I do not own the Maze Runner trilogy.

"When I go into the ground,

I won't go quietly, I'm bringin' my crown

When I go into the ground,

Oh, they gotta bury me, bury me face down."

—Bury Me Face Down by grandson

"That's right, ladies and gents. You're about to get all your memories back. Every last one of them."

Ruby staggered back, almost unable to wrap her mind around what she had heard. Was she delirious or something? There was no way. Minho placed his hand on her shoulder, straightening her.

"Easy, Ru," he murmured, guiding her into a seat. He sat down beside her, rubbing his jaw. Soon, Thomas joined them, looking just as stunned as Ruby was.

Swallowing, Ruby glanced around the room, looking from person to person. Could it really be this easy? She thought. After everything they're giving our memories back? Just like that? Something's wrong.

"As you were informed in your one-on-ones," Rat Man interrupted after clearing his throat, "the Trials as you've known them are over. Once your memories are restored, I think you'll believe me and we can move on. You've all been briefed on the Flare and the reasons for the Trials. We are extremely close to completing our blueprint of the killzone. The things we need—to further refine what we have—will be better served by your full cooperation and unaltered minds. So, congratulations." He smiled without feeling at them.

Ruby clenched her jaw, but before she could say anything, Minho spoke up.

"I ought to come up there and break your shuck nose," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion. There was a fire in his eyes that backed his threat. "I'm sick of you acting like everything is peachy—like more than half of our friends didn't die."

Sighing through her nose, Ruby grabbed Minho's hand, and he gripped it tightly.

Newt stood, his entire body trembling with suppressed rage. "I'd love to see that rat nose smashed!" He yelled.

Even though she wasn't going to say anything, Ruby wholeheartedly agreed.

Rat Man rolled his eyes, as if they were severely inconveniencing him and he had much better things to be doing at the moment. "First of all, each of you has been warned of the consequences should you try to harm me. And rest assured, you're all still being watched. Second, I'm sorry for those you've lost, but in the end it'll have been worth it. What concerns me, though, is that it seems that nothing I say is going to wake you people up to the stakes here. We're talking about the survival of the human race."

Minho breathed in deeply, and Ruby squeezed his hand. Clenching his jaw, he looked at her, and she shook her head minutely. He squeezed her hand again and huffed.

Thomas spoke up as the voice of reason. "Let's all just slim it," he said. "Let's hear him out." His voice was surprisingly even, and Ruby looked around Minho to stare at him. There was no way he was buying this klank, was he?

Why should we trust you people to… what was it called? The Swipe?" Frypan demanded from beside Ruby. "After everything you've done to us, to our friends—you want to remove the Swipe? I don't think so. I'd rather stay stupid about my past, thank you very kindly."

Ruby clapped him on the soldier. "Fancy that," she agreed. "I don't buy one bit of it."

There was a pause, and then—

"WICKED is good."

Everyone whipped their heads to the source of the voice, Teresa.

"What?" Frypan asked.

"WICKED is good," she repeated, louder this time. She looked up. "Of all the things I could've written on my arm when I first woke up from my coma, I chose those three words. I keep thinking about it, and there has to be a reason for that. I say we just shut up and do what the man says. We can only understand this with our memories back."

"I agree!" Aris called loudly.

Ruby snorted. "Buncha crackheads," she muttered under her breath.

The room broke into pandemonium, mostly with Group A siding with Frypan and Group B siding with Teresa and Aris.

"Harriett, Sonya," Ruby called from across the room, looking to the two girls she trusted with her life. "You guys can't be serious! After all that's happened? After all those sticks have done to us?"

Harriett and Sonya shared an uneasy look. Swallowing, Harriett looked back to Ruby. "Ru, I—we just wanna know. We want to remember our families. Don't you want that?"

"In this world?" Ruby scoffed. "If my family's not dead, they're probably sick with the Flare. I don't wanna remember that."

The noise grew louder and louder until Rat Man apparently couldn't take it.

"Silence!" He roared, banging on the podium. He faintly reminded Ruby of a toddler who wasn't getting his way. When the room grew quiet once more, he continued. "Look, no one's going to blame you for the mistrust you feel. You've been pushed to your physical limits, watched people die, experienced terror in its purest form. But I promise you, when all is said and done, none of you will look back—"

"What if we don't want to?" Frypan demanded. "What if we don't want our memories back?"

Ruby smiled. Good. I'm not the only one.

The Rat Man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is it because you really have no interest in remembering, or is it because you don't trust us?"

"Well," Ruby spoke up, "if the world really has been as clapped as it is, then I don't want to have to remember my family suffering through that. The fact that I don't trust you sticks is just a bonus."

"Yeah, I can't imagine why we wouldn't trust you," Frypan snorted.

Again, the Rat Man looked at them like they were a bunch of babies throwing a fit. "Don't you realize by now that if we wanted to do something to harm you, we'd just do it?" He asked them, looking down at the podium. He looked up. "If you don't want to remove the Swipe, don't do it. You can stand by and watch the others."

Ruby squinted. She had no idea if the man was bluffing or not.

The room fell silent again, and Rat Man took it as an opportunity. Stepping off the stage, he made his way to the back of the room. When he was there, he turned to face them. "You really want to spend the rest of your lives having no memory of your parents? Your family and friends? You really want to lose the chance to hold on to at least the few good memories you may have had before all this began? Fine with me. But you might never have this opportunity again."

