Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except my OCs) and some of the settings, James Dashner does. (This disclaimer applies for all of the chapters!)

A/N: I know their names were different before The Maze, but I didn't change them.

CHAPTER 1 - THE SUBJECTS

"They all think that WICKED will find the cure."

Teresa was nervous, looking at the screen in front of her. People were talking happily, thinking their dreams will come true and they will finally be able to cure the Flare.

"We will," said Thomas, trying not to be nervous. "The subjects will arrive in an hour and we will start the trials immediately." Teresa changed camera's sight. Now they could see the subjects, arriving earlier than they should.

They stood up before Janson got in the room to announce them the subjects arrived. "I guess you already saw it," he said, glancing an unpleased look at Teresa. "Come with me."

Thomas and Teresa followed Janson in a long corridor. When they finally arrived the waiting room, they were both nervous. Thomas was calmer than Teresa; he could see her hands were shaking. He wanted to hold her hand and comfort her but with Janson in front of them, he knew that would be a dangerous thing.

There were over twenty subjects in front of them. They were all boys since WICKED announced that only boys can join the first trial. Some of the faces were scared while some of them were eager. "Follow us to the headquarter room," said Janson.

All the subjects stood up and silently followed them.

"Welcome," said Chancellor Paige, looking at those unfamiliar faces. "I am Chancellor Paige and I think you know the reason why you are here." Thomas started feeling excited too; he just wanted to start the trials. "You will stay here tonight and on the sunset of third day, we will start the trials."

"But what will happen to our families?" a blonde boy with an odd accent asked.

Chancellor Paige slightly smiled. This was a relaxing smile, unlike the other subjects' judging smiles. "They will be safe. They will be even safer if you help us complete the trials." Teresa saw the boy got uncomfortable after these words. "Thomas," Chancellor whispered, turning his back to the subjects. "You and Teresa show them their rooms."

Thomas nodded firmly. They have already planned all of the subjects' rooms. All of the rooms were different because Chancellor Paige wanted to start the trials secretly. All of the rooms were designed with subjects' biggest fears.

While Thomas found this amazing, Teresa found this horrifying.

"We have two floors full of rooms," explained Thomas. "Your rooms are already ready." He exchanged a nervous look with Teresa. "First row," he said, pointing at the first row of the boys. "Follow me."

Then he walked away slowly.

Teresa immediately talked. "Second row, follow me." And then she walked quickly, just to catch up with Thomas. A few second later, they were walking next to each other with subjects behind them.

"Be careful," Thomas said to Teresa.

Teresa was almost going to laugh. "Ah, my Knight in Shining Armor. What, don't you think I can fend for myself?" Thomas stared at the subjects for a second. Then he shook his head.

"Just be careful."

When they arrived to the stairs, Teresa started to understand what Thomas meant. She leaded the subjects to the second floor. She could feel Thomas' eyes on herself until she disappeared.

There were names of the subjects' on the door. So she read the name and showed the room. After ten minutes, all the subjects had a room. Teresa felt relaxed but also felt bad for the subjects. She slowly went downstairs. Thomas was waiting her there.

"I don't understand why they didn't want the girls to arrive today too," said Thomas. He just wanted to start. He knew that the trials secretly started but he wanted them to start officially.

Theresa didn't want to think about the other subjects. "Because if they did, this place would be too crowded. And we don't want them to see each other," she said, "remember?"

They sat on a step.

"I also feel a bit sorry for their families. And the ones who aren't immunes." Teresa didn't want to care about them but she couldn't just acted like they don't have feelings. She could see the pain in their eyes, the scars and the fear.

Thomas held her hand, taking the advantage of being alone with her. "There are only two," he said. "One of them is in boys' group, and the other one is in girl's group. They will be fine. We aren't sending them into a Crank Palace. And we shall not worry about their families."

"But when we chose them, I saw their families and…"

Teresa couldn't even finish her sentence. When they announced the subjects that will attend the trials, she saw their families. Nearly all of the families were immunes but there were some families, which were Cranks.

"If we find the cure," said Thomas, looking at the beautiful face of the girl he knew since his childhood, "they will all be safe."