|As long as you love me. we could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke

|Song: As long as you love me, Justin Bieber

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Lisa's P.O.V.

'You can drop us off a few miles from the building and let us walk. I'll pretend I've come back to finish the Trials, Dawn can say she convinced me to help her. Based on what I've seen and heard, they'll welcome me with open arms. Just show us what we need to do to plant the device,' Thomas said.

A genuine smile crossed Vince's face. 'I'll have Charlotte do it herself.'

Dawn looked at Thomas, crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed totally ready. Then she turned to Vince. 'You can get more information and help from our friends. Teresa, Aris, Brenda and Jorge. They know a lot.'

'Alright,' Vince said, nodding and then turned to Gally. 'What's next? How are we going to do this?'

The Glader stood up. 'I'll get Charlotte to train you two on the device. Then we'll take you to our Berg hanger, fly you close to the Wicked headquarters and drop you off while the rest of us are getting ready with the main team. Let's hope Wicked buys your story. We have to wait a couple of hours before we can come in with the Immunes or it'll look suspicious.'

'We'll be fine,' Thomas said, turning to Dawn. She nodded, fire burning in her eyes.

'Good, we'll move Teresa and the others here when you leave. I hope you two don't mind another ride through the city,' Vince spoke.

After Gally had taken Dawn and Thomas out of the room to go and meet Charlotte, Vince turned to me again. 'So, Lisa, is this what you had in mind all those years ago?'

Minho looked at me out of the corner of his eyes as I took a steady breath. 'I don't know what I expected all those years ago. There was one plan though, and that got most of my people killed.'

Vince looked at me for a while. 'Carter was the only survivor,' he finally said.

I nodded and tried to swallow the lump in throat.

'It still surprises me you don't want to take the lead now,' Vince spoke, putting his arms on the table.

I looked up at him, biting my tongue to fight back the tears that were trying to escape my eyes. 'I can't risk screwing up again, escpecially not with so many people involved,' I answered him quietly.

Minho shifted in his seat, making me turn to him. 'You wouldn't screw it up,' he stated firmly.

I gave him a small smile, my heart glowing by hearing those words.

Vince stood up from his chair. 'Still, she's right. When you've been out of the game for so long, it's better to be a soldier than a leader. But that doesn't mean you'd be a bad soldier. Still, I think you should talk to Carter before the two of you head into battle.'

I looked up, my stomach shrinking. 'I-I don't know,' I whispered, cursing myself for not sounding more confident. Somehow he still made me feel insecure and nervous after all this time.

'I'll call him,' Vince said, not even reacting to my silent plea of leaving the both of us alone, and he walked out of the room.

I looked at Minho, who was staring back at me with a steady glare. 'So, you know this Carter?' He said, his voice calm, but hiding thousand emotions.

'He helped me with building the Right Arm. His father was one of the first people who responded to my call, but he got the Flare and so Carter took his position,' I explained calmy but my heart was beating wildly in my chest.

Silence fell and I scanned Minho his face, trying to see between the cracks and discover his thoughts. But his mask was well crafted and I could not find a single opening.

'You guys weren't just friends, were you,' he finally said. It was more of a statement than a question, still I felt the need to answer it.

'Why does that matter?' I whispered, my voice suddenly quiet.

'Because I want to know,' he answered.

I stared at him for a while, studying his face. His square jawline, the one string of hair that refused to stay in place and his eyes. His brown eyes that could stare into my very soul. I loved them most of all and I didn't have the strength to lie to him as I stared into them.

'I used to love him,' I finally whispered, admitting it to both him and me for the first time. I never thought love to be important and so I didn't think about it, always pushed my feelings aside for the greater good.

Silence spread between the two of us, while we just stared at each other, carefully trying to read the other. Observing to try and see even the tiniest reaction one of us would give.

'And now?' Minho asked.

I opened my mouth, only to find myself at loss for words and close it again. Taking a deep breath I clenched and unclenched my hands. I didn't know what I felt and I honestly didn't think it mattered at the moment. Right now all I could think about was ending Wicked and all the pain they caused.

'I don't-'
'Don't say you don't know,' Minho snapped before I could even finish.

