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Her boyfriend Minho was not a person of ill-spirited nature.
He never liked to stir up problems for anyone in the Glade, he never wanted to rumor things about anyone in general, nor instigate at any chance he could get if he had someone hate him on the outside looking in.
It wasn't his job to do so unless they got in his face. He was given rules, and he'd have to follow them.
Well..
A few of them. Not all.
He was having occasional arguments with a Keeper. The Keeper of the Builders, and surely enough, everyone- Everyone knew who that was.
Gally. The 6 foot giant that had a military like hair style, who was burly from handling heavy stacks of wood from one part of the Glade to the next, and had the loudest mouth when it came to being bothered by the littlest issue. He was the first guy to despise her when he arrived, and it dreaded every inch of her chest when he'd ask her random questions out of thin air. It wasn't curiosity, that was what she could get out of it.
He genuinely felt that they were being set up by her being there, the only girl out of a small army of boys. So what? He would jump down her throat if she was to ever question his supposed logic, or if she'd dare to poke him, the bear that he was to be undisturbed. He has surely knocked out an opponent before, hence she tread lightly in his path.
If she was to stand next to him, she'd possibly irritate him. It was that easy. Minho never liked him, which is natural, no one liked him except for his cronies, despite Alby's chiding mannerisms to tell them to accept him as a brother, almost because they're living together in this damned place to begin with.
She hated it, but she had to, because Alby was like an older brother. He had the ways of being wise, tried to be reasonable on her when she arrived and cared for her when she had gotten hit on a couple instances by some naughty Gladers. Minho had felt feelings for her during her stay and she felt mutual, so they got together publicly. It was a relief, she became undesirable to anyone who looked at her a funny way because they knew she was taken by the Keeper of the Runners.
It was a blessing, not a curse in the least.
She was assigned to be a Runner, luckily since Ben was out of duty. He had gotten sick. He is being bed ridden with the Medjack's at the moment, and they had bid him farewell. Minho was inwardly happy about it, he got to teach her the things he had been working on for years and it would give him actual time to spend with her instead of the quick nights they spent passed out in tangled limbs and starry eyes.
He mapped out a specific section that Alby had instructed for him and Ben, yet it gave him a chance to burn hours. He taught her everything there was to know about the Maze, being miles away and in the twists and crazed patterns they were subjected to. She felt like they would get lost, but he assured her that he had memorized most of the corridors, so that was highly unlikely.
For an odd reason, Minho brought up Gally. She rolled her eyes when he couldn't see and put her hands on her hips, stopping them in their work to stare holes at the back of his head. In her gear, she was intimidating, and her hair was neatly kept back if she was to sweat, arms flexing.
"I hope he keeps his shucking mouth shut the next time I see him."
"Ahem." She cleared his throat as he continued to walk forward without her.
"I swear.. He gets on my nerves."
"Ahem." She coughed firmer for his attention. It still didn't work. Are you kidding me?
"Like- I don't understand why he's got something against you. The toilets that the Sloppers clean up must be jealous! He talks so much klunk."
"Minho!" She snapped softly and he finally became quiet, turning to see her in his mid-frozen position.
"W..What?"
"You done?" Her eyebrow raised then she let her hands drop to her sides in exaggeration. "So what, that he talks about me?"
"So what? So what? He's calling you a spy of WICKED, that's what. He's nuts. That's what he is. He sucks up to Alby to try and manipulate him too, you know."
"Minho.. Stop doting on him. It's like you think about him more than me." She smiled tenderly when he scrunched up his nose in disgust, walking to him to wrap her arms around his thick neck calmly. She pulled her head back a bit to see his face. His ears were kind of red in the frustration he was expressing and she wished he'd stop and think about it.
"You don't get it, Greenie. He's obsessed with you and he'll do anything to tear you down. It's not his job; his job is to work in the shucking fields and mind his business. It's not like his job is to find a way out of here, like me. I risk my life every day, what does he do? He cuts wood!" He scoffs at his own information, and he lifts a free hand to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Ugh."
