Hope lay curled up in the sand, listening to the waves crash. She had sobbed until she was empty. Now she was numb. It felt like her heart was missing and there was nothing there. Her eyes were open but she wasn't seeing. She felt the sun on her skin but she didn't feel its warmth. She saw the ocean but couldn't appreciate its beauty. She didn't feel anything. Nothing worked properly, she lay unmoving wrapped in sorrow and a blank empty numbness. Moving was too much effort, she felt too heavy. Hope was too numb, too hopeless.

Hope had survived so much in her 16 years of life. But being left behind, being forgotten by people who are supposed to care, that- that hurt almost more.  She wasn't good enough. The moment they were free, he cut her loose; he had options now. It wasn't just them anymore, Minho had all the girls now to kiss. And Hope was left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. She thought she could count on him to get through their healing. But he apparently didn't need her. He had his Mighty Gladers, who needed her now?

She heard someone approaching but she didn't care, she didn't move. She lay perfectly still, where she collapsed. Not even bothering to move the hair that fell in her face. A few stray tears still clung to her lashes.

"Uh, Hope?"

She heard the voice but she didn't acknowledge it. The heavy footsteps got closer.

"Hope?!" He said a bit more urgently. Big black boots appeared in her line of sight and then they knelt down, hesitantly brushing her hair from her face.

"Shuck! What happened? No wait.. this a who did this thing? Who am I punching in the shuck face?"

Hope still didn't move. Her eyes were blank as she stared out. There was a deep sigh and some shifting and then a hand slid under her head and another one under her shoulders and lifted her up easily. Her head flopped forwards, her chin resting on her chest.

"Shuck your light, Princess."

"Will..." She finally said something, but it was so quiet it was more of a heavier exhale.

"Come on. Up ya get."

He got her sitting up and leaning against one of the huge boulders she hid behind. He shifted so he was sitting in front of her. She slowly picked her head up. Bringing her dead and lifeless eyes to look at the young man in front of her. Hope's eyes slowly came into focus. His deep blue eyes stared and slowly travelled all over her face.

"You found me." Her voice was scratchy and dry and small

"Umm. Well actually I uhh...I was gonna come talk to you earlier. But I saw Minho was with you. Umm..." He scratched the back of his neck, his face pink suddenly. "I turned around, I'd come find you later. I uhh I kinda watched. Not like creepy watched, but... I saw you walk away down the beach. And when Minho came back he uhh... He umm- he didn't look so good. So I came to find you..."

Hope's dead eyes lifted to his.

"Do I gotta punch the shuckface? What'd the shank do? Or say? Or both?"

Hope's mouth pulled into a frown. "Why?"

He shrugged and ran a hand through his thick blond waves. "Isn't that what an older brother is supposed to do? Punch the Shuckface boys who break the little sisters hearts?"

Hope blinked a few times, she opened and closed her mouth more than once but nothing came out. She took a shaking inhale.

"You...you believe me?"

"Would be a weird thing to lie about. And also...it doesn't...it's gunna sound weird, but it feels right."

A ghost of a smile formed on her lips. "Do you remember anything?" She asked quietly, a bit of life came back into her eyes. She still felt cold and numb, heavy and empty at the same time. He pulled his eyebrows together and frowned. He tipped his head to the side, looking hard at her. His eyes flicked all over.

"Don't hurt yourself." She whispered, which earned a small snort of amusement.

"No, nothing is coming." Hope could feel herself deflate, and lowered her head  "But..." He said slowly. "Some things seem... familiar? Like everything is right behind the door, and I just can't get to it. But it feels right."

She picked her head up.

"Like... calling you princess. Seems like a really weird nickname and no shucken way I'd ever call any other girl that."

She slowly nodded. "You...you used to read me fairy tales from a book, and you always called me princess as a joke 'cause dad used to call me that. And it just stuck."

He nodded.

"So...Will, huh?"

Hope hummed.

"Do I have a middle name? Or last name?"

"They really took all that from you?"

He nodded. "I had a few memories come back. Nothing good, nothing made sense, and it was never before WICKED."

Hope frowned. Feeling the pain in her chest get even heavier.

