DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Maze Runner series or any other characters associated with it. However, I do own Grace and any other original characters that might pop up. And similarities to any other works of fanfiction are purely coincidental.

CHAPTER ONE

"Their eyes met. It had begun. They had begun."

Alexandra Potter, Calling Romeo

This is how it starts.

Her eyes snapped open to see a flawless blue sky above her, not a cloud in sight, the sun lazily making its ascent in the sky. For a moment, she laid there, confused.

Where in the hell is she?

That's the first question that comes to the forefront of her mind as she sits up, furrowing her brow as she takes in her surroundings. She wasn't the only one there, she realized with a start, though she was the only one awake. All around her, boys lay asleep, spread out on their backs. She didn't know who they were, couldn't draw up any information about any of them as she sat, staring. Her absolute ignorance to the situation was mounting, slowly making panic build in her chest. She didn't know where she was or who they were. And the longer she sat there the more she realized that she didn't know anything about herself either.

Except that her name was Grace. Of that, she was absolutely positive. Yet, as she tried to recall where she had come from, she drew a blank. She simply just did not remember. Fear seized her heart, and she leapt to her feet, spinning around to examine her surroundings, her mind working a mile a minute.

This place that she didn't know didn't not seem so bad, at least. Lush, green grass was under her feet, and off to her right was a small copse of trees, not huge but still enough that she would qualify it as a forest. Then, somewhere behind her, there was a small shack, the door thrown open invitingly. To her left, there was a barn and she could hear the animal sounds that drifted from it.

"What the hell." She muttered, raising a hand to her head, as if expecting a huge knot to be there to explain away her memory loss. Nothing was drawing up any memories, try hard as she might, straining to remember. But there were none, and she had more important things to worry about, she realized with a start. Like the fact that the nice, peaceful place that she had woken up in was surrounded on all sides by impossibly high stone walls encased in ivy.

A quick glance around proved that there were no obvious ways to leave, no doors with a large 'EXIT' sign shining over it. And the more she looked, the more she realized just how fucked this situation was. And she was just dealing with it on her own instead of demanding the help of those around her who were still sleeping.

How strange.

Did they know where they were? Did they know who she was, and more importantly, did they know why she couldn't remember.

Well, there was only one way to find out, and without another thought on the matter, she used her foot to nudge against the nearest boy's foot, hoping to wake him. Actually, they were all boys, she noticed after a moment. And here she was, the only girl in this situation. Hopefully they didn't end up being assholes.

"Hey." She said loudly. "Wake up."

The boy in question had a head of blonde hair and, after a moment of trying to nudge him awake, he finally opened his eyes to peer up at her drowsily.

"Where are we?" She asked immediately. There was a moment of silence as he stared up at her, his eyes still sleep heavy.

And then he realized.

Sitting up with a start he looked around, eyes going wide. "Bloody hell." The words fell from his lips, laced with a strange accent that she could not place, though something in her mind told her that she should be able to.

"I'm going to assume from your reaction that you don't know where we are either." She sighed, shaking her head. He didn't respond for a long moment, looking around before looking up at him again, furrowing his brow in confusion, panic brimming there. Something about him struck something in her, though Grace wasn't quite sure what and so she pushed the feeling away.

"Not a clue." He said finally, getting quickly to his feet. "Don't know who you are, either." He added, fixing her with a look as if hoping she would start spouting off an explanation.

"Grace." She said simply. "That's...well, just about all I know."

"Grace." He repeated the name softly, as if committing it to memory, though she wasn't sure why he would need to. If he was in the same boat as her then it wasn't like he had a whole lot of other things to remember now. "I'm Newt."

"Well, Newt. Let's wake these other guys up, yeah? One of them has to know something, right?"

Dear God, she hoped so. She really, really did.

None of them knew a single thing, other than their own name. And not all of them were as graceful in their awakening as she and Newt had been. All around her, boys were exploring or crying or talking in small groups. And she could only look around, an increasing sense of hopelessness settling into her stomach.

Where were they? How had they gotten here? Were these boys, these strangers, her friends? Why couldn't she remember who they were? Why couldn't she remember who she was? No childhood memories came to mind, no way to determine just what had led up to the moment she had woken up in this place. She didn't even know how old she was.

In short, she decided, it seemed like they had all been thoroughly fucked.

She had been standing in the center of the place for a long time, circling around, eyes narrowed as she tried to draw up some sort of memory, but none came. Not that she had expected them too really. At first, she had thought that she must have had some sort of accident that led to her amnesia, but with each boy she woke up the more her heart plummeted. Something was definitely going on here.

Finally, growing tired of standing there trying to remember, she decided that she needed to take some action. Because if she didn't, she was afraid that she would fall apart like some of these boys had. So she jogged across the open grass, eyes set on the tall wall before her.

