⁰⁰     ▇ ¨. ༢ ͎۪۫ 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 ... ❜

━━  ❛  the 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕
𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕. ❜  ‧˖˚. ☄︎ ͎۪۫ ◞⁺.
❪ part 02. location: the maze.
©kiiizones, all rights reserved ❫.

             "𝑾𝑬𝑳𝑳, 𝑰 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 to say I'm disappointed." Gally released a horrible choking sound as Ryan jerked the neck of his shirt upwards. "Come on. After all he's done? Nobody wants this shank to die?" The Griever key clattered to the floor. Clearly affronted by their lack of response, Ryan's face settled into one of cool disinterest. "Well, then. I guess we can all have a  nice, polite, grown-up conversation instead."

"Ryan." Emis was surprised to find that her voice was steady. She made to take a step forwards, and instantly Ryan had cocked the gun into position.

"No, no you stay right there, Emis." He said, his voice trembling. "Nobody moves, unless you'd like me to paint this room with the insides of Gally's skull. I'll do it!" He said, as if trying to confirm it within himself.

"Ryan." It was Newt who spoke this time. "You've been stung━"

Anger cracked across Ryan's face like lightning. "No I haven't." He said, his voice sharp and cold like ice. "No–no–no, I haven't!" He started to sing it, the horrible grin twisting back into place. "No, I haven't been stung." Blood and spit sprayed out from his mouth as he said, "I'm just fucking crazy!"

"We can talk, Ry━" Newt said, holding out his hands as if to try and calm him down. "Just━just let him go. Put him down━"

"No!" Ryan's voice rose to a high, uncontrollable shout. "No. Ask me how I survived. Ask me how I survived the Maze." He jerked the back of Gally's shirt upwards again. "ASK me!"

"How did you survive?" Winston asked, hastily. Ryan grinned at him. He moved so that his arm was locked around Gally's throat, and Emis felt a small quell of relief as he moved the gun away from him.

And pointed it directly at her.

"You." He spat, in another shower of spit and blood, he said, "You little bitch. You're the reason I survived."

"Ryan," Emis heard her voice from a distance, as if she weren't the one speaking it. "What are you talking about?"

Ryan moved towards them, hauling Gally with him until he stood only a few feet away. This close, Emis felt her skin flare with a cold rush of fear. She felt exposed, suddenly. As if Ryan were flying bullets, and she had nothing to shield her from him.

"You have no idea what it's been like," Ryan said, his voice like a twisting knife. "Having to live like this, around all of you, having to pretend that I'm human, that I'm powerless. Having to pretend as if I could stand any of you at all." His hand that held the gun was shaking. "Rambling on about problems that are entirely superficial. I've had to sit and listen to all your petty conversations, pretend to do my job just like everyone else━had to pretend that everything about you doesn't make me sick." He released a sharp, hollow laugh. "And it was all because of her."

In a sharp crack of movement he was shoving Gally away from him, who was thrown forwards with such a force that sent him crashing into the floor. In another flash, Ryan was in front of Emis, and the gunmetal was warm as he shoved it up against her forehead. "I watched that video." He said, his voice low and trembling. His breath was foul and damp against her face. "Behind you. Behind all of your massive heads, I saw it. I saw that god-awful video of you screaming━and that bitch━Ava━she had the nerve!" He released another laugh, high and almost hysterical. "She had the nerve to say that I'd been terminated━"

Emis felt everything inside her seize up. All the air left her in a dry rush, and she made a gasping, choking sound as Ryan buried the gun so far into her forehead she could feel her skin bursting open underneath it. Warm blood trickled down the sides of her face, but she barely noticed it. "━when, all along." Ryan went on. "All along they had shut me down because I hadn't been able to defend myself against a stupid little girl!" He twisted the gun a little, brow knitting in concentration as if he were adjusting a painting, and Emis could no longer fight the urge to cry out in pain as the skin on her forehead, which had healed over, twisted open into a flower of agony.

"That's enough." Newt said, his voice sharp with panic and anger. Ryan ignored him.

"My name isn't Ryan, Emis." He spat, and blood and spit sprayed up into her face. "It's Orion."

