THE SURVIVOR!
mission, save minho.

MARG!

   𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐀 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓; just as they finished talking to Vince and miserably failed to convince the man to help them rescue Minho, their camp had almost been discovered by WICKED. Margaret knew it was inevitable; the stunt they pulled must have fueled the organization's hatred for the rebels. As for Vince? Marg had warned Thomas that the man would have never agreed, after all they didn't exactly have a solid plan.

Those were two of the many reasons why the two co-Leaders had planned on meeting once everyone had gone to sleep. Lying to Newt had become harder and harder as the months had gone by; the boy was the only one who knew almost everything about Margaret and that was because she couldn't bring herself to keep him in the dark. The red-head wanted her boyfriend to see her for who she really was; the good, the bad and the in-between.

With backpacks full of necessities, Margaret and Thomas found themselves crossing the common sleeping quarters while trying not to awake anyone in the process. The red-head honestly thought they'd managed to get away undetected, when all of a sudden, a voice she knew all too well caused both her and Thomas to freeze in their spots.

"Where do you two think you're going then?" A shaky breath escaped the red-head's lips as Newt turned on a table lamp. The sandy-haired boy before her was wearing the jacked that had become his signature piece of clothing, while the gun she'd insisted he carried at all times was strapped onto his left tight. She might have fooled the others, but the connection between her and Newt was so strong, sometimes she even wondered if the boy had found a way to read her mind.

"Newt, please -"

"Newt -" Margaret and Thomas both begged at the same time, the former taking a step toward the sandy-haired boy whose eyes showed a new level of determination.

"You two, don't be twats about it." Before Margaret could move even further, Newt made his way toward both the red-head and Thomas, hastily grabbing the backpack of the latter as Margaret's was already secured on her shoulders. "I am already in."

"No. No, you're not." Marg shook her head, her flaming red hair creating a halo around her face. "Please, Newt." She begged once more, something she never thought she would have done in her entire life. The sandy-haired boy must have sensed her inner panic, for he raised his right hand and slowly caressed her scarred cheek. As soon as Margaret felt Newt's calloused hand against her face she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Their moment was brief, as the boy quickly spun around and started walking toward one of the parked vehicles.

"No, not this time." Thomas was the first to follow the sandy-haired boy, leaving a slightly dazed Margaret behind. It took her a second or two, but the red-head managed to reach her co-Leader before any more words were exchanged between the two friends. "Look, even if we find Minho - there is no guarantee that we make it back from this."

"Listen to T, Newt." Since begging didn't seem to be working, Margaret opted to tell the truth to the boy. "We're going in blind - well, not completely, but still - and to top it all off, we don't have half of the ammo or people we'd actually need."

"Well, seems to me that you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you?" Maybe Margaret had started rubbing off on her boyfriend, as the boy opened the driver's door and they found themselves face to face with a rather smug Frypan. Apparently, while Thomas and Margaret were working on their plan to free Minho, Newt and Frypan had been working on a plan to join in without the two co-Leaders being able to stop them.

Margaret scoffed, yet she couldn't contain her smile. "There's nothing we can say to convince you to stay behind, is there?" The red-head bit her lower lip and she tilted her head, waiting for her boyfriend and one of her best friends to give her a truthful answer, even if hers was nothing but than a rhetorical question.

Marg knew that the moment the duo had figured out what her and Thomas were planning on doing, they'd have done anything not to let them leave on their own. After all, each single person standing there in the darkness, with nothing more than the car's lights illuminating them, was as stubborn as ever.

People often wondered why the red-head always jumped head first into the line of fire. Why, somehow, she always put herself in dangerous situations and acted in a ruthless way if needed be; the reason was simple, all she wanted was to protect the people she cared about and keep them from becoming the person she was. If she had to take down a bunch of WICKED guards in order to help her friends, so be it. She did what she had to do to protect those she loved and to help them all to survive. The situation Margaret found herself in right now was uncharted territory; this would have been the first time she wasn't the only one acting on impulse, putting her life on the line without truly knowing what would have happened and this scared the living hell out of her.

