𝑊𝐼𝐶𝐾𝐸𝐷 𝐿𝐴𝐵𝐴𝑇𝑂𝑅𝑌,

𝑌𝐸𝐴𝑅 2310,

𝐵𝐸𝐹𝑂𝑅𝐸 𝑃𝐻𝐴𝑆𝐸 1 𝐵𝐸𝐺𝐴𝑁

└────────────┘

"Subjects A2 and A0 are extremely threatening to our mission, Dr. Paige.” A click of a pen before an expression rolls across the paper. “We should eliminate them early to prevent something worse from happening.”

An office swivel chair starts moving and the ballpoint pen falls silent. "That won't be necessary. We have already taken some precautions against Thomas and Melanie. Subject A1 was very helpful with this and I thank her for that. Teresa always knew what was right for all of us." Dr. Paige, with her red lipstick and otherwise immaculate white clothes, wrapped one leg over the other.

"You do not understand! The two reprogrammed the maze in their favor and we only found out about it through subject A1, who found the manipulation to be incorrect. We can't say with any certainty that Thomas and Melanie are on our side and understand how important WICKED is," Janson made it clear to his superiors, under whose command he was, even though he himself had enough control over the leadership of the guards and their protective squadron had power.

Ava Paige now stood up from her chair, the slight wrinkles on her face that corresponded to her age were becoming more and more visible and underneath them was her desperation, which was shining through more and more often.

She walked carefully towards her work colleague. "As I told you, Janson, we've already made arrangements."

And with that she walked past him, grabbing her white doctor's coat from the coat rack toward the door before heading outside.

There was some commotion in the hallways, many doctors rushing from one treatment room to another and a few security guards standing outside the cells of those who seemed to pose a threat since the latest meetings were made public and made the rounds. Through a simple email that Paige sent to the elite workers.

However, a few hours later their systems were hacked so that everyone could openly read what secrets the WICKED laboratory was actually hiding. And they were certainly no small thing.

They planned to put fifty teenagers in the finished maze to test them for the burn virus outside the safe zone and see if their immunity could produce a cure for those who weren't. Including all workers  for WICKED and are still protected behind the city walls. But God knows how long this will last.

Certain is with each passing minute more and moe; that their plan cannot wait and must be carried out immediately.

It is of utmost priority for everyone.

Because it is about the entire existence of humanity. Of these, the subjects in the laboratory are a negligible fraction, should they turn out to be a failed mission.

-'๑'-

Melanie and Thomas had been in the WICKED building for six hours after the siren sounded with the order that if the two teenagers were encountered, they should be transported to Ava Paige immediately. Any people who would help them would be condemned to treason and would have to leave the walls immediately.

However, it was clear that the opportunity to leave would no longer be given. The weapon would be drawn from the leg holder too quickly to press the trigger for a clean headshot.

Thomas looked at the red warning light that was still flickering on the top right of the room's ceiling. Nothing would change until the command was either executed successfully or recalled. He and his girlfriend were in the basement shafts, where all the water pipes and air filters were out there to clean up against the plague, and they had met up with the other test subjects ahead of time, when they should have been in their sleeping quarters long ago.

"Teresa's made her decision, Thomas. Stop thinking about it, okay? We have to check on ourselves, and I know everything will be okay. We have each other, and WICKED can't do anything to us. It would take far too long until she reprogrammed it again. We made it too detailed for that," whispered Melanie next to him, whose hair had scattered strands that seemed lighter than the others.

He turned his gaze to her and because of the embracing energy that she constantly radiated, because she was like a ray of sunshine with her warm gaze, he was able to pause for the moment and leave some burden behind in this room.

She was right, of course, but for all the time they had all grown up together he had believed that Teresa was his friend and that she was on his side. That she also chose not to send the others into her self-created nightmare that they had been working on and resisted WICKED.

But when Thomas thought about it, racked his brain like he did every free minute, then there was always only Melanie at his side, not Teresa.

They had hacked Ava Paige's system because every employee had a right to know which company they worked for and what plans their superiors were making to keep them out of everyone's sight.

