~A/N:

In this chapter, you'll really get a taste of how bad things are looking for Sara at this point.

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~Sara~

This could be the beginning of countless peaceful nights at last.

But not tonight.

Despite Newt and Sara having had talked things through, not even that, nor the comfort from him sleeping next to her was enough to ease the anxiety she gained from her dream.

There was just too much to it. Too many hidden secrets that held a depth too rooted and dark for her to act like it was just a passive dream.

She couldn't do it anymore.

Some fresh air out in the open of the Glade was what she needed. Maybe if she spent some good time thinking out there, looking up at the night sky—no matter if it was just an illusion—perhaps she could find some desperately needed peace of mind.

Somehow, she managed to untangle herself out of Newt's arms, being extra careful not to wake him up. The last thing she needed was for him to be sleep deprived after the day they just had.

With a blanket draped over her shoulders, she aimlessly took a stroll around the Glade. Images from the dream flashed in her mind like an ancient horror movie.

That day Sara's father was killed... she thought she'd actually escaped and saved herself from those guards. Everything was a lie. She was led straight into the trap. Those guards were sent by Janson to kill her father if she refused to go with them. Janson set it all up so that Sara would come running straight to him, and he could have her under his control. He dragged her on, for two years, with the fake promise that he'd find her family, when in reality, they'd been dead all along.

Her mind reeled with the daunting realization.

It was all a lie. All part of the dark, manipulative plot Janson had created.

Her entire family was gone.

Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she was finally able to mourn her family without hiding it. She didn't even bother to wipe her face. She simply let all the bottled-up tears fall freely as she took a seat on the log, next to where the bonfires usually took place.

"Sara?" a voice startled her.

She quickly hid her face in the blanket and wiped the tears away. There was never enough time to cry alone anymore. "Minho! Wha—what are you doing here?"

"Me? What about you? I thought you were with... Newt." He took a seat next to her, resting against the log. He frowned once he inevitably caught a clear glimpse of her face.

She cleared her throat to at least clear away the sadness in her voice. "Yeah. Yeah, I was. I—uh... I just needed some fresh air, that's all. I can't fall asleep."

"Did you guys argue or something?"

Sara shook her head, but the question made another wave of anxiety sweep past her. "No... but I'm afraid it could happen soon."

Minho looked confused. "Why do you say that?"

Her words got caught up in her throat and she couldn't let them out. Minho looked disappointed that she wasn't willing to be completely honest with him, and he sighed, turning away from her with a distant look.

"It's the nightmare, huh?" Minho continued asking, and Sara couldn't help noticing he was acting strange. She couldn't explain it, but Minho didn't seem like himself; like maybe something was going on with him too. And especially since he was still around at that hour of the night.

"Yeah," she tried to sound dismissive of the subject. "But—uh... you, why are you still up? Don't you have like a Maze to run in a few hours?"

Minho took a moment to stare at the enormous stone walls. "I do, but I just couldn't sleep. It's fine though, some lack of sleep doesn't shuck with my running capacity."

"You sure?"

Minho sighed, obviously losing interest in talking about his daily duties. "Hey, I'm not stupid. Stop avoiding the question, and enough about me. Something's been off with you for a while."

Sara gave him a nervous laugh. "You think? It was just a nightmare, Minho. A really disturbing one, that's all."

"No, it's not. C'mon, tell me. You need to vent or you're gonna explode. Trust me," he told her softly, and he broke eye-contact with her at his last two words. He said that with such conviction that Sara wondered how he knew that.

But he was right.

Why Minho though? Should she trust him? This was pretty serious, and she didn't know if she was ready to tell the truth.

And then there was Newt... she hadn't told him anything yet.

Nonetheless, she decided she needed to do it at the moment. She'd let it be Minho; he was her best friend after all.

She took a deep breath and looked Minho in the eyes. "Okay. Hear me out. What I'm about to tell you is something really serious. Like I mean, no one should know about this. I'm only telling you because I can't stand keeping this all to myself. It's killing me. Just please, try to be understanding and don't freak out." She clenched her hands together, in a pleading manner.

