Hey Y'all, here's yet another chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Maze Runner is not mine, just Kelle and the story twists.

-….*...-

-….*...- Chapter 13: -….*...-

-….*...- The Meeting -….*...-

-….*...-

"Where is she?" Gally demanded, shifting his weight impatiently. All the Keepers of the Glade looked around the Council Hall waiting for the arrival of Kelle.

"Well if you were just the slightest bit patient, she said she was coming," Newt commented eyeing the taller boy. Gally glared at him disregarding his comment.

"How is she going to get here without anyone noticing her?" Gally protested looking to everyone seeing if they had an answer, not noticing the figure slipping past the door with quiet ease. Kelle put her finger to her lips when some of the boys saw her. With silent steps, she snuck up behind Gally, everyone in the room, but him, noticing the female.

"Maybe she was never there and we're all Jacked." He concluded staring at Alby. The leader sat across from him the corner of his mouth twitching toward a smile.

"The only person that sounds Jacked to me is you, Gally." The girl commented from behind the Keeper of the Builders. Gally grinned whipping around, his elbow raised in an attempt to knock the female over. But she had already ducked long before his arm swooped over her head. She popped back up, Gally drove his fist forward, but she stepped to the side letting him throw himself off balance. She had expected him to try and attack her, knowing the day they met that Gally wasn't the type of person that liked change.

"That's enough!" Alby roared leaping up onto his feet. Gally froze as he finally took a moment to look at the girl. The dark gray tank top she was wearing revealed scrapes and bruises littering her arms and shoulders. Her normally tanned skin paler than it should be, the flesh around her eyes dark. Her lips dried and cracked, blood pasted onto them. She favored her left leg while nonchalantly cradling her side. Even the mindless Gally could tell that she had been through one heck of a night.

"What the hell happened?" He looked her up and down. She quirked her eyebrow at his tone of voice.

'After what he just tried to do and now, he's... concerned?'

"I was just doing what I said I would do. Protect the Glade and everyone in it." She retorted keeping a tight watch on the taller boy. Alby subtly rolled his eyes so only she could see it. Any accomplishment she made she always brushed it off like it was nothing.

"By killing a shucking griever." Minho pointed out calmly. Gally's lips parted in awe going completely speechless. Murmurs of astonishment floated in the building while she released a heavy sigh.

Supporting her side with her hand, she limped over to a seat and settled down as slowly as possible. Sneaking through the Glade had been a little bit more challenging than usual leaving her already tired body even more exhausted than before. She wasn't sure how she was going to get through this meeting and judging by what she had accomplished, it was going to be one of the longest ones yet.

"I don't believe that," Gally stated crossing his arms over his chest like the spoiled child he was.

She sighed exasperatedly ignoring the Builder, everyone doing the same, "So, where do you guys want to start?"

"How about we begin with how you killed a bloody griever," Newt commented watching the girl carefully.

"I spent all night fighting the stupid thing until I finally killed it, this morning." She spoke calmly. Everyone was silent, not daring to speak, the achievement outstanding within the minds of the Keepers and Leaders of the Glade.

"Now what are we going to do?" Minho wondered ending the amaze filled hush.

"I'm planning on still monitoring the Maze. I don't know if there is going to be any more griever problems, but it's better to be safe than sorry," she concluded moving past the still stunning fact.

"That's probably best, but, Kelle, you know you don't have to do this right?" Alby reminded her, giving her a gentle stare. She eyed Alby. Even after all that she had done, he still wanted to make sure she didn't have to if she didn't want to.

"I don't want to go over this right now." She gritted through her teeth. Holding her anger in, Kelle kept her gaze on the leader. She didn't have the energy to explain to him why she helped the Glade of her own free will, and whenever she did, he still persisted that it wasn't her job.

His eyes, thankfully, softened, and he nodded in defeat.

"I'm also going back in there tonight," she continued, addressing everyone else in the room, "I want to study the griever, see if there's anything we can use or learn from it."

"I understand why you want to, but don't you think that's a little too far?" Newt asked, "I mean even if it is dead, we don't know how it works. It could come back to life for all we know."

All the heads in the room moved in some form of agreement. The situation at hand still foreign to them.

"All the more reason for me to go out there and study it," She reasoned.

"No," Alby stated bluntly his voice loud and demanding, all eyes became focused on him.

"Excuse me," she blinked disbelievingly at the boy.

"You're not going in there tonight." He snapped, "You're already too beaten up to even be meeting with us right now." He explained raising his voice.

"I'm fully capable of taking care of myself-" She began her voice becoming louder.

"I know that, but I said no and that's final." His eyes were hard glaring at the girl sitting across from him. She scowled at him.

"You can't stop me." She growled.

"Normally I wouldn't be able to, no." He explained carefully, keeping his dark eyes on every move she made, "And although I don't want to hurt you in your current condition, it would give me an advantage in stopping you." Her jaw clenched at his thought of being able to beat her. She knew the extent of her capabilities, and even though she was exhausted, she recognized that she would be able to take on the older male.

"Besides," He spoke before she could, "I'm sure I'm not the only one that agrees with me." He gestured to the rest of the people in the room that had fallen out of her knowledge since she and Alby began arguing. Most of the Keepers showed that they could care less if she went out there or not, especially Gally. But as her eyes studied Minho and Newt, she could tell that there was no way she was going back into the Maze without one hell of a fight. She was capable of defeating all of them even in her current state, but upon glancing at Newt, the pleading in his eyes stopped her from all thoughts. They glanced at her in worry. She rose from her seat and glowered at Alby. He stiffened sending sharp demanding daggers into her being with his midnight eyes.