"Hey.. Hey. You're creating problems out of nothing."
"That's what he's doing!" He moved his hand to look at her in surprise. "Are you serious? Are you defending him?"
"No, I'm not!" She quipped, cupping his cheeks and feeling the temperature rise in his face. "Chill, dude. I'm.. I'm really happy you're sticking up for me, but I'm okay when it comes to him. I ignore him, because he's a slinthead. That's how he is and we can't change that. We live with it and move forward."
"I don't think I can handle moving forward." He had this bitter taste in his mouth as he thinks of letting this slide. He's said the worst things and it spreads like wildfire. It's not pleasant to hear that his girlfriend is using up the oxygen they breathe and that they could sneak up on her in the middle of the night to see if she's talking to a beetleblade in secret or some random stupid excuse he can come up with to get her in trouble.
"Let's focus on what's in front of us, shall we?" She gestured to their hall they were working on, and she pulled the side of her mouth into a half grin. "I repeat; I'm fine. Let's go."
They mapped it out successfully, and he thinks they found a bunch of clues regarding their escape, going over it while sprinting to the front entrance of their home. The Maze was exhausting, however it's how it is because of WICKED and surely, they both will have to curse the skies later. It was more important to eat and rest up for tomorrow if Ben is continuing to be sick.
They reach the grassy terrain and she sighs happily, letting her head fall back to let the rest of the sunshine that was left in the air to hit her skin. Being in a dank and dingy wall to wall area can make you miss little things you take for granted. It felt good.
He did the same but it didn't last long, his tongue darting out to moisten his bottom lip. He nudged her arm then pointed to where everyone was sitting to eat. "Want to take off our stuff then eat, or go straight to eating?"
"Straight to eating, you joking? I'm famished."
"Good that." He agreed wholeheartedly with his eye-crescent smile, jogging with her to collect their single energy source for the night.
Tonight was great, because it was a hearty soup with a bunch of bread and beans. She found the soup that Frypan made was exquisite, while the others would rather eat dirt and go hungry. Oh well, more for her. Minho didn't mind it, he was actually interested in why she liked it that badly.
They were two peas in a pod, sitting next to each other and elbowing each other in a competition of who would give up and laugh since it tickled. Newt came to join, and he was all jolly, munching on his roll then clanking their tin cups in cheers to doing hard work. "Cheers, to how well we did today."
"Yes." She confidently brought their cups together and then Minho obliged to sip his own. He was lazy to lean forward and clink it, his head bent backwards to swig his drink. She sipped her own, shuffling her feet and focusing on blowing on the hot liquid that was cradled into a bowl on her lap. It was warming her thighs nicely, and she wondered if she would get to have left overs tomorrow.
"Ahh.. Mates, this is going to be a damper on your moods, but I think Ben is getting better now that the medicine is kicking in." Newt informed them on Minho's partners' health and she pouted playfully.
"Aww. I wanted to stay and map the Maze more. Maybe even get in pursuit of a Griever. Shuck."
Minho chuckled at her sarcastic humor then patted her back. "I'd rather you stay here, where it's safe, anyways."
"It was fun while it lasted." She stared at him fondly when he took care of her like that, and then switched her vision to the British boy who was scratching the back of his head. "You doing anything interesting with Zart?"
"Nah." He shook his head simply and inclined his head to Minho. "What have you learned with Minho?"
"If I had to say it, it would take me about a few days."
"That much, eh?"
"Yes.. It's an earful, but Minho does a lot for us in many ways." She teasingly pinched on her boyfriend's ear and he swatted at her, grumpy that she'd show affection in front of his best friend like that.
"Hey, not here." He complained lightly. "I'm tryin' to eat."
