Hope for Us (NEWT) [COMPLETED]

Ch 52 - Together but Not Really

~Rebecca~

She opened her eyes as she sat on her bed, and then she saw Ava, expectantly looking at her with her arms crossed.

"What's going on, Rebecca?" she asked.

"Oh, so now you wanna play the caring mother?" Rebecca retorted.

Ava frowned. "I'm serious. What have you done? Maze A, seriously? Why do you have to change the order of things?"

Rebecca huffed, squinting her eyes at her mother. "Wow... well she's like a daughter to me. And there's nothing I wouldn't do for her. She found love. Something... something I'll never find myself. But I want it for her because it makes her happy. I sent her to be with him, hoping they would fall in love all over again even after the Swipe—and they did. I trained her for survival, and here she is, safe and sound."

"That shouldn't have been your priority when we were nearing the peak of a major breakthrough for the cure," she scowled. "And now it's all ruined."

Rebecca nodded mockingly. "See? I try talking about why I'm so unhappy here, and you always change the subject back to WICKED and their stupid mission."

Ava frowned, clearly not understanding her daughter. "Because our whole lives depend on the success or failure of this experiment."

"Right, but I'm only caring for Sara in a way my mother never cared for me. My mother should've given up little moments of her life to truly be there for me. But you never did that. WICKED was always more important for you. You didn't even raise me! And I'm not like you, so don't get in the way of me doing for another what you never did for your own daughter," she sneered.

"I'm trying to fix my mistakes. I know I've upset you, but you're not letting me prove that I can be different," said Ava, a look of hurt on her face.

Rebecca laughed humorlessly, then she lowered her voice. "It's kind of too late now, don't you think? But..." she paused, looking her straight in the eyes, "you can start by leaving. I feel sick and I need sleep."

Before she left, Ava turned back to her. "She's just another unfortunate girl in the world, she's not that special other than being Janson's niece. Please don't risk everything for her like that, Rebecca. For your own safety."

"You're wrong," said Rebecca, with a hollowness in her unfocused gaze. "She's not just another girl, and I need to keep her away from Janson."

Rebecca knew her mother wasn't convinced. After all, the explanations she made up were ridiculous. 

And refraining from telling her mother why she took responsibility over Sara from the very beginning didn't help her case. 

Not even Sara knew the reason.

~Newt~

He had no words for what he'd just witnessed.

They tried escaping the Maze and then were face to face with WICKED. Rebecca called that man 'Janson', so there was no way they were who they said they were. And then those people had to send Gally to kill Thomas, and Alby ended up sacrificing himself.

They were all just kids who didn't look a day over seventeen! They were just trying to survive, why couldn't people understand that?

And then Sara. She looked so determined, so prepared, and she knew what she was doing. And now her plans were ruined because of WICKED.

They landed next to a huge building. As they dismounted, the air blew in Newt's face, startling him. It was so cold, and the outside world was covered in trees with snow caps on top. And the mountains had them too. The sight made a flash of a memory cross his mind for a second. Maybe he'd seen snow before, and maybe it was when he lived with his family.