Inches

Light. White light.

Most would say that light was a good thing, that it illuminated your path as you traversed through the darkness. But how about when light wasn't needed? When your path was already lit-up for you? Again, maybe most would say that you could never have too much light. At least it wasn't more darkness, right? Although… Sometimes, too much light could blind you. Sometimes, darkness was the only way of hiding from those who wanted to hurt you. From where the sun had fully set, white lights arose from the horizon. The lights got closer and closer with each passing second, getting brighter and brighter. But because the sun had fully sunk, the lights were so bright; the world was so dark that any light could easily shine through the darkness. Thus, there was nowhere for anyone to hide. The white lights getting closer, made them unable to be unseen.

There was also low rumbling sound that kept getting lowder and lowder. The sound even started to shake the mountains, almost like the rock was anticipating what was about to transpire. Moreover, after everything those teenagers had gone through, they knew this sound and feeling pretty well. It didn't take them, or the Right Arm, very long to figure out who was about to make their grand entrance. Therefore, everyone in the camp started shouting, commanding people to ready their arms. Likewise, Newt and Hope, who were still standing at the top of the hill, were confused by the sudden shouting, but they too knew exactly what the rumbling and those lights were coming from.

"We just got here," Newt scoffed. "Can't we catch a bloody break?"

"Not yet, I guess," Hope sighed and then looked back up at Newt. "You should go help everyone. I need to go find Thomas."

"Wait, what?" Immediately when Hope tried to run off, Newt caught hold of her wrist and turned her back around. "Why do you need to find Thomas?"

"Because he's not down there with everyone," Hope explained, causing Newt's expression to turn even more confused.

"How do you know that?"

"I-I just do… It's a twin thing."

"Okay, well, 'twin thing' or not, I'm coming with you."

"You can't."

"Um, I'm not asking for per-"

"They need as many people as they can get down there! Chuck, Minho, Fry - they all need you!" Hope's tone became stricter. "But Thomas isn't with them, so I need to make sure he's okay! It'll only take a little bit!"

"Hope," Newt glared into her eyes, "if you get hurt…"

"I won't," Hope stated. "I'll be fine, okay? I'll be with Thomas."

"That doesn't make me feel much better, but…" Newt huffed. "Fine. But find me first once you get him."

Hope nodded. "You got it! It's a- Mn?!"

"...Come back to me, okay?" Newt whispered after abruptly giving her a quick kiss. "And don't do anything stupid."

"O-Okay, um…" Hope stammered as Newt walked past her, a deep blush on her features. However, hearing the aircraft's rumbling get even closer, she promptly snapped out of her trance with a shake of her head. "Okay. I gotta go find Thomas!"

Hope hadn't been lying: it was a twin thing. For whatever reason, Hope could feel that something was off. She could feel that something had happened to Thomas, and that it was causing him a lot of turmoil. Hence, Hope ran as fast as she could to where she swore she'd had seen Thomas walk off to. Not too long ago, Hope had seen him sitting with his friends by camp before he'd suddenly stood up and walked off in the direction Hope was now. But before Hope could find Thomas, Thomas found her.

"Hope!" Thomas shouted once he ran out from behind a large wall of rock. He sprinted right up to her, placing his hands on either of her upper-arms. "W-WICKED, they're-"

"They're here, I know!" Hope said. "Everyone else is at camp right now, so we should-"

BOOM! Light. Orange light. Two helicopters had finally made their entrances, both of them shooting down large explosives from above. The impacts caused mushrooms of fire, rock, and released pressure to rise up from the ground. BOOM! Yells and screams erupted from the camp, while the twins could only stare down at that same camp with fear in their eyes. They were still standing on a hill overlooking that camp, and yet they still felt the hot, burning flames from the explosives. BOOM! Their bodies lit-up orange against the fiery light, their eyes were almost unable to look in spite of how bright WICKED was lighting everything up. But once the explosive-attacks stopped, something else came from the rumbling helicopters. And this 'something' made Hope take an instinctual step back.

