This fandom was my first true love. Let's hope my writing has improved since I last wrote for it, since I am in college now.
Title: Not a Slowburn
Description: Although I love a slowburn, I have no time to write one. Instead, I'm going to write those satisfying, climactic scenes where your soul feels complete.
Chapter 1: Finding Him
I'm running down the halls, please, please, please, let him be here.
Fang has been missing for two months, gone out on a trip to the grocery store and never came back. And finally Nudge has been able to track him to this lab in New Mexico and he needs to be here.
It's only me inside the lab, the rest of the Flock is on backup, waiting for Angel to hear a distress call from me to break in. But I'd rather it just me be here to get him, I don't want them to get captured too.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Damn it, they know I'm here. Angel is letting me know that Fang should be located one right turn and three doors down from where I am and I'm thankful that we have a map. She said when we first landed at the landed that she couldn't find his mind, couldn't hear his thoughts, but I'm not giving up hope yet.
I turn right as per her directions and I'm puzzled to find that there's no keypad or employee pass scanner to get into the door he should be behind. I try kicking down the door first, and it swings open, which sets me on edge, they should be keeping him under better security.
And there he is, my Fang. But instantly I'm worried because he's not on a lab table, he's in a bed, sleeping, and I don't know what they've done to him. It all makes me uneasy but I scope the room and there's no one else there, and there's nothing else in the room but him and his cot.
I go to him, and shake his shoulder, and his eyes open slowly. I stand back quickly after shaking him, thinking maybe he'll throw a punch first, like I would if I was being woken up in this hell, but he just sits up.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, moving his covers aside, and swinging his legs over the side, standing up.
"What do I mean, I'm saving you Fang, come on, we have to go, now," I say, and the words rush out of my mouth because I'm scared - he should already know the plan, to get out of here.
"You don't work here, who are you? I'm not going anywhere with you," Fang says and his arms cross over his chest. At least his mannerisms are familiar, I think as it dawns on me that he doesn't recognize me. It breaks my heart but that we can fix later, right now the priority is getting out of the building.
Angel, I have him but he doesn't recognize me, I don't think he remembers us.
Okay Max, what do you need us to do?
I just need you to keep waiting, I'll get him to come with me. Have Iggy and Nudge ready to pick him up in case they took his wings. As I say this my eyes start to burn, but I close them and shake my head, quickly stepping towards him.
"Fang, please, you know me, I'm Max, you're best friend, you're part of the Flock, we're family." I'm trying not to be desperate but my hands instinctually rise up to my chest, covering my heart as it physically hurts, and my voice is cracking. My right arms reaches out a little towards him and he takes a step back.
"No, they said someone would come for me, to steal me," he narrows his eyes at me then glares. At the same time I see his arms unfold, going into a protective stance, hands already in fists and rising up.
"I'm Max, Maximum Ride," I say, my voice rising in fear, but my fists rising to my chest too. He's going to come with me, even if I have to drag him unconscious behind me.
"And I'm not buying it," he says, backing up slowly. And then all of a sudden he's dashing for a little remote on his bed and pressing a button. I jump after him, but he's already pressed it and is shouting, "Jeb! She's here!"
"You idiot! He's going to kill us, don't you understand that?" And I've had it, we have to get out the door, it's the only exit. Let's hope that Fang doesn't remember he has inhuman strength. I grab his arm and tug it hard, as a test. I can tell he's strong but I've gotten him off balance, so I use the moment of him falling to swing him into the wall. Disoriented, I drag him into the hall.
I can see scientists in lab coats at the end of the hall, rushing towards us, guns in hand. Unfortunately they've finally figured out that guns kill us more easily than the claws of erasers.
Fang catches onto the fact that he's been dragged about three from the door to his room and shouts to the labcoats with guns, "STOP, you're going to kill me too!" But they keep shooting. I see the panic cross his face as they ignore him. If he's been brainwashed I don't know why they'd be shooting, but maybe they think he's already gotten his memory back. Or that he's expendable now that they have me cornered.
And cornered is right because as I'm tugging Fang with me, him in a full on run now since he realizes that the bullets not stopping even if he doesn't trust me, the hallway ends.
Angel, blow up the ceiling twenty feet in front of Fang's door, where there's a dead end.
Iggy's on it, Max. Thank Nudge for having getting the blueprints to this place.
It's a tense thirty seconds while the Flock comes, and I kick open another door at the end of the dead end. I shove Fang in first and slam the door behind us. His body is on the other side of the room, which is an office, behind the desk.
"Hold on," I say to his crouched body as I have my back pressed to the wall right next to the door, waiting for the reassuring blast above us to come. And then I feel the explosion through the wall since it's the ceiling in the hall that has been broken open, and I look at Fang's eyes.
"Can you fly?" My voice is dead serious as I say this. I need to know if I have to drag his body with me and I'm really hoping he's not going to put up a fight with me because him resisting is going to get us both killed. His forehead is wrinkled with worry but his eyes are focused – life or death situations will do that to you – and he shakes his head no. "Get over here and grab my hand then, we need to go into the hallway."
