Newt Imagines (The Maze Runner)

Into Thin Air

Y/N is the first to speak. "Is it true? Did you really- did you really know who I was?" Newt nods hollowly. "We first met when you arrived in the Maze. We were friends for a while, and-" He cuts himself off. He can't talk about that, not right now. "And then we escaped, and you disappeared." Y/N looks at the ground, at the fire, at her friends. Anywhere but him. "I have this strange feeling like I know who you are. Or I should, at least. But I can't remember a single thing about you." Newt stands silently, not trusting himself to speak.

Y/N turns to him at last, eyes burning into his own. He's missed that look, that focus brushing across her brow. "Can you tell me what I was like? You know, in your Maze?" Newt sighs. "I'm not sure we could fit it into one night. You were there almost as long as I was, bordering on two years." Y/N's gaze is unrelenting. "Can you try?" Newt could never say no to her. Not in the Maze, and not now, when it's just the two of them and he's missed her so much. He clears his throat, and begins to speak.

"We were friends at first. Probably since the moment you showed up. You had this way of getting people to listen to you, even when the shanks were seconds away from tearing each other apart. There were only a few of us in the Maze, or at least at the beginning. You, me, Alby, and Minho. We were like a little family. I thought our friendship would last forever, and then other boys started showing up."

Y/N frowns. "Did we fight or something?" Newt laughs ruefully. "No, we just- Well, I was kind of a shucking idiot myself. This one boy showed up, and he used to make me so angry. You'd be doing your job, not focusing on anything else, and then he'd come up and start talking to you. I didn't know why it was bothering me so much, that he would be there for just a few seconds and the two of you would be laughing like you'd known each other all your lives, and then I realized after a while that it wasn't him that annoyed me, it was that I was just jealous. Stupid, but jealous all along."

"I kept it to myself, didn't want to bother you. I didn't realize you loved me until later." Y/N looks up at him, mouth slightly tilted down into a frown. "But then what happened with you?" Newt smiles to himself. "I'd loved you all along. Don't think I had much choice in the matter. Anyways, it took me a while to get up the courage, but I told you how I felt one night at the bonfire. I was nervous about it, but you just looked at me with this smile and I knew everything was going to be alright."

Y/N's smiling now. It's strange, thinking of that night with this new Y/N next to him. She's got the same expression on her face as the night Newt told her he loved her, and it cuts away at Newt that she could smile at him like that without remembering that night at all. Newt realizes he's been staring too long, because Y/N gently nudges his arm. "Go on." Newt looks away, fighting the shyness that suddenly overwhelmed him.

"We were happy, for a long time. We had months of uneventful life. Well, as uneventful as the Maze can be. Then Thomas and Teresa showed up, and the Maze doors didn't close, and the Grievers attacked us all." Newt's eyes flicker shut as he remembers that night, remembering the tongues of flame spiraling over the buildings and the horrified looks of his friends. He can still hear the screaming, smell the coppery tang of blood like the scene was still being played out around him.

"We managed to escape. Not quite sure how. I don't think I was scared for myself, more that you were going to die and I was going to have to live without you. When we first showed up at Janson's building, I thought we were finally out and in the clear. We were so excited to have escaped and have a new life, one where we could actually relax and be just teenagers." Newt's voice twists into something bitter as he remembers how hopeful they'd been, and how quickly that hope had fallen apart, just like everything else that seemed to come their way.

"Then Janson turned out to be with WICKED, so we escaped. Took a while and a lot of running, but we made it out." Newt falls silent, and Y/N tilts her head expectantly. "And then what?" Newt swallows unevenly, still feeling the pain and overwhelming heartache of that one specific night. "And then we were alone in the desert, all of us from the Glade who'd made it out plus Aris. We went down to sleep, late at night. You were right next to me. When I opened my eyes, you were gone."

Newt looks away, fighting back the hot prick of tears threatening to appear at the corners of his eyes. "That was the worst part. You were right there, so close. There was no way you could have left without waking me. I knew you wouldn't leave, so it had to be WICKED, but it still hurt. I was so worried that you'd died, or that they had dragged you back to their facilities and were experimenting on you-"

Newt can't finish. Y/N nods, understanding. "And then you showed up to the mountains, and I had no idea who you were." "Exactly." Y/N sighs, leaning up against the rocky crag behind her. "I don't know what to say. It all sounds familiar, but it just doesn't sound like me. Are you sure that you've got the right girl?"

Newt nods. He'd know Y/N in a heartbeat, across the darkest night, anywhere. This girl is the one he loves, right down to that slight crease in her brow that she gets whenever she can't figure something out. "I don't know how to explain it. You are you, Y/N, and you're the same girl I've been in love with since the Maze. You're the same girl who always had a smile, even when things got dark, who yelled at the Builders but made friends with all the Greenies, who helped everyone survive the Maze because that's just who you were." Newt draws a ragged breath. "You're the same Y/N who made me fall in love with you, and I'm not going to let any trick from WICKED convince me to let you go."

Newt's staring off into the darkness of the desert, but he turns with a start when he hears a slight noise from Y/N. He stares at her. She's almost bent double in pain, hands clutching her head. He rushes over to her, helping her to the ground. "Y/N! Are you alright? What happened?" She just shakes her head, gritting her teeth through the pain. "I don't know. You started talking, and I felt like I recognized something, and then my head started feeling like it was about to crack in two."

She squeezes her eyes shut in agony, and her shoulders tense up in a spasm of anguish but then suddenly fall still. She lies on the ground, silent. Newt feels like his heart is in his throat. "Y/N? Can you hear me?" Her eyes open slowly, eyelashes fluttering in a dark frame around her eyes. She looks at him for a moment, then two, as if drinking in the sight of him. She reaches out a shaking hand to him, lightly touching his cheek. "Newt?" Her voice is quiet, as if she's doubting herself, and then she breaks into a grin.

"Newt. Yes. I remember you." All of Newt's worries leave him in a rush, and he wraps his arms around her, pulling her close. "Y/N?" She nods, laughing slightly. "I remember everything. The Maze, the Gladers, you, everything." She pulls back, smiling, so she can look in his eyes. "I don't remember the part about you being in love with me from the start. You should have told me that earlier." Newt chuckles, helping her stand. "I was trying to help you get your memories back. I'm sure it was just a dramatized detail."

She flashes him a beaming glare. "I'm sure it was." Newt can't take his eyes off of her. "I was so worried, you know that? I was so worried that you'd left." Y/N shakes her head. "I could never leave you. Not in a million years." Newt lets himself smile again, and reaches out to lock his hand around hers. Y/N remembers him. The girl he loves is finally back once more.