Evelyn was vaguely aware that someone pulled her upright. Her mind was so fogged nothing made sense. Everything around her was distorted. Everything was too much. Too much noise. Too much colour. Too much movement.

Everything around her teetered and rocked. She had to blink constantly, just to keep the fog clear enough to stumble after whoever had her wrist clamped in their hand. The fires burned around her, it made her fever burn hotter. The flickering flames caused her eyes to water with pain. She tried to rub them but it made it worse she tried scratching at them. Whoever was dragging her around kept smacking her hands away, making her snarl.

The noise from the constantly wailing sirens and the wild manic screams of cranks, the gun shots and explosions was making her ears feel like bleeding, and her head felt like exploding. There were cars crashing into each other just half a block away, the constant screeching and banging made her body shake with the pain, her head throbbed and threatened to split open. It was so loud she couldn't hear the crank in her head. It was terrible. She just wanted to sink to the floor and die.

She finally managed to rip her arm away.

"No!" She screamed, furious that whoever kept pulling her wouldn't let her stop. Everything inside her screamed to just stop. She had nothing left. The pain was too much.

"Keep going!"

"No!" She screamed again, a last bit of strength forced into those words.

"Food...I need food."

"Then go! Let me die!" She begged, she sunk down to her knees.

"No."

No. The simple word made her eyes fill with tears. No. They wouldn't let her die. She picked her head up and looked up. Forcing the fog from her mind, it was like trying to come up for air when your drowning. Her head pushed through the surface of the water.

"Newt....if...if you ever loved me...please. please let me go."

"No." He said, there was no expression on his face, except his eyes were full of anger.

"You promised! You promised me!"

"No. I can't."

Anger filled her. It switched on like a light switch. The noise around her cut off, the only sound was the wild thumping of her heart, the wild drum beat in her ears.

"You promised!" She screamed. She lunged at him like a feral cat, spitting and hissing. She clawed at him. "You made me a promise! You lying selfish coward! I hate you!"  They his the cement, and rolled. Evelyn was doing everything she could to hurt him.

"What are you gonna do about it?" He screamed back. He was trying to grab hold of her wrists, but Evelyn fought back.

"Do it! Coward! You promised me!"

"No!"

His fist connected with her jaw, making her head snap to the side. A twisted smile formed on her face. And she let out a manic laugh, it so loud and wild a few cranks looked over.

"You hit back!" She cackled, her eye wild with manic excitement.

Newt was breathing heavily, under her, his eyes dark with madness. "I should have left you chained up!"

"That's all your good at, Newt, is walking away and ignoring the problem! I've seen your back so many times it wouldn't even break my heart anymore!"

Newt laughed; his eyes wide and wild. All the sweet kind gentle Newt was gone. "What heart? You murderous little witch!"

Evelyn threw her head back and laughed. She was sitting on top of Newt, her infected arm was still pulled tight to her chest, any sort of movement or touch sent shockwaves of pain. When she threw her head back to howl Newt grabbed her throat, his large callused hand wrapped around and held tight.

"Do it! Do it, you coward!" She hissed. "Kill me like you promised!"

Evelyn felt his hand close. Her eyes widened, she locked her eyes with his, almost pleading for him to do it. Another wave of pain hit her hard. It ripped threw her body, slamming into her and ripping her body apart, shredding her mind. The pain helped clear the fog, and tame the anger for a moment, Evelyn managed to push through the surface for a brief second. 

"Please Newt. Please..." She whispered, "you promised." 

Newt's dark eyes cleared, the darkness faded for a moment. She saw the heartbreak and the pain in his own eyes. 

"It's okay Newt. It's okay." She whispered.

"I...I love y-"

His eyes darkened again and she felt his hand squeezes. She felt her air way cut off, her coughing stopped, black phlegm dripped from her mouth down her chin. Her mind panicked, she started clawing at his hand. But he held tight, She felt his fingers dig into her throat. Her lungs screamed for oxygen. There was black spots in her eyes. Her clawing hands became fable swats. Evelyn's eyes rolled into her head, she felt her body sag. She heard Newt scream, weather it was in pain, fear, sorrow or anger, Evelyn wasn't sure. Before everything shut down she smiled. Finally, finally she could be free from it all.

________________________________________

Newt felt Evelyn shudder, he felt her hands clawing at his, but then she stopped. Tears flowed from his eyes. He was squeezing the life out of the person he loved most in the world. But she had begged and screamed and goaded him into doing it. He had promised...he had promised. With a scream of pain, a wild sob that ripped from his chest. He used one last ditch effort and squeezed harder. She collapsed on top of him. Newt held her body tight sobbing for a few seconds. The anger consumed him again, he retreated back into the anger, back into the madness. 

