Splitter Prequel – Splitting.
After 'FANG: A Maximum Ride Adventure', but Fangles never left… ;)
Note: Spot the code and you'll be in the next chapter!
It had been almost a year since Dylan had joined the Flock. Total had gotten married, Jeb had taken a bullet for Max, and her relationship with Fang… Well, it was going better than ever. Dylan was no longer a threat to Fang, as they had brainwashed *cough* asked Angel to meddle with his mind *cough* him into loving Nudge. Their relationship was way better than anything Max would have had with him, and Fang didn't mind one bit. The brainwashing had been his idea.
The entire Flock had begun living in Arizona with Dr. M two weeks after Total's wedding. The weird thing was, Jeb was staying with them, and Max didn't… hate him as much. She actually saw him as her Dad for the first time since he had left the Flock in the E house. He was keeping Dr M grounded. Well, as grounded as she could be with four teens, four tweens and a newly married couple of two dogs who had kicked her own dog Magnolia out of her dog house…
On the anniversary of the flock becoming the 'extended Martinez Family', Dylan woke up in a sweat. He walked across the hallway to Max's room in a panic and knocked twice. Max sleepily opened the door, saw his ashen face, and ushered him in. "I had a dream. Of the future." He whispered. She led him to her desk and got him to sit. Dylan hugged himself as Max got him a glass of water. His hand shook, and he only took a sip before putting it down and recounting the Future.
"It was very dark, but I could make out you pacing around. You stopped, went to this desk and wrote almost ten letters. You sealed each of them, packed two backpacks and left the envelopes under the doors. After that you walked out the front door, took one look around and flew off, slipping into warp drive very soon afterwards. The scene then changed to you in a city, boarding a plane. The sign above it said 'To Heathrow, London'. You looked around again, spotted something, then ran onto the plane. What looked like a Black Shadow tried to follow you, but it was stopped by a white light." Dylan said.
Max waited a minute, trying to digest this information. She would leave the Flock? It was obviously one night soon, as she and Fang had been talking about flying the coop for some time. Dylan then continued. "It got a small bit brighter as you broke into a grey building with a machine gun, wings out and hair whipping around you like an angel. An avenging angel. You rescued about seventeen people like us, experiments. Then it got duller. Until everything faded to grey, then black. The last thing I saw was you and the Black Shadow on the top of a huge clock tower, illuminated by a huge bolt of lightning." He looked up at her, wanting to hear what she had to say, for her to tell him that it was okay, like when he saw disturbing visions.
She said nothing. Max looked down at her hands, wondering how she could wield a machine gun, how those hands could write goodbye letters to each of The Flock. When she finally remembered that she wasn't alone, she looked up at a broken Dylan. He was rocking back and forth and sucking his thumb. She slapped him. Thankfully, he snapped out of it. Max jerked her thumb towards the door. "Go back to bed. Sleep. We'll talk tomorrow." She whispered quietly. He obeyed her orders as she wondered what to do with herself, Dylan, Dylan's visions, Fang, The Flock, everything.
If someone had been watching her that night, they would think that Max was having a mental breakdown. She was scribbling seemingly random things onto paper, pacing for a minute and then throwing the paper out and starting again. Every once in a while she would mutter to herself. If someone who had access to comfy padded cells and straight jackets had seen, they would have been in that room with sedation and a jacket within seconds.
The next morning, Max asked Fang to come for a fly with her. He agreed instantly, as he thought it was code for 'Let's go and make out so the kids won't interrupt us. Again…' He was mistaken. They landed in The Cave. This was the exact same cave that Fang had first kissed Max in before she had gotten her chip removed. She hadn't intended this, but it happened. Like the make out session. Max had intended to break up with Fang to stop him getting too hurt when she ran away, but he had beaten her to the punch. When she had finally gotten her act together, gotten the words in her head, his hand was halfway up her top…
When they got back, Angel looked into Max's mind. She did it about once a week, just to make sure that her Mother Hen was okay. When she saw Max's state of mind, Angel said the first thing that popped into her head. "It's Max's birthday tomorrow!" she had gleefully announced to the lunch table. Iggy had choked on his meatloaf and was saved by Gazzy and the Heimlich, and Jeb almost inhaled his water. Almost everyone excused themselves early, and Dr. M gathered The Flock in secret to go to the mall and buy presents.