I frowned at him, not understanding why he wanted to talk to me about this all of a sudden. It wasn't like him to open himself up and talk about feelings and emotions. Something had changed but I couldn't think of one thing that would chance things for him.

Suddenly the door was thrown open. Startled I jumped up and turned around.

Carter stood in the doorway, narrowing at us, obviously noticing that he had walked in on something.

'I guess that's my cue,' Minho said, standing up. He threw a long hard glare at Carter while walking passed him and closed the door behind him.

'So,' Carter said.
'So,' I answered.

He took a deep breath before sitting down on the table.
I didn't know if I should sit on it as well or back down in the chair so I crossed my arms and kept standing.

'Vince thought we should...talk.'

The way he said it was enough for me to know he'd rather be anywhere else than here. And the feeling was mutual.

'Well, since we both don't wanna talk, I should probably go,' I said, making my way to the door.

But Carter grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Startled I pulled away from him and took a few steps backwards.

'You've changed,' he spoke slowly.

I only stared at him.

'More scared, more pain in your eyes but more confident as well.'

'What's your point, Carter?' I snapped, his name feeling strange on my tongue.

Amusement flashed through his eyes, making me want to punch him. 'My point is that I don't understand why you're here,' he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

I frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'The you I know would never endanger the people she loves for her own personal vendetta against Wicked.'

I bit my lip, shifting on my feet, knowing he spoke the truth. It was frustrating me to no end that nothing had changed for him, he was still able to read me as well as he had been able to do before. And I could only stand here, totally frozen and at loss for words unable to say anything right to him.

'Unless...' Carter whispered. 'You came back to prove yourself.' A laugh escaped his mouth. 'So that's what all the bravery is all about. You want to prove that you're strong enough to finish the job this time.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' I mumbled, my heart hurting.

Carter tilted his head. 'Oh, but I think you do. We both know that your briliant plan could've worked. There was only one thing that stood in our way, but only because you were too much of a coward to eliminate the threat did all those people die! For nothing!' He was screaming by now, making me wince.
Slowly he stood up, seeming to restrain himself from releasing every bit of anger he had. 'You do know what I'm talking about, right?'

'Teresa,' I whispered, staring at him. 'I had to kill Teresa.'

'And you didn't!' The boy from my past screamed and I winced again. 'You let her live, giving her the opportunity to remove your memories!'

Finally the anger took over me as well. I felt it crawl from my stomach to the rest of my body, before taking over completely. 'Don't you think I regret letting her live since the moment I had my memories back? If I had killed her back then, our plan would've worked, those dead Gladers would be alive, Thomas wouldn't have been abducted and almost killed and we would be safe! So, don't think for one second that I don't know what I did!'

He took a step back but still stared at me with a look I couldn't read. 'Would you do it now? Would you kill someone for the mission?'

I raised my head, stared him in the eye and felt how my anger slowly left me, making way for determination as I answered, my voice stone cold.

'Yes.'

A slight smirk spread across Carter his face. 'That was all I needed to hear.' His smirk disappeared as soon as it had come. 'I won't fail again because you are too soft to kill someone.' Then he turned around and walked to the door, only to stop at the very last moment.

I wanted to scream for him to keep walking but it wasn't him I was mad at. People were getting under my skin way too easily these passed few days and I was sick of letting myself being played with like a puppet.

'Did you even know what you did when you let them put that device in your head?' Carter whispered, a sudden pain in his eyes.

I narrowed at him, not understanding where this was suddenly coming from. 'I designed it, I knew very well that putting that in my head meant giving up every bit of freedom. Wicked would be able to control me and I wouldn't even remember what they made me do.'

Carter sighed. 'The day you decided to let them put that thing in your head, was the day you lost the right to lead this army.'

My whole body was trembling by now, as I stood there watching him, my mind locking down completely, leaving me with absolutely nothing to say.

'You choose your sister over us,' Carter explained himself, his voice quiet as a whisper, 'just think about that.'

Then he opened the door and left, his words echoing through my mind, leaving their presence in my veins like poison. Was he right? Did I let love get in the way of the mission without even realising it? I always thought I was doing what was right for everyone, but now that Carter had shoved his words down my throat any bit of defense I used to have, had disappeared.

