Newt's heart lurched in his chest as he watched Ada sob, her body curled in on herself. He couldn't remember the last time her eyes, such a stunning combination of emerald and gold, had never held such pain in them before. Her freckled skin had paled considerably and the copper hair that she usually kept in such perfect condition was unwashed and spilling into her vision in a curtain of curls.

He hadn't seen what had been done to Luke's body. Hadn't wanted to see. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was dead, and that Ada was trapped in a place that was little more than a death sentence, and there was nothing he could do.

"Oh gods." Thomas muttered beside him, his brown eyes wide with terror. His hands rose to cover his mouth. "Is she – Luke's really – oh my god-"

"How can you stand for this?" Newt asked his friend, his British accent thick with pain. "How can you help those monsters? This isn't right, Tommy. It's not right."

"It's for the greater good-"

"The greater good?!" Newt's voice rose as he pushed off the monitor, glaring at the brown haired boy in front of him. "How can you honestly believe that?! You've seen what's happened to the bloody world, Tommy, you really think there's any coming back from that?"

"We have to try-"

"They're killing our friends!" Newt bellowed. Thomas blanched at the tears swimming in his eyes as he pointed at the screen. "They are killing our friends, and we both know it won't stop until they're all dead!"

"Keep your voice down." Thomas hissed, though his tone held no hostility. "We don't have a choice, Newt. We don't. If there was any other way . . ."

"Surely there's something we can do."

"You know what Dr. Paige wants. What needs to happen. I'm sorry, Newt, there's nothing we can do." Thomas placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, hating the way Newt's entire body seemed to deflate with defeat. His hands were shaking when he rose one to run it through the blonde atop his head.

"Come on. Let's go back to the bunks." Thomas took Newt by the shoulder and led him towards the door, taking one glance at the monitor. All was quiet.

As the two boys left the room, neither noticed the two shadows in the doorway, watching the conversation in silence.

The man spoke, his voice slimy and cold and unfeeling. "They're questioning things."

Ava Paige, stood beside him, winced. "They're curious, it's natural. We haven't told them the whole plan, they have no idea they're to be sent up as well."

"This goes beyond curiosity. Newt is against the maze trials, he's had his reservations from the start." He turned his cold eyes on the doctor. "If you aren't careful, we'll loose their cooperation."

"Have patience, Jansen. I trust that they'll recognise this is the right thing to do."

"It's not a risk we can take, Dr Paige, you know this."

Ava sighed, turning her weathered gaze to the man beside her. "What would you have me do?"

"Eliminate the rogues."

"They're just children, Jansen, it's-"

Jansen clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Well if you wont kill them, at least accelerate the timeline. Send him up into the Maze. We both know he was meant to be there by now anyway. If they hadn't made that mistake-"

"It hasn't been a month."

"Think of all the damage they could do in a month. You don't have a choice, Doctor."

Ava sighed, turning her gaze back to the monitors. George had led Ada away back to the Homestead, but the camera was fixed onto Luke's grave. Her stomach dropped. They were children, innocents in all of this, but science was science.

It was for the greater good.

"No. I won't toss away the potential. These kids can save the world, they are the cure. We just need to find out how and why first. Then we can stop this virus before it gets out of control. We stick to the plan. Stick to the original timeline. In one month, we'll send up four more. A select few will find their way out. I'm sure of it. And when they do, it's those we will use. The Maze Trials will work, I'm sure of it."

—

Newt lay in his bunk, fingers fiddling with the red shoelace wrapped around his left wrist. It was frayed and worn at the edges, the colour stained in some areas. He stared down at it, brow furrowed in concentration.

The sting of tears pricked his eyes.

He remembered when she had given it to him, in their first week at the facility. They were only ten, if that, and he remembered being terrified beyond belief. They had separated him from his sister, he was alone in this new place with people he didn't know, doing things he didn't want.

He had been pressed against the far wall, crying silently, when a spitfire of a girl sat beside him, coppery hair and shining eyes, brilliant smile despite the bruise on her cheek. She plonked down on the floor beside him, offering him a smile.

"Hi." She had smiled. Her voice was oddly chipper despite the circumstances. "Why are you crying?"

Newt frowned and rubbed furiously at his eyes. "Why aren't you crying?"

"Why would I be crying?"

"Why- you're joking, right? We got taken away by these strange people and I don't know where my sister is. We don't know anything that's happening. I'm crying because I'm bloody scared, that's why." Newt buried his face in his knees, ashamed of his tears.

