Just a little oneshot I had in mind. Inspired by Harry Styles' line "Shot me outta the sky, you're my kryptonite" in the One Direction song, "One Thing". Just so you know, it's kind of OOC.
Enjoy!
"Hey look at me!" Angel shouted, twirling in the air, her dove-white wings glinting in the strong summer sun. "I'm a ballerina!"
Max flew right up to her, grabbed her, and started tickling her.
"Yeah, that'll be a first. A bird ballerina! You'd really surprise the audience!" Max teased as Angel let out little peals of giggles.
Fang let out a small smile. It was good seeing the flock relax once in a while. And being able to see Dr. M while they were at it made everyone happier.
Max let Angel go and the small child tucked her wings in and fell through the sky, startlingly fast, before letting her wings out.
Max watched her, a slight smirk on her face, before turning towards Fang. As soon as eye contact was made, the smile turned into a full blown-out grin.
Fang couldn't help it. A big smile formed on his face and Max's eyes shone. He couldn't believe it. She was all his.
"I got the dishes," Max said, taking the flock's, Dr. M's, and Ella's plates to the kitchen. Fang, who had been itching to tell her about how he felt about her for the past few weeks, jumped up, took a bunch of the empty glasses on the table, and joined her in the kitchen.
Max started piling dishes in the sink and Fang crept up behind her. He set the glasses down with a loud clank and Max jumped and turned around, her eyes filling with fear and anger and a mouthful of curses about to erupt from between her lips.
"Hey," Fang laughed, putting one hand on her shoulder. "Relax. It's just me."
They stayed there for a few minutes staring into one another's eyes, not really aware of the situation before Max, realizing how close they were to each other, turned back around, bright red creeping up on her cheeks. Fang tried to ignore the sparks that had been shooting up from where his hand had made contact with her shoulder and took a couple of steps back.
"So… what's up?" Fang said, trying and failing to sound cool. Max turned around to face him again, the blush gone and amusement clearly written on her face.
"Oh, nothing. Just the usual; flying through the skies with wings grafted into me. Nothing weird or anything." Fang laughed, but as soon as it died down, an awkward silence settled into the room to take its place.
"Why are you really here?" Max questioned.
"To put the glasses in the sink," Fang said casually, gesturing toward the sink. Max rolled her eyes.
"I know that dummy. But I also know that you want to talk to me, so talk."
Fang looked at her, wondering how she knew that.
"I know you better than you think Fang. Plus, you've just got that look on your face," she said in answer to his unspoken thought.
Fang took a big breath and let it out. Here it goes, he thought.
"I…" He faltered, trying to decide the best way to do this. Max looked at him worriedly.
"You what? Just spit it out Fang."
"I really like you," he said, trying to overcome the heat rising into his face. Max looked at him, her face carefully guarded.
"I really like you too Fang," Fang felt himself grin. She liked him! "I also like Iggy," Oh no, Fang thought. He was going to kill that son of a-
"And I also like Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, Dr. M, and Ella,"
Oh no, Fang thought again. He couldn't believe that she thought that he wanted to talk about family gunk.
"No, Max, not like in the family way," he whispered, taking a few more steps toward her. Their arms were touching and he felt her body heat make a racecourse up his arm. He mentally shivered.
Max's face was crimson, but she didn't say anything, so he decided to continue.
"I really like you, in the non-family way. I may even love you," he paused to let the words sink in. "I've liked, maybe loved, you since forever. All these years I've only had one question in my head. And that was whether or not you loved me back."
The shield that had been protecting Max's expressions broke and for a second, all Fang could see were the emotions in her brown eyes. Confusion, worry, embarrassment, and sadness. He knew that all the memories of them talking, fighting, and spending time together was rushing through her head. But she didn't say anything. And right now, that's what he wanted her to do more than anything in the world.
"Please Max," he breathed. "Say something, anything."
She didn't utter a single word. Fang knew that she was probably scared or confused, but anger shot its way through his body. Couldn't she say anything?
"Fine," he muttered. He started towards the dining room, trying not to let disappointment show through his mask that had carefully slipped back on.
"Wait!" The shout came from behind him. He spun around only to see Max, inches away from his face, bright red and her eyes filled with a curious emotion he couldn't figure out.
"What?" he questioned his heart racing with the anticipation of what could be coming next.
"I…I…," Max began, not finding the words for what she wanted to say. "I love you too," she finally finished lamely.
The mask crumbled down and a wide grin spread across Fang's face. "You do?"
Max nodded. "I do, I really do."
Fang stepped closer to Max, his eyes sparkling. He breathed in her scent of vanilla and brown sugar and sighed.
