Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My eyes opened to a bright, cloudless, blue sky. The sun wasn’t visible, even though the brightness was blinding. I could move my hands, arms and legs, but everything felt numb. Soon the feeling came back to my whole body and I could feel grass between my fingers. In one hand, was my wand. Which I held on tight.

Then I sat up. My ears started to ring and a shock of pain passed through my entire body. Once the feeling passed, I scanned my surroundings. I was in a courtyard, which was massive, and a great wall which rested on each side of me. The walls were gray with patches of ivy. 

I was bewildered. Had I not just died? Was this the afterlife?

Scanning through all the possibilities of how this was even possible. It didn’t make sense. I didn’t even know how much time had passed. Maybe I was still alive, but how could there be a chance of that either? I wish I was trapped with a Cho or Hermione Granger, they’d probably have an explanation. 

Slowly, I got to my feet. In one of the corners of the square, I could see gardens with corn, tomato plants, and different types of fruit trees. Another corner stood a wooden structure surrounded by a few trees. There were also pens holding sheeps, pigs, and cows. In the last corner, was a large groove of trees. Which looked crippled and close to dying.

There wasn’t a chance of knowing how much time had passed. For the lingering shadows of the walls wouldn’t reveal anything. This made me shiver.

I walked around the courtyard to find any signs of life. I was hoping that I wasn’t alone. I first checked the gardens and pens, nothing. The groove of trees had hammocks, which meant that somebody had been here before, but still nothing. The last place to look was the wooden structure.

When I got closer, I could hear a faint noise. I slowed my pace and walked as a ninja would. My heart began to beat faster and had my wand ready. I put my ear up to the door and I identified the faint noise to be talking. Slowly I opened the door. Which revealed a couple of guys around my age.

They all looked at me in confusion. Then at each other.

“Hello, my name is Cedric Diggory,” I said, holding my hand out for the boy to shake.

He was a tall and skinny fifteen-year-old boy, with black hair, green eyes, and a nose that is the size of a small fist that resembled a deformed potato.

The boy didn’t shake my hand. Just looked at me intensely. Which started to make me uncomfortable.

“I thought that Teresa was the last one,” Another boy said, but the black haired boy continued to stare.

“How’d you get here, Greenie?” The black haired boy said.

“I don’t know exactly,” I said.

“Did you come up in the box?”

“The box? No.”

“So you just appeared out of thin air?”

“Yes.”

“That makes no sense.”

“That’s what I thought!”

“So-“ the boy broke his stare and moved his fingers through his hair.

“All I know is that I died and then ended up here.”

“Died?” One of the other boys asked.

“By the avada kedavra spell.”

“I’m sorry what? Spell, as in magic?” The black haired boy said.

“Yes.”

“You're insane.”

“Not really.”

“Alright,” the black haired boy said with a smirk, “Prove it then?”

“Prove it?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright,” I said, taking out my wand, “Lumos.”

The slightly dark room lit up from the light of my wand. Each boy was either wide eyed, had their mouth open or both. 

“Nox,” I said, turning the light off.

“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” the black haired boy said, walking up to me and shaking my hand, “I’m Gally.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said.

“Are you British then?” Gally asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“We’ll definitely need you when the grievers come!” Another boy said.

“Grievers?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

“They’re cyborg-like creatures,” Gally said, “they're like if a slug, spider, and scorpion had a baby.”

“Well why don’t we get out of here, before they get here!” I said, I was quite scared.

“Well you just missed the leaving party,” Gally said slightly annoyed, “We decided to stay and the grievers don’t come into the glade anyway.”

“Oh okay. Then I’ll stay.”

“That’s fine with us.”

“Maybe you tell us more about the world you live in, Cedric?”

“Well sure. What would you like to know?” I said as the boys sat in the bleachers and I sat in front of them on a stool.

“What were you doing before you died?”

“Well, there was this triwizard tournament. Basically all the wizarding schools close to England choose one person to participate, in the tournament, with a goblet of fire,” I said as the boy's eyes widened, “I was picked and so was my friend. I know I said only one could be picked, but someone had put my friend’s name in. Nobody knows who. 

“Anyway, there are three dangerous tasks: One, I had to seize a golden egg from a dragon; Two, retrieve something valuable from the bottom of the school’s lake; and Three, find the champions cup through an unpredictable maze.”

“Did you make it through?” One of the boys asked.

“Yes, but barely. One of the other contestants was bewitched and tried to kill me, But-” 

“So, that’s how you died then!”

“Shut it! Let him tell the story…” Gally said irritated with the young boy.

“No it's alright,” I said, the boy smiled, “I would’ve, but my friend, the one I go to school with, saved me. Both of us were quite shaken up. So, we went through the maze together and ran into a sphinx. My friend guessed the sphinx riddle correctly and we saw the champions cup ahead. We both bolted for it and were barred by a giant spider. My friend's leg broke. Since we both helped each other throughout this task we decided to grab the cup at the same time and ended up in a graveyard.”

The boys moved slowly to the edge of their seats. They didn’t say a word. The room was so quiet, I could hear faint noises of the pigs and sheep in their pens. The boys knew that Cedric’s death was coming soon.

“This graveyard wasn’t just any graveyard. This was the place Voldemort, one of the darkest wizards, came to resurrect himself.

“My friend had told me that we needed to leave, but it was too late. A man holding, what looked like a snake-like baby, took his wand and killed me,” I said looking down at the ground, “The last thing I saw was a green flash of light and then I ended up here.”

I looked up. The boys said nothing. A fearful feeling filled the room and some boys slid back into their seats. They all seemed to slowly process what they had just heard.

A few minutes ago, they had no idea what magic even was. A dark wizard that could so easily kill anyone at any given moment.

“Does this mean we’re all dead, Gally?” One of the boys asked.

“No, it does not,” Gally said standing up and walking towards me, “It just means we have a new greenie.”

“How can you be so sure?” One of the boys said, challenging Gally.

Gally was quiet.

“Maybe, Thomas was right!” A boy said.

“No way!” Gally raised his voice now, “We were safe! A lot of people died because of Thomas! He brought those Grievers into the Glade and we are safe now!”

“Yeah, but he saved Alby and found a way out!”

“The box is also never going to come back up!”

“We’re all going to die here!”

The boys started to panic and there was only one thing I could think to say.

“We’re not going to die,” I was standing up now, “It’s obvious that we can’t stay here.”

Everyone started to calm down. My hands started to shake. I had never been this brave in my life before.

“What do you suggest?” Gally genuinely asked.

“We have to leave and hope that we catch up with this guy Thomas,” Everyone looked scared. Did my words not give them enough hope? “I have a magic wand for crying out loud! I can defeat whatever these grievous things are. I’ve probably faced worse things.”

The boys thought for a moment about what I said. They all said nothing and looked at Gally. Gally thought for a moment.

“I’m with you Cedric,” Gally said confidently, “Everyone gather your stuff quickly. We’ll leave in five minutes!”

Everyone got up quickly and ran out the door. I stood there frozen, unsure of what I should do. Gally didn’t move from my side.

“Come on Greenie,” Gally said jokingly as he walked out of the wooden building.

I followed him, “What does that actually mean?”

“Well, we were all sent here. In that box,” Gally pointed to a box in the middle of a field. We started to walk towards the hammocks, “Each month the box would come up with a newbie or greenie, as I like to call them, with their memories wiped clean. It would also bring up supplies.”

“But I didn’t come up in the box…”

“Well you are a newbie. So that makes you our greenie for the month,” Gally said with a mischievous smirk, “Anyway, the box is never coming up again though because, last time it came up, it came with a new person and supplies, but a note too.”

“A note?”

“It said, she’s the last one ever ,” Gally said with slight worry, “So I guess it makes sense that we have to leave.”

The two of us arrived at the grove of trees with hammocks. Gally walked to the left at a specific hammock. He grabbed a blanket, some clothes and stuffed it all in a suitcase.

“Let’s go,” Gally said.

Both of us ran at a peaceful pace and met up with the rest of the boys at, what seemed to be, the entrance to the maze. I looked up slowly at the maze. I was gobsmacked when standing right next to the maze and how small it made me feel.

Gally looked at me and all the other boys followed suit, “You ready?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, listen up,” Gally said firmly, “Now I know the grievers take one person through the griever hole every night. Thomas and Minho said they found an entrance for the grievers. Now their entrance is our way out. I assume that’s where Thomas and the rest of the group are going. So that’s where we’re gonna go. We have to hope that we catch them so let’s be quick about this. If we run into a griever, we have spears, but we also have Cedric. So don’t worry. Let’s go!”

