EPIPHANY ✁ newt

14 , leap of faith

"My mother?" I asked, heart quickening. Soon after I had arrived in the maze, any hope of even seeing my parents again had vanished - I'd never been one to hope, scared I'd only let myself down. But yet, here I was, sitting in front of someone who had known my mother.

A sad smile crept onto the woman's face. "I know you all wish to meet your parents... unfortunately for most, their parents are long gone - taken by the flare far too soon. But your mother... Sephora, she wasn't a... good... person. She isn't a good person. I'm not sure if she got the flare after I left WICKED, but when I worked there she was one of the people fully alright with the idea of the maze. And your father... he wasn't around when you were born. I'm sorry."

It's not like I hadn't been expecting it, but the confirmation hurt. Knowing that she may still be out there hurt even more. I wasn't sure if the woman meant my father had died before I was born, or if he had ran. Either way, I wasn't going to ask. "Alright... thank you for this." I said, gesturing to my arm.

The woman smiled, "Don't thank me. Remember to come to me tomorrow for your next dose." She looked over to where Brenda and Thomas were talking, their eyes on us.

"I-If you don't mind, can I have a second to speak to them?" I asked her, leaving out the 'in private' but it was pretty clear. The woman nodded, and stepped out of the tent and I immediately stood up, a strange plan in my head. I fumbled with a few things on the table, before finding a pair of new gloves in a box and putting them on hurriedly. I needed to get this done before anyone else came it.

"Seph, what are you doing?" Thomas called from the other side of the room, but I ignored him, reaching for the box where I had seen the woman take a syringe out from. I reached for the container in which she had put the aquamarine liquid, ignoring the fact that it had come out of my friends brain or something as I filled the syringe with shaking hands. There was still enough in the vial to fill it three quarters - and I had no clue if that would help anyone when they were turning, but I knew I'd still feel safer if I had it on me.

"Don't mention this to anyone, okay? Please." I asked, walking over to Thomas and Brenda. "How are you doing?"

The burnette looked at me. "I'll be fine. Why were you brought in here? What did she want with you - we couldn't see."

I sighed, placing a hand of Thomas's shoulder. "It's a long story... but I'm fine, really. Don't worry about it. Anyway - I'm going to go try find N- the others. Try rest a while - both of you." I added, looking at Thomas pointedly as I walked out.

Newt stood outside, immediately turning away when he saw me walking out - trying to act like he hadn't been standing out there most if not the whole time. "Oi! You! Get back here!" I called, walking after him before he could try disappear. The blonde turned to me with a sheepish smile on his face when I grabbed his arm. "Whatcha' doing out here. hmm?" I asked in a teasing voice.

He shrugged, playing up the innocence. "Nothing - Teresa wanted me to give you this stuff." Newt handed me a teal sweater and a new pair of black leggings along with a long overcoat.

"Mhm, sure. So you don't want to know what happened in there, I'm guessing?" I asked as I took the clothes from him gratefully.

Newt clenched his jaw, a small smile tugging at his lips. "No... but now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind hearing about it."

I laughed, taking a seat with him, on a boulder overlooking the place. "She said it was some sorta genetic thing. I'll be fine as long as I get a shot a day, which isn't fun... but its definitely an upgrade from feeling like death ninety percent of the time." Deliberately leaving out our conversation about my parents and especially want I had done once the doctor had left the room.

I don't know why I had nicked the stuff - it wasn't like she had been trying to hide it. The vial had been lying out in the open, and I doubted she would have wanted to keep it to use on someone else when they had a ready supply with all the immunes around camp. Or maybe I was just trying to console myself for acting on instinct.

"Where'd the others go?" I asked the blonde before he could try on keep speaking about this topic and force me to reveal the rest of the story to him. For some highly annoying reason, I found it extremely hard to lie to Newt.

"Uh, I'm not really sure." He replied, brushing a few stray strands of hair out of his eyes that were wildly flying in the wind. "They kinda separated... I wouldn't be surprised if Fry found the kitchens and is trying to help them cook right now. I think Teresa and Minho were talking to Vince the last I saw them, and Aris was with Sonya and Harriet."

We sat in silence for a while, just soaking up the peace as I watched people move about their daily routines, laughing and calling out to one another with joy at times. I could only hope that this was really the end of all the running - and the start of something calmer, for all of us as well. Fry and Minho join us a bit later, sitting down in silence. Thomas walked out of the tent almost instantly after - walking over to us, and suddenly the spot felt too crowded.

Newt sighed as the boy took a seat next to him, looking away as he spoke, "I wish Alby could have seen this." I wasn't sure who had was, but obviously the blonde must have been close to him. I placed my hand on his knee to offer even just a touch of comfort.

"And Winston." Fry added with a somber smile.

Thomas played with a tiny stone figure covered in what looked like some sort of red stuff with shaking hands. "And Chuck."

And Leya, I felt like adding, but I couldn't find the strength to even speak her name. Too scared I'd break down, or there would be questions asked I couldn't answer right now.

"He's be proud of you, you know, Tommy." Newt said softly, and I couldn't help as my lips turned up at the nickname - knowing I'd end up stealing it at some point.

"Hey! Aris!" Fry called out, causing the boy to look up at us from his spot near a fire with the girls, and waving at us with a grin. "I kinda like that kid..."

Minho laughed. "I don't know... I still don't trust him." he said, causing me to turn to him and elbow him a bit too hard in the side.

"Oi, I'm sitting right here!" Minho only laughed, obviously only joking, but taking great pleasure in annoying me. He was the perfect amalgamation of what I guessed an older brother to act like. Newt grinned - and I realised this was the first time in the, granted, few days we had spent together, I had actually seen him smile. He looked... for a lack of better words, truly happy.

"Hey - where's Teresa?" Thomas asked, pulling me away from my thoughts as I looked at him for a second, letting his question actually hit my brain before I replied.

"Oh, she went up there." I tilted my head towards one of the huge rocks - of cliffs, whatever they were. She stood there, staring out into the distance. Even though there was something admittedly off about her - I couldn't help like the girl.

Thomas nodded, muttering a quiet thanks as he stood up to go speak to her I guessed. Bidding a quick goodbye to the boys, I walked away in search of a place I could change my clothes to the ones Newt had given me. Some woman showed me the way to a secluded tent a bit further away from the rest. She assured me that it wasn't used, but I still rushed as I pulled off my shirt that was filled with blood and sand, swapping it for the teal sweater.

I did the same with my leggings and shook out my shoes to make sure all the tiny grains were out of them. Remembering that my hair was still down from when we had entered the party, I pulled my rubberband off my wrist that I had been given at the WICKED facility and tied my hair up into a tight ponytail, not really having the willpower to do anything else - I just wanted it out of my face. I stuffed my now old clothes into my backpack incase I needed them later.

As I walked back towards the boys. That's when it happened. I smiled at them and gave Newt a small wave, as he was looking at me with a grin - but suddenly his face turned from joy to pure horror. "SEPHORA GET DOWN!" Was the last thing I heard his accented voice scream out before the loudest sound I had ever heard roared out behind me - sending me flying off my feet as I felt fire-ish heat graze my back.

Then everything was black.