They Left Me Once (Gally X Reader)

Peace Offering

The look in Minho's eyes was one of pure heartbreak, disapproval, and betrayal. "You left Gally. Alby. Frypan. Winston. Chuck. Newt. You left me. You know the kind of rift that's created in the Glade? All for what? So you can frolic around with grievers all day?"

"You don't think I know what that did to everyone?" She asked. Those words were enough to douse the flames in Minho's mind. They reminded him of Gally when he was in pain. "I'm out here, suffering. Trying to find a way out because I can't go back until I do. If you think I left you because I don't care—"

"You're suffering? You're suffering?" Minho snarled. To Thomas' surprise, he saw a tear fall down Minho's cheek. "We're suffering back in the Glade. We had to cross your stupid, shuck name off that wall! Don't tell me you're suffering when you're out here—"

"Out here what, Minho?"

"Living normally! You have food, shelter, clothes, a shuck bed! At least as Thomas tells it."

"What's your definition of normal, Minho?" Y/N asked sharply. "Watching your friends from the top of the maze walls everyday, knowing you can't tell them you're alive? Listening to them tell one another to stop thinking about her because she's dead? Telling each other she doesn't matter anymore?! Just having to hope you've shut down all the grievers before they get to the Glade?"

"You've been shutting down the grievers? You can do that?" Minho asked.

"Yeah, I've been stopping them before they get to you or the Glade." Y/N cowered slightly, realizing what she had said wasn't the best thing. "That's part of why I've stayed out here. There are more grievers getting thrown in here every day they've been targeting the Glade during the day. If I hadn't been shutting them down...you get the idea."

"You've been protecting us?"

That was when Thomas truly understood why she'd stayed out in the maze alone, letting everyone think she was dead. She had to protect them, but also keep the knowledge that there were too many grievers on the loose a secret. That piece of information would be enough to send the Glade into an inescapable panic.

"I knew if you found out how many grievers there were, you'd lose your focus and the other runners would quit."

"Well, too late, shuckface. They've already quit. Just me and Thomas left. So while you're out here running around feral, we're trying to get out!"

Y/N bit her lip, looking to Thomas nervously. A gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Minho. "All of them?" She muttered.

"Yeah," Minho spat. "Now can you show me this place you've been hiding out in?"

Y/N and Thomas exchanged nervous glances. "Yeah."

"Thomas makes your living quarters sound high-class." Minho grumbled. Sure, he still sounded harsh, but Thomas knew Y/N had already been forgiven. Y/N was like his little sister, so Minho could never stay mad for long. After all, she wasn't doing this because she wanted to. It was because she had to in order to protect her friends.

Just like the day before, Y/N jammed her dagger into the stone wall and it slowly rumbled open, revealing an empty, cold hallway with a door just to the right on the inside. First, Y/N led her fellow runners into the room and went over the map with Minho while Thomas explored the room. Whilst digging through the girls things, something he probably shouldn't have been doing, he came across yet another drawing. But this one wasn't like the rest. It was a small picture of two people, more specifically, her and Gally. It very obviously wasn't Y/N's drawing since the lines were darker and rougher, so Thomas assumed it had been drawn by no other than Gally. His heart seized a little realizing just how much these two really cared about one another. Y/N wouldn't have kept this all this time if she didn't.