Variable X- The Mistake

by FeverCodeMockingjayAllegiant

She was a tower of strength, powerful- a force to be reckoned with. WICKED underestimated her, saw her as an animal, a thing to experiment with. And she made them pay dearly for their wrongdoing. The human race may rest on her shoulders, but humanity was a greater cause. She was a leader, a female, a formidable character and Variable X. WICKED was never prepared for her. [MinhoXOC]

34. Phase 2: Chapter 1

HELLOOOO, I'M BACK!

AND THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF PHASE 2!

I feel so blessed for this opportunity to share my work, so please leave a comment or a review, they make me so, so happy!

Just to clarify, my updating schedule is a one chapter a week sort of thing, where I update every Monday!

Hope you enjoy the first chapter of phase 2!

- FeverCodeMockingjayAllegiant

StarStableGal- Thank you so much for sticking aorund, I love reading your reviews so, so much! And I loved doing that character analysis thing, tell me if you want to see another one! I enjoy analysing things a lot, so I'd love to write out an essay like chapter analysing themes, characters and certain scenes. Again, lots of love xxx

- Thank you so much! I enjoy reading your reviews so much and I'm glad you liked Phase one!

CHAPTER 1, PHASE 2:

Cold air hitting her skin broke her out of her sleep, a frown making its way onto her face as she registered her different, new surroundings, confusion seeping into her bones. She'd been sleeping comfortably in Minho's arms only the night before, warm and loved but now, he was nowhere to be seen and she was freezing. Her head felt…different. Somehow, it was similar to how she had felt when she'd come up the Box, empty and inconsolably void.

Blearily, she pulled back the thin sheets she was under, immediately recognising the room as the one she was originally meant to sleep in- the one with her roommate, Teresa, the ink haired girl she'd been overly sceptical of for the past few weeks. Except there was no sign of her.

"Teresa?" she called out, wondering who'd moved her into the room. She didn't know why she called for her, but something was pressing on her mind, itching. No answer.

Yawning gently, she pulled herself up out of bed, only then noticing the light in the bathroom, something akin to relief flooding her system as she realised the girl was alive and well, but very much deaf to her calls. Stretching her limbs, she looked down at her body, surprised to find her tattered shorts and the shirt she'd stolen from Minho back in the Glade gone and replaced. A thin form fitting white, long sleeved shirt and black cargo trousers paired with sturdy black boots, like Dr Martens graced her lithe form, comfortable and clean. She was beyond elated at the change, but who had changed her? She doubted it was Minho- he was respectful of boundaries, always, and he'd never invade her privacy without asking her explicit permission. Same went for Newt- he knew better than to overstep and Minho would kill him anyway. She doubted Thomas would've changed her either.

The toilet flushed and she turned to the door with a severe frown, ready to question Teresa, only to find a brown haired, thin boy with wide green eyes and pink lips parted in the same shock as her.

"Who are you?" she asked, almost angrily, widening her stance to appear more intimidating. He did the exact opposite, shrinking into himself, green eyes glimmering with fear. His garb was a perfect replication of hers, white shirt- long sleeved, black trousers and boots. Someone had interfered with them all.

"Who are you?" he stuttered, "I-Where's Rachel?"

"Rachel?" she asked, rearing back in confusion, "Where did you come from? Who's Rachel?"

"She's my best friend!" he said, his trembling ceasing, "Why are you here?"

She let loose a frustrated groan, face palming, "Shuckface, you're the one invading our place!"

"I'm not invading anywhere!" the boy cried indignantly, "I was back with Rachel and now she's gone! Why are you here?"

"I'm done." Adira muttered, shaking her head in annoyance, "Minho!"

Tuning into the noises outside, she could tell the boys hadn't woken up yet, but she heard heavy footsteps head towards her room and the boy's expression morphed into slight fear. Thinning her lips, she opened the door as Minho sounded right outside the barrier separating them.

"Ad!" he exclaimed, grinning and leaning down to kiss her brightly, his lips soft against hers, practically melting her in his arms, "Where'd you go?"

She shook her head, the warmth blooming on her skin not enough to distract her from the sudden complications, "I woke up here, Min. In a different room, with different clothes and a different shucking roommate."

Minho gave her a blank look for a few seconds before he muttered something under his breath, "Newt! Thomas! Get your lazy butts over here!"