"Okay, now you're really scaring me. Sara, what the shuck is going on?" Minho's forehead creased and his eyebrows furrowed.

Hesitating, Sara closed her eyes and turned her face away from him. "Alright... well—I... I remember. Everything."

Somehow, it didn't immediately click with him. "You what? You mean your memories—?"

She nodded slowly as she took in the shock on his face. "Yeah. I remember everything from my past, and all I know about you guys comes from the times I spent with you before the Maze, of course."

"You knew us before the Maze?" he asked, his words sounding more like a doubtful comment rather than a question.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah. And my nightmares showed me a bunch of things I didn't really know from my past. It's like if they weren't just dreams, you know? Like they're memories, or just the truth being revealed to me."

He frowned, then held out his hand before she could say more. "Whoa, okay," he laughed nervously. "Hold on, so... you got your memories back and remember everything?"

Sara sighed, scratching her head. "No, I've always had my memories intact, I was just pretending. But I also found out some other shady klunk I actually didn't know."

Minho let out a single laugh, all the humor removed from his voice. "You lied about it?"

Sara looked down in shame. "There's more."

"The shuck?" He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'there's more,' Sara?" He rubbed the sides of his head with concern. "I've got so many questions, so you better start talking—"

And fortunately, Sara was ready for the interrogation. "I came here for a reason. One different than all of yours. The creators, they—"

"What about the creators—are you...? No..." Minho shook his head at her, and his eyes went wide. "Are you part of them?" He visibly started to back away from her.

"No!" Sara screamed, widening her eyes at him. She had to force herself to calm down, looking around to see if she'd woken anyone up. When she sensed no other human noise, she continued. "They're called WICKED. The letters imprinted on the Maze walls and the supplies. One of them, a woman named Rebecca, she's against the horrible things WICKED's done. Apparently, you guys are part of an experiment. That's what this all is. An experiment that analyzes your brain under pressure to gather some sort of blueprint to find the cure to a deadly brain virus."

There was a long pause as a dumbfounded Minho blinked back at her. She took his silence as her cue to continue explaining. 

"The world out there... it's much worse. Sun flares hit the earth, and there was a massive destruction of lives and property. Then this virus shows up, and everyone's getting infected..." She went ahead and told him as much as she remembered.

"Shut up! Just... shut up." He held up his hand, giving her a horrified look. "What—how... what?" He stared blankly at her for a few seconds. "So, let me get this straight. You're saying... that the world went to klunk, and we're part of an experiment—what?" He frowned, shaking his head.

"Okay, quick recap," she said, clapping her hands together once. "Some crazy organization named WICKED got together because the world went to klunk, and now you guys are their lab rats to discover some kind of cure to a disease." She gave him a tight grin, hoping she hadn't sounded too awkward about it, which probably was the case.

"What about our families? You mean there's nothing left?" he asked with sadness lacing his voice, a heartbreaking sound.

Sara only pursed her lips before answering. "Either they're infected, or WICKED simply got rid of them." She took a moment to take in the devastated look on Minho's face as soon as she said that. She nodded sadly and gestured to his face. "See why I couldn't just tell you guys?"

He shook his head. "You still lied. We had the right to know," he said, sounding offended. "Alby and Newt have to know; we need a Gather—"

Sara went into a panic and forcefully gripped his forearm. "No! Please, Minho. You can't. I can't let anyone know about this." She gave him a frantic look as she stood up.

He yanked his arm away from her, then crossed his arms over his chest. "This is ridiculous. You can't expect me to keep my mouth shut when this is like the biggest thing to tell. For two-and-a-half years we've found literally nothing. And now you come skipping along to hit me with this pile of klunk all at once? Sara, they have to know."

She frowned angrily, leaning closer to him. "Are you shucked in the head? They'll banish me if any word of this comes out. And you'll get in huge trouble now that you know. Think about it," she said, pointing to her own forehead to put some sense in the Runner's head.

Minho squinted his eyes at her, his arms still crossed and a very offended look on his face. "Thanks for putting me on the line. 'Preciate it. Why the shuck didn't you tell Newt first?" he said, passing a frustrated hand down his face and turning his back on her.