"Well, I am not going to leave you." Newt's voice managed to bring Margaret back to reality, her eyes quickly finding the sandy-haired boy's as he sent her a warm smile. "Plus, we started this together, Tommy. May as well end it that way too." The boy quickly added, breaking his eye-contact with Margaret only to look at Thomas.

The red-head felt Thomas's feet shuffling, something that caused her to turn around in order to look at the co-Leader who was already staring at her. The two co-Leaders shared a knowing look, they didn't need to talk in order to have a conversation, for the two had learned to silently understand one another. Margaret was the first to nod, her eyes falling shut for a split second as she exhaled rather loudly.

"Okay." Thomas spoke up for the two of them. "Let's go get him back."

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   They'd been driving for hours. Margaret had begrudgingly accepted to let Frypan drive the rusty old orange Jeep as Thomas claimed shot-gun in order to guide the dark-skinned boy by using the map they swiped from Vince. The red-head was sitting in the back, Newt's arm draped around her shoulders as her head rested in the crook of his neck. She refused to pry her hands away from the rifle she brought along; they might have managed to drive safely so far, but Marg preferred to be prepared if worse came to worse.

The scorching sun that might have once bothered them all to no end didn't faze them in the slightest now, at least not as much as the area they just reached.

Frypan slowed down as they entered a place that had been used for 'Mandatory Infection Checks', the car coming to a halt in front of a dark tunnel that did the opposite than calm Margaret's nerves.

As the four of them left the vehicle, Marg couldn't help but cringe due to the noise Thomas made as he slammed the car door close.

"You want us to go in there?" While Newt had turned around to look at Thomas, Margaret's eyes remained focused on the dark and dreary tunnel. As much as she didn't like the idea of driving through a place that looked like a four-star resort for cranks, they had no other choice, not if they wanted to get to Minho in time. "I don't want to come across as too negative, but if I was a crank, that's exactly where I would be."

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Thomas all but whispered. "What do you think about it, Marg?"

Margaret hadn't moved, her arms crossed against her chest as her eyes scanned the place trying to think about every possible outcome and escape plan. "Only way to save a day and a half drive. If we don't cross here, we'd run out of fuel half-way through the rocky desert and we'd wish we took the risky path instead of the safe one. Not gonna lie, though - this place is as sketchy as they come. Better be ready, because Newt's right. It stinks of crank-town."

"Now I get why Nancy finds it weird when you're being optimistic." Frypan snickered from beside her, causing the red-head to nudge his side with her elbow.

"Alright." Newt's voice caused Marg to turn around just in time to see the boys run his tongue across his teeth. It was because of moments like this that Margaret hated being a hormonal teen; they were about to cross a place that screamed 'danger' and, suddenly - thanks to Newt's action - all she could think about was kissing him. "I call shotgun."

"I love you, but no. I am not gonna let you put yourself in any more danger than we already are." For a split second the red-head didn't register the first three words she just uttered, yet the looks on Thomas and Fry's faces were enough to help her realise what she just said.

Trying to avoid facing the possibility that the sandy-haired boy didn't return her feelings, the red-head started making her way toward the jeep and sat down in the passenger seat leaving behind a very shocked Newt.

Even from where she sat she could still see Frypan's lips moving, causing her to let out a string of curses before burying her face in her hands. She needed to be alert, sharp, she needed to be the survivor she'd always been ever since she woke up in her Maze. Frypan had just sat down beside her when Margaret pinched her own arm, trying to snap herself out of her current state of mind.

"Great timing." The dark-skinned boy chuckled as Thomas and Newt finally decided to walk back to the Jeep.

"Shut up, Fry." The red-haired mumbled as she quickly checked that both her shotgun and her gun were fully loaded before securing her trusty axe once more. She'd left her bō behind, yet the axe she picked up when they first escaped the WICKED compound had become part of who she was and she couldn't bring herself to abandon it; after all, the object itself had turned out to be rather useful in more than one occasion.

"Here." Thomas leaned forward from the backseat of the car, a headlight in his hands that would have been useful to navigate the pitch-black tunnel. Margaret took the object in her right hand, sending a quick nod to the co-Leader before turning around and trying to avoid Newt's stare.

