Bilbo knew from the second Thorin walked into his home that he had found his soulmate. One single word, Gandalf, and Bilbo recognized the voice he had been dreaming about since he was old enough to know about soulmate dreams. When he had imagined this moment in his head, he always thought there would be soft looks and touches, undying confessions, a flower or two. Instead he got: he looks more like a grocer than a burglar. 

Bilbo couldn’t exactly blame him. Not after learning the truth. He had wondered how it worked. If every person in Middle Earth was blessed with the gift of their soulmate’s voice in their head, what in the world did Bilbo sound like to his? Did he have a voice? Or was it more like silence accompanied with vague images? On the Carrock, after Bilbo had saved Thorin’s life and earned his respect finally, Thorin confided in him.

“Of course I hear my soulmate’s voice.” He chuckled. “Why kind of person couldn’t…I’m sorry. I didn’t think. Can…you not…?”

Bilbo was quick to shake his head, signing his answer with his hands. He may have been born without vocal cords, but he had a knack for picking up language. Whether it was some sort of magic granted to him for his disability or Bilbo just had a talent for it, he knew not. It had just been a couple of weeks on the road that Bilbo was able to confidently sign to Bifur in Iglishmek, much to the elation of the dwarf.

I hear them. I worry they don’t hear me.

Thorin nodded, gently patting Bilbo’s back. “I’m sorry all the same. No person should have to worry if they have a soulmate or not.”

Tell me what they sound like? Please.

Thorin took a long drag from his pipe, releasing it in the form of a perfect gray ring.

“He doesn’t sound dwarvish, of that I can be certain. There’s…a lithe to his voice that makes him sound jovial, content, appreciative of the smaller things in life. My brother used to tease me that he thought my soulmate was an elf, but I was always certain that wasn’t the case.”

Why?

“Just the thoughts he would have. I don’t think he’s had an easy life, but…”

Thorin looked so downhearted, it caused something in Bilbo to ache at the sight. Even though it broke him to know Thorin heard someone, he wanted to do whatever he could to alleviate that pain.

You can tell me.

Thorin nodded. “I’m sorry. For how I’ve been treating you. His thoughts have changed, and I took out my frustration on you. That was uncalled for.”

Bilbo didn’t sign again, but he placed his hand on Thorin’s forearm, and patted it. Letting him know that he was there for him if he wished to continue. The dwarf tensed under the touch, before relaxing, an appreciative smile touching his lips.

“I’m afraid there’s someone else, and the part that irritates me the most is he doesn’t feel worthy of this person. All his thoughts are centered around ‘does he think I’m good enough’ or ‘I hope he doesn’t hate me’.” Thorin’s hands ran through his hair as he gave a mirthless laugh. “I’ve waited years just to meet him. And here I am on a quest that I might not make it back from, and all I want to do is run to him. Wherever he is, and say ‘You will always be good enough for me. I would give you all that I can and more. Don’t settle for him, give me a chance.’”

Thorin sighed as he gave Bilbo a miserable smirk. “I don’t know. Am I just the most pathetically hopeless romantic you’ve ever heard?”

Bilbo gave a soundless laugh as he quickly shook his head, tears escaping without his consent. Thorin winced slightly at the sight.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Master Baggins.”

Bilbo shook his head harder as his fingers flew.

I’m not sad. Want you to be happy.

Thorin ducked his head at that, but his eyes almost seemed to burn with pleasure. Bilbo wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell him so badly, but what if Thorin didn’t believe him? After all, Bilbo didn’t have a voice to match the one in his head. Even though it sounded exactly like the thoughts he had towards the beginning of their quest. His fingers tightened into fists around each other, and Bilbo suddenly understood the phrase ‘tongue-tied’. 

“In any case, I suppose it doesn’t matter now. I can’t do anything about it until after the quest anyways…but I do appreciate you listening to this foolish old dwarf.”

Thorin.

“Thorin, it’s time to change those bandages, lad.” Oin called out, causing both Bilbo and Thorin to swivel towards the rest of the Company.

