Sometimes, You Have To...

By Krrimarte

"If saying good-bye was an easy thing to do, nobody would stick around."

I looked at them all, wondering how they would hold up after this. Iggy was smiling like an idiot, his ears were probably still ringing from last week. Nudge was somber and teary eyed. She looked over to the woman standing by the tree; her mother.

"Max, what if-" I cut her off.

"Nudge, this isn't a choice anymore. There's no way that I can keep you safe, I can't give you the life you need, let alone want." I said softly, I brushed a dark curling lock of hair from behind her eyes. "It'll be okay, Nudge. You just have to try for me, okay? I'll call you in a couple weeks." I said reassuringly, or at least I hoped I did. I wasn't going to call her in two weeks, or two years for that matter. She needed her family, her real family.

Gazzy and Angel stared up at me, tears flowing down there faces. Angel, oh, poor little Angel. She knew exactly what I was thinking. Sometimes, I forget she can read minds, and I know she's already done that. "Angel, you know I love you, right sweetheart?" I asked gently... Motherly. She nodded and bit her lip. Bless her heart, she was trying not to upset me. I knelt down and hugged her.

'Max, you'll always be like my mother. You raised me and loved me, not them.' She said. I closed my eyes and nodded. I had to get this over with before I fell apart.

"Gazzy, you're going to take care of you and your sister now, okay? I'm not going to be there to tell you what you should and shouldn't be doing anymore. You need to figure that out on your own now, 'kay trooper?" He nodded, not trusting his voice.

I wrapped both of them in a hug. I didn't ever want to let them go. Finally I forced myself to stop and stood up. "Iggy, are you sure you want to go back there? I'm sure we could find you somewhere else..." He just gave me that look he has for when I'm wasting my breath. "There really isn't any choice, Max. 'Side's I'll be okay. We'll all be okay."

Nudge's mom came up and hugged her: Another tearful reunion. Gazzy and angel marched over to a somber faced, middle aged woman. She knelt down and zipped their coats. I'd met their grandmother before. She seemed really mean on the outside, but she loved them and was butter when nobody was looking. She'd cried for me when I told her that they were coming to live with her. "But, they're practically your children, Max."

Yes, but what kind of life can two kid's have with a 14-year-old mom? I took a deep breath. I watched as Iggy ducked down to fit in his parent's car and as Nudge waved out the window at us. Angel and Gazzy were still crying, belted into car-seats.

'Max, why can't we be with you? I don't care what life's going to be like. I want to be with you! ...'

'Honey, I know, but I'm doing what's best for you.' I thought.

As the last car went out of site I heard something that made my knees buckle as I started to sob. 'MOMMY!! PLEASE!! DON'T SEND ME AWAY!! MOMMY!!' Angel screamed in her head. Oh god, how could I do this. I needed to.

"Max?" He asked behind me.

Tears slid past my closed lids. "She's calling me mommy. She's pleading for me not to send her away." I said, my voice shaky. He got down on his haunches next to me.

"Max, it'll be okay. I know it hurts... Believe me." He said sorrowfully. I looked up. Just by the expression on his face, I could tell that he could hear it too. Angel must have been so upset she tapped into every body's minds.

"Fang... How could I do this to them? They're my family, how could I hurt them like this?" I asked, more to myself then to him.

"Max, they're going to be alright. We'll see them again, don't worry. For now, we have things that need to be done that we couldn't do with them around." And it was true. All of it. The voice never said that we had to save the world. I had to do it... But I wasn't doing this thing completely alone. I'd crack in a week and we'd all be screwed. No, I'm bringing along the one person the voice didn't tell me to send away, and ironically, the only one we couldn't find family for; Fang.

I feel horrible about it. I mean, call me strange, but I've always been pretty much 'all or nothing' and I guess this is not exception. If it hadn't been for the fact that I'd already been told that if they were there, they would die, they'd be here with me now.

Angel was getting further and further away. I could still her psychic hysterical pleading, but it was fading. It kinda sounded like she was talking into a tunnel now. '... Mommy, Daddy, I love you.' was the last thing I heard.

That broke me and I collapsed right there, my knees bent underneath me, my face in the dirt. I was sobbing like the child that I never was. I feel so much pain, and I couldn't let it out. My soul was being ripped out of me. I was choking just trying to breath.

Fang pulled my shoulders up and propped me against his chest as I sobbed uncontrollably. I felt him wrap his arms tight around my shoulders. Fifteen minutes or so later my wails had turned to hiccups and I pushed my arms against his chest. I shut my eyes tight, and tried to collect myself.

"She called me, Mommy, Fang." I said shakily.

Fang let go of me and made a strangled cry. I looked at him, and I mean truly looked at him, almost for the first time. The person I saw kneeling with me in the dirt was not the same kid I'd known forever. His eyes were bloodshot and haunted. He looked as bad as I felt. Although, I probably looked worse.

"I know. She called me Daddy." She had, hadn't she. How much more did you need to prove that this was better for them all? A six-year-old is calling two fourteen-year-olds Mommy and Daddy. This wasn't healthy, and nowhere near normal.

And then it struck me, in that instant it all made perfectly twisted sense. She was right. As far as the roles were concerned, we were her parents. I thought back through the years, the way I'd always raised them all. I remembered the first time I ever held Angel, the look that Fang gave me. He'd felt it too, that immediate paternal instinct. Just as how I'd been her mother for all of these years, he'd been her father.

In my mind I could see how he had so diligently taught her how to count, read and tie her shoes; How he'd always protected her, well everyone. And now, right in front of me, I could see the pain that I felt shining through him.

I smiled weakly. "Oh, what a pair we make." I said.

Fang looked at me with tired, sad eyes. I could tell that he was wordlessly asking me to explain myself.

I sighed. "We're fourteen and we've already lost our children. Why did she wait till now to call us that? Why?" I asked.

Fang shrugged weakly.

"I think it's because she knew. She knew that she'd twist the knife and make us come back for her." I said.

Fang looked at the ground with something akin to grief. I knew how he felt. I put a hand on his shoulder, "Promise me that we'll get her back." I said softly.

"Of course you'll get her back." Fang said stiffly.

"No, not just me, you too." I said. "When this is all over, we'll knock on their front door and tell them to come home."

He looked me in the eyes. He knew what I was saying. It would mean going against anything that made sense, but we'd do it. We'd get them back, somehow.

His black eyes zoomed in on me. "We'll get them back, Max... We'll get them back."

I stared at him for a second and leaned in and kissed him. He held me there for a second and then let me go. "Let's get this over with." I said and got to my feet.

Fang looked at me and nodded, slinging his back-pack across his shoulder. We took off into the air.

Wherever you're hiding, we will find you. There is nowhere that you can hide from our wrath. And though it may kill us for the moment, we leave the ones we love to those who can keep them safe and away from us, we will find away. Because sometimes, you just have to.