Icarus is flying too close to the sun,
and Icarus' life, it has only just begun,
and this is how it feels to take a fall,
and Icarus is flying towards an early grave

-Icarus, Bastille

The first thing the girl notices is the fact that she has a nose full of flour. The second thing is that she needs to sneeze. Badly. She quickly turns away from the spillage of white powder and manages to clear her airways without disturbing what remains of the cooking ingredient, and stares at the cold grey walls that hold her captive. The box (because it has to be a box of some sort) lurches violently and the girl wonders how she didn't notice that it was moving before. Metal pulleys creaked and groaned somewhere in the distance, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when an angry snort rang out behind her. The girl chuckled when she realised it was just a pig. A pig...the first thing that pops into her blank mind is a completely useless piece of information about an animal. It was obvious that she was either a) an idiot, or b) someone who really needed to get her head out of the clouds because she was in a box going to who knows where and oh god what if there was something bad at the end of this journey?! Something knotted in her stomach as she stared uneasily at the roof. It may have been the arrogant side of her talking, but she got the feeling that she wasn't often wrong. Great, she thought bitterly, the second bit of information she had gathered was just as irrelevant as the last.

Not seeing the point in sitting around doing nothing, she stood up and began to investigate her surroundings. Besides, if there really was something that wanted to hurt her on the other side of wherever the hell she was going, there might be something she could use to defend herself. (That was highly unlikely, now that she thought about it. Who would put so much effort into killing a teenage girl?) She decided to continue searching anyway, which was easier said than done. The lift (?) flew past a light every five to ten seconds, but in between it was pitch black, which made seeing almost impossible. And she wasn't going to use touch alone to get around-too risky.

So she flopped down again-slap bang in the middle of the flour. She cursed her stupidity and began brushing her shorts off, barely noticing the brakes deploying and the very obviously male voices drawing nearer.

"I bet he's gonna klunk his pants!"

"That's what you said about the last one, shuck face!"

"Hey! Back off slintheads! I want to see!" Klunk? Shuck? Slint? She had no knowledge of words like those existing! Who the hell was out there?

The doors above her were pulled open and everything was so loud and it was so bright and-someone had grabbed her arm and was leading her away.

Maybe he was gripping her too tightly, or maybe she was just paranoid, but she really didn't like the way things seemed to be going and would later blame disorientation on what happened next.

She spun the teen (why did he look so young? Why did they all look so young?) away from her and kneed him where she knew it would really hurt; shoved her way past the people at the edge of the crowd and began to sprint as though her life depended on it.

She was running and she was flying and she was nearly free the door is right there run-

A mess of blonde hair and long limbs ploughed into her from the side, forcing her to the ground and sending her skidding across long blades of grass and rocky ground (the t-shirt she was wearing didn't offer much protection for her back. Or for anything else really.)

The first thing she noticed about the boy currently sprawled on top of her was that he was really hot. (She knew that there was a time and a place to admire boys, and after being tackled by one in a strange place full of strange people wasn't one of them; but seriously, wow. Those cheekbones could cut glass.) The second thing was that his hand was in a very awkward place and she was going to slap him if he didn't move it right this moment-

He got up pretty damn quickly when he saw the look on her face.

"Sorry 'bout that, Greenie." He grinned sheepishly at her, and extended his hand towards her. She slapped the appendage away and climbed to her feet herself. She wasn't going to accept help from people she didn't know. Especially not pretty strangers who feel the urge to tackle newbies the minute they decide that they want to leave. "Look, Greenbean. See that?" he pointed at the opening she had been aiming for. "That right there is a death trap. You want to survive in this place? Stay the hell away from that maze." The girl looked at him questioningly. His eyebrows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to explain (oh, who was she kidding! He was probably going to tell her off more) but another boy came waddling up, yelling in her general direction with an extremely squeaky voice.

"Hey! You! Yes, you! Girlie! Why the shuck did you hit me!" oh. It was the boy from before. She grimaced internally and prepared herself for an argument. Pretty boy paled and hissed at her

"You hit Gally?" she didn't get a chance to respond, as the boy stormed up and shoved her to the ground. She had the feeling that this would soon become a common occurrence with her.

"Are you deaf or something, Greenie? Answer the question!" she winced and pushed herself up; preparing a scathing remark for the idiot who felt the need to yell everything, when blondie decided to come to her rescue (she would deny ever needing his help later on)

"Gally, she's just scared, it's not her fault-"

"Not her fault? The hell it isn't, slinthead! She hit me on purpose-"

"You frightened her! She's just arrived, you can't blame her for lashing out-"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can shuck face!"

"Actually, I'm not that surprised she decided to run after seeing your face."

"Are you trying to tell me something, Newt?" So pretty boy actually had a name. Newt. She tested it out in her mind. It suited him somehow.

"I'm trying to tell you that you're an ugly shank who barely has the brainpower to compute basic emotions, so it's not a huge surprise that she's terrified of you!" a crowd was starting to gather around the duo, and the girl rubbed her arms nervously

"Take that back or I swear I'll-" the girl was beginning to get sick of them bickering like schoolchildren, and decided to intervene before things got violent

"OI! I can speak for myself, thanks!" both boys gaped at her, neither bothering to hide their shock at being interrupted. "And I don't appreciate you talking about me like I'm not here. I'm a person, not a doll, ladies, but by all means continue to fight. Just get someone who will actually talk to me first!"