"Seriously?" She scoffed. "It's not like I'm asking you to help me hide a dead body. Just keep the secret until I figure out what to do."

"Until you figure out how to talk the entire Glade out of banishing you, ya mean," he rebuked.

"Can you calm down? You're making me nervous," she complained to him.

Minho turned around and scoffed. "As you should be! You know, if you needed to talk about it with someone, you had Alby and Newt. Those shanks are the leaders. If there's anything big like this, they're the first ones to know. I get that Alby's a slinthead so you wouldn't ever tell him first, but Newt? I mean, he's supposed to be your boyfriend. I'm your friend. You should've told him first. And you should've told him a long time ago," he spat every word, pointing at her accusingly.

Sara rolled her eyes again and sat back down. "Okay, Minho—I don't need you to remind me of that." She pinched the bridge of her nose before pressing her palms together. "I only came to you for help—to vent. I don't know what else to do. It's not as simple to just go up to Newt and tell him. He'll never forgive me, okay? I know he'll have to know, but now's not a good time. Not when he's been so happy for the first time in a while."

Minho scratched his head, now severely frustrated with her. "Then when's a good time?" he argued. "The longer you keep this from him, the worse it'll get. I know him. If you would've talked to him sooner, I'm sure he would've understood. He would've taken your side, because he loves you." He paused momentarily as he stared at the ground, deep in thought.

Sara spread her hands out, equally as frustrated. "You don't know that! You don't know what Newt's past was like. I do. You think him trying to kill himself is the worst he's gone through? He'll demand to know everything I know, and it would kill him to find out about his past. I can't do that to him," she argued, her heart trembling at the thought. "He's already got too much on his mind, and I'm considering he might not even believe me."

Still concentrated on the ground, Minho started messing with the grass with his foot. "So... you know our whole story."

Sara sighed, unsettled by how quiet he was getting. "We never had much time to talk back then, so I only know about Newt's past because I talked to his sister. And Newt had dreams about his past without knowing it was his true story—"

"Hold on, Newt has a sister?" he asked incredulously, staring back at her. "Do I have a sister?"

She slapped her own thigh with irritation. "Minho, for shuck's sake. I don't know if you have a sister, but if you interrupt me one more time, I'm not saying another word."

"Okay, fine, fine," he dismissed her outburst with his hand. "Why are you here though? What's the point? I don't get it, Sara. Why would you lie—what's going on? Tell me."

Leaning back against the log again, Sara prepared to give her speech. "Well, Rebecca, like I said, she's part of WICKED, but against her own will. We've been preparing an escape plan for those in the Mazes. I was sent here so I could pretty much lead you guys out. She said she's supposed to send me a signal, or some sort of direction when the time's right, but for now, I'm passing by as another one of you guys."

He furrowed his eyebrows and Sara knew another storm of questions was headed her way. "Wait, you said 'Mazes?' There's more?" his voice squeaked at the last word.

Trying to keep calm, she decided it was best to answer one question at a time. "There's just one more. It's a girls' Maze."

"What the shuck?" he whispered. "Okay, but how can you trust this lady? How do you know she hasn't led you into a trap, and that you're stuck in here just like the rest of us?"

Sara was surprised at how skeptical he was. It was a smart move of his, but she just dreaded the possibility of Minho acting more like Gally after tonight.

She shrugged and shook her head. "Because no one else has gone through that amount of trouble to take care of me, train me, and be willing to take WICKED down. That woman risked her own life for this. And our only goal is to get away from Janson and get all of you guys and the girls to somewhere safe. I was chosen for this mission because I wasn't meant to be sent to the Mazes. I'm supposed to be living in HQ, completely unaware of what's happening. Rebecca found in me someone who deserved to know the truth and could help out. We want to reverse—or at least fix—what WICKED's done to you guys. To all of us."

Minho only kept shaking his head repeatedly, obviously confused. "Okay, okay, slow down. Who the shuck is Janson, and why do you sound like you were some sort of royal back there?"