Max was left alone in the house with Jeb for a while, but then even he left. She shut her curtains and lay on her bed, thinking about anything and everything. Dylan came into her room, as he hadn't gone with the Mall Brigade, and they spoke about his vision. All he could say was that she wasn't leaving in a panic, like she was being forced to, but she was fearful when getting on the plane. The rescue, well, there was nothing to say about that. Much.
But where Dylan lacked details the most was the last flash, and the piece that worried Max the most. Her and the Black Shadow. Dylan said that the Shadow was leaping towards her just as the lightning flashed, and that it would have struck her if the Shadow had not leaped. But then that they landed on the edge of the clock tower and Dylan didn't see whether they had gone off the edge or not. Nor could he tell if the Shadow was saving her life or trying to kill her. He said that she looked taller, as if it had been a few years. But all Max knew was that she was going to have to be careful in dark places with clock towers.
The next morning, Max woke up to an Angel stuck to her. She had wanted to be the first one to give Max a gift on her sixteenth birthday, as it was not every day someone turned sixteen. Or at least, that's what Dr Martinez had been saying since the day before. Angel had gotten Max a small gold heart locket with MR carved into the front and a picture of the entire Flock in the centre. Max had hugged Angel for so long, The Flock had gotten worried that something had happened to them.
Dylan gave Max a small manila envelope and winked. When Max opened it the next day, she saw it contained a passport and gift card for American Airlines. He had finally figured out that the date on the Heathrow sign was two days after this, and this was one of the best presents Max got that day. Iggy and Ella had pooled their cash to get pasta shipped from France that was in… rude shapes… Guess who thought of that? And Nudge had gone in with Jeb on a small 'Links London' bracelet that was snow white except for the two centre links. It was on sale in the mall because of that fault, but Nudge had thought it was perfect, and Jeb had just wanted to see his daughter smile.
Dr. M came in and hugged Max, before saying that she had spent almost one hundred dollars in petrol shipping the entire Flock to the Mall, and that was her present. Max had still smiled and said that that was very thoughtful, before Angel had giggled, and Dr. M had slipped another envelope into Max's hands. She found out later that it was almost five hundred dollars in English pounds.
Dylan had told her mother that she had wanted to go on holiday with Fang to England for a weekend, and that was what his present was. She had believed him, and actually agreed with it. But the most shocking present was to come later. Fang had avoided Max like the Plague the entire day, worried that his present would be evident in his eyes. Plus he had a business deal to pull off first before he could buy the present.
At four pm, the deal went through, and the last three months of hard work paid off. Fang got a wad of cash, and some author, James Patterson, got a new website, designed with that hint of Wings… Fang had rushed off to a little jewellery store down the block and was back before anyone had noticed. Iggy was in on the deal, and when Fang tapped his hand three times that night, he had just pointed to a basket in the corner. "A full kit with everything you need to sweep a girl off her feet. Or so Ella says." Iggy muttered before stopping making dinner and patting Fang on the back. "Good luck, man." Fang just nodded and went to go set up.
Max had come down for dinner in an old torn tee and faded jeans with no less than four stains. Well, before Ella and Nudge had kidnapped her and made her over. She came down wearing a pure white cotton dress with denim three-quarter-lengths, and lightly coated with make up. Well, to Ella it was light. To Max it was a tonne and a half. The moment Max's foot touched the bottom step, Fang had appeared in a clean white shirt, black waistcoat and clean black combats, and kissed her hand. Max would have swooned were it not for Fang whisking her into his arms and carrying her out the door.
They flew to The Cave, where a small romantic picnic was set up. Max almost fell out of the sky when she saw it. "This is all for me?" she had asked. He had just smirked and landed. He had thought of everything. (Well, it was Iggy and Ella, but Max had thought it was him.) Candles, sparkling apple juice in champagne flutes, cushions, and most of all, Food.
When they had eaten, Fang had taken her hand and brought her to the cave's edge, and they had watched the sun set. Gently, Fang turned Max to face him. He cupped her chin, forcing her to look into his onyx eyes. Without a word, he planted a soft kiss on her lips, before getting down on one knee. Max's hands automatically went to her mouth. His hand went to his pocket and brought out a velvet box. All that could be heard was the gentle Arizona wind that whipped back Max's hair as Fang opened the box, revealing a gold band, embedded with a sapphire and four diamonds, two either side of the sparkling blue stone.