"I-It can't be…" Hope gasped. "Why would she…"

Soldiers dropped down from the helicopters, each of them wearing armor and wielding a large gun. There was one soldier, however, that had neither of that: they wore no protective gear, and their weapon of choice were two black tonfas. From all the way up on that hill, Hope could see their blonde, buzz-cut hair, pale skin, and intense-looking face. Hope didn't want to believe it, but her body couldn't mistake that body for anyone else's. Exactly like how Hope had taken an instinctual step back, she instinctively knew when she was around. She'd know who that person was with only a second-long glance.

Mara.

Mara had come to take her home.

"...Holy shit," Thomas cursed after witnessing the soldiers start to tase and shoot everyone they saw. Although, his curse was mostly directed at the same girl Hope's mind was occupied by. "Who the heck is that? Th-They're taking down five men by themselves! Without even a gun!"

"Her name… is Mara," Hope stuttered, making Thomas whip his head toward her in surprise. "And I have no idea who she is."

This person taking down five men, then six men, then seven men, then eight men with ease wasn't somebody that Hope knew. The only 'Mara' Hope ever knew was the girl who came back home to Ava every night, her eyes gradually turning darker and darker with each passing day. But this Mara - the Mara destroying everyone in her path - was someone Hope had never met before. This was a soldier. This was a raging hurricane. This wasn't a simple girl. This was…

"M-My word is pitch-black."

Even after those years…

"I'm trapped in this pitch-black world."

Hope still remembered word-for-word what Mara had said to her.

"I have nothing."

She remembered the pure misery on Mara's face.

"I'm… I'm sick."

So this person destroying everything in her path…

"Why am I sick?"

Must have been the product of Mara's sickness.

"W-We have to go down there, Thomas," Hope said, placing her fingers onto his sleeve. "We can't let them go down alone."

"I know." Thomas then moved to wrap his hand around Hope's. "Together forever, right?"

Despite everything, Hope managed to smile. "Right."

With that, the two ran down the mountain hand-in-hand. They made sure to keep their heads down, use anything they could as cover, and try to assure that nobody could see them or shoot them down. Once they got to camp, though, it got quite hard to hide anywhere, since almost everything was on fire. The two tried to find a hiding spot within the darkness, yet the blinding light made it hard to see anything besides it. Luckily, that was when somebody grabbed both of their shoulders from behind.

"You dumbasses!" Brenda spat as she pulled them backwards. She led them over to where Jorge was hiding behind a truck, showing the twins a glare once they were crouching beside one another. "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?!"

"We have to go!" Jorge shouted through the other Right Arm's shouts. "Now, while we still have a chance!"

"Yeah," Thomas nodded, "I'll go find the others!"

"No! NO!" When Thomas tried to stand up, Jorge instantly grabbed a hold of his collar to sit him back down. "Thomas, look! Look at this! You can't help them!"

Unlike Thomas, Hope hadn't stopped staring at the war before her. There were so many people yelling, screaming, and it made Hope want to cry. The Right Arm only wanted to help people, to save the children caged for things they had no control over. So to see their generosity and hard work go down the drain oh-so easily, made Hope want to scream. Furthermore, wherever the girl looked, she couldn't see Hugo anywhere; she couldn't hear him barking or whining. Last time she'd seen her dog, he had been with Chuck, but that boy was nowhere to be seen either. Hope could only pray that the two were all right. But upon praying for such a thing, it seemed that God had taken it too literally, because Chuck and Hugo may have been fine, but the rest of her friends… had been taken down.

"No…" Hope's words came out as a cry when she saw WICKED take down Fry, Minho, Vincent, and Newt in one full swing. "T-Thomas, they're gonna…"

"I'm sorry," Jorge apologized to the two, "but there's just nothing you can do for them. If we don't move now, we won't be much better off."

Thomas glanced over into Hope's eyes, and Hope glanced over into Thomas'. At that moment, the two were thinking the same exact thing. They didn't need words to say what they were feeling.

"You guys gotta go right now," Thomas said while he turned back to Brenda and Jorge. "They're not looking for you."

"You'll be safe," Hope added with a smile on her face. "You'll be okay."

