Max POV
Laying back I took a deep breath. The ground was soft and cool, and the night sky had billions of stars floating above me. I had been on my own now for about two years; 16 and still going strong, maybe I will live to be older. The flock kicked me out two years ago because they thought I was a loose cannon, only trying to save the world for a 'thrill'. Pathetic, really. I mean, I dedicated my entire life to looking out for them, and that's what I get in return. I sighed, A lot has changed since then. For one, I turned into even more of a tomboy if that's possible. I developed several new powers. And my wings changed color. But I'm not stupid enough to tell you everything, what if you're a white coat? I may have gotten older but I'm not stupid. I will tell you a few things though. I can control the elements. Air, Earth, Fire, Water? Yup. Those. Fire being my best. I can make these elements do whatever I want, making me pretty much unstoppable. I only found out about my powers after a certain….incident, last year, but I understand the boundaries of everything perfectly so I know when I'm about to hurt someone using them.
For another thing, My wings and blonde sun streaks turned black from so much fire usage. My wings being a more charcoal grey color, but you get my point. I wear nothing but black now: Black basketball shorts a black t-shirt, and of course black sneakers. Oh and a black army cap that's ripped in several places, but hey, I found it on a hiking trail in upstate new York, what do you expect? I have a handy switch blade strapped to my lower leg, with a thin leather strip, you know, just in case. I carry a round a small black book bag that I nicked from those losers who used to bug Ella, see now that was fun. Any way more a bout my powers: My eyes turn red when I use fire, blue for water, green for earth, and grey for air. I can also heal. My fingertips glow gold and I let energy from the environment flow into the person I'm healing, Its actually pretty cool. My reflexes are better too. I can stop a bullet coming at me with my bare hand without getting a scratch and I can hear people coming from literally a mile away. I'm also a kick-ass fighter, without the powers, with the powers no one can stop me. Lucky I'm on the good side, huh?
So the flock kicked me out, I'm not gonna pretend I don't care 'cause that hurt, a lot, But of course being me, I learned to deal. That's never gonna happen again. Ever. I know this because the only person I've trusted since then was Ria my new best friend. I won't tell you how we became friends because that'll give too much away, and because she's safe now with…people, and she's not with me. But I'll find her. I always do.
I heard a soft whirring coming from the north, instantly I stood up and brushing my hair out my eyes I stood on the edge of the clearing and stretched out my hand. The flyboys came in and Made a semi-circle around me. My eyes glowed red. I grinned, Showtime, folks.
Fang POV
Iggy's head snapped up. Meaning one thing. Flyboys. I instantly got up and shook the others away, including the newest member of the flock, Ria. Since we found her we've been looking for her friend, some girl that sounds like she could help us out, a lot. Ria said that we've met her before but I seriously doubted that, we don't know any one besides Max and we kicked her out. My heart still ached every time I thought about what we did, We've never stopped looking for her even though she probably hated us. Every night since she left I could hear Angel crying herself to sleep, muttering a what have we done? Every now and again and Nudge whimpering in the night about how the flock was a wreck without her. But whatever, We all learned to deal. The worst was Gazzy hasn't said a word since she left, silent as ever, the kid hasn't even cracked a smile, not even for bombs. I shook my head, what's done is done. That was two years ago. But still no one seems to get over the fact that she left.
"Ten more minutes…" Nudge whined.
"No." I said firmly. "Flyboys." That got her up.
"Fang," I turned to Ria. "It's her. No need to run. She'll take care of 'em she always does." I nodded, while inside I was screaming YES! No more looking! Well except for looking for Max…
"We need to go toward them, that's were she is." I didn't know how she could do that but apparently she could 'feel' where her best friend was. Weird if you ask me.
"This way." Ria turned and ran into the forest.
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We came up to a clearing, behind the only spot where flyboys weren't which was behind a very hot looking girl. Her hand was outstretched toward the middle of the clearing. From behind her I could see the way her cheeks were moved up, meaning she was smiling. Honestly, I didn't see what was so funny. I mean lots of flyboys, one her, do the math.
