Stardust - Thomas - Maze Runner

Chapter 19 - Business

Thomas very clearly didn't want to leave Selena behind. He didn't like the idea of her being alone and he liked leaving her alone with Lawrence even less. It wasn't as if he had a choice, though, because, as soon as the noseless man told Gally to take them all away, he and some of his friends were already pushing the boys away. Thomas did fight for a while, wanting to stay back if Selena was told to stay back, but when the girl found his eyes through the crowd and sent him a look that was clearly meant to appease him, somehow, Thomas sighed.

"You yell if you need anything." He told her, not really caring if everyone around him didn't like his very obvious suspicions about them.

He could tell his friends were ready to go off on him and call him crazy for doing something so reckless, but when Thomas noticed the small smile on Selena's face when she noticed Thomas was, very clearly, worried for her, he didn't particularly care about anything else anymore.

"I will." She assured, nodding her head and watching as Gally pushed Thomas forward, rushing him along with the rest of the boys so they could walk away.

All the while they were leaving, the room was quiet and, it wasn't until the boys were finally out of sight that Selena jumped slightly when she heard Lawrance's voice sounding from behind her.

"Boyfriend?" He asked, his tone sounding almost friendly, but, once Selena spun in her heels to face him properly, she could see the malice in his eyes and it almost made her want to run and hide.

"No." She said, her voice trembling a little. "No, we're not... We're just... Friends."

"Right." Lawrence nodded, walking around slowly as he pulled his sack of serum along. "If that's what you want to believe in, fine."

Selena didn't say anything else after that. Instead, she just stood there, watching with careful eyes as Lawrence moved around with great difficulty. Thomas had been right, she realized - the thing Lawrence needed the most at the moment was time. Time for what, Selena wasn't sure, but that was what he needed. Time and the serum. And, considering the way he was watching her like a hawk with a small smirk tugging at the ends of his tired lips, Selena could guess the reason why she was kept there with him to begin with.

"Anna Caroline Douglas." Lawrence said, her real name tumbling out of his lips almost as if it felt sweet to his tongue and Selena could swear she felt her whole body trembling at that. "You look a lot like your mother."

Selena felt her whole face scrunching up, an unreasonable anger taking over her whole being at the mere mention of her mother. But, once again, she decided not to comment on it and, instead, just took a deep breath to calm down.

"Did you know my mother?" She found herself asking and Lawrence let out a sound from deep within his throat that Selena could only guess was supposed to be a laugh.

"The whole world knew your mother, Anna." He said, and, this time, Selena wasn't quick enough to bite down her own tongue.

"Selena." She said and Lawrence raised a quiet eyebrow as he turned around from his flowers to look at Selena instead.

"I'm sorry?"

"My name." She said. "Selena."

"That's the name WCKD gave you, sweetheart." Lawrence said, causing Selena's skin to crawl again at the nickname. "Anna Caroline is your real name."

"Anna Caroline died with my mother." Selena shook her head. "She died when WCKD took her. But Selena prevailed when she wasn't meant to, so if WKD wants to take everything from me, I want to take something from them too. Even something as small and insignificant as the name they decided to give me."