Chapter Twenty-Five

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"And then I try to leave, but,
baby, I just can't stay mad at you."
—Why Don't We, Mad At You












CONTROL,
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE









RUBY HAD HAD a long day. An exceptionally long day. She was so ready to just go to her room and relax. But first she needed food. Okay actually, first she needed a shower.

Ruby went and took a shower quickly. She'd made Gally come stand watch this time. They were still pissed off at each other, but he'd done it begrudgingly.

Ruby exited the showers feeling refreshed. Her muscles still screamed in agony, but she was clean at least. She put her hair up into a ponytail as she walked. "Thank you, Gally", Ruby grinned.

"Yeah, yeah." He may have been trying to act tough, but he was grinning. "You're welcome. Are we good now?"

Ruby pretended to think about it now. She even went so far as to tap her chin. She tilted her head. "I don't know, I may need you to beg a little bit."

"Just a little bit?", Gally asked, amused.

Ruby grinned. "Just a little." She held her pinched fingers before holding out her hand. "Yeah, we're good."

Gally ignored her hand and pulled her into a hug. "Just promise me you'll be safe, okay?"

Ruby chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be safe. I always am."

"Really now?" Gally arched a brow. "Like when you ran into the Maze?"

"Shut it", Ruby huffed. "That was different."

"No, it wasn't. It really wasn't", Gally snickered.

Like a child, she stuck her tongue out at him. Leo came running up to her, tackling her gown to the ground. "Leo!"

"My bad", the boy grinned. "I got bored." Ruby shook her head.

Gally squatted down next to him. His movements were stiff and robotic. It was as if he suddenly wasn't himself. Ruby didn't know what was going on, but she didn't like it. "I've gotta go for a bit. I don't — something is going on", he said awkwardly, his voice blank. "I just wanted to tell you, because I don't know if something is going on or... If I'll see you again. Like this I mean, where I can talk to you."

"Gally, what's—" With that, the boy walked away stiffly.

Leo and Ruby shared a look. With that, the two of them shrugged. Leo grinned. "You wanna go grab some lunch?"

Ruby pretended to think before nodding. "Abraham kicked my ass last minute. After all that, I could eat a horse."

Leo helped her up and the two made their way over to Frypan. Leo rested his elbows on the little window to look at Fry. "Got anything left back there? Ruby says she could eat a horse." Ruby snickered. Leo had absolutely no filter. He just said what he was thinking or repeated what he'd heard. She loved him all the same.

Frypan laughed a little too. He'd stopped by her training session briefly too, but he didn't stay long. He needed to use the rest of his strength to help make lunch and dinner. Not that Ruby was complaining. She loved Frypan's food. "Ain't no horse meat on the menu — not that we've got horses to begin with", the boy chuckled. "I can get you a couple of sandwiches, will that do?"

"You're a lifesaver, Siggy", Ruby grinned. Frypan shook his head, handing over the sandwiches. "Thank you!"

Ruby and Leo took a seat beneath a tree, where they pretty much just chatted and got to know each other.

Eventually though, Newt came over with Thomas. This was about an hour later, when the sandwiches had been choked down and the two of them were basically just relaxing. The atmosphere was a bit awkward considering her situation with Thomas. "Hello, boys. What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Gally?", Thomas asked.

Ruby bit her cheek, tilting her head. After a minute or two of racking her brain, Ruby came up short. "Not since about an hour ago, why?"

Previously, the two boys had been talking about Alby. He was the only person who'd ever tried to repeat what he saw during the Changing. Newt's guess was that the Creators had done something to them all to keep them from talking, but he wasn't sure. He didn't wanna say that. Instead, he was trying to focus on things he could change. He didn't wanna worry about his best friend, dying upstairs in the Homestead. "He's run off and hid somewhere. We need to find him. We need to find him so I can throw his ass in jail."

"What?", Ruby squeaked. She looked to Thomas for an answer, but he refused to meet her gaze.