Ruby frowned, her chest tightening. The idea did seem rather enticing, but then she glanced down at the metal limb attached to her person. She looked at Joan, who was staring into her lap, a deep frown set on her face. WICKED left nothing but pain and suffering wherever they went. She couldn't trust them. No matter what. Clenching her jaw, Ruby knew what her choice had to be.

The door shut, signifying the Rat Man's departure. As soon as he was gone, Thomas leaned in to speak to her, Minho, and Newt.

"There's no way we do this," he said. "No way."

Minho squeezed Thomas's shoulder. Amen. Even if I did trust those shanks, why would I want to remember? Look what it did to Ben and Alby?"

Newt nodded in agreement. "We need to make a bloody move soon. And when we do, I'm going to knock a few heads to make myself feel better."

"I hear ya," Ruby muttered, clenching her metal fist.

"Joan!" Teresa called loudly, drawing Ruby's attention. "Joan, please, you have to listen to me." She was pleading with the younger girl, who merely stared calmly. "You're just a kid, so you can't let people like Ruby influence your—"

Before Ruby could say a word, Joan interrupted Teresa with a mirthless laugh. "I know I'm just a kid," she snapped, her childish face seeming to age in an instant. "I may not know much, I may not be able to speak much English, and I may be just a child, but I know some things. I know WICKED can't be trusted. I know they let my friends die, and for what? A cure that might exist? It's clapped. All of it." With that, she stood and made her way to Ruby, wedging herself between her and Frypan.

"I couldn't have said it any better myself," Newt snorted sardonically, a sort of bitter pride on his face.

Thomas nodded. "Yeah. And we do need to make a move soon, but not too soon, though. We can't screw this up—we need to look for our best chance. He glanced to the two girls. "Ruby, Joan, are you two with us?"

Joan nodded resolutely. "Bien sûr," she answered. "Of course." Everyone looked to Ruby.

Jaw set, Ruby sighed. "I don't know who to trust anymore," she began. "Apparently, I can't trust anyone from my own group anymore, and I sure as hell can't trust WICKED. What I need to know is can I trust you guys?"

The three boys shared a look before turning back to her, all three nodding firmly at the same time.

Ruby grinned. "Then sign me the fuck up."

Eventually, the Rat Man led everyone out of the auditorium, down a windowless hallway, through several turns, to a large steel door. The WICKED man put a key card to it, and, after a few clicks of the door unlocking, it slid open, grinding against its surroundings, similar to the Maze doors. Inside of the room, there was another door, and Rat Man unlocked it the same way. Inside of it was a long hallway, and Ruby noted that it was incredibly bland: it was beige colored, with no real defining features, other than the beds lining the back wall. Each one had a mask, and a large configuration of tubes and wires.

Motioning to the beds, Rat Man spoke. "This is how we're going to remove the Swipe from your brains. Don't worry, I know these devices look frightening, but the procedure won't hurt nearly as much as you might think."

"Nearly as much?" Frypan piped up. "I don't like the sound of that. So it does hurt, is what you're really saying."

Rat Man nodded, raising his eyebrows. "Of course you'll experience minor discomfort—it is a surgery." He walked over to a machine next to the row of beds. On it was several lights and buttons. "We'll be removing a small device from the part of your brain devoted to long-term memory. But it's not as bad as it might sound, I promise." He pushed some buttons, filling the room with a faint buzzing noise.

"Wait," Teresa interrupted, "Is this going to take away whatever's in there that lets you control us, too?"

Ruby whipped her head back to Rat Man. This was something she wanted to know. An image flashed in her mind. Beth, her stiff movements as she shot Rachel point-blank in the head. Her own stiff body as she found herself moving without thinking, without even wanting to, as she drove her knife into Beth's chest.

"And what about..." Teresa trailed off, glancing to Thomas. Ah. That weird mind trick thing. "Is everything going to be out of there? Everything?"

Rat Man nodded. "Everything except the tiny device that allows us to map your killzone patterns," he replied. "And you didn't have to say what you're thinking because I can see it in your eyes—no, you and Thomas and Aris won't be able to do your little trick anymore. We did turn it off temporarily, but now it'll be gone forever. However, you'll have your long-term memory restored, and we won't be able to manipulate your minds. It's a package deal, I'm afraid. Take it or leave it."

The room broke out into whispers again. It was a lot to think about, after all.

"That's a no-brainer," Frypan joked, grinning. "Get it? No brainer?" Ruby groaned and shoved him lightly.

"Okay," Rat Man called, bringing the attention back to him. "I think we're just about ready. One last thing, though. Something I need to tell you before you regain your memories. It'll be better to hear it from me than to… remember the testing."

"What are you talking about?" Harriett demanded.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the Rat Man had the audacity to look earnest. ""Some of you are immune to the Flare. But… some of you aren't. I'm going to go through the list—please do your best to take it calmly."

A/N

You guys, I am so so sorry it took me this long to update. I promise you, chapter ten will be up by the day after tomorrow at the latest. I owe it to you guys. You've been nothing but supportive and loving with this story, and I can't thank you enough for that. I really hope this chapter met your standards, and I can't wait to write more!

(Honestly, I really love writing Joan and Ruby. They're adorable in my opinion!)

Love,

Nell