Ben

I wake up to the sound of knocking on my door. Oh shuck, did i sleep in?

Alby's going to kill me.

I jump out of bed and rush to the door, half asleep and half panicked. I unlock it and swing it open to reveal... Minho and Ben? I look behind them to see that the sun has yet to rise.

They woke me up before sunrise? They actually woke me up before shucking sunrise.

"Can i help you?" I ask rudely.

I shouldn't be acting like a bitch, but they should not have woken me up when i still had time to sleep. I take my sleep very seriously.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Ben teases.

"You woke me up before sunrise. Why would you do that?" I ask, yawning.

"We need to talk to you before we run the maze today, and the doors open at sunrise" Minho explains.

"Which means we only have between now and sunrise to talk" Ben adds, stepping inside with Minho.

"What do you need to talk about?" I ask, getting back into bed. 

If they need to talk to me that's fine, but i'm laying back in bed because i'm cold. They boys shut my door and walk towards my bed. Minho decides to sit next to me, and Ben sits at the foot of the bed.

"We was walking towards your hut to come and say goodnight" Minho starts to explain, a smirk presenting itself on his face.

They saw Gally and i didn't they? Oh no.

"When we saw something very interesting" Ben continues, a wide grin on his face.

"Ok, i get it" I say, sighing in defeat. 

"So, how was the kiss?" Minho asks excitedly.

"Tell us all the juicy details" Ben adds smiling.

"Fine but you can't tell anyone" I tell them, looking at them sternly.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Now tell us how it happened" Minho says, Ben nodding eagerly in agreement.

"Well, Gally was walking me back to my hut" I start to explain.

"What a gentlemen" Ben says, fanning his face with his hand.

"I know right? Anyway, we got to my hut and i didn't want him to leave yet because i was enjoying his company. So, i invited him inside" I say, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Here we go" Ben says, rubbing his hands together.

"Here comes the juicy stuff" Minho adds excitedly.

"He comes inside and because i'm nervous, i can't bring myself to say anything. My mind blanks and i notice Gally moving closer to me. His face ends up inches away from mine, and i don't even realise that i lean forward and kiss him" I say beaming, as i recall last nights events.

The boys cheer happily.

"You made the first move, well done Maddie".

"I feel like a proud mum" They both say, wiping fake tears and clapping for me. I blush in slight embarrassment.

"What happened after?" Ben asks, still grinning.

"He told me he really liked me and i said it back. Then, we were kissing again, before Gally snuck back to the Homestead before anyone noticed he wasn't there" I finish my explanation with a permanent smile on my face.

"That's when we saw you kiss him at the door" Minho says happily.

Our conversation is interrupted by the sound of the maze doors rumbling to life.

"Oh shuck, we gotta go" Ben says in annoyance.

"I promise we'll talk more about it when you get back" I say to him, holding out my pinky, which he takes with his own, performing a pinky promise.

"We'll see you later Maddie" Minho says, standing up and heading to the door with Ben.

"Stay safe boys. When you get back, let's plan a prank, it's been too long since we've caused chaos" I say to them both with a face full of mischief.

"Sounds like a plan, we'll be back soon" Ben says to me with a cheeky grin.

"Love you brothers".

"We love you too Maddie", they reply in unison, as Minho shuts the door when they leave.

I decide to have a quick shower before everyone wakes up. Once i'm finished and completely ready for the day, i head to the kitchen where i see Fry setting up.

We greet each other and make small conversation whilst we cook and serve breakfast and lunch. I tell him about Gally and i kissing, which he smirks as he says "It's about time" with a chuckle.

We talk and laugh and everyone about my day is perfect, until i hear someone shouting for help somewhere in the glade. Fry and i look at each other and rush out, following the boy's cries for help, when we come across a sight that i wish i could forget.

Ben was attacking Thomas, who was shouting for help, until Newt came to the rescue and hit Ben over the head with a shovel, making me grimace slightly. Newt restrains Ben, with the help of the other gladers. 

"Calm down, Ben" Gally says, helping to hold him down.

"What the hell happened?" Fry asks in concern.

"He just attacked me!" Thomas replies, in distress.

"Calm down, Ben" Fry says, attempting to soothe his friend.