"Thomas… Hope…" Brenda shook her head. "You can't be…"

"We can't leave without them," Thomas murmured. "So go."

"Thanks for everything," Hope beamed. "Really, you two are the best. Protect each other for us, okay?"

"...I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry," Jorge sighed before gently grabbing into Brenda's arm. "C'mon, Bren. We have to go."

Brenda didn't want to leave the two of them. She didn't want to leave the boy who had saved her life twice, or the girl that only wanted what was best for everyone else. It was selfish of her to leave, but… she couldn't leave Jorge, either. Wherever Jorge was, Brenda wanted to be right there next to him. So if he was going to leave, then she had to as well. Thus, Brenda allowed the man to pull her up and away from the twins. She even had to look away from their faces, because she couldn't stand how friendly they looked. Those two… were too good for a world like this. They didn't deserve the responsibility and pain that they had forced upon them.

Similarly, Thomas was about to take up another responsibility. A responsibility that would lead him to even more pain. Beside his leg, Thomas noticed something familiar sitting there: the bomb that Jorge had tried to use earlier that day. He didn't want to use it - Thomas didn't want to die after all he'd done to survive. But he couldn't go back there. He couldn't allow himself to be controlled by WICKED for another second. Hence, before Hope could notice, Thomas grabbed the bomb to place it into his pocket. The thought of death was scary, yet the thought of going back to WICKED… was worse than death.

"Thomas," Hope's soft voice sang into his ringing ears, "we're going to join them, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Thomas said and then looked over at Hope. "Are you scared?"

"Nuh-uh." Hope shook her head. "I mean, a little bit, but… We have no other choice."

"We've lost."

"Pretty much."

"You… don't sound too defeated for someone who's lost."

"I'm used to losing," Hope stated, finally staring her eyes back into Thomas'. "If we won, I'd be more surprised. Sad, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry," Thomas apologized once more. "I-I'm sorry that we couldn't spend more time together… like a family."

"I'm thankful for the time we've spent together, even if it was only for a little bit," Hope remarked. "I don't regret a thing. Not anymore."

Thomas took a deep breath. "Together forever?"

"Heh," Hope let out a sudden chuckle, "there's no way we can't be together, Thomas. Even if we're apart - even if there's miles of land between us - there's nothing that can truly rip us apart. That's just how twins are: we can feel each other without even touching."

"Is that true," Thomas' eyes turned confused, "or just superstition?"

"Who knows," Hope replied with a snicker. "Though, it does sound comforting, doesn't it?

"Yeah…" Thomas sighed. "Comforting."

There was always darkness in the light, but the darkness wasn't always a bad thing. It was merely the way you looked at the darkness that determined its meaning. In this case, the darkness gave the twins a chance to have their final conversation… before they'd be ripped apart once more.

"Line 'em up! Right here!" a masked soldier ordered his comrades. "Put some eyes up on that ridge!"

Every single teenager and adult were lined up, each of them on their knees. One of the helicopters continued to fly above them to keep its light shining onto the dark spots below, while the other helicopter was parked on the ground; the second was Janson's helicopter, so said man was now standing before his handy work with a proud smile on his face. He positively loved seeing the entire Right Arm on their knees and at his mercy. They had tried to win, those teenagers had tried to escape, yet he had stopped each one of them. This was how it was supposed to be. This was his hope for a better future. Jason would never let that go, because those kids were all he had left. Without them, his hope would be gone, and Janson couldn't live with that.

"How many did we get?" Jason asked his right-hand man.

"All of them," the man answered, looking down at his tablet. "Give or take."

Janson raised an eyebrow. "'Give or take' what?"

"Well," the man shrugged, "they lost a few."

Vince cringed when he heard that. After all that fighting, after all that sacrificing, they had still lost. That wasn't what hurt him the most, though. It was the sight of the kids being treated like cattle: the WICKED soldiers were checking their tags, numbering them off as if they didn't have actual names. But, at the same time, that was just reality. To WICKED, that was all those children were to them: numbers. If they did ever find a cure, they would name it after the kid's number and not their name. They wouldn't even give credit to the kid, since it was their yearsof scientific work that created a cure. And the rest of the children? They were merely failures to WICKED. After all that pain WICKED had put those kids into, they'd let them go like nothing had ever happened. They'd throw those kids back onto the streets, because they just weren't needed anymore.

