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

- ARIS -

We crawl through in silence. The vent curves twice, narrows once, then opens into a broader pipe. Here, we can crouch upright. Just barely. "Where are we going?" I demand finally, my voice sharp in the stale air.

The boy ahead doesn't answer. Thomas whispers, "I don't know. I just- I've been having weird feelings about this place." I look at him. He looks so unsure suddenly. Like the boldness that brought him here is already wearing thin.

The boy stops. We're in a wider space now - like a junction in the vents. Pipes branch off in three directions. At the center, a round grate in the floor glows faintly from light beneath it. The boy crouches beside it, eyes intense.

"Hey-?" I start.

He raises a hand. "Watch," he whispers.

So we do.

Through the grate, the space below glows in soft, eerie light. A long, sterile hallway stretches out beneath us, white and silver and humming with mechanical stillness.

Then we see her. A woman steps into view, walking slowly, calmly. It's the same woman we saw with Teresa earlier - white coat, pale skin, red lipstick sharp against her otherwise lifeless expression. Behind her, a stretcher rolls into the corridor, pushed by two masked orderlies. The body atop it is completely still.

My breath catches.

There's a glowing screen suspended above the body, showing a full skeletal scan in blue and yellow overlays. Bones flicker, organs pulse with faint red highlights. Numbers tick along the edges of the display - heartbeat, vitals, chemical levels.

But the body doesn't move.

"What the hell?" I whisper, not meaning to say it aloud. My voice is swallowed by the metal around us.

The boy doesn't even flinch. "They bring in new ones every night. Like clockwork."

Thomas shifts beside me. "And what do they do with them?"

"I don't know," he says. "The vents don't go past this point. I've tried."

I look between them, heart thudding harder now. My skin feels tight. "But once they go through that door-?"

"They don't come back out," he finishes.

The door at the end of the hall - cold steel with no handle - slides open soundlessly. The stretcher vanishes into it. The woman follows. The door closes again.

Gone.

"Who are they?" I ask. My voice is low, but sharp. I need to know. Need something solid to hold onto.

The kid looks at me. He doesn't blink. "In truth? I don't know. But the only people who leave and don't come back... are the ones whose names are on Rat-Man's sheet."

I feel cold all over.

No one speaks.

The hallway is empty again. Just white light and silence. But something about it feels... poisoned. Like this place wears its cleanness to hide the rot underneath. "We need to get out of here," I say, turning to Thomas. I don't say it to the unknown boy. Not yet.

Thomas frowns. "Wait- why'd you show me this?"

The kid shrugs. "I don't really know," he says. "But you just came in - with a big group. People might listen to you. They look like they trust you." He glances at me. "And there's something weird going on here."

He turns, already crawling back toward the vent. "Wait," I call. "What's your name?"

He pauses. Glances over his shoulder. "Aris," he says. Then he vanishes into the shaft, like he was never there.