A/N: First off, Happy New Year to everyone! Can't believe 2022 is already over... And I also can't believe it took me so long to write this. The past week has been super busy for me, so I didn't have much time to write. However, I'm not dead, and my parents didn't die in a car crash or whatever other traumatic experiences happen to other fanfic writers. Still! I'm making it up by posting two long chapters simultaneously.

Truly, though, I do hope everyone had an amazing holiday season. ^_^

A New Beginning

The more Jorge drove, the more the small hills turned into full-on mountains. Only a day ago those same mountains looked so far away. So untouchable. But now, the group was driving through them, and it felt amazing to have actually gotten this far. Hope smiled at her friends as they marveled up at the million-year-old stone, curiosity and awe in their eyes. The mountains themselves may have been a little intimidating, being that there were sharp cliffs, high altitudes, and falling rock, yet the sheer size and beauty of it all impressed them the most. So impressive that Minho's pressing questions about his past with Alby, Newt, Teresa, Thomas, and Hope subsided, while Chuck's more present questions were spoken. He looked away from the cliffs and to his left, where Hope was still sitting beside him in the trunk.

"Hey, Hope," Chuck nudged her side, "how were these made?"

"The mountains, you mean?" Hope inquired, prompting Chuck to nod in response. "Well, in simple terms, two large pieces of the Earth's crust - the ground - crush into each other, causing them to sort of… fold together."

"Really…?" Chuck mumbled. "That's it?"

"It takes tens of millions of years for it to happen, though," Hope stated. "Plus, it can cause really bad earthquakes during that time."

"Dang," Chuck sighed, "I wish I knew that off of the top of my head... I can only remember up until the Maze…"

"Yeah, it honestly kinda sucks," Frypan agreed with a huff of his own. "I mean, now that Hope, Thomas, and Teresa have remembered their pasts, I want to too. I wanna know who I was before the Maze."

"Why?" Minho asked. "You were probably the same person you are now. Even Hope said that Newt and I didn't change that much."

"Well, yeah, I guess, but…" Frypan glanced up into the sky. "I want closure."

Thomas gave Frypan a slightly confused stare. "Even if you don't like what you'll remember?"

"Even if it's painful, I want to remember," Frypan said as a smile formed on his face. "I don't wanna live in the dark anymore."

"Me neither," Chuck remarked, taking out his wooden man from his pocket to stare down at it. "I want to remember my parents… Even if they were mean, or even if I never had them, I want to know. I want to know what I've gone through. All that I've gone through."

"...Same," Newt finally chimed in. "It'd be nice to know what my life was like without the Maze… or maybe even without WICKED. It'd be nice to know if I had someone important or if I was important to someone."

"Sad there isn't just a switch to it." Aris shook his head. "A switch that doesn't include WICKED's help."

"Personally, I'd rather never remember my past than get help from them," Minho scoffed. "I'd rather die, really."

As the rest of the group continued their conversation, Hope glanced over at Teresa, who had barely talked since they'd hit the road. Furthermore, now that everyone was having this certain conversation, Teresa's sad eyes turned so much sadder; Hope even noticed how, every time the word "WICKED" was spoken, a part of her would flinch with dismail. And since Hope had just been accepted by her friends, it now hurt her even more when one of those same friends was hurting. Alone, it looked like. But Hope didn't know what to do. Out of everyone, the girl didn't know much about Teresa's pain. They may have known each other as kids, yet Teresa's life before WICKED was a thick fog to Hope. That was an untouched area, one of which Teresa had just started walking through. Something had happened to her… Something painful and horrible had happened in Teresa's past. Hope knew this for a fact, because the misery in Teresa's eyes… looked exactly like her own.

"Looks like our road trip ends here, niños!" Jorge's voice suddenly interjected. "We got a roadblock!"

It was a roadblock for sure, and not one that the truck could get passed. Not only were there multiple broken cars in the way, but the road itself was sandwiched between a tall mountain and a scary cliff. So yeah, with no possible way for the truck to be of use here, the group had to jump out of the vehicle. Carefully, the group of ten humans and one dog started walking down the road, their eyes darting around the almost ravine-looking area. As a breeze wisped Hope's hair around, a strange feeling formed in her stomach; the area itself was naturally quiet, and yet… it sounded too quiet. Hope wanted to believe that it was merely her pessimistic mind being its pessimistic self, but again, something just wasn't right. Something was off, and that feeling only got further proven when Thomas' hand suddenly snatched Hope's wrist.