"Well, our parents named you William Jack Poulter. I've known you as Will for 16 years. Your 19 now. Your birthday is January 28. We had a dog name Murphy. You were almost 8 when WICKED took you. Mom and dad and you kept me a secret, they didn't want WICKED to know about me. I was born after they took control, it was already too late for you, there was medical records and stuff for you. I never left the farm house and yard. You were my only friend."

"Well shuck."

Hope hummed again quietly. She pulled her knees to her chest watching him.

"So...everyone calls you Gally. I call you Will. What do you want me to call you?"

He frowned. "I don't know. I have no memory of who I was before WICKED. But...I kind of like Will. It's mine. And again ...it feels right. It's hard to explain." He shrugged. He looked away, down the beach for a second, lost in thought. He ran a hand through his hair. "And wasn't forced on me." He finally looked back at Hope. "Galileo was a shucked name anyways."

Hope smiled. It was small, but it was a real one. She shook her head, "no you definitely are not a Galileo. Who came up with these names? They're terrible!"

"Right?" He threw his hands up in the air, "at least the others had actual names! Well, except Fry. Siggy is also a terrible name."

Hope let a small giggle out. Will gave her a lopsided smile.

"Okay, tell me the rest of your story. What happened after I was taken? How'd you meet Odin? And Lanna?"

He leaned forwards, his elbows on his knees and listened eyes wide as Hope told him her story. She left nothing out; starting from being trapped in the dark dug out, Mrs Miller, running away, cranks, Odin, Lanna, Tim, Vera and Harvey. She told him how she meet each of them and they became their own little family unit. Slowly finding more people and how she learned to read and write and math from an old school teacher who had joined their tribe.

She talked about learning to shoot and other survival skills, from Odin and a nurse and a hunter in their group. She talked about always moving, avoiding WICKED and the sweeps, the rumors of the Trials and starting fresh, finding more immunes, and learning about the break out from one of WICKEDS facilities by these Elite kids, rumes of the Right Arm.

Hope had to pause and try to keep herself calm as she explained what happened at the Right Arm Base, Thomas strolling in with a crank, WICKED attacking, being captured and all the horrible things that happened at the hands of Janson and Teresa.

"Damn. And I thought the Maze was hard!"

Hope shrugged. "I was fine until..." She trailed off and looked away, feeling her anger come back.

"Can I tell you something?"

Hope looked back at her brother. She couldn't read his expression. His eyes were slightly distant, and his mouth was in a tight line.

"I never like Thomas either. Like I hated him. When he first showed up in the maze... I had seen him in a few of my memories he was working with the creators- now known as WICKED and I didn't trust him. Like at all. And I tried convincing the others he was the bad guy."

"Do you now? Trust him?"

"Yes."

Hope scoffed. Letting her knees flop down she folded her arms tight to her chest. Glarring down the sandy beach.

"Ah, but that doesn't mean I gotta like him."

Hope looked back at him, raising her eyebrows in question.

"Yeah, just cuz I trust the shank now doesn't mean I gotta like him. I agree with you. He's arragant and doesn't think rules apply to him. He will do whatever whenever. If he thinks he's justified in his actions, he'll do it. I'd be pissed too if he brought a crank into camp where there was none immunes. And he walks around like he's king of the world."

Hope nodded. "Him and Newt. And they sucked Tim into it and Minho-" she stopped abruptly and clamped her jaw closed. Looking away she blinked hard a few times, trying to get rid of the tears.

"That shuck face was also always arragant and snarky."

"He was really...sweet and caring when we were forced to share a cell. I relied on him. I needed him just as he needed me. We survived together."

"I'm sure he can be. I wasn't locked up with you guys, I wouldn't know fully. But you obviously care about him and he doesn't feel the same all of a sudden. He seemed genuinely concerned running the streets. Until I shoved him out of the way in the building when you kept fighting him..."

Hope bit her quivering lip and nodded, her eyes stinging with tears. "Told me he didn't want to, but caught feelings anyways, kissed me- my fist kiss by the way. And then the second we're free...the second the mighty elites Gladers and His Majesty are there, back together...everyone else is left behind. I'm left behind. Like- like something to be used and...and discarded. I'm not needed anymore. We don't share a cell, were not half dead chucked on the floor for the other to nurse back to health."

Will looked like he wanted to punch something. Hope could see the anger in his eyes and the way he ground his teeth. She did the same thing, must be a family trait.

"Hope I'm sorry he made you feel that way. And... I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I didn't-"

"Will..."

