A Kind World

Summary: There are different types of cages. OneShot – Max, a normal life and a not-so normal family.

Warning: -

Set: Story-unrelated.

Disclaimer: Standards apply. Quotation from Fruits Basket, by Natsuki Takaya.

A/N: I just read vol. 5 of the manga and felt like writing Maximum Ride again. Here we go.

I wish I'd known.

…

"Max! Ma-hax! We'll be late!"

"Breaking the door won't help anything, Ella, sweetie."

"But it's late! Max, what's taking you so long?"

"M almst rdy!"

Whatever on earth makes it possible: sisters are the only ones who understand a person taking with her mouth full of tooth-paste.

"Hurry!"

Soap. Water. Towel. When Max leaves the bathroom, her sister is jumping up and down in the corridor, one school bag at her feet, her brightly pink bag already in her hand.

"We'll be late, we'll be late!"

"Calm down," Max says, picking up her dark-blue bag. She's trying very hard not to be annoyed. Ella is always making a fuss, every morning, every day, and they're never late. "It's not even seven thirty."

"Homecoming Ball will be soon!" Ella sings. "The preparations start today!"

It's hard to be annoyed with her when she's so cute, really.

"You got your lunch, girls?"

Their mother's head peaks from the entrance to the kitchen, dark, wavy hair falling into her face. "I left the money on the counter, Max, did you get it?"

"Yeah," Max calls over her shoulder, checking her bag for the last time. Money, pens, cell-phone, keys. Check. "Thanks."

Sometimes people wonder whether Max really is Ella's sister. They are so different – Max is tall and has dark-blond hair, Ella and their mother both have the petite stature and dark, dark hair most people associate with Latino-American heritage. She comes into the corridor when Ella opens the front door – or, rather, throws it open – and kisses Max on the head. Max leans down and allows her mother to adjust a strand of hair. Then, she repeats the procedure with Ella while the younger girl tries to wriggle out of the motherly embrace determinedly.

"We're gonna be late, Mum!"

"Have a great day, both of you," their mother says and Max flashes her a distracted smile.

"See you later, Mum."

…

"Seriously, Nudge, stop blabbering or I'm gonna regret what I'll be doing in order to silence you," Iggy moans and puts a hand over his eyes as if to shield himself from his friends.

"You've been going on about this for the entire morning. Another minute and I'll break. Seriously."

Nudge pouts, something she does well and often.

"But don't you think they are really, really cool? Honestly, their newest song is amazing, you'd agree if you just listened to it once! We should have them on the Ball, as band, the people would be soo surprised…"

"I've listened to one of your favorite bands the last time and I think my brain was damaged permanently. Spare me, I beg you. Torture Max, if you must."

With that, Iggy turns away and pulls a pair of earphones from his bag. Nudge, one man down, whirls back to Max.

"Why can't he just accept that I like this kind of music?" She asks, her eyes sparkling. "I mean, I don't say anything when he pulls out this… This… Whatever it is! It's not even music, if you ask me!"

Max, looking up from her lunchbox, seems to take in the presence of her two best friends for the first time. "Huh? What did you say? I'm sorry, but I didn't catch the last bits of conversation… Start again at the Good Morning, will you?"

Iggy, grinning at Max over Nudge's head, gives her a thumbs-up. "See, Nudgie, Max agrees with me. We're sorry to say but your taste in music is absolutely horrible… While your lunch is wonderful."

Leaning over, he grabs a handful of nuts, apples and the last remnants of her sandwich and starts chewing on it thoughtfully.

"Hmm. Really good, as always."

"Hey!"

Everything else forgotten, Nudge dives at Iggy to rescue the rest of her lunch, giggling madly.

"Max! Help me – he's stealing my sandwich!"

Iggy almost ends up on the floor when the fragile girl tackles him, and Max watches her two best friends fight playfully and does her best not to burst out laughing.

…

"Max?"

"The letters K, L, M and so on stand for shells in which the electrons of the atom are supposed to move in around the nucleus."