"Janson's the assistant director of WICKED. He did this to us. And well... unfortunately, I'm his niece. That's why." She smiled with complete insincerity behind it.

Minho couldn't have looked more disturbed. "What? You're shucking with me, aren't you? So how do I know that you're not planning anything against us?" He stared at her suspiciously.

Sara sighed with frustration and ran her hands down her face. "Minho, I went out of my way to help you guys. I knew something was off even though Janson threw rainbows and butterflies at me, telling me that everything was fine. It was not. If it weren't for Rebecca, I'd have no idea what to do. You think I'd joke about this?" The anger inside of her rose exponentially, and she was unable to stop the raging storm.

"So, what's in it for you?" he asked, his tone still a bit harsh. "Collateral damage?"

Minho fueled the fire, so that's exactly what he was gonna get, and there was no stopping her.

"I was thirteen when I heard the gunshot that killed my dad." Her voice immediately faltered at those words. "I had to escape on my own, and then WICKED's guards took me until Janson rescued me. I had no idea what happened to my mom, I wanted to look for her, and I didn't find out what happened until now. What I saw in my dreams... Janson killed my parents to get a hold of me. And he killed his own wife and daughter. He lied to me for years, promising to look for them, but he had already killed them!" she sobbed, her voice almost gone. "And he made WICKED look like the saviors of the world," she said, using a mocking tone at those last words.

"Wow..." Minho huffed, speechless.

Sara wasn't quite finished yet, however. She got closer to Minho, speaking every word with anger as he leaned back, startled.

"And Newt's story is even worse, you don't even wanna know," she whimpered. "I'm sure you guys' story isn't too different either."

She hated arguing with Minho, but he wasn't making it any easier.

Sara continued. "Now, can you look at me in the eyes and tell me that I was perfectly capable of telling you guys everything—no problem? I couldn't, Minho! I have my memories; you guys don't. No one would ever believe me. But if I didn't tell someone, I'd go insane. This is too much to hold in here." She gestured all around her own head. "Tell me, Minho. Tell me I was so shucking stupid to try to protect the people I love. Tell me I'm overreacting. Hm? Tell me!"

The tears had started spilling out of her eyes again. This time, along with the sadness from the loss of her family, she was crying out of anger.

Minho was quiet for a few seconds, frowning, and avoiding her eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it back up as if wanting to choose his following words carefully.

"I had no idea." He rested his forearms on top of his head. "Shuck, Sara. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't think it was that bad." He shook his head, bringing his arms back down.

Sara moved back where she originally sat, relaxing just a bit now that Minho showed at least some signs of receptiveness. "No one does, and I don't blame you. I just hoped you'd understand why I did what I did, and that I'm here to help."

Minho pursed his lips, and Sara could tell he was trying to see her point, but it wasn't easy. "I know. But you still lied, and even though I know why, it still kinda breaks some of the trust, you know?" he asked, hoping she understood. "Answer this: if you had to pretend to be clueless like a Greenie when we found you, is the whole thing with Newt also an act?"

"What?" Sara almost exclaimed, fully offended. She couldn't believe Minho would ever ask that, yet he pressed on with the subject. 

"Yeah, are you putting up a show to pretend that you love him? Is it all part of the plan with you and that chick—Rosetta or whatever?"

"Are you serious?" She scoffed.

He held out his hands, trying to calm her down. "I get it that you had to lie about some things, but if it's true that you're doing this to Newt, I'm not freaking having it. That shank loves you more than he's ever loved anything or anyone before."

But Sara couldn't stand to hear that. "And I love him! Shut your mouth before you talk about something you don't even know! I wasn't even supposed to come to the Glade until everything with the plan was ready. But you know what I did? I practically forced Becca to bring me here ahead of time, and all because of Newt. Because I've cared about him even before he got sent to the Maze. He'd be dead if I hadn't shown up when I did!"

He looked around to see if anyone could hear her outburst, then he lowered his own voice. "Oh, really? Well, I don't think you did much, since we found him half dead on the floor that day. And you were unconscious too—are you out of your mind?"

