Faxy oneshots

Fang POV

God i would never get used to the feeling of comfort that a shower and a warm bed could bring. After weeks sleeping in caves and eating McDonalds it was pure bliss to sleep in a bed with a mattress, have a shower when you felt dirty and eat as much as you wanted of 5 star food. Thank god for the Max card.

I padded down the corridor between our rooms. Since money was no object we had got the imperial suite, consisting of 6 bedrooms, 3 ensuits, a humungous living room and a kitchen that had almost made Iggy faint once we had described it to him. Plus there was no limitation for anything so if we wanted room service at 3 am, bam: it was here in 5 minutes flat.

Also with no limitation was the water or electricity, so the TV was able to be turned on 24/7 (not that max had allowed that) and the shower and baths worked even at 2 in the morning. How did i know? I'd just had a shower, that's how.

I was walking down the corridor in nothing but my p-j bottoms (A/N: Swooooon!!!) when i heard a sound coming from one of the rooms. It was small; I was only just able to hear it. Any one asleep right now wouldn't be able to not even Iggy. I tensed up thinking it might be erasers, or even worse flyboys. But after almost a whole minute, nothing had happened, so i relaxed and continued on my way back to my room.

But then it came again. I heard it properly this time: it was small, but this was partly because it was muffled, like the person making it had something over their mouth. Like a gag!

Moving silently i crept towards the direction of the sound. Holly shit! It was coming from Max's room! How had they been able to get in, tie her up and gag her without waking any of us? Why hadn't anyone woken up?

Idiot i thought as the answer came to me: you were in the shower; the sound of the water would have covered any sounds of a struggle. It's almost like they knew....

And it was all my fault! The guilt coursed through me as i crept closer and closer towards Max's door. If I hadn't been so easily won over by the hot water whenever i wanted it, we might have been able to stop all of this.

Pushing that to the back of my mind, i reached out and grasped the door knob tightly. Ever so slowly i turned it, making sure that it didn't squeak at all. I wanted the element of surprise on my side. I carefully nudged the door open and put my eye to the small slit that i had made between the door and the door frame. And what i was shocked me.

Max's wasn't tied up or gagged, not that i could see. And there didn't seem to be any erasers or flyboys in her room. Opening the door wider i scanned the room for danger and came up blank. Then what had been making that noise?

It came again and i turned towards Max. SHE was making the noise. I could see the outline of her figure under the covers; they were pulled tightly around her sides. That distracted me for a moment...but no, the noise, Fang, focus on the noise.

Just as i was about to think i had imagined it all, it came again. Accompanied by a small shaking of her solders. The truth hit me like a tonne of bricks, and i nearly collapsed in surprise and pain.

Max was crying.

She was lying on her side, sobbing quietly. Max, crying? Why ....how ......why... i thought in confusion. But this was what really got to me. She had scrunched the covers up over her mouth, so that whenever she sobbed the sound was muffled, so that even the small amount of noise that she was letting her boy make was made even smaller, so that no one would be able to hear it unless they were right by her door. Like i had been.

She was muffling her sobs so that she didn't wake up the flock. It was possibly the sweetest and saddest moment of my life all rolled in together.

But what could have happened to make the invincible maximum ride cry in the night? Id only seen Max cry a handful of times before, and they had all been because she was recovering from a brain attack that had caused he to pass out from the pain. What could have happened to cause this?

I was pulled back from my musings by the sound of Max's dry, muffled sob. God it was torture to watch her suffer like this. A quietly as i could i crept round the side of her bed and knelt down by her head.

"Max" I whispered softly.

Her eyes snapped open, fear and surprise evident in them. But that went away when she realized that it was me, not some flyboy. It was replaced by comfort and something else i couldn't identify. Joy, maybe? Comfort?

Then she seemed to realize that i was in her room and that her face was streaked with tears. She tried to bury her face in her pillow and groaned,

"Fang what is it? Its 2 am, what could possibly be wrong enough to warrant a trip to see me in the middle of the night."

"You," i answered truthfully."Had a shower, heard a noise coming from your room, decided to check it out."

"Well nothing's wrong here, you can go back to bed now" She answered in an annoyed tone of voice. That annoyed me; i had just wanted to see if she was alright.

"Fine I'm going then" i answered, completely pissed off now. I had been so worried about her before. I turned to go, but as made it to the door i heard something that stopped me in my tracks.

Max had tried, unsuccessfully i might add, to stifle another sob. The sound of the strongest person i knew trying to hide the sound of their weakness got to me and i was back by her bed side in seconds.

"Max..." i whispered softly again. She turned her head towards her pillow again and tried to stop the shaking of her solders."Max, please tell me what's wrong please. It hurts me to see you like this." I whispered in her ear.

She didn't respond so i gently took her her head and turned it to face me. "Please Max. I want to help" i whispered, looking deep in to her eyes. That seemed to have an effect 'coz tears welled up again and her lip started to wobble. I swear i had never seen anything cuter.