"Hope," he muttered, stopping her in her tracks. "Look."

The girl didn't need words for what she was seeing. All she had to do was look at what Thomas wanted her to look at before moving her eyes toward him, both of them sharing a meaningful look once their eyes met. After walking a few feet through the rows of cars, Thomas had found something in one of the front windows of a car: a bullet hole. And now, Hope and Thomas' shared uneasiness only grew stronger. They were about to say something until-

Bang, bang! Just then, a noise that the group of teenagers now knew all too well sounded through the mountain. Bang, bang! Therefore, when the second group of bullets were shot at them, the entire group had already taken cover. Thomas had pulled Hope down to hide behind a car, while Hope grabbed Hugo to hug him close to her. Everyone else did the same, hiding behind their own car. Regardless, after Jorge sat beside the twins and the gunshots abruptly stopped, Thomas still needed to make sure. "Hey! Is everyone okay out there?!"

"We're fine!" Teresa replied optimistically, while Newt replied much more angrily.

"Does anyone know where those bloody shots came from?!"

"Son of a bitch, Marcus," Jorge growled beside Hope. The man then started digging through his bag. "Led us into an ambush."

"...T-Thomas!" Hope quietly seethed when Thomas tried to sit up. "Don't you dare!"

"I just gotta check," Thomas whispered as he peeked around the car. "I need to know where they-" Bang! Another gunshot went off, making Hope immediately pull Thomas back down to the ground. In response, Thomas ignored Hope's glare and pointed his eyes toward Jorge. "What do we do?"

"Here. Hold this," Jorge said and then casually placed a bomb into Thomas' hand. "We gotta create a diversion - get ready to chuck it."

"O-Oh my gosh..." Hope had to smile anxiously upon seeing Jorge also take out the detonator for the bomb. She placed her hands over Hugo's sensitive ears. "What has my life come to?"

"Everyone!" Jorge yelled. "Get ready to sprint back to the truck! And hold your ears!" The man then directed all of his attention back to Thomas, who was already ready to throw the bomb. "Ready? One… Two… Th-"

Click! The click of a gun went off behind the three, causing them each to freeze in place. Slowly and carefully, the three turned their bodies around to face the noise, seeing two guns and two girls looking right down at them.

"Drop it," one of the girls ordered. "Drop it now… I said drop it!" Hearing the authority in her voice, Jorge and Thomas instantly dropped the bomb and the detonator to the ground. Seeing this, the same girl had another order. "On your feet! Let's go!"

The entire group was forced to stand up, each of their hands in the air. The first girl, who was the one that talked, had dark skin and black hair, while the second girl had pale skin and blonde hair. Either way, they both had large guns pointed at the group. It was so tense that Hope needed to order Hugo five times to not attack either of the girls. However, when a certain boy caught the first girls' eye, her gun was lowered.

"A-Aris?" the first girl stuttered and then moved her bandana off from her face. "Aris, is that…"

"Oh my god!" Aris shouted with the same surprise. "Harriet?!"

"Oh my god!" 'Harriet' mimicked as she ran up to Aris to hug him. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Likewise, once Harriet broke the hug, Aris got a second one. "Sonya!"

"Aris, you're lucky we didn't shoot your dumb ass!" 'Sonya' exclaimed. "You all right, man?"

"Uhhh." Before Aris could answer, Minho's confused voice cut in. "What's happening?"

"They were in the Maze together," Hope murmured, making everyone look right at her. "Your names are Harriet and Sonya, right?"

Instead of an answer, Hope got stares from the two girls. But it wasn't a stare of anger or malice. It was a stare of utter bewilderment. The moment Harriet and Sonya's eyes met Hope's own, their eyes opened wide up and their hearts almost stopped beating. They were in so much shock that neither of them cared about personal space or the fact that Hope was a complete stranger, since their eyes were suddenly right in front of Hope's. In response, the flustered Hope could only gulp at their proximity, not knowing what the heck was going on. Right when Hope was about to ask, though, Harriet and Sonya took a step away, bewilderment still swimming within their eyes.