"Marry me." He whispered.
.
..
...
..
.
"Yes…" she responded, as she threw her arms around him.
He swept her up into his arms and kissed her deeply, swinging her around in circle.
They flew back, taking their time and circling through the sky. When they got into range of the house, they met Angel on the roof. "ABOUT TIME!" she yelled and stormed off to her room to plan. She had helped to plan Total's wedding to Akila, and she was not going to miss the opportunity to plan her mother and father figure's…
They grinned and followed her in to see all of The Flock, Jeb, Ella and Dr. M at the table, looking up at them. Forks were halfway into mouths; drinks were half swallowed, meals half eaten. Fang smiled and whispered "Yes." Iggy jumped up shouting "Whoop! Told you, man! I told you!" as Ella ran over to her sister and hugged her. "I can't believe you're going to get married!" she yelled, before there was a bang on the table.
Everything went quiet as Jeb rose. His face was stern, and for a moment, Max panicked. Jeb was her father after all, and had the right to approve or doom the marriage. He slowly crossed the room, the tension building with each step. He stopped in front of Fang, looking him up and down. A smile broke out on his face, and he put out his hand to shake. Ella and Dr. M giggled nervously and Fang shook his hand joyfully. (A/N: Fang, Joyfully? You see what I meant by OOC?)
That night, Max opened the presents from Dylan and her mother, and her smile that she had worn since dinner fell. She paced, as in Dylan's vision, before writing the ten letters, personalizing each. The last was the hardest to write.
Fang, My Darling Fang, Fang.
I am sorry.
I'm sorry for letting you down.
I'm sorry for eating the last chocolate bar, the last free pancake at the IHOP on 5th and east Kensington…
I'm sorry for accepting your proposal. I have to refuse it now, now when you have gotten your hopes up. As the age old line goes, it's not you, it's me.
God knows it's me…
Don't blame yourself. You couldn't have stopped me.
I am gone. And I will not be back.
Please, PLEASE, Don't follow me. This is hard enough as it is.
'If you love me, let me go. Let me fly to the end of the rainbow...
If you love me, set me free. It's not you, it is all me…'
The Tears That Fall by M.C.E. Fox
Goodbye my love.
Max.
With that, a tear dropped onto the words 'it's me…', and Max closed the envelope before it got soaked. She then packed her two bags with essentials and her presents from that day. All but the ring. The beautiful ring. That was in the letter to Fang. She put on her black combats that she had taken from Fang's laundry pile about a month ago, and her new winged baby pink tee shirt (courtesy of those with paws…) and stepped out of her room to put the letters under the doors.
What she didn't think about was the chance of Fate stepping in. Fate, in the guise of Fang's bladder. He was walking along the corridor to the bathroom, wiping the sleep out of his eyes as she gently closed the door behind her, and turned to bump into him. She screamed, threw the letters into his face and ran. She legged it down the corridor, down the stairs and paused at the door to take a quick glance around before Fang reached the top of the stairs. She then turned and ran, taking off and almost instantly slipping into warp drive.
When she was about three miles away, Max slowed and turned back, just to take one last look at her home. She had a long trip ahead of her, and she had to get to New York in less than two days. She couldn't warp drive forever, she'd crash with exhaustion. As she surveyed Arizona for the last time, a black shadow seemed to rise up from nowhere in front of the full moon. Max saw this and panicked, and turned before slipping into warp for three minutes before slowing to a somewhat comfy two hundred miles an hour.
She hoped that he would get the message. Not just the rejection, the code as well. If he didn't get it and follow it to the letter, the others wouldn't survive an attack from The Black Shadow. If The Shadow didn't just want her. She shivered, and put on a tiny bit more speed to ward off the feeling that she was being watched.
This is getting too long, so I'm going to break it up into two chapters. If you find the code, you'll be mentioned in the next chapter! I'm looking for two people to find two codes. The second will play a larger role, as the code took ME twenty minutes to write and then ANOTHER fifteen to incorporate into the piece. Good Luck!