Just as it had been Melanie's idea from the start to program loopholes into the maze. Possibilities of sending messages from WICKED or manipulating the cameras so that they would show an hour-long recording, but you had to enter a password in the terminal in order to see the most recent one in real time. The one-hour recording would also be renewed every four hours.

That Melanie not only had hope that she spread, but also the actions that accompanied it, which always turned out to be positive. Melanie knew that everything would be okay and she always took two steps towards it.

Thomas involuntarily next to her. It doesn't matter whether it was about all her friends, like Newt, Minho or Frypan, or just about herself and her protection.

"I wasn't thinking about her," he said, his hands braced against the cold tile floor, everything so disgustingly white it hurt his eyes, "I was thinking about you."

Melanie lowered her head slightly, smiling almost stupidly to herself, before looking back into his face, which looked so innocent, as if he had no idea how many emotions his words had expressed.

He blinked slightly with his dark brown eyes, before his pink lips moved so gently that Melanie couldn't help but look at them. "I always thought about you, Mel. In all the conversations we had through our bedroom doors and when we met in the ventilation shafts away from everyone else. Or when you were much faster at programming than me."

"Thomas," she said softly, so inspired by his quiet confessions that she turned more to him, "this isn't going to be a goodbye. So stop it, we'll get it done, right? There's so much hope in me, they will never be able to erase them. And you also carry it within you."

They took turns looking at each other, their labored breathing from panic at being found at any time one of the few sounds in the room. Then his gaze was stronger, more wanting and before she knew it, his hand with long fingers was at her ear, brushing hair away from her face as he kissed her.

A kiss filled with panicked clinging for hope and the rapid heartbeat on his part, since their loyalty to each other was probably all that was left to them when they were in danger and all the other people were trying to find them so that they would suffer for what was right under the leadership of those present had to.

It tasted so sweet and lost at the same time that Melanie returned it with devotion and they both held each other as if they were out there, two drowning people in a dark lake.

Because Thomas and Melanie's paths would always cross.

Two twin flames that come from the same original soul and were then incarnated into different bodies. Like brother and sister, mother and child, love returned and a person who would be too much as one.

Instead, you are giving him a partner, not important whether platonic or romantic, but they will carry a thread that pulls them together and yet sometimes feels like it is about to break too.

But they will always be parallel, no matter how large or small the distance between them may be.

And while one person has all the pain inside them, the other has all the happiness and yet qualities that only make sense when combined. But it will always feel like you are not complete as long as you are not in synchronicity with the other soul bearer.

Things will happen within you that cannot be described to others who do not have such a connection. And you will just as often think that it is a blessing as well as a curse.

"Now there's hope," Thomas whispered, still so close to her lips, after he had released himself so that even though they were no longer touching, Melanie could feel every breath he took when he spoke.

And her smile full of lightness like warmth in an enveloping embrace that you feel in your own heart. "Come on, let's move on. We've been here too long," she said, signaling, "we have to keep moving."

Thomas nodded, stood up from the cold floor and then held out his hand, which took hers to force her to pull her up. "Let's take the shafts. I know how we can cross the locks unnoticed to get into the security wing," he told her, lifting the gate from its hinges and setting it aside.

With a quick glance he made sure that she would follow him too. But judging by her promising nod, there was no doubt about it.

Normally the brown-haired man would have insisted that she go first and that he always had her in his field of vision, but because he knew the way and it would be better to remain silent in the shafts, he would go first.

Thankfully, these weren't too narrow, which is why the girl, with her petite figure, had the advantage of being able to move around more and somehow managed to reattach the grille from the inside in order to successfully cover up her tracks.

They crawled forward for a while, careful not to make too many bumping and rumbling noises with their elbows and the aluminum. At a junction where two shafts from different directions met, there was a grate that gave you a limited view of the hallway.

So the two wanted exchanged a look that spoke for themselves, before Melanie's heart beat so fast out of excitement that she thought someone down there could hear it.

Just then, as they waited for a patrol of Janson's elite guards to march past, they both thought the coast was clear.

At least no one could be heard anymore, although they had waited a little longer and Melanie had gently stroked Thomas's hand, which was lying next to it. Nodding, she then gave her consent for them to move on.

