The Beginning of the End // The Maze Runner // Newt

// Chapter 2 //

The sun had set and the evening festivities were well in order as Athena sat to the side, sipping on a drink that Gally had mixed up using some 'secret recipe'. The bonfire was burning brightly in the dark, illuminating the area with a warm glow. The scent of the charred logs made its way to Athena's lungs and every breath she took made her feel more relaxed, the beautiful smell being one of her favourite things in the world.

She could hear the commotion of the fighting ring where Gally taunted the other boys, beating them easily. Soon, she grew fed up of hearing his boasting after every win and headed over, wanting to at least see how he crushed his opponents. She watched as he shoved one of the boys easily out of the ring, using minimum effort. The next opponent was the same. Over and over. Some of them managed to wrestle with him and the longest lasted 27 seconds, but apart from that, nothing interesting happened.

"Come on, man! You seriously can't beat me? I'm not even breaking a sweat!" He jeered.

"At least I wasn't beaten by a girl!" Don yelled back, lunging for Gally once more.

"What the fuck? You say that like it's an insult!" Athena shouted, shoving her glass at the nearest person and stepping into the arena cracking her knuckles, "Think you could beat me then?"

"Easily." The boy smirked, lunging at her. She dodged quickly, ducking out of the way. "Afraid, girlie?"

"Don't call me girlie." She chuckled lightly, dancing around the ring slightly, getting an idea of the way he moved which seemed to irritate him slightly. He was strong but quite heavy on his feet, lacking agility. She managed to land a few punches to his abdomen but they didn't seem to have much of an effect on him. However, the next time he lunged at her, she sidestepped, spinning and landing a beautifully placed kicked to his back, sending him flying out of the circle.

Athena brushed her hands together smugly and smirked at his body which had gone crashing into the Greenie who Newt had been showing around.

"I thought you said you couldn't be beaten by a girl." Athena stepped over him as he lay on the ground, still processing his defeat. The crowd taunted him for a mere second before quickly changing their focus to the Newbie.

"What do you say Greenie, wanna see what you're made of?" Gally stepped back into the circle, reclaiming his space and seeming to forget the previous battle in a mere moment. As he explained the rules, Athena took back her drink from the boy she gave it to, James, thanking him briefly despite noticing that half of it was missing, then went over to stand between Ben and Newt.

"Nicely done." Newt said, glancing at her briefly with a small smile before turning back to the current fight. Ben yelled along with the rest of the boys, deafening her ear while Newt looked on with an amused smile.

"D'you reckon he'll win?" Ben yelled in Athena's ear.

"No chance!" Despite the boy's willingness, he was still no match against Gally. He was calculating and managed to send him to the ground, more than what others had been able to do, but still not enough to defeat him. He wasn't accurate enough with his hits but the longer he fought, the better he got, adjusting to better expose the weaknesses of his opponent.

Athena knew she liked the Greenie and she could tell that he would be an asset to their escape. It wasn't just a gut feeling – she could see his adaptability and bravery, something that would take him far here.

Having been in the Glade only four months, Athena should have been one of the few people that still hung on to the fleeting idea that they would eventually find a way out, no matter how long it would take, but being a Runner meant she knew that nothing had changed in the three years the Glade had been inhabited and it probably wasn't going to anytime soon.

Regardless, every time there was a new addition, she liked to get to know them, find out their strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully find out whether they had what she knew it would take to help them get out. Even in the short time she was there, it was clear that it would be someone new who would finally figure out the way out otherwise they would have left a long time ago. Since nothing had been found yet, it would have to be a new idea that would save them. Something smart, risky and definitely dangerous.

It wasn't the first time she hoped this Greenie would be the one to get them out, but this time it felt different. This time it felt possible.

The evening didn't end as Athena had hoped, with drunken singing and people passing out happily all over the wide fields. It seemed to be going in that direction when the Greenie remembered his name. Gally congratulated the kid and everyone took large swigs of their drinks, but when the blood curdling shriek of a Griever echoed through the Glade, the mood dropped like a thousand-pound weight in water.

Athena was familiar with the sound, hearing it every night and sometimes (rarely) even during the day, somewhere in the deep depths of the Maze, but no matter how many times she heard it, the feeling of terror that coursed through her veins from it would never cease. She could only imagine how the Greenie felt hearing it for the first time as he looked around like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide with dread.

"Alright guys, let's tuck it in for the night!" Alby shut down the party and the boys went to do their tasks, some putting out the fire, some collecting glasses and some just heading to bed either too tired or too drunk to contribute in any valuable way.

"How're you feeling about the Greenie?" Athena asked Newt as they walked slowly to the Homestead after he checked that Thomas went with Chuck to find his hammock.

"He's a good kid."

"Is that all? He's a good kid. You sit there talking to him for what, an hour? Hour and a half? And all you've got to say is 'he's good kid'? C'mon, tell me something interesting!" Athena nagged him, wanting to know more about the boy she didn't get the chance to speak to yet.

"He seems to be settling in well. Definitely doesn't like Gally, though. Called him an ass for shoving him earlier today." Newt chuckled.

"Gally shoved him? Why? How come no one told me?" One thing was certain, Athena loved to know about the interesting things that happened in the Glade, especially since nothing interesting usually happened and as she put it, she needed some sustenance.

"It looked like he was going to wander into the Maze so he pushed him out of the way."

"Oh. I thought it would be more interesting," Athena sighed, "Still, better than news that Fry burned the potatoes again." The two laughed and Newt shuddered at the memory of the rock hard, black lumps that were served once after Fry fell asleep the day after one of the bonfires.

They had reached the corridor where their rooms were and Newt turned to her, opening his mouth as though he wanted to say something but decided against it, closing it again. He looked conflicted then when he finally looked as though he was actually going to say something, a tipsy Frypan being helped along by an unamused Minho entered the corridor, breaking up the two.

"Goodnight." Athena said, sending a small smile towards Newt before ducking into her room to make space in the corridor for the Keepers to stumble down.

"Why did you have to come so soon?" She heard Newt whisper to Minho just outside the door.

"Well, it didn't look like we were interrupting anything, buddy." Athena could imagine the pointed look Minho was giving and almost laughed but held it in, not wanting them to know she could hear their quick exchange, something she didn't think anything of.

That night she went to bed with a clear mind and a smile on her face, focusing on her breathing rather than the happenings of the day, something she learnt a short time into her stay in the Glade after she found out about the horrors of the place. Though her sleep was peaceful, it wouldn't remain that way for long.