THIS.
Not gonna lie to y’all…I though Thomas and Teresa were gonna be brother and sister
I get so emotional about Newt saying “and I remember you” in his letter because he didn’t always get to remember. His memories were stolen before he woke up in the Box and imo it’s one of the greatest tragedies in the series. Thirteen years of experiences, grief, and friendships that were lost to time,,,, he had a little sister, and no one will ever know because that knowledge was taken from both of them.
But he remembered Thomas.
The importance of memory and its intrinsic connection to identity was stated in the letter (I want you to know that I'm not afraid. Well, not of dying, anyway, it’s more forgetting. It's losing myself to this virus, that's what scares me). Forgetting was conflated with losing his sense of self, both of which he considered a fate worse than death. I feel like the Gladers almost saw memory and identity as privileges. They weren’t guarantees, since they’d all forgotten everything and the threat of losing themselves was very present in their lives, both through the Changing and later with the Flare. The memories Newt made during and after the Maze were memories he fought for, as was the person he became. As he wrote the letter, he could feel the latter slipping. In the end, the memories would go too.
But. But. He held onto those memories until he was literally collapsed on the ground and half out of his mind. He remembered Thomas. And he knew he would follow him anywhere. And if he could do it all over again, he would, and he wouldn’t change a thing. He would go through everything - forgetting, building himself back up from the ground, losing that self to the virus.
And I just. I just think that I remember you is such a profound admission of love from someone who has fought and is still actively fighting to do that. I may be losing myself, but I remember you. I may have lost almost everything else, but I remember you. Getting to here, where I am remembering you, has taken a world of things from me, has taken my past and my identity and nearly everyone I’ve ever loved, but I would follow you into that mess all over again, because it brought me to you, and it brought me to my family, and it brought me back to myself, and at the end of the day those things are all the same. I am dying, and I remember you.
Being a bit soft but the maze runner fandom is genuinely the nicest and friendliest and most down to earth fandom I've ever been in and you are all such wonderful people 💜
okay but if thomas and newt swapped places, thomas would show newt around the glade like:
"i don't really know what that is"
"i've never seen him before"
"do you know what that is? because i don't"
"i tripped over that once"
"twice actually"
"they say it's been three years but i wasn't really paying attention"
"tell me if you see an exit, okay?"
Thomas (mumbling absentmindedly): I'm so eepy. I'm literally the eepiest. I'm an eeper.
Newt, with tears running down his face: What are you saying.
it’s not that bad is it?
Sometimes I think I’m finally moving on and then something or someone comes and violently throws me right back into my Maze Runner obsession and I start to realize I may never be free of it
Minho: If I'm really as evil as you say I am, then have the gods strike me down where I stand.
*Lightning hits him*
Minho: Ha! Nice try, jackass! Next time, give it your A-game!
them <3