A/N: IMPORTANT: This takes place right after book four.
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.
Anyways, I'm pretty excited about this fic. It'll only be six chapters long or so, but I like what I've got so far. Enjoy.
Nudge banked to her left, purposely whacking the Gasman in the back of the head with one fawn wing. Giggling quietly, she eased upward as the Gasman looked around furiously. He spotted Nudge, of course, and he immediately zoomed toward her.
Right before he could reach her, Nudge dropped downward, dodging him effectively. He dove towards her, wings folded in. Intent on getting her back, he didn't see Fang until it was too late to pull up.
The two collided spectacularly. Fang caught the Gasman in his iron arms, as the eight year-old was momentarily too stunned to remember to flap his wings.
"Cut it out," Fang ordered, gazing at Nudge in irritation.
"But I'm bored!" she complained.
Fang ignored her pointedly and released a now subdued Gasman. The eight year-old, although still slightly dazed, resumed flying.
With a sigh, Nudge flew closer to Max. Their leader didn't notice her first, apparently deep in concentration. Her lips moved silently, and Fang glanced worriedly at her every few seconds, a sure sign that she was conversing with the Voice.
Nudge waited impatiently, having been chided many times over for interrupting conversations. She frowned. Did non-vocal conversations really count, though? After a moment's thought, she decided they didn't. The stupid Voice could talk to Max some other time.
"Max," she said, and was forced to repeat herself several times in order to gain Max's attention. "I'm bored. Can we do something? I mean, flying is fun and all, but it, like, just goes on, and on, and on."
"Not right now, sweetie," Max replied shortly.
"C'mon, Max," Nudge wheedled. "Can't we play a game or something? What about, like, tag, just flying? That'd be fun right?"
"Too conspicuous."
Nudge had no idea what 'conspicuous' meant. She puzzled over it for a few seconds, but came up empty. Oh, well. She could always ask someone later.
"Hey, Max, where are we going, anyway?" Nudge asked suddenly. "Is it somewhere the Voice wants us to go?"
"Yeah," Max responded.
"That answers the second question, I guess, but where are we going?" Nudge repeated impatiently.
"Sure."
Nudge studied Max carefully. That hadn't been a yes or no question; Max's answer made no sense. In fact, Max wasn't even looking at her. She was staring straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought. For all Nudge knew, she could even still be talking to the Voice.
Max was ignoring her.
Nudge swallowed a sob. Why did it hurt so much, being ignored like this? She realized she was shaking and tried to regain control of herself. Now that she thought about it, it was hardly the first time it had happened: the Flock member she was talking to got that glazed look in their eyes, nodded in all the right places, and used that condescendingly pitched "That's nice" or "Sure, Nudge" whenever she stopped talking.
It was the ultimate rejection. The people she was closest to in the world, her Flock, her family, ignored her. It was as if they simply didn't care enough to really listen, but didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. It was as if they didn't care.
Nudge shook her head. That was impossible. Of course they cared. Sure, she wasn't usually included with Max and Fang, or Iggy and Gazzy, but there was always Angel. Angel was there for her. The others were just… busy. They didn't mean to choose favorites, right?
She glanced at Angel. The younger girl was chatting animatedly with Total. The black dog was flapping his newly grown wings desperately, and Nudge could tell that Angel was giving him another flying lesson. Angel didn't notice Nudge's observation, and Nudge realized with a measure of relief that this probably meant that Angel wasn't reading her thoughts.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and Nudge stubbornly wiped them away with a tightly clenched fist. If she wasn't worth listening to, then they definitely weren't worth crying for. If they didn't care about her, then she wouldn't care about them. What did she need them for, anyway? She'd be better off on her own.
Nudge nodded firmly. That's what she'd do: she'd leave. She'd find a real family, one that had time for her.
"I'm leaving," she declared loudly, but only Fang seemed to notice.
He cocked his head to one side, asking, "What?"
"I'm leaving she repeated, this time with the whole Flock's attention, "and I'm not coming back."
"You can't leave!" the Gasman protested, breaking the stunned silence.
Angel stared strangely at Nudge, and the eleven year-old shut her out with repeated thoughts of "go away."
Meanwhile, the rest of the Flock continued their objections, all running on top of each other.
"Quiet!" Max bellowed at last.
The Flock was subdued.
"Thank you," Max said with a clenched jaw. She turned to Nudge, but the younger girl spoke up first.
"It's too late, Max," Nudge told her, voice hard to keep it from shaking. "I'm leaving."
With that, she took off in the opposite direction. She didn't look back: she wouldn't be able to see through the tears anyway.
A/N: As I'm not going to have computer access for about a week after Thursday, I'm going to be trying to get as much of this posted as possible. Reviews are always motivating. :)