The Maze Runner Fanfiction

Title: Scars Are Just Another Kind of Memory

A Thomesa fanfiction.

Summary: Teresa views the scars she left on Thomas for the first time.

'Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real'-Cormac McCarthy

"Mmmmmmmm….." Teresa moaned, as Thomas trailed kisses down her neck, "Keep doing that!"

Thomas continued kissing the exposed flesh, occasionally sucking and nipping her neck, before bringing his head back up to meet her lips. Their lips met in a slow and passionate kiss that irked moans out of both of them.

Slowly, Thomas opened his mouth and licked Teresa's lips, asking for permission. She opened her mouth, granting the permission and their tongues began to collide in a hot, forbidden dance that only they knew the steps to, a sweet dual for dominance.

Thomas pressed Teresa harder against the wall, and immediately her hands flew up to his head and secured their grip in his gorgeous, soft, messy, dark brown hair.

"I love you." Thomas murmured against Teresa's lips.

"I love you too." Teresa breathlessly responded.

It was hard to believe that just six hours ago they hadn't been talking and Thomas was mad at her. Immediately, Teresa's mind flashed back to the first time they had talked, truly talked, since they had been taken to 'paradise' or better yet known as WICKED's lab.

*FLASHBACK*

Teresa sat by herself in the corner of WICKED's main room. She was silently biting her lip while thinking over everything she had done for WICKED. She wasn't too sure they were all for the better and was beginning to doubt her choice to trust WICKED's judgement.

But...then again the only thing she had written on her arm when she woke up in the Glade was WICKED is good. Why would she write that if she had previously thought otherwise? It just wasn't making sense to her. And on top of all that, the thought of Thomas still lingered in the back of her mind.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see three people entering the room and ultimately disturbing her train of thought. She turned her head in their direction and found the intruders to be Minho, Newt and...the one guy she had been pining over, Thomas.

"All I'm saying is that I don't trust these WICKED klunks. They look like bad news to me." Newt said.

"I agree with shuck face over here!" Minho added "I say we leave this place before they start experimenting on us!"

"And if they try to stop us?" Thomas questioned.

"Then they can personally meet THESE babies!" Minho exclaimed, striking a body builder pose. "I call 'em Thunder and Lightning! Those shucks won't stand a chance!"

Thomas rolled his eyes fondly and replied, "We should at least..." He drifted off, finally noticing Teresa in the room. Immediately, their previously lively conversation came to an abrupt halt, and the room suddenly seemed impossibly quiet.

Teresa cleared her throat in an effort to stop the awkward silence, and managed to get out a soft "Hi."

Minho whipped around to see who had spoken and instantly became annoyed at the sight before him.

"Oh. It's you." Minho sneered.

Teresa had known that Minho was not her biggest fan- especially after what she had done to Thomas, but the comment still hurt.

Newt, now noticing the thick tension in the room, turned to Minho and muttered, "I think we should go now. They obviously have some...things to talk about."

"Fine. But you mess with or hurt my boy Thomas, and I will rip your bloody eyeballs out of your face and make them watch while I torture the rest of your shuck body. Got that?" Minho threatened.

Teresa nodded meekly in response and then proceeded to watch the pair exit the room, leaving Thomas and her all alone. For a couple seconds the room was filled with the eerie silence again, creating both an uncomfortable and unnecessary atmosphere between the two. Finally, Teresa opened her mouth, bursting with the anticipation of talking to Thomas for the first time in days.

"Thomas, I just want to say I'm sorry for everything I..."

"I don't want to hear it." Thomas interrupted.

"What?"

"I said I don't want to hear it." Thomas replied coldly, lifting his head up to look her in the eyes.

"But...but Thomas I'm sorry!" she cried.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." he said attempting to walk away. Teresa stood from her chair and ran to catch up with him. She grabbed onto his arm and turned him around, forcing him to face her. As soon as she saw his face she gasped in surprise and nearly let go of his arm. His once beautiful and bright brown eyes were now filled with hurt and despair. He had bags under them and his playful smile had vanished entirely from his face. She could even see the faint tear streaks staining his cheeks. Had she caused that? Her guilt grew ten times bigger from seeing his face, if that was even possible.

"Tom, everything I did, I did it to protect you!"

"Even kissing Aris?"

"What?"

"You kissed Aris right in front of me! You told me HE was your best friend!" Thomas screamed.

"Oh Tom!"

"I loved you, you know?"

"Y...you loved me?" Teresa squeaked.

"I do. I mean I did. I mean, I don't know. But when you were making out with Aris right in front of me, and laughing, I was fully 100% in love with you. And I was stupid enough to think you actually liked me too. I..I thought our kiss meant something to you. I thought...I thought I meant something to you! Do you know how it feels to have your heart broken by having the person you love say someone else is their best friend?! And then have your heart shatter when they kiss that someone else RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"But Tom, I do love you."

"Then why did you have to break my heart?" Thomas croaked, finally collapsing in a sobbing mess on the floor.

