Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Twilight or the Maze Runner. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer, and James Dashner, please support the official release. I do own original characters made up for this storyline. Thanks for the support and Happy Holidays!

Note from the Author: Thank you Navywife, and Roxhall for your reviews! Hope everyone enjoys the chapter! I had to take a break for my hand guys, so I apologize for not getting this posted yesterday. I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!

Bella was tired, so was Thomas, Jasper, and Minho. You could tell that having to run all night and day was taking its toll on Minho, but they wouldn't stop moving. So far, they hadn't encountered a griever, but that was just dumb luck. They were quiet, trying to keep their panting to a minimum as they chased time through the maze. The walls shifted as they ran, section one making its appearance. This was a weird stage, because none of them had ran the maze at night, so seeing the way the maze shifted was new to them.

"Jasper!" Bella said sharply, pulling him back as they rounded a corner. She caught the glint of the mechanical leg of the griever as it tried to surprise them from the side. She brought her machete up to block the hit from the sting, her muscles quaking as she fought the griever. "Run!" She yelled to the others, and she parried to the side as the griever struck again, and she caught the stinger again with the machete. "Go, get Thomas out of here." She yelled to Jasper again.

Minho grabbed Thomas's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"We can't- "

The griever slammed Bella into the wall, and she tasted the blood on her tongue, but she fought again. "Run!" She yelled again, shoving away from the griever. "Run!" She yelled again, as she started running. That forced the others to run too. They weren't willing to leave Bella behind. Bella was the fastest one, but she hung towards the back of the pack to be the sacrifice if she needed. Thomas saw a wall closing ahead, and he skidded to a stop and turned to look at the griever.

"Go you idiot!" Bella shoved him. "He'll follow us." She panted out, understanding his thought process with the wall closing. They booked it towards the wall, the narrow pathway was closing in faster than Bella wanted, but they would have to make it. The four of them scraped through at the end, and the griever got smashed in the wall, its legs hanging out, and a liquid goo poured out of it.

They were all panting, sweat soaking their clothes as they tried to catch their breath. It was the hardest any of them had ever had to run.

Jasper looked at Bella. "Don't ever. Do that again."

"What?"

"Save me." Jasper said and then he was standing in front of her, looking down at her with his honey eyes. "You are too important Bella. We already lost Alby. We cannot lose you too."

Bella swallowed. "That's why I will save you. It's my job to- "

"Bullshit." Jasper cursed, a small bit of his temper bleeding through. "You are a runner. You are the council. People listen to you, and you lead them well. Without you and Alby, everything…. everything that we have worked hard for, would have died with both of you. So, no. Don't you ever save me like that again."

Bella studied Jasper her heartrate still heavy in her chest, but she was calming down. Alby flashed back in her mind, and she swallowed. She would never be with him again. He was her rock, the voice of reason when she was going mad. Did she love him? Maybe, but she depended on him to get through. All these years, she counted on him, and now he was just…. gone.

"Section seven is closed now. We're in section one. We have two hours until dawn and that front entrance opens. There's a small cavern in this section that we can hide in until dawn breaks." Minho said.

Bella nodded. "Let's go." She said, not responding to Jasper. They jogged, following Minho to the spot that they could hopefully bunk down for the entire night.

[The Next Morning]

Chuck, Gally, Newt, Emmett, and several others stood at the entrance waiting for it to open. Newt was trying to keep everyone calm last night when the others rushed in after Alby and Minho. There were more uproars last night, especially Gally, who was harping about how he knew that the greenie would get people killed. Now, everyone was quiet as the entrance started to open.

When it did open, it was clear, no one in site.

Newt sighed, looking over at Chuck. "I'm sorry Chuck. It looks like- "

"No look!" Chuck pointed, as Minho, Jasper, Thomas, and Bella walked towards the entrance. Jasper and Minho were toting Alby's body as they carried him too be buried the proper way.

Bella stood in front of Newt, her face was dirty from sweat and the filth of the maze. Her dark eyes focused on his bright blue ones.

"You survived." Newt murmured, shock registering on his face.

"Alby didn't." Bella said, and then they were hugging each other tight.

Emmett moved to help take Alby, along with Jared. They carried him so Jasper and Minho could take a break.

Gally pushed forward and started to swing on Thomas, when Bella moved away from Newt and put herself between Gally and Thomas. Her body was tired, so she reacted slow, and Gally's fist connected with her face. She spit blood on the ground and then looked back at him, her eyes igniting with a fire.

"Enough!" Bella yelled at him. "You have ten seconds to get out of my sight Gally, or so help you god, you don't get your ass kicked right now."

"I'm not afraid of you." Gally bucked up against her, not even sorry in the slightest that he hit her. She was stupid too, rushing into the maze after the greenie.

Bella nodded. "Okay." She said, and then she moved, her strikes hitting him before he realized it, and he was on the ground on his back, her booted foot on his throat. "I'm tired Gally. You know what it's like to run all night? Hmm?" She said and he just glared up at her. "Do you know, what it's like, to lose someone important to you?" he still didn't respond. "Oh, wait, you don't. I just fucking ran for my life in that god damn maze, and you're going to start throwing punches at people? Without Thomas, we all could have died. Did you even stop to think about it?"

