Light ➳ TST, Thomas [2] ✓

Chapter {16}

There we both stood, at the turn of the tides between death and freedom, for the first time after long lingering years that we had seen each other, face to face with a woman who had made us all suffer for a weak purpose, fell apart in the end.

I was calm, at least as calm as I could appear as I kept horrible things that had happened at the bay, locked behind a tight expression of a impassiveness and shifted slightly under Ava's gaze. All the commotion died down for just a second, as then pushed up to the surface again as shouting, metal pings and distressed speech snapped me from that state.

"Stand back! Stand back!" I whirled to see Thomas, urgently swinging a granade of sorts toward WICKED guards who had aimed their weaponry at him, yet neither him nor the guards took another step into the brewing fight.

"Everyone, hold your fire." Jansons approached the boy, commanding voice pushing back the guns of his guards.

"Stand back, let 'em go!"

"Thomas, put it down." Janson lifted a hand in the air, hovering above as in surrender, his calm voice tried yet to no avail to make Thomas reconsider.

"Let them all go!" He ordered, strained and heavy his words sounded.

"You know I can't do that." Ava stepped besides Janson, eyeing the boy in whose eyes danced a flame of fright, yet he did not fall to the horrifying thought of ending like that- at least WICKED would stop inflicting pain and suffering we had lived through until now.

"Thomas please stop." Teresa tried to reason. "I made a deal with them. They promised we'd be safe. All of us." The girl tried to convince us, tried to gain just a bare few, light strings of trust back; I saw in Thomas's eyes he would never instill any of it in Teresa and I did agree, however horrible it might be I never saw myself believing her again.

"And I'm supposed to trust you now?" Thomas added, snapped at the girl.

"It's true, it was her only condition!" Ava answered, drawing her eyes upward to the happenings, to me who had moved away and toward Thomas, ready to admit myself to anything, pain, death only so they wouldn't be able to get us anymore.

"Shut up!" Thomas yelled out, silencing the useless attempt Ava had taken at convincing him otherwise.

"Everything can go back to the way it was. Thomas...do you want them all to die?" Ava's voice suddenly earned some fake sympathy, dripping down with it guilt and regret which was only as an effect to make Thomas drop his plan, give up.

"Listen to her, Thomas. Think about what you're doing." Janson continued, still and calm his eyes followed every move we made as they stayed trained on me, watching me stumble toward Thomas and his arm embrace me closer to his side as emotions bubbled uncontrollably inside of me- I wasn't going to let myself be tortured again, yet if there was no other option to sense freedom, sadness would not push it away for me.

"If I have to die," My voice cracked as it came to a sudden halt, noticing for the first time guilt had built in Ava's eyes. "At least let it be by your side." A tear rolled down my cheek again, as if they had never even stopped and marred for a moment a sight of three people in front of me.

There were second of silent expecting, broken when all three of my Glader friends stepped into a tight group around Thomas. "We're with you, Thomas." Newt concluded.

"Don't." Ava slowly moved forward, a wish on her pained face to break us apart, step between us and the only way to freedom.

"Do it, Thomas." Minho encouraged the boy whose grip on that granade tightened, knuckles turning white as we all grew relentless and unsteady, torn between a decision which could define if our journey was over there and a thought of coming back to them.