Stepping aside, she showed him into the room, watching with vague amusement as his eyes darkened threateningly at the skinny boy, the unnamed invader. It hadn't slipped past her notice that Minho was dressed in the same clothes as her, apparently changed overnight.

"Who the shuck are you? Why the shuck are you in my girl's room?" Minho barked and she stifled a laugh as the boy flinched, hard, blushing almost unnoticeably at "my girl". His eyes flickered to her resolute figure at the doorway, gulping.

"Who are you?" he asked back, and she marvelled at his determination. Quaking in his identical boots, but true to his confusion, he asked them the questions right back. Still, no matter the greatness of her admiration, her irritation outdid it by far. They needed answers and his impertinence wasn't helping the situation in the slightest.

Newt and Thomas entered the room, inspecting the interior before giving a double take at the shivering boy seated on the edge of Teresa's bed. Thomas gave a little groan, squeezing his eyes shut and she frowned at his reaction. Sure it was confusing, but enough to give way to agony like his? No. She reckoned it had something to do with Teresa not being around. Suddenly, she imagined Minho being ripped away from her and her heart fell. How he hadn't ripped the place apart she didn't know.

"Shuckface, I'm not going to play nice if you don't gimme answers." Minho warned menacingly, striding forward, "There's four of us here, more coming and one of you."

"What's going on?" Frypan's voice sounded and Newt turned to the entering boys, explaining in hushed, rapid tones, a deep frown etched on his forehead as he tried to simultaneously make sense of what was going on.

"Fine." the boy said, his gaze lingering on Minho's developed muscles. He hadn't even done anything, yet the boy instinctually knew better than to test Minho's infamously short patience. Good choice. She wouldn't want to be at the other end of Minho's fist. Her muscles hurt just thinking about it.

"That's more like it." Minho said, shooting him a saccharine smile, "What's ya name shank?"

"Aris." he said, "What's a shank? And who are you?"

"Slim it." Minho cut in, "I'm asking the questions."

She scoffed at his obvious enjoyment at Aris' squirming and he turned to her, a glint of amusement dancing in his eyes, "Problem, sweetheart?"

"I want to interrogate too." she said pointedly and Minho rolled his eyes, pulling her next to him by the waist before fixing his glare on Aris who looked like he wanted to cry with both of their terrifying stares trained on him, "Better answer her, or she'll break your shuck face."

"Where did you come from?"

"That's a long story." Aris sighed before hurriedly rushing to explain as Adira flexed her fingers in warning, "But I have time!"

"We were trapped in this place by a bunch of people," he started, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, "bad people. It was a Maze, and we managed to get out and we were taken by these other people here last night and now you're suddenly here!"

She turned to Minho, finding her own shock mirrored on his face, "You best be telling the truth you slinthead."

"Swear on it." Aris muttered solemnly, eyeing her fists cautiously, before he gathered enough courage to speak again, "Where did you come from?"

"The Maze!" Newt snorted humourlessly, "We came from the bloody Maze too!"

Aris blanched, "What?"

"Hold on," Frypan interjected crossly," there was another Maze?"

Aris crossed his legs as if he automatically knew that they'd be there for a while, "Did you have moving walls? A Box? Shades? Mappers?"

Minho's eyebrows rose up, "Yes to all but Shades, what the shuck is that? We had Grievers in the Maze though. Monsters. And not Mappers, but Runners."

Aris shivered, "Looks like there are two groups. A stick experiment like we thought. Son would be happy she's right."

"But where's Teresa?" Thomas burst out angrily, "Where has she gone?"

She turned to Aris expectantly but he shrugged, "No clue man, I woke up here. I was with the girls but now," he looked at the room mostly filled with boys apart from Adira, "now I'm not."

"Girls?" Newt asked, intrigued, "What d'ya mean?"

"There were only two boys. Me and," Aris' face darkened, "and Clyde. But everyone else- girls."

"So the opposite of us?" Adira thought aloud. Minho nodded thoughtfully, "Looks like it. These Creators aren't doing themselves any favours here."

"Clyde was the first one in the Spring-"

"The what?" Newt cut in and Aris explained patiently.

"The safe circle where everyone lived." he said, lips curved into a beseeching expression, "At the centre of the Maze?"

"Oh, the Glade." Thomas muttered, before intensely waiting for answers with the same urgency she held. Aris noticed his tenseness and wasted no time continuing his explanations.