Gally started to run and everyone followed him. I was right next to him.

“How do you know the way out?”

“I’ve never been in the maze or studied it, but I was stung by a griever.”

“What? So you don’t die when stung by a griever.”

“Remember what I said about the box? We were given serum and when I was stung I changed. I remembered what happened before the maze and almost went crazy. That’s how I know where the grievers' entrance is.”

“Alright, good to know. How far is it?”

“Not far! We’re almost there,” Gally said.

After running for a very long time, what felt like hours, Gally, Cedric and the rest of the boys reach the griever hole.

“Alright I’m going to go down and use a code word when everything is all clear. Don’t come down unless I say Pineapple, okay?”

All the boys and I nodded in agreement and Gally jumped down.

“You alright down there?” I yelled to Gally.

“Yeah.”

We waited for what seemed like fifteen minutes and then I heard many gun shots. Everyone looked around in panic. Then everything went silent. Without hesitation I started to climb the wall.

“Cedric no!” All the boys started to pull me down, “he hasn’t said the code word yet!”

I got back to my feet, “If he’s dead, he doesn’t have a chance to say the code word!”

I began to climb the wall. This time nobody tried to stop me. Instead the five of them started to climb too.

We all got over the wall and went through a door that had already seemed to have been opened. We all stared at a black hole at the end of a short tunnel. The six of us walked towards it and stopped at th black hole.

“Where does it lead?”

“No idea,” I answered.

“Is it a slide?”

“Must be,” I said nervously, “Guess we have no other option than to go down.”

“Gally needs us!”

“I’ll go first then.”

With that, I slid down a spiral slide. Quickly, I got out of the way. Behind me I could hear others sliding down. 

I looked up to see multiple flashing yellow lights and broken glass all over the floor. Multiple people in white lab coats lay lifeless on the floor.

I scanned the room for Gally. He was on the floor, with a spear in his chest. I had never ran so fast then I did towards Gally. The boys followed me behind.

Gally’s breathing was staggering and I panicked, “Gally!”

“There must be something you can do Cedric!”

“Yeah! Use your magic!”

“There’s no magic that can fix this,” I said tears filled my eyes.

“Cedric…I-I’m…sorry,” Gally said.

“It okay-“

“No! I tried-d…to kill-l Thomas. I was so angry and in the moment-“

“No, save your strength! You’re gonna be okay.”

The other boys started to cry. 

Everyone was silent.

Except for some sniffles.

Then from the right side of the room a group of men entered. I jumped up.

“Who are you!”

“The question is who are you!” A black man with a Jamaican accent asked me firmly.

“We just came out of the maze. Our friend here is dying! Let him die in peace!” I said sitting back on the ground next to Gally.

The man pushed me aside and stuck something in Gally’s neck. I tried to stop the man but his men held me back. The syringe filled up with Gally’s blood. The man gave the syringe to a woman. She opened the top and put a drop of something in that syringe.

The Jamaican man looked at the woman and she gave him a nod. Then he looked at me.

“Let us help you.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked them in disbelief.

“We are a rebel force and we need more people for our cause.”

“Alright,” I said as the Jamaican man and his group carried Gally outside to a car, “Thank you.”

“No problem, my brother.”

Outside was a downpour of rain and quickly the boys and I got into the cars of the rebel group. As we drove off I looked outside and nothing could be seen. It was all pitch black. I really hoped Gally would be okay.

Hopefully it wasn’t too late.

We arrived at a huge warehouse. A decent amount of people were walking around with haste, and some sat chatting softly. We were definitely the main attraction and all eyes were set on us.

The Jamaican man led us down a dimly lit hallway and through a double door. Inside was a beautiful garden with the greenest plants I had ever seen. It put the greenhouse at Hogwarts to shame. 

In the center of the room on the wall was a clear window. In front of it was a desk with a man sitting in a chair. He was looking out the window.

“Lawrence-“

“I hope you bring good news Akiel,” Lawrence said.

“Actually, we do.”

Lawrence turns around. He is very surprised that Akiel said we.

I couldn’t help but stare at Lawrence. On his left cheek was a reptile-like, gray, pattern. Which went down the entire left side of his neck too. Half of his nose was gone and his eyes bloodshot. It seemed that he was thirsty for blood and would pounce on anyone in the room in a split second.

“What do you want?” Lawrence said, pointing to me.

“Help save my friend…please,” I said pleadingly.

Lawrence motioned his people to help Gally on a nearby table, “Akiel, tell me why you’ve brought them here. As you can tell I don’t have much time left.”

“The boy,” Akiel said, as Lawrence pointed to me, “The one with the spear in his chest…he’s immune to the flare, sir.”

Lawrence sat up from his chair quickly, “Well? Pump some of his blood into my veins!!”

“We have to make sure he doesn’t die first sir or he’ll be no use to us.”

“Right, do everything you can to save him!”

A couple of hours went by and Gally survived successfully from surgery. He was asleep for now. After Gally was stabilized Akiel showed us to our room and was to bring Gally to Lawrence, right away, when he woke up.

For a time, I thought about my life back at Hogwarts. I wondered what everyone’s reaction would be to my death. If anyone would believe that Harry was the one who killed me or if they believe Harry that you-know-who is back.

My father. I was also worried about my father. I was his only child and his golden child. He would be the saddest and the loneliest. He would probably go mad.

What would happen to everyone else? Would Voldemort kill everyone in the wizard of the world? Would he take over the ministry? How many of my friends would die? The thought made me sick to my stomach. That thought of knowing the truth and being so far away that I could do nothing…

“Cedric?”

It was Gally.

I flew to my feet, “Gally you're alive! Not gonna lie you had me bloody scared for a while.”

Both of us laughed.

“Where are we?”

“Well a rebel group saved us back at the maze and brought us here. To their warehouse and they want something from you. I don’t know what it is, but I must notify their leader. So I’ll be right back!”

I ran to the other boy rooms and opened all there doors.

“Gally’s awake!!”

The boys ran to Gally’s side and talked all at once. Then I ran down to Lawrence’s room and flung the doors open. Both Lawrence and Akiel looked at me with curiosity.

“He’s awake.”

Lawrence and Akiel ran and followed me back to Gally. Lawrence asked everyone to leave and let him talk to Gally alone. We sat outside Gally’s door and some of us pasted the floor while others sat on the dirty floor. I leaned against the wall looking down at the ground.

A few minutes later the door opened and Lawrence walked off without saying a word Akiel followed after him. The boys and I gathered around Gally.

“What did he say, Gally?” One of the boys asked.

“He told me that he wants me to join the rebellion and that he needs my blood to save him because he’s sick and has the flare.”

“The flare,” I questioned.

“It’s a really nasty disease,” Gally answered, “I told him that I’d do it, but that he’d have to let all of us stay and he agreed.”

All of us cheered in excitement and everyone started chatting and telling very interesting stories. I could feel the smile grow on my face.

Chapter Text

Months had gone by and Gally finally healed from his injury. It was good to see him out and about. Though there wasn’t much out and about to do. 

Our base was located outside the Last City . Where WCKED headquarters lied. Gally told me stories of the maze, mostly, every night. So basically I was caught up with all the jargon. Anyway, WCKED’s guards roamed the streets frequently. So it’s not like we could play quidditch outside. Though it would be quite hard without a broom.

Mostly, the boy and I were bored and didn’t have much to do. We ate every meal and told stories. Sometimes it would be me and other times it would be Gally, or the others. Sometimes they would teach me things and other times I would do some magic. It was fun in the beginning but it’s starting to die down.

“Why don’t I teach you a game Cedric?” Henry said, I was still trying to learn all of their names.

Alec has buzzed red hair, a strong jawline, aquiline nose, thin lips and is sixteen years old. Dan is my age, seventeen, and has shoulder length blonde hair, upturned nose, natural lips, and a strong build. Hank has curly dirty blonde hair, round oval face, upturned nose, and an average build. Like Alec, he’s sixteen. Frankie has jet black hair, a skinny build, grecian nose, and bushy eyebrows. He’s fifteen. Lastly Henry, the youngest at fourteen, had coco fluffy hair, an average build, baby face, and big electric blue eyes.

“Sure,” I said standing up, I followed Henry to the middle of the room, “how do you play?”