"I won't go in the Maze tonight," The muscles in the boys' bodies visibly slackened, a sigh escaping Newt,

"But," She interjected their relief, "I'll be in there first thing tomorrow morning." She pointed threateningly at the dark-skinned male, "When those doors open, I'm gone."

He made no move to object to her declaration, so she took one last look at the Second in Command and the Keeper of the Runners before storming off, everyone's curious eyes following her retreating back.

Alby sighed running a worn hand down his face.

"So that's it, huh?" Gally commented looking to everyone, "Just let the lunatic walk in here and demand that she's allowed to do whatever she wants."

"Just slim it, Gally," Frypan tried but the boy continued.

"We've been able to live with those things and now she's gone and killed one," no one spoke listening to what the Builder had to say, "How does she know that they aren't going to attack us?"

"Gally," Alby growled, "I trust Kelle's judgment, and I've known her long enough to respect her authority here. She's earned it."

The two boys glared at each other. No one moved in the building, afraid they might disturb the furious aura emitting from the teens.

"Does anyone think that she shouldn't go out there and study it?" Alby finally asked keeping his eyes tightly fixed on Gally. None of the boys made a move to object making the already agitated Builder outraged.

"It's settled then. Kelle will go and study the griever tomorrow." Alby finished his eyes never leaving Gally. A growl of frustration left the taller male before he turned on his heel, and with a huff, rushed out of the building.

"Minho," Alby called standing from his seat while everyone filed out of the Council Hall, "I want you to go with her tomorrow."

The experienced Runner nodded in agreement, "Sure thing."

-….*...-A Few Hours Later-….*...-

After finding a small amount of food to eat, gathering all the supplies she needed for tomorrow, set them out, washed some of her clothes, mended the ones that had been ruined, and gathered all of her drawing and carving tools, Kelle sat wagering whether to take the chance of getting a nightmare by going to sleep or not. Her slender fingers fiddled with a piece of coal over one of her drawings while she stared blatantly into space. The sudden sound of a low knock on her tree trunk nearly scared the klunk out of her. She jolted up onto her feet immediately regretting the movement as a sharp twinge in her ribs made her grunt. She lightly limped toward her door and opened it slowly.

"Kelle," She blinked, stunned by the way her name fell from Newt's lips.

"Uh- Newt- what are you doing here?" She inquired staying behind her door.

"Oh- I-" He began scratching the back of his neck nervously shifting his weight before clearing his throat.

"I wanted to talk, but I wasn't expecting you to still be awake, and then I saw that there were lights on so I..." he trailed off. She could see, from the golden glow, coming from behind her, that his cheeks had an unusual warmth to them. She was frozen for a moment struggling to remember the last time someone had wanted to just talk with her. Her silence made his eyes dart around looking everywhere but at her.

"If you're planning on going to bed, I can leave-"

"No- no- you're alright, come in." She stepped to the side allowing the boy to walk into her tree house. She closed the door quietly after he had stepped past her. Turning around she found the boy curiously leaning over the papers she was just scribbling on.

"These are bloody amazing," he muttered out loud.

"Thank you," She wandered over to the other side of the table watching him study her work.

"How do you do it?"

"Well before I left the Glade, so to speak, I had asked for pencils. The box came up with some every month, but once I left, I wasn't able to retrieve them. I had to resort to using charcoal from my fire pit. I found that it still works just as good as a pencil does." She explained. He listened eagerly still examining her art.

"They're beautiful," He uttered. She smiled.

"Thanks." after a few more moments of silence she asked him, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well," He sighed looking up at the girl, "Ever since the meeting earlier, I wanted to ask you why you're still doing this even after Alby told you didn't need to."

She lowered her head.

'Can never get out of explaining it I guess,'

"It's hard to explain. I do it partly because of a promise I made, just because I don't have much to live for, and a few other things, but yeah..." she trailed off keeping her gaze lowered.

"Alright," he finally spoke after a minute of silence. She refused to make eye contact, worrying over what his reaction might be.

He continued, "I may not fully understand your motives, but I trust what you're doing."

She looked up at the mention of his trust, narrowing her eyes while he finished, "I trust you,"

"Thank you," she breathed releasing a sigh she didn't know she was holding in. The relief of having someone's trust and acceptance seeped into her mind letting her relax considerably in his presence. The burden of loneliness ebbing away.

"Are you tired?" She suddenly asked, surprising the both of them.

"No, not really, why?" he inquired lightheartedly watching as she walked over to her many shelves.

"I figured I could make some tea and we could do some bounding." She proposed holding up two cups and a box of tea leaves she had retrieved from the rickety shelf.

"Sounds perfect." he smiled. A breathtaking grin that made her return it with one of her own.

'Why is it that he was the one that made her smile? It has been three times now that he had accomplished in lifting her lips up into a pleasured simper. What was this boy doing to her?'

Once Kelle had made the hot tea, handed a mug to Newt, and sat down at her table with her own cup, she began to talk to the Second in Command. The two teens becoming more acquainted with the other, a small bloom of friendship breaking open.

Yet another chapter out of the way. Let me know if you are having as much fun with this story as I am.

Just something that I wanted to point out was what I'm doing with Newt and Kelle. I don't want to rush them into a relationship and I'm not a big fan of stories that do that so I'm taking my time. It makes me happy when you understand their backgrounds before they fall madly in love.

Anyway, hope you'll bear with me through this. Love you, bye!