"Yeah, so. Clyde, was the first one to come into the Spring, set up the place and kept it running until the Newbies came up a month later- the first batch of girls. And from then, one-"

"Girl would come up every month." Adira finished grimly, "Yeah, same here shank. Except I was the First and the boys came up after me."

Aris' lips turned downwards at the corners, transforming his hollow face into an image of old suffering, "So I guess we've been swapped or something? As in, I was taken from everyone else and put with you sticks and Teresa was taken to them?"

She shrugged, "Probably, but we can't be sure."

"Shucks man." Minho groaned, "Just when we thought we were safe."

Thomas cleared his throat, "Could you…talk, telepathically, with one of the girls?"

Aris' eyes widened, maintaining eye contact with Thomas as he jerked back in obvious surprise, though the cause was highly unclear. Adira's eyes went back and forth between the two, failing to decipher the reason they'd paled so suddenly with no apparent reason.

"Oi," Newt started, waving his hand in front of Thomas' face, "Why are ya both looking at each other like you're about to get bloody married?"

Thomas blinked hard twice before he ran his hands through his hair, blowing out a breath, "We can…do the same thing Teresa and I could. We can talk to each other in our heads."

"I never believed that klunk." Newt said bluntly and Thomas rolled his eyes, "But I can't say I'm shocked at this point."

Minho looked bored, "Well, don't do that freaky klunk while we're around. I don't like it."

"Anything for you Minho." Thomas, his voice drenched in sugar.

Minho smiled proudly. "Atta boy."

"Who killed her, Aris?" Thomas asked, turning to the boy who'd whitened, crossing his arms almost reproachfully as if Thomas had given up a colossal secret. Maybe he had. It was like an uspoken rule that what went on in their heads wasn't said aloud. Then again, they had no reason to trust Aris.

"Who?" Minho asked, rolling his eyes, "News flash, but we're not freaks. Have no clue what you're talking about."

"Be nice." Newt snorted but Thomas shrugged, flashing Minho a vaguely amused, partially irritated glower.

"His friend- the Creators killed her apparently."

"Explain." Adira directed at Aris who ran his palms over his face tiredly, tears accumulating in the corners of his eyes. She felt slightly bad for their harshness; he'd clearly been through hell, but it was better being safe than sorry. Thomas clearly felt the same way she did based on the twitching of the fingers on his right hand, but he shared the same sentiment of safety she held. They'd play with the niceties once the boy was in the all clear.

"We'd just gotten out of the Maze when Beth was brought in by this man from behind the screen. The one that the Creators were behind. She'd gone missing before we'd gone through the Maze but she'd turned up outta nowhere and before we could say anything, she'd thrown a knife at Kyra."

"Kyra?" Adira asked somewhat softly as Aris' shoulders hunched forwards. If she was right about Kyra's role in the entire debacle, then they were dealing with something that was still inflamed like a fresh wound.

"She was the youngest outta all of us." Aris said, his voice breaking, "The Newbie before Rachel. Barely a teenager."

"So she was basically Chuck's equivalent?" Thomas asked in a hushed, pained tone and Frypan winced. Newt looked sympathetic as he patted the younger boy's back in a comforting manner but it did nothing to erase the agony.

"And Beth is Gally's equivalent." Minho finished grimly and she felt a stab of anger pierce her body at the mention of the murderer who had turned upon his own people. Because even though he was controlled when he had killed Chuck, he'd given up on the Gladers long before Chuck had ever entered the scene.

"Yeah, whatever." Aris said, dragging his finger melodramatically along his cheek to wipe away a tear, "Point is you sticks have got me as company now."

"Sticks?" Minho snickered and Aris shrugged gently. Minho shared an amused look with Thomas.

"What's on your neck?" Winston interjected, pointing to Aris' neck. Aris slapped the skin with his palm as if he was trying to flick away a bug but Minho leaned towards him and tugged his collar down, his eyes narrowing in distrust.

"You didn't think to tell us about a shuck tattoo?" he asked, before reading the lettering aloud, "PROPERTY OF WICKED, GROUP B, SUBJECT B1, THE PARTNER."

"What?" Aris practically shrieked, his fingers racing along his neck as if the words had made impressions on his skin, "I don't have a tattoo! I didn't have one last night!"

"Either you're lying or everyone here's blind." Minho muttered dryly, crossing his arms suspiciously, "Which one is it?"

Adira froze as a sliver of skin appeared under the light, just enough to see unfamiliar black inked into his neck, "Minho, c'mere a sec."