“Well it tests who is the strongest,” Henry said mischievously. The rest of the boys perked up to watch.

“Alright, both you and I lay on our backs,” I did as Henry said, “Now we put one leg up and I’ll count to three. Like this: one, two, three,” Henry put his leg up in the air each time he counted, “then we try to push the other person. Causing them to roll over. Got it?”

“Yes,” I said, slightly nervous.

“Alright ready??”

“Yep.”

“Okay, one…two…three!”

Our legs locked and I had the hardest time rolling Henry over. Slowly it looked like I had him, but somehow he flipped me over at the last second.

The boys cheered and I walked away shyly. How could I have been beaten by a fourteen year old? 

“Alright,” Frankie said, “let me try.”

Some cheered for Frankie, others wanted Henry to win. Again Henry counted to three and also beat Frankie. Again everyone cheered.

“I am the reigning champion! None can defeat me! All will fear me!” Henry said with an evil laugh.

“Not for long!” Dan said getting up quick.

Dan was very confident in himself and it’s not that I didn’t like him, but I didn’t mind him losing to Henry.

This time Dan beat Henry. Also Hank and Alec lost to him. Our last hope was Gally.

“Oh you think you can take me too, Gally?” Dan said.

“Of course I can,” Gally said.

Dan counted down and they were almost eventually matched. Then Dan got ahead and Gally used that momentum to flip Dan over.

All of us cheered. Gally and Dan both had smiles on their faces, shook hands and went in for a one armed-hug. The rest of us got up and started jumping around Gally.

Then the door opened and we all stopped.

It was Akeil.

“Hey, Akeil,” Gally said, “What’s up.”

“Lawrence requests that all of you see him in his office.”

Well that can’t be good.

“Sure,” Gally said.

We all followed Akeil to Lawrence’s office. On our way there many bystanders would stare. Maybe Lawrence was going to kick us out? Maybe he finally had something he wanted us to do? Whatever it was, it was either good or bad.

Akeil opened the doors to Lawrence's office. We all walked in and Akeil closed the doors.

“Ahh! Glad you could come with haste,” Lawrence said, while pouring a drink and sitting in his seat.

“Would you like me to leave, sir?” Akeil asked Lawrence.

“No, it concerns you too.”

Akeil gave a hard nod.

“Boys as you know, we are a rebellion! So what could you do to add to our cause? I’m assuming you all have been bored out of your minds,” Lawrence said, pausing to take a drink, “So I’m planning something big against the Last City , but to do so we need information. Their security and weapon logs. So we need you to get it for us.”

“We'll do it,” Gally said, “How do you plan to go about it?”

“Well, first, you need to be trained. I know you all spent time in the maze, but this is very different from that. You’ll need to know how to be ninjas, and not draw attention to yourselves. So, for at least a couple of days you will train and whenever you're ready we’ll send you in,” Lawrence took another drink, “I would have done this sooner, but we were searching for a way in that wasn’t through the front door.”

“You found a way in?” Alec asked.

“Yes we did,” Lawrence said, “That’s all I have. You’ll be taking instructions from Akeil now.”

We all walked out and followed Akeil again. Again everyone stared. Akeil walked towards a place we hadn’t been before.

The entire base was a parking garage. Many people had gas masks and vests on. They had a weaponry room and control center. There were more people than I could dream of. I was glad to be on the right side of things.

The entire place was made of concrete and the rooms had walls made of metal fences. Everything seemed dirty and sandy, but still clean and taken care of. 

We walked up a massive spiral parking ramp made of concrete. It took us maybe ten minutes to get to the second to last floor on top. 

We stopped.

“Wait here,” Akeil said.

We waited and looked quite awkward. I definitely felt awkward standing there.  Akeil came back, but not alone. With him was a man and woman. They both had brown hair and a great build. I assumed they were great fighters.

“Boys,” Akeil said, “This is Shadowstrike and Havoc. They are our best fighters and a brother and sister duo. They will teach you to be a master of stealth.”

“Alright, if you’ll follow me we’ll get to work right away,” Shadowstrike, the sister, said.

We followed Shadowstrike, Havoc and Akeil to a room that’s divided into two different sections. They seemed to be for specific training purposes. 

In one corner, were punching bags suspended from metal chains, which were basically falling apart, worn, and frayed. Adjacent to them, a small area dedicated to weightlifting, which had rocks for weights, ropes and tires.

Towards the center of the room, mats that were worn and patched. There was evidence of hours of combat practice. Hanging from the walls were shelves displaying an array of weapons, ranging from bladed tools to firearms, all precisely organized.

The other side of the room was a rugged obstacle course. It had climbing walls, rope swings, and various other challenging elements.

I could tell that they were going to work us to the bone. Which was something I was super excited about. Because I’m quite tall I’m not great with my feet and I can be awkward sometimes.

“Alright you guys we are not going to be on the weightlifting side of the room. Lawrence wants you to focus more on stealth. To do that we have multiple exercises to help you,” Havoc said in a deep voice.

“We will split you up into two groups: One with me the other with Havoc and then we will switch mid- day tomorrow,” Shadowstrike said with a small piece of paper in her hand, “With me will be Alec, Frankie, Cedric, and Henry. With Havoc Dan, Hank and Gally.”

“Alright, you three boys follow me to the obstacle course.”

Dan, Hank and Gally followed Havoc to the obstacle course and Alec, Frankie, Henry, and I stayed with Shadowstrike.

“Alright boys we are going to be working right here for now, but first Alec and Frankie grab two bags over there in the corner.”

Alec and Frankie did as they were told. They walked towards the corner and grabbed two medium sized bags of something. Whatever they were, they were heavy, because Alec and Frankie had a hard time bringing them back.

Once brought, Shadowstrike took out a pocket knife, from her back pocket, and slit both bags open. She poured out what seemed to be gravel on the floor in a straight line until the bag was empty. Then she slit the second bag and did the same exact thing.

“Alright, the first lesson of stealth is simple. You must be silent when sneaking into a specific targeted area. So we’ll test that here. Walk over the gravel silently down the line. I’ll demonstrate.”

Shadowstrike walked on the gravel silently the entire way down the line. It wasn’t perfect, but it was very impressive. Once she was done she stood in front of us.

“Alright, so how did I do it? Well this time pay attention and I’ll specifically narrate what I’m doing,” Shadowstrike said walking on the grave again, “As you can see I’m taking smaller steps as I walk and try to distribute your weight evenly as you walk.

“Now, also when I walk on the gravel I don’t walk as if I’m normally walking. This is me normally walking,” Shadowstrike started to walk normally and we snickered. Then she walked back, on the gravel, in front of us, “This is how you should walk.”

She began to slowly roll her foot from her heel to her toes as she took each step. We all looked at her feet carefully.

“Alright now everyone try taking smaller steps and walking from your heel to your toes.”

I was last in line. Walking this way was harder than I thought it would be. Shadowstrike definitely could hear the crunching beneath our feet. If we had been on a real mission we’d be dead.

When we got to the end of the line of gravel, Shadowstrike spoke, “Alright, that wasn’t bad for your first time around. It’s not like you're going to walk on gravel on your mission, I mean you might, but we’re doing this so that you can walk on a flat surface silently. Let’s do it again.”

Shadowstrike had us walk on gravel multiple times. Which weren’t very keen too. Some of the boys would groan or complain that their feet hurt, but I tried to stay quiet. I never really liked to draw attention to myself.

Back at Hogwarts, all the girls thought I was so charming. I as in my face and girls as in all students and teachers at Hogwarts. I pretended I didn’t have a clue, but I knew. That’s why I like Cho so much. She was talented and smart. She didn’t really care about social norms. She was always honest and upfront about how she felt.

I missed her.

After I died, everything felt somber and I cried silently the first night at this rebel base. I never wanted to say anything because I always want to stay strong for the people around me. I will admit it. Not seeing a familiar face really struck me to the core.

I miss my friends and my parents. Mostly I miss Cho. She was the soft voice in my ear when things got hard.

“Cedric,” Shadowstrike said, bringing me out of my thoughts, “follow me for a moment. Everyone else keep walking until I come back.”

I followed Shadowstrike to the weightlifting side of the room. My hands were in my pockets. I was worried about what Shadowstrike was gonna say. I had never gotten in trouble before.

“Cedric are you alright?” Shadowstrike asked sincerely.

“I’m good,” I lied.