Slowly I sat down in a chair, staring at the ground, my head was spinning and I just wanted everything to stop. Footsteps entered the room and the familiar smell of fresh air, trees and sweat hit me.

'How much of that did you hear?' I looked up at Minho, who stared with a frown on his face at me.

'Enough,' he replied.

I exhaled slowly as I stared at him, any words I had left dying on my lips. I was empty, had no strength left to defend myself or the choices I'd made.

Minho ran his hand through his air, taking a deep breath as he did and suddenly he laughed. An honest, deep and raw laugh.

Frowning I looked up at him, totally at loss for words, for what felt like the millionth time that day. Slowly I stood up from my chair, walking closer to Minho and putting my hand on his arm, showing my genuine concern at his weird behaviour.

Slowly his laughter died down as he wiped his eyes. 'I've been sucking stupid,' he grinned, then took a deep breath to kill the last bit of laughter.

I was about to ask him why when he started pacing back and forth around the room, mumbling to himself. 'You sucking idiot, thinking she will hate you forever, that you've thrown away every chance you had.' He let out another laugh and it almost sounded like relief.

'Minho?' I whispered but he ignored me.

'She doesn't remember, of course she doesn't. You should've known, slinthead,' he mumbled, still pacing.

'Minho,' I said his name again, louder now, a little bit of frustration leaking through. Finally he stood still and turned to look at me. I raised my eyebrows. 'What the hell are you talking about?'

He walked towards me, standing so close that our chests almost touched. I could feel the heat radiating of his body and suddenly it was hard to breathe.

'I thought you hated me, but I forgot that you can't remember what happens when Wicked takes control,' he explained but it still made no sense to me.

'Why would I hate you?' I asked, wishing he would just say what was going on already. I was too tired to play any more games today.

'I did something,' he whispered, a sudden nervousness seemed to crawl over him. 'Back in the scorch, when you were about to kill Dawn.'

Flashes of that day appeared in my head. I still had no clear vision of the whole thing, all I remember was killing Leon and almost killing Dawn, then thunder and screams and...nothing. It was all a blur to me.

'I only figured you didn't remember when I heard you talking to that shuckface just now,' he whispered, inching a little bit closer.

My knees felt weak as I totally forgot to breathe. His body so close to mine was almost like a curse, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think but I didn't hate it, not at all. 'What did you do?' I whispered, my voice sounding weak and pathetic to my own ears but it was truly the best I could do with him so close to me.

The corner of his mouth curled upwards in that adorable smirk of his as he leaned in even closer. 'This,' he whispered, his breath warm on my cheeks. And before I had any chance to prepare myself in even the slightest way, he pressed his lips against mine.

I was convinced my heart had stopped beating and half expected my body to go limp and tumble to the ground any second. I hadn't thought he'd feel like this, taste like this, that his lips would be so soft, so gentle. Almost as if he expected me to push him away but I couldn't have even if I'd wanted to. His lips brushed against mine and left the most wonderful glow in my heart. And when I made no attempt to pull away he put his arm around me, pulling me even closer and I fully surrendered to his grasp. Wrapping my arms around his neck I let myself completely drown in his presence.

It ended far too quickly, leaving the both of us a little bit breathless as we slowly pulled away. He looked down at me, his eyes shining with a spark I had never seen before, it made his features softer and my heart leap in my chest.

'I, I-' I let out a shaky laugh, not able to form any kind of cohesive sentence.

Minho simply rested his forehead against mine, the adorable smirk still painted on his lips. 'Don't go soft on me now.'

My mind flashed back to our first conversation in the Glade and I couldn't stop the smile from appearing on my lips as I remembered what my answer had been. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'

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STAY CALM EVERYONE

It happened guys! It finally happened! I have written this chapter at least four times, it was so hard to portay Minho the right way and write down all Lisa her thoughts but I am so proud of how it turned out. This one is for allyyargent for being an amazing supporter and #1 Minsa shipper. You all should check out her fanfic, there is only one chapter published but it's awesome.

Also, what do you guys think of Carter? Can Lisa trust him? And could she kill someone if it came down to it?

We are coming close to the big battle. And I promise the chapters will be more action-packed from now on. Wicked better watch out, the Janson sisters are coming to kick their ass.

See you all wednesday!

xXx
UYM