Minho sat staring on the ground. This was it. It was over. All of it. The maze, the trials, WICKED; everything. He didn't know quite what to think of it. He almost couldn't believe it. After all they'd been through, it was over. His mind flashed through memories of the Glade. It seemed so peaceful compared to all the klunk he'd been through in the past couple of weeks. Had it only been weeks? Only weeks since they had escaped the maze… and only weeks more since he'd heard the siren out in the maze announcing the new Greenie - the last Greenie? It didn't feel quite right. Nothing felt quite right anymore. He had lost too much in too short a time. He had lost the best friend he'd ever had.

Newt. He tried to resist thinking about him, but the memories came flooding back.

Minho has just come back from mapping his day's journey in the Map Room. It's time for some food. He goes to find some scraps left over from Frypan's dinner that day and sits down to eat. Something is off. Newt's not there. Newt always eats with him. Why isn't he here?

Minho sets aside his food to go find him and make sure he's alright. He heads over to the Homestead first and bumps into Alby on his way.

"Hey," Minho says, "You seen Newt?"

Alby looks at the ground for a second, then back up at him. "Guess you haven't heard yet. The shank climbed up one of the bloody walls today and jumped off. Tried to kill himself. Luckily I was able to find him quick enough to haul him back to the Med-jacks."

Minho stares at Alby in disbelief. "You went out into the Maze to find him?"

"The guy was in a funky mood this morning, and I was concerned about him, so I went looking for him in the maze. Lucky I did or he'd be dead as a doorknob." Alby pauses, looking a little distraught. "Guess this place was just driving him crazy."

Minho can't believe it. His friend - his best friend - tried to kill himself today.

"Sorry, man." Alby grunts. He stares at Minho for several seconds, but Minho remains silent. Just as Alby turns to walk away Minho finally speaks up.

"Where is he?"

"Saw him limp off into the woods. Go chase after him if you want but I got stuff to do."

Minho is starting to get very aggravated with Alby. "Why are you acting like nothing happened today? Like it was just a...minor annoyance!"

"Yeah, well, I like Newt just as much as anyone else in this bloody place. He's my friend too. But we can't have people jumping off of the bloody walls if we want to survive out here. Especially not people as important as Newt! With his leg in the condition it's in, I doubt he'll ever be able to run again which means we just lost our keeper of the runners. Probably one of our most important positions, which means that Nick and I have a lot things to put back in order before things can go back to normal. So I'm sorry if I'm hurting your feelings," he stresses this word mockingly, "but I have got some more important things to worry about." And with that he turns and walks away, leaving Minho even more frustrated.

Minho immediately heads for the woods

Minho doesn't have to look long for Newt. He knows just where to find him. It's always the same place. The light outside is very dim, and when he steps into the woods, darkness engulfs him. He can vaguely see the figures of the trees, but he knows the place well enough to know where he's going. When he reaches the graveyard, he is not surprised to see Newt sitting in the middle, curled up tight with his head hung low. He can see the silhouette of his shoulders move up and down in short repeated spasms. He's crying.

Minho approaches him and sits down next to him. As he gets up close he can see a shape of a cast on his leg; he guesses it was the one he had landed on when he...fell. They sit in near silence for a while as Minho stares ahead, listening to his friend quietly sob next to him. Seeing Newt like this made him upset. It's not fun to watch your friend suffer. Finally, partly out of genuine frustration, partly out of desire for his friend to stop crying, Minho speaks up. "This place really is shucked up."

Through his tears, Newt laughs. "You don't say." He shakes his head and looks up at Minho. His eyes seem lost in thought, as though he is pondering something that is troubling him. "Minho, do you…" he pauses, like he is trying to decide if he really wants to finish what he started to say. "Do you think we'll ever make it out of this shuck place?"

Minho doesn't answer him. He can't. Because ultimately he doesn't know the answer to Newt's question, and he is scared of the answer. Making it clear he wishes to change the topic, Minho says, "What'd you go jumping off the bloody walls for anyway? Seems kinda stupid seeing as we're all just trying to survive out here."

"Survive." Newt repeats. "Survive! That's bloody it, man! I don't wanna just survive. That's not what life's supposed to be like! Life is supposed to be more than that. Not living in a bloody rat cage!" He starts to raise his voice louder "I'll bet whoever put us here is just laughing their bloody arse off right now! I'll bet they got their family and friends with them! They probably think it's all a joke, don't they? DON'T THEY!?" He shouts the last bit at the sky as if he expects them to hear him. "Who do they think they are, ruining our lives like this?" Then he says quietly, "Not that I know what life is actually supposed to be like. The only kind of life I know is life here in the Glade." He resentfully looks up at the walls as if it is their fault he's here. "I lost all my friends and family the day I arrived here."

Minho is a little taken aback by that last remark, and hurt. "Look, man, you got me. And I'll be shucked if I'm not your friend."

Newt lowers his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You are my friend. The probably the closest one I've got. It just makes you wonder what you had before you got here. Who's missing you on the other side?"

"Well," Minho responded, "we could sit around and wonder about that. Wonder who loved us, what we lost, all that klunk. We could. But where would that get us? We got more important things to worry about, and worryin' about klunk like that ain't getting us nowhere. It just makes us upset and want to throw ourselves off of these shuck walls. And it certainly ain't gonna help. I think maybe you should just stop worrying about things you can't control and focus on the things you can. You certainly put us in a big mess today seeing as we just lost our Keeper of the Runners."

Newt looks back at the ground, tears threatening to come back as they rest on his lower eyelid.

"Look," Minho says, trying his best to comfort his friend, "maybe you will know someday, what you had before. Maybe you will get to see your family again. Maybe you'll wonder what the hell you were thinking settling for me as a best friend,"

Newt laughed. "I still don't know what I'm thinking settling for you as a best friend."

Minho chuckles and punches him in the arm.

"Ouch!" Newt gasps. "You know, I did fall off a shucking wall today; you might wanna try to be a little more careful."

"Aww, do you want me to kiss your booboo and make it go away?" Minho says mockingly, and smiles.

"Yes, yes I would." Newt says, and smiles back.

Then Minho pulled Newt into a warm, tight hug - something he saved only for very special occasions. "I say we head back to the Homestead and get some rest tonight."

Quietly, Newt replies, "Good that."