maze runner imagines.

the lucky one: gally.

{request for: shiratheduck <33}

gally couldn't remember the last time he smiled.
he strained his brain harder and harder to think of at least one time he smiled without forcing his muscles to work,
but he comes up blank every time.
gally begins to try it now as he lays to sleep.
he forces the corners of his lips to stretch upward,
show his teeth that are meant to be welcoming and not at all threatening,
but it falls short when he realizes he looks as ridiculous as he feels.
surely this cynical way of living isn't normal.
why can't he smile the way everyone else does?
why can't he adjust the way everyone else is?
gally and everyone else around him have been in the glade for only a few months.
they seem okay,
why can't he be too?
he still cannot fall into the flow that is their society.
surely something is wrong with him;
an infestation of the brain.
gally turns over in his place of rest and exhales a heavy breath.
there must be more to life than this.
***
"no! he's gonna yell at me!"
"stop being a coward, y/n, just wake him!"
"you do it since you're so brave."
gally forces his heavy eyes to open and is met with two figures standing over him.
y/n is standing with her hand on her hip,
a look of resolve on her face as she stares at a nearly
pleading newt.
"i'm up,"
he mumbles with the sleep still heavy in his voice.
a look of relief falls over their expressions,
making gally feel a twinge of underlying guilt.
has his melancholy colored anger turned everyone away from him?
"y/n has something to tell you."
"can it wait?"
the silence suspends over the trio,
but it's thick with a sense of suspense that makes gally's heart stutter.
"..okay. what?"
gally stands on his feet and stretches the sleep from his limbs.
y/n is fidgeting with a handmade bracelet on her wrist,
coming off as a nervous habit,
then finally says,
"i think i've found a way out."
gally feels his stomach tighten into knots that he can't differentiate between fear or excitement.
"are you sure?"
"i think."
gally stares at the girl of a brute force that has seems to have translated into everyone else in the glade.
her skin has become kissed by the sun and her eyes are glittering with a fierce thrill.
it's this drive that has made her keeper of the runners.
its this drive that will set them free.
"does alby know?"
"i haven't said anything yet. wanted to get your opinion before bringing it up to him."
gally raises an eyebrow.
"my opinion? why?"
newt throws a look at y/n,
but she keeps her attention focused on gally.
"because you're the only realist here."
"that's one way to put it,"
newt mumbles with a grin toward gally.
"everyone else will tell me to go because they want out. but if it's not worth it...i'll need to find another way."
"okay..."
gally turned the events over in his head while y/n explained her adventure towards an exit.
"wait, wait. you saw where the grievers go to, what, sleep? and you think our way out is through the-the griever home?"
"yeah, basically."
"i told her she was insane,"
newt offers.
y/n responds by punching his arm.
gally lays eyes on a beetle resting on y/n's shoulder which forces him to reach over and flick it away.
"i'd say find another way, if possible. it's too dangerous for everyone involved, especially you."
it's no secret y/n has a habit of finding danger.
she has the scars littering her arms and legs to prove it.
she presses her lips together in a matter of disappointment,
then gives gally a cordial pat on his back.
"thank you, gally."
he watches as she saunters away,
moving her fingers in anticipation for the next day.
another day in the maze is another day closer to escape.
gally sighs and wishes he had given her some encouragement before she walked away.
but how can he offer words of good-hearted nature when the life is slowly draining from his body?

y/n made her decision.
she would venture into the grievers world,
without anyone involved.
she knew she was playing a dangerous game.
but she could handle herself.
y/n had the instincts, strength, and brains to fight on her own.
if it failed...
y/n couldn't finish the thought.
it would work.
it had to.
as she laid in her hammock of a bed,
she kept her eyes on the stone walls that kept them protected from the creatures on the other side.
but as she strained her eyes to look a little closer...
y/n had to swallow the gasp in her throat.
how could anyone,
especially her,
have fallen unaware to this?
she hurried to her feet,
though made sure to be quiet and keep the peace undisturbed,
then moved the vines to reveal a door.
