They were finally in the last city. After six months of tireless chasing after WICKED, surprise attacks and constant heartbreak, they'd been led here. To the place that both Y/N and Newt knew would be their final destination. Whether that meant the place they'd simply make their last stand and then leave this fight behind, or much, much worse, they knew it was the end of the line.
Minho was here, somewhere, and they weren't leaving without him.
Gally was here too. In fact, if it hadn't been for him, all of the Gladers would be in a lot more trouble because he'd stopped WICKED from capturing them the first day they arrived.
For the first time in a very, very long time it felt like the Gladers had some down time. In that limited free time, Newt found himself at Y/N's side on the rooftop of the rebel compound, legs hanging over the edge. This was the first time Newt had found himself up in such a high place since he jumped. Looking down below, he felt like he was looking at the ground through different eyes. A lot of things had changed since that day in the maze, and they were all for the better. He feared the ground now and no longer did he wish for it to be the cause of the end of his life.
"Does it scare you, being up here?" Y/N asked hesitantly, eyeing Newt cautiously. She could feel a conflicted feeling in her chest which was very evidently coming from him.
Newt shook his head and took in a deep breath. "Not really. Not when you're here, at least."
Y/N let the wind fill the silence, but she could feel Newt wasn't finished speaking.
"It doesn't hurt anymore, you know?" He slumped his shoulders slightly, eyes focused on his hands. "All of that is still there and it's a part of me. But...it doesn't feel like I'm sinking all the time. I don't feel like my chest is getting heavier and heavier and that at some point it'll just cave in."
"Even with everything that's happened? With Minho—"
"Even with Minho." He nodded, turning to look at Y/N. "I don't know what it is, but you've changed everything."
Y/N smiled lightly. Even she had noticed over the past while that she felt like her own chest wasn't so heavy. Maybe, just maybe, Newt was somehow letting go of some of his heartache. "I'm—"
Before she could finish, or even start what she was about to say for that matter, someone from behind cleared their throat. With a closed off posture and shy eyes, Gally flashed his eyes at the pair. "Mind if I talk with Y/N?"
The girl looked to Newt and he shrugged, so Y/N carefully pressed up off of the ledge and stepped towards Gally. She dusted her hands off on her pants and looked up to the boy whose hair was now cut nearly to his scalp and whose shoulders were broader. His demeanour was darker, but more mature. "What's up?"
"We've got a problem. I need your help." He said lowly, trying to hide his voice from Newt. But, surprisingly, the blonde had good ears.
"What kind of problem?" Newt asked sternly, still remaining sitting on the ledge.
Gally shifted his weight. "Nothing big. I just need her help."
Before Newt could argue, Y/N held out her hand in Newt's direction, signalling for him to drop it. Then, Y/N followed Gally out and down a rickety old metal staircase to the base of the compound. On their way down, they passed Thomas who just so happened to be looking for Newt. Y/N figured it would be good for Newt to have someone to talk to while she was out on this mission of sorts with Gally.
Carefully, the boy led Y/N down a ladder and dropped into an alleyway.
"What's going on?" Y/N asked, carefully scanning around. People ran in the streets and there was the sound of fists pounding on metal doors.
Gally also cautiously glanced around. Once he deemed it safe, he settled down. "We have to run a quick supply run for Lawrence, but first I need to talk to you."
Y/N raised her brows, motioning for him to continue.
The boy's eyes darted around, lips pursed. "Look, I remember you from before. I remember us. Before the maze, before all this shit—"
"I know. We were at the Right Arm together. I got our backstory. About how you got us captured." Y/N sneered through her teeth. She didn't mean to be so harsh, but right now, with everything happening, she couldn't really hold it back. A person could only be trampled over and thrown through so much fire before they couldn't hold themselves together anymore.
"Yeah," Gally held his arms out. "And so you'll know what we had."
Y/N felt her stomach lurch and throat tighten. "What are you talking about? We were friends, Gally. Little kids with no parents and no real home."
"That's not what I mean," Gally, in a way, visibly grew in frustration just like he used to in the Glade. "We had each other. We were fine. If you wanted to, we could get out of here before Thomas gets us all killed trying to save Minho."
Y/N stepped back, feeling almost betrayed. "You're asking me to leave with you? To abandon my friends and leave Minho to die at the hands of WICKED? To leave Newt?"
"Y/N—"
"Gally," Y/N forced out a sharp breath. "I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving. And listen, I know we were close from before the maze. But that changes nothing."