Thorin grimaced as he tapped out his ashes and stood once more. He gave Bilbo one last look, opened his mouth like he was going to say something, before shaking it quickly.

“Get some rest, Burglar. I’m sure tomorrow will be a long day for us all.”

Bilbo watched Thorin walk back towards the camp, and his fingers flew in his lap as he curled in on himself miserably.

It’s me. I love you. It’s me. I love you. It’s me. I love you.

He wasn’t aware of anyone else until Bifur kicked softly at his foot. Bilbo gasped and looked up sharply.

You tell him.

Bilbo shook his head wildly. 

No. Not now. Don’t tell, please.

Bifur grumbled about it making a few more points on how idiotic he thought it was before finally nodding. Bilbo couldn’t help sighing in relief. Thorin was right. The quest needed to be their focus right now. He could tell Thorin after the quest, once he had regained Erebor. That way either he would accept the truth of it, or at least when he sent him away, there wasn’t any lingering guilt over leaving them to face a fire-breathing dragon. 

Bilbo settled down for bed that night, trying to convince himself he was okay with this. However, for the first time in his life, he prayed to the Valar that he wouldn’t hear Thorin’s voice that night. Because he didn’t know how he could handle Thorin’s thoughts going out to a soulmate he loved so much without ever once suspecting it was the very hobbit he hired.

“Well,” Jeff finally relented, “We have no idea,”

“What do you mean you have no idea? You’re the bloody med-jacks! it’s your job to know what’s wrong with him and fix him!” Newt yelled.

“Hey! Hey, we got our jobs the same way everybody else did, it’s not like we knew that much about fixing people up before this, so slim it will ya,” Clint said, standing up for his partner. Newt snarled, fists clenched at his sides. If it hadn’t been for Minho laying a hand on his shoulder he would have done something he would end up regretting.

“Come on man, let’s go get you some food, when was the last time you ate anything?” Minho said trying to pull Newt away from the med-jacks, “You will be the first person to know when he wakes up,” Minho forced Newt to turn away from the two boys and they started off to the homestead.

“You too girlie,” Minho shouted over his shoulder at Teresa. She shot Minho a glare but followed nonetheless. The three sat alone, Minho being the one who actually ate anything. Newt was too concerned about Thomas to eat and Teresa was trying to figure the blond out.

“Why do you care for him so much? You just met him,” She asked.

“It’s none of your business,” Newt snapped, angrily stabbing at a piece of carrot.

“Actually Newt, I’m kinda curious about that too. I mean the guy literally just showed up and within a day you guys were all buddy-buddy. You’ve never been that close with anyone, not even me,” Minho commented.

“Look I don’t know what you expect me to say, there’s just something special about him. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s like when I’m with him something inside me clicks. It sounds buggin’ weird, but I don’t know how else to say it,” Newt said with a soft sigh. He just felt so broken in that moment and he didn’t know why.

“Oh my god...” Teresa gasped.

“What? You remember something?” Minho asked.

“Yeah,” she started with a slow nod, “I’m going to try something, but I don’t know if it will work,”

“Try what?”

“Shh! Newt?” Teresa asked the sulking boy, “You look bloody amazing for three in the fucking morning,”

Whatever Teresa had expected to happen, didn’t. Newt continued to stare at her, angry confusion marring his normally neutral face.

“Was that supposed to do something? Because I feel so shucking better now,” Newt asked, sarcasm dripping from each word.

“Well, I guess not,” Teresa said, shoulders slumping in defeat.

“Come on, if neither of you are going to eat let’s just get back to the map room and back to work,” Minho grunted, not liking the tension between his two companions. Newt and Teresa grumbled quietly, but stopped when Minho shot them a frustrated glare.

The trio made their way back into the wooded area, they were almost to the map room when an ear shattering scream pierced their ears. Newt’s head whipped around so fast he nearly lost his balance.

