A/N: I'M BACK! With yet another chapter! And OHMYGOSH OVER 800 VIEWS, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME. I really can't tell you guys how happy I am. So know that if you are reading this, you have contributed immensely to my happiness. I know the previous chapter was just a filler, but hopefully this one will be better. I'm sorry for the late update though…

minhosgirl : Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Leigha: OMG thanks for the compliment! It made me really happy! And thank you for pointing that out. Now I'll keep that in mind while writing. *big happy grin*

Embers To Ashes: YAY! Lee got her wish fulfilled. Good old Frypan eh? And here is the next chapter; sorry for making you wait…

BookWorm237: Welcome to my story! I sure hope you like the rest of it too. And thank you for the compliment!

Dis: I don't own anything except whatever was not there in the books of TMR. James Dashner does. *bangs head against the table and curses fate for not letting me own TMR*

Right then…

Enjoy!

Kyra:

Minho led Lee and my brother away towards the washrooms, to get them washed up. Aidan had multiple injuries from Ross' attack, and though Lee was covered in black blood, making it difficult to spot any injuries, after a night of battling Grievers, she couldn't have escaped unscathed. I watched them walk away, and realized I was still soaking in the fact that my brother was alive. I couldn't help but have a huge grin on my face.

Suddenly the world did a three-sixty degree turn, and I found myself in another room altogether.

Aidan and Lee lay in front of me, covered with the white sheets of a hospital bed. I was in a chair, and on looking beside me, I saw that Thomas was there too. On my other side sat a girl whom I didn't recognize. I realized with a start that I was having another memory. The memory was hazy, but clear enough to make out people's faces. I had a little trouble focusing though.

There were two people standing beside the bed on which Aidan lay, and they peered at my brother and Lee, somewhat amazed and dreamy expressions over their faces. The woman, dressed completely in white spoke first.

"They're amazing, aren't they?" the man next to her nodded, and the woman continued, "His blindness is hardly an obstacle in his work; and she is one of the most talented people with computers. It is because of that very reason, that despite of being a girl, she is named after one of the greatest minds of computer. It's incredible, how they work together." She looked over at me, her expression soft.

"I am truly sorry we have to do this to you. You don't deserve all this. But unfortunately, you are the answer to everything, and to save the lives of many, a few must be sacrificed."

I kept my expression hard, not giving away any emotion. Thomas spoke up from beside me.

"Why are they being sedated now? Isn't it my turn?"

The woman nodded before replying. "Yes Thomas, you've gotten that absolutely correct. It IS your turn. However, these two are younger than the rest. We cannot administer such complicated medications without having them sedated for a while."

Thomas turned to look at me. "We must do this Kyra. We have to."

The girl, who'd been quiet till now, finally spoke, and the words echoed in my ears.

"Remember Kyra. Wicked is good."

Then once again, everything went dark, and I returned to reality.

~.~.~.~.

"Kyra?" Newt was saying, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I realized I was holding Thomas' shoulder for support, and my forehead was beady with sweat. I steadied myself and said, "I had a memory."

Newt and Thomas looking justifiably surprised. "What?" Thomas asked.

I nodded. "I know. It wasn't really important, but I think it was before you, Thomas, were sent into the maze. Lee and Aidan had been sedated, so as to administer some sort of medication. There was a man and a woman. I didn't understand most of what they said, but they said something about sacrificing a few people to save many. There was a girl too." I paused for a breath before adding, "She said 'Wicked is good'. Any ideas as to what that means?"

Newt thought for a while, then said, "Doesn't give much information, except for one thing. The Creators of this place must think we're important somehow. I don't know how yet, and it's not informative enough to be discussed at the Gathering." He ran a hand through his hair and added, "We'll think about this later. Now we have bigger problems to deal with." He looked at me, somewhat hopefully. "Kyra, can you do me a favor?"

I raised my eyebrow. "What sort of favor?"

"That boy Ross. He's not in a good state at all. I think he's going into shock. Talk to him would you? Calm the shank down, try to make him stop bawling." He looked down before continuing, "I don't want to ask you to do this, especially not after what Ross did to Aidan. But please, if there's anyone-"

I cut him off in mid-sentence. "It's okay Newt. I'll go see what I can do. And honestly, after the boy has apologized so many times, I find it difficult to still stay mad at him. Besides, what he said sounded a lot like what Lee went through, when she stabbed herself. I'll try and calm him down, okay?"