“Cedric you have to stay focused. Becoming a ninja takes all your time and attention,” Shadowstrike looked at me trying to read my face, “Cedric if there’s something you need to get off your chest, you can talk to me about it.”

“Really, I’m good.”

“But the maze is a very dangerous place.”

“I didn’t have to endure it like the rest of the boys.”

“What?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“We have time,” Shadowstrike said jokingly.

“If time is what I need to be a ninja. Then I should probably get back.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

We started to walk back towards the other boys.

“You need to lead Cedric. These boys look up to you .”

“I’m more of a go with the flow type.”

“Cedric you need to lead,” Shadowstrike repeated.

I opened my mouth to speak, but said nothing. How could I have nothing to say?

“Alright boys. You can take a break now,” Shadowstrike said to the other boys, “there’s some water in the corner over there.”

Everyone got water and there was one bench. With enough room for Henry and Frankie. Alec and I sat on the ground with our backs against the wall. Henry and Frankie started a conversation.

“That was wild wasn’t it?” Alec asked me.

“Yes, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Magic doesn’t count?”

“Well, magic comes easy to me. This whole physical aspect is challenging.”

“Well couldn’t you just make yourself float magically?”

“I could but then people would know that I have magical powers.”

“Why hide it?”

“In my world, the rule is you can’t use magic in front of muggles,” Alec looked puzzled, as if I had spoken gibberish, “Urr…Muggle is a term for non magic folk. Anyway, I’m somewhat of a rule follower and who knows what will happen if people find out I have magic. They’re already crazy about sending kids into a maze to do experiments on them. Who knows what they’ll do to me.”

“Yeah that makes sense. If you ever do have to use it as a last resort. I got your back.”

“Thanks, that means a great deal to me.”

“Yeah, so what did Shadowstrike talk to you about?”

“She pulled me aside to see what was bothering me. I guess I wasn’t focused enough or leading enough.”

“Oh, well you lead fine. I mean before you we had Gally and we didn’t do too bad,” Alec said warmly, “Is there something bothering you.”

“My life before I died, I had a girl and,” I was trying to find the right words to say.

“I know what you mean Cedric. You just have to be patient.”

“Patient?”

“Yeah, eventually everyone dies. So the two of you will be reunited. You’ll just have to wait longer than others.”

“I don’t know if I can…”

“Well anytime you need to talk about it. You can talk to me,” Alec said while patting my shoulder, “It was hard for me in the maze and I cried myself to sleep at night. Gally noticed, cause he was right next to my hammock, and he helped me through it. So I know what it’s like. Not to have a girl or anything like that.”

Alec and I chuckled.

“But the world will tear you apart. If we battle it alone,” Alec smiled.

I thought about what he said and he was right. I was making myself miserable.

“I will. Thanks Alec.”

“Anytime,” Alec said with a smile.

We took a sip of water and Gally and the other boys came back with Havoc.

“You going soft now Shadowstrike?”

“No, why?”

“You're taking long breaks,” Havoc said teasingly.

“No, this was needed. Maybe you're going soft,” Havoc said lightly, pushing Shadowstrike on the shoulder.

Everyone chuckled, some smiled.

“So greenie. What did you guys learn?” Gally asked.

“We’re learning how to walk silently on gravel,” I answered.

“Really? Have you mastered it yet?”

“Phhh no. It’s much harder than you think,” I said, rolling my eyes, “what did you chaps learn?”

“Parkour. It’s not difficult. You just have to be fast and physically strong. That’s it.”

“Gally as if you were fast,” Dan chimed in.

“I was. You were too busy falling on your face,” Gally said laughing.

“I think you remember it wrong. That was definitely you!” Dan said.

Before Dan knew it Gally had Dan in a chokehold. All lighthearted needless to say, but Shadowstrike had enough.

“Alright boys!” Gally and Dan stopped immediately, “Breaks over. Let’s get back to work.”

Everyone got up and walked back to their groups. We walked on gravel for what seemed like hours and Shadowstrike didn’t hesitate to fix our flaws. Sometimes the boys and I were frustrated, but I never showed it and they did. Sometimes we could hear the other group falling. Everytime I thought of what Gally and Dan said to each other. I smirked.

Shadowstrike took me by the arm and yanked me forward, “Cedric focus!”

I nodded.

This happened lots of times and I would get lost in thought. Shadowstrike would tell me to focus. I don’t know why Shadowstrike picked on me the most. Was everyone else always focused? No. Why would she tell me to lead? Why would I want to control the situation?

“Alright guys. That’s good for now. Let’s clean up the gravel and have our lunch break,” Shadowstrike said, then yelled “that means you to Havoc!”

Havoc turned and gave a thumbs up. We cleaned up the gravel and then together we walked downstairs to the lunchroom.

The door to the lunchroom was more of a beaded curtain. Walking into the room, itself, was dull and gray. There were many people eating lunch on short circular stools that were attached to the tables. We seemed to be one of the very last people to get food.

Even though there were many people, the room was almost silent. Which surprised me. Wouldn’t people be more enthusiastic when eating? At Hogwarts, things were very different. The students talked loudly and laughter could be heard from the halls. This place was the opposite.

I went to go and sat down at a free table. Everyone looked at me strangely. Alec walked up to me.

“Come on Cedric. I’ll show you how to get your food in the lunch line.”

“Lunch line?”

“Yeah, you’ll love it!” Alec said with a smile.

Alec grabbed my arm and pulled me up from the table. We walked into a line. Alec grabbed a metal tray and motioned me to do the same.

“Once you have a tray like this one, you tell the people on the other side of the glass what you want. Then you take your tray-“

“Come on boy. Pick what you want already,” A lady behind the glass said.

“Alright, I’ll have some peas,” Alec said with slight annoyance, “Anyway then you put your tray up on the glass for the lunch lady to put food on your tray. Then you move down the line and do that for each person.”

“Seems easy enough,” I said. The lady behind the glass apparently was deemed the lunch lady.

“I’ll also have mashed potatoes and carrots, please,” Alec asked.

My turn was next. I looked at my options for what seemed to be sides. Peas, carrots, mashed potatoes and unappetizing pasta.

“What you like?” The lunch lady asked me.

“Some peas and carrots.”

I did just as Alec said and put my tray on top of the glass. The lady put an excessive amount of peas and carrots on my plate.

“Thank you darling,” I said.

I could’ve sworn the lunch lady blushed after I said that, but I was already moving down the line. The next lady was much prettier than the other.

“Would you like anything hon?” She asked me kindly.

Again looking at my options: which weren’t good. Meatloaf, what looked like a sandwich with only meat, yellow brownies, and what looked like two pieces of bread wrapped in sandwich wrap.

“Umm, I’ll take one of those sandwiches with the meat.”

Again, I put my tray on the glass and the lunch lady gave me a very messy sandwich. Lastly, I slid over one more time and thank goodness it was dessert.

But kill me now because they had two options…

“Excuse me, but do you mind telling me what these are?”

“Sure, this is pumpkin pie and this is a root beer float.”

“You are serving beer for dessert?”

The woman laughed, “No silly. It’s a type of soda.”

“Oh, right.”

I had no idea what this soda thing was, but it must be better than pumpkin pie.

“I’ll take the beer thing.”

The woman laughed again. Again I put my tray on the glass and the woman gave me the beer thing.

At the end of the line was Alec. He was waiting to show me where Gally, Frankie, Dan, Hank and Henry were sitting. Havoc and Shadowstrike sat with Akeil to the table next to us.

We sat down and everyone looked at me and laughed.

“Cedric don’t tell me you’ve never been in a lunch line before,” Dan said teasingly.

“No, at my school things would just appear in front of us.”

“That’s why you just sat down when we walked in!” Hank said.

Everyone laughed, except me and Alec.

“You know, if any one of us went to a school for magic right now. We’d completely make a fool of ourselves. At least Cedric can keep up with us. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Everyone went quiet.

“That’s true. If I can’t even be a ninja how could I be a wizard!” Henry said.

Everyone laughed.

“What is this anyway?” I asked, pointing to my beer.

“That’s a root beer float,” Gally answered.

“Root beer float?” I said, staring at the glass off-putting.

“Yeah, it’s got ice cream and root beer. It’s good, trust me.”

I took a sip. It was disgusting.

“Ehhh, it’s not my cup of tea.”

“Really? Maybe you should have gone with the pumpkin pie.”

“Ha, pumpkin pie isn’t the best either.”

“What kind of desserts did you have at school?” Henry asked.

