When Newt started to run, Minho and Thomas were too shocked to follow him immediately.

Also, Newt ran fast, so when they ran to the cliff, he was already in midair, falling to his death.

They ran to the edge, but they couldn't see the body anywhere between the trees on the foot of the cliff.

Thomas wasn't sure what happened after that: he noticed, with the corner of his eye, Minho taking a step back and a deep breath. In his adrenaline rush, Thomas tackled the asian boy just a second before Minho could jump from the cliff.

"NO, MINHO, NO I CANNO'T LOOSE YOU AS WELL, NOT NOW, PLEASE!"

"HE JUMPED! NOTHING MATTER ANYMORE, I LOST HIM! We lost him..."

They were still lying on the edge of the cliff, Minho nailed under Thomas, and they were both crying.

Thomas was holding the other boy, but what started as a restraining act, ended up in an hug as the brunette kept whispering "i can't loose you, i can't…" Thomas felt like his guts were torn and rip apart and like is own soul was powdered down of the cliff. Minho under him was shaking and sobbing and the sight of him made Thomas heart shrink even more. He could hear a mournful sound, and he realized that come from himself.

He'd lost his beloved Newt, sweet, maternal Newt, strong and broken at the same time, his Newt.

And he was close to loose Minho as well. Minho, his best friend, his hothead leader, his mentor in the Maze, his rival in the race for Newt heart.

They wailed and sobbed till they had the strength to do so, and after they wept a little bit more.

After a while, they sat on the edge, looking down to the forest below.

"We should go down there, to find the body, ya know? We cannot leave him there, Tommy, we can't…"

Thomas would like to fight against the use of that pet name, only Newt could call him that way, only him and no one else. But Newt jumped, and Minho seemed ready to follow him, and he couldn't survive without the two most important people in his life.

And in that moment, in that moment the wind blowed three little, fragile leaves over the edge of the cliff, and as Thomas followed those with his gaze, the three leaves disappeared all together.

"Minho, did you see that?" Thomas asked urgently.

"What?"

But Thomas wasn't bother to answer, he just stood up, and jump in the same point where the leaves disappeared.

Minho's heart stopped for a moment, but when he saw Thomas disappearing in the thin air, he recognize the grievers hole as well.

He stood for a moment, wondering if he should go back and collect an army or jump with him, head against hearth, but his needs of seen Newt, to be sure he is alive, won and so he jumped as well.

Going through the damn thing was bad as he remember, but by the time he recovered, Thomas was already pushing him against a wall to hide them from a guard.

"Man, a little notice could be appreciated!"

"yeah, yeah, I'm sorry…"

"I hope you got a plan and even a non suicidal one…"

"I'm working on that…"

"we have to find him…"

Thomas didn't want to spread his fear,his though that maybe Newt didn't jump in the hole, that was still possible that their friend was lying on the foot of the cliff, into the forest. He kept this thought for himself, and start to walk on the opposite direction of the guard, just snooping around, till they found a occupied conference room.

On one side of the big table there were sitting both the Chancellors Paige and RatMan. In front of them, Newt.

Minho knew he was supposed to act like a leader, thinking before acting, but for the second time that day, his heart decided for him, and he ran into the room to hug Newt.

Thomas was blaming himself for his lack of planning and strategy, how was he going to bring Newt back home with no weapon and no element of surprise?

RatMan seems quite unsettled for the sudden invasion of teenagers in the room, but Ava just smile at them "I was wondering how long it will take for you to figure out where the door was…"

"So you were real"

"Yes, I'm real indeed. And, as I was explain to Newt here, I'm also interested in your wellness."

"She means that they still studying us." Newt said shifting uncomfortably in Minho's arms. "Minho, I use to enjoy to breath, ya know?"

"Slim it, shuck face"

"Yes, we are still studying you. We will not feel guilty for try to save the world, you know?" RatMan interrupt with a cold tone.

The two scientist proceed to explain that Newt is the only one that survived to the cure. After they ran away in the Paradise, WICKED team started to repeat the same procedure on other infected, but they all died.

"We tried to study Newt in the new environment to understand why he is different."

"And You brought him the tea when he was sick…" Minho phrase sounds like an accuse, even if he was glad that the tea help his Newt so much.

"Yes. We were listening at you when Mr Cliff came out with that hypothesis, and, Gosh, we would like to have that guy back to work with our doctors, because that intuition was brilliant"

"So we really have a Crank in our Paradise, between the people YOU checked" Minho, who had untied his grip on the blonde, fastened it back with a protective growl.

