Notes: This is my first maze runner fan fiction, I've only read the first two books but I immediately fell in love with the characters! I got the third book today which I will be reading soon, but I was trying to guess what was going to happen and started to wonder if they ever actually got out of the maze at all, which is where this little plot bunny came from. This is based exactly just after the end of The Scorch Trials books so beware of spoilers. I kind of ship Thomas/Newt and Thomas/Minho, but I don't know if I will ever even write romance In this or not. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the story! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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Thomas lay on the couch in the Berg, body sore from days of traveling the Scorch and fighting. Thomas knew this could be just like the dormitory all over again, that they could possibly be lured into a false sense of security just to have it ripped away all over again, but as he lay there listening to the soft murmurs of the Gladers conversations he felt his eyelids begin to droop, and despite his wariness, he quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Thomas, Wake up!" It was Minho's voice, barely noticeable through his sleepy haze. Thomas shifted and stirred, longing for a few more moments of peaceful oblivion. "Thomas, wake up you shuckhead!" He groaned in protest and put his arm over his eyes to block them from the sunlight shining from above. Wait a minute, sunlight? Thomas was immediately awake. Why was there sunlight, the last he remembered he was in the Berg?

He was greeted with both Minho's and Newt's concerned faces. Thomas began to ask what was wrong when he noticed where he was; he was in the Glade.

Thomas bolted upright, stomach doing summersaults. No, he couldn't possibly be back in the glade could he? This had to be a dream, a horrible, completely made up dream. In fact, he was probably sleeping beside the Gladers in the Berg right now. But as he took in a few Gladers sleeping beside him that hadn't yet woken up, the sweet smell of trees, and the feeling of the soft, spongy, grass underneath him, Thomas began to doubt this was just an ordinary dream.

"Are we-?"

"We are back in the glade," Newt answered his silent question grimly.

"But how-" Thomas's question trailed off as he remembered the words of the scientist back in the dorm.

"If I can tell you anything today it is that you should never, ever believe your eyes. Or your mind for that matter. All I will say is that sometimes what you see is not real, and sometimes what you do not see is real."

Thomas shivered despite the warm air and felt a deep sense of foreboding.

"Do you remember what the scientist said that day in the dormitory? About some stuff not being real? What if all of this stuff we've been through, the whole thing, was all in our heads?" Thomas asked.

Newt nodded grimly. "I've been wondering the same thing. But it all felt so real, and what about people dying? And being hurt? I don't see how any of that could possibly be fake."

"But what about those dead bodies that were hanging from the ceiling in the dormitories?" Minho argued. "We could feel ourselves bumping into them, and could smell the stench coming off of them, and they weren't even there. But maybe Newt is right, maybe all of that was real and this is fake. But I don't see how we could possibly begin to find out which is which."

Thomas ran his hand through his hair in frustration and looked more closely at the Gladers beside him and the ones going about there chores around the farm. He froze as he noticed a few that he hadn't seen in a long time. "Those Gladers are dead." He pointed to a few. "They died during the fight with the grievers, and I haven't seen him since the lightning storm."

Minho nodded. "We noticed, Newt woke me up just a minute ago after he realized where we were."

"Have you tried talking to any of them?" Thomas questioned.

"What do you take me for, a Shank? I told you we just woke up a minute ago. We figured we would wake you up before we did anything. I don't see Frypan anywhere but from what it looks like, it doesn't seem like anybody else remembers anything. They are all going about their chores like we never left."

Thomas exhaled deeply and ran a hand through his hair frustrated. "I can't believe this. What are we supposed to do?"

An alarm started blaring and everybody stopped in their tracks. It was the alarm to announce a new arrival. Thomas'a heart skipped a beat and in a silent agreement, they nodded and ran towards the box.