Newt looked disappointed. He also looked like he'd rather be anywhere but talking to her about this. "He threatened to kill Thomas, Ruby. We need to make sure something like that never happens again. That shuck-face needs to pay the price for acting like that. He should be glad we don't Banish him."

"It's just Gally!", Ruby defended. "He would never actually hurt anyone!"

Newt sighed, doing that thing where he rubbed his lip again. "Things work around here because we have order, Ruby. Gally crossed a line. He needs to be punished for that, just like you and Thomas."

Ruby didn't like it, but she didn't argue again. Newt made a decision in this time. "Alright, here's how this is gonna go. You and Thomas will be with me for the rest of the day. I need to figure things out, and you two are my best chances with Alby still out. Tomorrow you'll be in the Slammer as your punishment. Leo, see to it that they get food and water." The curly haired boy nodded. "Then you're Minho's after that. I need you to stay away from the rest of these shanks for a while. Got that?"

Ruby tsked. "Yeah. Got it. Minho is gonna train us. I gotta go back to jail. Blah, blah, blah."

Newt tried to hide his amusement. "Because you're Runners now, Minho'll teach you about the Maze and the Maps and everything else. You've got a lot to learn. I expect you both to work your asses off."

"Yes, sir", Ruby said, giving him a salute.

Newt leaned over and whispered something to Thomas. Well, it wasn't exactly whispering. They were just talking too low for Ruby and Leo to hear. All she heard was 'things were going to change' and 'there's somethin rotten enough about ya'. Those snippets were enough to make Ruby sure that she didn't want to hear whatever it was they were discussing. So, she and Leo played rock, paper, scissors. Not for any particular reason, just for fun.

She did look up when Newt seemed to get agitated. "...don't ever say it again. None of us remember anything, and we're bloody sick of you reminding us. The point is, there's something different about you, and it's time we figured it out."

Thomas shouted back and Ruby rolled her eyes. She turned to Leo and made the crazy symbol. Leo placed a hand over his mouth and giggled. Ruby was positive it was the cutest thing she's ever seen in her life.

"You two are acting like babies", Ruby pointed out, interrupting Thomas's thinking.

Newt shot her a dirty look. "He's thinking about something." With that, he turned back to Thomas. "Talk."

Thomas looked hesitant. In fact, he almost looked scared. "I can't put my finger on anything specific..." His words were slow, like he was trying to figure out what he would say. "I felt like I'd been here before, when I first arrived. Did anyone else go through that?" He looked hopeful.

Newt rolled his eyes. Otherwise, his expression remained blank. "Uh, no, Tommy. Most of us spent a week klunkin our pants and bawlin our eyes out, wonderin where the hell we were."

"Yeah, well." Thomas paused. He looked embarrassed and sad. "It all seemed familiar to me. I knew I wanted to be a Runner, too."

"That's interesting." Newt studied him for a second. "Well, keep lookin for it. Strain you mind, spend your free time wandering your thoughts and think about this place. Delve inside that brain of yours, and seek it out. Try for all our sakes." He paused briefly. "And stop avoiding Ruby. She knows more about you than you do right now."

The two shared a look of slight disdain. Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell him what I know."

"First, we better go see someone", Newt added.

"Who?" Thomas looked pale, as if he figured it out before Newt even spoke again.

"The girl. I want you to look at her till your eyes bleed, see if something gets triggered — you too, Ruby."

Ruby crossed her arms defiantly. "No, thank you."

"Now look who's being a baby", Leo chimed in.

Ruby shot him a glare. "Totally not helping, Leo."

The pale boy raised his palms. "My bad."

Newt nodded towards the Homestead. "Alright, you two, let's go. See you around, Leo."

"Yeah, see you", Leo nodded. He grinned at Ruby. "Have fun, pal of mine."

Ruby sighed as she stood up and dusted herself off. "Oh, you know I won't."

