˚ ༘✶₊˚. ⊹ ˚ . FIRST ACT
❪ FOURTEEN ♥︎ ₊˚༢࿐
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

JUST AS THE GROUP RAN into the Glade, Chuck appeared at the entrance looking a mixture of guilt and relief, "Guys! Guys!" He calls out, "Erm, and Mae." He adds, "Gally found out you guys left, he called a Meeting of the Keepers." He points to Homestead.

She had never seen Minho so angry, and she couldn't blame him. Calling a Keepers Meeting was called without the majority of the Keepers gave Gally an unfair advantage. Minho practically kicks the door open just as Clint and Jeff were about to leave, Winston had to grab the door before it flew off the handles.

"It's nice of you to join us," Gally gets to his feet, giving each of them a heated glare. Mae frowned. There was a hint of relief that flickered through his eyes but his annoyance clouded that, "Did you enjoy your little field trip?"

"What the hell, Gally," Minho seethed. "You think you can call a Keeper Meeting without us?" He motioned between him, Frypan, Winston and Zart — who all looked equally annoyed with the Builder.

His blue eyes narrow at Thomas, "Last time I checked, the Greenie wasn't a Keeper. You mind waiting outside?"

Thomas shifts to respond, but Mae quickly steps in, "Thomas is just as involved in this as we are. He goes, I go."

"They stay!" Minho orders, challenging Gally to say differently. Thomas didn't hide his gratefulness for them, "What's the point of all this?"

Newt sighed, rubbing at his eyes, "We got two hours until sundown, we got to figure out what to do with Alby."

"You want to banish him." Winston assumed.

Mae's eyes widened, "Two banishments in two days?"

"No one wants to banish anyone, all right? But he's stung, we don't have a choice," Gally corrects.

"Yes, we do," Thomas speaks up.

Gally stands straighter, "You say something, Newbie?" He challenged.

Thomas accepts. "Yeah. We have a choice. We don't have to banish, Alby."

"Right, and how's that?"

Thomas grabs the Griever piece from Mae and hands it to Newt, "We found this on our field trip," He glanced at Gally. "It was inside a Griever."

Newt took his time inspecting it with a thoughtful frown. "These are the same letters we get in our supplies." Newt realized.

"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers," Thomas tells them, "And this is the first real clue, real anything, you've found in over three years. Right, Minho?" He looked to the Runner for backup.

The boy nods, "Right."

"Newt, we gotta go back out there." He continues, "Who knows where this might lead us."

"Thomas is right," Mae speaks up. She seemed to surprise everyone in the room by doing so, even herself. "For the first time in three years, we finally have some sort of idea about what's really going on. And if Thomas thinks we should push forward, I stand by him."

Thomas' shoulders sagged in relief, and Mae gives him a firm nod. There was a heavy silence that followed her words, and each Keeper slowly shifted eye contact with the other. Mae could see the wheels turning in Newt's brain, like he was battling himself to make the right call.

"You see what he's trying to do, right?" Gally points out, looking to Newt. "First he breaks our rules and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally? Convincing Mae, of all people, to break the rules too!" She frowned as he continued, "The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together! Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me. This Shank needs to be punished."

Newt looks back at Thomas, the decision on his face clear. She gave a defeated sigh as Newt hands the object back to Minho, "You're right." He tells Gally, "Thomas broke the rules. One night in the Slammer, and no food."

That only angered Gally more. "Oh, come on, Newt. One night in the Slammer? You think that's gonna stop him from going into the Maze?"

"No." Newt sassed, "And we can't just have non-Runners running into the Maze whenever they feel like it, Mae." He turned his gaze to her, and she winced. "So, let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a Runner."

Thomas' eyes widened, and Mae happily grabs at his arm, giving it a shake in excitement. Two days in and Thomas had officially become a Runner, it was unheard of. Minho holds back a smirk, but it seemed like they were the only ones happy for him.

"Wow," Gally scoffs.

Frypan tries to grab his friend, "Gally—"

He pushed his hand away, and leaves, the Cook following close behind in an efforts to calm him down. Mae's eyes strained towards the door, wondering if she should go after him too.

"Thanks, Newt," Thomas said lightly, the Leader said nothing else and turned away. He then puts his attention on the girl, "And thanks for sticking up for me."

She gives a small smile, "Of course. I trust you." She watched a smile form on his face, before quickly being dragged out of the room by Minho. Mae had turned too quickly, not noticing his lingering glance.

One by one the Keepers left the room, most likely going back to the jobs and pretending that everything wasn't as messed up as it was. If the other Gladers had a clue about the strain in the Council, it'll cause nothing but more questions.

Sighing, Mae slowly slides down against the wall, bringing her knees in. Newt was the only other person in the room, leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed and a far-off look on his face. There wasn't an awkward silence, more of a tense, unspoken one. There was something both of them wanted to say, confide in one another.

"Are you. ." Mae began, furrowing her brows in hopes to find the right words, "Are you angry that I went into the Maze?"

Newt exhaled, sliding down against the pillar and plopping down on the floor.

