Minho's P.O.V
There was a sharp, splitting pain in my chest the next couple of days. The stitches helped a bit, but only so much can be done for the slicing of skin. Clint decided I didn't have any interior damage, but Faith was determined to keep me confined in here. She was so concerned, it was actually somewhat funny when it wasn't annoying. She kept bouncing around on her feet, always checking my pulse and redoing my bandage more times than I bothered to count. She looked really cute all worried, of course, she wouldn't tell me she was worried. Always saying, 'you're my patient' or 'it's my job' or sometimes even ignoring me. But it was pretty obvious to everyone but her, I guess. Don't get me wrong, having Faith as my doctor made my recovery much better. She took good care of me, was good company, and as always was eye candy. Her muscular form was no secret as her shorts and tight shirts accentuated her muscles; and her curves were easily seen underneath her clothes. She was beautiful, and I was lucky enough to call her my best friend. But some little part of me, wanted to be more; ever since she arrived in the Box and ran into the Maze, I've felt this unprecedented need to stick to her side and protect her. But the stubborn shank won't tell me how she feels, because she won't talk to me. But I had a few ideas…
I had been lounging around in the Medjack Hut for 4 days when I couldn't take the isolation and laziness anymore. I stretched, rising up from the cot, careful not to rip my stitches. Sneaking out of the Hut was easy, Faith, Clint, and Jeff were all at lunch and patching up some seldom Slicers. I nonchalantly strolled out and basked in the bright sunlight and dirt aroma that was the Glade. I hate this place, it's not where I, or anyone else for that matter, belongs. Though this place blew major klunk, I guess it could be uglier. Shrugging, I made my way over to the Gardens, seeing the bobbing head of the second-in-command; though, I was careful to avoid the line of sight of a certain female Medjack.
"Newt!" I hissed quietly at the blond shoveling in the dirt.
"Bloody hell! Minho? Are you trying to give me a buggin' heart attack?" Newt yelped as he turned to face me, successfully dropping his shovel and spraying specks of dirt all over his face.
I stifled a laugh, "Ah! Shut it! Faith will hear you! I can't spend another minute in there." I jabbed my thumb in the general direction of the Hut.
"Not my fault you went and got yourself attac—and here I thought you liked the She-bean." He chuckled, wiping the dirt off his face.
"Of course I-," I caught myself, but Newt already knew my feelings toward the Glade's only girl. "That's not the point, Newt. I need to get to the Map Room. Maybe the Runners found something…" I trail off, Newt and I both know they probably didn't, but I still wanted to check over the new sketches.
"Alright, alright. I'll distract Faith and you sneak around the back of the Homestead." He nodded and walked over to the Greenie standing in the Dining Hall.
I tiptoed across the Glade, making sure every so often Newt still had her attention. Whatever he was saying to her was keeping her pretty occupied, which is good I guess. I was almost at the edge of the Homestead when I sent a final look back to the duo, to find them both staring straight at me. Way to go, Newt! Well, it was too late to turn back, so I shouted, "Shuck!" into the air and made a run for it.
"Minho! You shuckface! Get your ass back to the Medjack Hut!" I heard her sprint after me, but I refused to look back. There was no way in a Griever's ass I was walking back in there without a fight. I heard leaves crumple just a few feet behind me. Damn, this girl is fast. Then all of a sudden, she was on my back! Clinging on, she added weight to my sprint, making it slightly more difficult. "Minho, please stop running! For shuck's sake man!" I only slowed, knowing I had made it just a few meters from the Map Room. I let her down and she slid off, moving to stand in front of me.
"Okay, Greenie, that's enough! I'm fine! Besides, my legs aren't even the thing damaged; So, there's a cut on my chest, it's doing nothing to prevent my legs from working!" My voice cut through her soft tone and she looked at me sharply, with a bit shock present on her face.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to keep you from infecting it! Shuck knows, you would've done klunk about it, if I didn't." her voice was coated with sass and if wasn't wrong, I thought I caught some hurt mixed in. My heart wrenched a little; she was helping, but at this point, I should be running. There was no reason for me not to be doing my job. Still, I felt a little guilty for yelling at her.
"Faith, you know that's not what I meant. My legs work fine! Alby and Newt are always blabbing on about 'order is where we find our peace.'" My brief anger had resolved by now, staring at her tranquil green eyes always calmed me down.
"I was worried, alright? I mean, it could've killed you." Her voice was soft, and her hand reached up to trace the light scar forming on my chest. My breath hitched; her touch sent tingles through my body and my heart felt as if it stopped beating. I tried to recover my steely composure, how can she possibly have this effect over me? "What was I supposed to do?"