He frowned but did as she asked, bending down to her height as she pulled down his shirt, shocked to find the same bold black lettering printed along his skin, "PROPERTY OF WICKED, GROUP A, SUBJECT A7, THE LEADER."

"What the shuck?" Minho muttered, frowning. Adira raced on to Newt, pulling down his collar, "PROPERTY OF WICKED, GROUP A, SUBJECT A5, THE GLUE."

Newt made a small confused noise but she moved on, almost frantically as she pulled down Thomas' collar, his title making her heart stop as the boys broke into a frenzy, not hearing her words, "PROPERTY OF WICKED, GROUP A, SUBJECT A3, TO BE KILLED BY GROUP B."

"Haha, funny." she said, releasing her brother and covering up her anxiety, "They'll have fun getting past me first."

Thomas shrugged as if he didn't care before he was making his way to the bathroom, pointing behind her as Minho came up, gently pulling down the collar of her shirt, with a slight question in his movements. She nodded in permission and he read the black lettering aloud, "PROPERTY OF WICKED, GROUP A, SUBJECT X, THE VARIABLE."

"Clears everything up." she said sarcastically and Minho frowned, following her to the bathroom, "You're X, but we're all A?"

"Like I said," she snorted, glancing back at Minho, "clears everything up."

She stopped short as she saw an unfamiliar girl in the bathroom, "Who are you?"

It didn't reply. And then she noticed the mirror. A reflection.

Releasing Minho's hand she traced the outline of her face, deep in a stupor. The girl reflected back wasn't one she'd expected. Dare she say, she was pretty. Not in the conventional way- she was nowhere near a supermodel, but she had a certain charm around the imperfectness of her features that transformed her into an image of beauty.

Her eyes were bluer than she'd imagined, a pale indicolite and they stood out against her skin, bronzed by the sun, covered in a few scars from their recent battle, an unsightly smear of blood near her hairline. High cheekbones graced her features, her nose shorter than she would've preferred but the rosiness of her rosebud lips compensating for any dissatisfaction. Brown hair cascaded to her shoulders and she noticed how small her ears were.

"Pretty ain't she?" Minho commented softly as he watched her gawk at herself. She didn't reply, too moved for a moment to speak as she inspected her physique. Lean, fit and tall, fitting the description of a Runner perfectly, though she personally felt her torso was shorter than what she'd perceived, not that it mattered.

"She-" her voice broke a little and she cleared her throat, "She's alright."

"She's more than just alright." Minho snorted, "She's a shucking goddess."

She couldn't help the upwards quirk of her lips, a light flush covering her cheeks and Minho laughed, securing his hands on her waist.

"You don't believe me?" he asked, tucking in a strand of brown hair.

"No." she replied, her voice breathy but bold, "Show me."

He smirked, wasting no time as he closed the gap between them, his mouth capturing hers, a sweet song playing between the two of them, high strung violins syncing together, playing in harmony. They hadn't really had time to themselves over the past few days and it showed. The song trilled, peaking before a faster, harder, more passionate one started, eruptions of fire flaming between their lips. Minho fingers snaked up the hem of her shirt very slightly and she tensed at the contact. He immediately retracted but she pulled his fingers back and he smiled against her lips, his hands dancing along her torso, sparks lighting up everywhere.

"Bloody hell!" Newt cried, covering his eyes and spinning away, "I swear to shuck, even in the middle of chaos you two are still going at it!"

She sighed, pulling back and Minho shot Newt's back a glower, "Why is it always you interrupting us?"

"Oh, my bad," Newt huffed, still facing the opposite direction, "accept my deepest apologies for walking in on you two shacking it up when the world's bloody falling apart!"

Minho rolled his eyes, "What's happened now mister overdramatic?"

"You should come see." Newt said dully and they followed the blonde, ignoring Thomas' pointed glare at them as Newt directed their gaze to the windows.

"What is that?" Minho asked, disgusted and she reeled back, thankful for the steel bars placed over the openings of the windows. People- if you could call them that- were screaming incoherent words, eyes manic and flat, dull with madness.

"Hello?" she asked, as the woman gripping the rods screamed, spit flying, her face wrecked, blood leaking down her cheek. She didn't seem to notice it although the skin looked like it had melted, like she'd run through fire.

"That was an enthusiastic greeting." Adira muttered, backing away. She was murmuring something under her breath in a frenzied, hoarse voice, unintelligible nonsense that Adira thought was in another language.