Newt smiled and said "Thank you."

Thomas patted my shoulder before walking away in the direction of the gardens. I didn't bother asking why he went there, of all places. I had a task at hand. I gave Newt a wry smile, and ran off towards the homestead.

~.~.~.~.

Kyra:

"What're you doing here?" Clint asked me, as I opened the door to the homestead. "Newt wanted me to talk to Ross, to stop him from crying his eyes out at the gathering." I replied, heading in.

Clint nodded. He pointed towards one of the rooms. "He's in there." He rubbed his forehead, looking worried. "I really don't know what to say about the chap." He said, "Whatever he did to Aidan, it broke him. The guy's blaming himself for everything. I can't set a foot in his room without him falling over himself trying to apologize." He looked at me, smiling lightly. "I really am glad Newt sent you. Maybe you'll be able to calm him down." I smiled back, and opened the door to Ross' room.

What I found inside was shocking, and heart breaking.

Ross was sitting on his bed, hugging his knees, curled up in a ball. I could tell he was crying, and his sobs were so full of pain, that they almost brought tears to my own eyes. I closed the door behind me, and walked over to his bed. I sat down gently, so as to not disturb him.

Ross looked up, his eyes red. "Kyra! Please, you have to forgive me! I really didn't mean any of it! I'm so sorry!" He kept saying sorry again and again, clutching my arm. I gently removed his hand from mine, and pulled him into a hug. I couldn't bear seeing anyone like this.

"Ross, it's okay, you don't have to keep apologizing." I said softly, in the most calming voice I could come up with, "Aidan and Lee are perfectly fine. You saw them for yourself. It's alright now."

Ross didn't hug me back, just stayed there, crying. Finally, he pulled away and said, "But they had to stay the whole night in the maze because of me!"

I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ross. It really doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that they're fine. And if what you said was true, then it wasn't really your fault, was it? It was the Creators, who were controlling you."

Ross wiped away his tears. I got a clear look at him for the first time, and I realized how young he was. He couldn't have been more than a year older than Aidan. His white blond hair was matted to his forehead in sweat, and his blue eyes shone with tears. He looked up at me with watery eyes and said, "They're going to banish me aren't they?"

I shook my head. "Like I said. If what you said earlier was true, that means you didn't do it. I don't think the keepers will see fit to banish you. And Ross, you really need to stop blaming yourself. Aidan and Lee are alright, and they've probably forgiven you. So just calm down okay?" I hugged him again. "It's gonna be alright, don't you worry."

~.~.~.~.~.

Kyra:

An hour later, I was sitting on a chair at the gathering. I had managed to calm Ross down, and now he sat on a chair opposite mine, looking slightly defeated, but not crying. I wasn't sure about the not-banishing-him bit, but it had seemed like the correct thing to say at that point. Aidan sat beside me, with Lee on the other side. They'd washed up well, and were now looking like human beings. Frypan had given each of them three sandwiches, Lee having wolfed down all three within minutes. She was now munching on one of Aidan's sandwiches, as he himself still nibbled lightly on his first one.

Before coming here, I'd grabbed a glass of juice from the kitchen, and as I waited for the meeting to start, I looked at my reflection in the polished steel surface. I didn't even know what I exactly looked like. The surface caused a little distortion, but it gave me a brief idea. I seemed to have green eyes, much like Aidan's, and straight brown hair. I wasn't pretty, but I wouldn't call myself ugly either.

Newt came through the door, closing it behind him. The meeting had started.

He took his chair, and looked at Aidan. "Alright. There are quite a few things to be discussed here today, but we'll start off with knowing how you two managed to kill two Grievers in one bloody night, something that none of us here, spare Minho and Tommy, have been able to do in two shuck years."

Aidan must've understood Newt had been talking to him, because he stood up, uncomfortable with all the attention. He cleared his throat, and began to tell his adventures of the previous night, how they'd run the sections of the maze, how Lee had led them flawlessly, how they'd tricked the Griever at the blades, and finally how Lee had brutally killed the second Griever. When he was finished, once again, everyone stared at the duo with newfound awe.

I myself couldn't believe they'd done all that. And Lee… it was unimaginable, what she had done. I owed my brother's life to her. She had saved him, and I would surely thank her for that later on. Newt laughed. "Unbelievable. You two are the most surprising greenies we've had till now, except maybe Tommy. I can't believe you guys did that, all by yourselves."

