Chapter Text
chapter 1:
Thomas dies from WICKED and a cure is found. Changed Death Cure ending
Everyone got their memories back, and Newt and Sonya were sitting in a corner together, tear-stained faces, but smiling. Sonya was excitedly talking to her big brother, making big hand motions out of excitement. Teresa was resting her head on Thomas’s shoulder, both feeling content for once. WICKED had saved them, and apparently, they were close to a cure. They were analyzing the data from their killzones.
“Thomas? We need you quickly, please.” Chancellor Paige said, opening the door to their small room. Thomas glanced at Teresa, who nodded at him. He followed the Chancellor out the door and was gone.
A little while later, Sonya had fallen asleep, and Newt was protectively holding her close, as if he alone could stop anything bad from happening to her. Teresa looked as Thomas re-entered their small room, a grim expression on his face.
“What?” Teresa asked quickly, “What happened? Thomas…?” He didn’t respond. Just looked at the ground. He wouldn’t meet Teresa’s gaze. She knew something was up, but didn’t want to probe him more and let it go.
*A day later.*
“No more trials!” Teresa excitedly exclaimed.
“Yeah. They better not be lying.” Newt threatened. He was still unsure of WICKED and hated them. But, no trials meant there was likely a cure almost made.
“Aren’t you happy, Tommy?” Newt asked, noticing how Thomas had been quiet.
“Yeah, you’ve been quiet… and you’re never quiet,” Teresa added. Thomas let out a strained chuckle at her attempt at some kind of joke.
“We can get a cure,” Thomas stated. Teresa and Newt looked at each other, confused. A cure was a good thing. What was making Thomas so sad?
“But a cure’s good,” Teresa countered.
“I know. But to get it… they need to look at my brain physically. They said I… I need to be alive for the surgery, but um… I kinda won’t wake up from the surgery. Ever,” Thomas explained.
“No,” was all Teresa said. Newt just looked at the ground and seemed to be thinking about their situation.
“I’m going to do it,” Thomas added.
“No. You’re not doing that. It’s crazy! Look, we need a cure really bad, but-” Teresa tried to convince him, but Thomas remained stone-faced.
“I’m going to do it. You can’t stop me,”
“We’ve already lost a lot of people. If I lose you too… I… no. Don’t do this.”
“It’s scheduled to be in an hour.”
At that, Newt seemed to snap out of whatever stunned state he was in. He looked at Thomas, and anyone could see the desperation in his eyes. He said nothing to his friend, but Thomas knew what he was saying. They looked at each other, but Thomas looked away first. Not bearing that look anymore.
“I have to do this. Newt - you’re not immune, man. You need to be cured. Or you’ll…” That sentence was never finished, but everyone knew what the end was.
“You…” Newt walked away from his friend, leaving Thomas and Teresa alone. In the distance, they could hear Newt talking to someone. It sounded like Sonya. They’d been talking almost non-stop. About the mazes, the glades, even the scorch.
Teresa stared at Thomas blankly. Her mind was running at 100 miles per hour, and she had no thoughts at the same time. The two looked at each other for a long while. They couldn’t speak in each other’s minds anymore or have that connection. But they knew what the other was feeling and thinking. They could see it in the other’s eyes. In the other’s body language.
55 minutes.
Teresa ran over the small distance between her and Thomas and latched onto him like a lifeline, holding him tighter than she ever had. He’d never actually been going to die. Just… a small possibility. Now it was certain.
50 minutes.
They had fallen to the floor and were sitting, still in each other’s arms. They had never openly confessed their love for each other. They never could. Only in other ways, they had. Thomas knew Teresa needed him. Loved him. Teresa knew that he loved her. And she knew that she almost needed him to live.
45 minutes.
Teresa turned and looked Thomas in the eyes. She tried to make sense of what was going through his head, but she couldn’t read him.
40 minutes.
By this point, Teresa was basically sitting in Thomas’s lap, and their hands were intertwined. Thomas’s thumb was tracing small, random patterns on the back of Teresa’s hand. They both felt the tears fall from Teresa’s face to their hands, but neither said anything. Nothing at all.
30 minutes.
“I love you.” The words were so quiet, so softly spoken, Thomas wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “Please, please don’t do this,” Thomas responded by turning her face to look at his. She shifted around, so they were face-to-face. His hand lingered on her chin.
“You know better than me that I have to.” But before Teresa could respond, Thomas leaned forward and kissed her. She was shocked for a split second, but kissed him back. It only broke when Teresa started crying again and fell into his arms, holding him tight.
25 minutes.
“You are the dumbest Shank I've ever seen,” Minho told Thomas, standing at the door. Teresa was still sobbing against Thomas, and as he tried to respond, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
“I get saving the world, but… man, the world can wait. We need ya,” Minho’s usual sas was still there, but he was much more serious now.
20 minutes.
Newt came back into the room, and it didn’t seem like the 40 minutes had helped at all. Minho was sitting beside Thomas and Teresa, and she was still sobbing uncontrollably.
“Tommy, you can’t do this, mate. You can’t be the hero this time,” Newt said.
“I’m sorry. Okay? But… I used to tell myself we’d never find a cure. Now we can. I can help people. So they aren’t like… my dad. Or the Cranks in the scorch,” Thomas countered.
“That’s great and all, but… If I… we… None of us can afford to lose you!” Teresa managed through sobs.
“I’m sorry,” Thomas said. Then he got up and headed out the door to the operating room.
0 minutes.
A cure was found.
A cure was distributed.
People were cured.
The world was saved.
But three people weren’t.
“You loved him?” Newt asked Teresa.
“Yes,” was all she could say.
“Me too.” The silence stretched on.
***
Minho had started running through the WICKED halls as though they were the maze. He needed something else to think about, and pretending he was in the Glade was just that.
Teresa was in the glade, looking at a red dot on the wall that wasn’t really there. The same one she’d programmed years ago with Thomas.
Newt confided in Sonya. She’d lost Rachel, and he’d lost Thomas. It wasn’t nearly the same, but it was all they needed. They were each other’s safe space.
No one would ever really be okay again.