"Crank!" she screamed suddenly and Newt jumped.

"Bloody hell." he muttered, "Where the shuck did they come from?"

"Why are the doors all locked? From the inside?" Frypan asked, pointing to the steel door they'd walked through only the night before, its imposing blackness nothing compared to the rope of steel chained through the holes.

"Who the shuck did that?" she muttered, walking up to the cords and testing their strength. They didn't budge. Not that she expected them to, but the physical certainty made the realisation more potent in its confusing qualities.

"We should probably explore this place." Minho suggested, his broad shoulders standing out from the boys as he looked at Adira, waiting for confirmation. She didn't give him any; the brand on his neck wasn't tattooed for a laugh- there was a purpose, whether he accepted it or not. A brief frown marred his smooth skin at her stoic expression.

"I second that." Frypan called out, glossing over Minho's pause and the lack of response from Adira, "Need to know what we're dealing with."

Minho shrugged, "Let's go then. See where those shuck rescuers are at."

"It's like the bloomin' Maze all over again." Newt said darkly as she joined the front of the pack of boys, his brown orbs glinting with steel. She couldn't help but agree; an entire new puzzle to solve, with danger lurking behind their heads. The feeling was all too familiar and suffocating.

"There's a door here," Minho said, reaching forward to pull down the handle, "and cos we're lucky shanks, it's locked."

"Well break it down then." Thomas said, and Minho rolled his eyes.

"Smart one here. Winston get the fire extinguisher." Minho commanded and the boy left to get the heavy metal as they waited patiently.

"Here."

"Ta, Winston." Newt said, raising the bottle high and almost sarcastically warning them, "Watch out."

He struck it down heavily and the door handle fell off with a heavy thud to the floor, its life over as the cold stone caressed the injured metal. Minho kicked it away, cracking the door open slightly.

"Dark as hell." he muttered, turning back to the group, "Any volunteers to go first?"

Adira walked up to the door, peering past the frame. "Yeah, no thanks."

"Real brave." Minho scoffed before placing his hand in hers, "Together?"

She grinned slightly, "Fine shuckface."

He raised his eyebrow at Newt and Thomas, "Save us if something tries to kill us, yeah?"

"And you call me overdramatic?" Newt snickered, "Fine, Minnie, we got ya back."

Thomas nodded briefly and she realised how quiet it was without Thomas' restless questioning filling the silence and providing a source of action. Ever since Teresa had left, leaving behind a metaphorical plume of dust, he'd been dazed, frowning over something he was thinking, his face contorting into a grimace of pain occasionally.

They walked into the pitch black, monsters pressing in on them through the void of their minds, so real she swore she felt ghostly fingertips embrace the warmth of her skin. Shuddering, her pace quickened as they walked around the edge of the room, hoping to find a light switch.

"Where the shuck is it?" Minho muttered before groaning as he walked into an unnamed object, "Ouch."

"What was that?"

"Dunno, a table I think?" Minho suggested and she could tell he had shrugged, "Found it!"

A blaze of light flashed through the room, blinding them and she blinked rapidly to get rid of the black spots in her eyes before clapping a hand to her mouth, a horrified shout muffled by her grip. Minho cursed loudly, a string of words she'd never thought of putting together streaming out of his mouth at the sight.

Swollen purple bodies suspended from the white tiled ceiling met their vision, grotesquely gagged, blood pooling behind their constricted faces and limbs. Someone threw up and she just registered the pungent odour, the smell of death.

They'd found their rescuers.

"Holy mother of shucking cows." Newt gasped out, eyes tearing up from the smell, "Holy shucks."

Adira forced herself to breathe, only then noticing she hadn't sucked in air until her lungs had protested. It was disgusting to look at, and she felt hopelessly sorry for the rescuers, strung up like chickens in the windows of the butcher. Thomas was scanning their faces with a distinct look of panic, before guilty relief flooded his features- he'd been looking for Teresa.

"Let's get out." Minho said finally grimacing, "Hurry man, I think the smell might knock me out."

No one argued, hurriedly making their way out of the room, Newt's face pale, Thomas' positioned in a shocked grimace. Minho slammed the door shut behind him, breathing in the fresh air with a new appreciation.

"When the bloody shuck did they get put there?" Newt asked incredulously, "No one heard a darn thing!"