His hesitance changes to a nod quickly, but I know we're losing time. They're already shooting at the Flock, I can hear it, and they're going to make Swiss cheese out of us the second we leave the room.
He joins me next to the door, and we're about to risk everything to try and get out there but then there's a blast in the room we're in. Angel, smart enough to notice the room at the end of the hallway on the blueprints, had Iggy and Gazzy set up a bomb there, and our freedom was a gaping hole in the wall.
I'm in a sprint, Fang's hand gripping mine tightly, and then I let him get a little in front of me, unfurl my wings, and shoot up into the air.
I hear him groan as we're making our escape and I know he must've been hit. But we can't stop flying now, and I have his body pressed to mine, so that the extra weight doesn't slow me down too much, making us like one, but his legs are longer than mine and his feet dangle below mine, which is where he must've gotten shot. The Flock is spread out around me and guiding us to a safer place, which is 30 miles away. We stop in a cave that Angel hears some bats in, exhausted.
No one has said a word but Nudge already has a medical kit out for Fang's wound. It's a miracle he hasn't bled to death on the way here, but it's clear that his leg has lost quite a bit of blood. Nudge and I make quick work of cleaning up his leg, and Gazzy holds up a large match with a grimace. I can only be thankful for the fact that the bullet doesn't seem to be in him and that he's unconscious as we burn the skin together. The bandage is wrapped tightly around his wound, right above the ankle, and I finally make eye contact with my Flock. Everyone is solemn and tired.
"He doesn't remember us," I say. I know they've been waiting for official confirmation of what Angel no doubt already told them. I fix them a hopeful look before I speak again, trying to encourage them to look on the bright side, "But he will, we just have to make him remember he's family. He came with me, and that's something, at least he knows he can trust us."
"Yeah," Gazzy says with a grumble, "trust that we may not kill him tonight. He's going to think we will when he wakes up."
I bring pull him towards me and into my side in a hug, "I'll stay up with him on first watch, when he wakes up I'll convince him he can trust us, okay?"
"Okay," Gazzy grumbles again. At least some of the tension in his shoulders eases.
"Get some sleep guys, we're going to have to fly a lot tomorrow," I say and the flock lays down in the cave, Angel and Nudge squished against each other, Nudge trying to protect her, and Iggy and Gazzy a little further in the cave, curled up next to each other. I'm at the front of the cave, leaning against a wall, one ear to the opening, the other to my flock's snores. I have Fang's head on my lap and I'm running my hands through his hair gently. He's going to feel the pain when he gets up, but at least he'll know he's not alone.
Time passes slowly, giving me plenty of time to think of what I'm going to say to him. It's past midnight when he wakes up.
A loan groan escapes his mouth and then his eyes crack open, seeing my face above him. I brush my fingers through his head again, trying to soothe him. His eyes show worry, concern for where he is, who I am, but he doesn't move. After a few tense moments he asks, "Who are you?"
"Max, you're best friend. You disappeared for two months, and we, the flock and I, have been trying to find you. Do you know where you were before?"
He is slow to talk, probably taking in what I said, but eventually says, "I was with a man named Jeb, he said that some people had kidnapped me and that he was protecting me, along with some other kids there. I couldn't remember anything else, so I thought it was true. But I don't know now, they shot at me, at us."
"Jeb is a bad person, he's been hunting us down for a long time," I tell him. I can tell he's become aware that his head is in my lap and he tries to sit up, but I gently push him down, saying, "It's okay, you need to rest and I like you close to me." I add in softly, "If you don't mind," to the end of the sentence and finally tear my gaze away from his for a moment, making sure he's okay with this. We've kissed before, we're something between friends and lovers before he disappeared, but this intimacy is new for both of us.
"I…don't mind," he says finally, and my eyes are back on his. He is hesitant but finally says, "Were we just best friends, or something more?" I want to break away my gaze from his again but they're frozen, as it seems like he's peering into my heart, seeing the desire I barely realize must be in my eyes. He's my best friend, and I love him, and even though he doesn't remember it, he can tell there's something between us.
"We were, something more," I whisper, although I have more confidence in what I'm saying now, he has to remember me. I need to make him remember. I shift his head gently farther down my legs and lean down slowly to kiss his lips. He accepts the kiss and gently presses against mine until I pull away slightly, keeping my forehead ghosting against his.
"Max," he breathes. And it's there, the love, in full force, in his eyes. "I love you," he says, and then I'm kissing him again and it's more forceful this time but still slow, I don't want to wake the flock. I pull back once more and look into his eyes,
"I love you too, Fang." My eyes are blearing over with tears, so I lean farther down, almost uncomfortable with the way my body is being contorted, but I need to have against me, and I'm hugging him. He leans up a little and settles his neck against my head and brings his hand to my hair. My love is back.
I wrote this in one sitting and let me tell you, I've never written a fanfic story in one session like this. Goes to show you how many fanfics I've read like this that I can type out 2000+ words without missing a beat.
Thank you for reading this. If you want, let me know if you like my style of writing. I tried to just let it flow out of me but I know that it's not everyone's cup of tea.
-Erica