They began to move closer…and closer…
Their lips met and the fireworks exploded.
It was now, without a doubt, his favorite memory. Ever. And he was pretty sure Max felt the same way.
Max's wings glided smoothly through the air as she flew towards Fang. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and brought her closer, her warm breath tickling his face.
Her lips had only touched down on his for a second before Gazzy's loud shout filled the air. They pulled away abruptly and turned towards the child. Their wings beat in unison as they flew towards him.
"What is it?" Max questioned, worry creeping up her face. Without a word, Gazzy pointed off into the distance.
"What the…" Fang's voice trailed off as he tried to comprehend the dark swarm flying towards them. Angel flew up next to them, as did Nudge and Iggy, and her brow became furrowed in concentration. Her face went white.
"Oh no," she murmured. Max faced her and took her into her arms.
"What is it sweetie?" Max demanded.
"Erasers! They've got 300 of them at the ready and more backup on the way!" Angel cried hysterically.
Max's face became carefully guarded and when she spoke, her voice was tense.
"Get into an arc guys. I'm at the front, Fang on my right and Iggy on my left. Nudge, you're behind Iggy. Gazzy, you're behind Fang. Angel, alter between them. Cover space and keep close together, if you know what I mean." They all nodded, having used this formation at one time or another.
"What about me?" a small voice asked. They turned, only to see Total flapping his wings as fast as he could to try and stay airborne. Max let out a frustrated sigh.
"Total! What are you doing here? You're a dog, you can't fight!" she said exasperatedly. A highly affronted look showed itself on Total's face.
"Me? Can't fight? I beg to differ my dear friend. I have had years of training in tae kwan do! In fact, one time I-" He was cut off by another frustrated sigh from Max.
"Fine! Do your freaking tae kwan do! Just...just… just help Angel alright!" They stared at each other for a few minutes before Total broke away and flew towards Angel, huffing a "Fine" underneath his breath.
They got into their positions and their fighting stances and waited for the downpour of the enemy to reach them.
The Erasers were on them before they could blink.
"I can fly by myself you know," Max snarled, trying to wrench her bloody arms out of the Erasers tight grip. The Eraser merely shook his head and held her tighter, "guiding" her as they flew towards the forest beneath them.
Fang began to shake with fury. Red started to cloud his vision as he wrenched his hands out his Eraser's grip and flew towards Max and her captor, ignoring the large "Hey!" emitting from behind him.
"You lay off her," he growled, and he swung his fist back and launched it at the Eraser's nose, feeling pleasure when he heard the sickening crack and blood began to squirt out from it.
"Hey!" another Eraser flew towards them, his wings beating clumsily in the air. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Fang spun towards him, the fleeting pleasure fleeing and fear taking its place. The Eraser swung his own hairy fist and plunged it into Fang's stomach. A blinding pain flashed through him and the Eraser unleashed his claws and scratched Fang's stomach painfully.
"No!" a voice cried out, and Fang turned, doubled over in pain and his hand clutching his stomach, to find Max, her eyes unusually bright, trying to struggle out of her Eraser's grip to help Fang. "No! Just leave him alone! We'll do what you want, just please… please leave him alone."
The Eraser that had attacked Fang looked at her, gave a curt nod and flew back to his original position. Fang removed his hands from his stomach, wincing slightly as he did so, and lifted up his shirt to look at the damage. Three long bloody wounds were slashed across his abdomen and black and blue bruises were beginning to form. He looked at Max, who was examining the wound from the hands of her captor worriedly.
"I'll be fine," he assured her. His captor retook the hold on his wrist and the entire group began to lower onto the forest floor.
407 mutants landed on the forest floor with a loud Thud that shook the trees and made birds tweet.
"Put them over there and tie them up," said the lead Eraser in a gruff voice. He pointed to a section of the clearing and the Erasers started to herd the flock towards the indicated spot. "Wait. Everyone except for him." He pointed at Fang.
Minutes later, the flock was tied up, excluding Fang, and the lead Eraser and Fang were staring at each other. An evil grin spread across the Eraser's face.
"Hello flock," he spat out. "I'm certainly delighted that you haven't gotten away from us this time." He began to pace back and forth around the clear a gun in his hand, Max and Fang watching his every move.
"You," he suddenly turned to Fang. "You are the one who's going to make the decision."
"What decision?" Fang asked as calmly as he good. The Eraser stopped pacing and his smile grew even bigger.
"The School needs you back," he said simply, and resumed his pacing. Fang sighed, looking bored.