"Hey, I didn't die. I'm right here." I placed my hand over hers and shifted it to my steady heartbeat. With my free hand, I moved a piece of her silky, brown hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek. Her eyes moved to mine and for the first time since I met her, I saw fear, pain, anxiety, and hopelessness shuffled together beneath her surface. Her gaze was usually tough and stoic, with a bit of joy laced here and there, but tonight, it was broken, all her woes rising to the surface.
I leaned closer to the tanned, dark-haired girl, so I could see her stunning irises a bit closer. I leaned my forehead against hers and felt her shiver at the sudden contact. She stared back at me, although her eyes darted down to my lips and back up to my eyes. I smiled and leaned in for something I had wanted since her arrival. Our lips crashed together and moved with a certain need and passion. I held her lower back and pulled her flush against myself. She wrapped her slender arms around my neck and ran her fingers through my hair. Oh my god, this girl is shucking amazing. Our mouths moved against each other, and our bodies seemed to fit together. Hers complementing mine and vice versa. She smelled like lilac and soap, and much to my pleasure it filled every pore on my body. All too soon, she pulled back and rested her hands on my chest and put her forehead against mine, once again. I felt as if the whole world was resting in my arms when I looked at the girl my hands held; well, my whole world at least. She looked back into my eyes, and I saw her calm composure had returned as well as a smirk on her rosy lips.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, "I guess I have to release you now, don't I?"
I laughed at her disgruntled expression, "Yeah I guess so, princess."
"Okay fine," she waved her hand at me, "you're released." With a giggle, she ran back to the Dining Hall, leaving me to focus on the maps, which I was unable to do considering our recent interaction.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Faith's P.O.V
"Newt," I started, looking at the boy next to me on the bench in the Dining Hall. We were sitting at the end of a table, quietly enjoying dinner. I was grateful he wasn't interrogating me though, my cheeks still flushed when I thought about what had happened earlier in the woods between myself and a certain Runner. He looked at me expectedly, bringing me out of my thoughts, "I'm released from the Medjacks. My leg's healed, completely actually."
His eyes lit up, "Finally, Greenbean! And I here I was, worried thinking you were avoiding Minho and the Maze." I looked down at my food, I was avoiding the Maze, somewhat anyways. I was ashamed of myself, I was scared of giant walls of stone, all because of what? A cut on my leg? It was stupid. "Hey, wait, what's wrong?"
"I just—I… Newt, I died last time. I don't want to die again." I sighed, looking up to face the blond.
His eyes widened briefly before he shook his head. He looked at me again, his gaze softening, "Look, love, you've got reason to be scared. I mean, you died for shuck's sake! But I've said this before, eh? You can't let fear take over your life." He smiled brightly. His words helped calm the ocean of anxiety in my stomach, but I was still worried. "I also know Minho will never let anything happen to you. He's too bloody stubborn." He shook his head yet again and chuckled. I smiled at Newt and went back to eating dinner. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I stood in the shower, letting the water wash over my body, taking deep breaths. Today, I'm going into the Maze. I waited until the water ran clear and stepped out, dressing in a grey tank top and dark green cargo shorts. I'm going into the Maze. I braided my hair and walked to meet Newt and the Greenie at the Dining Hall. Going into the Maze. Newt smiled and greeted me kindly and the Greenie looked too shocked to say anything, I smiled back and grabbed an apple. Into the Maze. Minho came over, squeezing my shoulder, and handed me a Runner's pack. The Maze. Minho and I stretched at the Doors; I lunged and pulled my arms behind my head, hearing a satisfying pop. Maze. Newt tugged my braid and gave a reassuring smile; Minho sprinted ahead into the stone coffin. Maze. With a staggering breath, I placed one foot into the cold hall. Maze And then another, and another; quickly picking up the pace until I was sprinting next to my Keeper. I'm here, in the Maze. We ran for hours, turning corner after corner, no dead ends; soon enough, we were well outside of the innermost section. We came to a clearing in section 7, with giant, thin pieces of rusty metal rising up from the ground. The pounding in my head had returned, but it was dull and slight, so I easily ignored it. Each one seemed to be on a tiny pole, which made it seem as if they could rotate. I walked up to a few of them, examining each one closely.
"We call 'em blades," Minho stated calmly, looking at a few in the opposite row of mine.
"Do they move?" My voice was raspy, echoing around the bare, outer sector.
"Yeah. They can spin to form a wall; it cuts off this sector every other week." Minho responded walking back to where we had entered. The pounding in my head decreased when we walked away, but again I ignored it. The cold walls around us, intimidated me too much to investigate further. For another time. We finished Sector 7 an hour later, and within 5 hours, we were back in the Glade. Breathing heavily, we jogged over to the Map Room. And then walked to dinner, making light jokes back and forth.