"No one knows." Minho said irritably, "But this place is shucked- locked from the inside, the crazies on the outside and now this?"

"I don't like this." Frypan said solemnly and she could swear she could see Minho's irritation reach boiling point. She cut in before he lashed out at the former cook.

"Let's just…go back to your room and we can go from there." she said, "Yeah?"

Minho nodded but before they could make any move towards the dorm area, a loud ringing, reminiscent of the Greenie Alarm back in the Glade, rung through the air.

"Are we getting another shuck Greenie?" Newt asked, looking up at the walls as if he could find a bell that would explain the sharp, ear splitting cry. Before long, everyone was slamming their hands over their ears, milling about aimlessly in the corridors before they managed to herd themselves into the "girls" room, sitting on the floor or the beds, looking like the textbook definition of miserable.

"Can it stop. Please." Newt muttered giving a long suffering sigh and she fought the urge to lean her head against his shoulder, the way they did in the Glade. He seemed to notice her internal battle.

"Oh, go on," he grinned, "no one cares. Not anymore."

So she leant against her best friend, watching as Minho paced around, frustration oozing out of him, before his eyes landed on her and the painfully familiar shutters fell over his orbs. It had been years since his face had closed off to her and the sudden change only worried her further. Suddenly, the ringing ceased. Relief flooded her as the echoes of the sound vanished from her ears.

"Let's go talk in the dorm," Minho suggested, "this place is cramped."

"Amen to that." Thomas muttered, making his way to the larger room first. The narrowness of the room was too close to the structure of the Maze corridors and unlike Adira, he'd never found any twisted sort of comfort from the ivy covered walls.

"I swear to shuck, what the bloody hell?" Newt moaned as they walked in, immediately noticing the lack of pale watery light entering the room. Minho looked floored.

"There's a shucking brick wall outside the windows." he observed, stabbing the blocks with his fingers through the steel bars, checking if they were real, "Who the shuck builds an entire damn wall in five minutes?"

During the extremely minimal amount of time they'd spent away from the main room, everything had been caged in and they were back to being lab rats scurrying around inside confines. The thought weighed her shoulders down.

"This isn't freaking possible." Minho glared, as if his scowl could eradicate the unexplainable existence of the brick wall. She couldn't help but reach out to feel the material, flinching when she realised it was rock hard and very real.

The slam of a door broke them out of their hypothesising and Minho turned slowly to Adira, "Guessing we gotta go down there and check it out."

Nervousness accumulated in the air and Minho sighed, "I volunteer as the shuck tribute. Again. Where would you shanks be without me?"

"Ha Ha." Frypan said, his voice thick with relief and shame, "Go through pretty boy. We got your back."

She followed Minho's figure down to the room where the dead bodies had been hung, a swell of ominousness rising in her chest, "Wait, it's locked."

"Winston get the extinguisher again!" Adira called out and a few moments later the heavy metal can was passed to Minho, his powerful arms holding it up like it was a feather.

"Shuck thing's locked again." he informed everyone and Thomas made a noise of impatience.

Minho paused for a moment, speaking quietly to the younger boy so no one could overhear, "What did your tattoo say?"

Thomas looked blank for a moment before the corners of his mouth creased downwards and he looked away from Minho's intense gaze, "It doesn't matter."

Minho searched the younger boy's face for a few seconds before he gave a sharp nod and turned back to the door, breaking off the door handle in one strike and also managing to just about break any self-control Adira had left. She didn't like to classify herself as superficial but the way the muscles in his arms had flexed, his sturdy form- needless to say, it was affecting her.

"And it's pitch black again." Minho muttered and she stepped in first, chuckling at Minho's cry of protest, "I wanted to be first!"

"Get over it." She whispered in a sing song voice, her fingers finding the light switch and pausing as she steeled herself for the sight of the dead bodies. Light blazed again, but this time, their jaws dropped in shock rather than disgust.

"Well I'll be shucked." Minho said and Thomas shook his head as if he could change what he was seeing. Or really, change what he was not seeing.

The bodies were gone, along with their unpleasant odour, leaving an empty room- even the random assortment of tables and furniture had disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

"I'm just about bloody done with this place." Newt grumbled, "How the hell does someone just build a random brick wall and take dead people and the smell away?"

"Someone might've come from outside?" Adrian suggested, voice small but Thomas shook his head impatiently.