"Oh hush." She let go of his hair and ate with the knuckleheads that would go back and forth for the rest of the afternoon about minimal topics she didn't care much about. The sun was going lower and lower throughout the period that they had used up to talk and joke around, moments she'd probably laugh about later with Minho in bed.
"Where you headin'?" Newt piped up as she was getting up and wiping her hands off on her pants, the wind causing her clothes to ripple and whistle in her ears.
"I'll be back. My hands feel crumbly from the bread."
She paced around the Homestead to get to the pump they used for water, as it never rains in the Glade. Ever. Which is odd, because she remembers of how much it used to rain in her old climate. She had held it in, as a secret that she remembers little of her memories. Hopefully no one would question her about it; because it was none of their business. The exception would be Minho, of course, everyone didn't need to start rumors of why she could remember such a thing while everyone else was kicking rocks in irritation to find their own.
She pushed down on the metal lever with vigor, since the damn thing was rusted as all hell. They should have upgraded it better, the Creators. Like thanks. She watched the water slosh out of it's faucet and ran her hands under it fast, wringing them out and swishing her hands swiftly in the open air to get rid of the crumbs in between her fingers.
"Have any talks with beetleblades recently, shank?" Came a voice from her left. She shrugged her shoulders to the question and bent her head to check her Runner shoes if they were dirty. She'd probably have to brush them off.
"Or.. Maybe you've been contacting the Creators out of secrecy without us all knowing?"
"That's ridiculous and you know it, Gally."
Gally blinked incredulously to that and crossed his arms in eagerness. He yearned to get anything out of the girl. "You really think I'm going to let this go?"
"Not exactly. I don't care either."
"You don't? Why not? Something to hide, eh?"
She ignored his assumptions with a tousle of her bangs, tucking them behind her ears nonchalantly while taking one of her shoes off to occupy herself while he talked. It's not like she wan walk away from this. This is astonishing, he came to confront her about it.
"I asked you a question."
"And I ignored you, is it that hard to understand?" She deadpanned, staring up to him unwillingly. It's like he got uglier in personality every time she did. "I'd like for you to go back to eating, because I have nothing to say to you. Why did you walk all this way to start problems for me?"
"I see right shucking through you, Greenie." He narrowed his light colored orbs and he sneered. "I know what you're doing- You're acting like an innocent little butterfly who can migrate from anyone and everything to get whatever information you need. You're close to Minho, a Runner, who's been here as much as I have. You're using him to get him off of me trying to figure you out!"
"Gally.." She furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head. "That's not what I'm doing." She ran the edges of her shoes under the next water fall, and grazed her palm on it to get the dirt off. "You're making stuff up, at this rate. Stop."
"I won't stop. I'll expose you soon. You'll see."
"You'll see nothing, pal."
He was furious with how passive she was being with him, his arms bulging with the urge to go over to her and try and get the truth. "You're not going to defend yourself?" He put out a hand in a matter of fact kind of way, his own eyebrows shooting up in concern. "Wow, you're making this easy for me."
She stopped cleaning to close her eyes and inhale sharply.
"What are you going to do? Hit me?"
"Gally, I'm not going to fight you." She angrily put her shoe back on, tying it up by kneeling. "You think I'd be able to put my hands on you?"
"It's not that, you could do anything and I wouldn't get in trouble."
She froze at that and then got up, her posture straight. Was he.. Blackmailing her? What was he saying? "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that, even if you or your boyfriend tried to hurt me, Alby would know and he'd banish you." He was serious, and smug instantly to her confusion.
"You think that Alby wouldn't take our side?" She crossed her arms the same way as he was, appalled that he was managing a scenario where they'd get in punishment for foiling Gally's plans. She took a step in his direction, dazed at how tall he was. She had to be brave. She was thinking of tearing up, though it was not the right minute for that.
He had the nerve to make her life a living nightmare for something she can't control. This wasn't her decision to be put here with a bunch of boys and living her days in a fake paradise. "Alby trusts me. He doesn't trust you. He's kind to you because you're a sly Greenbean who got here because of the Creators, to breathe amongst us and act like you're one of us. You're not one of us, and never will be."
