|Please Don't Leave Me| (Minho/TMR fanfiction)

~Chapter Eight~

I woke up in a bed, in the Homestead. My body ached, everything burned or stung in some way. My lips felt cracked, my muscles limp and fatigued.

"You're awake."

I turned my head to my right. Minho sat there, on another empty bed, the sheets mussed as if he'd slept there. "How do you feel?"

I swallowed, my voice raspy. "Like shit."

"Yeah, well that's to be expected." He fell silent.

"Why are you here?"

Minho leaned back. "Alby had me stay in case... you know..."

"I did anything violent?" I shook my head.

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Look... I'm sorry about all of this. And the way I treated you in the beggining. I just- we started off on the wrong foot. I run that Maze everyday and what they did to you- you didn't deserve to be Banished like that. No one does."

I was caught off guard. I wasn't expecting that from him.

Obey or you die.

I wished he hadn't said that. It was only going to make my job here more difficult.

Minho stood. "I'll go tell the others you're awake."

I didn't say anything as he left me alone in the room.

The mission, Agent 13. It is imperative.

I clenched my jaw. Minho returned then with Alby, Newt and Clint in tow. Clint went right to my bedside while the others remained a few feet away. "How are you feeling." He asked.

"Good," my tone was clipped.

He nodded. "Your shoulder was pretty bad off, but we did all we could for it. You won't have range of motion for a little while yet. Nothing else was broken." He stepped back.

"Thanks, Clint." Alby nodded to the Med-Jack who nodded back and then left the room. Alby focused on me. "How did you survive?"

I went to shrug my shoulders and then remembered I wasn't able to. I gave him a nonchalant look. "I did what I had to."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"Did you kill them?" Minho stepped forward. "The grievers, I mean."

I lifted my chin. "Yes."

"How the hell-" Alby started but Minho held out a hand. "Where did you get the machete from?"

"I found it in the Maze."

Alby snorted but Minho sent him a look. "Do you... what happened when we gave you the serum?"

That was the key. "I remembered."

There was a pause. "Remembered what?"

"Everything. Why I'm here. What my purpose is." The game of deception had begun. Something pulled tight in my chest. I didn't want to do this, I realized.

"And your purpose is..." Newt spoke up for the first time.

I took a deep breath. "I'm the beginning of the end."

"What the hell does that mean?" Alby's voice was rough.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure... but that's what they told me-"

"Who's they?" Newt asked.

"The Creators. The ones who put us here."

Alby's nostril's flared. "I knew there was something off about you- you probably helped them put us here-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Minho told him. "Look at her. She's suffered just like the rest of us, if not more. They told us to put her in the Maze, to try and have her killed." Minho looked back at me.

Make them trust you.

I sent Minho a small smile, the first I'd ever given him. I felt sick inside.

"I don't trust you," Alby said to me. "And I don't believe you."

"What else do you remember?" Newt pushed on.

"There's going to be a series of... events. To test you. Test us all. See how you react to them."

"What are they?" Newt frowned.

"I don't know." I chewed the inside of my cheek. "But I know it starts soon." The lies, the deceit. So terrifying, the monster I'd become.

It is necessary to our cause. WCKD is good.

It would all be worth it in the end. I had to tell myself that, focus on that. It was worth it. It would be worth it. The scar encircling my wrist told me it was worth it.

"So you survived a night in the Maze. The first to ever do so," Alby's tone was taunting. "Care to let us know your little secret as to how?" His eyes were focused on me.

I looked down at my hands and then back to their faces, focusing on Minho's last.

"It's shocking when you have nothing to live for, how much you fight to survive."