So, I'm in year 12 now, and that is terrifying. I only have one year left of high school! God, it goes so quickly!

Anyway, here's the next chapters, my lovely little runners! Sorry it's so late! xo

BQ - What did you think when Lori kissed Thomas?

Q - Who watches Once Upon A Time? God, season 5 is so epic!

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When Lori wakes next, she's strapped into a canvas sheet, being lowered back to the ground. Looking over next to her, another sheet holds Thomas, who is only just now waking up.

Lori felt her back land softly on the sand, and the rope detach from the sheets. There are shouts as the two Gladers are surrounded by their friends. The Berg's loud hovering noise dissipates into nothing, and the chatter of the boys and Clara overtakes all senses.

They all speak at once, whether to her or to Thomas, she isn't completely sure at the time.

"What was that all about?"

"Are you okay?"

"What'd that do to you?"

"Who was that?"

"Have fun in the Berg?"

"How's your shoulder?"

Lori attempts to sit up, whilst the Gladers continue to question the two. With a sigh, she looks up at them all, "Would one of you mind helping me up, please?"
Thomas nods in agreement, trying to untie his own bindings.

Minho and a few work at Thomas' ropes, while Newt grabs a few boys to help with Lori's.
"Are you alright?" Newt asks Lori quietly, between the two of them.

She immediately felt a pang in her heart, remembering how she had been in Thomas' arms earlier, trying to forget about the blonde with the limp.

But what was there to forget? Why feel guilty, when she couldn't remember him?

Because, whether she wanted to admit it or not, there was something there. There was something between them. But she knows, that until she can face it, she will deny it.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little out of it, I guess."
Newt nods, slipping his hands beneath Lori's arms to help her to stand up.
"Thank you."

"So, what happened up on the Berg? Did they hurt you?"

"Physically? No. Mentally? Not entirely sure. I saw my mother again, and I-" she stopped, thinking about Thomas. "I just, was locked in a room the whole time."

Newt's eyebrows knit together, looking at her carefully, before nodding. Lori knows that he doesn't completely believe her, but for now, a little is enough.

"Can I, uh, can I see my brother?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll go and find him."

Lori thanks him, before he walks away in search of Aris.
She sits back down on the dunes, picking up the canvas sheet and wrapping it around herself to protect her from the heat of the Scorch. The heat isn't as intense as it was on past days, but it was still pretty hot.

The sand beside her shifts, and she looks over to see the aforementioned boy sitting beside her. She sends him a small smile, and he returns it willingly.
"So, Newt told me you asked for me. Are you okay?"

Lori looks down at her hand in her lap, "I just needed someone. I know we don't exactly know each other that well, but I feel like I trust you already."
She looks up to see Aris looking down at her, a strange smile on his face.
"I'm sorry, that must sound fairly stupid."

"No, I get it. We're family. And in a place where everyone else had been robbed of that, then having someone means something. And I trust you, too. So, do you want to tell me what happened up on the Berg?"

Her throat tightens at the thought. Could she subject him to such bad views upon the mother he has never even met?

The answer was simple.

Yes.

Yes she can.

Their mother is a cruel pushover, and she would not allow him to pity or think well of her.

"Our mother payed me a visit while I was up there."
Aris' ears immediately perked up at her words, turning to look straight at her.
"I don't mean to be frank, but I want to warn you now, not to get too excited. It wasn't rainbows and kittens like what people make families out to be."

His frown was so prominent, Lori felt so ashamed for beginning one of their first conversations like this. "So, what happened then? What was she like? What did she say?"

"Aris, she's the one who put as through this. She gave us to WICKED, so that they could experiment on us. And she helped them! Don't you see? She's not our mother anymore. As soon as she gave us away, she became obsolete."

Aris avoided eye contact. "What if it was her only choice? What if they were going to kill us or something, and they gave her no choice?"

"Family don't give up family. That's what these guys taught me. They're my family, and so are you; if you still want to be. But if you take her side over mine, I'm not sure where that will leave us, Aris."

They sat in silence, before Minho called Lori's name, asking her to join their conversation. She gave Aris one last look, but he didn't return it. With a sigh, she stands, before going over to sit beside Minho.

