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Despite the world around him spinning constantly, there is one being Thomas keeps his eye on from the moment he arrives in the Box, and that is the boy with the burning glare. The first thing Thomas even fixes his gaze upon as the Box opens above him is the disgruntled face belonging to this Glader, their boots hitting the ringing metal which surrounds him.
The stranger grabs him, hauling his frame up and into the light like he weighs nothing. With no idea where he is and no mental information to bounce back upon, Thomas briefly assumes he has passed to some sort of afterlife.
As soon as this fantasy has been wiped from Thomas' mind, reality slamming into him, curiosity creeps in. Thomas questions and no answer satisfies the hunger that has started to boil within his bones, coaxing him towards the high walls which cage him.
It is the same boy who breaks him from his trance, shoving him to the ground with inhuman power. The impact of his spine connecting with the dirt hurts, but what burns him is how insignificant he feels in this stranger's presence. From where Thomas finds himself sprawled out on the ground, the boy looks as tall and mighty as the stone walls, and Thomas may as well be an ant about to be crushed under his heel.
His name is Gally, and Thomas does not like him.
He does not like the attitude Gally has given him, he does not like the moonshine Gally has brewed, and he definitely does not like it when Gally invites him to fight.
It is only when his own name finally comes to him, and Gally is shaking his hand, that Thomas realises how just maybe.. he's been too quick to judge the builder — the Keeper of the builders, powered by lingering grief over a gone life he'd only caught glimpses of from something Thomas soon learns to call the "Changing."
If Thomas could start over, there's a chance he may have understood Gally and all he stood for sooner, but in the present he can spare no time for that as his body carries itself into the Maze in a futile act of bravery.
It is life Thomas fights for all night. Not just his own, but Alby's, and Minho's too. As he runs, nothing can touch him. The shackles of the world inside of the Glade no longer weigh him down. Thomas only even remembers that time hasn't paused for him in there the next morning as the adrenaline dies away, embers going cold.
Apparently, killing a Griever was far more dangerous than Thomas had originally thought, because the genuine passion Gally speaks with almost convinces him that the world might now end. But this isn't the problem Thomas feels Gally truly souring towards him for. The arrival of the girl is what fractures whatever peace could've been scavenged between them.
Gally knows Thomas is at fault, and deep down, Thomas is pained by how correct Gally really is. Yet he only lets himself admit it as Gally's fist connects with his face, pressure exploding through his skull and sending the ground toward him. Thomas leaves in the morning, Gally's face the final thing he sees before turning his back on the Glade forever.
What Thomas doesn't expect is how the builder returns like a ghost to his mind, stood in front of him with desperate eyes and a shaky fist.
Losing Chuck to Gally solidifies the venom within Thomas. He does not like Gally.
The Scorch numbs the pain at first. Thomas prefers the endless travelling through dusty terrain outstretched for miles over the Wicked compound, with its Maze-like walls and hours of sterile silence. Nothing distracting his mind for those long periods of nothingness was shredding him apart, starting from the inside of his chest. When his eyes closed, Chuck and Gally would be laying there, rotting.
The Scorch numbs the pain at first. Thomas treats each step like karma for his failures. They loose some people along the way, but the days bleed into one, stealing all sense of time alongside the faces left behind. All Thomas is sure of is that Gally's shadow is looming over him at all times.
The Scorch numbs the pain at first. Until it doesn't.
At the sight of shelter at last, Thomas allows relief to fill him, paired with guilt over who he knows should be standing beside him. However, this sanctuary is stolen from him soon after, Wicked destroying whatever they can reach, and taking away Minho. Minho — the one Glader Thomas has always relied on, the strongest person he knows, and also the scariest human Thomas has come across ever.
It's Thomas who leads the others to rescue the Runner, then when that fails, it's him again who maps his way toward the Last City, Newt and Frypan on his heels.
He never planned to meet Gally again. Thomas can't tell which wound the sight of Gally's face opens. His grief over Chuck? Or the secret hole in him the disappearance of Gally from his life caused? Nonetheless, anger explodes from him.
Gally is not dead. Maybe Thomas wants him dead, but Gally is not dead. When they get Minho back, Newt dies, Teresa dies, but Gally is not dead. Gally is the reason Chuck is dead, Thomas is the reason everyone else is dead.
Despite his efforts to slowly blend into the background in the Haven, Thomas finds he cannot vanish, as people look to him still when they're worried. Not just the people who know him as a Cure, but the people who have always been with him, and even Gally. Thomas hates it, but knows he is a hypocrite for it, as he too looks to someone when he starts believing the world is going to fall from beneath his feet again.
It's not like him and Gally are friends — Thomas doubts that will ever happen — but Gally's mere existence here in the Haven is a symbol to him; perseverance.
Time stretches from day to day, everyone around him changing in their own ways. Thomas starts noticing the small things. How Minho willingly falls asleep beside Jorge and Vince. The way Frypan hums to himself when he thinks no one can hear him. Each new day Brenda wakes to, fears of the Flare fading.
At first, Thomas believes he is the only one lacking any sort of progress, but watching Gally erases this doubt from his mind. Gally used to be loud, commanding and pushy. Nowadays, Gally is easily the quietest in every room. Thomas assumes Gally has made a shell around himself to hide from the world around him, but there's a possibility that he might just be.. quiet. And Thomas can get used to that.
They have a secret routine they share, unknown to everyone. Once the lights are all out and the birds are silent, Thomas sits outside, breathing in the clear air beside the sea, wondering when he'll start feeling okay again. Gally walks by, and for the night, they are the only two people on earth.
