i do not own the maze runner or any of its characters

ada
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The days flew by, and before any of us knew it, Juliet was on her last day. Rhea and Nora, in what everyone was calling a "weird stroke of genius" had organized a Bonfire, but without the fire part.

"We should honestly call it Bon." Nora huffed, shoving a tiki torch in the ground.

"Or just a party." I gave her another one.

She thought about it for a second. "A going-away party?"

"Sure, you could call it that."

Three tiki torches later, Nora spoke up again.

"I'm sure you want to ask why I'm even doing this."

"I was going to let others ask and then come and tell me, but go ahead."

"Rhea's over-appreciated, I wanted to steal some credit from her. And also I like having these parties."

Smiling, I gave her the last one. "I should've known you'd have a secret agenda."

"Hey! I've been contributing some ideas."

"You ever stop to think that maybe Rhea's really appreciated for a reason?"

My friend was quiet. And that's when we heard it.

"HELP!"

"That's not," Nora turned towards the Doors. In the corner of my eye I saw Rhea drop her bundle of tiki torches. 

"GET HELP, SHE'S, SHE'S DYING! GET THE, GET THE SERUM!"

"Who is that?" I looked towards the Doors, my less-than-great eyesight not letting me see who it was.

"It's Lauren and Juliet!" Someone yelled.

Rhea immediately jumped into action, clearing our little benches in front of the fire and running towards the Doors.

Nora and I looked at each other, and we followed after. Nora got Estie, and she was giving us quick instructions.

"Nora, get some towels, and Ada, we need a bowl of cold water. No ice, just make sure it's cold." She waited to make sure we understood then ran towards the Big House.

I ran to my Kitchen, already out of breath. I could never be a Runner. Opening the door, I scared Angela and Beth, who were making Beth's special drink for that night. They looked at me weirdly wondering what I could be doing back in the Kitchen, as I was supposed to be setting up.

"Ada? What's wrong?" Angela asked.

"Juliet . . . Stung." I took a second to remember where I had put my biggest bowl and guessed what cabinet it would be in.

There it was.

"Angela, get another bowl and start filling it up with hot water. We might need to clean the wound." Angela nodded and dropped the spoon she was using to mix.

Beth dropped to her knees and caught it before it hit the floor. My face must have looked shocked, because she just smiled.

"A year of Builders dropping wood and hammers, you'd get fast reflexes too."

"Can we hire her full-time? I'd like to not be spending all of my time rinsing utensils." Angela piped up from the back room.

We laughed and I looked back to my bowl. It was done.

"Once it's done filling, go to," I thought for a second. "The Doors over by the Gardens."

"Got it!"

Beth opened up the door, and I raced out, looking for Nora, or a crowd.

A second later, I spotted some girls huddled over a body. Juliet. Trying by best to run, but also not spill the cold water all of the ground, I made it, dropping next to Nora.

"I've also got Angela bringing some hot water, just in case." I told Rhea, who knelt on the other side of Juliet.

She nodded, not sparing a word.

Looking around, I noticed Terra, who had a hand on Juliet's foot, looking very close to tears. Lauren was right next to Rhea, a hand threaded through Juliet's, whispering fast. She also looked close to tears. And as the other Runners started coming through the Doors, and the girls allowed them to push through and see their friend. Harriet and Sonya came up behind me, and Nora and I stood up and went towards the back of the crowd. Harriet reached up and grabbed my hand.

"Juliet would want you to be here." She whispered. I nodded and knelt back down, placing a hand on the Runner's arm. Nora, I saw, went around and knelt next to Lauren, and the Keeper quickly found her free hand, holding it.

Estie finally came into our group, and she handed Rhea a small vial. Rhea uncapped it and looked over Juliet.

"Do you know where she got Stung?" She asked Lauren.

Lauren sniffed, and took a second. "She was clutching her side when I found her."

"And how long ago was that?"

"3 hours ago."

Rhea's face dropped.

Lauren saw it immediately. "No. No, no, no, no. You have to give her the serum, she's dying, Rhea."

"I'm sorry, but she's too far gone. To give her it now would, w-waste it." Her voice cracked, as she couldn't believe what she was saying. 

"Waste it? A person's life is hanging in the balance and you're worried about wasting serum?!"

"Lauren, please." Rhea pleaded.

Harriet gave Nora a look that I didn't recognize.

Nora whispered in Lauren's ear, saying something that calmed her down somehow.

"Estie, you got it?" Our Medic asked.

