Hello ^-^ Haydon here (anyone who can guess what name Haydon Darescog is an anagram for gets R & Rs on all their stories + beta anytime). This is a FAX. From Fang's POV. My favorite ;D Anyway, thanks for reading this little ditty (Flames will be used as energy-efficient heating).
I never thought he would see her again. Not now. Not for another 17 years, at least.
But there she was.
Still beautiful. Still tall and slim, with a walk that just dared you to mess with her. She still rolled her eyes that same way (i.e., all the time) and that same smile -the one that screamed pride and happiness- still showed itself whenever Angel took someone out, or when Nudge made some stingy sarcastic comment (which seemed to be happening more often).
But some things had changed. Her face was now more sculpted, with higher cheekbones and fuller lips. She had also cut her hair, he noticed. It sat in slanted layers that just brushed her shoulders, with her bangs held off her face with a small red clip. The highlights and pink streaks had grown out long ago, leaving the strands a uniform milk-chocolate brown. Her clothing choice had drastically changed, too. She had left behind the ratty t-shirts and ripped up jeans in favor of simple form-fitting tank tops and mid-thigh cut-offs. Not that I was complaining.
At 18, she was now a woman. I could see it in her eyes now, as she stood several meters from me, that the past 3 years had been rough. In all of the last 72 hours that I had been in her company (although only about five minutes that she was aware of), the 15-year-old Max I had left behind had yet to show herself. The coy little smiles and drama-queen behavior were gone. Now she looked weathered, like a soldier after coming home after years on the front lines.
But that was what she was. A fighter. A warrior. She had to be. For the kids, and for herself. None of them would have survived if she had broken down, or let the pain get to her. She had to be a "rock in a sea of chaos". Jeb had told her that, right before he left, back when we lived in the E house. She hadn't understood it at the time, hadn't know that she would be forced to devote her life to saving the world, or that she would have to take care of 5 -well, 4 now- kids while she was still one herself, or that she would shot, beaten and broken more times than any of us wanted to count.
But it had happened. And in the end, even though he was a hateful, lying, evil bastard, he was right. And the last 3 years were a testament to that. After I left (I did not want to think "abandoned"), she moved on, packed up the flock, and left Arizona. They proceeded to wreak havoc on Itex and anyone who had anything to do with the school for a solid 3 years.
Which led them here, to Montana. I had been hiding here for the past 5 or 6 weeks when they had shown up for a short vacation (something about Nudge and horses), and I had literally walked into their camp by accident. Having followed them invisibly for a couple days, I had finally lost my patience. I had to talk to her. Now. So, after dinner when they all looked peaceful, I just took a deep breath and let myself become visible.