"I was washing my hands and my shoe.. Until you come up here to threaten me."
"There's no witnesses.. I don't see anybody around. Let me guess.. You're going to tell Alby, be a tattle tale and expect me to be put in the Slammer? Oh wait. Let me jut out my cheek for you to hit. Your face is getting pretty red, by the way." He mocked her; putting out his face to her by leaning down to her level. He winked as well, which made her heart drop in loathing. "Come on. Lay it on me."
She was silent, her slanted expression resembling suppressed emotions she couldn't get out to this boy. He was truly messed up, for making this predicament possible. What did she do to deserve his cruelty? "What did I do to you?"
"What you've done, is be part of an equation that you don't belong to. This is obvious in itself and you're good at playing dumb."
"Gally. Please move away from my face."
"I'll wait."
"Wait for what!" She hollered, her eyes blown wide and unfolding her arms to want to cup his face and shake him like a rattle. "Wait for shucking what? I don't have anything to say!"
"To admit that you're a part of the Maze, to admit that you want to break us up and make us believe that you're going to be a Glader like us when I know you're in on all this!"
She shoved him by his shoulders as rough as she could manage and it didn't budge him. It did leave an impression of him being startled by her sudden switch of anger, her eyes glinting with revenge. "You're such a piece of klunk, I can't begin to tell you how awful you are being!"
He snarled then shoved her back; the force of it sending her back way harder than he should have. She stumbled then fell right onto her ass, the shooting pain going right up her spine. She flinched and held the spot that hurt the most, her eyes shut and her head lowering. "Shuck-!"
"Don't put your hands on me, shank!" He yelled loud in their area, faking the dramatic effect in order to bring the others in. They weren't that far and surely, Minho and Newt would hear.
"Gally, shut up!" She shouted, scrambling up to push him by his stomach and away from her, not wanting to get caught by this altercation. To harm another Glader was in their rules and it was dangerous to have them caught like this.
He caught her hands and fought with her, except he wasn't shoving and pushing her like she intended to do to him to get him to go away, he was using a defense mechanism that he'd use in the Fight Circle. Holding her off from doing anything, like as if she could, she was puny compared to him in every way. She whined in over using her muscles and he was laughing-
He was laughing!
This wasn't a joke! She was doing everything she could to get him to stop, however he resumed with yelling for the attention, attempting to wrench her hands out of his hold. "Let go of me, shuck face!"
"Let's see how Alby reacts! Shall we?"
"Minho!" She called out desperately, her head turning to see over his shoulder or around his arm for help. She whipped herself throughout the duration to slip through his hands and he was growling, being rooted to the spot. "Minho!"
"Crying wolf.. How pathetic! Admit it!"
She sniffled then glowered at Gally, doing her best with kicking at his shins, anything she could reach. She missed at some, the hits being nothing. Then to her miraculous discovery, the last thing she saw was a fist collide with the side of the blonde's head, the vice like grip he had being loosened. She backed up fully to the water pump in fear, swallowing hard and holding her hands to her chest.
The sound was Gally thudding to the ground in order to register what had happened, Minho throwing himself on top of Gally's back to swing and punch at his head. It was what he went for first, to wound him and injure him as much as he can- Which wasn't what was supposed to happen!
Gally turned onto his back to try and buck him off but to no avail, his grunts of pain being heard. It didn't make her feel joy.. The vengeance she had for him wasn't coming, and that was the responsible thing. Despite how much she didn't like him, Gally couldn't be harmed further more to killing. He was misunderstanding the situation and had this complex of being a slinthead, yet still, Minho was ready to kill him.
"Minho! Don't!"
"Shuck face, you want to die?" He shrieked at him with rigorous uppercuts to his jaw, Gally's face knocked to the side and wincing. "You put your hands on her, you're a dead man!"