"There's no way," Harriet said, causing Sonya to shake her head in disagreement.

"It has to be her, though. Who else has those kinds of eyes?"

"Maybe a lot of people." Harriet shrugged. "I don't know."

"They're exactly the way she described them," Sonya furthered. "The left one's blue and the right one's brown."

"Still…" Harriet's skeptical eyes slowly looked back into Hope's. "Hey. What's your name?"

"Um," Hope shrunk underneath their intense gazes, "H-Hope?"

Clash! That single word, that single name, made Harriet and Sonya's guns fall out of their hands. Their mouths hung wide open, while their eyes were almost the same size. Hope's friends watched the scene with so much puzzlement in their expressions; even Aris had no idea what was going on. But the main thing Hope was thinking was, Do I know these people?

"G-Give the signal," Sonya told Harriet, nudging her arm. "Now."

"No problem," Harriet huffed before turning away and whistling. Loudly. "We're clear, guys! Come on out!"

"...W-Wait," Thomas cut in while walking forward to stand beside Hope. "What's going on?"

"We're taking you to the Right Arm," Sonya replied. At the same time, her eyes softened as she continued to stare into Hope's unknowing ones. "Where you belong."

With that, it seemed that the group's road trip hadn't come to an end quite yet.

Harriet and Sonya weren't the only ones. As two large trucks drove the teenagers across the mountainous area, Hope kept getting looks from anyone who got close to her (even before they got into those trucks, the looks were there). From far away, none of the strangers noticed the girl or acknowledged her. But after they got close to her - when they got close enough to see her eyes - was when Hope practically became a movie star or something. They looked at her like they needed to be respectfully cautious around her. It confused Hope and her friends greatly, because no one gave them any answers as to why. Again, even as they drove, a few strangers in the back of the truck Hope was in would sneak glances her way. Of course, Hope tried to keep her head down during the entire ordeal, not knowing how to react to such attention.

Although, in spite of her downcasted eyes, Hope thought that the one-second-long glances were caused by her: that they were being "respectfully cautious" around her. When, in reality, they were caused by Minho, Newt, and Thomas each glaring daggers at anyone who dared stare at her for too long. To say the least, whenever Hope went on a road trip, a tense situation wasn't very far away. Regardless, the group did get to their destination safely and nobody was hurt. They each jumped out of the trucks, regrouped, and then gazed out at the camp sitting before them. It wasn't a large camp, yet it was large enough for them to protect themselves. And maybe not against WICKED's full abilities, but… The teenagers were just happy to have actually found the Right Arm.

Here, they at least had some wall between them and WICKED.

"They've been planning this for over a year now," Harriet explained while she started leading the teenagers closer to camp. "This is all for us."

"You guys are lucky you found us when you did," Sonya added. "We're moving out at first light… Hey! Where's Vince?!"

A man pointed off toward the tents. "Somewhere over there, I think!"

"...Who's Vince?" Of course, Thomas was the one asking the question.

"He's the one who decides if you get to stay," Harriet answered, prompting Minho to show her a weird look.

"I thought the Right Arm was supposed to be an army."

"Yeah, we were! This is all that's left of us!" Toward the group's right came a manly voice, and with it came the voice's owner emerging from one of the tents. He had long blond hair, a good amount of facial hair, and looked pretty threatening as he walked closer to stand before the group. "A lot of good people died gettin' us this far… Who are they?"

"They're Immunes." Harriet immediately addressed when the man looked at her. "Caught 'em coming up the mountain."

The man put his hands on his hips. "You check them?"

"I know this guy: Aris. I trust him," Harriet said and then slowly moved her gaze toward Hope. "Vince, there's also-"

Before the girl could finish, however, Brenda unexpectedly fell to the ground. Jorge was the first to react, lifting Brenda up from the ground to lay her in his lap and arms. Her friends crowded around her as well, equally not knowing what the heck was wrong with her. Well, most of them merely didn't want to know the answer, since they knew what it would mean. None of them wanted that to happen to their friend, but… Brenda wasn't Vincent's friend. So when he lifted the bottom of Brenda's pant leg up to see a Crank's bite there, he went right into kill-mode.