When she became a part of the discussion, Thomas had already explained everything he had remembered from being on the Berg.
The killzone patterns and the Candidates. More on the Variables; where Lori had been mentioned multiple times. Unfortunately, the boys and Clara seemed to be having trouble grasping the concepts that Thomas was trying to explain. That's why Minho had called Lori over.

She tried to reexplain it, but they all remained flustered and frustrated; the same went for Lori and Thomas.

"Well, that really cleared things up," Minho interrupts the silence. "Must have something to do with all those signs about you in the city."
He must be talking about them keeping Thomas alive, Lori thinks to herself, remembering how hard WICKED had fought to keep the boy from flat-lining.

Tommy shrugs, "Glad to know you're so happy to see me alive."

"Hey, if you wanna be leader, no skin off my back. I am happy to see you alive."

Lori throws an arm over her friend's shoulder with a smile, "Aww, how sweet."

"No thanks. You keep it."

Lori looks at Minho, confusion glazing her eyes. He shrugs once, before saying that that is what WICKED branded him as. She slides her arm back towards her far enough, so that she can pull the back of his shirt down.

The Leader.

Do all the boys have the tattoos? I thought it may have just been Thomas and I.

Looking up, she sees Thomas looking pointedly at her, as he nods.
'Stop reading my mind!'

'Stop leaving it so easy to read then!'

She shakes her head, releasing Minho's collar.

After no one said anymore, Newt rises to his feet, looking like he's thinking hard about something.

"So we're all potential candidates for something. And maybe the purpose of all the buggin' klunk we've been through is to weed out those who don't qualify. But for some reason the whole gun-and-rusty-bullet thing wasn't part of the . . . normal tests. Or Variables, whatever. If Thomas is gonna croak and die, it wasn't supposed to come from a bloody infection."

As Thomas nods in solemn agreement, Lori mutters under her breath, "Well, that's a lovely way of looking at it."

"What this means is that they're watching us," Minho points out. "Just like they did in the Maze. Has anyone seen a beetle blade running around anywhere?"

Multiple Gladers shake their heads.

"What the hell's a beetle blade?" Jorge asks.

Lori shrugs, "Little mechanical lizard-looking things that were spying on us in the Maze with their little cameras."

Jorge rolls his eyes in response. "Of course. Sorry I asked."

The young girl's brother finally decided to speak up. "The Maze was definitely some kind of indoor facility. But there's just no way we're inside something anymore. Though they could be using satellites or long-range cameras, I guess."

"What is it about Thomas that makes him so special?" Jorge asks the questions on everyone's minds. "Those signs in the city about him being the real leader, them swooping in here and saving his butt when he got all sicky-sicky." Lori can't help but giggle at the man's choice of words.
"I'm not trying to be mean, muchacho - I'm just curious. What makes you better than the rest of your buddies?"

Thomas looks directly at Jorge, "I'm not special. You heard what they said. We have lots of ways to die out here, but that gun shouldn't be one of them. I think they would've saved anybody who'd gotten shot. It wasn't about me - it was the bullet that messed things up."

I wouldn't be willing to bet money on that. If I had any that is, Lori thinks, being sure to fence her thoughts off from Thomas.

They all decide that it was enough thinking for the night, and went and prepared to sleep. But Lori couldn't sleep. Her mind kept dragging back towards the tattoos. What did everyone else's say?

She looks around, before her eyes land on the sitting figure of Newt.

Of course he was the only one awake. Fate wouldn't have it any other way.

The strawberry blonde gets up, before going over and sitting beside the boy with the limp.
"Hey," she says quietly.

Newt looks up, shocked to see her sitting beside him. "Lori? Hey. What are you doing over here? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Thinking, I guess. I just can't stop my mind. It's pretty annoying."

The boy laughs, turning towards the girl which he truly loves. All he wanted, was for her to feel the same way once more.
"It is."

They sat quietly for a moment, as Lori fished for a way to begin the conversation she wanted to have with Newt. About the branding.

No better way than just spitting it out.

"Newt, I was wandering, do you all have those tattoos? Like the one on my neck, and on Thomas and Minho."

He nods, "Yes, we all do. Every single one of us. Some of us are labelled with roles, while others just have their numbers."

"And what about you? Do you have a label, or just a number?"

"I- um, I have a label."
Lori asks if she can see it, to which Newt turns around a bit, allowing her access to the back of his collar.
Carefully, she pulls the fabric back, revealing the ink printed onto the neck they used as paper.