He was crying in front of a girl.

"Well, that's why I'm not crying. Because I'm not scared." She shrugged, a lock of fiery hair falling into her eyes. "I don't have any family anymore, so I haven't been separated from anyone. I don't have any friends. And we'll find out what's happening soon. I'm just happy we're in a place where there aren't any infected anymore. They were scary." Her voice had lowered at the last part, and when he looked over Newt saw that her eyes were slightly misty.

He frowned. "I didn't really see any infected. My parents kept us in a basement. Said the outside world wasn't safe."

"They were right," she nodded. "What happened to your parents?"

Newt forced himself to bite back the tears, refusing to shed any more when this girl was barely even displaying an ounce of emotion. "Dead. Got shot. That's when these guys found us, and took us away. Said we were special." He spat out the last word like it was poison. "Whatever the bloody hell that means."

"Oh." The girl said. "That sucks. My parents are dead too. Fire. Well, at least you won't have to see any infected. They said they're spreading, that the world is ending."

"I hope it's not. We're part of the world."

"Yeah. Well, don't be sad. Or scared. I'm here now, I'll protect you." The girl grinned, and Newt shot her a bemused look before looking her up and down. She was scrawny, skinny, looked as if a strong gust of wind would blow her away. In fact, it looked like she hadn't had a decent meal in at least a week, if not longer. She certainly wasn't capable of protecting anyone.

"Right." He settled on saying.

"You don't believe me? Here, I'll show you." The girl looked down and unwrapped something from her ankle, where it was tied. When she straightened up, she held it out to him, and he saw that it was a shoelace.

A bright red shoelace.

"What's this?" Newt asked, taking it from her when she handed it to him.

"It's my lucky shoelace. My brother gave it to me, before he got the flare." She didn't sound sad at the news, but rather like she was merely reciting facts.

"Then why are you giving it to me?"

"Because it's for protection." She said, as if the answer should have been obvious, rolling her eyes. "It'll keep you safe."

Newt raised a single eyebrow. "A shoelace will keep me safe?"

"Yep. It's a good luck charm. My brother gave it to me back when we were on the streets. Said it would make me feel better when I was scared. I don't want it anymore."

"How come?"

"You need it more than I do. I'm not scared, you are. I don't have anything left to lose, but you do. So maybe it'll bring you some luck, make you less scared."

Newt frowned and looked down at the shoelace before looking back up at the girl. She was staring at him expectantly, eyes bright, and he couldn't help the smile that curled at his lips. "Yeah, okay." He tied it around his left wrist, securing it snugly.

"Better?" The girl asked, and it was with a jolt that he realised that she was right. He was feeling better. He'd stopped crying, he didn't feel as scared anymore, and more importantly, he wasn't alone anymore.

"Surprisingly, yeah. I'm Newt. That's what they told me my new name is." He held out his hand.

The girl frowned and shook her head. "I don't like people touching me, so I won't shake your hand. But my new name's Ada. It's nice to meet you."

"Why don't you like people touching you?"

For the first time since she had sat next to him, the light in Ada's eyes flickered. "I don't like talking about it. Touching people makes me feel sick. It's nothing personal."

"That's okay." Newt smiled. "You don't need to touch me. And thank you, by the way. For the shoelace."

"Lucky shoelace." Ada rolled her eyes, as if calling the token anything less than what she deemed it was highly offensive and incredibly stupid. "And you're welcome. We could all use a little luck every now and then."

Four years later, the damn thing was still wrapped tightly around his wrist. She was right, it was lucky. It brought him her. It brought him a friend.

And now she was gone.

Ripped away from him in the middle of the night, tossed into a death trap with no memory of who he was or what she meant to him.

Newt allowed one tear, one single tear, to be shed — it fell onto the shoelace and soaked into the material, leaving a dark brown spot amid the red — before rolling over and facing the wall, decision made.

He knew about the resistance group forming in the mountains, paving their own way after four years of cooperation with WICKED and its aims. He knew they wanted to take down the cooperation, find a cure for the Flare that didn't murder an entire generation in the name of science and sacrifice.

He would find a way to stop WICKED, to bring them down one by one if he had to. And if Thomas wouldn't help him, then he would damn well do it himself.

He was going to help Ada escape the maze. He was going to bring her home, no matter what happened to him in the process.