Teresa knelt down right beside him, took his face in her hands and gently wiped away the tears.

"Tom, I didn't want to do any of it, but I couldn't take the risk of you possibly bring killed. I love you too much to let that happen. And yes Tom I do love you. You and only you. Not Aris, nor anybody else because they are not you! I truly am sorry for everything I've done to you, and I just hope you can forgive me." Teresa confessed.

Thomas let out a few more sniffles before looking Teresa directly in the eyes.

"I...I'll try. I still love you but what you did hurt me more than anything I've ever experienced."

"I promise I won't do something like that again. Ever." Teresa replied

"I want there to be an us, but we are going to have to take it slow." Thomas continued.

"Does that mean you can't kiss me yet?" Teresa whispered in Thomas' ear.

"Oh no. I can kiss you whenever I want."

"Then why hav..." Teresa was interrupted by Thomas bringing their lips together, and starting to slowly kiss her.

"Shut up." Thomas murmured against her lips.

"Gladly." She replied before reconnecting their lips once more.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

Teresa was soon brought out of her memory by the sensation of Thomas gently sucking her earlobe.

"T..Thomas!" she moaned. "What happened to g..going slow?"

"Shuck that!" was his only response.

Immediately, she brought her hands down to the hem of his t-shirt and pulled the fabric up over his head. Her gaze was instantly brought down to his bare chest. Teresa was delighted at what she saw, chiseled muscles, strong arms and...oh god! He had a six pack! She swore she almost started drooling, when suddenly she noticed the start of an angry red mark along the side of his abdomen trailing to his back.

"Tom." she mumbled.

"Hmm." he replied still trailing kisses all over her face and neck.

"What is this?"

"What is what?"

"What is this?" she exclaimed, pulling her face away from him to show him the marks.

"Ohhh. Those are just some scars I got." he answered, leaning his head back in to meet hers.

"Where did you get them? And what do you mean those? There's more!?"

"Uhhhh, you know it doesn't really matter. Why don't you just ignore them, and we can go back to..."

"No Tom. I want to know what happened to you. Now turn around so I can see the rest."

"But..."

"Tom." Teresa urged, sending him one of her glares.

Thomas let out a nervous sigh before turning around revealing...several of those marks! Teresa let out a gasp as she eyed Thomas' back that was decorated with loads of those jagged, angry red marks and a couple dark purple bruises. Some varied in length and depth, but all looked extremely painfully. She carefully traced one of the worse scars with her left hand. It had gone all the way from right below his shoulder to his hip in a diagonal line. Almost as soon as she had touched the mark she felt Thomas wince in pain underneath her. She quickly removed her hand, cursing herself for thinking it was okay to touch his scars.

"Thomas," she whispered "Who did this to you?"

"It's not really important." Thomas tried to say.

"Please...I want to know who hurt you!" she insisted.

"You're not going to like it." he warned.

"That's...that's alright. I just need answers."

Thomas exhaled quickly and said, "Do you remember when you were with Group B and you guys kidnapped me from the Gladers?" Teresa hastily nodded. "Well when you guys stuffed me in the bag and dragged me up the mountain, eventually I didn't have enough strength to hold myself up and I had to just let my back take all the blows of being scraped on the ground. Every rock I hit, every bump we crossed, every time you guys dropped me, a new scar formed. And you kicking and hitting me added to them as well. But I'm okay now, so don't worry about it."

As soon as Thomas finished talking the realisation dawned on her, and she was brought back to the time that she had created these scars.

*FLASHBACK*

"One!" she had just shouted, counting until she was to kill one of the Gladers with an arrow, just like WICKED had instructed her.

Without a second thought, Thomas walked toward Teresa until they stood almost nose to nose.

"Fine," he said. "Take me."

Teresa had to resist fondly rolling her eyes. She knew he would never put his friends' safety at risk. It was one of the reasons she loved him. But she had to remind herself that she couldn't show these emotions right now. Her only mission was to make Thomas feel betrayed, no matter how much it hurt her.

"I only made it to one." she called out.

"Yeah. I'm really brave that way."

There he went again. Saying things that made her want to give up her mission, but she couldn't risk a dead Thomas. So instead she hit him hard with her spear. So hard apparently that he dropped to the ground in pain, and spat out blood on the dirt. She inwardly cringed for hurting him, but she was determined that this was the only way.

"Bring the bag," Teresa ordered.

Two of the girls walked towards him with their burlap sack in their hands ready to put him in. Teresa turned towards the Gladers and yelled out, "We're taking him with us! If anybody follows, I'll hit him again and we'll start shooting you. We won't really bother aiming. Just let the arrows fly any old way they feel like."

She silently prayed that no one would say anything that would cause her to have to harm Thomas, but of course Minho had to open his big mouth.

"Teresa! You catch the Flare that quickly? Your mind's obviously gone already."

She had to keep her promise, WICKED's orders, so she quickly smashed the butt of her spear into the back of Thomas' head, and prayed no permanent damage would be done.

