It felt like forever since I knew Thomas was out there. Since all of them were.
It wasn't them being near that scared me.
It was WICKED knowing.

They'd locked me in a cell after Janson showed me the feed. No food. No torture. No beatings. No needles. Just silence. Waiting.

Waiting for something big.

The door screeched open. A guard stepped in, grabbing my arm.
"Come on. Get up." He said

Cold steel clamped around my wrists. Chains. No point in fighting- I had nowhere to go.

They dragged me to a room I knew too well.

The chair. The straps. The him of machines.

They pinned me to the upright table, needles sliding under my skin. A low, vibrating hum built until the world flashed white.

I stood up. The stone walls stretched high above me. Ivy, shadows.

The maze.

"No, no, no" my voice cracked as I spun around.

"It's fake" I told myself.
"It's not real" I muttered

Another flash.

I stared into a mirror. I was eleven again. Skinny, frail. The maze on my first night, terrified and alone.

The air turned colder. The shadows moved.

I backed into the maze, fists clenched. A shadow cut across the wall.

"This isn't real" I whispered

"Isn't it?"

The voice snapped me around. My chest caved in.

"Kai" I whispered

He looked exactly like the night I first met him. His eyes cut through me.

"Why didn't you save me?" He asked

"I-No, no. I tried. I tried!" My words felt apart in my mouth.

"Did you?" He asked

Behind him, a griever rose in the dark, its metal body glinting. At our feet, bodies- every person from my maze. Twisted. Dead.

"You lived. We all died. Why you?" his voice cold. Condemning.

"I don't- I don't know, I-" I mutter

"You didn't deserve to live" he said

The words cracked something inside me. My knees hit the ground.
"No. No, you're not real. None of this is real" I forced my eyes shut.

When I opened them, the maze was gone.

A WICKED lab. White walls. Cold metal.

"Reyna!" Thomas's voice ripped through me.

I sprinted toward him. He was strapped to a table- just like me. Just like always. Then the scene shifted- he was standing behind glass, screaming.

"Another failure" a voice said

I froze. That voice. The one drilled into my skull. The one that taught me to fight, to kill, to obey. Jansons orders- but sharper.

Project Titan's commander.

"You passed every tests." He said, stepping into the light.
"But emotions? Loyalty? Love? That's your weakness. That's how you'll break" he said

I watched a doctor plunge black liquid into Thomas's veins. His body seized, shaking violently.

"No!" I slammed my fists into the glass.

He stilled. His chest rose. Then he sat up. His eyes locked on mine.

"Thomas?" My breath hitched.

His face twisted. Cold. Empty.
"You left me" he said

"No. No, I didn't! I'm here, Thomas. I'm right here!" I said

"You left all of us." His voice dripped with venom.
"You don't deserve to live. You're a monster" he said

He lunged.

I shut my eyes.

I kept them shut, forcing the images to slip. For a flash, I saw the real lab. The chains. The needles. The doctors watching.

"You can't win" I muttered, knowing they were listening.

Reality beat again.

My memories were slipping through my fingers. I couldn't place what was real and what was fake. I had to anchor myself.

"My name is Reyna." I whispered over and over.
"I survived Project Titan. I survived the maze. I survived the scorch. I'm not their weapon." I said

"She's waking up somehow" a doctors voice panicked.

"Push her harder." Janson snapped.
"She'll break. They always do" he said.

The scene shifted again.

I faced myself. Younger me. A small body covered in cuts, bruises, her face blank, eyes empty.

"I remember this" I whispered.
"They said crying made me weak. So I stopped. They locked me in here. Told me pain was survival." I said

Little me raised her chin, glaring.
"They were right. You're weak now. Soft. Kai should've lived. Chuck. All of them. Not you." She said

Her words sliced me deeper than any blade.

"You could've saved us." She said.
"But look at you. Still their subject. Still nothing" she spat

I swallowed hard, staring back at her.
"I'm you" I said.

Her eyes flickered, for a second.

"No" she spat.
"I'm stronger. I don't cry. Don't care. I didn't break. You let people in- and they die. You're weak" She said

I stepped closer, something burning in my chest.

"You think strength is not crying? Not caring? That's not strength-that's survival. And survival isn't living. I'm sorry I let you forget that" I said, voice steady.

Her eyes flickered again.

"I lived." I told her. My throat tightened, but I didn't stop.
"I lived through every test. Every death. Every scream. I waited for it to end. But guess what? It never does." I said

Tears burned my eyes. I didn't look away.

"Yes, I loved them. Everyone i lost. That doesn't make me weak. It makes me human. And that's how I know WICKED didn't win." I said

"You're scared" she hissed.

"Yeah" I said, standing tall.
"I am" I admit

Her voice cracked.z
"What if you lose?" She asked

"Then I lose. I'll bleed. I'll scream. But I'll get back up." My jaw clenched.
"I always do. I won't let WICKED fucking break me. Not again." I said

Light swallowed everything.

I gasped awake, air ripping into my lungs.

White room. Doctors hovering. Needles in their hands.

"Reyna- I need you to calm down" one of them said.

I lifted my head slow. Locking my eyes with his.

"The tests. The beatings. The torture. All of it...." I whispered.
"I'm done being your subject" I said

Then crack.

My wrist bent sharp, bones snapping as I dislocated it. I didn't flench. Didn't scream.

I slid free of the cuff. Pop- back in place.

The doctors lunged. I drive my fist into his face. Another followed- my elbow met his temple.

Chains snapped one by one. Legs free.

A guard rushed me. I spun, legs wrapping around his neck, snapping him to the floor.

The last doctor fumbled for a syringe. I kicked it from his hand, then tore the gun from the guards holster.

Alarms blared. Lights flashed red.

I leveled the gun at the last doctor. His eyes went wide.

"You wanted to see what I'd become?" My voice was steady, cold. I raised my barrel to his forehead.

"Well- look closely. This is WICKEDS masterpiece" I said

I pulled the trigger.