She was wearing all black and I noticed a sharp switchblade strapped to her lower leg, very visible. Her hair was brown like Max's but her streaks were black, so I knew she wasn't max.
I heard Ria breathe a sigh of relief, "It's her. Watch." So we did. The girl wiggled her fingers and Fire erupted in each spot a fly boy was standing in, shooting up like a volcanic geyser, and she was controlling it. Wow, maybe this girl was better than Max. Finally the flyboys were just piles of Metal. Whoa. Now that was amazing.
Max POV
Done. Done. And done. No one messes with me. I walked to the other side of the clearing and slung my pack over my shoulder, I could feel my eyes still blazing red from the Flyboy attack, but that was okay I liked them better red anyway. I unfurled my now dark grey wings and was about to take off when I heard a noise from where I was standing moments before. A rustle in the leaves. I tuned, it was still night so I new that whoever they were couldn't see my face.
"Whoever you are come out now." I snarled, already feeling the power of fire tickling the palms of my hands.
"Chill out it's me." I heard Ria's voice and she came out grinning. Instantly we ran to each other, and pulled one and other into a firm hug.
"Ri! Are you okay? Did you find them? They didn't kick you out? How are you? I've missed you so much!" It all came out in a rush. We pulled back, and I grinned.
"M, I'm fine." I smiled, that was her nickname for me 'M'. I breathed a sigh of relief , she's all I had left.
"Good." We spoke in whispers because I knew the flock was watching and I didn't want them to know what happened. "As long as you're okay."
She smiled, "I'm fine." she repeated. "But.." She looked down. "I can't let you go again." I blinked.
"I know that was the plan, but M you're my best friend, you have to stay with me."
"Ri…" I started but she cut me off.
"M they miss you, I'll tell you more later, but they miss you. We can stay with them." She looked at me pleading with her big blue eyes.
"No Ria, I can't go back to them. Screw them if they miss me, I don't care. Ri, you're the only person I trust, I can't go back, the gash they made in my heart is way to big. They'll have to deal without me."
She looked at me, "I get that Max but just stay for a little while, then we can figure something out. Like you and I can go out on our own or something."
"Yeah but will you want to leave them?" I said, she smiled.
"Aw, M you know me. I've lived with the people who hurt you, I hate them as much as you do, but I stayed with them so I could survive. I stayed with them 'cause you told me to. No way in hell am I choosing them over you."
"Alright. But only because you're my best friend." She grinned and we pounded fists. I heard a rustling noise by the bushes again and the flock came out, my back was facing them so they couldn't see me.
"Ready?" Ria whispered.
"To give them hell? Oh yeah." She grinned.
"Hey, Ria can we get going now?" Iggy's voice came from behind me and I turned only to see their jaws drop.
"Hey guys, long time no see." I smirked. I was back and better than ever.
Fang POV
Max. She was Ria's friend. Best friend. I thought I was Max's best friend, I was wrong. She looked so hot in that outfit I couldn't stop gaping at her. She was back and alive and well! Thank you god!
Ria came up behind me and tapped me upside the head, " Close your mouth Fang you'll catch flies."
My mouth snapped up, but I was still staring at max. Her defined form, the way the moonlight hit her, her….red eyes. I glanced around to see how everybody was doing. Iggy was staring at her, no surprise. Ever since he got his sight back he's been staring at everyone. Gazzy's jaw had dropped and he was gazing at her in all her hotness too. Ria was standing off to the side laughing about our reactions. Nudge and Angel were shocked as far as I could see. I watched Max carefully, as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Cool it guys, she's not staying." Ria said from somewhere to my right. That snapped me out of my thoughts. And let me tell you, those thoughts were not something a certain eight year old mind reader who was now giggling uncontrollably should have heard.
"Why not?" I demanded, angrily. She leaves for two years and when she comes back she's not staying? Come on, that's freaking BS.
Max rolled those… red…. Eyes. "Chill out Fang, why do you care if I stay our not anyway?" I looked at her, was she serious?
