SACRIFICE {Newt | The Maze Runner}

xi. The Safe Haven

Song: THERE'S A PLACE FOR US; e.m.d.

WHEN you run as I have, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and no one knows it like WICKED subjects. But not every day. Not today.

Some days are special .Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair... everybody lives.

The hand wrapping around my wrist stopped my descent, I swayed slightly under his grasp, eyes still screwed shut from the heat.

"I got you!" their voice bellows, barely audible over the wind caused by the Berg.

Slowly, I open my eyes, watching Teresa's limp body mingle with the flames. I shut them again, blinking away the tears.

"Pull her up!" another voice yells, before the person holding me lifts me up, others joining it to hoist my legs over the edge.

This can't be real, I'm supposed to be dead like Terry. I should have died instead of her. Maybe I am dead, and this is what comes next?

The person who rescued me lifts me up and leans my back against their leg, stroking my hair away from my face, "I got you."

My head falls to the side, eyes seeing a blurry Tommy, still recovering from the gunshot wound, Brenda and Vince fussing over him.

"We're taking you home, love."

No one alive calls me that name, this definitely can't be real. Some figment of my dying imagination, I'm probably crushed next to Teresa by now.

My eyes start to adjust to the dim lighting, the stark contrast from the roaring flames moments ago does little to help. It can't be him.

His blond hair is plastered to his face by sweat and dirt, lips back to their normal pink and veins thankfully absent from his cheeks and neck.

"Newt?" I croak, touching his face to make sure it's really him, "I killed you."

"No, you saved me. You found the Cure, just like your mum said you would."

He helps me to my feet, my hands still gingerly cupping his face in disbelief. Smiling, he pulls me closer, connecting our lips.

"To the Safe Haven, then."

*

None of us felt it appropriate to celebrate arriving in paradise until Tommy was fully recovered. It had been a unanimous council decision: most members were from Group A or B, as well as Brenda, Vince and Jorge.

He had woken earlier that morning, our group having a tearful reunion as we each cut in line to squeeze the life out of him in a tight hug.

But, teetering on the edge of my bed in one of the shacks, I gnaw my lips. I had been meaning to have this discussion since I had got here, but had never found the right time.

Perhaps, in the light of Tommy's recovery, I should begin the conversation.

Newt and Sonya both looked quizzically at me as I stuttered, "So, right before we cured you, I remembered something."

"A memory from before the Maze?" Sonya asks, met with a curt nod of my head. I pace along the shack, Newt has to physically stop me.

"You don't remember me saying it, do you?" I question, he shakes his head. I pull Sonya to her feet, positioning the two directly opposite each other, "Can't either of you see it?"

Confused, they both shake their heads, eyes scanning the other's features.

"Newt..." I break off, before I compose myself, "Sonya's your younger sister."

He moves so fast, wrapping her in his arms, then pulling me in too. All of us crying, my voice is muffled through my tears, "You used to call her Lizzy."

He cups her face and chuckles, "How did no one notice it?"

"Because we all forgot." Sonya sighs, "But not any more."

*

"We have come a long way together. So many have sacrificed so much to make this place possible."

Vince's words move half of us to tears, Newt tucking me tighter under his arm, Sonya sat behind us, hands rested on each of our shoulders.

"Your friends and your family." he raises his glass, "So here's to the ones who couldn't be here. Here's to the friends we lost."

I raise my glass too, leaning my head on Newt's arm.

"This place is for you. It's for all of us. But this," he points to the rock behind him, "this is for them. So, in your own time, in your own way, come make your peace. And welcome to the Safe Haven!"

Shooting to our feet, we clamoured and cheered, raising our mugs into the air. Friends tightly hung onto each other, siblings joking and goofing around.

But, my eyes were on Newt, as surrounded by friends and family, he slowly sunk to one knee while holding my hands, producing a small box from his pocket.

"Orla Cooper," he began, our friends dying into excited silence, "will you do me the honour of making me the happiest man alive?"

"Do you even need an answer?" I smile, lacing my fingers through his hair and leaning our foreheads together, "We're home. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I am never letting you go again. That's a promise."

---------------------------------------------------------

A/N - this book is tragic, my tear ducts don't work anymore.

- Soph xx