“Well we had crumbles, custards and, my personal favorite,   sticky toffee pudding.”

“Oh my that sounds so good,” Henry said.

We all ate our food with conversation here and there. Mostly about how I disliked the food and how British food was obviously better.

“Alright boys ready to go back?”

We all nodded our heads and headed back to the training room. Separating back into our groups, Shadowstrike had something new to teach us.

“Alright, we're gonna do something much more fun than walking over gravel,” Shadowstrike said, taking out a thin strip of cloth, “One person will wear the blindfold and everyone will stand on the other side of the room. The aim is to tackle the person with the blindfold, but if they hear you coming and tap you before you can tackle them, you are out.

“Alright, Cedric, you’ll be first to wear the blindfold.”

Why am I not surprised?

“Alright,” I said, taking the blindfold and putting it on.

Everything was pitch black. I could hear the other boys moving to the far side of the room. Also heard something pushed behind me. It made a soft scraping noise. Then someone put their hand on my shoulder.

“Cedric, I put a mat behind you so that if you're tackled you won’t hit your head on the concrete,” Shadowstrike said, walking away from me, “Alright everyone, go!”

The room was silent. My breathing was loud and quick paced. Which I tried to calm down. I listened for the boys coming my way. On my left, I heard someone walking towards me. My hand swiped down. After I heard someone roan.

“You're out Henry!” Shadowstrike said.

Quickly, I turned to my right as I heard someone trip over something. Then, silent again. I turned from my left and the right. Maybe that would help me hear them?

I turned to my right and I could hear someone come closer and swiped my hands rapidly. I got another!

“You're out Frankie!”

I could hear Frankie walking away. I could imagine him shaking his head in frustration.

Then out of nowhere I was tackled. I took my blindfold off to see Alec standing in front of me with his hand extended.

“I didn’t even hear you coming!” I said, taking his hand.

“Guess I got pretty good at this,” Alec replied.

Shadowstrike clapped her hands and smiled. For the first time by the way.

“Great job Alec!” Shadowstrike said.

So two out of three isn’t great?

“Thanks! It’s crazy how Cedric almost got all of us. I wouldn’t have got him if it wasn’t for Frankie,” Alec said.

We continued to play the game and each of the boys got a turn with the blindfold. I only got out once and Alec got all of us out once. Once the sun was almost down we took a break for dinner. They served the strangest food again. Better desserts though.

That was the end of the first day. The next couple of days were horrid. Especially when we switched. The obstacle course was really hard and Havco pushed us to our limit. Havco was really nice and he really helped me when I was struggling.

“Alright boys! Great work. You all are naturals!” Havoc said, “This is the last day and I believe the lot of y’all are ready for any mission Lawrence throws at ya. So I just wanna say I’m proud of y’all and I’ll miss these sessions.”

Havoc turned to see Shadowstrike, Gally, Dan, and Hank. We all greeted each other and Shadowstrike spoke, “Havoc and I are impressed with your strength and work ethics. We know it’s been hard for each of you, but we believe in you and wish you good luck on your first mission tomorrow!”

Shadowstrike went in for a big hug with all of us. It was really nice. Even though Shadowstrike seemed like she was picking on me, maybe she just believed in me all this time. It was hard to be away from my family and now I feel like I’m a part of another one.

The mission tomorrow wasn’t going to be easy, but I know we can do it together.

Chapter Text

The boys and I started suiting up in our quarters. Everyone was nervous. Myself included.

“Hey! How’s it going? Are you ready?”

Well, not everyone. 

Alec was very excited. I hadn’t the faintest idea why. One wrong move and everyone was dead. I tried to look tough but as my jaw tightened, I knew I couldn’t hide my worry from Alec.

“Almost ready. You're not worried?” I asked.

“I mean a bit, but we’ve been training and working this whole week. So we’ll be fine.”

“You're the best ninja here. Of course you think everything will be fine,” It was Hank.

Hank was being Hank. Sour as always.

“I just like to be optimistic,” Alec smiled, but he was a bit hurt by the comment.

“Why don’t we just send Cedric in and he can abracadabra the security and weapons logs right into our hands,” Henry asked.

“No,” Gally said firmly, “We have to do this on our own. Plus WCKED can’t know that Cedric has magic anyway.”

“Gally’s right, “Alec chimed in, “If WCKED finds out. Who knows what she’ll try and force Cedric to do.”

The thought made me shiver. Felt like a pit was in my stomach.

“I promise not to use magic unless I have too, “ I said, putting my wand in my pocket.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Gally said, putting his hand on my shoulder, “Let’s move out.”

We all followed Gally. I assume if you were to put us in slow motion we’d look pretty intimidating. Some people cheered us on. Which was very few. I, of course, was embarrassed.

As the sun began to set, we walked to the front entrance. When we turned the corner we saw Lawrence, whom we were very surprised to see.

Personally I didn’t think he came out of his office.

“Boys good to see you’ve all geared up. These suits are lightweight, but will protect you if shot at.”

I gulped. Shot at?!? I looked around and everyone felt the same as I did. Alec too.

Lawrence then spoke again, “Akeil, will you get the plan and put it on this table?”

Akeil nodded and right away grabbed a blueprint of sorts. He laid it out on the table. We all leaned over the blueprints. It was like we were being briefed for war.

The blueprints were of three skyscrapers in the middle of the city.

“Each skyscraper has its own purpose. This one here,” Lawrence pointed to the far right one, “Is for security and military purposes. The guards sleep and train here. Which is always heavily guarded.”

Next, Lawrence pointed to all the bridges connecting each skyscraper to the next, “The only way you’ll get in is if you get into this building. Which has the least security. Any questions so far?”

We all looked at each other, then back to Lawrence and shook our heads.

“Alright good,” Lawrence pointed to something on a table behind him and Akeil grabbed it for him, “These are to climb the side of the building. You’ll each have a harness and climbing rope.”

He picked up what looked like a cross bow, “You’ll point this at the 23 floor of the building, then you’ll cross the bridge, then go into the security skyscraper. The security and weapons logs are on the 43 floor. You’ll grab their drives and put them in this bag. Then come back to base. Any questions?”

We all shook our heads. Since we had training and everything. This all seemed pretty straight forward.

Lawrence nodded, “Good. Any other questions?”

Everyone stayed silent. The feeling seemed to have died down by now.

“Good,” I could tell he was about to finish, “Be quick and fast, but no mistakes. We want you home in one piece”

The first group nodded, but my group stood still.

“We’re going now then?” I asked.

Lawerence chuckled, “Yes. You’ll be fine.”

I wasn’t too sure of that. But there was no talking back to Lawrence so I didn’t say anything. I looked to the side and saw Gally looking down. He wasn’t scared, but he definitely didn’t seem confident either.

Akeil then began checking the harnesses. I saw Frankie was nervous as well, but he kept staring at Hank. He was definitely worried about something.

Everyone was getting ready. Our backpacks had our climbing gear and night vision goggles. We also had handguns just in case. Our backpacks were heavy. They had to be, after all we were going to climb a skyscraper.

“Alright,” Lawrence said after Akeil checked all our equipment, “You boys only get one chance. So be careful. Move out!”

Our group headed out and followed Akeil towards a manhole cover just outside the base. I felt a pit in my stomach. This was the first time I was leaving the base.

“This is where I leave you,” Akeil said as he took off the plate. I looked down, my face full of fear.

“Go on Cedric,” Hank said, annoyed, who was behind me.

But I couldn’t move. I was frozen in place. My mind raced at all the possibilities. At Hogwarts, I didn’t have to worry. Everything was handed to me and dying, knowing that I’m not invincible, made me freeze.

“Cedric,” Alec said, walking up to me and putting his hand on my shoulder, “You can do this. We’ll be with you. Okay?”

I nod. Without thinking I start going down the ladder. For a moment, I felt like I could do anything with Alex’s positive words of brotherhood.

Eventually my feet hit the ground. It was cold, damp, and dark. The air down here smelled. I wanted to throw up. The sewers were disgusting. Water dripped from the ceiling and made the floor damp and slippery. As if it couldn’t get worse it was dark.

Once everyone got down, Gally turned on a flashlight and led the way, “Come on greenie.”

We slowly made our way through the sewer, using Gally’s flashlight to guide us. After walking for a few minutes, Gally stopped and shut off his flashlight, “We’re here.”