With that, she trotted after the two boys. Off to see Teresa, apparently. Newt interrupted the silence between them with a cryptic thought towards Thomas. "If everything else fails, we'll send you to the Grievers — get ya stung so you can go through the Changing. We need your memories." Thomas laughed, but Newt wasn't smiling. He was dead serious.

When they made their way up to the girl's room, she looked like she was simply asleep. It was like she could wake up whenever she wanted to. Ruby didn't know what she was expecting. It wasn't like she was seeing her for the first time. The girl's skin was full of color, and her chest rose and fell steadily. It's not like she could have deteriorated since Ruby was last there with Clint and Jeff.

Clint was inside alone this time, slowly giving her water. A plate and bowl rested next to him, so he'd been there feeding her lunch as well. Clint was well deserving of a break this time around.

"Hey, Clint", Newt greeted. Ruby guessed this wasn't his first time visiting. "She still surviving?"

"Mmhm", Clint nodded. He didn't bother to look in their direction. "She's doing fine. She started talking in her sleep a lot now though. She may come out of it soon."

"Well, that's great", Ruby chirped. "I'm glad she's doing okay. Can I go now?"

Thomas raised a brow. "Why are you so desperate to get out of here?"

Ruby crossed her arms, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip. "I was mean to her the last few times we saw each other. She didn't do anything wrong. It was just me. I was being ignorant.

"Have you been writing down everything she says?", Newt asked, pointedly ignoring them.

Clint nodded. "It's usually impossible to make out, but we write it when we can."

Newt pointed at the nightstand where a notebook rested. "Give me an example."

"Well, she keeps saying the same thing about stuff changing — just like when she came out of the Box. She also keeps talking about the Creators, sayin 'it all has to end.' And she, uh, keeps saying his name over and over again."

"Of course she is", Ruby mumbled bitterly.

"Slim it, Ruby", Newt warned. "Thanks, Clint." It was clear that he was getting dismissed. Clint actually looked thankful. "Get a report on that, okay?"

"Will do." Clint nodded and all but ran out of the room. Ruby couldn't blame him. If she'd spent all day with a girl who was half dead and mumbling cryptic nonsense, she'd be ready to dip out too.

"Take a seat", Newt instructed once the door clicked shut. Thomas did as told, leaning in real close, but Ruby stayed hovering next to the door. She didn't need to look at her face. It had been haunting her dreams, alongside Martin. Teresa, who asked why she discarded her. And Martin, asking why she had him killed. It was beginning to drive her crazy. "Anything ring a bell? Anything at all?", Newt quizzed.

Thomas didn't answer, and neither did Ruby. She could tell that Thomas really was trying though. It was like he was submitting every inch of her to memory. He stared so intensely that Ruby wondered what he was thinking. There was almost a longing in his eyes. "I do know her", Thomas stated. Finally, he leaned back.

Newt stood up. Ruby could feel his excitement all the way where she stood. "What? Who is she?"

"I... have no idea. But I could feel it." He tiredly rubbed his eyes. Newt and Thomas began to bicker slightly. That was becoming a regular thing. Suddenly, Thomas jumped out of his chair. "I..." He sat down again. "Newt, did you say something right before I got up?"

Newt shook his head. "Nah."

"Ruby, did you?"

Of course she hadn't. Ruby shook her head as well. "Nope. This is your thing."

Thomas blinked. Was he going crazy? "I just... I thought I heard something. I dunno. Must've been in my head, or... Did she say something?"

Newt looked ecstatic. "Her? No. Why? What did you hear?"

"I... I swear I heard a name. Teresa", Thomas stammered out. He was scared to admit it."

"That's her name", Ruby chimed in. She leaned against the wall as she surveyed the two. "If you heard something from her, I guarantee you that it may have actually happened." She shrugged then. "You two have some kind of weird bond. No one can explain it but you two."

"Shuck it, are you both losing it?", Newt asked. Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but, before she could, Thomas had stood up and run from the room.
















DECEMBER 14, 2019
we almost at the end, boys. 🤪

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