"Crank!" Vincent shouted as he stood back up and pointed his gun right at Brenda. "We got a Crank!"

"No, no, no! Wait!" Just as quickly did Thomas block Vincent's view of Brenda. "J-Just wait, okay?! She's not dangerous yet!"

"That doesn't matter!" Vincent barked. "You shouldn't have brought her here! We let Cranks in here now, the Safe Haven doesn't last a week!"

In the background, Jorge was being held back by two men, Brenda was lying on the ground alone, the rest of the group was staring at her with fear, while Hope was grabbing Hugo by his collar and neck to keep the growling dog from attacking anyone. The dog had never been one to hurt someone; hell, he'd been scheduled to be put down for not being able to hurt a dummy. But after all of this violence, and after Hugo had formed "bonds" with the humans around him, he had become that attack dog. Hugo just never had anyone he subconsciously wanted to protect, and he didn't like hearing or seeing guns... The gun part was for obvious reasons.

"I understand, okay?!" And Thomas was trying to get Vincent to understand his reasons, too. "I understand what you're saying, but… But, please, I told her you could help her. There's gotta be something you can do."

"Yeah, there is…" Vincent nodded before he cocked his gun. "I can put her outta her misery!"

"NO!" Jorge roared. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

"VINCENT!" All of a sudden, a voice equally loud to Jorge's boomed through the area. Though, it was a woman's voice, and it came from behind Vincent. "That's enough! Let him go! Let. Him. Go!"

"There's nothing we can do, doc," Vincent told the woman, who was now standing beside him. "She's infected."

"No… But he can…" The woman's eyes found Thomas. "Hello, Thomas."

"Hope, please…"

Hope's eyes widened once she took in the woman.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

That woman was…

"Ava, who was that woman?"

She was the one Hope had met long ago.

"Her name is Mary. Mary Cooper."

The one who had brought her home.

On the other hand, Thomas hadn't remembered this woman yet. Even so, hearing that this boy was Thomas, Vincent's gun slowly lowered. The woman with brown hair, blue eyes, and a pale face stared at Thomas with knowing in her eyes. "Interesting… Makes sense they'd put you in the Maze… Though, I must admit, I was worried they'd kill you after what you did."

"What…" Thomas' eyes followed the woman when she moved to kneel beside Brenda to take her pulse, yet his confusion never left those same eyes. "What I did?"

"The first time we spoke, you said you couldn't take it anymore," Mary started to explain. "Watching your friends die, one by one. And the last time we spoke, you gave me the coordinates of every WICKED compound, trial, and lab."

"He was our source…" Vincent murmured. "Without you…"

"We couldn't have pulled all this off without him," Mary sighed with content. Then, she stood back up. "Take her to the tent… And get these guys some-"

That was when Mary's eyes finally found Hope standing in between Minho and Newt. And that was when Hope's eyes found the ground, her heart beating a hundred-miles-an-hour. For a few seconds, Mary simply stared at Hope in awe, not being able to believe what she was seeing. Again, however, no one could mistake those eyes of Hope's - not only the rare color of them, but also the way they could look so pained and so scared at the same time. Mary remembered that day like it was yesterday. The day that she'd allow Hope to re-enter her own nightmare.

"Mary…" Sonya's voice quietly cut in. "Is that really her?"

"Really who?" Vincent questioned, prompting Harreit to nod toward Hope.

"Vince, look at her eyes."

"What do you…" Once the man truly saw the girl's eyes, though, he finally understood. His own eyes widened as his gun dropped to the ground. "Holy shit."

"Are you freaking- Guys, c'mon!" Minho couldn't hold in his annoyance any longer. "Stop lookin' at her like that! Don't you see it makes her uncomfortable?!"

"Yeah!" Chuck readily agreed. "Knock it off!"

"What's your deal, anyway?" Frypan scoffed. "She didn't do nothin' wrong."

"I think that's why they're staring," Newt stated, somehow being able to read the room. "I think that… they know who Hope is."

"They do," Hope finally spoke up for the first time. Her tone was quiet and shaky. "A-At least, I know she does."