Fingers brushed against cool stone as she walked, looking for any weakness. But the wall was unending and flawless, firm as she pressed her hand against it. There was no give, no weakness in the walls that trapped them there.

Or maybe they were protecting them?

What a silly thought. Grace wasn't sure exactly what could be so bad on the other side that they would need great, towering stone walls to protect them, so she wrote that one off. No, it seemed more as if someone had somehow taken their memories away, dumping them in this place with no explanation.

"Well hell." She muttered, taking a step back and tilting her head to look up at the wall that stretched high up into the sky. Too far to climb, she figured, and even if she did climb it there was no telling if there would be a way to get down once she got to the other side.

She turned again, sighing, pushing a long strand of hair out of her face. She wasn't the only one who had taken to examining the walls, she realized with a start, one of the boys obviously intent on finding a way out as well. There were others too, some attempting to climb the vines, others cheering one of the boys on.

"Hey!" She called before she could stop herself, taking off with a running start in his direction. He had been climbing up the ivy precariously but had started his descent when she had noticed him. He had just dropped the last few feet when she called out, making him look up in surprise as she approached.

"Any luck?" She asked as she reached the group, peering up at the stretch of wall he had just scaled. It looked just the same as the rest.

"Not a bit." He grumbled. "Need to try somewhere else."

She frowned at that, sighing heavily. "It figures, man. Trapped like friggin' rats. I'm Grace." She added, turning back to face him. A lot of the boys had taken to casting her strange looks which she could, admittedly, understand. She was the only girl, after all. "You really think you can find somewhere else to get through the wall or something?"

"I'm Minho." He said simply, turning away to cast a sweeping glance over the rest of the maze. It was obvious that he was the leader of the escape attempt and so, Grace decided it would be better to see what he thought instead of getting the opinion of every other boy gathered with them. Besides, they all looked as lost as she felt. "There has to be a way, right? I mean, there has to be something on the other side of these walls."

"So...what, just keep trying?"

"Keep trying." He agreed.

Three hours later and they were no closer to figuring out a way to escape. Tired and frustrated, Grace stomped over to one of the fires a group of boys had started, flopping down beside it with a huff.

"This is so stupid!"

Despite her better judgement telling her that there just wasn't a way out, she had really tried to find one. Had scoured the stretch of gray stone walls until it had simply become too dark to carry on. In the morning, she planned to resume her search with Minho's help, who seemed just as intent as she did.

"I'm going to assume then that you didn't find a magical means of escape." An accented voice asked from across the fire, catching her attention. That boy, Newt, was seated on the other side.

"Nope. Gonna try again in the morning." With another sigh she reached out to pluck a handful of grass from the ground, tossing the blades into the flames one by one. Her stomach growled loudly, but she didn't have it in her to be embarrassed. She had been so preoccupied trying to find a way to get out that food just hadn't seemed like much of a concern most of the day. Now though...well, she didn't really feel like attempting to sleep on an empty stomach.

"Man, I'm hungry. Is there any food anywhere?"

"Granola bar?"

She looked up to see Minho holding one out to her, chewing on his own, a bottle of water tucked under his arm. He took the empty spot next to her, settling down by the fire, looking just as hopeless as the rest of them.

She accepted it graciously, opening it and taking a huge bite. "Well," she said finally. "At least they're not making us starve. What polite hosts we have." The last part was dripping in sarcasm.

One of the boys looked at her sharply, a frown tugging at his features. "You think someone put us here?" He asked, furrowing her brow.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "You don't?" She asked. "Think it's just a coincidence, us waking up not being able to remember anything but our names, trapped in this place? Or did we all just have a bit of an accident and simultaneously hit our heads? Oh! Or maybe it was memory sucking aliens."

The last part got a bit of a laugh out of Minho, but the other boy didn't look at all pleased at her withering tone.

"Look, the point is that someone had to put us here. Nothing else even makes sense. And...if those kind folks are listening right about now, A FIVE STAR RESORT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!" She yelled the last part, startling most of the boys. Not that Grace particularly cared, she was too busy looking around for any sign that they were being watched.

"Geez, you're loud." Minho grumbled, taking a swig of his water before holding out his bottle to her, offering it wordlessly. The gesture felt strikingly familiar, as if it had happened before, but as Grace reached out to take it she couldn't figure out why. It was like there was a memory there, just out of reach. But God, she wanted so badly to grasp at it, just wanted to know something.

She took a sip, handing it back with a nod of thanks. "Sorry." She said quickly. "Just feeling frustrated."

"We all are." Newt sighed. "Welcome to the club.

"Well," she said cheerily, after a moment. "Things could be worse. Imagine being stuck here alone. Or, you know, we could be dead."