Thomas moved further into the fork to the right and then spotted the little air before that reassured him that he was in the right place and that it was only a short distance until they reached the security wing. So he quickened his pace a little until he had to use more force to push open the gate for the corresponding room.

Then he crawled out, turned around and kept an eye on the doors while at the same time helping Melanie and then putting it back into the notches. "Not far anymore," he let her know and as soon as she stood he briefly stroked her face, which still didn't seem to show any major fears. Just the purest confidence he had ever seen in such beautiful eyes. "You okay?"

"Don't worry, Thomas," she reassured him with her gentleness, brushing the light dust from her knees and elbows that she had picked up through the shafts. It didn't bother her, but she didn't want to walk around like that either. Especially if it were with him.

Thomas seemed much more relieved. "Good." Then he took her hand again as they had to go through the hallways to reach the other side as there wasn't a single ventilation shaft for this room that would take them in.

They stayed in cover for a heartbeat before they sprinted to the sliding door and he raised the card of a guard they had overwhelmed earlier today to the sensor.

And because it took far too long, he thought for a moment that they had found him and that his access card had been blocked, but then there was a hiss and they ran straight into the arms of an employee.

How the hell could that be?

Thomas knew exactly that no one would be here at that time and who had what shift and when. Narrowing his eyes in confusion, his body reflexively shifted to the right, causing Melanie to bump into his shoulder and him blocking her view.

An instinctive reaction that served as protection. Because it would only be a matter of seconds before Janson would walk in here and show no mercy. "You don't have to do that," he said to the doctor's assistant, whose name tag he couldn't read, but he raised his arms in the air in surrender, "we won't hurt you."

Melanie did the same, feverishly thinking about what other options they had left, but because of all the stress and hectic pace, she couldn't think clearly. Everything was so fast, rushing by and all she could hear was herself panting and how worried she was for the boy who too often believed he had to save everyone.

"Thomas," she mumbled into his white T-shirt, took a step further to his side, waited until he looked at her with his sad look, "everything will be okay. Don't worry."

But here they were in a quandary where their reassuring words had no effect on the rebellious boy. Instead, there was so much regret and so much sadness that he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and she could see his tears.

"I'm sorry, Mel. This is my fault ... this is-" a heavy sigh, "I should have just ...," he struggled for words he couldn't find but she still knew which ones there were.

He wasn't to blame.

They had started this together, and that was how they would finish it.

And then,
in a trailing breath,
a frozen heartbeat,
and an unspoken response,
the sliding doors behind them opened
and before Melanie had even turned around,
she found herself in arms
dragging her away from him.

Thomas's view was blocked and when he caught a glimpse of them not just holding her but dragging her in a direction, everything boiled over in him and he charged at the guards, trying to push through, but they were throwing him so hard back that he stumbled onto the perfect floor where he examined his reflection for a moment.

As soon as he looked up, three guards grabbed his arms, hurting him, but he didn't say anything, didn't think it was worth mentioning if he just wanted to see what happened to Melanie.

"Hey!" he shouted after he was led out into the hallway, "Hey! What are you doing with her?!"

Fighting with all his strength and trying to free himself, they only tightened their grip on him, causing him to fall to the floor and holding him there tightly.

When he lifted his head, he saw Melanie disappear around the next corner and he looked at dark boots until the person knelt in front of his face.

The Rat Man's grin so unmistakable before him.

"Oh, Thomas. This could have been completely different if you had just done what you were told," he gave him a teaching sermon, "but we have nice plans for you and your girlfriend. Don't worry, she will forget that we did this to her."

Janson stood upright again because he had successfully completed his task. "Take him away," he ordered the guards before Thomas was pulled up and dragged forward because there was nothing left in him capable of walking on his own after the realization had hit him like a slap in the face.

He was so beside himself, so full of rage, that he literally had nothing left to lose and he tried in vain to gasp for air that so crushed his heart and left him frozen in a cold that only Melanie could make up for.

Because there was no going back,
she was gone,
the truth written all over his face.

Melanie would inevitably be sent to her own self-made hell,
from which it was said
that she would be spared
because they were Ava Paige's favorites:
the maze.

"No, no, no," he tore his slightly curly hair as soon as he was let loose in his room behind the closed door and felt an unbelievable anger towards WICKED, so that he paced back and forth restlessly.

