Fanfiction from Maximum Ride.
Fang gets caught cheating.
Chapter 1
How could he? What could have possibly been going through Fang's mind? Could I still trust him? The pain was aggravating every time I remembered. I felt like I was on TV on some soap opera. Memories of him and me together went through my mind. Fang and I holding hands, eating ice cream, fighting, kissing in the sand, under the moonlight. Or that other time when I kissed him so fiercely in front of the whole flock and the submarine's crew. After all that, all of this seemed unreal. I struggled to catch a breath between sobs. He was my one and only, and I thought I was his too.
The image popped into my head again. The way Fang grabbed Brigid's waist and pulled her in closer. Brigid's hands tightly clasped around his neck. Fang and Brigid kissing. It made my whole body ache. I felt sick. Never have I felt such pain. Not in the countless battles I've fought. Not when I thought Itex's director was my mom. Not when I nearly lost Fang that day at the beach. Not ever. I'm not going to cry, I thought to myself. I'm not going to cry. Useless. I know better than to cry. Especially over a boy. But damn it, this was Fang.
I stood up and raced to Dr. Martinez's room. I just really needed a shoulder to cry on at that moment. I usually cried on Fang's but… well, duh. I wiped the tears off my eyes right before I went into my mom's room. Everybody else was asleep in their rooms already. But my mom usually stays up a bit late to read or watch some TV.
"Mom?" I called, peeking through the half-open door. My voice sounded a bit choked.
"Max?" she put her book down and came running to me. "Sweetie, what happened? What's wrong? Do you feel bad? Is it the Voice at it again?"
The Voice. Why hadn't it said something about this?
"No, it's not that. It's just that… well.., "
"Come on, Max. What's wrong?" she whispered, moving some hair out of my face.
"Mom, it's..."
"Max, you're scaring me. What is it?"
"It's Fang okay?!" "It's Fang." I tried to calm down. Both of the times I said his name the image came running to my head. I took deep breaths and sat with my mom on her bed.
"I caught him. Fang and Brigid." "I saw them..." I shook my head. I was finally a lot more steady and relaxed.
"What?!" she'd gotten the message. "Wha', Who? What? But how?" she stuttered.
"Today, when we were at the CMS building. Brigid took Fang to see some new plans the CMS had. Then I..." I was sobbing again. Damn, I was going to kill Fang. How in hell could he?!
"Go on, sweetie" my mom said.
"Then I walked out to the hallway looking for a bathroom. I opened the wrong door." I was a disaster again. My face was wet. "They were there, mom. I was so in shock. I just walked away quickly and haven't talked to Fang since then."
"Max, listen to me." She hugged my head and pulled away after a few seconds. "I know how disappointed you feel. Believe me, I've been there. But-"
"Well, what did you do?" I cut her off.
"At first it felt so, so bad. I felt like I was the one who had done something wrong. Like I didn't deserve him." Sound familiar. I was starting to feel a bit steadier. "Then I realized it was his loss, not mine." "I had done nothing wrong, except to trust him." "But sweetie, this isn't your case; you've known Fang since you were a tiny little kid. And you shouldn't stop loving him in any way because of this." "At the end of the day, he's still your right-wing man."
"Yeah, a back-stabbing right-wing man." I said. Dr. Martinez hugged me. Screw Fang, I thought. I am Maximum Ride for crying out loud! I've escaped from horrific tortures and monsters and have kicked plenty of people-who-are-three-times-my-size's asses. And now Fang was going to make me feel this way? He knows better than to mess with me. He knows how people end up after doing that. He knows me better than anybody. And was he going to be sorry for this? Hell yeah. I pulled away from my mom's hug and started marching toward Fang's room. I didn't care if I woke him up in the middle of the night. I didn't care if I woke everybody up. He'd woke me up from the best dream I'd ever had. Actually, no, he turned it into a nightmare. And like I said, he was not going to like the consequences.
Chapter 2
I stomped into his room with my fists clenched
with absolutely no idea of what I was going to say. Fang turned on
the tiny lamp beside him as he heard my loud footsteps. I felt sad,
disappointed, betrayed, angry and furious at the same time when I saw
his face. "Max, whatever it is, can't it wait till this poor kid
gets some sleep?" he said, pointing at his face with his index
fingers.
"I think you know me well enough to know
patience is not my best quality. Or forgiveness." I said to Fang. "
'the hell are you talking about Max? You okay? You can sleep here
if you want."
"No, Fang!" Damn, I wish he
had a longer name, it would've sounded more dramatic.
"Damn it! What the hell is wrong with you?!" I was yelling
now. Without thinking I punched his face and found myself crying.
Again. He made me furious! Never ever
had he made me so angry! I wanted to punch him about a thousand more
times for what that hypocrite jerk did. But I couldn't, Fang had
already slammed me against the wall. "Waaaagh!" I yelled as
I slammed him against the other wall. He was strong, but I was too.
