A/N: Just felt like writing somethin'.

Old Milk

Fang was watching Max. Something about her was off today. Her smile was a little less than genuine, and her eyes didn't crinkle at the corners like they usually did. If she wasn't feeling obliged to join in on a conversation, she'd take to staring off into space, her face slowly slipping into a mask of despair before she noticed him looking and covered it in stone again, smoothing over the stone with normal-looking flesh.

She wasn't fooling anybody.

Her body was hunched as she sat with her knees drawn up on her bed in the hotel room she shared with Fang. He stared at her for a long time before he finally decided to confront her. He walked over to her bed and sat before her. She raised her head from where it had been resting on her arms and looked quizzically at him

"What's going on?" He was straight to the point. Max looked surprised.

"What do you mean?" She feigned innocence.

Fang gave her a look, as best as Fang can give looks. "Don't play dumb," he said harshly, "you've been acting all doom and gloom all day. What's wrong with you?"

Max flinched and shot a look of dismay at the floor, as if it could help her out of this situation. Fang softened a bit at this. "Max," he pleaded, "please tell me what's wrong."

"Whoa. The all-mighty Fang said 'please'," observed Max in half-hearted mock astonishment. She was stalling. She was uncomfortable. This worried Fang. Max was usually loud and confident. What had her acting so timid and scared?

"Max. For real," said Fang, exasperated. Max sighed, a nervous glint in her eye. "I was going to tell you sooner, but I didn't want to scare or upset you…" She shifted.

"What is it, Max?" Fang asked softly. Max, giving a mighty effort to keep her tears at bay, began gathering the hair at the nape of her neck.

Wha…?

Fang just about stopped all bodily functions necessary for living when Max revealed the tattoo on the back of her neck. He was revolted, felt the need to get sick as he stared at the tiny, intricately printed numbers on her otherwise unblemished skin.

This terrible, ugly marking was going to permanently ruin all of their lives.

10/17/10

Today's date.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" roared Fang in uncharacteristic anger. Max, so surprised that Fang was actually yelling, nearly fell of the bed, eyes wide in fear.

Fang took a deep breath. "You couldn't…. give me…. More time?" He snarled, voice trembling so hard in his contained rage that he paused several times throughout the sentence.

"I'm sorry," whispered Max, and in that instance her face was open, her eyes showing every single feeling she had hidden in the past few weeks. As he took in the raw emotion, the sheer terror and agony that flashed across her irises, Fang realized something very important.

Max was afraid to die.

Of course. So was he. So was everyone with enough brains to wonder about life after death.

Immediately regretting having shouted, Fang quickly gathered Max into his arms and felt her violently trembling. He began gently shushing her as he stroked her hair.

"Do you think bird kids get into heaven?"

Fang felt his insides tearing at the words, but he kept cool, as he always did. Well… almost always.

"Of course," he said confidently.

"But we're not human," Max insisted fearfully.

"But we have wings," Fang argued back. "Angels do, too."

"Good point," Max chuckled quietly. Fang knew it was just for show.

"It'll be okay," he lied.

Max snorted. "Yea right. Are you freaking stupid?" She said bluntly.

Fang wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was the way she said it. Maybe it was the fact that it was such a Max thing to say. Whatever it was, it had him laughing hysterically, a very strange feeling for Fang the Emotionless.

Max looked puzzled at first, but then she, too, began to giggle. Then it transformed into a full blown laugh, and the two began pouring out their fears, insecurities, and despair in the form of hysteria.

Max's laugh was suddenly cut short, and she sort of sagged into Fang. He smiled, putting an arm around her.

His hand brushed her shoulder. It was cold.

Terror gripped his heart. "Max?" He grabbed her chin and urgently turned her head to face him. Her eyes were open and cold, her mouth still twisted into a laughing smile.

Fang choked, eyes filling with tears, his horror going unmasked for the first time in nearly his whole life. He then slowly pulled her into his arms, hiding her face against his shirt, hardly believing what he knew in the back of his mind to be true.

The incredible, indescribable Maximum Ride had expired.

Just like old milk.