Newt Imagines (The Maze Runner)

Some Use

There have been three moments that you would describe as the most important in your life, the three times when the ground was pulled out from under your feet at such force that you felt like you might spend the rest of time falling until there was nothing left of you at all. Those moments have been as follows: when you woke up in the Box and realized that you were trapped in the Maze, when Newt told you he loved you for the first time, and now, when you're finally walking out of the Maze with your surviving friends.

The first two are easy enough to explain. Walking around in the Glade for the first time, knowing that you've been stuck in the middle of a giant labyrinth with no idea who you are or how to get out, is a massive revelation.

Hearing Newt's confession, too, was life changing in a different way. You've been stuck on the blond second in command ever since you turned up in the Glade. He's kind in a way that you've never seen in anyone else, and he genuinely looks out for you. It was only a matter of time before you fell in love with him, but learning that Newt felt the same way was utterly fantastic.

This, though? Right now, stepping out of the Maze? Words cannot describe how good this feels. You've been stuck in the Glade for the entirety of your known life, and while that admittedly isn't that long, it's still something. You never really thought you'd get a chance to leave, same with most of the other people here.

It's not like your departure hasn't had its cost, though. There are too many people you had to leave behind, too many people who died trying to protect the rest of you. Every one of their deaths cuts like a blade, but the best thing you can do to honor their memory is to get out so their sacrifices weren't in vain.

Newt holds your hand, tight, as if he's afraid that by letting go for even half a second he'll lose you forever, just like everyone else slumped on the ground behind you. He's not wrong to fear separation- even know, after you've left the Maze, two more Gladers die. One is Chuck, little Chuck, diving in front of Thomas to save his friend's life. The other is Gally, killed as he stares out at what he did to the youngest boy to treat him like a friend.

You don't know how to cope with it, so you don't. You force your eyes away, burying your face in Newt's shoulder. Your boyfriend pulls you close, but you can feel the wracking of the sobs he's trying to hide as if they beat in time of Chuck's stilled heart. Haven't you been through enough? Haven't enough sacrifices been made?

No, as it turns out. The answer is no. Still, you have to run from the broken out shell of the formed W.I.C.K.E.D. complex, through the sand to reach a helicopter waiting to ferry you away. You sit near the side of the aircraft so you can look out over the edge. It's strange to watch the Maze disappear to a dot on the horizon, so small that only dolls could play in it. Is that what you were to W.I.C.K.E.D., back when you and the Gladers were still trapped inside? Little playthings that could be dragged around as your superiors saw fit?

Newt reluctantly lets you go when you touch down at your destination. It's a facility of sorts, run by a man called Mr. Janson. You're separated from the boys under the pretext of getting washed up and undergoing some initial tests to make sure you're doing alright. Even Teresa is pulled from you soon enough, and it is there, waiting in the gateway between home and safety, that you realize the first of the lies you've been forced to swallow.

A woman approaches you from behind, asks if you can keep a secret. You say yes. What else could you do except maintain your silence? She shows her face once she decides she believes you, and your breath catches in your chest. You saw this woman shoot herself in the head just a matter of hours ago. This is Dr. Ava Paige, but if she's not dead, then she's W.I.C.K.E.D., and that must be worse.

Ava cautions you to hold back any expectations about who she is. She wants to trust you, she says, because after everything, you're the one who's been proven time and time again to have the best spirit for this sort of thing. Thomas is brave, Newt is caring, Alby is–was– solid as a rock of ages, but you are different. You always make the right choice, and Ava can count on you to do it again, right?