Property of WICKED.
Group A, Subject A5.
The Glue.

She runs her finger over each letter, trailing on the ones which spell out 'the Glue'.

A shiver runs up her spine and spills through her body, resulting in her shutting her eyes, and seeing images.

|_|_|_|_|

They make our way towards the Homestead, and Alby leads her around the side, to where they have built the Slammer.

The Slammer is a concrete, cube shaped building. It has a barred window and a wooden door with a rusted lock.

"So you're in charge here?" she asks quietly.

"I'm mainly leading the Glade, but Newt and I kind of hold this place together," Alby answers.
Who's Newt? The young girl wonders.

"So, what? You guys are like the glue holding this place together?" She raises her eyebrows the slightest.

Once they reach the door, he opens it and holds out his hand, silently telling her to walk in. She does as told, and walks forward, ducking into the room. It is a dark, plain area, which only consists of one old, rickety chair in the corner.

Once she steps into the room, she runs her hand through her hair and sighs. "Look, Alby, why am I in here? I didn't do anything."

"Well, Greenie, we took a vote and that's what it came out as. Plus you left the Glade, and if you hadn't passed out, you would've kept goin'. If I don't put you in there for at least one night, those other shanks will start to think us Keepers are playin' favorites. You understand?" Alby explains to the strawberry blonde.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I promise you though, I'm not trying to start any trouble here."

"Sorry, Lori, that's the way it is" he shrugs as he shuts the door and locks it. He walks away and leaves her in the quiet room.

|_|_|_|_|

She shudders as her eyes reopen, only to see Newt staring into them.
"Are you okay? You zoned out again."

"'The Glue,'" she mutters. She wanted to tell him about the memory, but giving him the false hope seemed wrong. She didn't want him waiting a lifetime for her to remember, when there is always the large possibility that she will not. That is how it is, and there isn't anything they can do to change that.

Not without WICKED's help; and that is something that Lori never wants to have to resort to.

"Yeah. Tommy thinks it's somethin' to do with me leading back in the Glade. He said I helped keep them together. I don't know, really." He laughs awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

Lori smiles, so that he doesn't feel as uncomfortable, "That sounds like you. From what I know at least." She sighs, "Besides, at least you're not labelled a villain."

"I know."

Lori whips around to look at him, "What do you mean, 'I know'?"

"Back in the Glade, I was the one who first spotted your tattoo. I told you what it said."

She didn't know how she felt towards finding this out. Kind of violated, but then again, not, considering things used to be different, apparently.
The Deceiver.

Newt sighs, reaching around his neck, before unlatching a necklace and holding it out to her.
"You also left me this. You said that I should give it back to you when I find you again, when I thought you needed it most. And because you knew that we would be together again. It gave me hope."

Lori sat still as a statue, trying to process all the information which had been force-fed to her within the space of what felt like only a minute.
His warms hands reaching around her neck, latching the necklace, before letting the cool metal chain hit her skin.

"You're not a villain, Lori. And you're not some bloody Variable either."

She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. "Then what am I, Newt? Because I sure as hell don't know."

He takes a moment to think through his answer, before looking at her deeply, with his chocolate brown eyes. "You're amazing, is what you are. You are brave, beautiful, smart, kind, loyal, and I love you with all my heart. You may not remember that, but I do. And for now, that's enough to keep me going."

Lori's breathing hitches at his words. If he truly cares for her that much, he deserves the truth.

"Newt, I don't know if I can do this. I mean, I can't remember you. At least not all of you, and it's killing me. I'm supposed to destroy everything and stop you from getting to the Paradise, and I don't want to do that. So I'm trying not to remember you, because the more I remember, the more realistic that future becomes.

"But now I'm having flashbacks, and I'm remembering you and-"

"You're remembering me?" Newt cuts her off.

Lori runs a hand through her hair quickly, taking a deep breath. "I don't know. I mean I am, but I don't know if it's real, or if it's WICKED, and I don't know if I can do this much longer. I don't want to see you get hurt, so I need to stop remembering you, but-"

He cuts her off again, but to her surprise, he selected a different method this time around.

Newt pulls his lips away from hers, chuckling at her shocked look. "Shut up already. I can look after myself, and if a little risk gets me you back, I'm willing to take it."

He pulls her closer to him, before pressing his lips to hers once more.