Minho spent his days in the maze. She spent her days in the Glade, she spent most of her days with Jeff and Clint. Jeff said with amusement one day they had never been busier! So many cuts that needed a bandaid.

She also got to know Frypan, he was the girlfriend she didn't have. When she was in the kitchen, it was just a big gossip fest. She was pretty sure he only chose her as cook so he had someone to gossip with, Chuck would regularly join them and the three would gossip, those were some of her favorite mornings.

She also grew closer with Newt. He was her best friend. If she wasn't working, she was usually with him. She was always teasing or bugging him. She told him everything, all her thoughts and secrets. He never judged her, he was always ready to listen, he was thoughtful and kind. Newt and Alex would laugh at and with each other. Or they would argue so loud and aggressively other Gladers would get involved, taking sides- they were dumb arguments, like who would win in a fight, an angry pig or an angry goat, would you rather have hands for feet or feet as hands- you know the important things in life.

Her and Chuck were partners in crime, when Matt was still on a no work order, he would join them in pranks. They were a dream team, Matt was the brains, figuring out the details, Chuck and Alex would execute the pranks. Usually on Newt or Gally. A few times they got Alby, but he threatened to lock them in the Slammer. He did for an afternoon, but it was so worth it! They switched to pissing off Gally. He wasn't smart enough to figure out it was Alex, Matt and Chuck.

Minho had become distant. She especially noticed during their evening shower tradition, he would still stand outside her door, but he wouldn't ask as many questions or wasn't as interested in her day. He was more broody. She would ask him about his day, and he would give short curt snappy answers. She eventually stopped talking all together. She started asking Newt to stand outside the shower door.

One evening Alex and Newt were on their way back to the homestead after their shower when Alex noticed Minho storming towards them. His jaw clenched tight, glaring at the two of them. He stormed between him, slamming his shoulders into them. Alex stumbled and turned, watching him storm away and slam the shower door behind himself. Her mouth open, she was at a loss for words. Her eyes burnt with tears, she blinked rapidly trying to keep them from falling.

"Newt, what did I do?" She had asked.

Newt pulled her into a hug, his eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth turned into a frown.

"You didn't do anything wrong Love."

Sid didn't believe Newt, she doubted herself. Was Minho regretting his decision to train her? He didn't seem like he wanted to be around her anymore, he stopped the mental exercises with her after supper. He stopped sitting at their usual table, opting to sit with the rest of the runners. She would catch him staring at her. When she did he would narrow his eyes, his face would drop all emotions going stone cold, and turn away.

What the shuck did I do to upset him?

It hurt, it hurt so shucken much. But if he didn't want to talk, she wouldn't push it. She was too stubborn to make the first move. This was his problem, not hers. She hung out with the guys who wanted to talk to her and be around her. He would talk to her when he was ready. She didn't avoid him, but she didn't go out of her way to be around him either. Alex was still polite, but the only looks she would get were glares and only answers were shrugs and grunts and snappy replies. He was a moody broody teenage boy. And she was over it.

The day before the new greenie was due to arrive she was in the kitchen helping Fry prep breakfast. The sun was just rising and the runners and keepers were coming down for breakfast. She handed a packed lunch and water to each runner. She held out the next one to Minho.

Alex gave him a small smile, "Good morning, get your beauty sleep?" He didn't even look up at her, just grabbed the lunch and shoved it into his pack. Alex's smile faded.

What's his bloody problem?

She turned to the next Glader in the early breakfast line, "Morning Newtie, you keep Min from his beauty sleep? Stayed up too late playing truth or dare? Not very responsible of you, Mama Newt" She teased.

Minho looked up and glared at her and then behind him at Newt, then back at Alex, he grabbed his water and jogged off to the doors. What was left of Alex's smile faded completely. She felt her eyes sting with tears, she blinked rapidly trying to keep them from falling. She forced a small smile for the next glader, as she handed him some breakfast. Newt looked at her then to Minho with a frown. He came around the counter and wrapped her in a big bear hug, she hugged him back sniffling.