“Tom-” Newt began to call, but just as Thomas had nearly an hour earlier, he fell to the ground, hands buried in his golden hair clutching at his skull in pain.

“Newt!” Minho shouted as his friend crumpled to the ground. He rushed to Newt’s side trying to determine the cause of the collapse.

“T- Tommy…” Newt whispered before succumbing to unconsciousness.

“Come on, we should get him to the med hut,” Teresa said, placing a gentle hand on Minho’s shoulder. The Asian boy bent his head in silent acknowledgement and picked Newt up bridal style moving to take him to the med hut. He laid the British boy on the bed adjacent to Thomas, a deep, sigh escaped his lips, Newt had been right about it being a long fucking day.

He found Teresa waiting for him just outside, leaning against a tree, brow furrowed in thought. Minho walked past her, expecting her to follow him to where ever he was going. He ended up leading them back to the map room hoping they would actually make there this time.

“Alright talk,” Minho prompted, dropping into one the few chairs in the room,

“Well, when blondie said he felt a click when he was with Tom, I remembered something the creators did before sending him into the maze,” she stated softly, almost ashamed at the memory. “Though I’m not what happened to Mr. Sunshine to cause him to pass out,”

“What did they do?” Minho barked.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I remember over hearing someone talking about how they made Newt Thomas’ perfect half, and vise versa. I remember that before sending anyone into the maze the creators did a wipe, basically locking away any and all memories of life before the maze in the far reaches of our minds. Though it is possible to regain those memories, sometimes a word, phrase, or action can do it. Which is what happened with Tom, I think. Knowing that even the smallest thing could bring the memories back the creators were careful, making sure that nothing could accidentally prompt someone remembering. I think that’s why they waited so long to send Tom in, they knew Newt would be the trigger for Tom’s memories,”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even understand how they could make someone a perfect half for someone else. It just sounds invasive,” Teresa finished.

“So you’re telling me that the creators, WCKD people, they made Newt and Thomas , what soul mates? How is that even possible? Why would they do that to them? Force them to be together? What if they ended up hating each other and then being forced to be together?”

“They did it because they saw that Newt and Thomas had a deep connection before they were sent into the maze. They did it to save them,” Teresa said, eyes glazed over as if someone were making her say the words she was saying.

“Save them? The fuck does that mean?”

“I told you, I don’t know. Now you want to show me what you were gonna show us earlier before Tom passed out or not?”

“Yeah, just one more question, what is Thomas to you?”

“He’s like my little brother,”

Minho reluctantly accepted this answer and got up to go get the maps. He laid them all out on the center table for Teresa to look at. The two teens spent the next hour just pouring over the maps, looking for something, anything that could be a clue on how to get out of there. Minho was just about ready to collapse in frustration when a sharp knock on the door drew his attention away from the maps. Teresa looked up with a start, not realizing how long she had been staring at the blasted maps.

“Well, are you going to answer it?” she quipped, as the knocking continued and Minho just sat there. Minho stared at the door, still not fully processing what was happening, his brain not functioning properly after pouring over the maps for so long. Teresa just rolled her eyes and went to open the door herself since the runner didn’t seem to be capable of such a simple task.

“What?” she asked as she opened the door.

“They’re awake,” was all that Jeff said before Minho was on his feet and out the door, shoving Jeff out of the way none too gently.

“Sorry about that,” Teresa said before rushing off after Minho. She found Minho standing outside the med hut, hand frozen halfway to the handle.

“Aren’t you going to go in?” she asked when she finally caught up.

“Y-yeah, it’s just…”

“Just what? Afraid of what they might have remembered?” Teresa prompted. Minho let out a slow breath and nodded.

“Don’t be afraid of that, if anything, them remembering is going to be a good thing,” Teresa reassured. Minho nodded once more and finally opened the door.

Newt and Thomas were both sitting on Thomas’ bed. Newt was holding Thomas as the brunette cried softly into Newt’s shoulder. Newt also had tears trickling down his cheeks, but he didn’t seem to notice as he comforted Thomas.