He put his shoulder to a manhole cover. He took a deep breath then pushed. The cover popped off and we all climbed the ladder. Which revealed a tall stone room.

“What is this? I thought we would be in the city by now?” Frankie asked.

“Hold on,” Gally said, flipping the map trying to understand where he went wrong.

Alec steps back and I see him look left and then right, “Ah Gally.”

“What?!” Gally turns around frustrated. It looks like he had it with that map.

“Didn’t Lawrence explain that there was a wall around the city?”

“Yeah,” Gally said, not understanding Alec’s point.

“You're right,” I said to Alec, “We’re in the wall.”

“In the wall?” Gally spoke, starting to understand.

“Huh?” Dan said, still confused.

“It makes sense,” Frankie said.

“What do you mean ‘makes sense’?” Dan said annoyed.

“Think about it,” Frankie said turning to Dan, “If the city is surrounded by a wall, and the sewer brought us into the wall. Then we’re in the wall .”

Dan’s face went from annoyed to realization, “Oh. I’m an idiot.”

“Yeah. You are.” Gally said. “Well how are we going to get out?”

Cedric pulled out his wand, “Hold out the map.”

Gally did as he was told, and held the map out. I pointed my wand at the map, “Revelio.”

Suddenly on the map a bunch of markings showed up.

“Cool,” Frankie said.

“Good thinking Cedric,” Alec said to me.

“I assume, this-“ Gally’s finger follows the line on the map, “is the way out?”

I nod feeling more confident, “Yeah, follow me.”

Our group followed me as I led us around the wall. It was dark and humid, but at least the map was guiding us properly. The sound of dripping water echoed through the wall. No one spoke.

I began to see a small speck of light in the distance. Getting closer it got bigger, “Wait,” I whispered back to everyone.

I approached the exit and was able to glance out past the corner, “We’re here. But there’s guards patrolling.”

We all looked around the corner to survey the situation. Sure enough, two heavily armored men were patrolling around a small alleyway.

“Just use magic. Just one more time. Then you can put your wand away,” Gally said.

Everyone looked at each other nervously. I took a deep breath and pointed my wand at the two, “Stupify!”

Both were instantly knocked out.

We waited a few seconds then rushed out of the door. We then hid behind a wall that blocked the view from the street, “Good job,” Alec said to me.

The street was completely empty, “Must be enforcing a curfew,” Alec said.

We took a moment to catch our breath. The whole tunnel thing had really winded everyone.

“Alright let’s keep moving,” Gally said, “Those guards will wake up eventually.”

We nodded and began making out way further down the street. We stuck to the walls of buildings, trying not to be seen by the cameras. We came to a 4 way intersection.

We came to a stop. Gally tried to figure out which way to go with the map. We were all tense. This place was too quiet. 

A few seconds went by, which felt like an hour, that’s when I heard something. It was too far to tell what it was or where it was. I looked over at Frankie and he looked nervous as well.

“Left,” Gally said. The sound must’ve been nothing.

We all nodded as Gally led the way. We walked down the street as quietly as we could. The skyscrapers started to come into view. I couldn’t believe that we were actually here. I saw everyone’s heads looking up. I couldn’t help but be in awe. The skyscrapers were humongous. They seemed to reach the sky.

“The crossbow Cedric!” Gally hissed quietly.

“Oh right,” I said sheepishly.

I took my backpack off and started digging. Eventually, I pulled out the crossbow. I took the bolts from my backpack and loaded the crossbow.

I aimed the crossbow at the building Lawrence spoke about, “Which floor again?”

Gally checked the map, “23.”

I moved up to the twenty third floor and pulled the trigger. THWACK!!! The crossbow went off and landed straight into the side of the building.

“Nice shot,” Gally was the first to harness himself onto the rope, “See ya soon.” 

And with a push of a button Gally was gone. The harness equipment pulled him up to the top of the building. I held on tight to the crossbow.

Everyone seemed to take off pretty quickly. Once they were done, I was the only one left. I approached the rope and put the harness on. I made sure it was as tight as it could be, “Okay. Here we go.” I attached myself to the rope and took a deep breath.

I hit the button, and the rope pulled me up fast. It was a strange feeling, being pulled up by this thing. It was so silent. The only part that bothered me was the lack of control.

Quickly, I saw the top of the building getting closer and closer then suddenly I was up. I hit the button and the rope stopped. Gally was standing up there waiting. I took off the harness and the fear set in. Now that I was at the top of the building, looking down at the street that looked smaller than ever.

“Hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Gally said teasingly.

I was trying to hide how scared I was, “Nope.” I lied through my teeth.

“Hey Cedric!” Alec came up to me with a bright smile, “You made it! Good job.”

I smiled faintly. Alec was always there to ground me, “Thanks. It wasn’t so bad.” I lied again.

He chuckled and patted me on the shoulder, “Don’t lie to me man. I know you too well.”

I didn’t know what to say so I stayed quiet. Alec shook his head still smiling, “You’ll be fine.”

“Come on, let's go. The sun’s starting to rise,” Gally said urgently.

The group began to make their way over to the next bridge. I swallowed the lump in my throat and followed. The bridge was rickety, but it held. Everyone was walking slowly on it. I was right behind Gally. I did not want to look over and down. That would be a nightmare.

“Careful everyone,” Gally said. “The thing looks old, so watch your step.”

We all tried to watch our step, but the old boards were creaking under our weight. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

My eyes look back at Frankie who looked deathly afraid. He was shaking like a leaf. He was moving slowly and his eyes were fixed on the bridge.

I stopped, “Come on Frankie. You’ll be okay.”

Frank didn’t respond. He just stared at the bridge in front of him and slowly took a step. He didn’t look at me or even acknowledge my presence. He was totally in his own world.

I held out my hand. Slowly but surely, Frank started taking steps and he was reaching out for my hand. His hand was shaking.

Frankie takes another step and his food falls through the wood boards. He let out a small yelp and started flailing, trying to find something to grasp on to. He managed to grab some support pillars on the bridge.

“Frankie!” I yelled and everyone turned.

Instantly Dan and I, the one closest to Frankie, try to help Frankie up. I reached out, and managed to take hold of his arm. “Come on Frankie. We got you.”

With some strength, we managed to hoist Frankie back onto the bridge. Frankie was breathing hard and was still shaking. Gally looked impatient, “Hurry it up. We don’t have time.”

Tears fell down Frankie’s cheeks. I speak gently, “Come on Frankie. You’ll be okay. Hold onto my hand, okay?”

Frankie nodded shakily. I reached out my hand and he slowly latched onto it. We started walking again. This time, Frankie was gripping my hand for dear life.

“It’s ok. We’re almost there.” I tried to keep my voice soft and comforting.

We eventually reached the other side and everyone got in safely. Everyone let out a sigh of relief that we were finally across. I gave Frankie a pat on the back, “See. You did it.”

Frankie was still pale and shaking. He nodded and mumbled a shaky, “Yeah. Thanks.”

Everyone took a moment to catch their breath and regain their bearings. The sky was getting lighter by the minute. Daylight was quickly approaching.

“Alright everyone,” Gally said, “We made it to the other side. Now we just need to get to the 43rd floor.”

We all headed for the stairs, the elevator would be too risky. At floor thirty three Dan spoke, “We don’t have time for this!”

Dan’s comment rang true. Climbing the steps would take too much time, and that was something we didn’t have. Alec knew that Dan was right. He glanced upwards as if he was calculating something in his head. He stopped the group, "Wait."

All eyes locked on Alec, "What?" Gally said.

"I have an idea, but you're not going to like it."

This piqued my interest now. "What is it?" I asked.

"The only way up is to use the elevator," he said bluntly.

Gally was the first to protest, "No way! That's far too dangerous."

“We have to!” Alec countered, “By the time we get to the control room guards and workers will be in there!”

The truth in his statement silenced Gally. That is until he spoke again, “But going to the elevator is suicide!”

“What other choice do we have?” Dan spoke up.

Gally was at a loss for words. He knew that there was no other way, but the thought of getting on that elevator was terrifying. Alec was right, the control room would be full of people soon, and that meant fighting.

“Fine, let’s go.”

Gally opened the door to the 33 level and made sure everyone walked through. Gally walked past everyone to be in front, “Put your balaclavas and night vision goggles on,” Gally whispered.

Everyone followed Gally’s instructions. I put the black balaclava over my head and adjusted the night vision goggles over my eyes. I could tell that our group was nervous, the tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. We made our way down the hall. It was eerily quiet, aside from the sound of our footsteps.