"You━" she said, gasping for breath. "I don't remember you━I don't━"

"Do you know who Orion was?" He jerked the gun to the side again. "To Artemis? In Greek Mythology?"

"No..." Emis said hoarsely.

"No, I didn't think you would. Stupid bitch. Makes sense he took all your memories."

"Who━" she was silenced as he brought his hand around to the back of her head and held it firmly, like a clamp, against the barrel of the gun.

"No, you don't get to speak. Another word, and I pull this trigger. I don't know━unless you want to find out how long it takes for your brains to crawl back into your skull?" He released a dry, rasping sound. Emis realised that he was chuckling.

The gun was hot and searing bright like a signal flame against her head. She said nothing.

"Good girl." He said, adjusting his grip. In the back of her head, Emis was wondering if she could manoeuvre away from him, somehow. A kick to the groin? Slam her fists up against his skull? But it was pointless. He would have the bullet in her head before she could even react. "Let me tell you who Orion was." Ryan cleared his throat, as if preparing to tell her a fairytale. "He was the hunting partner of Artemis. They worked as a team━don't move a muscle!" He said, voice high. Someone had obviously made to step closer. "Come any closer and I'll blow her fucking brains out!" At their silence, Ryan released a short impatient breath of annoyance.

"Where was I? Ah." The gun twisted a little again. Blood had started to fall into her eyes, but Emis did her best to stand her ground. She didn't want to give Ryan an ounce of satisfaction. "Orion. He and Artemis were inseparable. And in Greek Mythology, Artemis had a brother. A twin brother. Apollo." He spat it. "Funny how stories always end up being mostly true, isn't it, Emis? Because, well. For some godforsaken reason your brother could not stand me."

Another punch of shock and familiarity to the gut. I have a brother. She thought. Perhaps that was the boy from the video━from her memories. The one with the green eyes and tousled hair. Distantly she wondered what had happened to him. If he had survived. If he was waiting for her, like he'd said he would be.

"Emis has a brother?" Chuck's small voice floated up from somewhere behind her.

"Shut up!" Ryan roared. "Shut up━shut up, we're having a grown-up discussion here, Chuck!" With a spray of spit he turned to face her again. "He hated me. He hated me because I was everything you weren't. I must have been━I used to think that it was because you were stronger. Now I've realised it must have been because I was stronger. I was everything you weren't━I was everything they wanted me to be. And━and he took that away from me!"

Suddenly, he was releasing her. She felt herself stumble back until someone━Teresa━was catching her against her shoulder awkwardly.

Ryan stood a few feet away, a hand over his eyes. He released an awful, dry, heaving sob. Not a sliver of sympathy went through Emis as she eyed Gally's motionless body on the floor. Was he dead? She wondered, and was overcome with rushing panic and guilt.

That was, until Ryan had composed himself again. "He took everything away from me." He said, his voice trembling. "And now? I'm going to take it all from him. He worked so hard to keep you alive." Ryan let out a sour laugh. "What a pity that is now."

He raised the gun, his finger balanced on the trigger, and Emis felt her eyes shut so tightly she could see white spots. She braced herself for the huge, blinding rod of pain, clenching her hands into fists, but nothing came. There was no gunshot.

She opened her eyes to see that Ryan was weighing the gun in his hands, as if thoughtfully. And then suddenly, he was smiling softly, as if quietly amused by something. "No." She heard him whisper. And then he was marching over to Gally, and crouching down, and his voice was almost gentle as he said, "Gally, get up. Come on."

With what seemed to be all his strength, Ryan hauled Gally to his feet, who blinked and spluttered as if being woken sharply from a dream. "Come on." Ryan said again. "Let's show them why we're not going to kill her. Come on." He was speaking in a hushed, private voice. As if the others weren't there. He really was crazy.

He slipped the gun into Gally's hands like it was some fragile, precious, gentle thing, and Gally, unfocused, seemed utterly complaisant as Ryan wrapped his fingertips around the handle. "No." He said. "We're not going to kill Artemis." He spat her name like it was something foul tasting in his mouth. Carefully he held Gally's wrist and manoeuvred it gently until the barrel of the gun was facing away from Emis.

