IT STARTED WITH A MAZE - Newt x Reader (F)

- AN OPEN GLADE -

The faint smell of antiseptic and sweat mixes with the cool night air drifting inside, making my skin prickle. The atmosphere is thick, as if the weight of everything we're about to face presses down on us. But I can't wait, can't hold back. I slip inside beside him, the fabric of the tent brushing past me, and the dim glow from a lone oil lamp flickers across the tired faces of those gathering. Thomas, Minho, Gally, and Fry follow closely behind, their faces taut with worry.

"Has he said anything?" Newt asks, his voice low but urgent. His gaze flickers to Teresa, who stands silently near the bed, her jaw clenched, eyes fixed on the figure sitting on the edge of the cot.

"No," she answers softly, barely above a whisper. Her words hang in the air like a fragile secret. We exchange a quick, knowing look - the kind forged from shared fears and hard truths. There's no easy comfort here. No simple answers.

Alby's posture is rigid - burdened - arms crossed tightly over his chest. His head is tilted downward, hiding most of his face in shadow. It's as if he's carrying a weight too heavy to bear alone, a secret crushing the life from him. The room feels colder near him. I'm nervous to step closer. But Newt isn't. "Alby?" His voice softens as he kneels beside him, eyes searching. "Are you all right?"

For a moment, there's no response - only silence thick enough to hear the rapid beating of my own heart. Then, slowly, Alby shifts his gaze upward, though his eyes remain distant, clouded with pain. Newt looks back at me, a flicker of hope flashing there, but I know better than to expect miracles.

I find the courage to also move closer, crouching in front of Alby, my voice gentle, probing. "Alby, we've made a breakthrough with the Maze." I try to keep my tone calm, careful not to startle the fragility. "We think we've found a way out."

His head shakes slowly, a subtle but heartbreaking refusal. "We can't," he says, barely audible, his voice breaking like dry leaves in the wind. "We... can't leave. They won't let us," he mutters. It's more to himself than to anyone else.

I glance back at Newt and Thomas. The room holds its breath. The silence stretches out, an invisible thread pulling tight between us. Then I meet Alby's eyes again, deeper now, a storm raging behind those haunted pupils. I recognise that look. The battle between confusion, fear and hope. "Alby," I say softly, voice almost a whisper, "what do you remember?"

At first, he isn't looking at me. His gaze drifts past, locked somewhere in the shadows of memory. But slowly, painfully, his eyes find mine. "You," he says, voice trembling with fragile clarity. I feel Newt's eyes burn into me - curious, questioning, expectant - and the others are watching, too. "And him," Alby adds, gesturing weakly toward Thomas. "He was the favorite," he says, voice cracking under the weight of the confession, "and you, (Y/n)..." Alby shakes his head, as if trying to banish a terrible truth. "You were never meant to be here." The words slam into me like a fist. Before I can respond, before I can ask what he means, a sharp shout rips through the fabric of the tent. Then another. The sound is urgent, frantic - a violent intrusion into our crucial moment. Heads snap toward the noise, every muscle in the room tensing. "Why did you come? Why did he do this?" Alby's voice cracks as he looks back and forth between Thomas and I. His tear-streaked cheek glistens in the flickering light. The pain in his eyes - betrayal, confusion, heartbreak - pierces me deeper than any blade.

"Alby-?" I start to say, my voice thick with emotion.

But the shouting outside grows louder, more desperate. The air thickens with panic.

Suddenly, Thomas bolts from the tent, urgency propelling him forward. His footsteps thunder against the hard ground as he disappears into the darkening Glade.

One by one, we spill outside, the sun having finally dipped below the horizon, draping the world in shadows. The sky is a deepening indigo, the last threads of daylight snuffed out.