˚ ༘✶₊˚. ⊹ ˚ . SECOND ACT
❪ THIRTY-TWO ♥︎ ₊˚༢࿐
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

HER STOMACH CHURNED IN HER SLEEP with a sense of dread that made her eyes snap open from whatever deep sleep she was in. For a second, she was frozen, dazed from every memory that was ever taken away from her. It was back, it was all back and every last one of them made her head burn and spin.

She remembered being young. Her hair golden and down to her elbows in cute little braids held together by little blue bows.

She remembered skipping down the halls of the WICKED compound her parents were stationed in, singing the old tunes of the World before she was born, not understanding what any of the lyrics meant.

Mae remembered a boy named Stephen, who she pinky promised to remember his name for him until she inevitably forgot herself.

She remembered Teresa. Teresa had been her only friend before the others had come. She had done everything with her, told her every secret, every feeling she felt.

Which made her betrayal sting even more.

Not only that, she remembered her father. She remembered his warm rumbling laugh and his kind eyes. His every encouraging word until the day he passed on. He was the better of them. James never wanted to be a part of WICKED, not after he learned the truth.

What they were doing to those poor kids.

Mae remembered how badly she wanted to stop them. Her father had been so close and they got rid of him before he could tell the world. Which made her want to finish what he started even more.

But then, she remembered falling in that Box.

And failed.

Mae looked around, suddenly becoming aware that she was awake. She was also in a tent alone.

The tent was hardly standing, with gunshot holes and burns in the ceiling. As she laid on a makeshift bed, most likely where they patched Right Arm members up, her heart had sunk.

She felt a surge of something in her chest— a feeling that made her face scrunch together with fresh tears.

It was overwhelming.

She understood now. The feeling of betrayal she felt the day she woke up in the Box. At first, she thought the feeling stems from what Teresa had done to her when they were younger.

But that was only part of it.

The betrayal really stemmed deeper than that. It rooted the day her father died. It continued when her mother treated her differently after— oh god, her mother. Mae had never hated someone as much as she hated her mother and she understood why now.

Mae understood it all.

At that moment, Mae wished to be blissfully unaware once more. She longed for the days in the Glade.

She longed for Gally, her first love. For Nick, her first heartbreak.

For Chuck, her little friend. For Ben, and Alby, and Clint and Jeff.

She wished for the grass that she stomped on with her bare feet and the sun that Nick had made them work in— she didn't care if she ended up a Slopper if it meant going back in time and savoring it longer than she should've.

She missed her pretty blue dress that fit just right and every smile that she shared with her friends— her family.

But she wasn't real then.

Mae wasn't Mae then, as much as people claim so. No, she was much different. Because if she went back in time knowing what she knew now, she would've been exactly like Alby.

She wouldn't have been ditzy, giggly and child-like. She would've been greater. She would've been a Glader from the very beginning. Just as cold as the rest of them.

Minho was right—

She sits up.

Minho.

"Oh," Mae chokes, her swelling with tears.

How could her mind block out the more heartbreaking piece of the puzzle?

Minho was gone. Teddy was gone.

A choked sobbed fell from her lips, she quickly reached up to cover it and as much as she tried to stop it, her body shook with every cry, "Oh Minho. Teddy," She wailed.

WICKED took them away.

They took them and countless others, she was so close and she failed. She failed them.

Mae continued to cry and cry like her heart would give up at any moment.

They were gone. She had them. Ava Paige, she was going to do to them what her father spoke up against in the past. The experiments. She was going to torture them.

"No!" She shakes, "No! No! No!"

She tries to grab for anything to steady herself. Clawing at the skin on her neck, grabbing at her chest, the air, something to remind her that although this was real, she was still here still alive even though she wished to be anything but.

How much can one soul take before it's ruined beyond recognition? How much could she take before every fiber in her bones wanted nothing but blood in return for what she lost?

The answer was simple.

The answer is now.

She stands, pacing, "No, this isn't happening!" She tells herself.

Mae's sad tears had turned to livid drops on her thin cheeks, her face had gone from flushed to downright boiling red as she continued to pace, her movements going quicker and quicker until the anger built up and she ran out of the tent.

She moved with purpose, wiping away the tears fiercely, "Thomas!" She bellowed over the fires and the turned over cars.

He was standing on a pile of rocks, and turned at the sound of her voice, "Mae!"

Mae had left that tent a different person than who she was before entering it.

There had been something in her chest that was holding her back, but that was gone now. It was long gone.

She might not have been ready for the battle.

But she's ready for the War.

"You're awake."

"I am," She responds.

Newt squints at her, mostly from the sun but main from concern. For some reason, he couldn't read her, "How are you feeling?"

"We thought WICKED got you good," Frypan adds, looking distraught at the thought.

Peter nods, his eyes blotched from tears. Brenda had run up to her, wrapping her in a tight hug before moving back to sit with Jorge.