"How could I not max?" I said calmly, "You leave for two freaking years! We need you back."
I saw anger flash in her red eyes as she stepped forward glaring at me with pure hatred.
"I left?" she screeched. " Fang, you kicked me out! How dare you say that I left! I would never leave voluntarily. You guys took my pride my dignity and every other freaking good thing in my life when you kicked me out, now what? You expect me to come crawling back to you? Gimme a break, you guys don't need me as you told me two years ago, nor do you want me."
"Max, Give us a chance." Iggy pleaded.
"A chance?" she spat, her red eyes flaring, "You had two years of chances Iggy, two years of me wishing you'd come back. But I don't care anymore. You losers stay the hell away from me."
"Max.." Nudge stepped forward with an outstretched hand. Max's eyes glowed and a wall of fire shot up between her and nudge. Nudge cringed and stepped back. Through the flames I saw Max smirking,
"Not so useless now am I?" she said. "I'm gonna say this one more time, stay the hell away from me."
"Max." I said my voice firm yet calm. "We need to talk. Now."
Her eyes flared. But the wall of fire dissolved, leaving us looking at a very hot pissed off looking Max.
"Talk?" She said, "Fang, you did your talking two years ago."
She stepped forward, right in my face so our noses were practically touching.
"We don't need you Max." She mimicked, "We don't want you! You're a loose cannon Max. You have a voice in your head, you're crazy!" I saw the flock flinch out of the corner of my eye, she was repeating everything we had told her that night, two years ago. I saw hurt and anger fuel her eyes.
"What happened to that?" she snapped, "What happened to 'we'll be better off without you'? What happened to 'we love you Max.'?" She whispered the last part so I knew this was really killing her.
"You guys don't understand what that did to me. You guys don't understand what happened over the last two years. How I found Ria, how I watched my own little sister die in my mothers arms because I couldn't fend off the flyboys. Because you weren't there! You guys don't understand anything." She stepped back, away from me, as though I was a disease and she didn't want to get her hands dirty.
"Ella's …… dead?" Iggy whispered, horrified. But then he angered. "How could you let that happen Max? How did you not fight? You're practically invincible with your powers! How could you not save her?"
Max snorted, "Yeah sure, whatever Ig, I guess I was supposed to magically know that I was able to control the elements, right? I was supposed to know that a certain blind traitor had feelings for her? You know you're pathetic right? I'm not a superhero you idiots! I don't know everything! And here you are yelling at me because I couldn't save her when you weren't even there to see her death. When you couldn't even muster up the courage to ask her on a date!"
Iggy flinched, clearly hurt by Max's words. But I saw his face, he knew she was right. And I was sorry to say that I did too.
Max sighed, then abruptly froze. Her eyes turned crimson, her hands clenched into fists and she turned to Ria. Something was wrong, that much I could tell.
"Ria, w-where is s-she?" She was trembling with fury, I could see the worry in her eyes, Max never acted that way not even when Angel was taken. Plus, who the hell was 'she'?
Ria on the other hand didn't look as terrified as the flock did, "With Danny, Max, She's safe."
Then we heard a soft whirring in the distance but not coming toward us… going away actually. Then we heard a piercing scream. The scream of a little girl.
Max POV
Shit. Leaving the flock in their questioning faces I snapped open my wings and followed the scream of my little sister. That's right, you heard me, I have a sister, who's five, and is in danger. Her name is Alex.
I poured on the super speed and shot forward, not caring who was following me or not. Finally I reached the cave. The cave where Danny was supposed to keep her safe. The flyboys were already in there, probably torturing her. Ugh. I shook my head and landed on the caves edge, behind the flyboys, landing so quietly they didn't even turn.
"Alex ride. Come with us or your sister dies." I heard one of them say in a monotone. Oh hell no, they were not threatening my sister. Stepping forward, I scorched the nearest one to a melted pile of metal, my eyes glowing red again. In fact in a matter of seconds they were all piles of metal and I could see the hurting pain of my sisters brown eyes. She was lying on the floor, Danny kneeling next to her, in a pile of blood.
