The Tributes from the Maze (Newt/OC)

He Needed to Know

TW: Mentions of SH, depression and anxiety.

By the time they reached the hospital, Ariadne was fast approaching the gone. Thomas had to clamp her legs together and Jorge had to do the same to her hands when she started swiping at them as she thrashed. The last thing they needed was for everyone else to get infected. The pushed open the door and entered the white reception centre, moving straight to the front desk, and Teresa explained their situation. Two women and one man in doctors' uniforms rushed from a set of double doors rolling a bed on wheels. They took her from Newts arms and strapped her down onto the hospital bed. She thrashed and yelled, arguing against the restraints. Thomas guessed the doctors were from WICKED as they were obviously professional. Nothing like the inexperienced and uneducated Med-Jacks back in the glade. Newt was shouting after the doctors who had begun to take Ariadne down a corridor to another set of doors.

"You have to make sure that you get her a cure as fast as you can. And be careful with her. She's in a very fragile state. Remember that this is the mutated disease and it's far more potent!" He was instructing them.

The doctors disappeared behind the door with Ariadne and her screams were the only proof that the group hadn't vanished completely.

"And whatever you do, make sure she's okay," Newt whispered. The woman at the front desk directed them to the waiting room. It was down the same corridor but the door on the left, opposite the one Ariadne had been taken through.

The group decided that half of them would go and help Minho and the other half would stay and wait. Newt volunteered to stay straight away. Thomas agreed to accompany his friend and Teresa wanted to remain behind as well. Gally, Jorge and Brenda left to find Minho.

Newt plonked himself down in one of the many chairs in the waiting room. Thomas sat down next to his best friend with Teresa on his other side. They were there for what felt like hours. The screams and shrieks that were coming from the room had ended about an hour and a half ago. Newt sat staring straight at the door and hadn't changed his position since he sat down. Thomas was next to him, his brain was whizzing and churning.

"Tommy? Is it normal to feel something niggling at your brain, but when you reach for it, it just flutters away?" Newt asked Thomas. His voice was crackling and distressed.

"That depends on your opinion of the word normal. Technically nothing about our lives is normal. If you mean normal for us then, I suppose so. I get the same feeling when I come across something or someone significant I knew before my memory was wiped. Like with Teresa, I felt a...connection, to her." Thomas informed his friend. Newt sighed.

"I knew Ariadne before the maze, and I knew her really well. I'm sure of it. But if I know anything, it's that I knew that girl better than what she's letting on." Newt said definitively.

Then Newt paused and started fiddling with the gold chain around his neck. Thomas had only just noticed that he had never taken it off since they first met. It was just as connected to Newt as his hair and nose were.

"It's weird. It's like every time I think about her, or look at her, so many different emotions speed through me that I feel like I'm going to explode." Newt continued. Thomas realised that was an exact definition of what he felt for Teresa.

The trio sat in silence. A few more painful minutes passed and a doctor in a white coat stepped out of the door leading to where Ariadne was taken. He stood still for a few moments and scribbled patiently on his clipboard. The tension in the room was so dense it could have been cut with a knife. He stopped writing and sighed as he looked up.

"She was just reaching the gone when we injected her with the cure," he said, and Thomas's heart fell. He looked around the room, Teresa's face was baring a grim expression, as if she expected it. Newt wore a mask of pain, he was distraught.

'But," the doctor said. Newts head shot up and his face was plastered with the most hope that Thomas had ever seen. "She is essentially cured and will soon be fully functional."

Newt looked from the doctor to Thomas and he broke out in the brightest smile Thomas had ever seen his friends face.

"Are there any side effects?" Teresa asked. Thomas knew she wasn't stupid, so he figured that there must be a reason for her to expect that Ariadne wouldn't be fully cured.

"As you know, the serum was designed to cure the original flare. The patient's condition was that of a mutated disease, so naturally, there is a small side effect. The flare attacks the part of the brain we call the Killzone. This area is what makes up a person. Their personality, their feelings and emotions, their memories, their characteristics, their quirks. Basically, everything that makes us human. When the disease affects the area it removes all that information and replaces it with the only thing left in human nature. The animal instincts. Like self-preservation. This explains the behaviour of the cranks, people who are fully affected by the disease. We believe that the damage already done to her brain that we couldn't reverse with the cure may cause her to be immersed in her memories from time to time. We call them fits. This could happen a couple of times a month or it could happen one, two maybe even three times a day. It's hard to tell and it's irregular. She will need a lot of support. I know she has a history of depression, self-harm and anxiety so that will need to be monitored, of course." The doctor spoke and Newt interrupted him.

"Wait, what? When did that start? When did it stop?" He asked, the concern shining through his voice.

"I'm sure that Teresa here can fill you in. She helped her get through it all the first time." The doctor said.

"The first time?!" Newt frowned.

"I'll tell you later, Newt. There are a few things you need to know about Aria and I'll explain it all." Teresa assured him.

"Another matter to discuss is that we can unblock your memories if you'd like," The doctor offered. Thomas immediately shook his head. Newt froze for a moment.

"Would I get them all back?" The blonde felt guilty to even be considering it.

"Eventually, most of them would return." He said. "It would be more of a gradual thing. A memory would return if it's triggered by a feeling or an object or phrase."

"When can you get it done?' Newt asked in a low voice. Thomas wasn't surprised. He had to admit that he had been tempted to ask if they could unlock his memories of Teresa. He had a sudden urge to remember how things were before he was put in the maze. He dismissed the thought. He still didn't entirely trust Teresa and bringing back their history, stirring painful memories, would just cloud his judgement.

"If you would like to come with me we can do it now. It's not exactly a pleasant experience, I must admit. Gives you an awful headache." The doctor nodded.

Newt looked from the doctor to Teresa, and finally to Thomas. "You should do it, Newt." Thomas urged his friend. Newt nodded and patted Thomas on the shoulder. He got stood up and took a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with." He sighed. Newt followed the doctor out the waiting room and down the corridor. He needed to remember what caused the frenzy of emotions within him when he saw her. He needed to know about his past.