Break My Bones

Chapter 9: Dreams

Rachel turned away from the screen where yet another girl was screaming as she was brutally skewered and then torn apart by the stinged monsters WCKD had created. And for what? They were no closer to finding a cure and it had been two years already. Two years, and many, many more deaths. Many pointless deaths. Unnecessary.

"Is everything alright, Rachel?"

Rachel took a deep breath before looking up at their leader. At the woman behind the Maze Trials.

"Everything is fine, ma'am." She replied, and Ava stared at her for a moment, not unkindly. Finally, the older woman nodded.

"This is all for the best, Rachel." Ava said.

When Rachel averted her gaze, staring glumly at her shoes, Ava reached out. Forcing Rachel's grey eyes back up to hers, Ava murmured, "Remember, Rachel. WCKD is good."

"Yes, ma'am." Rachel answered heavily.

But for once, Ava's words did little to lift her weary spirits. She was tired; sick and tired of it all: the Mazes she had helped create.

The creatures she had helped design.

The deaths of all those girls.

The monster she had made of herself.

*************

Rachel's eyes flew open as she jerked awake.

She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep while waiting for Thomas and Gally to return but she didn't feel very refreshed after the dream she had just had. The memory.

"You alright, love?"

Rachel sighed as she turned to lay her head against Newt's shoulder while he rubbed soothing circles absently on her shoulder.

"No." She admitted and Newt's hand stilled as he turned so he could look at her properly. Rachel's eyes remained unfocused, staring blankly at the stained glass windows of the church they were hiding in as she retold the dream she had had in a soft voice.

When she was done, Newt started rubbing circles on her shoulder again.

"You tried to make things right. That's what matters." He reassured and Rachel didn't answer. Newt pulled back, forcing Rachel to look at him as he gazed at her seriously.

"I mean it. I was in that Maze, I watched a lot of my friends die and I can still say you're better than WCKD. Because you cared. You would remember all the kids who died if you could. And that's what makes you different."

"It doesn't change what I did." Rachel answered quietly and Newt tucked her against him again.

"We all make mistakes, love. It's how you make them right that defines who you really are."

Rachel glanced up at Newt and she leant over to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you." She murmured when he looked at her questioningly. "For everything. I don't know what I'd have done if I never met you."

Newt's lips twitched although whether it was because he was fighting a smile or a grimace, Rachel suddenly wasn't sure. She tilted her head curiously at him while Newt composed himself and answered softly, "I did nothing. You're strong even without me."

Rachel frowned and she sat up straighter. "You're strong too. You know that, right?"

Newt smiled at that, but there was a slight sadness tinged in his expression that made Rachel's heart miss a beat.

"Newt?" She asked.

But they were interrupted as a noise sounded from the doors and they all looked over to see Gally and Thomas arriving with a feminine figure trailing in between them. The girl's head was covered with a sack but they all knew who it was.