"Minho!" She squeaked at the cut that formed on Gally's lower lip when he got a punch in, and she rushed to get him off, wrapping her hands on his forearm. "Get off, please! They can't find out!"
"Listen to your girlfriend and get off of me, shank!" He screamed in fury, his face was contorting in a whole lot of rage. "Or else I'll tear you- Ah! Ow!"
Gally's head was being rocked into the ground by Minho's knuckles, the crunch of his nose breaking causing her shoulder's to cringe. His nose spurted blood and it was dripping over his cheek, the onslaught of hits increasing with vexation. "Minho!" She screamed.
"What's with you and talking to her like that! I saw everything!" Minho was riled up in every aspect imaginable, one of his forearms trapped by her hands and he exasperatingly rammed his elbow at her. She was propelled by it and was cast onto Newt who snatched her before she could touch the ground, her fingers clasping onto Newt's in fright. He never hit her in that way, and the flash of throbbing was in her stomach, taking deep breaths through her mouth.
Newt and Alby was instructed to go to where the Deadheads were, that a commotion was going on but were too afraid to approach because of his maddened screeching. The British teen had to place her aside to aid Alby in grasping Minho to tug him off, his feet flying in damaging Gally's ribs. The taller of the pair was holding his face, the crimson staining his fingertips and his eye lids fluttering in surprise by how much had come out.
Minho rapidly sucked in air, his hands balled up and being restrained made it worse. She's never seen him get like that. Never. He wasn't worried about the bruises that would come on him afterwards, nor the consequences for hurting Gally this badly. "Minho, chill, man! What the shuck is wrong with you?" Alby had to quip at his animalistic behavior. "He's not stung is he?"
"No he's not, Alby." She said in a small voice.
"Then what happened, here?"
Newt had to check on Gally's face, his lips in a thin line and hissing to himself. "Bloody hell.. He did a number on you."
He couldn't answer due to shock, his body laying there and his head lolling about. She decided to answer for them and she bit her bottom lip that trembled slightly. "I had a disagreement with Gally. Minho got mad and decided to.. Yeah."
"Is this true, Minho?" Newt questioned the seething Asian with their leader's arms weaved into his torso, and Minho nodded in hesitation. "Well then."
"I'll handle you three when Gally is patched up. Will you relax if I let you go, Minho?"
He bitterly glanced at Alby over his shoulder and Alby took that as a signal to release him, watching how he rubbed his wrists in dissatisfaction. "He deserved it."
"Slim it, Minho." Alby finished this with three words, and she saw how Gally had to be assisted in standing on his two feet. "You both will be put in the Slammer tonight."
She decided that was better than being banished, and she exhaled in consolation, her mind running a mile a minute. "Alright."
"Minho, you know where it is. Go there with her before midnight. For now, stay in the Homestead."
He hadn't went against his word, and he went as he commanded, moving to her to take her hand. She gasped when his skin touched hers and she jolted, Minho shocked that she'd be scared of him.
"Babe.."
"I'll.. Um.."
"You're not going with me?"
"I'll be there in a bit."
Alby and Newt carried Gally as he stood there with her. He didn't expect her to change her mind like this. "What did I do?"
"You.. Didn't do anything. It's nothing." What a lie. Liar.
"I did something other than beat the klunk out of Gally. He had it coming. Is that what you're upset about?"
"Minho, just go." She had remorse laced in her voice and she gulped.
"Babe, I swear I don't know what else I could've done."
"It wasn't that-"
"Then tell me!" He got to her proximity to hold her arms gently.
"Minho, don't raise your shucking voice at me." She turned her face to not look at him and she shook his hands off.
"I.. I'm sorry."
"Please go?"
Pause.
"..Fine."
He wasn't mad at her for how she was being, he had to understand her. He'll have to figure it out while she collected herself to think about whatever she had to. He wasn't thinking, that's for sure. All he knows is that Gally did in fact deserve every punch, including the broken nose and busted lip. It lasted around three minutes altogether, Newt and Alby was lucky they got there in time to halt him.
