Love in the Maze (Newt x Reader)

7. First run

~Memory~

"Let him go"
"No, Y/N", a man shouted as two guards grabbed Subject A5 from his position on his stool. "You know we have to do this... To find what we've been working for. Even if that means making sacrifices, such as him".
"This isn't right, Janson, and you know it!"
"We told you not to get attached to these subjects and you still did!".
Y/N grabbed the man called Janson and spat at his face, "Call them subjects again and, I swear, I will make sure you regret it!"
Two pairs of hands grabbed Y/N and held her down as the other two guards and Janson walked away with A5, the boy she fell in love with. "You're a rat, Janson! Nothing more than a snivelling and conniving RAT!", Y/N raged. Janson stopped and turned around to her one last time, and said, "I know..."

~Reality~

Y/N gasped for air, liked she did after every nightmare. But she knew this one wasn't another nightmare. 'That was another memory...from my past', she thought with a shudder running down her spine.
"You alright, Love"
Y/N almost forgot that Newt's hammock was beside hers and so she nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke.
"Y-Yeah!", she quickly replied, still shaken from the flashback. "Just a nightmare, that's all...", she trailed off as she swung herself out of the hammock and grabbed the joggers she had been given. It has now been a week and her punishment was over, Alby was kind enough to let her sleep her last night of punishment in her own hammock so she could get a good night's sleep for the next. Today was going to be her first in the Maze.

"You ready for today, Greenie?", Minho slapped Y/N on the back as he was passing by to get breakfast.
"I believe so", she replied confidently, "I was trained by the best after all...".
"Well that's true!"
"I was talking about Newt"
All the Runners at the breakfast table all exploded with laughter as Minho sat in his seat dumbfounded! He is usually the one with the sassy comebacks, but she just shut him down big time! Newt choked on his water as Y/N said that. "Well, thank you Y/N for thinking of me as a good trainer", he stopped choking and smiled at her, genuinely finding this funny. Newt hadn't found anything genuinely funny quite recently. After running the Maze for a year now, he was starting to lose hope and his sanity... But then Y/N showed up in the shuckin' box, her personality infecting everyone like some kind of wild disease. He started to see hope again, his mind clearing when she was in view. She made him...happy!

"Well...", Minho stood up, eating the last of his brekkie, "Come on, Y/N. Let's get you your pack. Everyone else besides Newt and Marco, go start your side of the shuckin' maze. Now go, slintheads!". And all the other Runners went to their openings and started their day as a Runner. The four Runners went to the Homestead store room, where they kept everything. And that literally means everything! From spare clothes, to gardening tools, to food supplies, the store room had everything. The bulky Asian boy went to a corner of the room, which sheltered a crate of unusual backpacks. They were tiny and could practically hold nothing more than a small knife and half a sandwich. Minho walked back to the waiting 3 and handed the pack unceremoniously into Y/N's S/C hands. "Here you go, Greenie. Welcome to the Runners", and with that, Minho and Marco (Marco Polo) left the room and to their opening. Y/N just stared at the tiny pack in her hands for a bit longer, fulling taking in her 'initiation'. "Hey! Come on, Love. We gotta go if we want to make it back before sundown", Newt's voice interrupted her thoughts, suddenly pulling on the pack. It was a little weird at the start but she adjusted to it fairly quickly.
"Alright, Newt. Let's run".
The two friends left the room and headed for the East doors. As soon as the two ran through the opening, Y/N felt like she was meant to be there the whole time. With these boys, in the Glade, running this Maze. 'This is where I truly belong'

~Time Skip~

It was now midday and time for lunch. The tall blonde and the H/C haired girl sat down to eat the sandwiches Frypan made them early that morning. As Y/N munched on her food, she thought back to the flashback from last night, and from a few weeks before. They were all jumbled but she could always make sense of it. Her and Newt were...close. Really close, in fact. And that man...he somehow felt familiar, and not just from that moment. Y/N was so caught up in her memories that she hadn't noticed Newt looking at her confused expression. "What are you thinking of?", he asked softly, enough to bring the dazed girl out of her thoughts.
"Oh! N-Nothing, just got a lot of things going through my brain...", she stuttered back, hoping he wouldn't ask anymore questions.

