Aife sat in an old, rickety chair, her legs on either side, her head tilted down towards the floor as she felt Teresa's cold hands on the back of her neck. Aife exhaled a low breath, slowly blinking as she heard the pale skinned girl pick up a scalpel and hover it over her skin. Aife could feel her heart racing.

"Uh, this might hurt a bit." Teresa warned, before pressing her lips together in a thin line.

Aife set her jaw, rolling her bottom lip in-between her teeth before reaching up, smoothing her hair out of the way and to the side to insure that it wouldn't distract her from her task. She couldn't believe she had even agreed to do this. Letting Teresa of all people perform this mini surgery on her? God. She's never letting Newt convict her to do anything ever again.

"Do it," Aife said, and at that, Teresa pressed down, the sharp blade cutting into her skin and splitting it in two.  Aife hissed in pain, her shoulders flinching at the odd sensation. She felt Teresa quickly put a small ball of gauze up to her skin to stop the blood from dripping any further. Aife felt eyes on her, and she knew the gladers were watching as Teresa cut into her flesh.

"Look, I know this isn't the time to make small talk, but I just wanted to say that i'm sorry,"  Teresa murmured lowly, and Aife pulled a face as she slowly shifted in her chair.

"oh, here we go," Aife tapped her fingers along the spine of the chair, and her voice held faux  amusement. It was silent after that, Teresa having pursed her lips. Aife didn't want any apologies from the girl. She wanted to see her dead. She would never forgive her for what she did to her family.

"Almost done," She cleared her throat, lightly shaking her head. She didn't know why she said anything in the first place.

Aife gripped the chair, and Teresa applied pressure with the gauze once again.

Gally, Frypan and Newt sat a couple feet away, holding a small towel up to their skin to slow the bleeding from the small procedure that the white girl had performed. She was cutting the chip out of their neck, which would allow them to enter the city without Janson and his rats being alerted of their unwanted presence.

"You're all set." Teresa said, pressing a towel against her neck as she placed the scalpel down on the silver tray. Aife's hands traveled behind her head to apply pressure herself. She stood up from the chair, not bothering to thank the girl before she took a seat next to her gladers. Thomas stepped up, taking her position.

Gally slightly scooted his chair over, allowing more room for the girl in-between him and Frypan. Newt stepped away for a moment.

"I bet she enjoyed that," Gally deadpanned, lazily tossing the bloody rag on the table before his arm fell limp at his sides. Frypan lightly chuckled, glancing up at the boy with a light smirk on his face.

"You probably right,"

"Here," Newt made his way back over, tossing the two boys a uniform, to which they would need to wear to enter the city without being detected immediately.

"Thanks," Gally said, giving the boy a quick, genuine nod, to which Newt returned. Aife subtly glanced at the freckled boy, he was different. He had matured so much, she looked away, her eyes lingering.

Aife looked back toward Teresa and Thomas, a frown falling across her lips as she saw they were making small talk, and the conversation seemed to be escalating, as Teresa had begun to raise her voice, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. Thomas flinched away from the girl, and it seemed as though she had forgotten that she still had a tweezer up to his neck.

Aife tilted her head, getting ready to stand up and make her way over before Thomas leapt out of his chair, turning his back toward the pale girl and walking away.

"You don't believe me?" Teresa complained, her tone sounding as though she was trying to prove a point. Aife was confused. What were they talking about. She felt her stomach knot up, and she watched as Thomas turned back around to face her, his eyes scanning over her features.

Aife's eyes traveled to Gally, and he narrowed his eyes at her, as if to question, what was going on?  Aife put her blood stained rag on the table, and stood up. The two of them took a step closer.

"You really expect me to? You made your choice." He spat with venom, and Teresa made a face, slightly shrinking back at his words.

Gally's head snapped toward the bickering two, and he slowly came to stand next to Thomas, "Everything okay over here?" He questioned, although, he already knew the answer. Aife was on the other side of the raven haired boy, looking at Teresa with a light, passive aggressive smile tugging at her features, as if to tease her.

"Yeah," Thomas dismissed, turning away from Teresa, "Yeah, we're done."

Teresa blinked, slowly shifting her body so her back was facing Aife and Gally, before she discretely began to reach for the sharp scalpel. The said boy arched his eyebrows, a scowl made its way onto his lips as he thrusted his arm forward, and he now had a hard grip on her wrist. She flinched, her gaze slowly meeting his.

"Nice try," He spoke lowly.

Aife couldn't help but scoff in disbelief, her voice flat, "After all this time, you're still the exact same," She teased, shaking her head as her upper lip curled in disgust, "you're still a traitor."

Gally glanced at Aife, before looking back toward Teresa, wrapping his arms around her to restrict movements her before he turned away, "Come on," He ordered, the girl stiffly followed him, her movements slower than his. Aife turned around to see Thomas at the nearby table, gathering his belongings. She slowly made her way over.

"So," She began, "You think gonna be alright?" She questioned, her voice was softer than it was before as she looked up at him.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'll be alright," The boy slightly stammered, and there was a pause between his words before he continued.

"What about you? You think you'll be okay?" He asked, his voice was low, and he picked up the gun that he had set aside.

"Don't worry 'bout me, Thomas." She dismissed, a light grin on her face before she met his eyes. He was looking at her already, the corner of his lips threatening to curl up into a smile as his eyes ran over her features. The way her nose was slightly crooked, and the way that a dimple was printed on her right cheek when she smiled. He took note of the barely noticeable bump she had along the bridge of her nose. His eyes traveled to the small cut above her eyebrow, and he then frowned. She had done so much, for everyone. But she had never really gotten anything in return. That wasn't right.

Thomas broke eye contact, "Yeah, well, you can't blame me. I can't help it. I mean, after everything, you have to be losing it. Just a little, at least," She could hear the light tone in his voice, and she chuckled, glancing down at her worn down shoes and shaking her head. Her cheeks began to warm up. She felt like a child when she talked to him. He made her nervous. She didn't like that. Or maybe she did.

"Just a little," She played along. It was silent for a rather long moment, neither of them knowing what to say next. Aife pursed her lips, silently scolding herself for not being able to keep the conversation going.

"You know, I-"

"Aife," A voice called out. The said girls head snapped toward the person, and she recognized it as the dirty blond haired boy with the accent, the boy that she had practically grown up with. His hair messily fell over his forehead, and he brought a hand up to swoop it out of the way as he stopped in front of her.

"uh, looks like we're gonna need you our there. Luckily for you, we've got an extra." He said, holding up the mask and uniform that they would need to wear to get into the city. The same uniform that the guards wore. Aife raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have enough people? I was supposed to be backup with Fry, make sure he made it safely." Aife argued, why were they switching things up without telling her in advance?

"Yeah, well, Fry has already left," Newt frowned, and Aife tilted her head, glancing behind him at where the dark-skinned boy stood previously, only to see no one there. She let out a light scoff, her eyes narrowed as she wet her chapped lips. Newt pushed the uniform in her arms.

"Alright," She glanced at Thomas, "Let me get changed."

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