Finding a cure wouldn't heal the years of pain WICKED had put them through. WICKED may one day free their bodies, but their minds would never be able to escape the horrors of their pasts. Nobody could heal such deep scars, except… Well, except for…. Vince may have only known them for a few hours, yet that fact was also a testimony to his sudden realization. Those five boys - Chuck, Frypan, Minho, Newt, and Thomas - were not broken. In their five pairs of eyes, Vince never saw the same pain that the other immune-children always had. The other children, when the Right Arm would first save them, didn't have life in their eyes; they were just husks of their old selves. So why and how were those five boys different? How were they able to stay so alive after all that WICKED had done to them? Even now, as WICKED numbered off Frypan, Minho, and Newt, Vince didn't see fear or a lifeless anger in their eyes. He saw three boys who were teaming with vengeful life. Somehow, they had been…

Who in this dark, gross world… had healed them?

"Hey!" Just then, Janson's voice cut-through Vincet's thoughts. "Where's Thomas and Hope?!"

"...Right here!" two voices rang out through the camp. They had come from behind the rows of teenagers, and since nobody wanted to believe that the owners of those voices would be here, they each looked back in shock. But when they all saw Hope and Thomas standing there, their shocked disbelief turned into sadness.

"Freeze!" Almost immediately were WICKED soldiers aiming their guns at the twins. "Move forward! Let's go!"

With no other choice, the two put their hands up and walked forward. And once they reached the front of the rows, where Janson was already waiting for them, the man's smile brightened. "Ah, Thomas!"

"...Thomas!" Hope yelped in pain, yet she hadn't been the one gut-punched by Janson. Although, she was the one about to be put on display, so her predicament was about to get much worse. "W-Why are you-?!"

"Put him in line!" Janson commanded, which made Thomas get thrown onto the ground and into line beside his friends. Janson then looked his eyes into Hope's bewildered ones, his scary smile deepening. "Hope! Lovely to see you again. I was a little saddened that we couldn't speak back at the compound, so I held out hope that we could in the future... Glad that my prayer was answered."

"J-Janson…" Hope gulped. "Why is she here?"

"'She'? Oh, do you mean Mara?" Janson inquired, and a few people's eyes widened upon hearing that name. "Don't you already know? She's here to see you, Hope. Mara's been quite… violent without you." Janson noticed something off to his left, making his eyes light-up. "Speak of the devil! There she is!"

From the darkness, Mara stepped out into the light. Seeing her stepping toward her, a fury within her eyes, Hope automatically started stepping away. "M-Mara, whatever you're about to do, I wouldn't-"

SLAP! It was almost as if the helicopter flying in the air stopped working; like its rotor blades had suddenly stopped rotating, causing the loud rumbling to cease. Because the sound of Mara's hand connecting to Hope's cheek, shouldn't have sounded that loud with the helicopter flying just above everyone. That slap was the only thing everyone heard. The sound echoed through the camp, almost like Mara had hit a drum. But when the initial shock ceased, and the wave of sound passed through everyone's body, the helicopter's rotor blades started rotating again. They started rumbling again, almost like to signal the eruption about to occur.

"HEY!" Thomas was the first to bark. "Don't touch-!"

Thomas was pulled back down by a guard when he tried to stand back up, while Frypan, Minho, and Newt had the same thing done to them. Thomas had always been more vocal about his feelings, while the three of them had always been more action-prone. Or, well, they simply didn't know how to voice their feelings. Regardless, they each had the same exact expression on their faces: pure, unadulterated rage.

"What was that for, huh?!" When Minho was allowed to act, though, he got very vocal. "Just because your face ain't pretty doesn't mean you got the right to touch hers!"

"That slinthead…" Newt cursed under his breath, which caught the attention of Siggy beside him.

