The Tributes from the Maze (Newt/OC)

Happy Reunion

Minho led the way through the maze, his shoulders squared as he ran with pride in the place he had earned as the Keeper of the Runners. The maze was his domain, and he was the king. They were home. Thomas, Gally, Lawrence, Brenda, Teresa, Jorge, Harriet, Aris and Sonya all followed close behind him. Everyone else in the Right Arm had either been captured and taken into the Glade with the other immunes or had sacrificed themselves to blow up the remains of the building.

Thomas looked up around him as he ran at the looming stone walls, laced in long green ivy and moss. These walls marked the death of so many. Chuck, Jeff and all the other boys who hadn't made it. Chuck. The thought of the child brought tears to Thomas's eyes.

"Hey? Are you alright?" Teresa's shoulder bumped into him, jerking him back to reality.

Thomas felt the urge to spill every secret he had to her. That he had shot his best friend in the head with the intention of killing him. That he was nervous to see his sister who he remembered nothing about. That he hated WICKED for murdering all their friends, the only people they could remember. But he just nodded and silently continued with his running.

He tried to forgive her for what she did, but no matter how hard he tried he hadn't been able to get over what she'd done. Even if she had betrayed them as part of a plan to save them, she had kissed Aris. That scene was embedded in his head. How could she do that to him? After everything they had been through she just shoved his heart through a meat grinder as if it was one of Winston's freshly sliced pigs. But she was there with him at that moment. Thomas shook his head to clear the poison thoughts that were invading his brain. He put his head down and ran.

As they ventured deeper into the unforgiving cold stone maze that had been used as a death trap, the group reached a certain ivy-covered wall that Thomas remembered vividly. Alby. He saw the scramble in the vines where he had hoisted up their leader in a last-ditch attempt to save his life only for him to die just days later, his mind never fully cured of the Griever's venom. Anger and grief boiled inside Thomas like liquid lava.

Thomas and the rest of the group were finally greeted by the large stone doors. Remembering all too well the struggle during his first night in the maze, Thomas ran through one of the four entrances with his friends. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw how many people were gathered into the Glade. In their home. There were about five hundred people there and Thomas was horrified to spy very young children and even babies clutching young mothers scattered among the crowd. It didn't take long before the large group of people had stopped their murmuring and turned to face the new arrivals.

"Shucking hell. They make the glade feel so much smaller than it did when we were here." Thomas whispered to Minho, who nodded in agreement. The Gladers took in what was left of their home. The homestead, the blood house, the charred map room, the dead fields, the deadheads, the extinguished bonfire, the tower that Teresa had climbed up when she first arrived, and the slammer. So many emotions and memories bubbled up inside Thomas.

"Hey, daydreamer!" Minho snapped his fingers at Thomas. "I asked you if you could see Newt."

"Oh...uh, no. I don't think so." Thomas replied sadly. This was another topic he'd tried to push from his mind. "Gally said he and my sister were supposed to meet us when we first flew in here. They've already blown up the building where they were so there really wasn't any chance of them making it."

"That's a shucking lie and you know it. Ariadne sounds like a miracle worker and is way too smart to get stuck in a collapsing building and Newt is...well Newt is Newt." Minho said with a confident smile. "He's escaped death before. He can do it again."

"I get your point and trust me, I want that to be true more than anyone, but look around, Minho. Do you see them anywhere? Because I don't." Thomas began heatedly and threw his hands up in the air.