Just like that, Frypan turned on the engine and started their drive. Soon enough, the light coming from the outside wasn't enough to see where they were going, therefore, while Fry switched on every possible light mounted on the Jeep, Margaret turned on the single headlight she held in her right hand and directed it forwards.

"Just take it nice and slow." Newt spoke up from where he sat in the backseat.

"This place feels like a graveyard." Margaret muttered, her eyes scanning their surroundings and taking in the cars covered in dust and the abandoned belongings scattered all around the place. "Stay alert, guys."

"Woah, woah, woah, woah." Margaret, who'd been on the lookout on their right side, snapped her head towards the front of the Jeep, her eyes widening as soon as she noticed the reason why Frypan had reacted the way he did. A crank, one that once upon a time might have been a man, was standing in the middle of the tunnel facing the car and emitting guttural noises as its body jerked in a rather inhuman manner.

Margaret quickly turned off the headlight, dropping it in between her legs before turning around to look at Thomas and Newt. "It's okay, it's just one, so take it slow and go around him." The brunette spoke with as much confidence as he could muster. Margaret closed her eyes for a few seconds, inhaling deeply before letting all the air out through her nose in order to calm herself. The red-head quickly turned around and proceeded to roll up the window. "We'll be fine."

"Take it slow." Frypan whispered as if he was trying to collect himself. "Take it slow." As much as Margaret wanted to reassure her best friend, she'd never lie to him in a situation like the one they were currently facing; the chances that the creature in front of them was all by its lonesome were as high as the entire crank population turning vegetarian overnight.

All of a sudden, both of the teens sitting in the backseats seemed to jump in their seats; when the red-head turned around and saw what prompted such reaction, she tightened her grip around the handle of her axe. Outside Newt's car window stood a crank that still looked like a woman; her look was crazed and her teeth as brown as a piece of wood, both of her hands were pressed against the window as she begged them to let her in. The crank must have attracted others, for out of nowhere the Jeep was surrounded by creatures banging on the windows and trying to find a way in.

"Just floor it, Fry!" Thomas booming voice wasn't the reason Margaret jumped in her seat; a crank had opted for a different approach when it came to finding a way inside the car and had jumped on top of the hood of the Jeep, its body completely covered in red blood. "Come on!"

While driving forward might have worked in their favour when it came to get rid of the rest of the cranks, the one on the hood was now punching the windscreen with so much force that the glass started to crack. "That thing has to go!" Margaret yelled as she braced herself by clinging onto the door handle.

Frypan kept on swerving left and right, yet the crank's hunger seemed to give the creature enough motivation to hold onto the vehicle while trying to smash the glass to get to them. As soon as the creature moved away from the hood to try and smash Fry's window, the boy rammed it into a steel pole, losing concentration for a split second. That second was all it took for the Jeep to crash and flip over.

Margaret let out a groan as she mentally checked if she'd sustained any injuries; surprisingly enough she'd managed not to get hurt, yet her head was slightly pounding, curtesy of the hit she got when the car toppled. A few coughs escaped her lips, yet it was nothing compared to Fry who seemed to have inhaled most of the debris.

"Everyone okay?" Thomas asked from the back of the Jeep.

"Just peachy." The red-head muttered as she tried to open her door to no avail. "My door is jammed, I can't get it open."

"My hand, my hand." Frypan muttered in pain.

"Fry, cover your eyes." Thomas exclaimed as he smashed the glass window behind Frypan. "Newt, come on." Margaret couldn't turn around, but the sound of footsteps was enough for her to know that both of the boys, who were previously sitting in the backseat, had managed to get out of the Jeep.

"Marg, hold on." Newt called out as the red-head kept on trying to get out of the toppled car. "Tommy, a little bit of help here." Out of the corner of her eyes, Marg noticed Newt's slightly scared look as their eyes met for a brief second before the two boys on the outside pried the door open. Margaret rolled out of the vehicle, the sandy-haired boy pulling her up almost immediately. A shaky breath escaped the red-head's lips as she took in Newt's figure making sure he wasn't injured. "You okay?"