My world comes crashing down when Alby orders Gally to lift Ben's shirt, who is quick to comply, and we see a huge sting on Ben's stomach.

No, no, no ,no. Not Ben. Please, not Ben.

"He's been stung, in the middle of the day?" Gally questions, concern and confusion evident in his voice.

"Take him to the pit" Alby says pained. He doesn't want to do it.

Ben fights against the other boys, desperate to not be taken to the pit. It breaks my heart to watch as he gets forcefully taken away.

The glader's begin to disperse, heading back to work. Gally discreetly walks over to me, grabbing my hand in comfort.

"We'll talk later" Gally says and i nod, watching as he slowly let's go of my hand and heads back to work.

I catch up with Fry, heading back to the kitchen. Gally can't comfort me right now without the others getting suspicious, for now, i take comfort in Fry's company. We don't talk for the rest of the day, but i feel better just being near him.

I try to get myself to visit Ben multiple times in the day, but i'm too much of a coward. I can't watch him suffer as he changes. I love him too much, he's family.

I constantly check the maze doors, praying Minho comes back safe. It's crazy to think that they were both fine this morning, gossiping and teasing me about my kiss with Gally. I wish  i could go back and tell them not to go into the maze, to bunk off work and plan the new prank we wanted to do.

Some time later, Minho runs through the maze doors, and is greeted by Alby. I watch from the distance as Minho's face drops, as Alby informs him of what happened to Ben. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Alby was telling Minho about Ben. I'm relieved that Minho's safe though.

I wish Ben was as lucky.

The glade is quiet as everyone eats dinner. I sit with my usual group inbetween Minho and Chuck. I spend dinner comforting them as much as i can, but it's hard when it's obvious that a family member is not sitting with us. 

None of us eat much. 

It gets dangerously close to sundown, when the maze doors are supposed to close. Glader's grab their poles, heading towards the doors. Only Chuck and Thomas aren't present, watching from a distance. Minho heads off to collect Ben, and tries to protest against me going with him to the pit.

"You don't want to watch this Madeline" Alby says as i begin to follow Minho. 

"Ben's family. He deserves a goodbye" I reply, not waiting for a reply.

"Are you sure you can watch this?" Minho asks, glancing at me as we get closer to the pit.

"Ben needs a friendly face right now. If i can't handle this, then i'm not a good friend" I reply.

Minho nods in understanding and opens the pit, grabbing Ben whose hands are tied. Ben tries to fight and beg and Minho tries to hide the pain he feels.

"Benny, i wish you could stay. Your family and we love you so much, you hear me? I love you" I say to Ben, who is so far in the changing i don't recognise him anymore. 

It breaks my heart even more when i see a flicker of himself show, his eyes showing understanding for solid second, before becoming erratic again.

Minho and i get to the doors. I stop, standing behind Gally and Newt, watching their pained expressions along with Alby's, which he fails to hide.

Ben begs and begs as Minho puts him on his knees, cutting open the restraints on his wrists. 

"No, no please. Please don't, please" Ben cries, watching as Minho throws his bag into the maze. 

My eyes begin to water as i watch Ben beg to his best friend, who can't hide the pain he feels. 

The large gust of wind blows through the maze doors, signalling that there about to close.

"Poles!" Alby shouts, frowning in pain as he and the others hold their poles around Ben to usher him into the maze.

I glance behind me, letting tears fall and notice the greenie inching closer, his face full of horror. I also watch as Chuck walks away, not being able to handle the sight before him.

Ben shouts and cries in anger and anguish, trying to push the poles away to avoid going into the maze. The gladers push their poles halfway through the doors that are closing, holding Ben there. 

They begin to remove the poles as the gap gets narrower. Ben has no choice but to slide through the gap, into the maze. I'm relieved the doors didn't crush him, but heartbroken at his fate.

Ben's gone, and he's never coming back. 

Everyone sits in silence as they mourn their friend. Alby breaks the silence after looking around at everyone.

"He belongs to the maze now" he says, fighting tears as he walks past the greenie.

Everyone follows suit, apart from Minho and i. We wait for everyone to leave, including the greenie, before Minho rests his hand on the doors for a moment.

I join him, failing to stop crying.

"Goodbye Twinkle toes" i say sniffling.

"We'll miss you brother" Minho whispers, before walking away.