"Anything else you wanna say?" she asked, hoping no one would speak up. Thankfully no one did and so she said, "Didn't think so. Put the bag over him."

She carefully watched as the girls held the open end of the sack directly above his head before muttering something to Thomas. In a couple seconds, Thomas had been put into the bag and they were ready to go.

Teresa was thinking that no more trouble would be given when suddenly Thomas started squirming in the bag.

"Teresa! Don't do this to me!" he cried so desperately that her heart almost broke.

She was forced to react to his sudden outburst, and threw a punch at him near his stomach area. The sound he made nearly made her throw up and she forced herself to respond in a harsh manner.

"Since you obviously don't care about yourself, talk again and we'll start shooting your friends. That sound good to you?"

He didn't respond and Teresa didn't know what to think, but she continued on.

"I meant what I said! There won't be a warning. Follow us and the arrows start flying."

After she said that she knew she had to reassure Thomas about what she was doing. Even if it was in the slightest bit. So she leaned down to the bag, grabbed his head and started whispering in his ear.

"They're blocking me from talking to you in our heads. Remember to trust me." she said with as much sincerity as she could.

Unfortunately one of the girls just had to question this action.

"What're you saying to him?"

Immediately she responded, "I'm letting him know just how much I'm enjoying this. How much I'm enjoying my revenge. Do you mind?"

She had said that with so much arrogance she couldn't believe that those words were coming out of her mouth.

"Well," the girl responded. "Glad you're having so much fun. But we need to hurry."

"I know," Teresa responded.

She gripped the sides of Thomas' head again and whispered, "Hang in there. It'll be over soon."

She stood up right after, hoping not to draw any more attention to their interaction.

"Okay, let's get out of here. Make sure you hit as many rocks as you can along the way."

The girls followed her instructions and started walking and dragged him along behind them. Teresa walked right beside Thomas hoping to get another chance to talk to him along the way. She was grateful no one was causing a commotion and that she could get out of there as fast as she could, when again, Minho had to start yelling.

Teresa couldn't quite make out the words-she caught something's like "we'll find you" and "time is right" and "weapons"-but she knew that she had to react again. So she slammed her fist into Thomas' stomach again, which was effective in getting Minho to shut up. With a heart full of regret and worry for Thomas, they started across the desert, Thomas bouncing over the dirt like a sack of old clothes.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

"Oh my god." Teresa muttered quietly.

"Teresa?" Thomas questioned, turning around to look her in the eyes.

"I...I did this." she stuttered. "I...I am the one who hurt you."

The realisation almost killed her. She was the...the cruel monster responsible for the series of scars along Thomas' back. The ones that will forever ruin his perfect skin. Teresa felt sick to her stomach. This entire time she'd tried to so everything in her power to protect him, to keep him safe. When really, she was the one to have left permanent marks on him. Ones that must have hurt like hell.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. I did this. I DID THIS!" she repeated.

"Teresa, it's okay."

"No it's not okay! How do you not HATE me?!" she screamed.

"I could never hate you." Thomas replied.

"Well, you should! I'm...I'm a monster!"

"You're not a monster."

"YES I AM! I hurt you! I was so bad to even leave SCARS on you!" she shouted, finally collapsing in a crying mess on the floor.

Immediately, Thomas leaned down to where Teresa was and took her in his arms. She hugged him back and started to cry onto his shoulder. Thomas just continued to whisper sweet nothings in her ear and rub her back comfortingly. After about ten minutes of this, Teresa's sniffles finally came to an end, and Thomas gently tilted Teresa's head up so that he could look her in the eyes.

"You 'bout done now?" he asked concerned.

She, in response, just nodded.

"Teresa, I know that you never meant to hurt me and that you did what you thought would keep me safe. To me these scars on my back are NOT there to remind me how you hurt me, they're there to remind me that you loved me so much you were willing to do anything to keep me safe. And I love you for that. I will ALWAYS love you. It kills me to see you blaming yourself. So please don't! You're not a monster, you're not cruel and you're not stupid. You are a beautiful, smart, kind and funny girl who has always been there for me. Always ALWAYS remember that." Thomas finished.

"You really mean that?" Teresa asked timidly.

"Every last word." he replied.

"I guess, when you put it that way, it's not entirely my fault."

"Glad you see it my way." Thomas said throwing a crooked grin at her.

"Me too." Teresa responded resting her head against Thomas' so that their foreheads were touching.

"Now how about," Thomas whispered. "We go back to what we were doing before? I was really enjoying it."

Teresa let out a few giggles before wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing their lips back together. She smiled into this kiss, finally feeling better about the scars thing. She was on the road to forgiving herself for everything and it was all thanks to Thomas. I definitely won't mind keeping him around she thought as they continued to kiss on the floor. They blocked everything out except the other, nothing could disturb them. Until...

"YEAH shuck face! Get some!"

Oh, Minho.