A/N: Welcome to my brand new fanfiction, "The Way is Where You Love Me". It's my first Maze Runner story and I'm super excited to share this with you guys. The support I've had on my other stories is insane and I hope you love this one just as much. It has a Gally/OC/Newt storyline, and there may be themes that some readers don't agree with, but that's ok because stories are supposed to challenge perceptions. I'll give some heads up when we come into contact with them, but we're all fine for the first few chapters.

As you'll be able to tell when we get going, this story is set at least 6 months before Thomas's arrival so Nick is still in charge rather than Alby. But of course, Alby has his role to play. I hope you guys like my character and her interaction with Dashner's brilliant creations. Have fun!

Chapter I – Slim It Nice and Easy

It was the noise that woke her up to her new life. Great clanks of winding cogs that echoed through her head. Grinding, grating and groaning. Creaks and squeals of machinery mashed with it all, amassing into nothing but noise. Her hands scrabbled against the walls for support as she struggled to her feet.

Something was happening to her brain. Memories were slipping through her fingers like water, falling away as she snatched hopelessly at them. Her family – mum, dad, brother and sister. At least, she thought she had a brother and sister. One second they were there, and then they were fading away, as if shrouded by a thickening fog.

Panic gripped her. As the world moved upwards, she leaned against the wall and focused everything she had onto them, willing them to come back, stay. Flashes. Fragments of memories came and went, almost faster than she could catch them, like photographs or puzzle pieces. But pieces of the puzzle were missing.

Candles on a birthday cake that illuminated a dark room full of anxious, smiling faces. A picnic on top of a hill in the boiling shade of a new, abandoned building. Anger, sadness, fear. Madness. Pain. Death.

And then it was gone. Every last shred of memory disappeared, and she let it. Death lingered longer than anything else, but then that was gone, too. All she felt was loneliness. She screamed.

She didn't know how long she was in there. At some point, she sank to the floor, tears streaming down her face. Choked sobs wracked her body for what felt like hours. And all the time, the box moved upwards. Horrifically loud sounds churned in her ears, and a smell like rot, oil and sweat filled her nostrils. Until, finally, it stopped with a deafening metallic clang.

She waited. And she waited. Just as she was beginning to doubt that anyone would ever get her out of there, there was another clank and the ceiling peeled open, filling the lift with a blinding light. Flinching away from it, she could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest. Anything could have been out there. Her captors, rescuers, comrades. It struck her with a painful blow that if it was her family out there, she wouldn't have any idea who they were.

Voices flooded in with the light.

"Shucking hell, is that a girl?"

"The greenie's a girl?"

"How old is she?"

"I've been shucked and gone to heaven."

"Slim it, you shanks. Help me get her out of there."

Confusion swelled in her brain. All of the voices merged into one big mess of conversation. They were tinted with echo, making her head buzz as she tried to keep up. Some of the words she knew, but it felt like half of what they said was a completely different language. She peered up through the light to find silhouettes crowded around the top of the box, looming over her. Their faces were nothing but shadows, but she imagined that they were plastered with wicked grins. She realised that she was trembling, and pressed herself further against the wall. She wished that she could hide. It was like being a zoo animal. When had she been to a zoo? Who had she gone with?

Before she could attempt to think of the answers, a voice interrupted her, calling down from the top of the box.

"Get the rope, Greenie!"

Sure enough, across the room, a rope had been lowered. Slowly, she stood up and walked across to it. Her balance was dreadful. She dared not take her eyes from the crowd above her, but when she felt the rope touch her hand, she had to. There was a loop at the bottom, which she stepped on to and allowed them to lift her up out of the box.

Hands helped her clamber over the edge, but they let go almost straight away, as if they were as afraid of her as she was of them. Her eyes scanned the crowds. They were boys, all of them. Teenagers. At least thirty, but probably more. And all of them were staring at her. One of the boys who had helped her out approached. He was fairly short but clearly older than most of the others. Around seventeen. He had a mop of dark brown hair and startling blue eyes with strong eyebrows. He seemed friendly enough, but that didn't mean that he was reliable.

"He extended a hand, "Welcome to the Glade, Greenie. Nice to meet you."

She didn't move, but watched his face carefully. She needed to be sure that she could trust him, "What's happened to me?"

"Same thing as happened to all of us."

"And what's that?"

He lowered his hand, "Shucked if I know. What's your name, Greenbean?"

She thought hard. Names of people and places whizzed by, each gone before they came, every one blurred and indecipherable. But then one stopped, clearer than anything else. And although something about it felt wrong, as if it had been scratched there on top of everything she had forgotten, it was the only thing she had. She clung to it.

"Ellie."

"Ellie," the boy repeated, and she heard her name echoed around the crowd of boys, like a secret passed on in whispers, "I'm Nick."

It was only then that she took notice of her surroundings, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. She was stood in a huge space, and enclosing them on all sides, were four gigantic walls. They were hundreds of feet tall, covered in ivy. And in the middle of each wall, there was a parting, like alleyways into something unknown.