Especially right now that I felt such rage. He saw my wet face and
slowed down as he was approaching me. "Max!! What on earth
happ--" Fang yelled to me too.
"Hey! Max, now's really
not the time. Everyone's asleep. And you need to catch some z's too.
Come on, let's go." Dr. Martinez interrupted our brawl.
"No! No, no no!" I was punching Fang in the chest,
who was now just inches away from me. But the punches were weak. I
couldn't help it, I was so tired after crying that much and feeling
so much pain.
Fang grabbed my fists, one in each hand. I lowered
my face, Fang kept trying to lift it but I wouldn't let him. Seeing
his face again would make the whole emotion-explosion come back.
"Max, come." my mom said. "No!" I yelled.
She tried to hug me and take me out of the room, but I pulled away
from her arms and stomped right back to Fang who was still standing
there with a confused look on his face. "Liar... traitor...
jerk... betrayer... back-stabber... hypocrite.. liar" I said to
Fang, giving him a really strong punch on his face for each word I
was saying. "What are you.." Fang wiped some blood of his
lips and tried to calm down. He looked up at me with his dark eyes
that I love. Or at least used to. "Max! What in hell is going
on? Damn it!" he yelled. My mom was still standing there with a
strained look on her face. I could tell she was worried about us
waking up everyone else. But like I said, I didn't care. "I saw
you! You. And.. and.. Brigid! And you were.. you were.." The
freaking image of Fang and Brigid came back to me. Surprise! I was
struggling to talk with so much sobbing going on. I heard Fang cuss
under his breath. "You were.. almost swallowing
her!" Fang struggled to keep a normal expression. His eyed
almost widened when I said this. "Max.." He had no idea
what to say. Obviously. I mean what was he going to do? Just say
"Hell, yeah! I kissed Brigid and I liked it." ? Most likely
not to happen. "There's an explanation, Max."
Okay these are just two more lines from Chapter 2..
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What could possibly be this explanation? 'She's a redhead and I couldn't resist.' ?
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "I'm listening." I said.
Chapter 3
The truth was that there really wasn't an explanation. At least not a good one. Fang knew he'd screwed up. Big time. And he felt probably worse than Max when he saw she was like this. He hated seeing her in this state of mind. But, really, why did he do it? The way Brigid just stood right there, in front of him, and took his arms and put it around her waist, then put her hands around his neck. Jeez, what's with these bird kid hormones? What could have possibly driven me to.. Ugh. If there was just one way, one way he could show Max this would never ever happen again. If there was just one way he could show Max how sorry and disgusted with himself Fang really was. He knew Max would probably never ever trust him again. He felt sick. He was full of true regret.
"Max, how can I.. Umm.." Fang said with a concerned look. His eyes were looking in all directions except Max's.
"Well, how could you do it?" Max said.
Fang stood there, silent. He knew he'd ruined his relationship with Max enough, and if he lied and made up some lame excuse that wasn't true, and then got caught, he would only make it a hell of a lot worse. He looked up at Max, whose eyes were getting watery again. He loathed seeing her like this, all of the other times, it was just physical pain, or losing her brother, or stress. But this time, it was his fault, and that's what sickened him the most. He hated himself right now.
"Max, I'm.. I don't.. I'm so damn sorry. You don't know how sorry I am. Max, I promise I'll make it up to you." Fang said, his voice sounded a bit choked. Was he crying? What? No, Fang doesn't cry, not ever.
"What could you possibly do to make it up to me? Save the world for me? Even doing that, it wouldn't be enough, Fang! Years and years and years of always trusting you and loving you were just thrown to the dumpster today, and you did it all by yourself. Congratulations!" Max replied, sarcastically at the end.
"I'm not perfect, Max.." Fang began.
"Heck no, you aren't. Tell me something I don't know." Max rolled her eyes at him.
"She doesn't compare to you. There's so much that you are, and she isn't." Fang told Max with a straight face. Max just stood there watching Fang with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, please, Fang! Don't even try to say all these lovey-dovey mushy things to me to make it better. You know it won't work. Not with me." Max retorted.
Dr. Martinez had already left the room. But someone else opened the door this time. Nudge. Nudge entered the room. "Guys, what's going on? You're being way too noisy. Couldn't sleep." she said to them.
"Nudge, go back to your room, we'll talk in the morning." Max said.
Right when Nudge was turning to face the door, Angel came in with Total. Then Gazzy, then Iggy. Fang muttered some colorful words under his breath.
"Everyone go back to sleep, tomorrow we'll.. hmm, Actually, Fang, would you care to tell the flock what's going on?" Max said looking at him with fake interest.
Fang looked at her in disbelief. "What? Max this isn't necessary." he whispered.
"Guys, Fang will be leaving us for a while.." Max said straight faced.
