Alright, so i figured i might as well stick with the angsty lean when i wrote this :) but i thought it would end differently, you know? I think it's good and you can expect more chapters to follow, I can't just leave it as a one-shot.
Disclaimer: James Patterson owns. I am extremely jealous, as many of you are as well.
Max smiled at Fang as he sweetly kissed her on the forehead. He brushed the hair out of her face tenderly, and she felt like pushing him away but let him do it. Might as well indulge him, right? His dark eyes seemed dull compared to their normal spark as he looked at her. It was almost as if he knew.
"I love you, Max," he murmured, his voice low. He rested his forehead against hers and she could feel his warm breath spread across her face. It dulled the numbness she felt, and she shivered in the cold. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms a few times, then took her hands. Fang smiled sadly.
"Fang..." she whispered, her voice almost taken away by the wind. It was a cold, chilly night, and storm clouds gathered overhead. He took her into his arms, holding her close. Max pressed herself to the warmth of his body and sucked in a deep breath, still feeling herself shaking. Fang slowly pulled away, reluctant to let her go. Max's arms flew up and she pulled him close, squeezing him tight. Fang returned the bear hug.
Max stood up as tall as she could and pressed her lips to Fang's, lightly. His hands went to her waist, pulling her closer, and her arms went around his neck. A voice calling out to them pulled them apart at last, and Max rested her head on Fang's chest, listening to his even, steady breathing, and his rhythmic heartbeat. Angel ran up to them.
Max smiled to see the young girl rushing up to them, her little arms pumping wildly, and carefully kept her mind blank. Angel had the remarkable ability to read minds. Never mind what else she could do. Let's just say you didn't want to mess with Total while she was looking. "Hey, girl," she said, letting go of Fang to throw her arms wide and wrap her arms around Angel. She picked her up and swung her around, Angel laughing gleefully as her legs flew up in the air. After a few rounds Max set Angel down carefully, holding her hand.
"Are you ready to leave yet, Max?" Angel asked lightly, curious. Fang was already getting ready to go. Max squatted down to ruffle Angel's hair lovingly.
"No, hon, I'm going to be staying here with Iggy, okay?" Angel nodded, her bright eyes loving. It almost hurt Max to be looking at them. She blinked and wavered unsteadily, and had to catch her breath. Angel's eyes were so full of love. Max's heart ached. "I can't come with you, you guys all wanted to go Christmas shopping for me and Iggy wanted to stay home, but I'll see you later, okay?"
Angel nodded again, her lips pulling into a grin. She threw her arms around Max's neck and Max squeezed her fiercely. "I love you Angel," she said, fighting hard to keep her voice steady.
"I love you too, Max," Angel said back. "You big old silly! We'll be back soon, don't be worried!"
"Yeah, or everyone else is going to get worried too," Iggy said, approaching them. His footsteps crunched lightly on the broken boards. They had taken shelter in this old warehouse and were planning to spend a Christmas together there, per Angel and Nudge's request. They already had a fake tree all set up, and most of the presents were bought already. Max's were the only ones not bought yet, because nobody wanted her to know what the present, or presents were going to be. "You guys hurry, okay? It feels like it's going to storm soon."
With that, they had hugs all around again and Fang led the younger ones away, to the huge stores and malls, to the sales that were going on right now. Iggy and Max were left alone on the rooftop, looking out over the riverfront. The dark water barely moved, the air gently pushing the top into crests. Max breathed in deeply and let her breath go all at once, savoring the taste of the salt in the water. The wind picked up suddenly, just barely, and her hair was picked up by the wind, blowing lightly, tangling. She walked over to the edge of the warehouse and sat on the edge of it's roof, dangling her feet off the edge.
"Max?" A tentative voice said. Iggy walked up behind her slowly, his feet testing the roof below him. Max patted her hand on the roof next to her and he sat down a foot or so away. "Max," he said again, as if testing her name on his tongue.
"Yeah," she said. She bobbed her head slightly and turned her head from the view to him. He stared out blindly, face turned up to the warmth of the setting sun. His arms were braced on either side of him, nervous. His ramrod-straight posture screamed uncomfortable and tense. Suddenly, Max was struck by the realization that she had never noticed how unsure of his place in the world he was.
The silence that followed was somehow awkward. Iggy broke it with a question Max had never heard him utter before. "What does it look like?" Max stared at him, quiet, unsure. "I mean, the world. The sun and trees and people and the water? Are they beautiful?" Max opened her mouth and shut it again, not sure what to say. "Max?"
"The water of the river-it's not deep, but it's so dark it looks like you could fall in it for ever, never stopping. Sometimes there's a flash of color when fish swim just barely under the top... " Max fell silent for a few seconds and Iggy started to regret his questions. Then she started talking again, her voice steadier.
"There's smoke in the air-you can taste it when you breathe in. Instead of the sky being bright blue, it's a hazy gray. With the sun going down, it looks beautiful, the colors look hazy." Max paused to take a breath and continued relaying the view to her brother. Well, not exactly brother, but he was like one. "We're too far away to be seeing anybody, and on the other side of the river there's about forty feet of smooth pebbles and then there's long, tall grass. The kind that gives you cuts and scratches if you rub it the wrong way. Farther away the colors smudge together-it's the edges of a cornfield. I can see bits of yellow, and when the wind blows a bit harder you can see more yellow. It looks like a sea of nodding yellow heads."
She paused to smile at herself, and then came across the thought that maybe she sounded a bit ridiculous. She lay back against the roof, propping her head up on her arms. Iggy turned to look at her blindly. He seemed to inhale very, very slowly, and then told her to continue. "Don't stop now," he said. "I... I want to hear more."