"The doors are locked from the inside." Thomas stressed, putting his hands on his hips, a habit he'd picked up from Newt. Subconsciously, she thought it was adorable the way they'd closed the gap created by the Swipe so quickly, but the impossible situation they were presented with kept her mind occupied.

"So who did it then?" Frypan asked, blinking hard.

"That's the million dollar question isn't it?" Minho murmured, squinting into the air as if answers were displayed between the particles, "Not to make things worse, but now the rescuers are dead- which sucks for them- we don't have any food."

Frypan looked like he was about to faint at the idea of not having food and he staggered to Kasper who pursed his lips in amusement and worry. Feeling a pang of guilt for not familiarising herself with the survivors from the Maze, she gave Nico a small smile to ease the severe glare on the young boy's face. It worked marginally and his cheeks transformed into round balls of reassured relief.

"I'm freaking done," Thomas yawned, the muted sadness in his face dissolving into tiredness, "so, I'm going back to bed."

The other boys looked slightly lost at Thomas' words, as if they were expecting another incredibly stupid and apparently irrational statement to come out of his mouth, like at the last Gathering they'd held in the Glade.

"Same man." Minho said and the boys dispersed, murmuring theories amongst themselves or silently listening to the rumble of each other's voices. Adira pulled her brother aside into the room Aris had taken, her grip firm and steady as he questioned her sudden movement.

"What?" he asked as Adira closed the door behind them after politely sending Aris out. The other boy hadn't even put up a fight, moving into Minho's now unoccupied bunk, "Why'd you pull me here for?"

"Cos," she started, sitting on her bed, "I'm worried. Concerned. Confused. Take your pick."

Thomas looked genuinely confused- he hadn't seen this coming, "What, about the brick walls and dead bodies? I mean, I get it, it's a shock-"

"No slinthead," she laughed slightly, "I mean about you. You've been all weird and spacey since you've gotten up from bed."

Thomas rubbed a hand down his face, replying in a flat voice "Happens when you lose a telepathic partner, I guess."

She winced, reaching out and patting his arm consolingly, "I know it sucks that you can't find her, but if Aris is right about anything, we know she'd alive and with people who can help her."

"What the girls?" Thomas snorted, "They probably reacted the way we reacted with Aris."

She shook her head, "Maybe, but we didn't hurt a hair on Aris' head, did we? Threatened to, sure, but no actual damage to his face."

Thomas shrugged, "Yeah I guess."

"Sleep it out." she said, "Just…rest. I know I need it."

He gave her a wry smile, "Yes you do. You look like a shuck zombie."

"And you sound like one when you use Glader slang." she shuddered and Thomas captured her in a headlock, roughing up her hair, "Tom!"

He pulled back, grinning as she massaged her neck with a glare, "I'll tell Minho to come."

"You will?" she frowned. Thomas had gotten the gist that the two of them were more than just friends and while he'd been glaring at their closeness, he'd never outright stopped their relationship flourishing or tried to coerce the other into leaving. But while he didn't interfere, it didn't mean he was fully supportive of it. Not that he had a say, but she much preferred her brother being on board with anything she did.

"Yeah," Thomas nodded, shrugging slightly, "I need to chat with him. About things."

"Okay." she muttered suspiciously, watching Thomas slink away through the doorframe, "Be quick."

"Will do." Thomas grinned, flipping a thumbs up, "Bye baby sister."

After about ten minutes, Thomas, Minho and Newt filed into her room, Thomas looking smug, Minho vaguely bashful and Newt gleeful. Adira narrowed her eyes.

"Don't say anything." Thomas said.

"I'm not gonna ask." she muttered and Minho rubbed the back of his neck and Newt cackled, somewhat evilly.

"Well," she started, attempting to quell her curiosity, "what are we thinking about our pretty little tattoos?"

Minho gave a blast of a laugh, as if her question was a genuine joke, "They don't mean shuck."

Newt looked slightly more sceptical, his fixed on Thomas' shifting face and Adira cleared her throat, "I think they do mean something."

Minho's eyebrows shot up, "Serious? You can't believe that klunk, Ad."

She pursed her lips, "I mean it, Minho. I meant it when I said I was stepping down from being a Leader and I mean it now. It's not right for me to continue, especially now, with that tattoo on your neck."

"It doesn't change anything." Minho said hotly, "It's just a shuck tattoo! And why is not right for you to be Leader?"

"It just isn't!" she exploded, "We're not in the Maze now, Minho! Newsflash, we were out ages ago and my time is over- I don't want to be a reminder of the Maze when people look at me."