He shoved her limp body off himself. He scrambled to his feet. He closed his eyes, using the heels of his hands to press into his eyes, trying to steady his wild ragged breathing. His sobbing didn't help the raspy breathing. Which then turned into a wild coughing, which brought up the black goo for the first time. He sputtered and choaked, making it dripple down his chin. He dropped his hands to his sides. Newt knew he looked horrible. At least the sliver of rational thought knew he looked terrible. His hair had been torn out in patches, leaving bald spots that were nothing more than red welts. Scratches and bruises covered his face; his shirt was ripped, barely hanging on to his thin frame, and his pants were filthy with grime and blood. He'd finally given in to the Cranks, joined their ranks fully, and now that Evelyn was dead...

He stood standing over Evelyn's crumpled body. His eyes that were staring ahead not looking at anything slowly focused on what was in front of him. 

He vaguely recognized the people standing at the end of the street. They stood staring at him, in shock and disbelief on their faces. They all looked banged up, sweaty and exhausted, a little bloody, their clothes were ripped and full of dirt, soot, and blood. Newt knew these people had a familiarity to him, but he couldn't place them. They slowly walked half the distance to Newt, then stopped. 

"Hey. Newt. It's me, Thomas. You still remember me, right?"

Seeing them all there made his world teeter dangerously. A sudden clarity filled Newt's mind then; he saw Thomas take a step back. Newt's eyes swept the group.

Thomas, Sonny, Minho and Teresa.

"I bloody remember you, Tommy. You just came to see me at the Palace, rubbed it in that you ignored my note. Those two acting all that breaking a promise to Evelyn. I can't go completely crazy in a few days."

"Newt?" Teresa said quietly, "is Evey okay? She hasn't moved."

"She's better then me. She's dead. I killed her."

There was a giant intake of breath. This made Newt angry, a fresh wave of boiling hot anger bubbled up inside.

"Don't act all shocked. She's been begging for death since Crank city when she was shot. So shut your bloody mouths." He spat at them.

Those words he spat looked like they hurt his old friends, they all flinched.

"If you're not shucken crazy then why are you here? Why are you with ... them?" Minho asked, pointing to the group behind him, then back at Thomas.

"We weren't. We were with Goose and them...but...they had plans we couldn't be part of. We had to leave. She couldn't hurt them...she didn't want to hurt them...." He trailed off, looking down at Evelyn, he couldn't see her face, her hair was covering her face. Newt felt his anger ebe away, replaced by an overwhelming weight of sorrow.

"It comes and goes. I can't explain it. Sometimes I can't control myself, barely know what I'm doing. But usually it's just like an itch in my brain, throwing everything off-kilter, just enough to bother me- make me angry."

"You seem fine right now." Thomas pointed out.

"Yeah, well. The only reason we're here... I was jumped, Evelyn used her powers... those wackers..." Newt jambbed his thumb behind him,. "They decided to  accept us. They're fighting, but they're also a group. You find yourself alone, you don't have a bloody chance."

"Newt, come with us this time, right now. We can take you somewhere safer, somewhere better to-"

Newt laughed, and when he did his head twitched strangely a couple of times. "Get out of here, Tommy. Get away. All of you bugger off."

"Just come with us," Thomas begged. "We ..we'll tie you up if it makes you feel better."

Newt's face suddenly hardened into anger and his words shot out in a rage.

"Just shut up, you shuck traitor! Didn't you read my note? You can't do one last, lousy thing for me? Gotta be the hero, like always? I hate you! I always hated you!"

Newt turned his wild eyes onto Minho and Sonny.

"You two shuck cowards! How many times did she beg. But no! Not even after you promised, no. You make me do it! The crazy bloody crank do it! Why not? He's already barken' mad! But did you know? Trauma makes the Flare work faster! Or did you tiny Munie minds forget? Or not bother to remember? 'Cause now I've killed the one good thing in my miserable life, I'm a step closer to Gone!"

"Newt ..." Teresa whispered, her face full of shock.

"It's all your fault!" He threw a finger out at Thomas and Teresa. "You two could've stopped them when the first Creators died. You could've figured out a way. But no! You had to keep it going, try to save the world, be the heros! And you, Thomas, came to the Maze and never stopped. All you care about is yourself! Admit it! Gotta be the one people remember, the one people worship! We should've thrown you two down the Box hole!"

Newt's face had colored to a deep red, and spit flew from his mouth as he yelled. He started taking lumbering steps forward, his hands balled into fists.

"Newt!" Teresa almost yelled.

Minho had grabbed Teresa's hand pulling her back, but for some reason she was fighting to be free.

Thomas faced Newt again. "Newt, stop. Just listen to me. I know you're okay in there. Enough to hear me out."

"I hate you, Tommy!" He was only a few feet away and Thomas took a step backward, Newt could see his face morph from hurt to fear.