“Hey, you guys okay?” Minho asked, voice sounding hoarse and strained. Newt looked up at his friend but remained silent, his expression unreadable. The blond leaned down and whispered something in Thomas’ ear causing the shorter boy to tighten his hold on Newt and bury his face deeper into the slim yet well toned shoulder. Teresa and Minho spared a glance at each other, it was clear Thomas was not okay.

“Do you guys need some more time? We can come back later,” Teresa suggested. She wasn’t sure if either boy was in any state to talk about what they just went through. Minho looked ready to protest that, but another look at Thomas sobbing into Newt’s shoulder told him it was best if they left.

Newt gave them a short nod, he wanted to get Thomas calmed down before anyone started interrogating them.

“Okay, we’ll be right outside when you’re ready to talk to us,” Teresa said, gently concern lacing her words. She grabbed Minho’s wrist and lead him outside, leaving the two crying boys alone for the time being.

“They’re gone Tommy, it’s just me now,” Newt murmured into the brunette’s ear. He wasn’t sure if Thomas heard him, but the hold around his waist lessened so he assumed Thomas had heard him.

“I can’t believe I helped them put you in here,” Thomas said so quietly newt would have missed it if he hadn’t been as close to Thomas as he was. “And your sister! And everyone! God, why did I do it? I didn’t want to, but they made me,” Thomas sobbed, voice cracking under the stress of remembering everything.

“Shhh, hey now, breathe, breathe, it’ll be alright,” Newt soothed. He knew Thomas hadn’t wanted to help the scientists that put them here, he remembered Thomas telling him how they had threatened him if he didn’t help. But none of that was what was bothering Newt. No, the memory that was now plaguing his thoughts was about a test he had undergone just one day before they sent him into the maze.

“Tommy?” Newt asked.

“Ye- yeah?” Thomas answered through a hiccup.

“You know none of this is your fault right? Those people made you do it, made all of us do things that we didn’t want to. They did things to us, all of us, including you, you have no right to blame yourself,”

“But- but your sister? Your leg? I was part of the reason this all happened! How can you not be mad at me, not hate me?”

“Because I remember all the good times we had together, how you would always tell me you wished we just runaway, just the two of us. You would tell me about how much you hated being forced to do those things, you would show me the bruises you would get when you fought against them. You didn’t want this, you always tried to stop the creators, this was not your fault,”

“I remember that too, I also remember that just before you were sent into the maze they took you and did something to you, I could never find out what,” Thomas said softly.

“You remember that?” Newt seemed surprised at the confession.

“Yeah, they wouldn’t let me anywhere near you after. And the day after you were sent here they took me and did something to me, only telling me it would help more accurately track certain variables,”

Newt hummed in thought, hand moving to stroke Thomas’ hair subconsciously, twirling the dark locks between his lithe fingers. Thomas leaned into the touch, craving the security he felt when he was with the blond. Newt’s other hand rose up to cup Thomas’ cheek, just barely, his fingers ghosted over the still damp tear streaks. Thomas looked up at Newt, eyes wide, a flush spreading up his neck.

“Newt?” Thomas squeaked.

“Yeah Tommy?” Newt’s voice was distant and rough but his eyes told a different story. Thomas tilted his head up so he was looking directly into Newt’s eyes. Both boys leaned forward until they were less than an inch away. Thomas’ lids drooped shut as Newt’s thumb brushed over the brunette’s bottom lip. A small whimper escaped Thomas’ throat, but he jerked away when the door to the med hut slammed against the wall.

“Something is wrong!” Gally exclaimed, “Newt get out from under Thomas and get out here, we have bigger problems than your sexual frustration,”

“Gally this better be bloody important,” Newt snarled.

“It is, come on,” Gally stated and walked out. A deep growl ripped it’s way from Newt’s chest, he was not happy about being interrupted again.