He was exhausted, his voice on edge as he said, "No, I'm not angry. I just have a lot on my mind right now, and having to worry about you going off your rocker and running into the Maze isn't something I need on my conscience."

"I'm not off my rocket," She promised. "I'm just. . ." She gave a deep sigh, "I'm just tired. Tired of pretending that everything is okay. Tired of smiling and waving and running around like I'm happy here, because I'm not." She admits, her eyes watering at the truth, "I hate it here. ."

The boy gave a scoffing laugh, "Finally you saying what I've been saying for the past three years." Mae's lips tug into an amused smile, "This place is shit." The looked at each other once, and bursted out into laugher.

"Oh, god." Mae wiped away her tears, and soon the laugher died as quickly as it came. The girl furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm happy that we're finally figuring this out but. .I miss how things used to be. It was so much simpler back then, we weren't concerned about these things, about the box not coming up, about — about love. . ."

Newt lazily turns his head, "Love?" He repeated softly, letting the word echo is thoughts. Then, a content smile stretched on his lips, Minho flashing in his mind.

Mae took this as her opportunity, leaning forward on her hands and swallowing away the awkwardness of asking, "When did you know you were in love with Minho?"

He begins to splutter, reaching up and covering his cough. No one ever really questions the relationship that he and Minho shared, and Newt never felt the need to talk about it with others. But here was Mae, trying to confide in him about 'love' and 'relationships' and Newt didn't know how to give a straight answer — literally.

So, the best way he thought to do it, was very bluntly. "Well. . ." He began, "One night, Minho and I got drunk and had sex. And while he was penetr—"

"Stop! Stop!" Mae screamed, pressing her palms roughly against her ears. "I mean, when did you know. How did you know? Emotion wise."

Newt nods, clearing the uncomfortableness from his throat. He thought long and hard about what he wanted to say, trying to pin-point the exact moment he fell in love with the sarcastic hothead. And then, it all suddenly clicked into place.

"I didn't realize I loved Minho until he was trapped in the Maze," He tells her, "Funny, after all these years of fooling around, not putting a label on things, it wasn't until I thought I lost him did I realize I couldn't live without him."

"Hiding kisses, spending our nights together, at first, I tried to convince myself that we did those things for comfort, that it had no real meaning. Using each other to forget about the Maze but. . .I don't know, I guess we never really know what we have until it's gone."

Mae sat there, stunned. She thought about her relationship with Gally, and how she spent most of her time convincing herself that what they were doing was out of comfort. The attraction between them was just mindless, teenage hormones. That the nights they spent falling asleep in each other's arms was only to rid the nightmares.

And although she and Gally have only kissed twice within three years, Mae had forced herself to believe that each time was out of emotional need for someone, anyone. And it had just so happened to be each other.

But then Mae found herself unable to sleep without Gally at her side, she found herself wanting to kiss him every time he spoke to her. Mae slowly yearned for each accidental touch, every glance, every second she could get of his attention. Slow and surely, Mae had fallen in love with Gally.

But why did she freak out when he tried to confess his love to her? Why was she so scared to say the words out loud?

"You're thinking about something," Newt voiced, his eyes sweeping across her face with a small frown, "Are you in love?—"

"Gally almost told me he loved me earlier today," She whispered, leaning forward like she was telling him her biggest secret. "He said all these things about how he wanted to build a life here with me, a-and how he wanted to be with me."

"You don't sound too pleased," He notes.

"It's everything I want." She breathed out, her eyes shining with tears, "But I want it out there," She points to outside the Walls, "This place. . .it's a graveyard. Everywhere I turn, I see the faces of the people who died here, I see Nick, I see Ben. I'm can't stare at these Walls for the rest of my life!"

"But?" He pressed.

Mae gives a small sniffle, "But I—" I love him. I love him. "Look at me, I can't even say it, I'm such an idiot!"

"Mae," Newt began, "You're not an idiot. Deep down, you know why you can't say it out loud."

Her eyes burned into his, but her gaze was far away and clouded, "Because if I say it, and I leave. . .then it'll break his heart. If we find a way out of this Maze, I know he'd never come with us, and I'd have to leave him behind. I can't say it, and leave, I'd never forgive myself."

Newt sighed, moving to sit beside her. He softly grabbed her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, "There isn't much I can say about it. If there is some bloody way out of this place, I know Minho and I would follow Thomas without a second thought. But maybe. . ." He trailed.

"What?" She asked eagerly, "What is it?"

"Maybe if you told Gally you loved him, you'd be able to change his mind." He suggest, "Love, it changes people, for better or worse I have no idea but maybe telling Gally the truth could help him understand. Maybe you could pull that stick from his ass while you're at it, yeah?"

She nods slowly, absorbing every word. "Why are you so good at this?"

"I'm talking out of my own ass, I have no idea what I'm saying," He admits. Mae gave a loud laugh, causing Newt to laugh out too.

The door to the Council Room is slammed open, causing them both to jump as Jeff stood completely out of breath. Both Mae and Newt shuffled to their feet, glancing to each other in worry.