It is the sea Gally treads carefully to, submerging himself beneath the bubbling waves after removing his clothes and laying them neatly on the sands. Thomas often debates offering to hold them and protect them from the dust, but the confidence hasn't found him just yet.
He'll never admit it, but Thomas' eyes don't shy from Gally from the moment his footsteps start to crunch against the beach floor, to when he leaves and Thomas is alone once more. He feels ashamed for allowing his eyes to stray in this way, but Gally never shows discontent.
When Thomas lies awake at night, nails picking at the scab on his chest and allowing it to bleed all over again just like it had in the Last City, the image of Gally's bare back follows him. Muscular shoulders, an indented scar over the left side of his back from where the spear came out, and another web of scarring on the right side of his waist that looks as if it came from a Griever sting.
Thomas pictures Gally wading into the water, washing all his worries away for the evening, floating freely in the waves.
As a month passes, Thomas finds the only thing he can do without failing or letting anyone down is continue writing in the darkness. He writes until his hand cramps, filling up pages and pages of thoughts and memories and things he never got to say until dawn breaks. His life at Wicked takes up the most space. Even when his eyes lift to watch Gally once again march down the beach and strip, his pencil never stops moving.
Gally swims until his lung cannot take it. Thomas notices that. The energy Gally holds when entering the water is far stronger from when he escapes it, his body developing a slight shake that Gally himself doesn't pick up on as he walks back up the beach, catching Thomas' eye.
Everyone else is starting life anew here, healing, growing. Why not them?
Frypan is laughing with people again. Brenda has been known to show off her bite scar to some of the younger kids. Minho… well, he's been running himself into the ground harder than Thomas has, but he's told Thomas that's how he copes, so Thomas won't push him. Nonetheless, everyone is dealing with what they've seen in their own ways. Everyone is claiming this island as a new home. Why not them?
It's this revelation which pushes Thomas to say something to following night before Gally inevitably succumbs and fails to free himself of the sea.
"It's too cold to swim."
Winter is upon them, harsher than it was in the Glade. Thomas cannot quite understand how Gally is the reason everyone has a safe place to sleep through these conditions, but still moves to the water after sundown like moths to a flame. Thomas sucks in a breath, knowing that he has spoken aloud during one of their passing nights which are usually quieter than silence.
"The water's warm enough." Gally responds coolly, but his eyes are blank, as if he is moving on autopilot. He starts to move towards the sea anyway, and anxiety prickles in the tips of Thomas' fingers, making them twitch.
Before Thomas knows it, his hand has shot out and grabbed Gally's bony wrist, his skin a few degrees colder than Thomas' already. Gally stops, and nothing more happens. The silence doesn't shatter, the skies don't come crashing down, and Gally doesn't rip his arm away.
They both stand motionless with sand at their feet and a breeze that pushes away from the sea caressing their bodies. It takes a few moments, but Thomas' grip slips away even as his eyes remain completely fixed on Gally, waiting.
"You should get some sleep." Gally's words come out slow, and already Thomas feels as if the builder is trying to place a wall between them. He shuts it down quickly.
"I can't," His mind drifts off, pain creeping up through his ribs, "It's too quiet here. All I can think about is what I can't hear."
Thomas doesn't dare to explain further. Gally understands. How couldn't he? The pair of them are both trying to cope in their own ways without Newt guiding them away from trouble, or Chuck encouraging them toward it.
It feels like a breath of fresh air when Gally offers, "For me, it's too loud." and the makeshift wall Gally had begun to work on collapses completely, "I can’t shut it out. Every time I hear footsteps, I hear them going into the Maze and not returning. I hear them screaming as the doors close. I hear metal scraping over rock and I’m crossing out names again, my knife against the wall."
Fighting the urge to ask, Thomas can only guess who Gally is remembering. Ben? Alby? Everyone else? The thought if it being himself doesn't even cross him.
"We’re here, Gally. We made it out. Why haven’t we moved on?" Thomas swallows, the words feeling heavy in his throat.
And what Gally follows with makes Thomas' brows furrow; "What are we even supposed to be moving towards? Face it, Thomas, Safe Haven is still in a state of limbo between a survival camp and whatever we’re making it into, but I don’t see any sort of definite end goal. Everyone’s so concerned with living another day that no one wants anything to end. We all keep working to prevent stasis by any means necessary, but I don’t think either you or me does well with infinite possibility."
Being not quite sure what to think of that, Thomas blinks, "Huh." Then after a beat, feels bad for not replying to Gally's intricate words properly, so he adds, "That would explain it." as he slides aside on the bench.
Fortunately, Gally doesn't criticise him for his lack of wisdom, but instead laughs, a sound Thomas never thought he would ever hear. It's pretty, making his heart leap despite himself, and in one way it sounds hopeful. Like he is taking a glimpse into the childish side of Gally he seldom got to meet.
Gally sits down beside him, their bodies pressed from the shoulders all the way down to the floor and whilst Thomas tries not to acknowledge it, he realises that he is smiling, the expression feeling foreign on his face after so much hardship. His smile only grows when Gally leans into him slightly, an extra ounce of pressure that roots Thomas to the ground and stops him from feeling so distant to the world around him.
They end up watching the sun rise over the horizon as the fire continues to crackle in front of them, orange flames lighting up their faces and pouring warmth across their bodies despite the season.
Sound beginning to rise from the islanders all around, Thomas eventually finds the energy to stand up, and he looks down at Gally, extending his hand.
Gally takes it. Neither of them let go.