Chapter 29
A/N: Hey, guys. Gues who's back. Back again. Fangirl's back. Tell a friend. Just a little Slim Shady humour there, but, yeah, I'm trying to get back into writing fanfiction again. I'd like to thank everyone for their support, and special thanks to Camux for your review. Truly the last spark to bring back my motivation. I know how it feels to read a fanfiction and have it just stop in the middle. So this chapter is for all you guys who were waiting. Sorry for the wait. Enjoy!
You stand there, surveying the office. It looks just the same as it did in your memory, except for the view:
The way you remember it, the city outside looked as grand and lively as ever but now, looking through the huge window with the Chancellor, you see a huge wall circling around what remains of the city which is now half the size it used to be. The city looks just as great and shiny if you focus on the big fancy buildings but outside the wall, even within the walls near the edge, it's dirty and desolate. Outside the walls has a selection of burnt and broken buildings as if none of them had been saved from demolition. Demolition from what though? You ask yourself, I wonder what's happening.
"Now, Y/N," Chancellor Paige says as she sits in her fancy chair behind her desk, "please sit down," she gestures to a seat on the other side of the desk.
The same desk as when you and Teresa were here, and the same chairs, the same everything. You want to ask the Chancellor about the city outside; but when you open your mouth to speak, she puts up a finger to silence you and instead asks,
"Do you remember who I am?"
"Not really" you say truthfully, "I remember being here for the first time though."
"Very good," she says, and you can't contain your questions anymore and they just burst out:
"Who are you? Who am I? Where am I? Why did you bring me here? What is this 'task' that I need to do? Is there a way to escape the Maze? And why did you put a bunch of kids in the Maze?"
"Now, now, Y/N. Your questions will be answered in good time, have patience. But I will answer some of them now."
She stands up and starts pacing around the room as she continues,
"I am Chancellor Ava Paige—"
"I'm aware."
"Do not interrupt me, child," she turns abruptly and points an accusing finger at you. You raise your hands in defense and mutter an apology.
She continues, no longer pacing, "I am head of WICKED, you are in WICKED's headquarters," she starts counting off her fingers as she answers your questions, "There is a way out of the Maze, you are here to ensure you can complete your task—one on which I will later elaborate. The kids are in the Maze as part of an experiment. And, most importantly," she slammed her hands down on the desk in front of you, looking you dead in the eye, "you are a subject of the experiment, probably the most important subject of them all."
You sit there and stare at her, not sure how to respond and, frankly, a bit startled by her suddenly slapping her hands on the desk. You recover and ask,
"Why me?"
"Because you tested well and you volunteered."
"Well count me out. I'm done with all the memory loss, the freaky creatures, and that damn Maze. If I had a nickel for every time I was trapped out there at night, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice; especially considering the fact that no one survives a night in the Maze."
"But you did. That just goes to show that you're special."
"No!" you stand up and move a bit back to get Ava Paige's face out of your face.
"Tell me," you say, matching the Chancellor with your hands on the table, now you're in her face, "Do you control the Grievers?"
"Sometimes, they mainly do their own thing, but we can. Why?"
"Exactly," you straighten up again and start pacing back and forth across the room while you start working things out,
"If no one can survive a night in the Maze because the Grievers come to kill them and I survived, people think I'm a spy for you people because, how else could I have survived? I was left questioning my survival as well. I mean, a Griever literally had me in its grasp and it let me go. I could have died, I should have died, I didn't do anything different to survive, I'm not 'special', I'm just a girl in a Maze of boys. I didn't survive because I'm really good at evading Grievers all night, I survived because you kept me alive, you made the Griever release me."
You pause, thinking, "Why?"
You pause again, "Why do you think I'm special enough to keep alive?!"
You stop pacing and look at the Chancellor, breathing a little bit heavily. You expect her to give some answers—or maybe you actually know she wouldn't give you a good answer—as you catch her face somewhat surprised by everything you'd just said. She composes herself really quickly and smiles a secretive smile, almost like she's trying to make you think you can trust her but also partially teasing you because she knows something you want to know and she won't tell you.
"You'll find out soon enough, dear," she says before walking around the desk to stand next to you. She puts her arm around your shoulder and squeezes you in a hug.
This damn woman must be stupid if she thinks I'll trust her, you think before she releases the hug, not removing her arm from your shoulder.
"Come walk with me," she says as she pulls you toward her door, "I'll tell you just why you're special."