Forget (A Maze Runner/Newt Fanfiction)

35-Party Planning Committee

Ky's POV:

When half an hour has passed, and not a soul has left the meeting hall, I cautiously stand from my perch at the top of the wooden tower and stretch my aching legs.

Pins and needles attack my feet and calves and the blood rushes to my head, causing me to sway dizzily. The grassy earth below appears to spin like a top, whirring together in a blur of colours and shapes. Despite the kaleidoscope of green and brown and grey swirling alarmingly all around me, one shape sticks out oddly. It takes me a moment to realize that the object is moving toward me.

My eyes start to focus, and the object speeding towards me turns out to be Minho, jogging toward my perch in the tower. When he is at the base of the tower, he looks up, using his hand as a rim to shade his eyes.

He opens his mouth to speak, and I stop him by putting my hand in the air, my pointer finger facing up and the rest of my fingers curved in towards my palm.

"Wait. I'm dizzy and I'm going to puke. Let me get down first because I think if I hear your voice it'll make it worse."

He screws his face up in irritation. "Hurry down then, shankette. We have a plan."

I gag. "Yep, your voice made it worse."

He waits impatiently for me to climb down. When I reach the base of the tower and jump down the last few feet, he begins talking.

"We have a plan."

"You said that."

He gives me a look and keeps going. "We have a plan, and we want to try it out."

"That's usually how that works."

"Shut it, klunkhead, and let me talk!"

I stare blankly at him. "Then talk."

The expression on his face gives me the impression that he'd love to say something biting but he holds it in. "The plan is to try a bunch of things that normally make you feel strong emotions to see if we can force the 'emotion switch' thing back on."

He waits for me to respond, but I don't have any encouragement to give him. "That's not going to work."

"How do you know?" he asks, irritated. "You haven't tried."

"My emotions are off, shuckface. You can't just turn them back on like that. It was a medical procedure. Why would throwing me a party or something stupid like that make me suddenly feel again? WICKED did this to me and they're the only ones who can undo it."

"A party!" Minho exclaims. "That's a great idea!"

I facepalm. "I just said a party won't work."

"Right, okay. Thanks, Ky!" He grins and sprints back in the direction of the Meeting Hall.

"You're welcome," I call after his retreating form. "I guess."

---------

Madison's POV:

I watch as Ky stalks out of the hut without a single emotion on her face and I know that everything she said was true.

"What the hell do we do now?" I ask the room. Every boy is silent, letting everything sink in.

Eventually Alby speaks up. "Nothing, obviously. There's nothing we can do. She just better not let this new condition of hers cause any problems. As long as she doesn't break any rules, it's not something we need to address. Just deal with it."

Another boy, Stephen, I think, nods in agreement from a chair a few feet in front of me. "Yeah, I mean, why should we care? Just let her be."

Thomas shakes his head from beside me. "What the hell is wrong with you two? "Why should we care?" Because she's our friend! Because she's been through so much and she deserves better!"

"Thomas is right," Frypan agrees.

Alby furrows his thick eyebrows. "Didn't you hear me? There's nothing we can do! Unless one of you is secretly a doctor -" Jeff starts to raise his hand but Alby glares at him. "- a real doctor, and knows what the hell kind of surgery could take someone's emotions away, let alone how to undo it, then please, be my guest, speak now."

The room stays painfully silent. Tears flood my eyes. This is hopeless.

"So you're all just going to give up on her?" Newt's gruff, accented voice slices through the heavy air like a hot knife. His eyes, earlier dull and depressed, have a fire in them now. "No. I don't think so. I, for one, refuse. I refuse to give up on her like that. Not after everything she's done for us. Not after everything she's been through."

He nods affirmatively at Thomas and I. "They're right. We're not giving up now. We'll think of something. We'll try everything we can. Or we'll get out of this shucking place and kill the bloody Creators who put us here and did this to Ky." He gazes around the room, making eye contact with anyone who dares look him in the eyes. "Or we'll die trying."

It's like a collective breath is being held. Inspiration and determination hang in the room, almost palpable.

"Yeah," I whisper. I clear my throat and try again. "Yeah. We can't give up on here. None of us can even imagine what she's going through or gone through already. It's our job as her friends to try to understand and help her. She's already helped all of us so much. She was my first friend here. Frypan and Zart, she's helped you with your jobs when you couldn't. She's spent ages running through that maze every day trying to find a way for all of us to get out, and you want to repay her by not helping her when she needs it? Unacceptable. As her friends and fellow Gladers we have to do better."

Appreciation shines in Newt's eyes. "Well said. And I agree, obviously. Anyone still want to throw her to the shucking Grievers?"

No one speaks.

"Good," he growls. "Now does anyone have any ideas?"

Word Count: 1006