Gen said nothing, the sound of the screams and the bodies around her all fighting and fleeing not enough to pull her from her trance. Whatever that strange man had given her and Newt, it was very different to Gally's drinks.

'I don't deserve it be loved' The thought that repeated itself over and over again, making her feel like her whole body was aching, her throat was closing up and her vision blurred. 'I will die alone. Unloved. Unwanted. A broken burden.'

Perhaps this was Peter's intention, to break her by severing her ties to her family and friends. She was intended for Matias after the trials, but even Matias had been acting strange.

He had approached her but rather than saying whatever lies or cruel things to get a rise out of her, he said nothing. He looked at her face, at her tears and then walked away like he didn't know her. Crying was for the weak, Gen knew that well. Peter had taught her that.

"Oi, what are you doing? Get over here before you get killed, girly." The voice that greeted her flew through her like a hurricane, bringing her back to the chaos that was raging around her. She felt dizzy, unstable on her feet and had a nauseous feeling in her stomach, but still she looked to Minho, whose expression had changed to panic. Immediately he lunged towards her and began to scour her body for any injuries. "Are you hurt?" His soft gaze met with Gen's and she felt as though Minho could see through to the darkest crevices of her soul. She felt almost naked as he wiped the tears from her face. The last thing Gen needed was for Minho to pity her, or to see her as this weak, blubbering mess. She was supposed to be tough. Gen, through the pain, parted her lips, but before the words that were begging to be heard escaped her, everything became black.

Minho easily took the girl into his arms and hoisted her into the air. While he had a duty and a plan to unfold, saving Gen would always be number one priority, even though Minho knew very well that she was capable of taking care of herself. Looking down at her pale, glistening face, there was something off about her. Something that Minho had noticed about her after she and her so called brother had showed back up. The vision of Gen and Nik walking towards them back when they had met Jorge and Brenda haunted Minho. He had been foolish. Of course he knew his feelings for Gen, he had always known his feelings… it was just a matter of getting past his denial. But, he had to focus on being the leader and he wasn't sure if he could be the leader the Gladers needed him to be if he was with Gen; it was like he was terrified of being seen a weak for being in love. After losing Gen once before, he wasn't sure if he was even capable of opening himself back up to the possibility of that pain of losing her. As awful as the Maze was, Minho missed it. He missed the simplicity: he missed the night he had spent with Gen in the Slammer, he missed the time they ran the maze, he missed kissing her and holding her close. Such simple things Minho had taken for granted. In this world outside of the Maze, he knew that the pain they were to endure was far from over and W.I.C.K.E.D would probably never let them live after everything was over anyway.

As he carried Gen upstairs towards where Thomas and Newt had been taken, he caught Newt's tired expression. The guy looked bad… really bad. It was almost as if Newt had just woken up from a three day bender with Gally, a feeling Minho used to know well.

"Glad we finally found Tommy? For a second I thought he was going to do a disappearing act like this one." Minho said, looking down at Gen as he laid her unconscious body next to Thomas's. Newt didn't say anything, causing him to give the honey-blond boy he called friend his attention.

"I have something to say to you. It's important." Newt said in no more than a whisper, his voice hoarse.

"What you need is to go to B. E. D." He said, spelling out 'bed' as slowly as possible. He knew he was being condescending, just like Minho knew how much it pissed Newt off. But, Newt didn't react the way he normally would to Minho's bad attitude. Instead, he chuckled,

"Sit down, shank." Newt said and surprising even himself, Minho obeyed, sitting next to Gen and absentmindedly playing with her thick dark brown hair. "Look, I get it, I do… Gen's intense and she can go overboard… trust me, I know her better than you think. Better than you even." The way that Newt spoke made Minho think more and more that the poor shuck was hallucinating or something from whatever Marcus had fed them all. He and Newt had met Gen at the same time, how could he even begin to think that Newt could know Gen more than he did. She was his girlfriend. Minho stopped. Was. That was the key word; the key word that kept Minho from getting up and leaving Newt to his delirious thoughts. "You need to step up… be better for her than me. Please?" Newt's gaze was pleading and that was something that made Minho incredibly uncomfortable, so rather than answering Newt like the adult he was (perhaps? Minho was pretty sure he was an adult by now and if he wasn't he didn't care.), Minho did what Minho did best.

"Step up? Dude, you aren't even talking right. Get some sleep, shuck-face before I have to knock you out cold." Minho sneered, clapping his friend on the shoulder. Newt's gaze turned cold,

"It really wasn't your intelligence that attracted Gen, was it?" Newt deadpanned and in a rush of rage, Minho withdrew his hand, his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Shuck off, Slinthead." He snapped, trying to intimidate a guy who wasn't even all there. "I didn't sign up for this klunk." Crossing his arms, Minho watched as Newt chuckled again, resting his head against the wall as he spoke,

"Actually, you did sign up for this," Even whilst delirious and drugged Newt was able to make sense and Minho was hating every second of it, "you had your bloody choice of following the rules and keeping your distance from Gen but you decided to take things to the next level with her. She didn't force you, you did it on your own. Just like she did when she picked you over me." Newt flashed him an insincere grin that very quickly disappeared from his face. "So, my theory is either you are a Slinthead who thought you could just mess around and everything would be fine or you're as crazy and reckless as Gen is and in that case, it's a perfect match." Newt paused for a second before he said something that even was strange to Minho. "All her life all Gen has ever wanted is for someone to reassure her that she is worthy of love. So… uh, if you do that, she will be good to you, she will take care of you and she will even overlook all of those deeply, broken things in you. She may occasionally try to maim girls who look at you for too long or who say something to you that she doesn't like but, she does it because she loves you and you bloody know what, Minho, some people would give anything to be loved like that." Newt stopped speaking, a pained expression on his face and for a second, Minho felt the world had stopped. How did he know this about Gen? More importantly, why was he telling him of all people. Minho knew Newt loved her too. He wasn't stupid. But rather than all of that, Minho was just thinking of Gen, about the things she had done and been through after that fateful day. She had left to save Newt. Minho's brow furrowed, he had nearly allowed Brenda to kill her out of spite. That was how much Minho hated Gen when she had left. But, were the positions reversed, Minho would have left Gen for Newt too. Gen did what anyone in the Glade would have done for another. But all Minho could see and hear was Gen and Newt together… always Gen and Newt. Minho had always imagined that at the end of the road it would be Newt and Gen or Gewt as they called themselves and yet, here Newt was giving Minho advice. "That's all I've got to say…" Newt trailed off, his gaze falling to Gen, "You just… take some time to bloody stew and then do the right thing by her." Turning away from Minho and pressing his back against the wall, Minho watched as Newt closed his eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Minho's words caused Newt's expression to soften and a small smile to cross his features,

"Because she deserves to be happy and she's always been happiest with you." Minho nodded.

"Do you love her?" Minho asked, the one question that had been on his mind since even before they had escaped the Maze. Newt's smile faded and instead he opened his eyes and looked to Minho.

"She loves you. You love her. That's all that matters. I'm going to fix things so we can all focus on staying alive instead of always being at each other's throats. Just bloody watch." Newt's eyes fluttered shut and he too fell unconscious, leaving Minho to his thoughts as Jorge walked in with a blond man Minho didn't really recognise but assumed to be Marcus. With Newt's words swimming in his head, he move to assist Jorge in tying the already beaten Marcus up.

A/N: Hey guys, I have decided I am going to try and finish this story. I was up last night reading through every single review on both stories and even re-read the story. Anyway, the reviews warmed my heart and I want to finish this off. Hope you all enjoy the ride xx