"...It's been a long time, Hope," Mary said with a kind yet uneasy smile. "How did you ever-"

"Y-You're gonna kick me out, right?" Hope inquired while taking a step back. And even with her eyes still staring down to the ground, Hope's regret and hurt was crystal clear: the way her eyes wavered, the way her body shook, and especially in the words she spoke next. "You're gonna… get angry. Y-You're gonna yell at me, because I don't deserve to be here. I'm one of them, right? I-I'm… not meant to be here. I don't belong here, because I'm-"

"You were just a kid," Mary interjected, but in a soft and caring tone. The tone made it become Hope's turn for her eyes to widen. "You had no power over who raised you."

Hope shook her head. "But I'm-"

"But you were just a kid," Mary interjected one more. "All those things that happened to you… All those terrible, horrible things that were said to you… They aren't your fault nor are they true… You had no power over those who used you for power, so I'm not going to condemn you for never winning an unfair fight." Furthermore, Mary took a step forward and placed her hand onto Hope's cheek. Her cheek was cold to the touch, but the moment the woman touched it, the skin warmed up. "You are not a tool, you are not a punching bag, and you are not a bad person. You are worthy of happiness, you are worthy of friendship, and you are worthy of love."

"Mm…" Hope let out a whimper, one full of disbelief and worry. With Mary's hand still on her cheek, and with her head still pointed downward, Hope stook her head. "I-I don't… I don't know if…"

"If you still can't believe me, then look around," Mary said softly. "Look up, Hope."

Knowing that Hope wouldn't be able to fully do it herself, Mary helped the girl by delicately moving Hope's head to the side. But although she was scared, unsure, and so very teary-eyed, Hope somehow found the courage within herself to gaze upward. To her right, where her head had already been pointed, Hope saw people; she then, suddenly, noticed that the people didn't stop, so she turned her gaze even further to the right. Still, the people kept going, so Hope had to further turn her head to figure out where the people stopped… They didn't stop, though. Hope turned her head, even body, all the way around her, yet the people never stopped. The girl did a full three-sixty look around, and yet still the people did not stop. It looked as if the whole entire Right Arm had surrounded her, each of them looking directly back at her. However, to the exact opposite of Hope's words, their eyes didn't show anger or resentment. Instead, Hope saw… something she once believed to be impossible.

"They know who you are, Hope," Mary ultimately told the girl, making Hope instantly snap her head back toward the woman. "They know that Ava Paige raised you, they know where you lived, and they know what life you lived. But, well, they… they don't look very angry, do they? They don't look like they wanna kick you out or throw you away." Mary's smile deepened. "Actually, they've been wanting to meet you for some time now, Hope. And do you know why?"

Hope could only shake her head in response.

"Because they know how lonely you've felt," Mary stated, and instinctual tears immediately started falling down from Hope's eyes. "They know about how you were rejected by everyone around you, and they don't want you to feel that way any more. They want to get to know you. They want to help you. They don't hate you… They would be more than glad… to have you in their lives."

"You have nothing!"

No.

"You have no one!"

No.

"You're the one with no potential or hope!"

No.

"You're the one that's going to be alone forever!"

No.

"Unloved, unloved, UNLOVED!"

No.

No, she wasn't alone.

Even with complete strangers around her…

Hope was not alone.

And she was not unloved.

"C'mere." Mary pulled Hope into a hug, knowing that the fragile girl was about to lose it. "You can cry. It's okay. I'll hold you. You are not a burden."

Hope wailed into Mary's chest. All of those years of abuse, hatred, and misery were coming out of Hope's eyes and mouth; her tears and her screams echoed through the valley, where they were the only thing everyone heard. After all of those years of Hope silently suffering, everyone finally heard her. And they listened to her. They accepted her. It was indescribable what Hope was feeling in those moments, since Hope had never truly felt this way before. She didn't know what this unnameable emotion should or could be called. Though, maybe, it was a mix of everything. Of every emotion humanly possible. And, once upon a time, Hope had felt absolutely nothing. She felt like she was nothing. But there she was, feeling everything and having everyone around her not see her as nothing. It was supposed to be impossible. Everything about this was supposed to be impossible, yet…

It was time for Hope to stop living in an "impossible" world.

Instead, she would live for this indescribable emotion, because it was powerful enough to free Hope from an inescapable prison.