Aris Jones X Reader One Shots

Promised Protection

He was pacing back and forth, stopping at our door each time to check the window. I sat on the bed, keeping a close eye on the ticking clock, both metaphorically and literally. The countdown was practically taunting, reminding me that we’d be back in uncontrolled danger far too soon.

“We don't have to get help with this, you know?”I pushed.

“That won’t-”
“These are strangers. What if they're spies on the inside? Or they screw this up for us? Nothing here is as it seems. Why would they be any different?"I pointed out before he could give me the same answer as always. We really don't need anyone else. Not if we can't trust a single one of them.

“You and I are just two people. There's so many guards here that we’ve seen a new one every day. We can't do this alone.”

I couldn't help but sigh as I glanced back up at the torturous time bomb to when we’d face death all over again. It's completely different though. Last time we had to escape somewhere, we were with people we knew we could count on. Now it's just us and a group we’ve never met.

“Y/N,”He sighed, stopping in his tracks. I grabbed the ladder of the bunk bed, leaning on it, as I looked up at him.

With his brows furrowed in sympathy, he walked back over to me. As I faced the ground, he took a seat on the mattress. His presence, like always, was warm, an inviting comfort I wanted to melt in. Still, I didn't move a muscle, my head spinning with possibilities.

“Do you remember the night we had to get out of the Maze? When we were hiding from the Shades?”He asked quietly.

That night was the true definition of a nightmare. Never before had I seen so much blood in one place, thick dark red spreading across the pure snow. Piercing screams and monstrous shrieks sounding through the dark were the only sound from our spot in the slammer. Each one was a banshee call of death.

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember what I told you during that? While we were hiding?”

The sounds throughout the night grew louder the more infrequent they were, cries for help and pain as friends clawed at arms, begging them to stay. His hand muffled my panicked breaths as he made me look at him while almost silently promising it would be okay. Nothing, he swore, absolutely nothing, would happen to me.

“That as long as you were there, I’d have protection,”I recited.

“And I haven't broken that so far. Have I?”

“No. You haven't.”

“So why would I break it now?”

I trust Aris so much it's almost a weakness. He could stab me in the chest, and I’d spin in circles looking for who hurt me. As far as I’m concerned, everyone here but him is guilty.

“You wouldn't,”I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder. He placed a hand on my knee, rubbing innocent circles with his thumb.

“That won't change just because there are more people around. We’re going to be fine.”

I’m not sure about that. Not with how insane everything has truly been.

But we’re going to try our best to make that true, no matter what it means.