This time i don't follow him. He needs time to be alone so he can cry and be vulnerable. Right now, i need to check on Chuck.

I find Chuck sitting in the woods, where him, Minho, Ben and i planned his first prank together. I sit beside him and wrap my arms around him. He turns his body, and buries his head in my shoulder as he cries.

"It'll be alright, kid" I say gently, trying to calm him down.

"I'm gonna miss him" Chuck sniffles.

"I will too, but he wouldn't want us to cry. He'd want us to remember the fun times we had" i say, trying to calm him down.

He's too young to witness such a thing. We're all too young to witness it, let alone have to banish someone. Alby's also too young to have to decide someone's fate like that and then ask himself if it was the right decision, and to live with the guilt.

"Come on kid, it's getting dark and we've got to go and cross his name off. It's going to hurt, but i'll be holding your hand the whole time, i promise" I say, grabbing Chuck's hand, standing up with him and taking a low walk to the wall with all of our names.

When we get there, Chuck and i stand with Minho, who i notice has redness around the rim of his eyes. I'm glad he found somewhere private to let his emotions out. 

I watch as Chuck hesitantly grabs Minho's hand, who looks at him for a second and gives the kid a ghost of a smile. He focuses his attention back on Gally, who is about to cross off Ben's name, and i let out a tiny smile at the sight of Minho squeezing Chuck's hand a little in reassurance.

Gally carefully carves a line through Ben's name, and we all watch in silence to mourn our fellow glader. Our family.

After it's done, everyone heads to bed. I take Chuck back to his hammock, which is next to Thomas'. 

"Goodnight Chuckie" i say to the young boy, kissing his forehead gently. 

I worry that the kid would find it weird, since it's something i'm sure a mother would do, but he just smiles.

"Goodnight Maddie" he replies. 

I give the greenie a small smile, who returns it, still looking a little shaken, and set off to find Gally.

I look around for a while with no luck. I head back to my hut, giving up on looking for him, when i see him sitting outside my door. It brings a small smile to my face.

He looks up and watches me walk over to him. He stands up and pulls me into a hug, seeming to not care about anyone seeing us. 

I don't care either. I wrap my arms around him and bury my face into his chest. We stay like that for a few minutes, until Gally inches back slightly, still holding me and studies my expression.

"It's a stupid question, but how are you?" he asks, his voice gentle and soothing.

"Not good. What about you?" i ask, looking up at him.

"Honestly? Not good either" he replies, his voice low. 

I've never seen him so vulnerable before. Gally hardly ever shows his emotions, and it hurts to see him look broken like this.

"I can't believe he's gone" I say, letting a tear slip.

"Me neither" Gally says, holding me closer, attempting to comfort us both.

I cry into his chest for a while, until i physically cannot cry anymore. He stays with me for a long time, just standing there, rubbing circles on my back, trying to soothe me. I notice Minho watching from a distance, with a sad smile on his face.

"Thank you for checking on me, but i can see Minho waiting to come over. He needs me right now. I'll talk to you tomorrow" i say. pecking his lips.

"Alright, wake me if you need anything" he says, kissing my forehead softly, saying goodnight and heading off towards the Homestead.

I watch him go and move my eyes to Minho, signalling him over. He walks over and i let him inside my hut, shutting and locking the door.

I sit on my bed and pat the empty space next to me. He slowly walks over and sits beside me.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" i ask lowly.

"Nope" he says, bluntly.

"Do you want to stay here tonight and cry with me?" i ask, watching him think it over.

"Yeah" he replies, letting a tear slip.

I lay down, under the covers and give Minho space to lay next to me. Gally won't care, he knows Minho and I see each other as siblings, and he knows Minho needs comforting.

We lay there hugging, crying and laughing as we recall our favourite moments with Ben and the pranks we pulled together. We mourn him into late hours of the night, eventually succumbing to sleep.

We love and will miss Ben, our brother, a member of our family. We will never forget him and his amazing personality. Just like that, the four prankster's are down to three, although, i don't think we will bother with pranks anymore.

Author's Note:

I didn't want to kill Ben, but i had to. It really hurt to do it, but it's not a proper maze runner fanfic if no one dies.

I have plans that you guys are going to love, so please forgive me for killing Ben, and stay patient. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Xxxx