Befriending Constellations [tmr] [completed]

2

I awoke in a world of white lights and soft grass. I was lying in what felt to be a field, with neatly trimmed grass and the whitest, brightest sun staring down at me. A cool breeze ran across the field, sending light wisps of golden hair across my face. The cold air was beyond welcome after experiencing the Scorch's heat.

And the heat: gone. The pain that had flooded my head for so long was absent, so far gone that it was as though it couldn't have existed in the first place. I felt healthier, stronger than I had since waking up in that goddamn box that had started the horrible journey for me.

However, the absence of heat was nothing compared to the absence of feeling. The glorious realization that I was again healthy was quickly overridden by the memory of what I'd just experienced.

Thomas.

Had he really killed me, sent that bullet through my brain? If so, how was I possibly here, breathing in the cool spring air that promised a perfect summer? It seemed like a dream, the memory of him sitting on top of me, pinning me to the pavement before finally freeing me from the shackles that awful life had trapped me within for so long.

Shaking the haunting idea from my mind, I sat up, pushing up my upper body with my elbows. The field stretched on for many meters before disappearing, replaced by a thick forest.

From this forest outstepped a group of three. They were indistinguishable due to the great distance, and for a moment, I panicked; only then did I remember that, according to my admittedly shaky memory, I was already dead. How much damage could they do to me now?

I stood up and began walking towards them. Both of my legs moved solidly across the cool grass. There was no sign of my limp. I felt across my face and arms, remembering the near-countless scratches and bruises I'd acquired in the Scorch. My skin was smooth, flawless. Had this place healed every single injury of mine?

The people became more clear- nearly recognizable- as I came closer. My pace quickened, and before I knew it, I was running, bare feet practically bouncing out of the ground. The loose white shirt and pants that I'd somehow been outfitted in billowed slightly behind me in the wind.

The trio was close now, and I was almost entirely sure who it was composed of. Dark broad shoulders on one, curls bouncing on another, the strong, tall body of the third. I'd know them anywhere.

Coming within ten feet, I slowed down. "Alby! Chuck! Zart!"

Each of them smiled, making me feel even more welcome. "Newt," Alby said, "we figured you'd join us eventually, but so soon?"

Zart elbowed him. "Come on, man. Too early. Bet he hardly knows what's going on, eh?"

"I have a good idea." I pushed the thoughts of my death out of my mind, focusing instead on how happy I was to see my old friends. "But catchin' up with you lot is more important."

We'd come close enough now that we could stop walking. In fact, Alby enveloped me in a hug, wrapping around my torso the massive, strong arms that I'd missed so much and nearly squeezing any remaining life out of me.

Chuck was bright-eyed as he looked up at me, a long lost brother come to recover him. "You're gonna love it here, Newt! We play games all day, and at night the stars come out - oh, you're going to love the stars!"

"We'll let him see for himself," Zart said, cracking a smile. "It's good to see you, Newt."

I smiled at him. Zart had always been a good guy - I'd always wanted to get to know him better back in the Glade.

"Come on, Newt," Alby said, wrapping a massive arm around my shoulder. "Let's get you home."

And that word - home - sent more light through me than I'd felt since Thomas first came up in the box.