"wow,"
she whispered,
wrapping her fingers around the stone, cold doorknob and turning.
it creaked loudly as she opened it,
but everyone remained still and asleep.
she had a way into the maze well after the doors closed.
this was an amazing opportunity!
she could now take the grievers by surprise,
sneak into their resting place,
and free her friends.
adrenaline rushed through her veins now that she stood in the darkened parts of the maze.
gally wouldn't have disagreed if he knew of this secret entry.
y/n had never felt so victorious.
but as she walked a little further out,
she realized how vulnerable and alone she felt.
quickly realizing she was defenseless,
y/n balled her fist together and willed herself to continue walking.
their first sighting of a griever had only been a few weeks prior.
as far as she was aware,
they never disturbed anyone unless provoked.
they were bone-chilling and wildly intimidating,
but so far no one had crossed them.
until now.
y/n was face to face with the griever,
listening to the whirring and clicks that seemed to reverberate off of the solid walls closing in on her.
her plan to escape was unfolding before her quickly,
along with the racing of her heart.
her limbs were turning numb;
how could she have done this?
neglected protection in hopes of good fortune.
the griever lunged for y/n,
nearly clawing her to shreds,
but her instincts kicked in just before any harm reached her.
y/n took off running down the way she'd come,
straining her breaths to listen for the clicking of these haunted grievers.
she felt the rippling pain of a cut down her calf,
sending a scream to erupt from her throat and alert the others.
y/n fell to the ground against her protests not to,
then quickly balled herself up to protect the vitals from harm.
she let out a cry as the griever hovered over her,
singing taunts of moving mechanics,
then suddenly froze.
y/n's leg was on fire,
along with her burning diaphragm and burning muscles.
but the hesitation in this creature was all she needed.
y/n kicked the griever back with as much force as she could,
letting out another blood-curdling scream as the pain in her leg intensified,
then quickly gathered herself up.
her eyes instantly laid on the door.
she was okay!
she made it,
just a few more steps.
y/n ran as quickly as she could and lunged for the door.
despite her efforts to push forward,
y/n reluctantly checked behind her shoulder to see where the threat lied.
it was closer than she could have ever anticipated.
y/n felt the pain flash through her entire being.
she had never felt such suffering.
when she stumbled back into the glade after rushing to open and close the door she wish she had never found,
the entirety of the glade was staring at her.
she held her palm to her eye,
now bloodied and surely wrecked beyond repair,
and felt the world around her surface.
this all felt like a terrible nightmare.
but between the searing pain that echoed in each crevice of her being and the blood that caked her face,
stained her lips,
and wet her tongue,
y/n knew this was no nightmare she'd wake up from.
***
"brought you some water."
y/n was pulled from her thoughts by the entrance of gally into the deadheads.
she gave him a half smile as he sat beside her,
staring up at the trees like he often did.
"so...what happened this time? why'd you cuss george out?"
y/n sipped her water before quietly admitting,
"he said something about my eye."
gally let out a rush of air while his eyes scanned her face.
y/n was left with a thick, whitened scar that reached from the top of her brow to the skin beneath her eye as a painful reminder of that night.
the eye itself was now a dull grey and rendered futile.
it was an adjustment she wasn't sure she'd ever grow accustomed to.
"well deserved then."
"alby doesn't see it that way."
"so what? not like he's gonna punish you or anything."
y/n shrugged and turned her head away from gally to shield her eye.
"why are you out here, gally?"
"...i don't..want you to be alone."
gally reached his hand over and laid it to her shoulder.
the feeling of the cordial comfort came across as foreign to them both,
but gally would do anything to be sure that y/n had the support he lacked.
he vividly remembered the gruesome day she piled out of the maze after finding a door,
hand to eye that was pouring a crimson blood.
gally could still smell the metal in the air.
he caught her in his arms when she inevitably passed out and never left her side after.
including now,
when his support was necessary.
"thank you,"
y/n whispered with a half smile.
after a while of comfortable silence extended between the two,
they trailed back to the heart of the glade where their day came to an end.
y/n felt a shiver crawl up her spine as she passed the cursed door that had been turned into a window after that day,
courtesy of the builders.