“Come on, we can continue this later. Gally needs you right now, so let’s go see what the problem is. It’ll also delay Minho and Teresa from questioning us for a while,” Thomas said. He was curious about what the problem could be and hoped he might be able to help now that he remembered everything. Then it hit him, he remembered everything, he remembered that the creators did build an exit, and he remembered how to get there.

“Newt!” Thomas shrieked, nearly falling off the bed in his excitement, blankets tangled around his legs. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Newt was still sitting on the bed with him and had incredibly fast reflexes, Thomas would have hit the floor, hard.

“What?” Newt was worried that something was wrong.

“I remember how to get out,”

“Fine, lead the way,” Newt said as he begrudgingly crawled off of Thomas’ lap. He grabbed Thomas’ hand and together they followed Gally over to the med hut.

“Has she said anything?” Newt asked.

“No, she just keeps demanding to see Thomas. Alby is about ready to go in there and shut her up, or at least he was last I saw. What’s up him lately?” Gally asked.

“No bloody clue,”

“You! Greenie! You better have some answers! Because you said you didn’t know who she was, but clearly she knows who you are,” Ably snarled when the trio approached the med hut.

Thomas took a step back, Alby’s anger seemingly like an invisible barrier around him, keeping everyone a respectable distance away. Gally’s hand slid down to rest on the handle of the knife that was hanging from his belt. Newt followed in suit, with how sporadic Alby had been acting earlier, and now this, Newt wasn’t sure if he should trust their leader with such a delicate situation. A few of the other onlookers noticed this and readied themselves in case things took a turn for the worse.

Alby seemed to notice this as well because he backed away from Thomas and took a few deep breaths. Newt relaxed himself slightly and lead Thomas around Alby and over to the med hut, never once taking his eyes off Alby until he and Thomas were both safely inside the hut. Safe from Alby, but once Newt closed the door a knife flew past his face and embedded itself in the wood.

“The bloody fuck?” Newt asked turning to face the girl who was holding another knife, looking ready to lunge and sink the blade into Thomas or himself.

“Who are you? I asked for Thomas, not some blond, British, beanpole,” she scowled at Newt.

“Hey, hey, calm down, I’m Thomas,” Thomas began.

“I know that, I’m not blind,” she snapped, “That’s not my point, who is he, and why is he here?”

“I’m Newt, I’m second-in-command here, now will you just put the knife down so we can have a calm discussion about what the fuck is going on?”

The girl cautiously lowered the knife but didn’t release it, still not entirely sure of whether or not to trust Newt. Newt just sighed, knowing that was probably the best he was going to get. Thomas spared a glance to the blond and gave a short nod. Newt returned the gesture and followed the dark haired boy’s lead as they slowly moved to sit on the bed opposite the girl.

“Look, you seem to know who I am, but I have no idea who you are, so want to enlighten us?” Thomas asked, figuring it would be better if he did the talking.

“Tom, you don’t remember me, I’m hurt,” She mocked, tone harsher than it was meant to be because of the stress of the situation, “Sorry, but you seriously don’t remember me?”

Thomas shook his head in the negative, “Should I?”

“Well it’s not like we practically grew up together or anything. I guess they really did a full wipe on you,” She ended, a sad smile gracing her pale face.

“Look you seem to have a lot of answers, so I would appreciate if you could do your little reunion or whatever this is later and start telling us what you know,” Newt quipped, not really sure why he was feeling so hostile towards the girl.

“Fine,” she started with a dark glare at Newt, “My name is Teresa, and unfortunately, blondie, I can’t clearly remember most of what happened before I woke up here. Just bits and pieces, flashes of conversations, but I don’t think I have the answers you want,” She snapped at Newt.

“Hey, calm down you two. You guys don’t even know each other, so don’t start hating just yet,” Thomas said in attempt to bring peace back into the picture. Newt let out a quiet growl but otherwise remained silent.

“You said something about me being wiped, what did you mean by that?” Thomas asked, the only one of three not glaring at the others.

“They did it to everybody before sending them into the maze,”

“Maze?” Thomas asked, forgetting that Newt had mentioned the maze when he was showing Thomas around.