"You know this guy, Newt?"

"That's not a guy, Fry." Newt's eyes darkened. "That's a girl."

"How do you know?"

"She was the girl in Hope's dreams… The one who made her dreams turn into nightmares."

"...Well I'll be," Siggy scoffed, glaring back over at Mara. "Didn't think I could hate this girl even more than I already do."

"You're an idiot!" Mara's voice abruptly sliced into the air. It was full of as much rage as what those four boys were feeling. "You think you're better than this?! That you deserve to be free?! You belong to WICKED, just like the rest of us!"

"Mara…" Hope's own voice was quiet. It was barely a squeak, and yet everyone could hear it. The girl placed her hand against her throbbing cheek, her head still pointed to where Mara had slapped it to. "Mara, you shouldn't."

Mara's nails dug into her palms, making them bleed. "Shouldn't do what?!"

"Your friends are watching," Hope said while glancing her blue eye into Mara's. "Aris… H-Harriet… Sonya… They're all right there…"

The world widened when Mara's eyes widened, and that same world turned as she looked her eyes to her left. Beside Thomas, Minho, Newt, and Fry, Mara saw three certain people. Their eyes were as wide as Mara's, but the fear in their eyes was nothing compared to Mara's. Hope had never seen Mara so scared before. Not since that night, at least. But from the way Aris had once described Mara to her, he didn't show any signs of anger or resentment. Instead, Aris talked about Mara with an open heart, which meant that… Mara had made actual friends with the other girls in her Maze. She had truly cared about them. At that moment, Hope saw another side of Mara she'd never seen before. Not only was she a skilled soldier, but Mara also had the capacity to care. And for other people to care about her.

Maybe, even after all those years together, Hope had never really met the true Mara.

"W-Why the hell should I care?!" However, that 'true Mara' wasn't going to be easy to find: it only took a few seconds for her heart to become caged once more. The girl glared back at Hope, pure hatred in her eyes. "It's not like the relationships we made in the Maze even matter! They mean nothing in the real world! They're pointless!"

"Mara, here, is correct," Janson chimed in. "Nothing you kids have ever done has mattered, because you have always failed. In the end, it doesn't matter how many people you associate yourselves with, or who you chose to side with. In the end, you will always lose if you try to run from the inevitable." Janson then turned to his second-in-command to whisper to him. "Bring her in."

"...Mara!" Just then, Sonya's voice was heard shouting into the air. Both Mara and Hope looked toward her, and there they saw the utmost dejected expression. "H-How could you say that it doesn't matter?! We were in the Maze together! Trapped together by them!"

"You were the one that saved us, Mara," Aris continued. "You're the whole reason we got out of the Maze."

"How could you pick them over us…?" Harriet's voice was quieter, yet it seemed to hit Mara harder than Sonya's and Aris'. "I… We cared about you, Mara. You were our friend. All those things that happened… Do they really mean nothing to you?"

"You act like I'm the bad guy here," Mara said, her tone changing from anger to monotone. "You're no better than me."

"They're not the ones going against their own people," Vince suddenly acknowledged. "I mean, I get crappy adults being crappy to children. But you've been through the same things they have. And yet you still side with them? Do you want to see your friends in pain?"

"You have no room to be talking about causing other people pain, Vince," Mara muttered. "You gave your own children pain by abandoning them."

Not only had Vince been silenced, but it almost looked as if he'd been stabbed as well. A deep, deep pain washed over his features, almost like blood spilling over his body. Even Mary, who was kneeling beside him, had the same exact expression on her own face. So no, this wasn't a stab. It wasn't a knife stabbing through his skin. What Vince was feeling was someone slowly yet precisely slicing open his heart. Mara knew exactly where Vince's heart hurt the most, and she did not care about exploiting that pain. She ripped that part of Vincent's heart right out before squishing it in her hand.

Yeah, it seemed like Mara hadn't lost her touch… And neither had her mother.

A/N: Reminder that I do not own 'Maze Runner' or any of its characters. I only own Hope, who is in a pretty rough spot right now. Which... is kinda always the case.