Lee shrugged. "The Grievers had it coming."

Newt shook his head. "Alright. As far as I know these shanks, neither of them will accept a compliment, they're too bloody modest for that. But nonetheless, what you guys did was incredible." Words of agreement came from everyone in the room.

Newt looked at Ross. "Now, we've gotta decide what to do with this slinthead." Ross kept his head down, and didn't say anything, which was probably a good decision.

I stood up, and looked at Newt, silently asking for permission to speak. When he nodded, I said "We shouldn't punish him. What he said, the whole being-under-the-control-of-someone thing, it sounded almost exactly like what Lee had been through. And that means he didn't do it on purpose. I see no reason for punishing him." I sat back down, having completed my statement.

"I agree." Lee spoke up from where she sat. "Ross must've been controlled by the same people who controlled me. And if you guys didn't punish me for doing the klunk that I did, you shouldn't punish him either."

"But Lee," Newt said, "You attacked yourself. Ross attacked Aidan. And who's to say it won't happen again?"

"If that's the case, then you should also consider the fact that this could happen with anybody." It was Aidan who'd spoken this time. "First it was Lee, then Ross. It could be anybody next. You can't just keep punishing people, now can you? It's ridiculous."

Newt paused for a while, thinking. I could tell most people in the room agreed with us, from what they seemed to be whispering to each other. Finally Newt said, "What you say makes sense. Also, it doesn't seem fit to punish him after he's apologized so many bloody times." He looked around the room, at everyone present. "I say we have a vote. Those in favor of sparing Ross?" Almost every hand in the room went up, including mine. I could see Ross' eyes widen, as though he hadn't expected so many people to be in his favor.

Newt nodded, and spoke with a note of finality. "Alright then, that's decided. Now all that remains is this." He picked up the strange cylindrical object that Minho had dug out of the Griever's intestine. "Any ideas as to what this klunk is?" He passed the cylinder around. When it came to me, I examined it closely. It had a digital display on one corner, which showed the number seven, in red. Written on the other side were the letters 'W.I.C.K.E.D'.

"Wicked is good." I said. I handed the cylinder to Zart, who sat beside me, and looked over at Newt and Thomas. "That's what I heard in my memory. That could only mean one thing." I paused, thinking over what I was going to say next, "Whoever put us here, obviously made the Grievers."

Nods of agreement came from everyone seated, even Gally, though his nod was reluctant. But even after further speculation, nobody could determine what to do with the object. Newt sighed, keeping it back on the table beside him, once everyone had seen it. This discussion didn't seem to lead anywhere. The only possible solution, (as suggested by Minho) was to have the Runners take it back into the maze, and see what happened.

Newt was just about to call off the gathering, when Thomas spoke for the first time. "Hey Newt? I went into the Maze with Minho, and we found this. Think it might be important."

He handed Newt a sort of metal plate, with a few markings on it. Sitting three seats away from Newt, I couldn't make out exactly what it said.

"It was wedged inside the Griever's leg, the one Lee stabbed to death. We think the Creators might have put it there to tell us something." Minho added.

Newt was looking at the plate with obvious confusion. "It says WICKED is good. That's exactly what Kyra heard in her memory, but it doesn't tell us anything."

Thomas nodded. "I know. But that's not what is important. Look below that. It's faint, barely visible, but it's still undeniably there."

Newt peered at the plate closely, a new wave of confusion crossing his features."What does it say Newt?" I asked wondering what the confusion was for, and my question was answered immediately, when Newt handed me the plate, to see for myself. I looked at what Thomas had pointed out, and read out the words etched on the surface.

"The maze is a code."

A/N: tun tun duuuuun! Sorry, but I couldn't resist adding a cliffhanger. Also, I had made a ridiculous error in chapter five, and it was so stupid, I wanted to slap myself for it. So I went back, and corrected it. It's not compulsory for your understanding of the story, but I didn't want to leave that out there. *sheepish grin*

I couldn't find anyone to name Aidan after, so I just chose a name that sounded cool. Lee however, IS named after someone. Can anyone guess who? Review and tell me what you think, I'll give the answer in the next Author's note! I've given a hint in the chapter!

Also, thank you so much for reviewing, favouriting, following, or even just reading this. It means a lot. Really. *wipes tears*.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! Stay tuned!

A fellow Glader.