Searching for the Shadow

by FlamingMooseNinjaOfEpicness

On Hiatus! Fang leaves. Again. And Max is devastated. Again. Fang thinks that it's for their own good, and he tries to find his "other flock". But when he meets someone from his past that can help him, things go a little off-track. Rated T for swearing!

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, it belongs to James Patterson. It would kinda put a damper on my afternoon if I got sued for copyright infringement.

Max's POV

I wake up to the sunlight streaming through my sooty window. Well, not really my sooty window. The window of this abandoned house we came upon. I sit up in bed, and wipe the sleep from my eyes. I glance over, and see that Gazzy has fallen asleep at his post. Again. But whatever, we haven't been attacked by Erasers in weeks. It takes a minute to remember what happened last night. At first, I think it was just a bad dream, but I look at Fang's empty bed and confirm my fears. A wave of numbness washes over me. He's left. For real this time. He's not coming back, like he usually does. Not this time.

The rest of the flock is starting to wake up. First Iggy and Total, then Angel, then Gazzy, and finally Nudge. I pretend that nothing happened last night. I hope that they won't notice Fang's absence. My hopes were in vain, though. As soon as Angel wakes up, she asks, without even glancing around, "Where's Fang?" I know that there's no point in lying to a mind reader, so I tell her, "He's left." "Where did he go?" she asks again, the innocence ringing in her voice. "I… I don't know. I'm sorry, sweetheart." I say sincerely. "Um, I don't know if he's coming back." I can hear the remorse flooding my voice. How pathetic. A leader should show no weakness. Not when my Flock needs me. I try pathetically to change the subject. "So, when do you guys think we should hit the road?" They know I'm hurt by Fang's vanishing act, so they go along with it.

About an hour later, we have packed up our few belongings, and are miles away, flying over some old abandoned town. "Hey, Max?" I hear Gazzy's voice. "Yeah, Gazzy?" I ask, flying above him. "Well… um, are you okay?" he asks, the concern showing in his voice. Of course I'm not okay! I shout in my head, Fang left, and there's nothing we can do about it! I need to take deep yoga breaths, and remind myself that it isn't Gazzy's fault. "Yeah, of course." I answer. My voice went all funny when I said that, like it does when I'm lying. "Um… okay, uh, yeah." I could tell he wasn't buying my story. But, whatever.

Sooo... thats it. R&R! Next chapter will be up as soon as I get to it.