“Yes maze, seriously Tom, haven’t you even once questioned where you were?” Teresa asked, though not surprised by Thomas’ cluelessness.

“Uh… I’ve been a bit preoccupied,” Thomas answered, nervously running a hand through his hair and finding the floor increasingly more interesting. Newt chuckled from beside him and slipped his hand into Thomas’, hoping to give some sort of reassurance.

“Preoccupied? What the hell is there to be preoccupied with in this shit-hole? And you!” she turned to Newt, “Why didn’t you tell him about the maze? If you’re the second-in-command shouldn’t you have told him where he is? What the fuck have you been doing for the past two days?” Teresa raged, anger rising with each word.

“Look, Teresa, I’m sorry I don’t remember you! But unless you can give us something more substantial to work with we’re leaving, we have better things to do than sit here and listen to you berate us,” Thomas snapped. He pulled Newt up from the bed and began walking towards the door.

Teresa huffed in annoyance, “Fine, I’ll tell you what I can, but it’s not much,”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Thomas prompted sitting back down on the bed.

“Well to start this place is just a giant maze, and you,” she pointed at Thomas, “and I had something to do with it’s creation. It’s part of a series of trials, I think. And I was sent to be the trigger,”

“Trigger? Bloody hell does that mean?” Newt asked.

“I don’t know. But my guess is it’s probably not good,”

They were interrupted by Gally slamming the door open, looking frantic, “Alby’s gone into the maze,”

“Shit! Why the shuck would he go into the maze? Why didn’t you stop him?” Newt asked, brow furrowed in agitation.

“I don’t know why he did it, he just kept muttering something about finding answers. And I did try to stop him, but the look in his eye and the fact that he was holding his bow drawn- I was more concerned with not getting killed,” Gally retorted.

“Fuck, bloody fucking shit. Go get the keepers, we need to have a gathering, a real one, tell them to be ready in ten minutes,” Newt commanded. Gally nodded and left the med hut to do as told.

“What do we do? Isn’t one of your rules; Never leave the Glade, unless you’re a runner? Alby isn’t a runner is he?” Thomas queried.  

There’s not much we can do ‘cept hope a runner will find him and bring him back in one piece. As for being a runner, well since Alby is the leader, and since he was the first one here, he technically is a runner. But he hasn’t gone out into the maze in for-bloody-ever,”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,”

“Now you two,” Newt started, pointing and both Thomas and Teresa, “Are going to be at the gathering, because at least one of you might be able to help us, whether I like it or not,” Newt gave Teresa a pointed look. With that Newt stalked out of the room, most likely to gather his thoughts before the gathering. Thomas went to follow after the blond but Teresa grabbed his wrist, stopping his pursuit.

“Tom, what the hell?” Teresa snapped, “You seriously don’t remember me, what we did, why you’re here, why we’re all here? And what the fuck is with blondie? What’s got his panties in a twist?”

“No, I don’t remember you, and I’m not sure I want to. As for Newt, he’s just frustrated, ever since you showed up a few hours ago, I guess things have been going to hell,” Thomas stated bluntly, “Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go find Newt and talk about, a lot,” Thomas ended with a sigh, he then ripped his arm out of Teresa’s grasp, turned heel, and left a very shocked and confused girl behind.

It didn’t take Thomas long to find Newt, the blond was sitting under a tree not too far from the med hut. Thomas didn’t say anything, just plopping down to join Newt in the cool shade. Newt looked over at the brunette, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Thomas felt his heart skip a beat, even under all the stress Newt still looked adorable. Newt’s smile broadened as he saw the blush spread across Thomas’ cheeks.

“What’s going through that dense head of yours Tommy?” Newt teased.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing, I just can’t believe I’ve only been here what, two, two and half days? And it feels like it’s been forever, you know?” Thomas answered looking out at the Glade.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, your appearance really spiced things up around here,” Newt smirked, “But we can’t dwell on that right now, got a gathering to go to,” Newt stood up, offered his hand to Thomas, and together they made their way to the gathering hall.

