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

Gally: I should've left you in that Box where you stood.
Thomas: But 'cha didn't!

Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Running out of the Homestead, I met a confused Peter.

"What happened in there?"

I grabbed him by the shoulders. "No time to explain, where'd Gally go?"

"In the Maze. Be careful, Lauren. He looked scary." He wasted no time telling me.

Pulling him into a hug, I told him I would.

I know running into the Maze without any supplies was stupid of me. But I was only thinking about stopping Gally. I tried to calm myself down when I realized that he had no supplies either. And wasn't a Runner.

What probably saved me from a panic attack was when I found Minho's old pack that he dropped when I found the dead Griever. I pulled it on and stopped myself before I unsheathed the knife.

This was Gally. I didn't need to have a knife out when I found him.

The stone walls looked menacing. It was weird to be out here and have a different purpose than running and hiding from Grievers. I had a rescue mission. Checking my watch, I realized we had a long while before we were due back in the Maze.

I kept calling his name and stopping to listen after each one. He couldn't be far away. But each stop I had put more and more distance between us. This game of hide and seek terrified me, because I was playing the role of a seeker that had a time limit. And Gally played the role of a hider that definitely did not want to be found.

"Gally?!"

Peter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guys started coming out of the Homestead, so I guessed the Gathering was over.

Lauren had been out in the Maze for almost half an hour now, and it scared me every time I looked over at the Doors and didn't see her.

"Peter!" Frypan called. "Where'd Lauren go?"

"Uh, she went to, um, help the Builders." I stammered.

His eyes narrowed. "I'll ask a better question. Where'd Gally run off to?"

My palms got clammy. "I, uh, I didn't see."

"He's not a small guy, Peter."

I broke. "They're out in the Maze."

"They're what?"

"Gally ran out, and he went straight into the Maze, I didn't try to stop him, because you probably saw how he looked. You can't stop a guy like that. Then Lauren comes out right afterward, and immediately asks where he went, so I told her, and obviously she runs to go get him, now they're both out in the Maze with no supplies, and I'm the only one who knows about it, and I'm scared." I exhaled shakily.

The normally cheerful guy had a dark expression on his face. It did nothing to ease my fear level.

"There's nothing we can do now." He finally said.

"What can we do?"

"Hope for the best."

"Can we at least tell Minho?"

Frypan muttered something. "He'd probably run in there just to murder Gally."

"It stays between us?"

"Until something bad happens." He looked over at the Doors.

I didn't like the way he phrased it.

Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Gally?!" I was getting desperate. It'd been two hours and I hadn't even found a sign of him. Stopping to listen, like I'd always done, I heard footsteps. He wasn't far.

"Gal-" Turning the corner, I found him.

He stood in the middle of the hallway, chest heaving with exhaustion. His back was to me, and I started jogging.

"You wanna explain yourself? Or do we need to play another round of hide and seek?" My hands curled into fists, and I wanted to punch myself. Why did I start with a sarcastic statement? Nothing good could possibly come out of it.

Gally turned around to look at me. Sweat dripped off his face, and I pulled the water bottle out of my bag and handed it to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly, the words echoing off the walls.

It was such a simple question, only three words, but it packed a punch. Depending on how you said it, it could save or ruin a relationship. It could save a person's life. The three words were used daily, and they would never grow old. They'll be used forever, and go on saving people or ruining people.

There was a long and pregnant pause before he answered.

"I'm tired of all of them letting him get away with anything. I'm tired of all of them treating him like he's shucking royalty, like he can do no wrong, and celebrating him for breaking our rules! We've had them since we've come up, and they've helped us survive. I can't be in there a second longer and see them just—" Gally trailed off, but his anger still remained.

What do you say to that? Yes, I understood where he came from, but sometimes change was good.

"How can I help?"—Apparently wasn't the answer Gally thought he'd get.

His face turned into something of confusion, shifted into relief, and then settled on the same unrecognizable face I saw when I first came up in the Box.

And he told me.

|~^-^~|

I left the pack with Gally, promising to come back with some more. On the run back, I realized it was probably better that I left it with him, as I didn't go in there with a pack and it'd be weird if I came back with one.