Unlike my arrival here, the Greenie, Frederick had a pretty normal entrance. Meaning, tonight was another 'Feast.' I was sitting with the other Runners, enjoying Fry's cooking and having some of Gally's moonshine. This time though, I only had a few to keep myself sober and prevent another Aidan situation. I was talking with Fry, when the Greenbean addressed me,
"Are you the girl Glader?"
"The one and only, you're welcome." I took an overdramatic mock bow, earning a laugh from Frypan.
"Are you the only girl?"
"Take a look around shank, do you see any other girls?" I stated dryly, motioning to the boys surrounding us.
"Why?" his voice was really getting on my nerves. Plus, it was his second day here, he should be doing something else, crying maybe.
"Shuck if I know!" I threw my hands into the air.
"Well you look pretty weak to me, so I just thought there might be some stronger ones." He snapped with a shrug.
"Excuse me, Greenbean? Do I need to remind you that you just got here?" I retorted, raising my eyebrows. "Also, who even are you?" Okay, I officially don't like this Greenie, not one bit. Frypan laughed at that and proceeded to slap me on the back,
"Lookie here, Greenie. Faith's a Runner, pretty damn good one at that. I wouldn't go around testing things you don't know about."
The boy with bright red hair looked at me, "Why not? She's a girl, she can't do shit."
Keeping a glare with the boy, I yelled out to Gally, "Gally! I need the pit, now! I'm gonna teach this shuck Greenie a lesson." Some 'oohs' went up in the crowd and I stomped my way over to the sand pit. I'm not in the mood to deal with misogynist boys, especially not Greenies. He is not going to forget tonight for sure. Gally explained the rules and roughly shoved him into the center. I stood opposite him, not feeling the least bit worried. Bets flew over our heads and soon the crowd has split to stand on each side, respectably. All of them were on my side, except for a few boys that I assumed to be his friends. I just smirked, this should be a good chance to work on my skills.
"Show him up, Faith!"
"Beat his shuck butt!"
"Show us what you're made of, She-bean!" That one came from Minho, I could practically hear him smirking.
I took a defensive stance, Frederick following suit. He looked to be about fifteen, hm that's one of our youngest, actually. I was snapped out of my thoughts when he rushed me though, putting all his 'brute strength' into trying to push me over. I quickly sidestepped and turned to watch him fall onto the sand. The Gladers laughed, causing him to turn a color resembling his hair. He got up and took another defensive pose. This time he came at me fists flying, I blocked with my wrist and swung my arm into his side. He shifted to the side as a result of the blow and swung his other arm. I blocked again and used his momentum to swing my fist into his jaw. He stumbled back, clutching his jaw, eyes wide. That earned more cheers from my side, only angering Frederick more. He came running and I crouched down, sweeping my legs underneath his ankles caused him to land with a harsh thump on the sand. My 'cheerleaders' went insane, but I wasn't done. I quickly jumped on top of him, sitting on his chest and pinning his arms down with my knees. I landed a few lighter punches, and was about to go a bit harder, when his palm hit the middle of my face out of nowhere. He had escaped my grasp, and his hand went flying to my nose. I sprung off of him, using my arm to wipe the blood off of my face. It was pouring out of my nose, but I had to finish. I placed a foot on his chest and waited for him to surrender. My legs were incredibly strong, so he wasn't going anywhere. After struggling for a bit, he slammed his hand on the sand. It was silent for a moment, so I spit the blood that had flowed into my mouth out,
"Anyone else think I'm weak and would like to have a go?" It was so silent you could hear a pin drop, I moved my head around making sure there were no more challengers. Alby grabbed my hand and threw it high into the air; all I could hear, was their cheering and it made me grin from ear to ear. These boys have really grown on me. Minho came running up behind me and in a fluid motion, set me atop his shoulder. Newt came around the front and ruffled my hair with another classic smirk. Boys handed me a few glasses of Gally's brew and Minho set me down in front of the food.
"Did you bring me over here just so you could get food?" I asked, giggling at the Asian Runner in front of me.
He wiggled his eyebrows, "Uh, duh! Why else would we come over to the Dining Hall, Greenie?"
"Hey, no more Greenie! I'm Faith!" I wagged my finger at him, menacingly.
He brought his hand to my chin, once again sending shivers through my body; he carefully wiped away more of my blood, "Sorry, I meant princess." He finished with a laugh.
"Oh, I swear—you will pay, shuckface!" I shouted at him as scrambled away before I could slap his shoulder. I eventually snuck up behind him and gave him a quality hit though. It was hilarious. The next weeks went on like today had, excluding beating up a sexist Greenie. I ran the Maze with Minho and life continued in the Glade.