Trouble With Voices
Just a heads up to anyone reading the Maximum Ride series, this is intended to be at the end of Fang, but before the epilogue. For anyone who hasn't read at least to that point there may be spoilers. Kay!
Gazzy POV
"GAZZY!" I snickered as I heard the faint boom echo down the hall from the bathroom. My partner-in-crime had been sleeping in, so it was a solo mission today. He was exhausted from his color sensing training last night and was zonked out in our room, so Max knew it was me, unfortunately. Somehow I overlooked that detail when I planted the bomb. Well, too late now!
I had rigged the bathroom mirror so that the next time it was opened an explosion of blue ink would spray out at the victim...errrr...poor person. I had heard Max saying she was going to shower and had decided to test my new experiment.
The door to the bathroom slammed and I hurried to search for a hiding place. I could distantly make out our flock's ticked off leader's voice. "Gazzy! You better decide your spirituality and start praying I don't find you!" Frantically, I dove behind the couch and clasped both hands over my mouth to stifle my giggles. Oh man...Max was madddd...
Just then, I felt something drip on my head. My brow furrowed in confusion. It had been at least a week since a fight so I couldn't be bleeding... I hesitantly touched my blonde hair and peered at my fingers. On my fingers was...blue?
"Uh-oh..."
"Well, gee...isn't that just the understatement of the century?" I spun around to see Max, blue ink dripping off her face and hair as she stood on our couch. The two pinpoints of brown admist the mess of blue burned down at me. "Okay now I want you to think of how much trouble you're in. Have an idea? Now times that by five and you'll be in the right ballpark." Distantly, my mind registered if roles were reversed she'd be telling me to stop standing on the furniture, but this didn't seem like the time to point that out to Max.
Nervously, I swallowed and saw Max move her hands from her hips up to her chest where she crossed her arms. "Grounded. Two weeks. No explosive anything unless we are put in a life-or-death situation. No TV. No video games."
"No fair!" I looked up at her in disbelief. "It was just one teeny tiny ink bomb..."
"Yeah, a teeny tiny bomb that covered half the bathroom and has changed my hair from sun streaked to ink stained in five seconds flat." She jabbed a thumb over a shoulder and gave me the first, and probably only, blue scowl of his life. "Room. Now."
I sulked off to my room obediently.
Angry, I made sure to give the door a good loud slam so Max would be sure to hear. Too late, I remembered Iggy had been sleeping. "Sorry, Ig."
My feathered brother rolled his head toward my voice. He didn't bother uselessly opening his sightless eyes. "Yeah, I heard the bang." A serene grin crossed his face. "I'd give the bang a seven."
"It was a good one." I plopped down on my bed. "Max freaked, though." Sighing, I put my elbows on my legs and held my chin in my hands, sulkily. "She's just upset Fang will see it."
The smile slipped off Iggy's face as he considered this for a moment. "True...but..." A mischeivious grin sneaked its way back on to his face just as quick.
As soon as I saw that smile, I had a grin to match. I knew that smile better than anyone! "What's the plan?"
"Well, Max is only extra cranky because she's been all lovey dovey with Fang, right?"
I nodded vigorously, then realized Iggy couldn't see. "I nodded, Iggy. So?"
A sigh escaped Iggy's lips as if it was obvious. "Come on now, Gasman. You can mimic voices. Don't you think that'd be fun to use to mess with them?"
"Yeah..." I nodded, considering this, but frowned when I realized something. "But it may fool them, but only for a moment. My impersonations never fool them for long..."
The bed creaked as Iggy stood up and headed for the door. "Clearly you've never been so in love that obvious things like that are completely forgotten."
A flush crept across my cheeks and I looked at Iggy's back in annoyance. "How would you know anything about it?"
Iggy stopped, a few feet from the door. "Because I know what it's like, to be in love." He walked toward the door and opened it.
Well That statement froze me in my tracks! "Wha...what? In love? With who?"
Iggy turned and threw a grin over his shoulder in my direcetion. "With bombs. It's an explosive romance let me tell you." His laughter could still be heard down the hall even after the pillow I had thrown had hit the door and fallen to the floor.
Well that wasn't of any help! Or was it? Max had gotten mad about my bomb building abilities and she usually got mad about my mimicry, but I got mad that she was always all about Fang nowadays. So if I got in trouble because I made Max mad, maybe Max and Fang should get in trouble for making me mad...
This was going to be fun...
Max's POV
There is hardly anything better than having the warm air of a thermal under your wings, let me tell you. It's almost worth being a freaky mutant girl that has to save the world and will never live a normal day in her life. Almost. I coasted for a bit, not drifting too far from our hidden cabin. With everything that's gone down in my short, yet messed up life, I've learned to keep my friends close, my enemies closer, and my flock suffocatingly close.
I cruised to a slow pace and made a running landing down the length of our porch. Smooth landing, if I do say so myself. My fingers reaching up to rub where my wings joined my back. Ahhhh...the sweet burn of a good flight.
Slowly, I stretched my wings out to their full length, working all the muscles. The sun glinted off them, showing each and every feather. They really were quite beautiful, in my very humble opinion.
I glanced in the house and saw Fang sitting at the laptop. His back was to me and I saw the sun falling on his black locks in the most amazing way... I really was hopelessly in love wasn't I? Wait. Don't answer that.