"No." He said firmly holding his hand up, "I know what it feels like to be not heard and left behind. It shucken sucks. And it's lonely. I know what it's like to trust someone and then...have them turn their back on you. Newt was actually a really good friend of mine when we first got to the maze. Then.. he fell for Thomas." He paused. "And I'm sorry Hope, I made you feel that way."

Hope sniffed as more tears slid down her cheeks.

"Now...I see... helpin' with those two panic attacks, I earned your trust and then I made you feel abandoned when I went with Minho. I didn't go back with him." He paused and when Hope frowned he added, "I can't run like I used to- only one lung."

Hope frowned even more, and then she remembered what Minho had said when he found out Will was still alive. "Minho put a spear through your chest!"  She gasped.

Will nodded. Hope opened her mouth to protest when he held a hand up to stem the flow of questions and anger.

"He had his reasons. And I don't blame him. It's a long story, and I'll tell you one day. But...WICKED had me under their control, I also had a shuck tone of poison on my veins- I was acting like a crank. He was protecting the group."

"The filthy hypocrite!" Hope cried cutting Will off. "He got all offended and angry when I shot an actual crank to keep him from killing Tim and His Majesty and me, but he can put a spear through you? How the hell can he be angry at me about that?"

"Umm. Not sure. Seems valid. You did just hit a shoulder and not a vital organ."

"I was aiming for a vital organ." Hope mumbled looking away and deflating.

"What?" Will asked leaning towards her, pulling his eyebrows together.

"You heard me!" She snapped looking back at him, daring him to say something. "He was Gone, Will. He's a fully infected crank. And he was trying to kill everyone in the vicinity. I did what I had to. What I've done many many times. But it's only now a problem because he's important to the Might Gladers. I'm the bad guy for doing exactly what Minho did!" Tears skid back over the lashes and down her cheeks.

"But... Hope-"

"I don't want to hear the lecture!"

"No...I was gonna ask, you never miss. I saw you shoot. If you were aiming to kill how'd you miss?"

"I couldn't see straight. I passed out right after. Well I could still hear. Trauma shock does weird things. Everyone was worried about the crank. And they brought him back. Did you know Lanna isn't immune? But still let's bring the crank on a BERG."

"Hope...the serum Teresa gave Thomas? It's working." Will said hesitantly.

"For now." She said bitterly. "I've seen it repress symptoms, I've seen it work for a few days, but then right back to a crank. I've seen it happen for nine months. They tortured me, poisones me, electrocuted me,add me hilucinate my worst fears and memories all for the damn cure. So...no. I don't believe it until I see it. And...it can't be that how many of us went through that living hell for a cure when all they had to do was draw a small vial of blood from His Majesty."

He just sighed, Hope saw his eyes get sad, but he didn't push it. Instead he switched topics.

"So Minho was your first kiss huh?"

Hope's cheeks went slightly pink, yet her eyes filled with hurt tears again. Pulling her knees back up, she wrapped her arms around her knees and looked away.

"Seriously?"

"Dating wasn't really an option in the zombie apocalypse, Will. It was survive until the next day, for like 10 years. And now, I finally...I let myself...

Hope shook her head, angry tears filled her eyes. Will reached out and took hold of her hand and squeezed it. She took a slow breath.

"It's stupid. This is why I kept away from guys and dating and all that crap. It's nothing but a pain in the butt. Get used, and tossed aside when I'm not needed."

"Aww come on. We're not all bad!"

"Eww. Your my brother!" She wrinkled her nose making him chuckle.

He stood up and held a hand out for her. She hesitantly took it and he pulled her up. "Come on, met go get a snack. And tell me more about us."

He laid an arm over her shoulders and she hesitantly wrapped an arm around his back. He guided her back to the camp while she told him stories of them when they were young. Will was laughing, his head thrown back, when Odin stepped from around the corner and stood in the middle of the street, arms folded feet planted and murder in his eyes.

"Papa? What's wrong?"

He glared at Will.

"Taking advantage of my girl, Gally?" He growled.

"Papa! Enough!"

Will held out a hand like he intended to shack, "it's Will actually."

Odin hesitated. His eyes flicked to Hope who nodded.

"Will. As in your-"

"Brother. Yes."

"Well, I'll be damned."

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• A little Poulter Sibling Mood board. •