𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐈𝐀 - TMR, Gally ² / ³

𝟢𝟤𝟩，"𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨"

After explaining what had happened in the room with the water tanks as best as possible, the whole group meets each other in a hut in the Safe Haven.

Because yes, they've all made it.

There's just one tiny little problem that has to be fixed.

"Joan!" Vince gets interrupted by an excited yelp. Before she knows it, a curly-haired kid has ran into her arms, and she somewhat falls over.

"Chuck!" A surprised gasp. She liked Chuck back in the Glade, even though they didn't talk that much. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"You too!" He turns around in the room, and hugs Thomas, too. Probably longer than he hugged Joan.

Like a hundred times longer.

After at least a minute of patting the jud's back, Thomas raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said you're thirteen."

"So what? That doesn't mean I can't hug you? Besides, I did see you and Newt. That hug was like... super long."

Thomas's face falls. "Yeah, okay, we get it."

"And you even cried out during it."

"We get it."

"Like a second after we arrived here!" He adds. "And then you—"

Thomas slams a hand on Chuck's mouth. "Don't."

He looks at him with puppy eyes, pleading. Thomas lets go after a few seconds. Chuck walks to the door without a word, and only speaks when he's outside and only his head is visible.

"And then they kissed!" He yells.

And then he disappears before Thomas can do anything.

Newt was forced to rest after the whole Flare thing, so he isn't with them to live with the embarrassment.

Thomas is.

"Well, we all knew that would happen at some point," Vince says. "Let's just discuss what we do with Joan. And... the other Joan."

"WCKD likes chips," Thomas informs. "Maybe he inserted some kind of information about Joan into a chip, and then inserted that into the clone. Usually in the neck."

"No. I took her chip that connected her with the Grievers out, and there was nothing else," Gally says. 

She perks up. "So I'm not the clone? They must've really paid attention to detail would they have given me a chip for the Grievers, too. Or a fake one."

"...or he removed the chip that allows whoever the real Joan is to be connected with your mind."

"No. If he removed that, I wouldn't be able to speak like this," Joan says. "Because I must be the clone. On the video, they put me into the tank. The real me. I think."

Vince sighs. "Well, what do you suggest?"

"Kill me," she states. "Kill me in the hope that the other one wakes up."

"Absolutely not," Gally bites out. "That's the worst risk ever."

"It's the only thing I can think of."

Jorge looks at Jeff. He's standing next to the bed, on which the other Joan lies. "How's she doing?"

"Cold and pale. Slow breathing," Jeff explains. "I don't think taking her out of that tank helped."

Joan shakes her head ."If no one can find another solution, just do what I said. It won't matter."

"How would it not?"

"Because if I'd continue living, she dies, and I'll die! I'm a freaking clone, Gally. I'm barely even real. I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a clone. It's one thing or another. And technically, it's my decision."

"Let's just think it through for a day or two," Vince suggests, worry in his voice. "I wouldn't like seeing my daughter dead, either."

Her chest tightens at the thought of having to live any longer in a body that's not even hers. She has no idea how they managed to create a copy of herself, even in human flesh, but she doesn't like it. She wants it gone.

Do it, something tells her. Just fucking do it.

Her eyes land on one of the bigger operation knives on the table. Do it, do it, do it— it's the clone, encouraging her. Its killer side.

"Joan—" Camil gasps.

In a second, her arms uncontrollably reach for the knife. No, she regrets it immediately. The real Joan does. No, don't—

But her body won't listen, and it stabs the knife into the side of her neck, right where she knows how to kill someone in a less painful way.