Sara cringed at how dry Minho sounded when speaking about a subject so delicate to both her and Newt.

"I was attacked!" she shouted. "I was conscious until Newt fell. My plan was to distract him so he wouldn't climb up. He didn't notice he got caught in the ivy as I was talking to him. If it weren't for that, he would've fallen straight to his death. I wasn't counting on getting hurt—or else—believe me, I would've literally dragged him down the ivy before he could jump—"

"Wait, you knew he was gonna jump before you got there?" As Sara nodded, Minho's expression darkened. "So, they do watch us. Everything we do," he whispered, horrified. "And you were watching us along with them." He looked so disappointed in her.

She was so annoyed she wanted to scream. "No one in WICKED—not even Janson—knows what Becca and I are doing. I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay. It took a long time to break into the system without alerting the others. And more importantly, Newt is alive! I get it that all of this makes you mad, but can't you see that I'm only trying to help? I told you this to get some comfort, not to make me feel worse about everything!"

His eyes seemed just a tad more apologetic this time. "Shuck! You can't really blame me. I just found out that my best friend is a good liar," he said, gesturing to Sara. "I'm sorry. I'm really trying to understand you, but it's all too much to take in. How are you not mental by now?"

"Hope." Sara shrugged, but she wasn't even sure she believed herself. "It's all I've got. Hope, Minho. Hope for us. And maybe I am mental. How do you think I felt when I was in the same position that you're in right now, when Rebecca threw all this klunk at me back at the lab? You didn't even give me the benefit of the doubt."

"Well... I guess." There was a torturously long pause.

Uncomfortable and quite embarrassed, Sara stood up to leave. "I think I should go. And you too. You have to be up early."

"Wait, hold on," Minho stopped her, grabbing her by the arm. "I still think you should tell Newt. You've got the advantage that he's Second-in-Command and your boyfriend. Two positions he's got that prove you can trust him."

Sara pulled her arm back, resolved on her decision. "I can't do this to him. He's too broken to have to deal with this on top of things. Not to mention, he's slowly starting to heal, and I don't want to ruin that. And if he's gonna react like you, or worse, I'd rather not." She had stopped crying moments ago, but now, new tears were forming. 

Minho groaned in frustration. "Sara!" he started, but he couldn't even form more words. Suddenly, he did the last thing she'd ever expected someone like Minho to do.

He hugged her.

His arms wrapped around her back really tightly, and Sara broke into sobs onto his shoulder.

Minho's heart was beating rapidly, and he didn't seem at peace. He was like this even before he even came up to her. "I'm sorry for being such a slinthead. I'm not used to this, you know me. I promise I'll work on that," he said, tightening his grip.

Sara broke away from the hug, wiped her tears away, and gave him a small smile. "I can't blame you. I know it's a lot, but I'm actually glad I finally told someone."

"Hear me out," he said warningly. "I still think you should talk to Newt." Sara's nerves returned at Minho's urgency. "I don't know when, but this has to be said. You said he's too broken, but what about you? You're broken too—look at everything you were forced to go through. Sharing this with the person you love is a good way to help each other get through it together. And you'll also have to tell everyone else. Especially if that Rosetta chick is gonna show you a way out. You need to let the guys in on this if you want them to trust you, which they already don't. But I promise I'll support you if klunk gets real, okay?"

With her confidence boosted a little more, she nodded. "Again, thank you, Minho... Man, when'd you get so wise?"

He snorted. "Try to sleep. I doubt I'll ever sleep again after this, but I still gotta run in a few hours, so..."

"Okay, I will. And I'm so sorry."

He sighed. "I know you don't want to, but try to distract yourself these next couple of days. Do something you like—maybe something with Newt. Get busy preparing for the new Greenie we're getting in two days—I don't know."

It warmed her heart that Minho was trying to help even though she'd just admitted having been lying to everyone.

"Thanks. I'll see you later, Minho." As she walked away, she called out to him again, "By the way, her name's Rebecca. Get it right."

"Whatever."

She smiled and shook her head as she walked back to her hut, her blanket draped over her shoulders once again.