Not only would Melanie be in this maze with everyone else, fighting to survive - and seeing her every day would be his punishment -

but she would lose

all of her

M-E-M-O-R-I-E-S.

All their memories,
so neatly erased
that it would be a blank paige of paper
and if they stood before each other
they would be strangers,
robbed of their ability
to mourn their past
because they are unaware
that one even exists.

Melanie would irrevocably forget Thomas.

And from now on
he has to watch her from a ridiculous screen,
while half of his incarnated soul
no longer seems to be there.
All that was left
was the unnecessary pain
that couldn't be ignored
because it surrounded him
like the walls around the building of WICKED.
And WICKED is good ...

-'๑'-

"Subject A0 is sedated and ready for extraction, Dr. Paige. And A2 is safely in his cell, you can speak to him afterwards." The doctor looked up from the microscope in which she had been viewing the human-destroying virus and nodded.

"Thanks," she said, "I'll take care of it." It didn't take long for the older woman to leave the room with her personal assistant to go to the preparation room, which was in a rear wing of the building.

Their high shoes left a harsh sound on the floor and after taking the elevator twice and walking down a hallway, they immediately reached the operation and preparation area. She was given some information about the collection process from Melanie before attending to it, who layed on a silver table with rollers attached to it, previously used for autopsy of corpses.

Here they had a slightly different purpose, but it could end in the same dilemma.

Ava Paige lightly stroked Melanie's head and soft hair before changing into more sterile clothes, putting on a mask and nodding to her assistant to begin as she pulled on the rubber gloves.

And immediately held Melanie's future in her hand and everything that lay ahead of her.

-'๑'-

Janson knocked on the senior doctor's office with good pride, waited until she invited him in and crossed his hands in front of his belt before he began to speak. He was sure that she would also know what his urgent concern was.

"How can I help you, Janson?" she asked anyway, turning to him in her office chair, her right arm resting on the backrest and her fingers in the air in front of her chin.

He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "How did it go?"

"Melanie must have just arrived with the box, without any memories and we have restructured her subconscious," reported the almost white-blond doctor in a calm voice that seemed like a whisper, which just kept repeating that WICKED was good.

Janson tilted his head to the side, slightly confused. It was new to him that the subjects' subconscious had to be restructured. Were these the special arrangements she had already made in advance?

"What do you mean by that?"

Ava Paige dropped her arm as if horrified at how stupid a person could be for not understanding what it was all about. "We changed her good memories, made her go through memorable experiences in quick succession, the feelings of which will remain in her consciousness and she will have to struggle with them, even if we took them away from her afterwards in such a way that they can only appear in dreams."

She took a short break from speaking and speculated about something else that she couldn't say with 100% probability. "Different symptoms can occur, which we will observe through the monitor over time. According to my calculations, post-traumatic stress disorder is the most realistic."

The Rat Man was speechless for a moment, and yet also completely thrilled. A brief grin crossed his face at the sophistication behind it. "Tell me, why did you suddenly undergo such a change in Melanie's personality?"

Paige, with her emotionless face, got up from her chair and, by pressing a button on a transparent panel, turned on a monitor that played Melanie's extracted memories. She increased the speed a little before stopping after a good while and turning on the news. "The world is at the end, Janson. That is immediately and unavoidably our fate," then she pressed the off switch, "Melanie should learn that happiness is passing."

༊*·˚ ◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥*ೃ༄

𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐼 𝐵𝑈𝐼𝐿𝑇 𝐴 𝐻𝑂𝑀𝐸

𝐹𝑂𝑅 𝑌𝑂𝑈, 𝐹𝑂𝑅 𝑀𝐸

𝑈𝑁𝑇𝐼𝐿 𝐼𝑇 𝐷𝐼𝑆𝐴𝑃𝑃𝐸𝐴𝑅𝐸𝐷

𝐹𝑅𝑂𝑀 𝑀𝐸, 𝐹𝑅𝑂𝑀 𝑌𝑂𝑈

𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝑁𝑂𝑊 𝐼𝑇'𝑆 𝑇𝐼𝑀𝐸 𝑇𝑂 𝐿𝐸𝐴𝑉𝐸

- 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎, 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒

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