"So why don't you just take us back, you stupid son of a bitch?" The Eraser spun, sprang forward, and scratched his claws against Fang's cheek before he could even react. The pain flashed as Fang tried not reveal that he was hurting. The bright red blood dripped to the dirt floor as the Eraser sheathed his claws.
"Shut it smartass," the Eraser glared. He once again resumed his pacing. "The School needs only one bird mutant this time, for experiments too fragile for your young ears."
"However," he continued and ignored Fang's open mouth as he tried to interject. "I have had specific orders from the School to take one of the two oldest ones. So either you," he pointed at Fang. "Or her," he pointed at Max. "Will be coming with us to the School so they could to all their experiments and all that shit." His voice grew louder as Fang's protests threatened to overcome the Eraser's from what he had just heard.
"They also want me to tell you that when one of you comes, they -and we- will leave alone for the rest of your pathetic lives. Promise," he resumed.
"So?" the Eraser snarled. His eyes were mischievous. "Who will it be? You or your girlfriend?"
Fang looked around the clearing helplessly, from Iggy who was passed on the forest floor, to Angel, who was tied up with bruises clearly visible on her face. Total was at her feet, bright red blood clearly seen on his black fur. Nudge was also unconscious and Gazzy was being held in a tight grip by an Eraser. And then there was Max, with a gun held to her head and tears streaming down her face, clearly in no place to make a decision.
He went through all the possible outcomes and plans in his brain, hoping to gain some time for them by stalling.
He absolutely positively couldn't let Max go. Having confessed their feelings to each other only a week ago, he wasn't ready to let her out of his sight yet, and he was pretty sure that she wasn't either.
They couldn't be apart. He knew that, she knew that. But what about the flock? They were his entire family, he couldn't risk leaving them, most likely allowing the Erasers to break their promise and attack them.
But Max and him… they loved each other, even though they hadn't really said it since the day in the kitchen. He would take a bullet for her in an instant, and she would do the same for him.
She was his kryptonite, he suddenly realized. His one and only weakness.
And the Erasers would never take that for granted.
A plan immediately formulated in his head, and he began to walk forward, changing his expression to make him look weak and dejected.
"Alright," he sighed, looking down at the ground and trying to create some tears. "I'll come with you." He ignored Max's pleas behind him. "Just promise that you'll leave the flock alone."
The Eraser laughed.
"Perfect. Exactly what the School wanted. See how easy that was? No one's getting hurt. Now just say your final goodbyes and we'll be on our way." He moved a few feet away from them to give them some privacy but to still monitor them if necessary.
Fang moved and kneeled down next to Max. He kissed her lips softly.
"It'll be alright," he whispered, and he winked.
She understood.
Fang got up after saying his goodbyes to the few conscious members of the flock and walked pitifully up to the lead Eraser.
"Let's go mutant," he snarled. He waited for Fang to spread his wings and fly, but Fang took a few more steps and raised his head to look the Eraser in the eye. A cold grin formed on Fang's face and the next few minutes seemed to fly by.
He took one more step and kneed the Eraser in the balls as hard as he could. The Eraser crouched down in pain, wheezing for his mother. Fang grabbed the gun that had dropped from his hand, turned around, and set fire to his captors.
The bullets rang through the forest, landing themselves into various parts of the Eraser's bodies.
He was like a fallen angel, hell bent on revenge on the ones who had taken away his freedom. They became no match for him, and soon all that was left in the forest were dead and decapitated bodies of Erasers.
He stood there, looking at the fallen bodies, wondering what he had done before remembering the true reason why he had done. He rushed to the flock and untied them, checking them over, making sure they were all okay. None of them seemed to be sporting grave injuries and Nudge and Iggy and roused during Fang's "bullet party", as Gazzy was calling it now.
"That was so awesome Fang! You just whacked him in the balls and just shot all the others! It was like 400 to one and you just whooped all their asses!" he exclaimed. Max didn't even reprimand him for his language, her eyes were on Fang.
Fang went to her last. He glanced at her scratched arms before looking at her eyes.
"You did it," she whispered, a small smile creeping up in her bruised face. "You completely worked around what they wanted you to do. I couldn't imagine what I would do without you!"
A few tears slid down her cheeks and Fang gently wiped them away. He gathered her in his arms and gave her a hug.
"Me neither," he whispered into her ears. "I love you Max, don't ever forget that."
He stroked her hair and they stayed like that for a few moments while the flock looked on with looks of disgust (from Iggy and Gazzy) to looks of adoration (from Nudge and Angel).
As the flock got ready to fly back to Dr. M's house so she could patch them up, Fang once again realized something.
Max was his kryptonite. His one and only weakness. And he wasn't ever letting her go.
Hopefully, you liked it. Please review!
~Grace~