"No, Y/N", Newt put down his half-eaten meal and looked at Y/N intensely. "What's bothering you?",
Y/N started to fluster under his intense, brown gaze. 'Should I tell him?', she debated with herself and was hesitant at first. But Newt's gaze softened, and his expression, and he asked quietly, "Please, Y/N... Let me help". With that, she told him everything. Y/N told him about how she believes she worked with the people who put them all here. How she was Newt's personal nurse but got attached. How Janson took him away... By the end of it all, she had silent tears falling down her beautiful face. She quickly realised this and wiped them away before Newt could. 'He's seen me cry too many times. Its about time I toughen up', Y/N shook all the weakness off and stood up. "Let's go, don't we still have half a maze to do before going back?", Y/N just wanted to forget it all, like she was meant to. Newt was still sitting on the dirty ground, not believing it at all the story she just told. 'We... We were close before the maze?', he thought in wonder. Dazed by the fact that he knew the girl before coming to this dump.
"Newt?!", Y/N clicked her fingers in front of his face to make sure he was still here. Newt was brought out of his reverie and suddenly scrambled to get up. "R-Right, let's go!", and they soon started off again, looking for a way out.

~Time Skip~

Y/N and Newt made it back to the Glade in high spirits. "What's got you shanks happy as hell?", Minho saw the two enter the Glade and thought he'd check up on them. "We... We found a new area...", Newt heaved out as he struggled to stay up straight. Minho thought he was going crazy, did he just say that they had found a new area? He couldn't believe it. "Are you serious? Where did you find it?", the bulky Asian was so excited now. This has been their biggest revelation since he first came here... And that was a long time ago! "It was actually Y/N who found it, Minho!", Newt finally stopped heaving and gave a bright smile. "Without her, we wouldn't have found the new area!". The Keeper of the Runners turned to the Greenie, he was impressed. First day on the job and she had found a new area? That's better than what he ever did.

"It is no big deal", Y/N said as if it didn't matter, blushing from head to toe. "I just accidentally leaned against a wall to break for a bit and I obviously triggered a button and the wall moved. Revealing a new area!"
Minho was ecstatic and so caught up in the moment that he picked Y/N up off the ground and swung her around in the air. "By the shuckin' Creators Y/N. You are a blessing from God himself", he smiled brightly as he embraced her. Newt felt a little left out from all the praise Y/N was getting, but he didn't mind that much. He was basically the little quiet achiever in the Glader even thought he is Second in Command. Newt also felt his face contort in discomfort as Y/N and Minho embraced, he wanted to be hugging Y/N, not Minho! He didn't know why but he was now a little grumpy and so decided to take Y/N for a walk to the Map room to map their area of the maze.

As he mapped, Y/N spoke up, softly saying, "Are you OK, Newt? You seem a bit upset..." Newt stopped mapping and looked at Y/N in an apologetic way. "Sorry, Love. Just been a long day that's all...", Y/N knew that wasn't the whole truth but didn't push any further into the matter. She just placed her small hand upon Newt's much larger hand to reassure him that she was there if he needs her. His apologetic look turned into a sweet and warm smile that basically said, "Thanks".
After mapping, the two of them walked off to dinner, going over the crazy day they both had.

~Elsewhere~

"She is becoming better..."
Dr Paige looked at the screen showing Y/N and the tall blonde, known as 'Newt', walking out of the Map room and towards the others at dinner.
"She could be their ticket out of that maze, Dr", Janson stated, taking in every details of her results. "Y/N found those areas on her first day at the job. She is smart, Dr... And that scares me".
"Oh, Janson...", the Dr turned to look at her Second in Command, seeing how scared he actually was. "She won't last long, trust me. Her growing love for that 'Newt' boy will ruin her...and the Glade. Don't worry, Janson... She will be hurt, and when she does...so will the rest of the Gladers.