I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters

Chuck: Rawr!
Gally: Ah! Stop, I coulda dropped my croissant.
Thomas: *laughing*

Lauren
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I heard faint voices when I woke up. And for once, I wasn't in a Med-Jack bed.

I opened my eyes and realized that I was in someone's arms. Looking up, I saw the familiar face of Gally. "Hiya, bud."

Gally slowly let me down, but I still leaned heavily against him. I noticed that the earlier crowd had dissipated, leaving only Gally, Peter, Newt, Clint, and me. I guessed Gally was in the process of bringing me to the Homestead.

Newt was angry. "What were you thinkin'?"

"Newt, before you say anything," I held up my hands.

"How are you planning on explainin' yourself?"

"Can I talk?!" I exclaimed.

He folded his arms and let out a huff.

"They're going to be alright. I promise you."

"They're out in the buggin' Maze, Lauren! No one has spent the night in the Maze and survived! How could you be so stupid as to forcing Tommy to go out in there?"

"Did you not see that 'Tommy' ran towards the Maze too? I didn't force him to do anything." I took a deep breath. "I know it seems like I'm making empty promises, but I swear to God, they are going to be perfectly fine."

"And how do you know this, Lauren?" Peter questioned.

"Because Thomas is different. Even WICKED said so. If there's anyone I'd rather spent the night with in the Maze, it's the Greenie."

Gally's face darkened, and I felt his arms tense around me.

"WICKED said so?" Clint asked.

"Yes. Newt, remember the cafeteria memory I was about to tell you about, but then I said I got a headache?" I looked him dead in the eyes. No one but Newt would understand.

"Where you goin' with this?"

"There was a man that came into the cafeteria, and he had Thomas and the girl with him." I talked quickly.

Lauren-

"He said that they were different and that we had to treat them with the 'utmost respect'—" How can I get a headache so quickly?

Don't do this, I swear-

Clint noticed the pain on my face. "What's wrong?"

I held up my hand. "They were separated by WICKED early on, and they were the best-"

NO!

Pain, shocked yells, and then darkness.

|~^-^~|

"Whaddya think happened?"

"I don't know, but it looked like a bad headache."

"She'll be okay, yeah?"

Silence. "Yeah."

I opened my eyes quickly and sat up. "Of the best. They're the best of the best." My breaths were short and fast. They had to know this. Newt had to know this.

"Woah, Lauren. Just slim yourself nice and easy." Newt had lost some of his earlier anger.

"It was worth it,—you guys had to know." I slowly steadied my breathing and looked around. Clint and Newt were in the room, and if I listened closely, I could hear Gally and Peter outside.

"I'm still mad, ya know."

"I do. You can throw me into the Slammer if you want."

Newt took a deep breath. "I dunno."

"If it makes it easier on you, I can just keep my head down and stay in here. Out of sight, out of mind. People probably think I'm still injured, and it can buy you some time."

Clint looked between the two of us.

The second-in-command looked torn. He ran a hand through his hair and finally spoke. "Go ahead and do that. I'll figure out what I'm bloody gonna do tomorrow."

"Alright." After many days of practice, I was finally able to stand up without wobbling. Newt opened the door, and we all exited.

Gally and Peter looked up from their conversation at the sound of the door.

"Lauren, you've gotta stop scaring us like that. Clint wouldn't even let us inside." Peter hugged me.

"She didn't need all of us crowding her bed," Clint interjected. "Make sure she has at least one of you guys by her. By the looks of it, she lost a lot of blood. And she should still be in bed, but I know better than to try to keep Lauren on bedrest."

"Glad to see that you still care about me, Clint." I gave a sarcastic smile.

He just rolled his eyes and followed Newt down the stairs.

"Did you have to get stitches?" Peter asked.

"I dunno. I haven't checked the wound yet. But probably."

"What exactly happened?" Gally questioned. I noticed that he had his usual angry look.

"I took Alby and Minho to go see the dead Griever, right? But when we got there, I noticed that the skin was still moist. It's got moist skin; try to keep up, guys." I added, reading their confused looks. "If it were actually dead, it wouldn't be that way. It'll most likely be dry and crusty." Sighing, I told them the last part. "And before I could do anything, Alby was already too close and got Stung. And the shucking thing threw me out of the way, scratching my stomach in the process."

"But why did you throw the Greenie in the Maze?" Here we go again with Gally and the Greenie.

"For the last time, it was mutual. I knew that if Thomas was in the Maze too, Minho and Alby's chances of survival go up drastically."

"Minho's Keeper of the Runners. He'd know how to survive a night in the Maze, not Thomas." He spat the last word out like it was poison.

"Why do you hate him so much? If you actually talk to the guy, instead of yelling at him all the time, you'd find out that he isn't as bad as you make him out to be!"

"Guys, let's not fight." Peter was the last thing on my mind. I was going to get to the bottom of this.

"He's with them, Lauren! When will you actually use that brain of yours and all those memories and realize the truth? Thomas. Isn't. Good."

"Wow, Gally! You're starting to sound like Ben there. Did you get Stung without any of us noticing?" It was a low blow, I know.

Gally looked me dead in the eyes. "Y'know, not everyone's as stupid as you, running to a Griever on purpose to get Stung."

Peter gasped.

I fought hard to keep my face even and to keep the tears at bay. How could he do this to me? He knows how hard it was to get Stung on purpose. He knows that I hated every minute of it. How could he do that?

Clenching my fists, I responded, "Don't you ever talk to me like that again." And turned and went to my room before anyone could see me cry.

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I LOVE this chapter title. LOVE IT.
And yes, I know it's already used in Magnus Chase, but y'all have to deal.

...do y'all hate me now...
I just want to say this fight was a LONG time coming.
And it HURT
Do y'all hear me??

Questions...

-How many of you are rioting?

-How many of you responded like Peter?

-And how many of you understand the chapter title?