The boy she had hit-Gally, she thought he was called-did a rather impressive chameleon impression, turning red, then blue, then purple. He stepped forward threateningly when-

"That's enough Gally." A dark skinned boy who practically radiated authority stepped forward.

"But Alby," the boy whined, "she needs to be taught a lesson! She nearly ran into the Maze-"

"But Newt stopped her. She won't be punished for something she never got the chance to do. 'Sides, didn't you try to run too?" he at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

"That's different." The boy muttered.

"It isn't and you know it. Now, Greenbean, let's get you sorted out. Leo here'll show you where you're sleeping" a boy –Leo, probably- nodded at her and gestured for her to follow him. And what else could she do but comply?

"-that's the Bloodhouse, where we raise, feed and eventually kill the animals what are sent up." The girl thought back to the pig and shuddered. She wondered if that was what they were too, animals sent to be slaughtered. Leo carried on, oblivious to her thoughts on the place they were stuck in. "And that's the Homestead, where all the Gatherings happen. And there are the Deadheads, where you'll sleep. Normally, Greenies sleep over there, but since you're the only girl I think you need some space from the rest of us." He looked like he was going to say something else, but she stopped him and swiftly interrupted

"What do you mean I'm the only girl?" Leo scratched his head nervously, sighing

"I mean that everyone else is of the male gender" she stared. He couldn't be serious. She stared into his eyes, searching for any hint of a lie; but there was nothing.

"So...do you want to continue?" the girl nodded, suddenly tired of standing still. "Ok, so that's the kitchen, where Frypan works. He might look odd, but he's the best damn cook we have. And there's where the Track-Hoes work-" she let him babble on, content to listen for now. "Alby'll give you a better tour tomorrow, but you should be able to get around with what I've told you today just fine. Oh, and I forgot to ask earlier, what's your name?" the girl froze. The wracked her mind, trying to find an answer to the seemingly simple question.

"I don't know." To her surprise, Leo grinned at her.

"That's ok Greenie, no one remembers at first. It'll come back eventually."

Later that night there was some sort of welcoming party, and everyone was invited. The girl spent the first half hour lingering in the shadows with Leo (who kept teasing her because she had a strange accent-which was pretty similar to Newt's, actually), smiling and waving awkwardly at everyone who glanced in her direction (which was pretty much everyone, but still). She would have left before that, but Newt kept catching her eye. After catching him staring for the fourth time, Leo decided to abandon her, winking flirtatiously as he left, and telling her to 'not stay up too late, cause she needed her beauty sleep'. Asshat. Eventually Newt took pity on her and invited her over, but she sat, stiff as a board until he nudged her and told her to loosen up, laughing the whole time. Tale by tale and joke by joke, she started relaxing, until she was laughing with him. Once you got past the newbie-tackling tendencies, he was pretty fun to be around.

"-so Gally actually ended up running into a wall? We're talking about the same person, right?" Newt nodded, a bemused smile painted on his lips.

"He klunked his pants twice before we got him to calm down. Don't tell him I told you this though; he'll probably smother me in my sleep to protect his reputation as the toughest shank in the Glade." The girl snorted, trying to picture a guy with feet the size of Gallys sneaking around silently. She opened her mouth to share her thoughts, but was cut off by a shrill groaning sound coming from outside the walls. All the blood rushed from her companion's face, and the girl felt a shiver run down her spine.

"What was that?" she questioned. Newt took a deep, slightly shaky breath before replying.

"That, greenie, is the reason we don't go into the maze after nightfall. We call 'em Grievers." That left more questions than it answered, but she deduced that it must have been seriously scary to induce such a reaction from the boy beside her.

"Can they get in?" her mind went to the giant openings in the sheer walls encircling the glade.

"Nah. The doors close at night, otherwise this place would be swarming with them right about now. Don't worry Greenie, so long as you stay in the Glade, you're safe. " that did little to reassure her however, and the light, carefree mood from moments ago had disappeared. The Maze was emitting other sounds, more earthy and natural sounding than the Griever.

"And that would be?"

"The Maze. The paths change every night. Those guys" he pointed to several athletic looking boys near the bonfire "are called Runners. They go into the Maze every day, mapping it and trying to find a way out." He took a swig from a jar filled with a suspicious looking amber liquid before continuing. "And I'm one of them." The girl sat up straight, her bruised back protesting defiantly.

"You're joking, right?" she exclaimed incredulously. Why would someone as easygoing as Newt choose to do something so dangerous? "Wait, why were you here today? Shouldn't you have been out there?"

"The last time a greenie showed up he went straight into the Maze. Got stung by a Griever. We had to exile him because he tried to kill Gally. Not that I blame him, Gally can be a serious pain in the arse when he wants to be. So, from now on, a runner stays behind to catch any runaway greenies." The girl nodded. His tale made sense.

'Just a stupid fairy tale' a foreign voice whispered in her head, accompanied by a splitting headache and the only significant piece of information she had remembered all day. Icarus...her name was Icarus! She relayed this to the blonde boy sitting beside her, and he smiled so brightly he could have lit up the whole shucking Glade on his own.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Icarus. I have the feeling that this is going to be the start of something beautiful."