"What is wrong with me? Why dose this hurt so much?" She whispered.

He pulled away, and wiped her tears.

"It hurts because you care deeply for him."

She peeked over Newt's shoulder and watched Minho's retreating form be swallowed into the darkness of the maze hall.

What she didn't see was he had looked back and saw Newt hugging Alex and wiping her cheeks. The anger, hurt and guilt for making her cry flashed across his face and burnt in his chest. He turned back to the maze shoving his feelings back behind his stone wall and disappeared into the mist.

It was a weird morning. Everyone kept asking her if she was ok. She finally lost it when Fry asked for the umpteenth time.

She snapped "WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE!? I'M FINE!" She slammed the bowl she was holding onto the counter.

Frypan had an amused smile, he snorted. "Come on Shanket, anyone with eyes can see it."

"See what Frypan?" She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at him.

Fry chuckled, he pointed another kitchen utensil at her, "the whole glad can see that you like each other. So stop doing...whatever you two are doing, and get together already!"

Alex snorted in derision. She pulled herself up onto the counter. She finally let everything out. Fry was the closest thing to a girlfriend. She told everything to Frypan and Newt.

"Fry, what in the blood shuck glade are you talking about"

Fry roared with laughter. "You really are clueless aren't ya Shanket?! I'm talking about you and Minho! He likes you, you like him!"

Alex blinked "Seriously Fry? You really are a gossip! Where in the shuck glad did you get that idea? He is ..a friend. I don't know what I did to tick him off. He probably regrets his decision to train me as a runner, and is too much of a sissy to say anything. He didn't even taken me into the map room never mind the maze! If he's changed his mind and doesn't think I'm cut out, fine. I'm fine being a MedJack! We used to talk nonstop and laugh...we used to joke around. He hardly looks at me now."

She was turning pinker and hotter the longer she let everything out, but once she started, she couldn't stop.

"I don't know Fry! I...I just want my friend back!" She had to stop for a second, her eyes were burning, and she felt a tear leak out. She looked away, and continued.

"The guy who... who vouched for me in the council room a month ago! The friend who held me after I broke down after the whole Matt thing...He ignores me, but I'll catch him glaring, and especially when I'm in a group, I can feel his eyes drilling holes in my skull, but when I look he tries to kill me with his death glares"

Fry just smiled sympathetically at her, and pointed his utensil at her.

"Mark my words missy, he likes ya! He likes ya a whole lot. And I KNOW you like him too, just look at how red you are! He's mad because you get to spend more time with the other Gladers. He's jealous of you and Newt- I know there isn't anything there between you too, more a brother sister thing, I know-" he said quickly as Alex was ready to protest.

"He's jealous of your close relationship, he's also Mr Tough Guy, so to show any feeling other than sass or smugness is hard for him. You're the first thing he's ever been gentle with, and now he doesn't know how to deal with these new feelings you create inside of him. He doesn't like when other people know what he's really feeling."

"If he's so upset about not spending time with me why doesn't he train me faster so I can go into the maze with him?!" She shot back, swiping the tears with the palms of her hands

"That's easy Shanket! He's worried about ya getting hurt. If somethin' were to happen to ya, he'd blame himself. Come on now, give me a harder one!" Frypan said with amusement, twirling his whisk around again.

Alex sat there on the counter speechless.

That shuck muscle head is more complicated than a girl!

"Ok, but he still doesn't need to act like a slint-headed shuck face!" She hopped off the counter and finished what she was doing.

She heard Fry mutter "too true Shanket. Must be awkward in Newt's room every night..."

The afternoon didn't get much better. Alex was tired and cranky. She kept to herself all afternoon. Bark was quiet too, sensing she just wanted quiet and alone. She hung out in the Med Jack room. Alex skipped supper and went to bed early. She was tired of shanks trying to talk to her. She pulled on Minho's hoodie, the smell still lingered a little. She was mad at him, and hurt by his actions, but his smell was comforting- and that made her frustration with him worse. She curled up in bed, with Bark beside her. That night she had her first dreams.

