his hand and biting his lip anxiously, Thomas begins to read while attempting to keep his hands still.

" Dear Thomas,

This is the first letter I can remember writing. Obviously, I don't know if I wrote any before the maze. But even if it's not my first, it's likely to be my last. "

Thomas swallows thickly with tears already falling from his eyes.

" I want you to know that I'm not scared. Well, not of dying, anyway. It's more forgetting. It's losing myself to this virus. That's what scares me.

So every night I've been saying their names out loud. Alby, Ben, Winston, Chuck. And I just repeat them over and over, like a prayer. . . and it all comes flooding back. Just the little things, like the way the sun used to hit the Glade at the perfect moment right before it slipped beneath the walls. And I remember the taste of Frypan's stew, and the sound of Evelyn's true laugh. I never thought I'd miss Fry's food so much. "

Thomas attempts to chuckle at the light joke, but it comes out as a quiet sob.

" And I remember you. I remember the first time you came up in the box. Just a scared little Greenie who couldn't even remember his own name.

But from that moment you ran into the maze, I knew I would follow you anywhere. And I have. We all have.

If I could do it all over again, I would and I wouldn't change a thing.

And my hope for you. . . is that when you're looking back years for now. . . you'll be able to say the same.

The future's in your hands now, Tommy. And I know you'll find a way to do what's right. You always have.

Take care of everyone for me, and please don't let Eve ruin herself again. And take of yourself. You deserve to be happy.

Thank you for being my friend.

Goodbye, mate.

— Newt. "

Thomas let's out a sob, quickly tucking the two crumpled sheets into his jacket pocket before covering his face with both of his hands. He sucks in a deep breath, feeling the wetness of his cheeks on his palm.

And then he hears her.

"TOMMY!" She shouts, and he immediately drops his hands and searches for her. His gaze landing on her near the fire, stood up and waving her arms for him, a kebab in one of her hands. He laughs and smiles back at her before pushing from the seat and making his way over.

When he reaches her, she's stood by the large rock with her own knife curled in her fist and she passes him Fry's kebab before beginning to knock the blade against the rough surface. She had a lot of practice from carving names into stone, due to the mural on the maze wall. Thomas's hand rests on her back while she works carefully, making sure to do her friends justice. And the she takes a step back, revealing the name to her friend's.

In the middle of Newt, Chuck, Alby, Winston and Jeff is B E N. A boy she had grown very fond to in her three years of calling the Glade home. He was a gentle and quiet soul, completely the opposite to Evelyn, but their runs through the maze were always her favourite. She would even bunk off Minho to go run with Ben. She adored him, and wishes she had shown how much he meant to her before he went on the run that morning.

Rolling her shoulders back and swallowing thickly to suppress her tears, Evelyn turns on her heel to look up at Thomas, her head slightly tilted when she notices his red eyes.

"You okay?" She asks quietly, grabbing his hand and walking the both of them to a log around the fire.

He hums, "I'm okay."

༒

EVELYN WATCHES FROM her hammock as Thomas carves a name into the remembrance stone before making his way down onto the beach by himself. This morning she had been woken up as he climbed out of their hammock and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead before slinking away. Taking in the bright morning and gentle breeze from the sea, she stayed awake but chose not to join him on his stroll.

He needed some time, she understand that better than anyone. And when he disappears around the edge of the cliff further along the beach, she smiles gently and slips back into the large hammock. Her fingers trace the finished carvings on the knife handle as she waits for his return.

An hour later, Evelyn awoke again from the slumber she had accidentally fallen into. Noticing the absence for her boyfriend still, she quietly slipped through the swinging hammocks filled with her friends and rushed down to the beach with bare feet and nothing but a tank top and shorts covering her body. Squinting her eyes, she notices Thomas sat on the sand and she begins to make her way over.

Feeling her lower herself down beside him, Thomas smiles gently, "I was wondering when you'd follow me."

Evelyn rolls her eyes, "I didn't follow you. I'm just here to keep you company. I am one for alone time, but eventually it gets lonely and scary," She drops her head to his shoulder, "Wouldn't want you to be scared now, would we?"

He chuckles, looking down at her as best he can without moving his body, "I'm fairly sure you're the scariest thing here."

"Oh," She scoffs, "Is that you trying to be nice and tell me to leave?"

He shakes his head almost instantly, "No, god no. That's me telling you that if you're the scariest thing here then I'm fine. I think I got past being on your bad side a while ago."

She purses her lips, "That's what you think."

He moves one hand up to her cheek and pulls her head from his shoulder before he drops his lips to hers, pressing a kiss on her lips, "I'm pretty sure."

She rolls her eyes and kisses him once more, smiling against his lips eagerly as her hand raises to the back of his head and runs through his soft hair. She pulls away slightly, resting her forehead against his, "I love you."

He beams back at her, thumb gently stroking her cheek, "I love you too."

THE END.

. . .

omg we did it
it's over like completely
sobbing and dying 
what am i going to do without eve