"Wow. Do we have that kind of optimism to look forward to, to help get us through the days stuck in this place." Minho rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Yep. I aim to please." She said matter-of-factly, finishing her granola bar and standing up, stretching her arms high over her head. "I'm going to go...attempt to sleep. Don't let the partying get too loud, boys." And with that she was gone, heading towards to little shack that she assumed was for sleeping. At least she hoped so. To be honest, Grace wasn't even sure that she would be able to sleep. There was just too much going on, and too many thoughts rushing through her brain. What was the point of them all being here?

Nudging the door to the shack open, she stepped inside, peering around. It was too dark to really make out anything, even with the illumination from the fires outside but she wasn't too worried about it. She wasn't exactly sure that she wanted to see the place anyway, worried that it would be dusty and musty and not actually fit to sleep in. Better to be blissfully ignorant, she decided as she picked a patch of floor and settled down on it, stretching out with an arm behind her head.

She wasn't actually sure how long she laid there, staring up at the dark ceiling, but it wasn't long before others started trickling in, laying down as well to attempt to get some sleep. Grace was exhausted, tired physically and mentally from everything that had happened that day, but her mind was moving too fast, trying to comprehend and make sense of something. And finally, she just had to accept the fact that, without her memories there was no way to make any sort of sense out of it.

Finally, she fell asleep.

In her dream she is in an unfamiliar forest, the trees stretching high overhead. They have no leaves, she noticed, and the trunks are smooth and white and lifeless. Dead.

The ground is void of any life, just dark dirt and pebbles. The air is hot, pressing in on her from all sides, making her pant. Part of this seems familiar, but the other part of her doesn't care, is more concerned about where she is.

She catches a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she looks there is nothing and she can only frown, standing there stupidly.

"Little girl, all alone in the woods." A voice sings tauntingly, the words echoing around her, sending a chill up her spine. The same voice lets out a giggle that unsettles her even more, and it is enough to send her running, dashing wildly through the trees.

From somewhere behind her she hears that giggle again and the sound of someone chasing her. Her heart is pounding wildly in her chest, but she knows that she cannot stop, that she has to keep going. If only she had some idea of where to run to. Adrenaline is what keeps her going, but she knows it won't be enough, can hear whatever is behind her catching up.

And then, suddenly she is knocked to the ground, the breath knocked out of her as she lets out a pitiful little cry of fear, as if that will get some unseen hero to come rescue her. But she is not stupid, and she knows that nobody is coming to save her.

She hears that giggle from whatever is holding her face down against the ground, and her heart stops as she takes a sharp intake of breath. She can feel hands, strong and unrelenting against her back, pushing her forcefully into the dirt. But she has to see who it is, needs to see the face of her attacker. If this is how she's going to die, she wants them to see her face when they kill her. She struggles to turn, craning her neck to try and see. A wave of stench hits her, like something rotting and she gags, before holding her breath. She sees the hands and arms first, covered in dirt and blood and oozing sores. The hands are thin and bony but she can feel the strength behind them and that's what's worrying her. She could try to wriggle away, but even if she got past those determinedly stubborn hands, she isn't sure that she would even get very far. Her eyes drift up, over the arms to the disgusting shirt the person is wearing, continuing upwards towards the-

A rumbling sound is what wakes her up, pulling her out of her dream as she bolts upright, wincing slightly. Sleeping on the floor had not been comfortable, but it wasn't as if there had been much of a choice. At least the little shack offered some protection.

She forced herself to her feet, looking around to see that she was the only one who had been asleep.

"Crap!" She had meant to get an early start combing over the walls again. She wasn't sure how late in the morning it was, but Grace wanted as much time to look as possible.

And just what the hell was that rumbling noise.

She darted forward, pushing outside to look around, freezing at what she saw.

Yesterday, she would not have expected this. If she had then she wouldn't have spent her day scouring the walls for a way to escape. But yesterday, much as she would hate to admit it, she had been panicking, and worried about this strange place.

All attempts to escape had seemed hopeless yesterday, and yet now this was happening. And she, like the others, could only look around in awe as a sense of hope welled up in her chest.

The damned doors were opening.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay so, I know I really shouldn't be starting anything new, but after deciding to put my 'The 100' fanfiction on hiatus I figured why the hell not write something that I have a lot more muse for. And this is what came of that.

Unlike 'Glory & Gore' the chapters will be a lot shorter since they'll be a lot easier to get out quickly that way. And for those of you who can't tell, this story starts with the beginning of the Maze, with Grace being the only current female member of Group A.

I'm going to try to keep updates as regular as I can, which should be pretty easy since I have all the books on hand for quick references and won't have to scour the internet for scripts and stuff. Anyway, let me know what you guys think, and the next chapter should be up relatively soon.