"Probably more than one…They were the control variables shuck face, now. let. me. breath" Newt all but squirmed form Minho embrace.

"If Newt is cured, why he still have this hallucinations?" at this Newt and Minho looked at Thomas with identical betrayed expression

"We believe that those could be a way of his brain to indicate him the way to heal better, so we need to know what they told him"

"No bloody way!"

"Newt…"

Meanwhile something click in Thomas memory, and it was like in the Maze, when he found the code: one second he had something that bother him, the second later everything slided aligned and became clear. So he asked "On your experiments with the others infected, did you consider the Newt's depressive disorder as a Variable?".

"Yeah, we thought about that. Usually serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are naturally present in healty brains and assist communication between nerve cells, but their deficiency or alteration in their receptors are believed responsible for the clinical depression, so we tried to suppress them"

"all the three together?"

"different combination, but if we can open Newt brain we will be able to find the right combination" Jason intervened.

Ava interrupt him "unless you can figure out another way to exclude one or the other in a less invasive way

So, Norepinephrine is responsible the fight-or-flight response, and I will rather exclude that Newt have any lack of it." Ava said with something that sound like pride.

"On the other hand, we are pretty sure that his swing mood are ascribable to serotonin's low level, and that a serotonin syndromes could be compatible with the toxic reaction that cause the dead of the other subjects."Janson added harshly.

"What about the third one, the… dopamine?" Newt ask warily, and Minho in response started to rub gently his back.

"dopamine plays important roles in motor control, motivation, arousal, cognition, and reward, as well as a number of basic lower-level functions including lactation, sexual gratification, and nausea…"

Thomas noticed that Newt wasn't listen anymore, and the blond boy seems lost in his thoughts. Over Newt' shoulder, he met Minho's gaze. "He is up to something" he mouther. Minho acknowledged him with a single nod, and kept caressing Newt's back.

Newt's hallucinations were the key. So, something Alby or Teresa told him, but what? Alby used to talk about what they had back in the Glade, about their relationship, and Teresa keep teasing him about.. that's what his brain was telling him?

He suddenly blush, but cannot avoid to start to chuckle softly.

"Do you want share anything with the rest of the class, shuck face?" Minho's words could sound harsh, but there was a sub-tone of amusement due to the sight of his Newt chuckling.

"So, you consider my 'depressive disorder' as a Variable, but what about my age? or more specifically, what about me being a horny, hormonal gay teenager alone with a bunch of gorgeous male, available teenagers?".

"What?"

"Well, Teresa one day told me that I should really start to have sex with Thomas, or with Minho or with both of them…"

"Ok, let give it a try!" was the enthusiastic, too enthusiastic, answer of RatMan. Minho opened his mouth to start to complain just for riot's sake, just to go against that white rat, but after a second Newt's words hit him, and what came out of his lips was "Hell, yes!"

"Wait wait, what we are talking about?" Thomas was oblivious.

"My dopamine level was low during the experiment, and start to rise after that, because my body start to fantasize and concoct first about Alby and after about the two of you."

"That is a good input, indeed, If you have sex, and after that your hallucination disappears, we could assume that that was the little kick that we miss in our tests, and we would work on incrementing the level of dopamine during the recovery stage." the Chancellor looked rinvigorate, and almost rejuvenate by this turning point.

"ok, let's set up for the test then" RatMan, being the creepy man he was, still looking too excited for this.

"You are not going to watch us having sex!" Minho and Newt answered together. After their burst, they looked at each other, chuckling. Newt hided his face in Minho's neck, and with a soft voice asked "Would you like to have sex with me, to save my bloody sanity?"

"sure thing shuck face"

Newt made a noise, half way between a snort and a chuckle, and after turn his attention to Thomas, who was glaring at Minho as he wanna rip him apart.

"Tommy?" he called, and the brunette turned his gaze to him, and his eyes softener, even if they still contained a trace of betrayal. "Newt" he recognize.

"Tommy, would you like to have sex with me and Minho, again to save my bloody sanity?"

at this Thomas' smile spread open, and he stepped closer and kissed Newt in a very passionate way. That gained him of a whistle from Minho and a embarrassed cough form Ava.

RatMan ran away mumbling something about preparing a room and about horny teenagers.