"What's she doing here?" someone shouted from the crowd, "She's just as confused as everyone else was."

Someone else shouted, "What'd you expect, slinthead? You think she's gonna solve all our shuckin' problems and get us outta here, just like that?"

Ellie's eyes darted around the crowd, avoiding eyes, but taking in every face, searching for some kind of reassurance. Some comfort, recognition or sign that none of this was real. Maybe it was some cruel trick or nightmare. And then she saw someone and her heart flipped over. She didn't know why or how, but there was something about that one boy in particular that she was certain she recognised. And perhaps he recognised her too, because he was looking at her in a way no one else was. Staring with eyes of such intensity that she couldn't look away. She only started breathing again when he was the first to drop his gaze, looking around as if he hadn't just been staring directly into her brain.

She carried on searching the faces of the other boys. There was a tall, square-jawed blonde boy who was studying her with a face devoid of emotion. A muscular, dark-skinned boy stood near Nick, scowling. An Asian boy with thick biceps watched her with a raised eyebrow, as if he was judging her. Everyone was judging her.

She turned back to Nick, whom she presumed to be their leader, "Where the hell am I?"

"Nowhere good," he said, "Slim it nice and calm now, greenie."

Why did she keep hearing that? She didn't know those words, and every time she heard them, it felt like she was being punched in the gut. They emphasised everything that terrified her. How she had forgotten who she was. That she was in a strange, new place with strange, new people. How she didn't know anyone or anything. If she didn't get back to what she felt like she should know, she thought that she would go insane.

"I want to go home. I want my family."

"Your mom and dad aren't anywhere around here, greenie, now slim it."

"Take me back!"

"Listen to me – there isn't any way -"

Before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed a handful of his collar. Nick's eyes widened. The entire crowd collectively held their breath. Some people moved forward, but none dared to interrupt. Every muscle in her body hurt from how strained with tension they were.

"If you don't take me home – if I don't find my family – I'll burn this place down."

Slowly, Nick moved his hands up to hers, where she had hold of his shirt in a white-knuckle grip. His eyes stayed on hers the entire time. He spoke carefully, as if he was trying to save her rather than himself. It only made her more confused.

"Listen to me, Ellie. There's no going home. We're all stuck here – all of us. None of us know who our families are, either. Good that?"

"Good that?" she repeated, her voice breaking, "I don't even know what that means."

But something had switched inside of her. Her resolve had broken. She let go and turned away, shaking. Tears welled up in her eyes and it hurt to hold them back, but she had to because everyone was watching her. So many eyes, staring. Had she frightened them? Were they laughing at her? She must have just ruined any chance that she had of making friends. Everyone was going to hate her. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was fall into someone's arms and be told that everything was going to be ok. But everything was not going to be ok. And there was no one to look after her anymore.

"Shucking hell, nice girl she is," someone muttered from the crowd.

"Slim it, shuck-face," a scratchy voice snapped, "She's got more balls than you've ever had. Didn't you klunk your pants when you got here?"

She knew that voice. Sure enough, when she glanced up, it was the boy who she had seen earlier who was talking. She looked away, quickly.

As more voices picked up around her, she tuned them out, focusing on the new world she had landed herself in, instead. Most of the floor was made of concrete slabs, although shoots of grass showed between the cracks. In some places, trees seemed to have burst from the ground, their roots disappearing beneath the slabs. There were some patches of land that were completely grass, such as a place where fruit and vegetables were growing, and an area on the other side of the clearing where she could see animals grazing. There was a roughly put together, slightly lop-sided building near a corner, which looked as though the boys had built it themselves. It didn't look altogether reliable. In another area of the clearing, all she could see was a large copse of trees. She wondered what was in there, or whether it was simply nothing more than a bit of a forest.

"Look," Nick said, coming up behind her, and she turned back to him, still supressing tears, "It's all a long story – longer than I've got time for right now – but I don't want a crying girl on my hands, so we may as well get it over with. I'll give you the tour now."

The scowling boy stepped forward, "That's not -"

"Slim it, Alby. Clearly, this time's different. You want to take over and give her the tour yourself?"

Alby rolled his eyes but shook his head and stepped back. Nick refocused on her.

"This place, we call it the Glade, and we call ourselves Gladers. It's where we live. We sleep here. We eat here. We never leave here. Good that?"

She nodded. She was still shaken and teary, but at least she was beginning to get some answers. And she felt like she could trust them now. Nick, at least. And perhaps the boy she recognised. And yet, despite being told more things, they only led to more questions. Why couldn't they just leave? Where did those mysterious passages go if they only ever stayed in the Glade?

"Good," Nick said, with the flash of a smile, "Then let's start the tour."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and if you really liked it, it would be spectacular if you could give it a like/follow. You can also PM me if you want a good old natter about how wonderful this trilogy is. Thank you again! XD