"hey...you're safe. you know that, right?"
gally reassured while they were standing still.
y/n let out a dry laugh that was stripped of any humor.
"none of us are safe, gally. you know that."
"well, i'll try my hardest to make sure you are. okay?"
the girl didn't bother replying.
instead,
she reached over and gave gally's forearm a gentle squeeze as though to say,
"thank you"
without letting the words slip from her lips.
gally pressed a smile against his own lips and watched as she marched away,
shielding herself from any eyes that may linger in her path.
he silently sent her a prayer for the berating she was about to endure from alby,
but gally knew there was only so much he could keep her safe from.
alby was not one of them.
realizing this,
he felt a slight pain of dread crawl up his spine.
he couldn't pick battles when it came to y/n.
he promised;
gally knew he would have to brave anything for her.
he sought through the glade in search of the antagonizer that caused all this drama to unfold,
finding that an anger flooded his veins in a hurry to be unleashed.
when he found george,
he wasted no time lifting him up by the collar of
his shirt and slamming him up against the nearest surface.
gally listened in a silent satisfaction as george let out a wheeze beneath the force.
"you got a problem with y/n?"
"what?! no!"
"good. then you'll apologize for what you said-"
"i only said-"
"shut up. you'll apologize, tell alby it was all your fault, and then you'll stay away from y/n. if i find out you even breathed in her vicinity..."
gally left the threat opened ended,
raising his eyebrows to insinuate possible damage in the future.
george put his imagination to work then began sputtering out,
"o-okay! okay."
gally set him down on his feet again then began walking away.
y/n was sitting by the bed he occupied often times when he returned with her hands knotted together in what seemed to be worry.
"hey,"
gally spoke softly while he sat himself beside her.
relief seemed to wash over her,
but he quickly played it off as a trick of the light.
"alby...he said if i'm ready, i can...i can be a runner again."
gally felt his stomach tighten in an anxiety he didn't know he could harbor.
"are..are you ready?"
"yes...and no."
the boy ran a hand down in his face in hopes of diminishing his worry,
but found that the hole in his chest only deepened.
gally could only do so much from the other side of those doors.
"well, y/n, you've always been able to hold your own. and being injured prior isn't going to stop that."
"do you think i'm ready?"
she asked in a small whisper of the sheerest vulnerability.
the last time he had heard such a gentle whisper from her had been days after the incident when she was told the news of her eye.
y/n reached for his hand and squeezed it while waking in the tiniest voice,
"am i..horrid to look at?"
the hurt was etched into her tone.
and gally had never been so honest when he said,
"you are just as beautiful as you were before, y/n. if i'm being completely honest, you're even more beautiful."
gally snapped back into the present day and looked up at the beautiful, shining girl beside him and felt a wave of ease fall over him.
she was ethereal,
in a sense.
"i think that what i think doesn't matter."
"it does, though. it does matter."
gally exhaled a laugh then gave her knee a gentle pat.
"i think you're ready for anything."
a smile broke across her lips as she exhaled in relief.
she quickly threw her arms around gally and said,
"thank you. for everything."
gally held her back carefully and smiled just as wide.
"i'm always here."
he had felt the frost that seemed to coat his heart fall away,
to be replaced with a golden warmth that embodied y/n's entirety.
hope was rising inside of him and he had y/n to thank for it.
***
y/n was up before any of the other runners.
she wasn't sure she had really gotten any sleep the night before.
she was torn between excitement to be back in her element but also worried she'd return with another injury.
or worse,
her luck would run thin and her mortality would be tested.
"big day."
y/n turned her head to see gally standing behind her with his hands in his pockets.
"tell me about it. my heart hasn't stopped racing since yesterday."
gally let out a laugh then finally inched forward to stand beside her.
"you know...i'm glad we became friends."
"me, too, gally. i wouldn't be nearly as happy as i am right now if it hadn't been for you."
"you're happy?"
y/n turned her head away from the rising sun and towards him.
"i am. aren't you?"
he smiled softly and nodded.
"i am, yeah."
gally couldn't believe what was happening to him.
he was falling in love with his dear friend and couldn't see himself feeling any other way ever again.
and if he was being entirely honest?
he has always been in love with her.
there has always been an inkling of lingering vehemence in her presence.
it had only grown stronger over time.