We got to the elevator and there were no guards around. Gally pressed the button. We waited anxiously for the door to open. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. The seconds felt like minutes.

A red light signaled that the elevator was at our floor and it opened slowly, but we all quickly rushed in.

“Which floor?” It was a woman. Nobody noticed she was in there.

“43,” Gally said in a lower voice.

“Ok,” The woman pressed the forty third button, “So how come you guys are in a hurry?”

Alec spoke up quickly not wanting to seem suspicious, “We had a late night mission. We were supposed to report back 5 minutes ago.”

“Oh, well don’t want to upset Janson.”

We all nodded. Pretending we knew this Jason person and the woman didn’t look suspicious of us at all. She just made small talk. We were safe for now.

We thankfully reached the forty third floor quickly and walked out quickly. Alec spoke trying to seem normal, “Have a nice day.”

The woman responded in a cheerful tone, “You too!” The elevator door then closed and she was gone.

Gally led us to the weapons log room. “Dang it!”

“What?” I asked.

“We need a key card.” I looked at the door. Sure enough there was a sensor. It would only open with a scan of a key card.

“What!” Frankie said.

Dan started to panic, “What are we going to do?!”

“Use your magic!” Frankie said.

“No!” Alec said, “The camera’s will pick it up!”

“Then what else are we going to do?” Gally asked in frustration.

Dan spoke, “We don’t have time!”

“Just hide it in your sleeve!” Frankie suggested.

“That’s too risky!” Alec said.

“It’s your choice Greenie,” Gally said.

“I’ll do it.” Everyone felt silent and looked at me shocked.

I paused. Was it right?

“Well whatever we decide, do it quickly!” Dan said.

The others watched as I concentrated. I pointed my wand at the lock, “Alohomora,” Suddenly the light turned green and the door opened.

We rushed in quickly and Gally grabbed the big drives of information. Suddenly the alarm went off.

“Oh no!” Frankie said.

“Run! To the stairs!”

Gally quickly put the drives in Alec’s bag and we bolted out the door.

“Wait!” Alec said, “They’ll expect us to go down the stairs. They won’t expect us to use the elevator and walk out through the front door.”

We all had the same look of fear on our faces. “Are you crazy?!” Gally said in an exasperated tone.

“It’s the only way!” Alec said.

Everyone gave each other a look. We were all conflicted, “Great!” Frankie spoke standing next to Alec, “I don’t want to go back on the bridge!”

“But they’ll be searching this building. If we go down the stairs-“

Alec interrupted Gally, “We won’t make it to the other skyscraper! They catch us on the stairs.”

Gally growled, “Fine, just don’t look suspicious.”

We quickly made our way to the elevator and tried not to look suspicious. As Gally suggested. We all felt nervous, but confident in Alec’s plan. At least we weren’t backing ourselves into the corner.

The elevator door opened and it was empty. Thank goodness. We’ll all pushed in, stand up straight, and looked forward pretending we’re looking around for the supposed cause of the alarm.

The door opened and it was a man, “Hey soldiers!”

We all were out but stopped and turned towards the man, “Yes sir!” We all said.

“Who gave you orders?”

Gally spoke nervously, “Um…Janson, sir.”

“I am Janson and I didn’t give you orders.”

“Oh well-“ Gally quickly grabbed his hand rifle and shot next to Janson.

Janson jumped in surprise. Immediately, all the guards in the lobby raised their weapons.

Gally started shooting like a crazy person, all the guards duck and we ran.

“Bloody-“ Janson said, “Shoot them!”

We made a mad dash to the door, and I didn’t look behind me. I heard someone fall to the floor.

“ALEC!!” I looked behind and to my horror, Alec was on the ground.

“GET UP!” Gally yelled.

Gally pulled Alec to the door and he was going to die just as Alec did. Without thinking I pulled out my wand and created a force field around us.

“No.” Alec said strained and Gally looked up, eyes wide.

“GET HIM OUT OF HERE!” I yelled to Gally.

Gally didn’t hesitate and pulled Alec out the door. Frankie and Dan helping. Everything hit the force field, but we were safe. I started panting hard. It took a lot of my energy to maintain the force field, but I was going to hold it for as long as I could.

Once everyone was out I ran to the door. We all ran back to the door to the wall. “Stupify!” I said taking out the guards again.

Gally let out a sigh of relief, “I can’t believe your magic worked.”

I tuned Gally out and I went to Alec’s side. He made sure I was ok since my death. I’ve lost my parents, my girlfriend, and now… my best friend.

“It’s okay Cedric,” Alec said, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Tears streamed down my face. I tried to speak, but no words came out. I could only watch as my best friend lay dying.

“Y-you’re gonna be okay…” I managed to say, though I was trying to convince myself more than him.

“Cedric-“

I looked at him, still crying, “Save your energy. Don’t talk.” I pleaded.

He smiled at me, “No. I need to say this. You’re the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever had.”

His voice was getting weaker, “Be brave Cedric. Take some risks.”

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. My voice was shaky, “Alec, I can’t lose you, please-“

“Promise me that you won’t give up. Promise that you won’t just sit in your darkness-“ Alec had to stop, he was growing even weaker.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and held Alec in my arms, “I promise. I promise Alec.”

And with that his body became cold and limp. He was gone.

Chapter Text

“He believed in me.”

The wind wouldn’t stop.

It cut across the broken skyscrapers like it was trying to scrape something off the earth. I stood alone on the roof of the rebel headquarters, where the concrete was cold under my shoes and the edges might crumble if I leaned too far. The city below looked like it had given up — crooked streets, buildings stitched with rust and glass, shadows lingering longer than they should.

It had been six days since Alec died.

I don’t know why I counted. It wasn’t like it helped. Every hour that passed without him still felt like it was happening for the first time — the way his body blocked the doorway, the scream I didn't have time to make.

He was the one who saw me.

Not Cedric Diggory the Triwizard Champion. Not the boy who had magical powers. Alec had seen all of it—the hesitation, the guilt, the nightmares. And he hadn’t looked away.

“Cedric,” someone said behind me. It was Gally. He didn’t walk forward, just leaned in the open doorway like he was letting me decide if I wanted to hear more.

I didn’t.

I didn’t look back.

“Can’t stay here forever,” he said from the doorway.

My jaw clenched, “I won’t. Just wanna be alone for a while.”

“I see,” Gally said. Whatever he was “seeing” it filled the silence, making it the opposite of quiet.

“Why are you here Gally?” I said with an edge to my voice. I turned to face him, it was obvious I had been crying. That my eyes were red and irritated.

“Someone’s gotta check up on our leader.” 

I scoffed, “I’m not a leader.”

I turned away from Gally, looking forward to the sun setting.

“You are,” He said walking slowly towards me, and soon we stood side by side, “We need you more than ever. Ever since we lost…”

“I can’t be strong right now. Why can’t it be you?” 

“Because,” he chuckled softly, “I’m… well you know… hot headed. Biting. You’ve always been the guys' favorite.”

“I’m nobody’s favorite,” I snapped. “The only person that ever cared was Alec, and now he’s gone.” My voice cracked. I looked down. “I have too many demons. I-I’m broken. Everyone's better off than me.”

“That’s why we need you, instead of sulking. We need you to show us how to battle our demons.”

“I don’t know how! Alec did! He helped me.”

“How did he do it?”

I felt tears surfacing just thinking about Alec, “He was good hearted and positive. That’s not me. I had an easy life,” My hands run through my hair with frustration, “I never had to struggle. I-“

Silence stretched between us again.

“I’m sorry,” Gally said finally. “You’ve been through more than we wanted to see. That’s on us.” He shrugged, like the words made his shoulders itch. “But… people look to you. Whether you like it or not.”

Gally put his hand on my shoulder, and continued speaking, I looked at him, “We know how you feel. We were separated from our parents,” He paused, “I wish I knew my childhood. Maybe I had friends… maybe I had a really cool bike…”

We laughed at the last part, “I know that you can dwell on the past. Maybe you were meant to have this life. With us. Maybe you're meant for more. You can’t hold yourself back from that.”

“You’re right,” Gally was right. Maybe Alec saw something in me I hadn’t seen in myself yet. Maybe it was time I tried to look, too.

“I know I am,” Gally said. “Bet you’ll be doing better with a full stomach.”

“I could eat.”

Gally and I walked to the cafeteria. The laughter and chatter bouncing off the walls. Except for my group's table.