"I hate you I hate you I hate you all! After all I did for you, after all the freaking klunk I went through in the bloody Maze, you guys can't do the one and only thing I've ever asked you to do! I can't even look at your ugly shuck face!" Newt twisted his head towards Sonny. "And you! You and your stupid words, claiming life was worth it! Look at me! Is this worth it? I could have died in the shuck maze after the first and second attempt! But No! You also had to be the bloody shuck hero! I hate you!"

Thomas took two more steps back. "Newt, you need to stop.  let me tie you up. Give me a chance!"

Newt was advancing like a wild animal stacking its prey.

Thomas had frozen in place, Minho had backed up, dragging a fighting Teresa and Sonny was eyeing him up as if he was thinking of taking Newt on. Newt tackled Thomas to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. Thomas struggled to fill his lungs as Newt climbed on top of him and pinned him down.

"I should rip your eyes out," Newt said, spraying Thomas with spit. "Teach you a lesson in stupidity. Why'd you come over here? You expected a bloody hug? Huh? A nice sit-down to talk about the good times in the Glade?"

Thomas shook his head, Newt was vaugely aware of the fear that showed on his old friends face. Newt was too busy screaming to notice Sonny slowly advancing and Thomas slowly reaching for his gun with his free hand.

"You wanna know why I have this limp, Tommy? Did I ever tell you? No, I don't think I did."

"What happened?" Thomas asked,

He slipped his fingers around the weapon.

"I tried to kill myself in the Maze. Climbed halfway up one of those bloody walls and jumped right off. Minho and Evelyn found me and dragged me back to the Glade right before the Doors closed. Evelyn almost died trying to save me. I hated the place, Tommy. I hated every second of every day. And it was all ... your ... fault! And Minho's fault! And Sonny's fault."

With a wild scream he jumped off Thomas and went for Minho. Something slammed into him knocking Newt onto the ground. Something snarled at him, clawing trying to bite.

"YOU PROMISED! AND YOU FAILED! YOU CAN'T EVEN KILL ME PROPERLY!"

______________________________

Evelyn's mind snapped wide awake, her chest heaved with a wild gasp, air rushed into her lungs. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees slowly on shaking arms. She coughed a few times, spitting more black out. She looked up, seeing through her dirty matted hair and saw Newt spring forwards and tackle someone to the ground.

Evelyn cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. Of all the people to show up, the absolute shucken nerve of these people. Sonny was looking at her with shock, like she was back from the dead. It made her even angrier. They were here to rub in that she still couldn't die. They refused to do it, now Newt failed. She needed to do it herself. It was always left to her to do it.

She saw Thomas reach for something on his hip. She saw the fire reflect off something shinny. A gun. Thomas was going to shoot Newt. A wild protectiveness exploded inside her, it started in her gut, it shot up into her chest causing it to burn and then it travelled into her arms and legs. She let a wild snarl escape her lips. Newt looked up and over to Minho, screaming something. Evelyn sprung to her feet, the Flare madness giving her wild strength and adrenaline. She pounced just as Newt flung himself at Minho.

Evelyn collided with Newt. They both landed in the ground and started rolling and scrapping trying to get the upper hand.

Evelyn managed to get on top of him, trying to claw at his face. She had a horrible hand mark on her neck, it was red and already starting to bruise.

"You promised me! You liar! You promised! You liar! I hate you! I hate you I hate you!"

Evelyn was tackled off Newt by Minho. He held her and rolled, somehow she managed to claw and scratch her way on top.

Evelyn suddenly twisted around and grabbed Minho by the hand, he some how got the gun of Thomas. Evelyn grabbed the hand holding the gun. She yanked it toward herself, forcing it up until the end of the pistol was pressed against her own forehead.

"Now, Minho, make amends! Kill me before I become one of those cannibal monsters! Kill me! I trusted you! No one else. Now do it! Don't break a promise!"

"I can't! Pixy!" He cried.

Minho tried to pull his hand away, but Evelyn was too strong, added by anger and the Flare. "I can't, Evey I can't."

"Make amends! Repent for what you did! You promise breaker" The words tore out of her, her whole body trembling. Then her voice dropped to an urgent, harsh whisper. "Kill me, you shuck coward. Prove you can do the right thing. Put me out of my misery."

The words horrified Minho, she saw it clear on his face. "Pixy, we can-"

"Shut up! Just shut up! I trusted you! Now do it!"

"I can't."

"Do it!"

"I can't"

Evelyn was sort of aware that Thomas and Newt were struggling now, somewhere beside them. Newt had produced a knife and Thomas was doing his best to fend off Newt as he swung wildly. 

"Kill me Minho or I'll kill you. Kill me! Do it!"

"Pixy.."

"Do it before I become one of them! I'm too close to never coming back!"

"I ..."

"KILL ME!" And then Evelyn pushed through the wild psychotic fog. She knew her eyes cleared for a brief second, she'd gained one last trembling gasp of sanity, and her voice softened. "Please, Minho. Please."

With his face falling into complete despair and with a wild sob, he pulled the trigger.