Max looked over at him briefly, then up at the sky. She took a deep breath and continued, per his request.
"Do you remember the times when we're in big crowds, when the only scents are strong perfume and sweat, and we have to hold your hand so we don't lose you in the people?" She didn't look for his nod, instead sensing it. "The colors of their clothes are so different, sometimes it's.... bewildering? Yes. And you hear their words but so many mouths are moving you can't tell who is saying them. Some people look like they have too much money in their pocket and some look like they can't afford pockets. The newer buildings are shiny, metallic, and the oldest ones are dull, brown." Max's eyes fell closed and she drifted off for a second, remembering the past few days.
First was the feeling. Like she didn't really belong here, in that moment, with the flock. The feeling had hurt. And then she looked for some place she did belong. Realizing there was none, and that there was nothing she could do about it, she made her decision.
"Max, you don't have to, you know," Iggy said, breaking into Max's thoughts. She turned her head towards him so fast her neck popped. She winced and raised her hand to it, stretching it either ways. "Angel has a hard time keeping her mouth shut," he said, by way of explanation.
"What-" Max said, before she ran out of breath. Her throat constricted and she felt her eyes water up. "Angel told me, and I told her it was nothing, that you'd be alright. She was worried. Is. She made me promise I'd talk to you about it," Iggy said. Max just stared at him. He turned his head away from her gaze, his eyes sliding closed as he turned to the horizon.
"Max... You can just take a break if you want," he offered. "We won't go off and die without you," he said, one side of his mouth turning up in a smile. It fell again, slowly. "Max, we'll be okay without you. Just, don't take too long coming back? Your secrets... they'll be safe with me and Angel. Don't worry about it."
"Iggy... I... I'm sorry, it's just, I can't, it's too much too handle right now, and leaders are supposed to be strong, but the things I saw. I didn't know that I would do things like that when the chances came up. I didn't know that I wouldn't give a second thought to killing or that I would do it with a smile on my face, laughter, watching as they all fell down..."
Max's eyes spilled tears and she wiped them with her sleeve. They had absolutely wiped out Itex just months before, after rounding up a coalition of other mutants and regular people dedicated to bringing them down. Max and Fang had been at the head of the battle, taking down anyone in their path, and in the frenzy, the only lives taken were the workers at Itex. Nobody was left besides the people working towards their cause. Celebration had followed, joy, the media, and acceptance, but they had left Max somewhere in the middle, drifting aimlessly. Now, she did not know what her purpose in life was anymore.
The Flock was safe, as safe as it could be.
"Take a break. As long as you need it to be, Max. We'll be here, waiting for you, until Christmas of next year, you better bet on it," Iggy assured her. Max looked over at him, uneasy. "You've said the closest to good-bye as you could get," he said with a smile. Max never said good-bye for real, only "see you later."
"Are you sure? I don't want to... leave you guys hanging..." she said, closing her eyes tightly. She brushed away what she hoped was the last of the tears. Iggy pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand in her direction. She looked up at his sightless blue eyes, that wistful smile, as if he already missed her. Taking his hand, she gathered her legs under her, and he helped her stand.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "And I'll tell Fang not to worry," he told her. She looked down at her feet awkwardly. Iggy pulled her into a sudden hug, tight but brisk. "We'll all miss you, but this is better than your other option, right?" Max smiled and laughed a little.
She reached up to her neck and followed the thin silver chain around her neck. From it hung half a heart, with her name on it. Fang had bought them the pair at a mall, getting their names carved onto it. She unclasped it and dangled it in front of her face, then pulled up Iggy's hand. She pressed her thumb onto his palm and his hand reflexively opened, and she dropped the necklace into it, curling his fingers into a cage around it.
"Give it to Fang, and tell him I'll be back to get it, because he can't keep it forever," she said, a light laugh in her voice. Iggy could hear her sadness, but he also knew she needed some time alone, no matter how long it might take. Max hadn't been herself for a long time now, and sometimes a person just needed to get away from it all, to think things over. Iggy nodded and gave her a one-armed hug, this one warm.
"We'll be waiting," he said, softly. Max nodded, spread her wings, and took flight before she could change her mind about it.
"We'll be waiting," Iggy repeated, even softer, looking up at the sky. He'd felt the barest brush of feathers against the side of his face as she left, and he stood there with his face up to the sky for a long, long time, long after the night had turned cold.
Voices burst into life below him, their low murmur growing louder as they rose to the top of the warehouse, climbing the tall set of stairs. Fang was the first one to burst on top, Iggy could tell, by the sound of his footsteps. He could also hear his feet stumbling to a halt. He'd seen Iggy, standing alone.
"Where's... where's Max, Iggy?" Fang asked, his voice faint, almost gone. Iggy held out his hand in response, letting the necklace dangle.
"She'll be back to get it, because you can't keep it forever," he said, as the younger ones were stunned into silence. Fang surprised him by striding up next to him. He took the necklace from Iggy tenderly, softly, and clasped it around his own neck. He looked up at the dark sky, the twinkling stars, and reached over to clasp his brother's shoulder.
"She'll be back," Fang said, his voice completely sure of it. Angel wrapped her arms around his legs and nodded her assent, looking up as well. Nudge and Gazzy soon joined, silent, and the rest of the flock stared up at the dark expanse of sky, knowing that somewhere, somewhere up there, Max was gliding around on her strong wings, and that soon enough, time would bring her back.
Christmas came and passed, and they kept all the presents in the corner. Occasionally a fight would break out between them, but it soon stopped, as they remembered Max's voice reprimanding them. It was almost as if they had lost her, but as if she had been ripped away from them. Fang took it all in stride, confident that she would return to him.
And.... review?