"They won't see the Maze." Minho scoffed, "They'll see you, the First, the strong shuckface that you are."

"Exactly." she said, "I don't want that- whether you like it or not, it's attaching me to the Glade. And I especially don't want to be a Leader whilst that tattoo is on your neck! It's like I'm begging WICKED to knock me outta the game!"

"It's not just bloody decoration, Min." Newt cut in quietly, knowing that things were escalating for barely any reason, "They didn't need waste all that ink, but they went ahead and buggin' branded us."

"Dude," Minho cried, "are you serious right now?"

"Dead serious." Newt said, not breaking his stare with Minho who looked completely confused. He genuinely hadn't expected them to take the labels seriously.

"So what," he scoffed, "you're the Glue? What does that even mean, man?"

"Tommy had a good theory." Newt said, grinning slightly as he tipped his head to the younger boy who suddenly looked nervous, "Go on then Tommy. Grace us with a bit of ya poetry."

Flashing a displeased scowl at the position he was put in, Thomas finally shared his suggestion, "I think he's the Glue cos he holds us together. Y'know, the way he is. All nice and breaking up fights and things like that, making sure we don't off each other."

"Bloody flattered." Newt said flatly and Adira nodded in agreement to Thomas' theory.

"Think of how many times he's stopped people going insane." she said, "Us too, Minho. We always argue, and y'know he always looks out for us that way. He literally did just now. The Glue. Very fitting."

Newt looked actually flattered then, "It's what I live for, my purpose in life."

"Slim it." Minho muttered, a miniscule smile on his face, before it vanished, "So what, this shank's going to be killed?"

Thomas flinched and Adira rolled her eyes, "Yeah, no, I'm not on board with that one. Sorry, not sorry."

"That's not fair." Minho whined, before his eyes lit up with smug realisation, "That means shuckette here is a mistake."

She face-palmed, "Remind me why I like this klunkhead."

"Cos he's a pretty face." Newt said sweetly, dodging her flying hand, "And he has a very charming personality. And he's a good kisser."

"Thanks Newt." Minho grinned sarcastically, before his face coalesced into a frown, "I don't like this. But I'll do it."

"Holy shuck, he finally got over himself!" Newt groaned, dodging yet another flying hand, "Why is everyone targeting me?"

"You get yourself into these situations, man." Thomas grinned, "Can't help you with this one."

"You're as bad as them!" Newt spat accusatorially and Thomas' face morphed into an expression of extreme offense. Newt seemed to realise too late what he'd said and he winced.

"Did you really just compare me to Minho and Adira? I'm that bad in your eyes?" Thomas mocked incredulously and Newt held his hands up in shaky surrender as the younger boy advanced, menacingly slow. Minho made a noise of disagreement and Adira scoffed at her brother's words. They'd chew him out for it later.

"Hey, Tommy, best pal, let's talk about this." Newt said nervously, edging backwards, "We've been through a lot together, mate, so let's just hang on and think about what we're doing."

"I'm tired of thinking." Thomas said bluntly, a devilish grin lighting up his features as he gave chase to the blonde, succeeding in thwacking him hard around the head, resulting in a bleak moan of pain from Newt who sounded very sorry for himself.

"Slintheads." Minho chuckled, meaning anything but, and she shifted on her feet.

"I'm sorry." she said finally, "I'm sorry if I pressured you into saying yes for the leader thing, but I really, truly think there's a meaning behind the tattoos. If you want to back out, that's no problem, Minho, I'd never want to make you uncomfor-"

"Hold on girlie," Minho smiled tenderly, reaching forward smoothly, cupping her face in his hand and effectively shutting her up, "slow down. I didn't want to do it cos I didn't think it was right while you were around. Man, I still look up to you that way. Still amazes me that you made it through an entire month alone and looked after all us shuckfaces and dealt with our klunk for three whole years."

"I know you "look up to me", whatever that means." she said sadly, "And I really don't want you to. I'm not a freaking god, I'm just Adira. Yeah?"

"Yeah," Minho replied softly, stroking her hair and bending down so their noses were touching, "yeah, we can work with that. Though for the record, I respect and admire you, there's a difference there."

And he pulled her into a kiss, gently guiding her back onto the bed, hovering over her as he ravished her lips with sweet torture, sparks lighting up their skin as she turned into his embrace, sleeping in his arms for the night.