"If it wasn't for him then you wouldn't have been trapped in that maze all night." Gally spat and started to push up against her foot, but she pressed her foot down on him making him cough.

"You know what? Maybe, but at least he had the balls to go and try and save Alby. Try and save Minho. While we all stood there waiting for the entrance to shut, we were so ready to let our leader, and our best runner just remain trapped in a maze all night."

"There are rules." Gally wheezed out.

Bella nodded. "Yes. There are rules Gally. We have rules for a reason. Which is why Thomas is going to spend a night in the pit with no food for violating those rules. And guess what, so will I, and so will Jasper." She said. "Because of those rules. But it was worth it." She said with a nod and lifted her foot. "Now go cool off. I don't want to see your face or I'm going to knock your teeth out."

Gally got to his feet, glaring at her, before he stormed away.

Bella blew out a breath, and then the dizziness hit her, and she swayed. Thomas stopped her from toppling over. "Thank you." She muttered, and then she shrugged his hand off, and she walked away too. She wanted water, and she just wanted to change her shirt. She needed a moment to herself, to feel the loss of Alby, so she went to her hut, going inside and standing there a moment, looking around her hut. She peeled her shirt off and dumped it to the side, and stood there a little longer, her muscles shivering from the overexertion through the night, and then with Gally.

There was a slight knock on the hut door, and then Jasper opened it slightly. "Bella…"

"Jasper…I can't right now. I'm just…."

Jasper walked in and shut the door behind him. "Talk to me."

"I can't."

He moved to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. His hands were rough from using his hands a lot, but most of them had rough hands anyways from working so hard. "Look at me." He murmured.

Bella turned and looked up at Jasper, tears in her eyes. "He's gone." She said, her voice nearly a whisper.

Jasper nodded. "I know. And you loved him."

"How…."

"Because he told me everything. We were best friends Bella, hell, you don't think I knew that he felt the same way. He wanted to get out of this place so badly, so you could be happy. He knew that you were struggling. I know you're struggling." Jasper said.

Tears fell down Bella's face. "Nothing will be the same without him."

"I know. I'm sorry. God…Bella, I'm so fucking sorry." Jasper said and pulled her into his arms, and he just hugged her while she sobbed against his chest. He closed his eyes, his own emotions trying to take hold. He lost his best friend, and that weighed heavy on him.

No one went into the maze that day. Section one would have to wait. Tomorrow's section was section five, and Jake already said he would run it, but Bella said no. They needed to make sure no new walls sprouted up, and so her and Jasper would be running section five. When night fell, Bella, Jasper, and Thomas went into the pit. They didn't speak to each other, letting sleep take them because the exhaustion was just too great.

[The Next Day]

Bella geared up for running the maze, and Jasper did too. He helped fasten her straps and then she turned him around and helped fasten his. Thomas walked up, Newt with him.

"Hey." Newt said. "Some of the others are wanting to call a gathering. We need to do it soon because Gally is insisting on it."

Bella sighed. "Okay. Tonight, when we get back. Gather the keepers."

"They want to elect a councilman in Alby's spot."

"Okay. Elect Jared. He was here second." Bella said.

"He doesn't want it." Newt said with a sigh. "I asked."

"Emmett?" Bella asked.

Newt shook his head. "He didn't want it either."

Bella sighed again and looked at Jasper. "I guess that leaves you."

Jasper raised a brow. "You want me to be council?"

"You're number 4. You've been here longer than the others, and anyone else doesn't make sense." Thomas said with a nod. "I want to be a runner."

Newt frowned. "You haven't even been here a month."

"He's fast." Jasper said. "Faster than I am. He's smart too. He helped kill the griever in the maze." He pointed out.

Newt looked at Bella, and she nodded. "Alright. We'll make it official at the gathering. We're pulling council cards on this one?" He asked Bella.

"Let's see. Who would really vote against Thomas? Gally? Maybe William, but I don't see the others having a problem with it." Bella said and pulled her fingerless gloves on, squeezing her hands as she did. "Plus, we lost Edward. We have a new section, so we're down two runners."

Newt mulled it over in his head. "Alright, if Thomas is a runner, then Embry is too. Embry is fast. He won't tell us no and- "

"I don't want to take that choice from them like we have been." Bella said. "That maze…. it's getting more and more dangerous. Right now, the only runners going in that maze is myself, Minho, and Jasper. Until we- "

"Wait, no, you three can't wear yourselves out like that." Thomas said. "I can run too. Don't sideline me."

Bella was starting to feel a headache coming on. "We'll talk about this later. The entrance is going to open soon, and we have a lot of ground to cover. Section one is a large section." She said. "Tell Minho too show him the maps. Study them." She said and turned with Jasper and jogged back to the maze, leaving Thomas there with Newt.

Newt blew out a breath. "Alright, come on. Let's wake Minho." He said and they went t get Minho up so they could start the day, and Thomas could study the maps of the maze that he would be running.