Mae doesn't smile, "I'm not fine, I'm far from fine," She admits, looking between them, "But that's not important right now. I remember."

Thomas moved forward in surprise, "What? What do you remember?"

"Everything," She continues, "I remember everything from as far as four years old to the day I was pushed into that Box."

He nods, taking this with a grain of salt. He wished to remember the way she did, "That's good."

"So, what do we do now?" Frypan asks.

"Well, we pick up what's left of us," Vince responds, "We stick to the plan. We get you kids to Safe Haven. Then we start over, I guess."

Mae was already shaking her head before he finished, "Then I'm not going with you."

Brenda frowns, "What? Mae–"

"I'm not just going to forget," She tells them, "Why do I get to be free when people like Minho and Teddy—" Her breath caught in her throat, and she took a moment to gather herself, "People like them die. It's not fair and I'm going back for them."

"Back for them?" Newt furrows his eyebrows, suddenly looking panicked, "Back where? Back to WICKED? What, you gonna go in there guns blazing alone?"

"She won't be alone," Thomas responds, throwing his back over his shoulder and standing tall next to her. His hand reaches up and squeezes hers, "I'm going with her. I made a promise to Minho that I wouldn't leave him behind. I have to go after him and Teddy, that kid saved my life, I'd be an idiot not to return the favor."

Mae smiled proudly, "Thank you."

Peter nods, taking her other side, "If you think for a second that I'm going anywhere that isn't the direction of my brother, you're all insane," He insults, holding back his emotions with a firm nod, "I-I just got him back, I'm not going to lose him again."

Vince scoffs, "Hey, kids, look around you. All right? WICKED just kicked our ass. You think about where you're headed."

"We aren't asking anyone to come with us," Thomas reminds, looking more to Mae when he says, "And I've learned my lesson telling Mae to stay behind."

"Thomas, listen to me," Newt says slowly, "I've known Minho for. . . well, as long as I can remember. So, if there was any way that we could help him, trust me, I would be there standing next to you all."

"Where there's hope, there's a way, Newt." Mae quotes her father.

"But this?" He says, motioning to the air, "This, what you're talking about, it's impossible."

"More like suicide," Jorge pipes in.

"Thank you, Jorge," Mae says less proudly.

"Maybe," Peter responds, "But everything we have to lose is either already gone, or in those aircrafts about to be tortured and killed," He reminds them, "Now, I don't know about any of you, but what's a Safe Haven without the people you want to be safe with?"

That seemed to make the others think.

"I know what I have to do now," Thomas says, "It's not just about Minho. It's about all of us. It's about everyone WICKED's every taken, everyone they will take. They'll never stop."

Mae nods, turning to Newt, "Think about all the Gladers we've lost in that stupid Maze. They were all taken by WICKED, all of them. They deserve justice," She says firmly, "And we deserve revenge for them."

Newt swallows thickly, nodding with a small smile on his face, "There's the fighter I've always known." He says softly.

"She was always here," She responds softly.

"They'll never stop," Thomas repeats, "So we're gonna stop them. I'm gonna kill Ava Paige."

Mae froze.

"I have to agree with Mae," Harriet says, "I'd like some revenge."

"Well, that's a good speech, kids," Vince responds, "So, what's your plan?"

Thomas stops to think for a moment. He didn't know. He honestly didn't think he was going to get that far in his speech either. He just knew what he wanted to do, everything that came after that he couldn't say.

But it seemed that Mae had one for them.

"We find out where WICKED is taking our friends," Mae explains, "We find where, and we strike hard before they could even get a hit in. They'll move them constantly, from base to base. So we have to know the exact route before they can move them again."

"And exactly how do we find that out?" Frypan asks.

Mae hesitates, "I know every connection WICKED has. I know every connection Ava has. Getting to them is easy but getting them to spill government transports is where we'll have issues."

"Why is that?"

"Because they're all bound to secrecy," She continues, swallowing with nerves at the memories, "The penalty for exchanging WICKED secrets is punishable by death, or worse, tortue. They'd rather have you kill them than WICKED find out they're moles."

Vince nods, "That's why they were quick to kill Mary," He assumes, taking a moment to look away at the thought of her.

Mae nods, "Most likely. When Thomas gave her every coordinate, she went from WICKED scientist to WICKED target, like that," She snaps her fingers for emphasis.

Thomas frowns, "How do you know all of that if your job in WICKED was to restock the Box?" He asked her.

Mae looked down at her hands, they were shaking. She balls her fists and regains her composure. No point in hiding anything now, not when everyone's lives were at stake, not when she had nothing to lose or gain from what she knew.

So, she looked back at him with eyes that made his skin hot and his blood freeze up and for a second he was reminded of the girl he once knew in the Maze.

The girl he knew could raise an ocean before she realized it herself.

She looked dangerous— beautiful yes, but dangerous.

However what she said next was hardly as comforting.

"Because, Thomas. Ava Paige is my mother."

( I AM SO SORRY that this chapter took as long as it did. )