And straight at Newt.

"No." Ryan said. "We're going to kill him instead."

"No━" Emis cried out, surging forwards, but the gun had already been reset.

"Emis." Newt said. He had gone tense, and slightly pale. "It's okay."

"No." She said, heaving for breath. "No. It isn't. Kill me instead━that's what you want, isn't it? For me to suffer?" She said it in between gasps. "So just do it. Torture me. Make me bleed━put a bullet in my head. Newt doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Oh," Ryan was grinning now, his smile a razor slice in the darkness. "Oh but, he does. You see, poor Gally here is in love with you."

Emis felt all the blood drain from her face. "What?" She asked, her voice a whisper. It was impossible. Gally━he had crossed her name out in the wall. He had said he had wanted her heart to break. He had wanted to hurt her.

But maybe that had all been because she had hurt him.

"Oh, yes!" Ryan's eyes were glinting with excitement. "And when he realised that you didn't love him━that you loved Newt instead? He was heartbroken. But he couldn't bring himself to be angry at you, of course not." He almost spat it into Gally's face. "Love blinds us all, doesn't it? To him you were some shining, glorious angel. When in reality, we all know that you're an abomination. We all know there's something seriously wrong with you."

"Ryan━" She tried to speak, but he cut her off.

"While this chat has been lovely," Ryan stepped away from Gally with a smug, twisted grin on his face. "I think we've wasted enough time. Don't you, Gally?" He spread his arm out, in a wide gesture towards Newt. "Do the honours, my friend."

Emis tried to move as fast as she could. She shoved away from Teresa, going to throw herself in front of Newt, but she was too late. The crack of gunshot had rippled through the air, ghosting away into silence.

Emis screamed, turning to face Newt, but was cut off with blinding confusion as he stood there, perfectly intact, blinking a little as if slightly dazed. But she had heard the gunshot. Unless━

"You were a godawful kisser." She whirled to see Ed, standing a little to the side, with a huge, heavy shotgun in his arms. His face was a dark, thundering shadow of anger.

The bullet had gone straight through Ryan's outstretched hand. The pain caught up to him, and he released an odd, strangled moan, stumbling forwards and crashing into the floor. Ed marched over to him, reloading the shotgun with steady hands, and pointed the barrel straight at Ryan's head.

"You manipulative bastard." He spat. Emis was shocked to see that Ryan had started to grin again.

"Was I really that terrible?" He asked, a light, mocking tone to his voice. Despite the grin he was still wheezing from the pain. He clutched his forearm awkwardly as blood spilled from the wound in his hand and circled his wrist in a crimson bracelet.

"You were awful," Ed said, "awful. Your little dramatic moment is over." He positioned the gun, as Ryan flashed him another grin, his teeth stained with blood.

"Check again." He said, and he glanced to the side.

Gally was still holding the gun. He had moved it away from Newt, though. Now, it was directly in front of Thomas. Something within him seemed to have woken up, out of the trance brought on by the Griever venom, and his bloodshot eyes were bright with tears.

"We can't leave." He said, in a trembling voice.

"We did," Thomas raised his hands gently, as if reaching out to help him. "Gally, we're out. We're free."

"Free?" Gally echoed him, as if the word was unknown to him. "You think we're free out there?" His whole body seemed tight, his shoulders hunched up under his ears. The pain coursing through him seemed to string him up like a wire. "No." He said, his voice a rasping sob. "No, there's not escape from this place." He cocked the gun with shaking hands. Ryan was laughing.

Thomas raised his hands in surrender. "Gally," he said, "listen to me. You're not thinking straight. You're not━" He drew in a shaky breath. "Now, we can help you. Just━just put down the gun."

"I belong to the Maze." Gally seemed not to be able to hear Thomas at all.

"Just put down the gun━"

"We all do." Gally said, his voice breaking. And he pulled the trigger.

"No━"

"Gally━!"

Something huge and heavy whistled past Emis as the gunshot sounded. The reverberations of it hung onto the air, as if frozen in the moment, before silence fell. And the spear entered Gally's chest in a shower of shattering glass.