Turning the corner to get to the Hallway, I saw Peter standing by the Doors, with Frypan next to him. My face quickly changed into something resembling sadness.

"I didn't find him." I told the two.

"You expect us to believe that?" Frypan commented.

Peter gave a confused look to the Keeper. I mirrored it.

"If you didn't find him, you'd still be out there and probably would just barely get inside before the Doors closed. And don't think we didn't see your little face change whenever you saw us."

My mouth opened and closed as I tried to come up with a response. Frypan looked at me like a stern mother would. I finally caved.

"Fine. I found him. But we talked, and he absolutely does not want to come back. I didn't try to persuade him, and that's that. I found a pack Minho dropped and there was still some good stuff in there. He'll be fine until I can figure out what I'm gonna do." I took the loosening hair tie out of my hair and shook my wavy mess of blondness out.

It felt good to have my hair down. I always kept it up in a ponytail, because it was just easier that way. I wasn't going to impress anyone, and it kept me cooler.

I looked back at the Doors, and the full force of everything that happened today hit me like a truck.

Peter started talking, but I didn't hear. My vision started going black, starting at the edges and working inward. I couldn't breathe. Something was sitting on my chest, slowly crushing my lungs and I doubled over, trying to force something, anything, into my lungs. But nothing was happening. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. I couldn't talk. I was helpless.

Something finally wormed into my ear, and I felt an arm around my shoulder. "Lauren, breathe. Come on, breathe for me. You can do it," He kept talking, but it cut in and out.

My hair fell in front of my face, and cutting me off from the outside world. I appreciated it, as I knew people were probably looking at the three of us.

After some number of minutes of Peter coaxing me into breathing, I slowly straightened up, taking a couple of shallow breaths.

"I'm fine."

Frypan gave me a look.

"It's okay, I just needed a second." I defended. But I had misread his look.

"No, it's not that. I don't think I've seen you with your hair down."

"Yeah," Peter echoed. "It looks really pretty."

It was so odd to have them compliment me, and it was just that. A compliment. No hidden meaning, no buttering me up, just friends telling each other they look good. It almost made me cry. I had forgotten that those types of compliments still existed. There needed to be more of them in the world.

"I, thanks." I smiled. The hair tie still resided on my wrist, but I let it be. It'd be nice to let my hair down once in a while.

But my responsibilities still haunted me.

"What am I gonna do about Gally?"

"My honest opinion would be to let him stay there, but I know you're his friends." Frypan confessed.

We all started walking, Frypan leaving to go back to the Kitchen.

"Couldn't you run and give him supplies each day? At least until he calms down?" Peter asked.

"I guess, but who knows how long that could be? And what if a Griever finds him? And-" My anxiety hated every second he was out there.

"Lauren, calm down."

My hair felt too hot on my neck. The Glade stayed the same temperature each day, but today felt a hundred degrees hotter. I flipped my hair over and started the monotonous routine of putting it in a ponytail.

Peter looked the slightest bit sad, but didn't question it.

"We just gotta get through each day. I'm sure with you talking to him a little bit, and if he knows he still has friends in here, it'll get him to come back." I noticed the way he said each word, like someone talking to an upset animal.

"That's a lot of pressure to put on one person." I didn't mean to sound angry. But Peter didn't understand. He didn't see the way Gally looked in the Gathering. Or in the Maze.

Someone would have to be extremely upset to willingly run out into the Maze to get away from the Glade and the people in it.

I should know, I wanted to do the same thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I kinda lied.
There'll be more Peter POVs cause I love him and he's my bby.

If y'all are upset with the POV changes, here's my lawyer's number.
212-970-4133

*awkward peace sign*

It was actually really hard to write Gally in this chapter. (thatwhyhisspeech'ssoshort-)
I hope I did the guy justice, and y'all are happy with the way I'm goin with this book.
There was a draft that had Lauren be able to stop Gally before he made it to the Maze and convince him to stay, but I trashed it because it had no drama.

So I haven't really done questions for awhile so here's some.

-What questions would you like to ask Lauren?

-Peter?

-Anyone else?

-Brotp or Otp for Amelia and Jake?

(also yes this chapter title was a reference to Jaiden Animations, I love her and she deserves the WORLD!)