The Tributes from the Maze (Newt/OC)

Shared Trauma

After she chose her room Ariadne decided to go out onto the upstairs balcony. She leaned onto the rail and watched as a black and white bird perched on the rail just next to her. Humming as she smiled Ariadne admired the creature. She had always loved singing as a girl but had never sung for anyone but her father. When he disappeared she hadn't really sung again. She had hummed and enjoyed music but never sung. It was too painful. The strange bird picked up her tune and whistled it back to her.

Ariadne frowned. She hummed a more complex tune and the bird tilted its head and paused for a moment. Then it repeated her tune back to her. She went to hum something else when the doorframe behind her rattled. The bird, frightened, flew away. Ariadne turned just as the glass sliding doors opened and Newt stepped out. She gave him a smile and returned to looking out over the balcony. Her eyes searched for the bird and she found it perched on a tree near them.

"Hey, mind if I join you," Newt asked and stood next to her and Ariadne gestured for him to carry on. "It's beautiful here. Nothing like the Scorch. It's like a combination of the nice parts of WICKED and the Glade. They all would have loved it. Alby, Chuck, Ben, Winston...all of them."

"So many people died for no reason. So many young people. I still remember when Chuck first came in. He was the youngest of all of us. He had this photograph of his parents, he would never let go of it. One night Janson took it off of him and he was a wreck. I stayed up with him until he fell asleep. He asked me to sing for him, but I couldn't bring myself to. I wish I had, now. I haven't sung since my father died." Ariadne said and played with her nails.

"Maybe it's time to lay some old ghosts to rest and work through things that happened in the past." He suggested.

"I'd like that." Ariadne smiled. They stood in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the forest. Newt glanced down at Ariadne's hands. He slowly inched his hands closer to hers until they were almost touching. A gust of wind blew just as he went to reach out and hold her hand but she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She glanced at him.

"I don't know how you can be wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt in this weather." She shook her head.

"When you live in the buggin' Glade and you sleep outside every night you kinda get used to it." He laughed.

Ariadne shot him a smile. Another gust of wind blew and Ariadne shivered again.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Ari. You're going to freeze. Come here." Newt said and pulled her close to him. He wrapped his arms around her and she shuddered again. Goosebumps rippled up her arms and her heart beat faster but this time the weather wasn't at fault.

A dozen pictures flashed across her mind and she felt dizzy. Her knees buckled and she Newt caught her as she fell. Numbness took over her body as her mind sank into a memory.

She and Newt were in the training centre with Minho and Alby. Two older boys and a girl were teasing Chuck. They had him backed into a corner and he was crying. Ariadne had spied them from the other side of the room. She, Newt, Minho and Alby had walked over before anything bad could happen.

"Is there a problem here?" Alby asked, crossing his arms and staring down the oldest of the boys. Ariadne recognised him and the other boy as Gally's friends. The taller boy with the blonde hair was Teddy and his shorter and beefier brown-haired friend was Charlie. The tall, slim girl with the blonde hair and blue eyes was Irene.

"The only problem we have here is nosey people like yourself who shouldn't get involved." Charlie narrowed his eyes.

"Well, look who we have here. It's Einstein and his minions. Lizard boy and Minnie Mouse." Teddy scowled. Ariadne stepped forward from the back of the group to support her friends. Newt nodded for Chuck to get out of there and the boy scurried away like a mouse.