Estie handed Rhea another vial, full of clear liquid. Juliet started shaking, and Rhea counted to three, and then shoved the vial into her side, cutting her off.

Lauren collapsed, and Nora wrapped her arms around her, shooting Rhea a dirty look.

"So you just have a vial of death liquid sitting around in the Big House?"

"Nora, now is not the time."

Harriet stood up. "The Bonfire has been canceled. The funeral will take place in a half hour. Everyone who wishes to pay their respects can come, but attendance is not mandatory. We understand everyone has a different way of grieving, and others do not like crowds. If someone wants to grab Beth, I need her to come see me."

Sonya followed her, grabbing Rosa, our Handler. 

I looked over at Lauren and Nora, and then at Juliet's too-still body, and took a deep breath. And a couple more.

✧♡✧

The funeral was short; Lauren and Harriet spoke some nice words about Juliet, Terra trying to but being unable to speak, and then the small amount of people who came dispersed. 

Walking back to my Kitchen, I tried hard not to think about Juliet and how awfully sad it was that she never got to work as a Gardner. Terra was doing it enough for all of us. She had her second-in-command take over for the rest of the day while she stayed in her room. 

I could see in her window sometimes from the Kitchen, and I saw a huge blanket pile dotted with crumpled tissues. I hoped that this wouldn't change Terra for the worse, the Gardner had such a huge heart and a great capacity for love. 

Some of the other Keepers dropped by the Kitchen, either to say their condolences to me or to grab some of Beth's drink that she had kept out quietly and sit in silence at my little table. I only talked to them if they talked to me, knowing that some people just need another person in the room while they grieved. 

I kept expecting Lauren to drop by, and eventually she did. It was closer to the end of the day, and she just came in and started drinking. 

"You know that I'm going to have to limit you." I said, washing dishes that were already clean three scrubs ago. 

"Where's the fun in that." Lauren didn't say it like a question, more a resigned statement, like she had already came to that decision. 

We sat in silence for a little bit, me washing dishes and Lauren sipping on a temporary medicine.

After a while, she spoke up.

"I just." She started, unable to form the words she wanted. "I don't get it."

I waited for to go on. She didn't. 

"Get what?" I prompted. 

"I guess all of it. Why Rhea didn't give her the serum. Why Juliet had to get Stung in the first place. Why," She stopped again. "Why I couldn't do anything."

I finally set down the clean dishes. I had been done since Lauren came in, but I didn't want her to feel like she was keeping me in the Kitchen. But now she needed my full attention, so I stopped stalling. Sliding into the seat opposite Lauren at the table, I started on her questions. 

"Well, we know why Rhea didn't give her the Serum." I looked at Lauren, knowing that she knew that too. 

"And while we don't know why Juliet got Stung, there's a very real chance that the Creators did it on purpose, and we just have to live with that. If they say something, it's going to happen, no matter what we try and do." Letting my words hang in the air, I grabbed Lauren's empty glass, washing it before she could do anything about it. 

Lauren sighed. "Thanks, Ada. But I don't think I'm ready to accept that yet. I just,"

"Need to grieve a bit more?"

"Yeah."

"That's perfectly valid. There's multiple stages or grief, and you can't rush them." 

Nora came through the door then, her eyes red and panting.

"Hey Ada-" She paused when she saw Lauren at the table.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt something," She turned around and went back outside before either of us could say anything.

My brows furrowed, it wasn't like her to apologize.

"It's probably a good thing she interrupted us, one more minute and I'd start crying again." Lauren stood up and stretched, breaking my thoughts. 

I smiled. "It's healthy to cry, though." 

"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks again Ada, I'll try not to forget what you said." 

"It's no problem, and could you do something for me?"

Lauren turned. "What's up?" 

"Could you talk to Nora?"

A small smile crossed her face, before she fixed it and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Great. Bye, Lauren."

"Bye, Ada."

I had seen the two of them at the funeral. They were inseparable, after Nora comforted Lauren through Juliet's death. So it was only right that if I couldn't help Lauren, I could point her in the direction of someone who could.

And maybe Nora would need Lauren as much as Lauren needed her. 

There had to be some happy ending around here. Goodness knows we needed it. 

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i'm so sorry, but this was all i could think about while writing that first scene:

THE "HELP" AND "GET HELP, SHE'S DYING!" SHOUTS AND EVERYTHING
ITS TOO SIMILAR. 

but i am so so so sorry that this took literally forever. all i can say is

writer's burnout is a heathen that needs to go back to the pits of hell where it came from. 

anyways i hope you guys enjoy, and i will be back to updating! the hiatus is over!