He was caressing his hands on his way to the Homestead, a bunch of Gally's friends staring him down in wondering if they should jump him or not however they knew better of not to. He sulked on one of the chairs that Builder's made a few months back, and he soothed his headache with his index and middle finger softly moving in circles on his temple.
This is nuts.
He bets the Creators had a party since they had the fifth fight in half a year, maybe. It felt like it, anyways. He saw a beetleblade scuttle along the floorboards of the room he was in, his alleviation not being for long. It bothered him that whenever he had an episode, they'd always be in his business. He threw the nearest thing he had at it, the legs of it scratching against the wood and fleeing the scene.
She didn't enter the Homestead.
Sitting on the flattest bed known to man in the Slammer killed her back that was definitely smarting from Gally's shoving tug of war, she couldn't sleep at all through the night. Hopefully Alby won't extend their span of being in the Slammer.
They were put in separate cells, and she recalled how Minho complained that it wasn't fair to put them in different spots until Gally would get better. It served them right, and hopefully.. Gally wasn't correct on if Alby would take Gally's side, apparently now that he is bloodied and in the Medjack wing with Ben who should surely be not as sick.
She played with the straw that stuck out of her make shift pillow, the sound of rustling inside it's case letting her think of the unthinkable. "Psst."
Her eye lids tensed around her iris, her face showing that she heard it. She swiveled to see where it came from and she realized it came from the caged grid that was a door for her cell. "Pssssst."
"Minho?" She perked up to hear his voice, mainly because she wasn't too mad from earlier.
"You're up? Thank god, I was going to die if I stare at this ceiling for another hour."
She smiled from his exaggerated joke and she crawled off her bed to go up to the grid, the closed space amazingly not as suffocating as it seemed. "Really?"
"Really." He confirmed for her, his hands resting on the stone that was created for a step to get up and down of the cell. "You can't sleep either?"
"No." She mumbled.
"If you lay on your side, it's not as bad."
"Thanks for the much needed advice."
"Hey, I'm just trying to-" He cut himself off by having to change the subject. "Uh.. What about when you said you'd meet me in the Homestead? Were you still where you were?"
"Yes, I was."
"Why?"
"I.. You cast me aside to harm Gally."
"Is that why you were livid with me?" They couldn't be talking, the forbidden rule being broken as it is.
"Shh! I don't want to get caught with you yapping at me."
"Then why entertain it? You didn't tell me, and now that you did, you're not answering the rest of my questions? Do you think it wasn't justice that I was standing up for you? You didn't stand a chance with him. I told you i'd do something if he tried to man handle you."
"I could've handled it myself, Minho."
"Yeah, right." He scoffed. "It's like you guys were playing a game of tug of war. That's funny."
"Listen-"
"If you want to be angry with me for the wrong reasons, go ahead."
"Minho, slim it for a second and listen to me."
It was still, waiting for her response.
"You broke his nose.. That shouldn't have happened. You practically threw me onto Newt who came late to the party, and you were out of your mind. Out of boundaries. But thank you."
He was about to argue with her until she thanked him. He gazed at the wall where she is on the other side, almost ludicrously accusing it of doing something weird. "What?"
"Thank you for standing up for me. I appreciate it. I do. Please refrain from fighting for me, though." She wrapped up what she had to say with a yawn, her exhaustion evident.
"Greenie.." He sighed, putting a hand on the rocks and cement that held it together. "You drive me shucking nuts."
"I could say the same with you, slinthead."
"I'm the slinthead?" He smirked openly, hoping she could tell by how he said it, that she could sense it.
She giggled then smoothed her hands on her arms to warm them up, ducking into her bed to rest up for the morning. "I'll be heading to bed. I'll use the tip of sleeping on my side."
"...No good night kiss?"
"Go to bed, Minho."