*** She was in a living room, there was a boy, maybe he was 5 or 6. She was sitting right beside him, snuggled up close, there was another little girl, both girls around 3 or 4. The other girl was sitting on a woman's lap. Everyone had the same red gold hair, and everyone's faces were blurry. Like someone smudged water on a painting. The woman was singing a lullaby, the voice was familiar. The song was also familiar.

The dream changed. Going black and then bursting into the next scene.

*** She was older now, maybe 7. She was being dragged away by people in black masks, a girl and boy beside her, they were all crying for the woman and a man laying on the floor, in a pool of blood.

*** She was being pulled apart from the girl who looked just like her and she could hear the boy yelling and screaming behind her, a big heavy door slammed shut cutting off the boy's desperate attempts. She was being strapped to a chair that looked like a dentist chair, "Hello Alexandria."

She sobbed, "That's not my name! Where is my sister? What are you going to do to my brother?"

"It IS your name. And until you remembered that, remembered this". And all she felt was pain. It ripped through her small body. She let out a gut wrenching scream deep from inside her little young body.

*** The room around her shifted to a classroom. Boys and girls sitting at desks around her. She recognized a few faces, all younger. There was Gally-his eyebrows were hard to miss- she also recognized Alby. Minho's spiked black hair. She saw a curtain of shaggy golden blond hair. Newt! Beside him was a girl, Alex thought it was her, she took a step forwards and then stopped. Beside Newt on his other side was the same girl. She looked between the 2 girls. The girls sitting either side of Newt, all three looked the same! Only way to tell the girls apart was one was more a redhead then the other.

The classroom faded and she was blinded by the bright harshness of the sun. She blinked and she was standing in the middle of a broken city covered in sand. She was running, she had a heavy backpack on, a military gun swinging from her shoulder. Cradled in her arms was a tiny little black puppy. The puppy was looking up at Alex with big intelligent eyes, but she was panting hard.

"Water! WATER! Please!" She begged.

A huge man turned towards her, his face was blurred, and his voice sounded garbled.

"Where did you get that thing?"

"I found her! She was trapped, and I rescued her. She is really smart! Can I keep her? Please Cap? I named her Bark! She's quiet, smart and sneaky already! Get it? Bark, cuz she's quiet? I'll train her! I promise she will be an asset to our team! Can you please help me keep her safe and away from...Him? Pleeeeeeease Cap?"

*** She was standing in an all white bedroom, in the dark, she was older. She was standing in front of the door, like she was waiting for something. Her dream self heard a knock and quietly opened the door.

"You're late!" She whispered. There was a chuckle at the door. "Sorry my fair lady, I had to wait for the guard to leave. Now come on, they're waiting for us! Let's go." A hand reached out from the dark, interlocked their fingers and pulled her.

*** She stepped into the dark hall, but it wasn't the dark hallway anymore, it was a bright white room and she wasn't standing, she was strapped to a cold table. She heard someone talking above her, she couldn't make out any words. She felt a sharp pinch in her neck. She felt her body flood with pain, white hot pain. Every muscle felt like it was on fire, she felt all her muscles twitching, she arched her back and screamed and cried in pain.

*** She was now sitting in an all white workroom, paper and pencils everywhere. There were doodles and drawings scattered on the table. A hand rested on her shoulder and she flinched.

A crisp voice of a woman spoke, "how are your creatures coming, Alexandria?"

"Good...I think I'm done! This last part, here is the tail. It has a pincher at the end, like a crab claw, see?"

"Yes, good. Very good." Said the woman's voice, it sounded sinister.

"Remember Alexandria, WICKED is good."

