A/N: here's ANOTHER Fax story. Please: refrain from sending me hate mail or death threats. I have already received quiet enough, thank you very much! Please enjoy my newest story, "In My Own Silent Company".

Disclaimer: I, habsrock08, do not in any way, shape, or form own the characters, proceedings, names, and events that transpire in James Patterson's Maximum Ride (which includes, but is not excluded to, Maximum Ride one, two, three, and four). Now if that's not a disclaimer I don't know what is!

Warning: language, character death, suicidal themes

In My Own Silent Company

Silence. In a way it's my middle name. I am silence, and silence is me. I've always been the quiet one; never really known for doing that much talking. Max always did the talking. Because she was Max: strong, beautiful, and brave. She was my Max, and I loved her more than anything.

I curse my silence. It was because of that silence that I didn't get to say how I felt. Because of my silence…I didn't get to say goodbye. Alright, it was my fault she ran away. But I swear, I was just…so angry. I really didn't want her to leave. Sometimes she just made me so mad! But in the past, Max and I would always get over it; make up, that sort of thing. We never really planned it, we just always showed up at the same place. It was always the cliff by our house. It was a jagged rock cliff, and overlooked a beautiful flowing river and miles of forest. When we fought, it seemed that Max and I always seemed to drift there. Both of us would just sit there, looking at the sunset. In the end, Max and I always made up. Except this time we never got the chance.

I was at the cliff now, just thinking about things. All the things that had happened in the past week had torn my heart into pieces. Everything that I had held dear was gone. Sure, the Flock was still there, but it was missing one vital person. And it hurt. It hurt….so….much.

The sun was setting now. Like a ball of fire, it drifted slowly over the hills in the distance, until everything around me was bathed in a glowing light. Even this wouldn't make me feel better.

FLASHBACK

"God damn it, Fang!" Max screamed. I heard a smash in the next room. It didn't really bother me, so I just chose not to pay attention. I heard a noise of something hitting the wall with an all-too-prominent THUMP, and Max burst into the room; panting hard and her face tormented in rage.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE REST OF THE FLOCK?" she yelled. I turned my head and raised one of my eyebrows, making her even angrier.

"Gee, Max, I haven't the slightest idea." I turned my head nonchalantly back to the T.V. screen, where I was watching American Idol. Just as Ryan Seacrest was about to announce the winner, the T.V. screen went black.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" I yelled, my rage now boiling over.

"TELL ME WHERE THE FLOCK IS!"

"IGGY TOOK THEM OUT FOR ICECREAM!"

"BUT HE CAN'T EVEN FREAKING SEE!"

"WOW, MAX, YOU SURE ARE A GENIOUS! WHEN DID YOU FINALLY REALIZE THAT HE CAN'T SEE?"

"You know what Fang?" spat Max, in a menacingly quiet tone. "I've had about enough of your stupid sarcasm. You why don't you stay the hell away from me, and I'll stay the hell away from you. Got it?"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you Max. Did you say something?" damn, I thought to myself, why do I always have to make it worse?

"UHH!" she screamed, "WHY…ARE…YOU…SO…IMPOSIBLE?"

"Well if you think I'm so damn impossible, why don't you just pack your things and go? Nobody needs you here! Just get lost so I don't have to see you!" Whoa. Where did that one come from? I looked at Max. She had stepped back, and her eyes were welling up with tears. I had hurt her. But then her face turned stony again.

"Fine." She said coldly, and ran out of the E-shaped house.

"AND DON'T BOTHER TO COME BACK! NOBODY WANTS YOU!" I yelled after her.

END FLASHBACK

I hated reliving that horrid day. Why did I have to say that? Why did I have to make everything worse? Damn. I hate myself. Soon I was pulled back into Flashback mode, and I remembered something else that had occurred later that day: On that horrid, horrid day…

FLASHBACK

"Max? Max, where are you? MAX!" I yelled desperately. She had been gone for two hours, and I was getting worried. I had asked everyone; Iggy, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy…even Total, but no one knew where she was. I stretched open my wings and soared to the sky. Maybe I could see her better from up here. Knowing Max, she would probably be flying. God she was beautiful when she was flying…no! Fang! Stay focused. This was going to be difficult.

"MAX! CAN YOU HEAR ME? MAX!" I bellowed with all my might. In the distance I heard my own echo, traveling for miles and miles in the immeasurable wilderness that surrounded our home.

After a few hours of searching I started to give up. The sun was about to set, and I knew Max had to come back sometime.

"If she doesn't come back tonight I'll try again in the morning." I promised myself. Max was probably just trying to make a point; just being her stubborn self, that's all. Then I saw something a couple hundred yards in front of me shoot out of the forest. It had a large wingspan, and it's movements in the air were graceful and strong. I knew it was Max.

"MAX!" I yelled, struggling to get her attention, "MAX! OVER HERE! IT'S ME, FANG! MAX!" her beautiful head jerked around in my direction, and I could make out that her face was streaked in tears. Crap. I had made her cry!

"FANG--" she started, but then I heard a loud shot echo through the forest below us. Max's expression turned from sadness to shock and pain and she plummeted towards the ground.

Oh my god. Max! Someone just shot her! I couldn't believe it. I started yelling and dive bombed towards the place where I had seen Max fall. I rammed through layers and layers of pine needle-covered branches, and got scrapes and cuts all over my body. But it didn't matter to me. After what seemed like an eternity I hit the forest clearing with a loud thud. Scrambling up to my feet desperately, I surveyed the area: whoever shot her obviously hadn't stuck around to see what he had hit. What a bastard. I turned around, and there was Max; her body broken from the fall and in the middle of a pool of her own blood.

"MAX!" I yelled, hoping for the best but already knowing that it was too late. I rushed to her side, and pulled her battered form into my lap, not caring if I was going to be drenched in her blood.

"Please…Max, are you there? Answer me! Please!" she didn't answer. She didn't move. Max was gone from me. I couldn't take it.

"WHO DID THIS TO YOU!" I screamed, after I gently placed Max back on the spot where she had lost her life. I stood up, and looked up at the sky.

"WHY, GOD? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE MAX? SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I…HATE…YOU!" I yelled as loudly as I could. Birds in the surrounding trees were startled out of their sleep, and dozens of bird flew to the sky.

I couldn't believe it. Max was gone.

END FLASHBACK

A single tear fell down my cheek. In one instant my life had been ruined. I started crying, and I watched my hot tears trickle off the tip of my nose and fall downwards. I started thinking some very strange things. I could jump; to end it all. End all the pain and suffering. But that would be too easy, wouldn't it? And nothing is easy for me. Nothing is ever easy for Fang. No one ever knew that I was in such turmoil. No one knew, that inside me there was raging a silent war. No one knew how much I loved her: how much I loved Max. My beautiful, strong, and brave Max.

I don't know how long I sat on that cliff. Minutes ticked by like an eternity. A sudden realization hit me: Max would never sit with me on this cliff. She would never see the sun again, or feel the air. She would never see the stars at night, and we would never get to talk; to share our thoughts. I knew that from now until the day I die, I would never be with Max. I would only be with my own silent company.