Gally released an awful, heaving, spluttering gasp. The gun clattered to the floor beside him and he slumped forwards onto his knees, the spear sinking with him. For a moment he looked lost, scrambling helplessly as if trying to hang onto the last threads of his life, and then he fell to the side, and his eyes went unfocused, and no more sound came from him.

Emis heard a soft noise of surprise come from beside her. "Thomas."

She turned to face Chuck, his eyes wide, a look of quiet disbelief passing over his face as he looked down at the blood blooming out into a flower of red against his chest.

Everything seemed to move into slow motion after that, time suddenly leaching out like ink spreading against paper. Chuck sunk onto the floor, Thomas diving after him, and Emis felt herself crumble, too, falling so that her knees slammed into the floor as Chuck's head fell onto her lap, as if he couldn't control it.

She couldn't move. She could barely breathe. Only vaguely could she hear Thomas, his voice echoing and distorted as if she was hearing him from under water. He was speaking in a frantic rush. "Chuck, look at me alright?"

Soft, helpless whimpering sounds were coming from Chuck; his eyes were dancing, as if he couldn't see. As if he had gone blind. "I got you, buddy." Thomas said, his voice breaking. "Just hang on━"

"It's okay." Chuck gave a panting wheeze. "Thomas," he said. "Thomas." He had pulled out something; a small wooden figurine. It was spattered with his blood.

"No━" Thomas said, "No, Chuck. You're going to give it to them yourself, remember? You'll give it to them yourself━I told you that━"

"Take it." Chuck cut him off, with a harsh, wheezing gasp.

"Chuck━" Emis felt his name slip from her in a tight, heavy breath. "Chuck. Save your breath. We'll fix this━we can fix this━"

"Emis." Chuck said, in a small, far-away voice. "Emis. Thomas." He drew in another heaving gasp. "Thank you." He said. "Thank you."

And he died. It wasn't fast, like Gally's had been. Time seemed to eke out, as he gave his last breath. Blood and tears mixed like watercolours against his skin, and finally the last of his life choked out of him in a long exhale, and his eyes rolled back, and he went still.

A soft, high-pitched explosion of anger went off inside Emis's head. Everything around her seemed to blur out into silence. Agony and fury tore through her like a rod of lighting had struck her body, and for a moment she felt utterly desensitised. The only sound managing to break down through the explosion of her shattering heart was Ryan's cold, clear, maniacal laugh.

Something inside her seemed to snap. She barely noticed the world plunge into its familiar shade of red, could only distantly feel herself standing up, turning away from Chuck's lifeless body, moving towards Ryan as if there was nothing but air underneath her. As if she was flying.

She approached him with a soft, inevitable grace, like the rushing power of a winding river that could not be stopped by any force. The strength that coursed through her was so strong and bright it was almost numbing. Distantly, almost in slow motion, she saw Ed step out of the way, and then Ryan was there, getting to his feet, and utterly at her mercy.

With what felt like incredible ease, she brought her hands up towards him as she took him by the throat, and threw him upwards.

His back collided with the shattered light in the ceiling and he let out a roar of agony as glass and fire entered his skin, and then he was thudding onto the floor, all the air being knocked out of him. Emis moved towards him as if emerging unscathed from a halo of fire, blinding and beautiful with power and terror, and leapt onto him, her knees sinking heavily against his upper-back.

He let out a wheeze of protest, but what energy he had tried to maintain was slowly leaving him. Emis snaked her arm around the wind of his neck, and as she glanced up, everything seemed to clear finally. She met Chuck's still, unfocused, lifeless stare, and a growling crack of thunder spilled from her chest.

"I think it's time I kill you properly." She said, almost calmly. "Don't you?"

Ryan released a small sound of protest, but he was too late. With a harsh, echoing crack, Emis yanked her arm to the side, and his neck snapped in half.

She released him, standing up, and the ringing sound in her ears finally cleared, and she could hear everything, see everything━the red light flaring off, the others looking at her with horrified amazement. She glanced down at Ryan, with his head bent at an awkward angle, gaze unfocused, and a sudden wave of relief crashed over her.