Still holding her head, i pulled back the covers and gently nudged her to one side, before slipping in to her bed next to her. I was reeling from being this close to Max, but she hadn't pushed me away yet. I was going to make every second of this count.

I slid one arm around her waist, slipped the other around her solders, and gently pushed her head in to my solder. She tensed for a second, but then relaxed in to me and even put one hand on my chest. My heart started to beat faster, but she didn't push me away.

I bent my head down so that my lips were right by her ear and whispered, "why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Her solders shook slightly as she inhaled heavily, but then she started to talk, her voice wavering in places, though she tried to hide it.

"It just this nightmare, i keep having it every night, but i never get used to it, it still scares me every time," she began. My hears clenched at the thought of her going through this every night, with me in the room next door, sound asleep.

"I'm in the school..." Uh oh, not a good start, "and I'm strapped to the wall. The bonds are really tight, i can't shake them. And then some white coats come in....and...."

Her solders shook with repressed sobs. i let her have a moment and then pressed on.

"What happens then?"

"They have Nudge" She said simply. I made a sympathetic noise. That would kill her, seeing one of the flock in danger like that.

"They pin her down and.....they pull her wings off.....bit by bit...and she's screaming in pain and there's blood everywhere.....and I'm screaming at them to stop, my throat's raw, but no one can hear me......"Max was sobbing openly now. I tightened my arms around her, these dreams sounded awful.

"But that's not all. After Nudge is....dead.....they bring in Gazzy...and force him to swallow some weird drink....and then they tie him to a stake with wood around him.... and back off...... and Gazzy being Gazzy... he tries to escape by using his...abilities....but the stuff that they forced him to drink was flammable...and the wood is soaked in petrol...so...it explodes.....and i can only sit there and watch...." i was crushing her to my chest now. God no wonder she was crying, i would be crying after having these dreams every night, me Mr. Unemotional.

"It's the same with all of you....Iggys brought in drenched in water and metal poles are put around him that are hooked up to a power supply....but he doesn't know, so he tries to escape and...when he touches the metal poles.....he's electrocuted........Then its Angel.....they come in and pin her down so that they can sew her wings together.....and they put duct tape around either side of her neck.....and throw her in to a tank full of water.....she tries to swim up but there's no gap of air....and she can't use her wings......so she tries to breath underwater.....but the duct tape is over her gills...so she just inhales water.....and ....drowns....." There was no space between us now. My arms were tight around her waist and she had brought her arms so that they snaked around my chest and met at the back. She was sobbing loudly, but not so loudly that anyone woke up. i knew what was going to happen next.

"...and then they...they bring you in...In a cage... an you're screaming at them to let you go.... and I'm screaming with you....i'm screaming at them to take me instead...just leave you alone...but they don't...they pin you to the wall and.....they fire metal spikes at your chest....and you can't move to dodge them....so they all go in... and i watch the light leave your eyes...watch you as you leave me.....forever....and then i realize that i'm all alone.... and i'm screaming for them to kill me.....begging them to kill me so that i can join you....so that i can see you again... but they just leave me there... on the wall...with your bodies on the floor around me.......and then i wake up, drenched in sweat...screaming...." She tightened her arms around me and i reflexively tightened mine around her. God, having to see that every night, having to know that when you went to sleep you'd be up again in a few hours, drenched in sweat, terrified for the flock....

How did she do it?

I let her sob herself out on my solder and then said quietly in her ear

"i would never let that happen to you Max. I would never, ever leave you again, i promised you that and i keep my promises."

She pulled her beautiful head away from my solder, which vaguely irritated me; i liked it there it seemed to fit perfectly. But then she fixed me with this gaze that seemed to go right through me and whispered brokenly

"But one day you might not have a choice Fang.....something like that might happen...and you could try all you wanted... but you would never be able to come back to me...never"

I pulled her head back in to my solder and answered

"The lets make the most of the time we have now then.....and let's try not to let it come to that."Max's arms tightened around me when she heard that and she snuggled in to my neck, like she wanted to be there. Ha! Dream on Fang.

I stayed there for a couple of minutes reveling in the fact that she hadn't pushed me away yet, but i knew what i had to do. I started to slacken my arms, reluctant to let her go. But i knew Max, i knew that she wouldn't want me to stay, with her in this state. I hated it but i knew that was how it had to be.

But then she did something that shocked me. Max grabbed my arms and pulled them back around her waist so that i was yanked back towards her, so much that i collided with her and her cheek brushed mine. I held my breath in shock.

"Fang?" Max mumbled quietly in to the crook between my neck and my solder."Would you mind....do you think you could....stay here with me... tonight? Please......I'm.....scared."

And that was all it took .My heart melted and i nodded in to her solder. Of course i would stay. I didn't want to leave her like this. i tightened my arms around her waist and lower back and started tracing circled in between her wings. This had made her go to sleep in the past, and sure enough, after a few minutes, her head dropped in to my collarbone and her breathing deepened.

I pulled her up so that her cheek was against mine again and cradled her in my arms. This was without a doubt, my best night ever. Max had asked me to stay, had wanted me to be with her. And with that thought, i drifted off to sleep.