Yet, I was really nervous to see Fang. Besides my usual nervousness that is. I had cleaned off all the ink I could see, but my face still stung slightly from the scrubbing, so I had that constant reminder that I may have missed some. Would Fang notice somehow? What if...?
"Max." That one word caught my attention, sent a shiver down my spine, and made my heart race all at the same time.
Naturally, it's my job as leader to maintain my calm, collected cool at all times. "Ye...yeah, Fang...?" Veryyyy smooth Maximum. You really should be an actress if this whole saving the world gig doesn't work out.
"Come here. I have something important to tell you, Max."
Well, now was as good a time as any to reinforce that I am indeed Max the warrior and not Max the lovesick puppy dog. "Just tell me, Fang. Why do I have to come over there?"
Fang shifted slightly, but didn't turn. "Fine, then. Now, I won't tell you. Unless you convince me otherwise of course."
My eyebrows drew together in confusion, but I have to admit I was fairly curious. "Yeah? And how can I 'convince you otherwise'?" Okay, so my Fang impressions aren't the best, but it made my point.
"Kiss my neck."
Okay, now That was sure to get a blush to creep into my cheeks! Fang was never soooo...so straightforward before. Fine. I wasn't gonna start letting him be in charge of this relationship, though, so I'd show him!
I marched my leader butt right over there to show him a taste of his own medicine.
Fang POV
I'm not what most people consider a geek, but when I'm checking my blog, the room would need to be full of erasers And flyboys to make me look up. In other words, I basically jumped out of my skin when I felt someone lightly kissing my neck. Luckily, I would know Max anywhere so I didn't jump too much, but it was so un-Max to do something like that I was still pretty surprised. "Max...?"
"Hmmm?" I felt her lips vibrate against my neck as she leaned over the back of the couch.
"What's gotten into you?"
Max looked at me as if surprised then literally batted her lashes at him. Max? The flock's warrior leader? Batting her lashes? After I figured out what was wrong with Max, I'd have to find the gas leak in the house. "You said I had to convince you. I'm really not?" I nearly burst out laughing at Max's expression. She was attempting to pout, it seemed, yet her eyes were calculating as if sizing up an opponent and it made the pout seem more on the snarl side.
Suddenly, Max opened her beautiful wings and flapped once, giving her just enough height to hop over the edge of the couch and land on the cushion beside me. "You still gonna play it that way?" I saw that look of determination get in her eyes that I was so familiar with. It was the kind of look you didn't want to be on the receiving end of because ninety percent of the time something or someone was getting hit, but before I could even move, she'd grabbed the front of my shirt and smashed her lips against mine in what had to be the least ladylike way in the world.
It didn't matter one bit to me. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back deeply. My fierce Maximum. My one true and only love. If only this moment could last a little longer...but I needed to know what was wrong. Reluctantly, I tried pushing her away. "Max..."
It was like our mouths were magnets or like she was possessed. She just wouldn't let go. Finally, I grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Maximum Ride. What. Has. Gotten. Into. You." I pronounced each word slowly to make sure it registered.
Her breathing was slightly ragged and she seemed confused by my question. Confusion didn't come easily to Max. She was the kind of girl that solved problems easily and if it couldn't be solved easily and quickly she punched or roundhoused the problem in the face. So for Max to look confused, she must really be confused. "You said you had something important to tell me."
"What? When did I say that, Max?"
"Ummm about three minutes ago? How do you not remember?"
I let my hands fall free of her shoulders and looked at her seriously. "Max, I never said that. I don't have something important to tell you..." Besides the fact that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Yeah. Besides that...
Max rolled her eyes at me. "Well gee if you didn't it must have been someone else that sounds Exactly like you."
Our eyes lit up with the answer at the same moment. "Gazzy!"
In the next moment, Max's face turned red with a blush as realization dawned on her. Then her face seemed to be red out of anger. I had never been so glad to be Fang. Gazzy was in serioussss trouble when Max caught him... Max didn't like being confused, frustrated, or anything that basically left her not in control, but embarrassed still ranked pretty high up for her and this seemed to qualify.
Max stood up and I could see it in every cell of her body: Gazzy was beyond in trouble.
Should I try to play peacemaker? "Max...it was just a little prank..." I trailed off when I realized the edge of her hair was tinged blue. My finger gently caught the strand and I looked at her amused. "Dying your hair?"
It took her a moment to see what I meant, but then she scowled. "That'd be Gazzy's handiwork."
"I think it looks nice." It did look nice, but man did Gazzy owe me for saving his scrawny bomb-building butt.
"Really?" It took all my willpower not to snort. Since when did Max ask for a repeat on a compliment?
"Yes, really." I leaned in and kissed her, softer than her kisses from earlier.
After a moment, Max sighed. "Okay..." Out of nowhere, she stood and headed for the hall.
"Where are you going?"
She turned and looked at me with a grimace. "I learned my lesson. Time to let the prisoner out of his cell." Then she strode off down the hall.
Well this was my first Maximum Ride fanfiction as well as my first fanfiction about a book series. I really hope everyone enjoys it. Please give lots of feedback so I know if this came out well. If it did, I may right another Maximum Ride fanfic. Read, enjoy, review, and fly on!