Hi there people! Be warned, this document is rated M, there is some cussing and adult scenes. Know that before you read.

I have decided to start a new series... although in reality it is for my new account. I will transfer it in about two days. Yay! Also, I was listening to the song 'Take It All Away' while writing this, and just decided to name the story after that.

*SPOILER ALERT* Is Iggy really dead? Perhaps not... actually, no, not really. You'll see in the next chappie... so for now, enjoy my gory sense of writing.

Max POV

"Oh God! Oh... shit... holy shit..."

My voice is raspy with horror, and although I am sure my face is pale and still, the feeling that my stomach is dropping out underneath me makes me want to puke. My mind is spinning about a thousand miles a minute, trying to make a plan. A plan. I needed a plan. Anything. Something. Something to make this better...

But nothing would fix this. Our lives had changed. Iggy had changed, or at least, what was left of him did... not like I could recognize the broken, burned chunks of him that had been spit out of the explosion, and were now laying on the street like abandoned toys. In a sick way, though, part of me felt nothing. Nothing at all.

Dead was dead, and nothing could change that.

Iggy was dead.

Angel is the first one to start screaming bloody murder... while Nudge and Gazzy just stare and cry hysterically. Fang still isn't here. I don't know where he is. I don't really care.

Somehow, having bits of my best friend's brains splattered on my clothes... in my hair... had that effect on me. Fang, the bastard, could take all the time he wanted. After all, it had been his idea to raid the Eraser hideout, hadn't it? "They're going to follow us all the way back to Nevada," he had said, hideously calm, like always. Somehow, I found a pit in my chest beginning to tighten with anger. It had been his idea. Fang had killed Iggy.

Not me.

No, I had done everything I could, right? I had told him to leave the stupid bomb when the detonator hadn't worked. I had told him not to go in, that maybe the signal had been delayed, hadn't I?

I had been right, hadn't I?

Nonetheless, me being right or wrong didn't mean a thing. Iggy, my best friend, my brother... was dead.

...and who's fault was that?

I want to break down like every instinct tells me to, but I have to be strong for the kids. I force my eyes to stay dry, flecked with Eraser guts and blood. I make my stiff limbs carry me to the kids. They're huddled together, sobbing and screaming. Whatever was left of my mothering instincts by now kick in, and I turn Angel's head away from the gory scene. She abruptly stops shrieking when I do this, and instead trembled in my lap.

"... It's... It's... gonna be... okay... guys..." I stutter, but my voice comes out dead as air. My eyes wanted desperately to drift back to the war zone, to search for a part of Iggy that had survived, although I knew this to be impossible. Despite this, I draw myself closer into the circle. I notice the smallest of details. Angel's red 'Clifford The Big Red Dog' shirt was torn down the side, and blood was spattered over one of the dog's cartoon eyes. A white, oval shape, with a black dot in the bottom right corner. For a moment, I wondered if my eyes looked like that. Crazed and huge. They probably did.

Nudge had lost a big chunk of her hair in the battle, and it looked to me like most of one side of it had been singed off. Gazzy, still semi-clean in his army print pants and jacket, just looked like he was in shock.

We sit like this for a long time.

Maybe ten minutes later, or perhaps an hour... I wouldn't know... the faint beating of wings echoes through the sky. It grows louder, and within seconds, the sound of footsteps landing is behind me. That bubble of anger in my chest rises like a tidal wave when I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I instantly break free of the huddled group, and slice backwards, a knife in my hand.

"You bastard!" I scream, everything, shock, horror, anger, fear, coming out in those two words. The blade catches Fang's hand, and goes through his skin like butter.

"What the hell, Max!" He snaps, recoiling backwards and tripping ungracefully over a dead body. My eyes dart down to check that it isn't part of Iggy.

When I see that it isn't, I lunge at him again, flaring my wings out to add more speed. This time, instead of trying to get away, Fang darts to the left, and catches my shoulder with his uninjured hand. He pulls me to his chest, and pins my hands to my sides, pressing down mercilessly on my thumb until I drop the knife.

"Stop it, goddammit! Stop. Just stop. What happened? What happened, Max? Tell me!"

This is when I begin to sob, racking, debilitating sobs. My knees crumple, and I fall to the ground, taking Fang with me.

"You killed him!" I gasp, between shudders, "You killed him!"

Fang's arms tighten from behind me, and I feel him scanning the area. Suddenly, he grabs my chin, and pulls my head to the side. I close my eyes, as he begins to hyperventilate.

"Where's Iggy?"

When I don't answer, he shakes me. Hard. "Where is he! Where! Where's Iggy?"

For a moment, there is complete and utter silence. I still cant answer, although now the sobs have subsided into just silent tears. Fang abruptly lets me go, and crawls backwards. "No...no, no...no..." He stammers, and begins to crawl on his hands and knees.

He moves slowly at first, but then goes faster, checking the debris, the bodies, the remaining body parts.

"No! No!" He's screaming, like a madman. He's crying, too. The stone facade of emotionlessness and control breaking like a damn under an ocean of tears.

I curl into myself, silent