"Doesn't change you and Newt, huh? That's it?" He asked harshly.
"Exactly." She muttered.
"You two are lucky. You know that?" He seethed. "While the rest of us got fucked up by WICKED as they had planned, you and Newt got to walk through it all hand in hand. Back in the Glade, you wanna know how hard it was for the rest of us boys to watch you and Newt?"
Y/N felt her mind stumble back a few steps. Gally was speaking some truth. The pair had always had one another to rely on through all of this. Whereas the others had themselves and themselves alone. They didn't have someone else's mind woven with their own. Though at times it was miserable, it gave Y/N and Newt a bond the others never got the chance to know. It was probably unbearable to watch for the other boys, knowing they'd never have what Y/N and Newt had. She'd never seen it that way, though. She'd always seen it as some sort of curse that was just now proving itself to be a somewhat positive thing.
"And I'm sorry you had to walk through everything alone." Y/N apologized. "But things are different now. You don't have to do anything alone because we're here and fighting for the same cause. We're still your friends, Gally...I just can't be the person you want me to be."
The boy shrugged and his demeanour seemed to change to something calmer and more lighthearted. "Your choice. Now let's get going."
Y/N darted off behind Gally as he sprinted down the alleyway and towards the road full of people. The pair crouched behind a dumpster and Gally began scanning around. "Lawrence wants to know how many there are out here. They've been trying to bust in for days."
"That's all? I thought you said this was a supply run?" Y/N questioned.
"Yeah," Gally sighed. "Sorry it's such a boring mission. Truth is, I didn't need you to come along. But I did want to get that off my chest."
"It's fine," Y/N dismissed it and focused her attention forwards.
Things were fine. That was until Gally was being dragged to his feet, a gun at his head.
"We got one of Lawrence's rats!" A man yelled out in a gurgled voice, laughing manically. "He gone get us inside you think?"
"He won't," Y/N stepped up and Gally tried to warn her off. But, she ignored him. He'd gotten himself into this mess and certainly wasn't getting himself out of it alone. "As a matter of fact, standing out here and banging on his doors isn't going to get you anywhere either."
"So what'd you suggest girle?" The man rolled his eyes and tried to stop Gally from squirming.
"That you let me be your messenger," She suggested. "That's why we're here. To relay any and all of your messages to Lawrence first hand."
"Ah, very nice." The man let Gally go and pushed him towards Y/N. "So all I gotta do is spit out what I want him to hear and you'll take it right back like a little birdie?"
"Yep." Y/N nodded. "My ears are open. Make your words worth it."
"Alright," The man sauntered around. "Tell him that we want to know where he's getting his bliss. We know a man like that don't live longer than a few months...and yet here he is, defying all odds!"
It seemed like the man was about to put away his gun, but he did the exact opposite. With lighting speed, he lifted his arm and fired the gun. For a second, Y/N and Gally both took deep breaths as the man danced in circles, laughing, flailing his gun around. "And tell that old crank that he ought to stop being such a coward and sending pretty little messengers," He paused and heaved phlegmy breaths. "And step outside himself!"
The crowd around him wailed and screamed in agreement and continued to wham on the metal doors which they'd never get through.
Y/N and Gally saw their chance to run, and so they took it. Almost all the way down the alleyway from which they'd once come, Y/N heard a blood curdling scream that stopped her heart. Her throat ran raw and burned. It had been Newt. He was screaming her name from the rooftop. But why?
Gally gagged. Y/N felt something heated dripping down her leg. She feared the worst and looked down. Her forearm was covered in red and blood was rushing out fast. The bullet had gone straight through and she hadn't noticed until now. She also didn't register the pain until she saw it and the adrenaline in her heart slowly began to fade.
"Gally—"
"Can you climb with one arm?" He asked, panicked.
"I'm going to have to." She hauled herself up onto the first rung of the ladder and began to clamber her way up. Each step up was more agonizing than the last and her whole body began to tingle uncomfortably with pain. She could only imagine how Newt was feeling, especially since he didn't know where she'd gotten off to with Gally.
When she reached the top, she fell down into the rocky ground which was the roof of the building. Her chest fell up and down rapidly and she bit her bottom lip, refusing to cry out in pain. Gally rushed to type in an absurdly long password to get past the first set of doors which led back into the base with shaky hands. By the time he'd done it, Y/N had collected herself and was at his side, walking weakly.