Stardust - Thomas - Maze Runner

Chapter 27 - Believe

The plan was all set and everyone was already getting ready to put it in action. Selena had gotten a rather easy part of the plan. She said it was easy purely because Brenda seemed quite certain she could, somehow, sneak out almost forty kids from the WCKD compound somehow and, after a single conversation with the girl, Selena decided she didn't really need to worry about the technical parts of the plan.

"I've got it figured out, Selena, don't worry." Brenda had told the girl while the two of them got their things ready together since they would be, in fact, working side by side most of the time during the execution of this plan. "All you gotta do is keep an eye open to cover for me. But once we get to the bus, I promise I'll get us all in and out safely from the compound."

Brenda had inspired confidence when she had told Selena about her plan. Confidence in herself, her plan or, god forbid, the two of them as a team, Selena wasn't entirely sure. But, one way or the other, she was confident. Which gave Selena a good excuse to worry herself with something else going on inside her mind.

Thomas, as expected, had assigned himself the most difficult and dangerous part of their plan and, even though Selena knew Newt and Gally would be with him the whole time, the girl couldn't help but worry. They'd be sneaking into WCKD, dressed as guards, which, in itself already sounded very much insane, but, worse than that, they'd be doing that alongside Teresa who, for pretty obvious reasons, still didn't quite seem too excited with the prospect of helping them out with anything. She was still sulking, sitting off to the side as she glared at them all, her eyes lingering over Thomas more often than not and avoiding Selena's gaze whenever she felt the girl's eyes burning holes into her back. It was stupid, really, their plan, nearly suicidal. But it was the best that they had at the moment, so it would have to make do. They would have to make do with what they had.

A stupid plan, far too much hope and about six reckless kids. That was what they had. Not much at all to begin with and a lot less if they were to consider one of these kids seemed to be getting worse and worse by the hour. Selena knew. Ever since she had seen the way Newt had blown up at Thomas the day before during their argument about Teresa, Selena knew he was only getting worse. He hadn't told her with all the letters yet, but she didn't need him to. She was a medic before everything else, she could see the signs.

And it hurt her. It hurt her that she possibly had the solution to all of his troubles but she couldn't do anything about it. Not without the necessary equipment. Equipment that she'd only have back outside the walls with Lawrence or inside the WCKD compound, two places she wasn't exactly going to be welcomed with open arms in. Or at all. The only person who would, would be Teresa herself and, even though Selena knew her only chance at helping Newt would be her, she still couldn't bring herself to give the girl any more information than she already had. After all, if Selena did tell her that the answer to their problems was, in fact, Thomas' blood, who knew what she could do with it? Do with Thomas? And, worst of all... What if she told it to Ava Paige?

She couldn't risk that. So, instead, she kept her secret, planning in her head some way she could still help Newt while keeping Teresa as far away from them all as possible.

"Selena."

Her name sounded loud in her good ear and, when Selena jumped slightly from where she had been pretending to fix something in her bag while scheming by herself in her mind, she turned her head around to see Thomas crouched down by her, a small frown on his face as he looked her over, almost worried.

"Sorry. I just... I called you a few times and you didn't answer." He explained, to which Selena sighed.

"I didn't hear you." She said. And it was true. She didn't know if it had to do with the problem in her ear or the fact that she had been so inside her own mind she had tuned out everything else around her, but, one way or the other, she had completely missed how Thomas had tried to call out for her before. "Sorry."

"Are you okay?" Thomas asked, completely dismissing Selena's apology as he brought a hand up to rest against her cheek as he tilted her head to the side a little to check on her bad ear. "Is your hearing getting any worse?"

"Hard to say." She shrugged, pulling her head away from Thomas' hold when she felt her whole face burning up at the contact against his skin. "It's not great, but it's still manageable, I guess."

"I'm sorry." Thomas said, sounding as if he truly believed the fact that Selena had completely lost her hearing in one ear was actually his fault somehow.

"Don't be." Selena shook her head with a small smile. "I can still hear fine. And even if I couldn't, we'd find a way."

"Yeah. Right." Thomas nodded slowly then, his own lips tugging upwards just slightly, but already enough to make Selena's heart hammer against her chest. "I just... Hum... I wanted to come check on you and see if everything's okay. I mean, we're planning on leaving soon."

"Yeah, no, hum... Yeah." Selena said, cringing to herself when she realized just how fucking stupid she had sounded just then, stumbling over her own words. If Thomas noticed it, he didn't mention it, only allowing Selena some space as she closed her bag tight to distract herself from the fact that the boy in front of her was still looking straight at her as she babbled some nonsense to him, in hopes he understood it as an answer, somehow. "Everything's okay. Brenda has a plan and we've checked the bags, so we have everything we need. You?"

"Yeah, hum... The boys and I have what we need." Thomas said, nodding his head once toward where Newt and Gally were, but never once looking away from Selena. "I don't think we have much of a plan, if I'm being honest, but Gally is a firm believer we can just improvise if we need to."

"And since when do you take anything Gally says into consideration?" Selena teased gently, pulling a breathy chuckle from Thomas.

"Since he became the only one who actually believe we can get in and out of WCKD alive and with Minho." He admitted, causing Selena to frown gently as she tsked quietly and slowly lifted a hand to rest it over his shoulder, her thumb just short of caressing the skin of his neck.

"We're gonna make it." Selena said and, even though she wasn't sure she actually believed her own words, she knew Thomas needed them now more than ever. "We're gonna save Minho. And we're gonna get out of that place alive. All of us."

"Do you really think so?" Thomas asked, sounding almost unsure for the first time ever and Selena almost didn't resist her urge of kissing him right then. But she did, settling instead, for looking up straight into his eyes as she nodded at him once.

"I do." She said, her voice unwavering as she felt a lot braver now that Thomas was with her than she usually did in her normal day to day life. "But I need you to believe in it too, Thomas. Because if you don't... None of this is gonna work. Do you believe in it, Thomas? Do you believe in us?"

Thomas hesitated for a moment then, his tongue coming out to lick at his lips nervously and Selena could swear she noticed the fleeting moment Thomas' eyes left hers to fall over her own lips instead. Or maybe she was just imagining it; projecting in him what she wanted him to do. Or maybe, what she was doing subconsciously as well and, hopefully, a little more discreetly.

"I do." Thomas finally spoke up, his voice snapping Selena out of her trance as she snapped her eyes up back at his again and smiled. "I believe in us. I... I believe in you."

"Good." Selena nodded again, allowing Thomas to pull her up by the hand once she stood up from where he had been crouched by her on the ground and blushing furiously when he bent down to pick up her bag and help her put it on her shoulders. "Then that's all I really need."

And, once again, Thomas hesitated, his hand still holding Selena's as he looked down at the girl in front of him, squeezing her fingers gently while his other hand moved to push her fringe away from her face so he could replace those stray bright red strands with his own rosy lips in what felt like just a featherlight kiss to her forehead.

"Be careful out there, Selly." He whispered and it took Selena a second to remember how to properly breathe before she looked up at Thomas and smiled when he pulled back from her to look into her eyes again.

"You too." She said. "I'll see you again when we're outside the walls, right?"

"I'll see you then." He promised, squeezing Selena's hand once more before dropping it gently to her side as he turned from her and walked back to Gally and Newt, leaving Selena on her own for a second with only her thoughts of him in her mind and the weight of the gauze with his blood that she had sneaked from Teresa's table heavy on her pocket.