"Whaat?" the rest of the flock said.
Fang couldn't believe what he just heard. Was Max throwing him out of the flock?
"No! Fang, don't leave! He won't leave" Angel rushed to him and hugged his leg.
"What the.. Max! Why are you doing this?" Iggy uttered.
"Because Fang.. Fang betrayed me." Fang could see the sadness in her eyes as she said this, he knew that she hated saying it. Still, Fang didn't want to leave. He loved Max, more than he loved anyone else. He loved her unconditionally, but he made a mistake. He knew that because of that, nothing would ever be the same. At least not with Max. The last time he was away from her he was a complete disaster. She invaded his thoughts, he was miserable without her. He couldn't pass through that again. He couldn't be somewhere that wasn't with her. Even if she hated him.
"What? Oh.. oh.. Fang, no!" Angel had read their minds, she knew what had happened.
"Fang, why did you do it?" Angel said with an expression that showed nothing but pain.
"Because.. I don't know, Angel. I got.. carried away? No, Angel, I don't know why I was so stupid and I know that this is by far the worst mistake I've ever made."
"What did you do, Fang?" Gazzy asked innocently.
"I'll let Max tell you, guys." Fang answered.
"Fang, I'm sorry.. I really am. But if you did this to me, you could do it to any again. To any of us. But you know who's fault is it, and it's not mine, or Iggy's, or Gazzy's or anyone else in the flock except.. except you, Fang." Max said.
She stood right in front of him and stared straight into his eyes with her beautiful brown eyes that take Fang's breath away and whispered so only Fang could hear her, "I can't take any risks, Fang. You have to leave, at least for a while, or maybe, for.. for a long long, very long time. Just remember that you did this to yourself. Think twice next time you feel like pulling a Jeb-Batchelder on me." Her words broke Fang's heart. Even more.
"Hey! We do have the right to know what happened, ya know? Mind telling us?" Iggy said.
Then, all of a sudden, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge and Angel looked at Fang (Iggy stared at his direction), with disappointment written all over their faces. Angel had sent them the thoughts. She showed them what Fang did.
"Aww, man." Gazzy said. The two little girls started crying. And Gazzy tried not to. Iggy was just shocked.
"Max! Please, it was just a stupid.. moment I had. It's not like I turned you into that Mr. Chu and all those evil dudes. Max, please. You've got to believe me. I know you really hate me right now and you won't stop hating me for a long while." Fang said.
"But you know that I love you, all. And I wouldn't trade you for anything. And I just can't explain how awful and miserable I feel. How much I hate myself right now." Max had to believe him, she had to. She always saw through him, she had to do it this time. She just had to.
Chapter 4
What to do? After all, this was just kissing Brigid. Like Fang said, it's not like he turned the flock into the evil guys. But I knew I still loved him. I would always love him, no matter what he did. I loved him unconditionally. I remembered when the flock split apart, how desperate I was. I recalled when we got back together, and I hugged Fang and whispered in his ear, "Don't ever leave me again. Ever." I remembered Fang whispering back, "I won't." No, I couldn't do it. Of course, she hated Fang at the moment. But that kind of hate you have towards people that you know you will get over sooner or later. But I could not live without him by my side. Yep, as cheesy as it can get.
It could be worse, Nobody's perfect, Max. And everyone deserves a second chance, you should know that by now. The Voice interrupted my thoughts.
Right there, I remembered Brigid talking to Mr. Chu, shaking his hand kindly and greeting him with respect. Why didn't I think of this before?
"Fine, Fang. Stay if you want, but you must know.. It'll take you ages to gain my trust back." I said to him. He looked at me and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I know. Like you said, it's my entire fault." Fang said to me.
"Everybody back to bed." I said. Nobody moved. "Now, people!" The rest of the flock went back to their rooms. I was about to leave to when Fang pulled me by the wrist. I pulled my arm back to release it.
"What, Fang?" I asked.
"Max, thank you. I knew you'd believe me." He said. "I'm so sorry."
Without asking, he just skipped in closer to hug me so tight. I didn't hug him back, it's not like I'd already forgotten what he did. What does he expect? For him to say sorry and make it better all over again? Umm.. nope! Not with me you don't. I pulled away from his hug.
"Just get back to sleep, Fang."
Fang headed toward his bed but turned to face me again.
"Max, what I said is true. She's not you. And only you are the one that—"
"Fang, can we do this tomorrow? I'm really tired after all this."
His jaw tensed, his dark eyes looked at mine, but he relaxed.
"As you wish." He said. I went back to my room.
That Brigid girl, she thought she would actually pull off a tramp on us. By doing this. She was probably trying to.. seduce Fang or whatever to get something from us. Or to get him, maybe. And not necessarily to kiss him. Stupid redhead, I thought. Maybe this little accident of his might turn into something useful, actually.