"What is it?" Newt demands.

"It's. . .the girl," He heaved.

A nervous feeling spiked up Mae's back, "Is she okay? Is she dead?!"

Jeff shakes his head quickly, "Kinda the opposite."

ﾟ✹ ｡･:*: ✧ ⋆·˚ ༘ * 🌷 ✶ ･:

MAE FOUND THE WHOLE situation very amusing. Not only was the unconscious girl no longer unconscious, she had somehow slipped past Clint and Jeff, got hold of a machete and climbed up the treehouse, throwing down supplies like grenades whenever the Gladers got close.

The blonde found herself hunched under a wooden plank with Winston and Newt, dodging the foods and objects the girl flung down, screaming at the top of her lungs for them to leave her alone.

She didn't even notice Gally had come up beside her until he shouted, "Hey! Throw one more of those things and— Ow!" She smashed a fruit right on his head.

Mae let's out a loud laugh, covering her hand over her mouth. Gally turns to her, trying to fake an annoyed glare as he rubbed his head, but his small smile gave it away.

"Watch your head!" Frypan warns.

"Go away!" Teresa shouts again.

"We come in peace!" Mae screamed up, "I swear, I'm in no position to betray you!"

"What happened?!" Thomas asks, running up to the group.

"Duck!" Gally warns him, and Thomas quickly moves out of the way.

"I don't think she likes us very much." Newt says from under the wooden plank, looking amused.

"What do you want from me?!" The girl screamed.

"Hey, we just wanna talk!" Thomas called.

In response, Teresa throws down a metal cup, "I'm warning you!" Then, like rapid fire, she starts throwing down even more things.

Mae had to dive out of the way before she was it on the head with an apple. Not annoyed in the slightest with how Teresa was handling this. Any logical person would be horrified in her situation, waking up to a Maze filled with boys.

"It's Thomas! It's Thomas!" The boy shouted, and almost like waving a white flag, Teresa had stopped throwing things from the treehouse, and popped her head out, "I'm gonna come up, okay?"

"Bring the girl," Teresa shouted back, her eyes fleeting over to Mae. In response, the blonde waved up, and Teresa found herself awkward waving back before popping her head back in.

"Careful, Mae." Gally tells her, narrowing his eyes at the treehouse.

She waves him off, and puts her foot on the ladder, following up after Thomas. The second she reached the top, and popped her head through the door, Mae almost stumbled back down at the machete pointed in her face.

"Woah! Hey!" Thomas shouts, "Easy, all right?" He tells her, reaching over and helping Mae through the door.

"Where am I?" Teresa demands, the machete in her hand not wavering an inch. "What is this place? Why can't I remember anything?!"

Mae took a calming breath, remembering to dial as she said, "You're in the Glade," She says softly, "This place is what we call home, and I can assure you that you aren't the only one who can't remember anything. I promise."

She holds her breath, hoping she didn't say too much and startle the girl like she had done with all the others.

But, Teresa's shoulders eased and she looked at Mae with wide, grateful eyes. It seemed that having another girl around to explain things made her feel safer, more calmer.

"This is all normal," Thomas continued. "We've all been through this, okay? Your name, that'll come back to you in a couple of days—"

"Teresa," She says. Mae couldn't hold back the smile on her face.

Thomas looked stunned, "What'd you say?"

"My name, it's Teresa." She continued.

"That's a lovely name, Teresa." Mae tells her, motioning to herself. "My name is Mae, with an E not a Y, unless you get confused. Which I'm sure you wouldn't but—"

"Easy," Thomas muttered, a small smile on his face, "Teresa, I'm Thomas. . .but you already knew that, though, I guess."

"They said I kept saying your name in my sleep," She tells them, looking annoyed at the thought, "Who are you?"

"I don't know," Thomas admits. Teresa faltered at his answer, wishing he knew more. "I can't remember. None of us here can remember anything. We all woke up here just like you did. Hey, I promise. ."

Mae held out her hand to Teresa, causing her electric blue eyes to narrow at the blonde. Mae motioned her hand out again, and reluctantly she placed the machete in her hand. Teresa quickly hugs her knees into her chest, looking much more relaxed with the pair.

"What's going on up there?" Gally shouts.

"Is she coming down?" Newt adds on.

Thomas quickly stands up, glancing at the girls in question. Mae could instantly see that Teresa was far from comfortable with that idea, and shakes her head at him.

"Um. Hey, listen, can you guys just give us a second, okay?" He asked, though it wasn't really a question more of a statement.

Mae turned to Teresa with a small, comforting smile, reaching over and giving her arm a squeeze. The girl have a small, barely noticeable smile back.

"All right, Teresa," Mae said, "Let's give you a little run down."

unpopular opinion: I like teresa. yes she did a shitty thing, but she was seventeen and just wanted to do what she thought was right. don't bash a child for being conditioned by WICKED at such a young age to think what she was doing was the best option, she came through at the end & don't expect Mae to hate her right off the bat for no real reason yet.

10. 28. 21