*** The room transformed again, she was standing in a hall, banging on a sealed door sobbing.

"NO NO NO! PLEASE NO! LET ME SEE HIM! PLEASE! YOU TOOK MY PUPPY AND THEN MY BROTHER! AND MY SISTER! PLEASE DON'T TAKE HIM TOO! DON'T PLEASE! I MADE THOSE MONSTERS, I'LL MAKE MORE, PLEASE DON'T TAKE ANYONE ELSE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

She was banging her fist on the door, she was leaving small dents and cracks in the door. She saw spiky black hair and coffee eyes, as he struggled against the guards holding him dragging him towards an operating room. "I'll remember! I promise! I'll remember you! Don't give in! Don't do anything else for them! FIGHT ALEX! FIGHT THEM!" A guard hit him in the head with the back of his gun, knocking him out.

Minho POV

Alex was thrashing around in her bed, tears ran down her face, she was whimpering, which turned into screams, it woke up Bark. The dog put her front paws onto the bed and nuzzled the girl, she only thrashed harder. The dog took off for help. She sniffed down the hall, picking up a familiar scent. She pushed the door open, and nuzzled the boy on the floor, she licked his face. Minho bolted awake. "What? What?! What's going on? Uhh! Dog slobber?! What the shuck Bark!" The dog was pushing his back with her head. A scream split the quiet night air. He was now fully awake, "The shuck? Alex!" He was up and out the door in an instant, he ran towards his old room, the door was open and he saw her thrashing in her sleep, whimpering and crying. She let out another scream. Minho threw himself down beside the bed shaking her shoulders trying to wake her up.

"NO! MINHO! DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY! NO! PLEASE NO! " Minho froze.

Why's she yelling my name? Who is taking me away? Away where?

The girl was crying and whimpering.

"NO! DON'T TAKE HIM! YOU TOOK EVERYONE I LOVED! NOT HIM TOO! NOT MINHO!"

Minho tried shaking her shoulder again. She wouldn't wake up.

"ALEX!" He yelled, shaking her shoulders.

She sat up with a gasp, her eyes wild, arms falling. She smacked Minho in the face, she scrambled back into the corner, she was muttering the same thing over and over.

"It's my fault, it's all my fault. Don't take him, I'll do anything."

Minho sat down on the edge of the bed, "shhh shh, it's ok, it was a dream, just a dream"

Alex's wild eyes tried to focus on the direction the voice was coming from. She was still painting and repeating herself. His angry jealousness melted a little. She was struggling and he had been a slint head. She needed someone right now. Minho opened his arms cautiously, unsure. She crawled over. He wrapped them around her. Her whimpers and sniffles quieted, and her panting became regular breathing. Minho felt her falling asleep. He tried to lay her down so he could go back to his sleeping bag. She tightened her grip on his shirt and whispered so quietly he almost missed it.

"Please. I don't want to be alone."

Minho's heart beat faster.

"Ya, sure Shanket."

He lay down, and pulled her beside himself. She put her head on his chest, his t shirt still clenched tight in her tiny fist. He circled an arm around her protectively, and put the other behind his head, and closed his eyes. A smile on his face, despite himself. He felt the bed dip again, he peeked an eye open, Bark had jumped up and snuggled down beside him too.

"Good dog."

They all fell asleep and slept soundly.

The sun was just starting to shin on Minho through the window, when he opened his eyes. He tried to sit up but couldn't move, he looked down and saw red gold hair spread out over his chest and pillow. He smelt coconut and sunshine and sterilizer from the MedJack Hut.

Alex.

Her head was resting on his bicep, her back to him. She was breathing peacefully. He smiled to himself. Something caught his eye and he looked to the doorway. He saw Newt standing there, arms crossed an angry look on his face, his lips drawn into a tight line. He was looking between Minho and Alex. Minho smirked as Newt's frown deepened. Minho slipped out from under the girl, and quietly strutted over and out the door, closing it on Newt's face, so both boys were outside in the hall.

"Jealous ya shank? I had BOTH girls in bed with me last night."

He spun on his heel and went down the stairs. Newt just stood there confused and angry. Ready to punch his best friend in the face.

He ignores her, is a total slint-head, and now slips into her bed? The shuck is his problem!? Also how could she let him do that?