•°•

Minho didn't know what to do except hold her close to him, the feeling of her holding him close and rubbing his back made him feel safe and that nothing will harm him no matter what, cause she's always with him and will always be.

There she was sitting in a chair planning with him about tomorrow, Alby is going to come with them in maze to track Ben's footsteps before sundown and they had to split up, it was Alby's order, the silence was uncomfortable that Minho had to look up from the map and look over to Asterin who was staring at the ground with narrowed eyes.

"I have a bad feeling about this.." she muttered under her breath in hope Minho will not hear her words, he unfortunately did and he couldn't help but make his way towards the girl his finger under her chin as he made her look up at him, her dark brown eyes sparkling as she stared back at his beautiful ones.

"We'll be fine, I also have a bad feeling about this but we have no choice..." he spoke softly making the girl nod with a small smile on her lips as she looked away her cheeks reddening, it took Minho a hot second to realise what was going on as he immediately tore himself away from her clearing his throat.

Asterin watched as Minho's ears turned red matching her cheeks, seeing Minho this close to her after a day of not seeing each other felt like she was in paradise or dreaming, was she dreaming? the way he held her chin to make her look at him as he stood in front her with the 'I'll take care of you' look, he was a piece of art.

A human, sassy, brave and attractive one.

For all she knows is that she never wants to wake up from this dream, she wanted to stay with him alone in the map room chatting about random things forever.

Rubbing her forehead in frustration at the thoughts that just came up to her mind she cleared her throat to cut off the awkward silence, "come on, it's freezing in here, we should probably go back to sleep since we're waking up early." She gestured towards the door holding her flashlight, Minho shook his head at the girl.

"You can go, I have some work to do.." Asterin rolled her eyes at his stubbornness, Ben was right, he really enjoys overworking himself don't he? "No. Minho you're also resting now come on or I'll turn off the light." She threatened him, Minho rolled his eyes back at her before shaking his head in disagreement once again, "No, I have some work."

"Oh don't bullshit me Minho, you think that I can sleep without you in the room, well if you want to know why I'm still awake, because I'm worried that you'll go hard on yourself, I can't rest without you Minho, so please... let's go to sleep.." she snapped, her voice coming out as a whisper in the last sentence as she begged him. Minho's eyes widened at the girl, she couldn't sleep because of him?

Minho always thought that no one cared about him and that everyone thought he was an 'arrogant sassy shank that ran the maze everyday' even if Newt was his bestfriend he thought that he doesn't deserve this love, and seeing Asterin care about him was heart warming but he couldn't believe that she cared about him.

The whole day in the maze passes by them bickering like some 5 year old kids everyday, but now, the girl he always bicker with couldn't sleep because she was worried that he'll over work himself too much? Minho didn't know what to say, his mouth was open slightly as he stared st the girl in complete shock but after a while he nodded following the girl who lets out a sigh of relief.

"Is it true that you stayed awake for me?" He asked turning to look at the girl who was shuffling on the bed with her eyes closed, was she already sleeping? "Duh~" her voice was full of tiredness as she opened one eyes to look at Minho who was already staring at her in awe.

"Stop staring, it's creepy."

•°•

Asterin made her way out of the room her bag hanging loosely as she made her way towards Alby, Newt and Minho who seemed to be chatting, her hair was already in a high ponytail and a few strands of hair were braided, a small smile was on her lips as Newt handed her a cup of coffee.

Bitter.

he always prepared coffee for her in the morning so she can be more awake and energetic, she wore a grey shirt and black pants, a green jacket wrapped around her waist as she looked at the runners in front of her, "so are you ready?" She asked with a small smile on her lips trying to brush off the stress creeping up her veins. "Of course we are." Said Alby turning to look over at the now open doors.

"Hey Newt, take care of Thomas and please stop flirting in front of Chuck." With that she ran down the corridor after handing him back the cup of coffee that was now empty, Asterin was in the front running, Alby on the other hand seemed to notice the way Minho would stare at the girl from behind and would sometimes smile to himself until she disappeared to the other corridor leaving them, it was a bad decision of course, but Minho couldn't leave Alby alone and had to show him the blades.

"So what's going k  between you and Asterin?" Alby finally decided to cut off the silence between them as they ran, Minho looked over at the leader with narrowed eyes "nothing is between us, we're just friends and she's my partner." He replied shrugging his shoulders slightly watching as the leader rolled his eyes back at him, "yeah right.." he scoffed.

•°•

Asterin slowed down her pace as she slid down the wall panting heavily, taking a water bottle out from the messenger bag she took a slug of the drink as if she was in a coma for years or been stuck in a desert without water for a week. Her mind suddenly went to what happened yesterday a small smile grew in her lips as she shook her head, "we're only running partners Asterin, don't think of anything else.." she muttered under her breath, 'how are they anyways?' She thought stuffing the bottle inside the bag before walking down the empty road.

A bad feeling was burning in her chest that something bad will happen to her— to them. And that was why Asterin reached over to grab the spear  that was attached to her harness and started looking around.

A disgusting slimy liquid suddenly fell on her shoulder as she scrunched her nose in disgust wiping it in a hurry with a napkin she had in her pocket, a whirring and clicking sound startled the girl from on top of her as she snapped her head up, meeting straight with a griever on the wall.

A scream escaped her lips as her eyes widened in fear ince the griever fell in front of her making he trip, crawling away from the monster in fear she grabbed the spear throwing it into its leg making it screech in pain, getting up she ran down the corridor trying so hard not to look behind and see the monster following her.

Was it good thing that a sudden idea popped in her mind when she was running for her life?

No.

But also yes.

Looking behind her eyes widened onc again watching as the griever got closer, the claws on the stone walls making her shrink in her spot and the way it was trying to catch her with those metallic gripper and trying to inject her. Asterin turned back towards the dead end in front of her, one step she'll fall and die. "Okay calm down, Asterin, let's do it!" She exclaimed running towards the edge of the corridor before jumping.

Holding on the ivy's tightly for dears life a scream left her lips "holy shit!" She exclaimed looking behind to see the griever jumping towards her falling to the ground with a loud thud and one last screech, her eyes were wide as she stared at the now dead griever she couldn't wait to tell Frypan, Newt and Minho that, they'll be so proud.

Using all her strength she climbed up the wall panting heavily, a wince left her lips as a sting was on her arm, there was a huge cut on her arm that had blood dripping down and onto the ground, it came thick and strong, trailing down her arm and onto the ground, grabbing her shirt she ripped it feeling bad for ruining it.

Wrapping it around her wound she tightened the fabric begging to god not to die from blood loss, a scream left her lips once she tightened it, "god! Damn it–" her heart was beating so fast, she thought she was going to die but no not today (not when she didn't know if Minho and Alby are still alive), she got up even if her knew were so weak she managed to catch her breath and started once again running in search of the keeper of the runner and the leader of the glade.

A silhouette caught her eye as Asterin hid behind the wall peeking to see if it was another griever, thank god it wasn't instead it was Minho struggling to lift Alby who was unconscious on the ground, a gasp left her lips as she made her way towards Minho "holy shit what happened to him? You alright?" She asked with worry in her eyes.

Minho stared at her with wide eyes before pulling her into his embrace cupping her  cheek to see if their was any injuries, there was only a small cut on her cheek not to mention the arm, "I heard you screaming, what happened to you?!" He exclaimed grabbing her arm examining the wound that was covered.

"I was chased by a griever but I'm okay we need to get out of here now." She said gesturing for him to lift Alby with her, his arms wrapped around Minho's and Asterin's shoulder as they carried him towards the glade. It was pain for both of them.

"God, he's so heavy.." she muttered under her breath.