She felt the urge to sink onto her knees, but suddenly the room was erupting in a shower of light and noise.

The light was coming from the dark corridor, which was no longer dark, but streaming with daylight as the door at the far end opened. Men came barraging in, they were holding guns, and Emis had barely any time to react, before Newt was taking her hand, and yelling over the noise, "Come on, Emis! We have to go━"

Emis let him pull her away, stumbling after him, up into the slanting tunnel that led upwards into a flood of blinding light. As they broke through the air seemed to thicken, and tighten, as if it was not air but pouring sand.

She barely had any time to glance the outside; but it was barely anything. Hills rolled out beyond them as far as she could see, and there was nothing but sand. Sand and rot, and the scent of smoke and ash and salt.

Emis wrinkled her nose, trying to gasp for breath, but suddenly they were being ushered forwards towards a huge helicopter, its propellers casting a swirl of dry wind and sand up around them. Someone's hands went to her waist, and she was being thrown up after Newt, into the chopper, and Thomas was rolling in after her, and suddenly the door was slammed shut.

The helicopter began to rise into the air, sending an odd, tumbling feeling through her stomach. She shifted, adjusting position, and almost automatically she felt Newt bring her closer to him as he leaned against the window.

A man was sat in front of them, and as he took his helmet off, Emis tried to memorise his face. The face of the man who saved them from the Maze. "You guys alright?" He asked, breathing heavily. "Don't worry. You're safe now." He said, and turned to signal to the pilot that it was okay to get going.

As the helicopter ascended, lifting into the sky, the view of the Maze rose up against the murky window like the prow of a ship emerging through fog. From this distance, it seemed smaller than it had felt. Very faintly Emis could see the green of the ivy on the walls, a tiny, miniature wall shifting into place. It looked like the model back in the Glade that the Runners had built; only this Maze was life-sized and built out of cement and stone instead of broken twigs. There was still smoke rising from the heart of the Maze, the Glade. And on the outside, on the wall nearest to them, in huge, dusty white letters, was stamped the initials WCKD, and below it, the words SITE A.

Emis released an odd, choked breath, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and felt herself go loose in Newt's arms, all the strength and energy and adrenaline rushing out of her as she breathed out.

"Relax kid," the man said to Thomas, who had a stunned, disbelieving look on his face. "Everything's going to change."

And as they flew away, away from the Maze, away from the Glade, away from WCKD, Emis realised that in all of the confusion and the chaos that the boy on the other side of the screen had escaped her. A painful whirlpool of his face, and Ava's face, came flashing up against her eyelids as she closed her eyes. Distorted and frantic, their words jumbled together in her head.

"Remember," his voice siphoned out into Ava's voice, back and forth, like her brain was peddling the dials of a radio. "Remember━don't trust them━remember, Artemis━everything's going to change━Artemis. Remember━Remember." She drew in a sharp breath as the words rose up to the front of her mind like the bright flare of a match being struck, their voices colliding and conjoining in a harsh discordant inside her head.

"Wicked is good."

     ⁰⁰ ❛ 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 . . .☄︎ ⋆࿐໋ ˖

u already know that i pour my heart & soul out into these notes, so without further ado:

this chapter is dedicated to every single one of you. it's dedicated to those of you who have stuck with this book, through its wild ride through several different accounts, despite it all. it's dedicated to everyone who has ever voted or commented on this story, on the original version or the republished version, because i can promise you that every single comment has made me inexplicably happy (even if im the worst at replying to comments. i promise im trying to get better haha). this book is dedicated to you, the person reading the words on this screen (whether you've chosen to interact with the story or not), because without you, artemis would not have existed. i couldn't have done this without you all.

it's been a slow drag but i'm so thankful for each and every one of you. thank you for supporting my writing, and my characters, and my storyline, and me? i know i do go on ab myself but i can't put into words the extent of how much this experience has meant to me. so thank you so so much. (also, thank u so much for 9K as well dkdnfj ohmigosh ‧⁺◟( ᵒ̴̶̷̥́ ·̫ ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀ ).)

okay lmao the emo shit is over; it's time now to begin phase two.

love, 𝒓𝒊𝒓𝒊. *♡・.