"I'll live, you?" Her left hand quickly found Newt's, who squeezed hers in respond.

"I'm fine." The moment the sandy-haired boy uttered those words, Margaret let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

They were far from being out of the woods, for a wail coming from the lips of a crank caused them all to snap their heads around. A lone crank was running towards them and Marg quickly noticed that all she had was her trusty axe, for she must have lost her guns when the car flipped over. She wasn't the only one who was weaponless, as Newt let out a string of curse words.

"Fry, I think we gotta move, now!" Thomas, who was helping Frypan get out of the vehicle, exclaimed.

"Fry, grab as much firepower as possible. Hurry!" Margaret quickly added. They were sitting ducks out there and the red-head knew that an axe could have come in handy only in close-quarter combat, something that, when it came to cranks, it was better to avoid at all costs.

"Wait a minute!" Margaret had to restrain herself from yelling at her best friend that they didn't have a minute, they were lucky that the crank was on its own and it didn't bring its friends along.

Frypan must have listened to her, for Margaret quickly grabbed the rifle the dark-skinned boy threw at her and didn't hesitate to shoot at the crank that had gotten too close for comfort. Someone shot from behind her, the bullet killing another creature that was silently approaching the four of them from their left.

"Nice shots, Marg, Fry." Thomas wheezed.

"Oh, shit." Apparently, both her and Newt were right when they referred to the tunnel as 'crank-city'. The noises must have attracted every single creature that lived in the pitch-dark place and now they were all running in their direction.

"Go. Go!" Thomas didn't have to tell them twice; they all bolted in the opposite direction, Margaret and Frypan taking turns in turning around and shooting at cranks that were getting too close. "Woah, woah, woah." Margaret collided with one of Thomas' outstretched arms, her head snapping forward only to notice a group of cranks the size of an army.

Between running for their lives and shooting at creatures that were far from human, the red-head felt as if she was back in her own Maze. A couple of months before, after one of their many missions, Marg promised herself not to go down the same path again; the path walked by a girl who looked just like herself, yet was ruthless and discarded fear by locking the emotion away whenever it presented itself, the path walked by the girl who never winced due to pain, as she had gotten used to the sensation. Now, standing in the middle of a full-blown army of cranks, Margaret didn't stop that side of herself from resurfacing; she needed it just like she needed water, for only that side of her could have truly helped her friends. She knew that by letting that side of her come back to life, the nightmares and the jumpiness would have followed, yet she didn't care; she let everything come back because she knew that she wasn't alone in this.

"Fry, you take the back, cover T!" In one swift movement, Margaret had positioned herself in front of Newt with the rifle in her hands.

Several shots left the gun as crank after crank fell to the ground, their bodies unmoving. She could still hear Frypan shooting as she swung back the empty rifle and shot three more times using her handgun. The dreaded sound of the empty clip caused her to step back, putting more distance between herself and the blasted creatures. "I am out of ammo!"

"Same!" As much as Margaret loved how her friendship with Frypan had reached the 'sync level', she truly wished this time could have been the exception.

The red-head turned around, her eyes meeting Newt's before she glanced at the other two boys who both looked utterly terrified. They couldn't make it out of there without a car, let alone any firepower whatsoever; it was official, they were trapped and pretty much screwed.

"I can't believe it." The red-head muttered as she heard the roar of the engine of an approaching car. An open truck barrelled in their direction taking down a sizeable number of cranks. Brenda stood up from the passenger seat as Levi and Nancy followed her lead and stood up in the empty trunk, all armed to their teeth and shooting at cranks left and right.

"Hey, get in!" Marg didn't even hesitate to follow Brenda's orders; the red-head jumped in the trunk in one swift motion before stretching her arm for Newt to take. In a matter of seconds, the four previously stranded teens had joined their rescue party and Jorge, who was at the wheel, sped forwards as cranks started running after the vehicle that was moving too fast for them to catch onto.