"Max!" She said with obvious joy in her voice. I rushed over and sat by her, examining the gaping bullet wound in her leg.
"Shhh. Al, just… stay put, okay?" She nodded, I heard the flock land behind me with Ria but I didn't care, Alex was my top priority. I stretched out my hand so it was hovering over Alex. My fingers glowed gold and the bullet shot out of her leg and into my palm. The gap in her leg was then closed and her skin was smooth as if nothing had ever happened. The flock behind me gasped. Losers.
Alex ran her hand over her now healed leg, then looked up at me with nothing but admiration and love in her brown eyes, so much like mine.
"Thanks." she said, pulling me into a hug. I cradled her against me, "Anytime sis." I looked up to see Danny staring at me intently with his forest green eyes. I was about to ask him what he was staring at when someone behind me broke down crying. I turned with Alex in my arms. Angel.
She's crying because you used to do this for her. Alex informed me having being born with the same power as ange. Then a new thought crossed her mind. Shit.
Are these the people who hurt you Max? Her thought, even though inside my head, was cold and harsh. I felt myself involuntarily stiffen.
Yes, but Alex I'll fight my own battles, you just sit back and enjoy the show, 'Kay? I thought hastily to her.
She nodded. A small movement of her head so slight that only I knew she was nodding. I breathed a sigh of relief. But she was slowly crawling off of my lap, never once taking her eyes off of the flock.
"Who are you?" She said standing and putting her hands on her hips. I snickered. She looked so much like me when I was a toddler.
Fang shook his hair out of his eyes. I'm sorry to say but he was still amazingly hot. Ugh. I still think about him. Well, that's just perfect.
"I'm Fang. That's Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy." He said crossing his arms over his chest and flexing his defined muscles. "And you are?"
Alex smirked, "None of your business. Just know that if you ever hurt Max again, I'll have my people snap you like a twig."
Fang glanced at me, "I prefer not to be snapped." He said.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just stay away from her and no one will get snapped. Got it?" He smirked.
"Got it. You know you look a lot like Max when she was younger, very cute." I glared at him, for two reasons. One, he said I was cute. Gross. Two, because he was trying to sweet talk my sister into liking him.
But Al caught on quickly, "Flattery will get you nowhere." She snapped.
He held up his hands in defeat, "I'm just saying".
Rolling my eyes I leaned against the wall and pulled my cap so that it covered my face. Knowing Alex she would be arguing with fang all night.
"Well I'd prefer if you didn't say anything." Alex said already worked up and fuming. She was a bit overprotective of me. Just a bit.
"We all have our preferences," Fang snapped getting agitated, "Sadly not all of them are reasonable."
I was about to yell at him for snapping at a five year old, when I heard Alex say snidely,
"Yeah, like when you guys preferred not to have a leader with a voice in her head." Ohhh, that stung. I knew this because Fang hesitated. Which meant she had gotten to him. Nice job Alex.
Thank you. I heard her say in my head.
But then Fang answered, "Like I said not all are reasonable." Great he was till trying to appeal to me, if they kept this up I'm positive I would snap.
Abruptly I sat up. "I'm going out for a fly." I said. I walked to the opening of the cave and spread out my wings. I let myself get caught in he wind as I picked up speed.
The bliss of flying.
Fang POV
Max went out for a fly, leaving us with mini me and random guy. (AKA Alex and Danny). I glanced around, Ria and Danny were making plans about where they would head to next. Alex seemed to be… well I had no idea what she was doing. Seeing as she kept randomly looking at people and cracking up.
Angel and Nudge we making a sorry attempt at a fire. Iggy was quiet. Gazzy wasn't doing anything. I sighed, this was going to be a long night.
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Max landed at the cave entrance and looked around. Angel and Nudge still hadn't gotten a fire going but as soon as Max walked in it burst into energy, I guess she wanted to put the two of them out of their misery.
