Chapter Text
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"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them." - William Shakespear
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Belle's P.O.V.
"Belle! Wake up!" I heard as I drifted in and out of conscious. Someone was shaking me, gently, but enough to ruin whatever sleep I could get.
I forced my eyes open and blonde hair with blue eyes comes into focus. It's Sonya, hence the accent. "Morning," I grumbled and stretched, sending my hammock swinging.
Sonya and I are best friends, almost sisters, which is understandable because we're so similar. We even look and speak the same, both of us have blonde hair and ridiculously pale skin, and that accent that other girls mimic. Which is hard for both of us since we give orders every day.
"Well, you're up," she said brightly. I had no idea that it was even possible to be so cheerful in the morning.
"Thanks to you..." I mumbled vaguely and stood up, leaning on the tree for support.
"Come on," Sonya urged, pulling me to the kitchen, both of us being careful not to step on any sleeping bags on the way. "What are the Mappers supposed to do without their Official?" I was the Official of the Mappers – which meant I was in charge of the Mappers, people who ran in the maze trying to find a way to escape.
"You don't have to remind me," I groaned, still half asleep.
"Come on, Belle," she gushed. "I think today's different, the doors aren't open yet and it's already 10 minutes behind schedule. Maybe we'll finally find something!"
That had me completely awake. "Does Harriet know?" I asked, looking at my watch.
"No," Sonya frowned. "That lazy stick is still snoozing since she doesn't have to wake up to run."
"Well, today she does," I declared. "You, me, and Harriet, we should check it out. We'll take section 5, it's the one that's furthest in, and the other Mappers can take the ones near the west door. We should bring more food and water, too, since it's really quite far."
Sonya glanced at her wristwatch. "Yeah, maybe just give us some time to eat?"
I grinned. "Usually I'd invite you to race me, but we're kind of on a busy schedule today, best to save up our energy."
"Yeah," Sonya agreed and we walked to the kitchen instead.
Being Mappers, we were the first ones in the kitchen. Well, not counting Milly, who's the cook. She was frying something, and occasionally we heard a hiss of oil seeping with liquid and then a crack.
"Morning, girls," Milly said above the hissing. "It's scrambled eggs for breakfast today."
"Alright," I replied. "Can you pack us an extra big lunch? Harriet's coming with us too and we're taking the longest section."
"Did she agree to that or is it an order?" Milly said, and though I couldn't see her face, I imagined the sentence was followed by a big grin and hearty chuckle.
"Your pick, see which one makes you sleep better at night," I muttered and Sonya covered her mouth, unsuccessfully covering her grin.
"Huh, I'll choose the one where she agreed to it, though judging by the fact that she's not awake yet, I'd say I'm choosing wrong," Milly said, giggling. "You girls be careful though, right?"
"Yes, Mother," I said, "I promise we won't die."
"Belle!" Sonya said, giggling slightly. "Don't say that!"
"What? I can't hear you?" I stage-whispered, cupping my hand over my ears. "Milly, was that your frying pan?"
Milly, playing right along, replied "No, it was the wind. Must be strong today."
"I'm hurt, Milly! You should be taking my side! I'm second-in-command!" Sonya whined.
"You know, I'm Official of the Mappers. That basically gives us the same status." And it's true. Other Officials have lower status than Sonya, but since I'm the Official of the Mappers, which is one of those positions, not to mention I'm Sonya's best friend, we have the same privileges, everything considered.
"Whatever," Sonya said, getting up.
"Mil, is ours ready yet? I think the doors are open," I added, peering out the window.
"Yeah, here," Milly said, pointing to five plates of scrambled eggs. She then nodded towards the bags. "Take four of those, you'll need them today in the maze."
"Thanks, Milly, we'll take a plate for Harriet too," Sonya said, and we got up to take the items and left, going back the same direction of my hammock since Harriet's was the one right next to mine.
"Harriet, wake up!" Sonya yelled, less gently than she did for me.
Harriet grumbled but stayed down, snoring slightly.
Sonya shouted at her again but she only muttered something unintelligible and went back to sleep. Not having any other solution, I flipped the hammock over and dumped our leader on the ground, which thankfully, was dirt.
"OWW!" Harriet screamed, glaring at me. "It was you, wasn't it! What was that for?"
"Obviously it was me," I said, rolling my eyes. "As if Miss Goody-Two-Shoes could do something like that," I added, jabbing my thumb at Sonya.
"Hey!" She complained. "I am not a goody-two-shoes!"
Harriet rolled her eyes at our idiotic argument. "Compared to Belle you are."
"Whatever," Sonya huffed. "Let's go already!"
"Why am I coming with you?" Harriet demanded.
"Because I said so," I deadpanned, sticking to curt answers. "I'll tell you later."
Harriet rubbed her head and stood up, following me while Sonya handed her the plate of scrambled eggs and a Mapper's food pack.
"Let's go, we haven't got all day!" I yelled, almost at the doors already.