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   As soon as the adrenaline left Margaret's body, the red-head scooted closer to Newt, her arms encircling his waist as he pulled her closer to himself. She didn't care that she had embarrassed herself less than an hour before by blurting out her feelings to the wind; all she felt was pure bliss as she rested her head against his chest while the sandy-haired boy slowly caressed her hair.

"I'm impressed. You guys almost lasted a whole day." Snickers left Nancy's mouth as Jorge started talking, yet the sounds ceased almost immediately when Marg kicked the younger girl while glaring at her at the same time. Some people might have thought that the red-head and the two younger teens were weird; however, this was the way they always acted around one another, even back in Maze C. Where people saw a violent kick, the teens saw playful banter; it didn't make it right, but it was their normal.

"Thomas, for fuck sake." Margaret groaned as the brunette boy did his best to get around both Newt's and her body, only to step on her foot just before sitting beside her. She could feel Newt's body shaking as he laughed at her reaction and his best friend's clumsiness.

"You guys good?"

"Yeah." Newt replied almost immediately.

"I am, jury's still out on my foot you just stepped on." Margaret waved her hand absentmindedly in the air before letting it fall back down against Newt's side. "You okay, Fry?"

"Yeah - maybe we can find a different way of bonding that doesn't include us risking our life with a horde of cranks next time." This time it was Margaret who started cackling so hard she had to sit back up so she could breathe properly. For the past month and a half, Margaret had always chosen Frypan as a 'clearing partner'; the two of them would be the first to approach and leave any location, check for cranks and put them down. Margaret didn't care much about the gory part of their task, but Frypan? The dark-skinned teen had once burnt an entire outfit deeming it 'worse than a Glader's breath in the morning'.

She didn't see him at first, but when Marg finally calmed down and saw Thomas glancing at her before looking at someone sitting in the front seats, her head snapped in the same direction as the brunette boy only to notice how Brenda was staring at them. Margaret couldn't exactly pin-point what the young woman was feeling just by the way she was looking at them, but it was enough to spark a tiny bit of anxiety, causing the red-head to stuff her right hand in her pants-pocket and start fiddling with her pocket knife, the only object she never left behind no matter how dire the situation was.

"Uh- I guess we're sorry?" Margaret's statement sounded more like a question and half of the teens, even Jorge behind the wheel, either muffled their laughter or downright snorted.

"Sorry. We didn't want to bring you guys into this." Thomas came to the rescue by addressing the young woman

When Brenda simply shook her head almost in disbelief, Frypan stuck his head in between Thomas and Margaret. "Hey, I think what they're trying to say is thanks for saving us."

"You're welcome." Brenda, however, wasn't the only one who apparently had something to say about their mission, for Jorge's voice was the next they heard.

"Hey, don't get your hopes up. That checkpoint back there? That was the city's last defence. If that was overrun, chances are the city is too."

"Yeah -" Margaret's attention shifted to the sandy-haired boy and what she saw left her speechless. "Unless they figured out some other way to keep the cranks out." Apparently, she wasn't the only one to be shocked by the view, for Jorge hit the brakes so fast, both Newt's and Thomas' arms shot out in her direction in order to prevent her from flying out of the windshield.

Nancy and Levi were the first two out of the truck, the duo scrambling forwards as Marg jumped out right after Newt. What was in front of them was both breath-taking and angering, for part of it was for sure WICKED's doing, and the organization had made it so far thanks to the multiple kids' and teens' lives they took.

Margaret's hands were curled up in fists so tight she could feel a small trail of blood running down her fingers, yet she didn't care. Grey steel structures, buildings sky-high and smaller ones, stood tall within the safety provided by an equally strong grey wall that resembled the one she saw when they left their Maze.

"Funny." It was Newt who broke the silence as Marg, beside him, couldn't stop glaring at the town built on innocent lives. "Spent three years trapped behind walls trying to break out and now we want to break back in."

"Yeah, it's hilarious." Frypan added in a monotone voice from behind them.

"I'd be happy just to put a couple of bullets in Ava Paige's and Rat Man's bodies, if you ask me." Margaret's tone as was cold as ice, her face void of emotions now. "After we save Minho, of course."