"i heard you and george had a little chat."
gally laughed and slyly shrugged.
"maybe."
"it worked, whatever it was. alby dropped the issue."
"glad i could be of some help."
y/n giggled then shoulder bumped him.
when their laughs had finally settled,
the rising of admittance curved along his tongue.
"y/n?"
"yeah?"
gally grabbed her hand into his and instantly felt his panic settle.
y/n was here,
alive and well,
beside him.
and it would forever be that way.
her hand was cold in his,
but he was there to warm her up.
she was grateful for the silent support.
gally then used the pad of his thumb to trace down the length of her healed scar,
watching as she closed her eyes in swelling appreciation.
how could she have ever felt so indifferent to her injury?
gally loved and admired it,
and so did she.
she shivered beneath his touch and found that her breathing hitched when gally pressed gentle kisses to her closed eyelids.
"i don't know what's in store for the future, y/n, but i know i want to be beside you through it all. i can't believe i've gone this long without telling you this: i..i love you."
y/n opened her eyes and scanned gally's expression that was painted with an enamor that could not be faked.
she let out a heavy breath,
feeling the shift in the world around them,
and returned the sentiment,
"i love you, too."
gally smiled and took the girl up in his arms,
warming her and filling any holes that remained in her heart.
y/n flourished in his touch.
it made her skin hum with radiance and brightened her with a beauty she had always possessed.
she was no longer afraid to be unapologetically her,
as long as she had gally's support to back her up.
y/n couldn't stop herself from pulling back only
to initiate a kiss so sweet and fervent that it made gally's head spin.
y/n feared that her heart would nearly burst from her chest,
but having gally's rugged being beneath her along with his lips to hers,
she wished this moment would last forever.
when they finally came apart from one another,
gulping in bouts of morning air,
their lips had become a deepened red as proof of their entwining.
"i've got to go,"
y/n whispered with her lips ghosting his,
almost begging him to kiss her again.
but gally knew if they started again,
they'd never stop.
so he caressed her cheekbone and said,
"go. i'll be here when you return."
***
"wake up. come on, wake up!"
y/n's eyelids fluttered opened to see gally hovering over her,
his eyes glittering with an animation she had grown quite accustomed to seeing these past few years.
she loved it entirely and would stop at nothing to keep that shine.
"i'm tired!"
she groaned,
swatting him away and turning back on her side.
gally slid back in the bed with her then wrapped his arms around her waist,
pulling her into his grasp.
"fine. i'll sit here with you then."
y/n smiled then nestled herself against his chest until he began singing horribly.
she shot upward and gave his chest a playful smack.
"what the hell?"
"great, you're up! come on!"
gally laughed almost maniacally while pulling on her hand and outside,
where her feet met the sand and settled nicely.
the safe haven's breeze kissed her skin,
being met with the warmth of the sun above.
"look."
gally pointed to a nest of baby sea turtles,
making y/n gasp.
"awh! gally, they're so cute!"
"i figured you'd enjoy it."
the two spent most of their morning sitting beside the nest,
being sure the babies inside were protected.
it was then gally realized the extensiveness of his love.
it ran deep throughout him,
threading around his heart,
coloring his veins a brighter color,
turning his thoughts into thoughts that echoed y/n's name.
he couldn't believe y/n had finally found a way out of the maze.
and here they were,
free to love and live with the company of their friends.
"gally?"
"yeah, love?"
"you're happy, aren't you?"
how could he be anything but?
gally reached over and molded the palm of his hand around her cheek.
"are you kidding? i'm more than happy, y/n, especially with you."
y/n smiled at the reassurance of his words then relaxed into his touch.
"me, too. it's been nothing but bliss."
truer words had never been spoken.
gally had pushed through the worst of his life to be rewarded with the saint that was y/n.
and y/n had found someone worth holding onto for the rest of her life.
they were perfect matches to their wounded souls.
a sweet love that would only become better with time.
how unlucky they once seemed,
but are now showered in life's greatest award:
true love.