I stood in the doorway, unsure if I wanted to go in.

Seeing all the guys depressed just as I was, reminded of my pain on the rooftop. Even though I felt lighter, with Gally’s inspirational chat, being a leader felt impossible to achieve.

I sat down without saying anything.

Frankie noticed first. “Oh. Hey, Cedric.”

Dan looked up. “Have you eaten yet?”

I shook my head.

Dan got up, disappeared into the hall, then came back with something hot and weird-smelling in a dented bowl.

“It’s not poison,” he said, handing it to me. “Probably.”

“Comforting,” I muttered.

Dan shrugged. “Frankie made it.”

Frankie beamed. “It’s stew. Kinda. Don’t ask what’s in it.”

I didn’t. I took a bite. It was salty and terrible and exactly what I needed.

We didn’t talk much at first. Just the sound of others conversations and the hum of pipes in the walls. The boys settled into their usual rhythm—Frankie started sketching on the side of a cereal box, Dan tried and failed to whistle, Henry stirred, mumbled something about pancakes in his sleep.

It was normal.

It was safe .

For the first time in days, I let myself breathe.

“I miss him,” I said, so quietly I wasn’t sure anyone heard.

“I do too,” Henry said, exactly the way a child would miss his mother.

Everyone nods.

I didn’t say anything after that.
But something in my chest loosened. Just a little.

Maybe I wasn’t as alone as I thought.

“Do you think Alec would’ve liked this?” Frankie asked suddenly. His voice was soft.

Dan answered without looking up. “He would’ve said it tasted like swamp.”

They laughed. I did too

“Yeah,” Frankie grinned. “And then he would’ve eaten all of it.”

We laughed some more.

“He talked about you a lot, Cedric,” Dan said after a pause. “Said you were the first person here who didn’t treat him like some grown-up.”

“I think I needed him more than he needed me,” I said. The words came out before I could stop them. “He knew when I was pretending to be okay. He didn’t try to fix it. He just… sat with me.”

“He always was that way,” Frankie said. “He showed up. Even when you didn’t ask.”

I nodded.

There was a long silence after that, but it didn’t feel heavy. Just still.

I looked around at the boys. These weren’t soldiers. These weren’t rebels. They were just kids. Left behind. Trying to survive.

Just like me.

And if I was still here—if Alec had given his life to keep me here—maybe it wasn’t just about surviving anymore. Maybe it was about showing up for the others, too.

I wasn’t ready to lead.

But maybe I could start by sitting beside them.

~~~~

The lights were low. The storm had crept in slowly—first the wind, then the patter of rain against the roof. Now it shook the windows, and thunder rumbled like something ancient, shifting in its sleep.

The boys had settled in for the night, curled in their bunks or sleeping bags. The room smelled like wet clothes and old wood. 

I was starting to doze off, but that’s when I heard Henry whimper—barely audible at first, then louder as thunder cracked overhead.

Frankie sat up on his mattress and rubbed his eyes. “Henry?”

“I’m fine,” Henry said, but his voice broke halfway through.

Frankie climbed out of bed, crossed the room, and sat beside him.

“It’s just thunder,” Frankie said. “You know, like the clouds burping.”

Henry didn’t laugh.

“I know it’s stupid,” he said instead. “But every time it rains, I think about the Maze. The night the Grievers came. They were loud like this.”

I sat up in bed too, listening.

“They dragged one of the boys into the wall. He screamed so loud. I didn’t even know his name,” Henry whispered.

Frankie didn’t say anything. Just reached over and held his hand.

“It’s easier to pretend you’re fine than admit you’re not,” I said, staring at the wall. “But we got your back mate.”

Henry nodded, biting his lip. The thunder cracked again, but he didn’t flinch this time.

“And we’re not in the Maze anymore,” I added. “We’ve already made it further than anyone thought we could.”

Frankie smiled at me, small but real.

Henry finally laid back down, this time pulling the blanket all the way to his chin.

And eventually, the room grew quiet.

~~~~

I must’ve fallen asleep not long after.

When I woke the next morning, the storm had passed—and Henry was curled up at the edge of my bed, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders like armor.

He didn’t stir when I sat up. Just stayed close.

I didn’t move him. Didn’t speak. Just let him stay.

By the time I slipped out of bed, the room was still dim. Some of the boys had rolled onto their backs in their sleep. A few were snoring.

I got dressed quietly, careful not to wake Henry. The air outside was cold and damp, the ground still soft from the night’s storm.

A few lights flickered in the distance—old bulbs strung between buildings. The training yard looked half-drowned, but Gally was already out there. Shirt half-on, boots caked in wet earth, throwing a knife at a straw dummy.

I crossed the yard toward him, each step sinking slightly into the mud.

“Didn’t expect you up this early,” Gally said without turning.

“Guess I was restless,” I walked up to Gally, finally seeing him clearly, “We don’t need to train until a couple of hours.”

“I don’t train because I’m told to,” Gally said, still working the knife, not looking up.

“Then why do you train?”

Gally stopped. Slowly straightened. He looked down at the blade in his hand like it had betrayed him.

“Alec…” he muttered. “I know he died accidentally, but…”

He shook his head, jaw tight. Then finally looked up at me.

“Nobody else can die.”

I nodded. The morning air bit at the back of my throat.

“We’ll get through this, Gally,” I said quietly. “People may die—but we can’t let it break us. That’s what they want. WCKD—she’s the one taking our friends from us. Don’t carry what isn’t yours.”

Gally didn’t answer right away. Then, in one clean motion, he drove the knife through the training dummy’s chest.

“You’re right,” he said. “We can’t let her win.”

Gally pulled the knife out of the dummy putting it back on the wall where it belonged, “So what do we do now?” he asked, breathing unevenly.

I looked at him. At the sunrise behind him. At the wet dirt under our boots. At the weight hanging over both of us.

“What we’ve been doing,” I said. “We carry out the missions Lawrence assigns us. We train. We learn. We become better. Stronger.”

I met his eyes.

“We become Ghosts.”

Gally exhaled slowly, but didn’t seem satisfied, “There’s got to be more we can do.”

I nodded. I didn’t have an answer—yet. But the restlessness in his voice mirrored something in me. A quiet fury, just beginning to surface.

“Then let me ask.”

~~~~

I hadn’t really been alone with Lawrence before. Not properly. He was the kind of man who could stand in a crowded room and still make you feel like he saw right through you.

He didn’t look up when I walked in.

“You should be training,” he said, flipping through a tablet of data.

“I’m not here to train.”

His eyes lifted just slightly, then back down.

“You’re here to quit?”

“I’m here to ask for something real,” I said. “Something that matters.”

Lawrence stood. Slowly. His face was half in shadow, like it was always trying to hide itself from me.

“Kid, people ask for meaning when they’re in pain. I’ve seen it a thousand times. You think if you throw yourself into the next mission, the guilt will go away.”

“I’m not trying to forget Alec.”

“No,” Lawrence said. “You’re trying to make his death worth it. Which is the same thing.”

I said nothing. He let the silence stretch for a while, just to see if I’d break.

Then I spoke.

“He believed in me. When no one else did. Even when I didn’t. If we sit here and do nothing, then he died for someone who wasn’t worth it. That’s worse than grief.”

Lawrence’s expression didn’t soften, but something in his posture did. He walked around the desk and looked me over like he was reading a different kind of report now.

“You ever lie before, Diggory?”

I blinked. “Lie?”

“Convince someone you’re someone you’re not. Play a part.”

“Maybe… once or twice.”

Lawrence didn’t smile, but I swear something close to it flickered in the corner of his mouth.

“We need a spy,” he said. “Inside WCKD. They’re recruiting scientists. Blood specialists. People who know how to run tests, who can speak the language. You get in, you feed us back whatever you can find.”

My throat dried.

“And if I’m caught?”

“They’ll kill you.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he repeated, like he hadn’t expected me to agree that fast.

“I don’t need easy,” I said. “I need to do something.”

Lawrence stepped closer. “You’ll need to pass their screening. We’ll give you files to study. Five days. You pass, you go in. You fail, you're out. And if you break once you're inside, I’ll personally make sure they never find your body.”

I held his gaze. “Fair enough.”

He nodded once to Akeil, who handed me a tablet.

Just before I turned to leave, Lawrence spoke again.

“Alec was a good one,” he said. “But don’t make his death your excuse. Make it your reason.”