"Well, you say when and we bring the pitchforks." Levi piped up. Margaret had rarely seen the boy angry, yet, right now, even if she wasn't looking at him, she could feel venom dripping from each single word that left his mouth.

"Jorge, how do we get in?" As Thomas asked the question of the century, Marg tore her eyes away from the steel city in order to look at the dark-skinned man, her arms crossed against her chest.

"Don't look at me, hermano. Those walls are new. I guess that's WICKED's answer for everything." Even if Jorge didn't know how to infiltrate the city, Margaret was ready to bet that, between all of them, they were bound to find a way to sneak in. 

Doable? Probably. Suicidal? Again, probably.

"Well, we ain't gonna figure it out from up here."

"Brenda's right. We need to get closer." Nancy added from where she stood next to Levi. "So, like Boss once told me in our Maze; 'move your ass and stop bitching because unless you're planning on using your charm on the walls, you ain't gonna magically find your way.'"

While most of the others had immediately gone back to the car, Margaret stood still, her eyes glued onto the city as she hoped Minho would be okay. She didn't notice Thomas and Newt a few feet from her, nor Thomas heading back to the car while the sandy-haired boy neared her and raised a hand to ask the others five minutes alone.

When she finally noticed her boyfriend's presence, a heavy sigh escaped her lips. "Those walls look like our Maze's." Even mentioning that place brought a bitter taste to her tongue, her stomach churning as memories of people she fought side by side with resurfaced.

"Yeah, like ours too." Newt's hand slid into hers, their fingers intertwining as the boy forced Marg to turn around so they could look each other in the eyes. "Listen, about earlier -"

A forced chuckle escaped her chapped lips. She didn't want things to get even more awkward between them. "Just - you know what, just forget it." Margaret tried to move, pry away her hand from his, but to no avail. Newt reached for her cheek with his free hand, his fingers caressing her skin slowly and gently. Her eyes fluttered close when her boyfriend started outlining the deep scars that'd always be visible regardless of what she wore; some people might have hated their disfigured face, yet to Marg it was simply a constant reminder of all she'd gone through and how much she overcame.

"That's the thing - I can't." Marg couldn't bring herself to even look at Newt in the eyes now. "You know how you have your things, those you are too stubborn to let anyone even attempt to do? Well, I have mine too."

"Uh?" Margaret slowly raised her head, eyebrows slightly scrunched together as she tried to understand what he meant.

"What I am trying and failing to say, is that I kind of wanted to be the first one to say it." As a shaky breath left the sandy-haired boy's lips while Margaret's nerves multiplied. "Well, isn't this a bloody perfect place to tell you that I love you."

Marg didn't give him the chance to chuckle; the red-head threw her arms around his neck and kissed Newt with the kid of passion the two shared only in private. She felt one of Newt's hands on her lower back, while the other got lost in her long hair; when the two pulled apart, they were both sporting a big radiant smile.

"I love you too." The red-head whispered as she rested her head against Newt's chest.

A couple of whistles caused Margaret to let out a disgruntled sound. "Hey, I called that from the beginning!" Frypan hollered as Newt shook his head, a grin still plastered on his face.

"Well, can you stop being disgusting and get moving? Thanks." Nancy annoyed tone caused the two teens to snort at the same time before heading back to the jeep, where their friends were waiting for them.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

My babies are in love and I am over the moon.

YES. Frypan and Margaret are the most amazing BROTP I have ever created and I am so glad I did. Frypan deserves more love and attention and I was tired of seeing such an amazing character always shoved in the background of most fics, so I decided to turn his character into one of the most important ones in this story. Marg & Fry's friendship is so cute I am mad at myself for not coming up with it earlier on.

Any possible nicknames for Marg & Fry's friendship?

You all know what's coming in the next chapter! Are you excited? Get ready for a lot of drama, angst and fluff.

Finally, I want to thank every single reader. It doesn't matter if you're a silent reader or not, your support still means the world to me. However, please, do let me know what you think etc. because it actually motivates and encourages me.