They entered the gathering hall, most of the keepers were already there, Gally and Winston were still absent, and Teresa was also missing. It wasn’t long before Gally arrived, dragging Winston in with him. But Teresa was still nowhere to be seen.

“Did we tell her where to go?” Thomas asked.

“No,” Newt said, after a few minutes, “Did you?”

“No, I was more worried about you, you seemed a little stressed,” Thomas admitted quietly so no one other than Newt could hear.

“Clint, go get the girl, she seems to know something about this place and if that’s true I want her to answer questions,” Newt ordered. Clint gave a small salute and went off to retrieve the girl.

“While we wait for them we can get started by discussing the Alby issue,”

“He went into the maze, looking ready to kill anybody that got in his way, what is there to discuss?” Winston asked.

“Alby has been our leader ever since the beginning, since he was the first one to be shoved in here. He deserves to be heard out at least,” Newt countered, “That doesn’t mean that we won’t punish him for this, but we should take these facts into consideration. Now can anyone tell me exactly what happened with Alby?”

“After you and the greenie went to talk with the girl, Alby stormed off. Nobody followed him. He was pretty pissed, and I for one, did not want to be the one he took it out on. I guess he off to the weapons shed and got his bow and a knife or something, because the next thing I know Alby was marching to the doors, bow drawn, and knife and sword strapped to his belt,” Zart recalled.

“Right, well,” Newt was cutoff when Clint returned with Teresa in tow. She sent a glare at Newt, still not trusting him, and sat down beside Thomas.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s move on to the other matter at hand,”

“What other matter?” Frypan spoke up.

“This girl here says she knows a bit about how we all got here, what here is, and all that fun klunk,” Newt answered, “And now she’s gonna tell you all what she told me and Tommy,”

“Tommy? I thought you hated that name?” Teresa snorted at Thomas, “And what makes you think I’m going to tell these guys anything? You haven’t answered any of my questions, why should I answer yours?”

Everyone fell silent at her outburst. Even Gally, the most most menacing out of the group, seemed just a bit put off by the girl’s fury.

“Teresa, you’re stuck just like the rest of us, might as well try to do something useful, and not just pout about the fact that I don’t remember you like you want me to,” Thomas criticized.

“Fine,” and with that Teresa recounted everything she had told Newt and Thomas.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that there is a way to get out of here?” Frypan asked, very skeptical of what he had just been told.

“Yes,” she said.

“Ain’t no way out girlie, I’ve been running that maze since I got here, and I haven’t seen no shucking exit. Unless there’s something else you’re not telling us,” A deep voice came from the back of the room.

“Minho, you’re back early,” Newt commented. Thomas turned around to see who Newt was talking to. Minho was tall and well built, obviously consistently running through the maze helped keep him shape. His dark hair had a wind blown look to it, and his dark eyes were locked on Teresa.

“Yes I’m sure,” Teresa retorted, “If I knew any more I would tell you,”

“Uh-huh, sure you would. But if you think there is a way out, follow me,” Minho started to the door.

“Minho wait,” Newt called out.

“What?”

“You didn’t happen to see Alby out there did you?”

“No, why would I see Alby in the maze?”

“I’ll explain as you take us to where ever you’re going to take us,” Newt told him.

“Okay, who’s all coming? I’m not taking all you shanks with me,” Minho asked.

“Just myself, Thomas, and the girl,” Newt answered. Minho seemed to accept that and went to lead the group to a small building out in the more wooded area of the Glade.

“Be careful and don’t touch anything,” Minho said as he unlocked the door, “Don’t need you shanks shucking up all my hard work. Alby really did that? Shit,”

“Yeah, it’s been a day, a long fucking day, and it isn’t over yet,” Newt sighed, “but this isn’t a bloody slumber party, we’ve got work to do,”

Nobody knew what happened next, one moment Thomas was standing besides Newt, looking just as normal as the day he arrived, the next he was on the floor clutching his head in pain.