"Very good. The electrons move around the nucleus in shells. The problem is, between electrons and the positive nucleus you have attractive counteractions. Bohr's Law states that the paths of electrons cannot be predicted, as Heisenberg already stated, I do sincerely hope you remember that guy. From the model of electron shells we thus progress to a newer model, also called orbital model…"

As Mr. Batchelder continues on in his lecture, Max catches herself drifting off. Her seat is next to the window. The sun is shining, a perfect summer day making the world green and blue. From the tennis court, voices drift over and through the open window of her classroom. Chemistry with Mr. Batchelder is the last lecture of the day and by nature students aren't really interested in what is being taught. Max is good in school. She remembers most of the things she reads, even if she only reads it once. It doesn't exactly make her popular but since she never tries to get on the teacher's good sides and never boasts with her grades most of the students let her be. In between the cheerleaders, the brainiacs and the sports guys, she lives a relatively nice and quiet life among her classmates and as long as she has Iggy and Ella and Nudge, she thinks, she does not care much.

In the courtyard, students are preparing the decoration for Homecoming. From where she is sitting, Max can see Ella run to and fro between the older students, so sweet and willing to help. Iggy catches her around the waist before she can run into a cart full of fake flowers and Ella blushes madly. Only this morning, Max thinks, Ella has been ranting about Shawn Akers and how good-looking he was, and now she's staring at Iggy with the adoration of a freshman staring at a senior. I'll have to have a talk with her. Max chuckles as she watches the two. Iggy, of course, doesn't even seem to notice Ella is blushing beet-red, stuttering and stumbling. He only sees his best friend's little sister, both sweet and annoying.

Mr. Batchelder starts to draw orbitals of different shapes into carthesic systems. Max sighs quietly, grabs her pen and starts copying them down.

…

"Max! Max!"

Gazi and Angel, as always, are the first to greet her. Max sweeps up the blond girl whose nickname suits her so perfectly and waits until Gazi – his real name being almost forgotten because of his very accurate nickname – detaches himself from her leg again so she can walk again.

"Hey, you two," she tells them and smiles. "How have you been?"

"It's sooooooo boring!" Gazi complains while hanging on to her leg. Max carefully starts towards the door which leads into the after-school daycare. "I have this stupid homework but I already know all the answers! Why should I write them down another time? Besides, I'm sure the teacher already knows the answers, too!"

"You need to finish your homework," Angel chastises him from her seat on Max's arm. "It's important."

"Bah!" Gazi turns to Max. "Max, do you think I should do my homework?"

"Well." Max smiles to herself. "If you finish the homework early, you can go outside and play. I can help you, it'll be quicker."

"Homework is much more fun if you're here," Angel chirps and tightens her grip around Max's neck.

"I don't wanna!" Gazi pouts.

"Tell you what." Max puts Angel down and kneels down in front of the siblings. "I'll help you with your homework and then we'll go outside and go on an expedition."

Gazi seems unsure. "Well… Maybe…"

Angel's eyes shine. "What kind of expedition? Will we meet pirates? Will we find their treasure?"

"Maybe," Max promises. "You never know what will happen, right?"

…

"Hey."

"Hey." A long silence. Then: "How did you find me?"

"I had a hunch you'd be here. You like places like this."

Places like this: a cliff, small but high. Above the tree-tops, the sun is sinking in all its summer sun-set glory.

He sits down next to her silently and gracefully, cat-like, and even though there is a substantial distance between them she thinks she can feel his warmth.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Why?"

He leans back on his hands, sighing softly, and does not look at her. "Because I know you. Something is up. What is it?"

Max smiles, involuntarily.

"Nothing. Seriously."

"Hn."

Conversations never were his forte, she remembers. The fact that he's making a visible effort to keep up one today tells her enough – and starts the weird, warm feeling in her stomach that always accompanies her when Fang's around.

The wind picks up. It feels wonderful on her heated skin, blowing away the thoughts on work, school, summer heat and tension. Max stands, spreading her arms wide, letting wind and sun pass through her. She can feel the scent of pine forest on the wind, can sense its coolness on her skin. Her mother is waiting at home, at a set table with Ella talking animatedly about her day. Angel and Gazi made her promise to visit the day-care during summer break as well. They – Max, Nudge and Iggy – have agreed to meet on Saturday, to go to the Country Fair. Max thinks she'll take Ella, too.

Besides wind and sunshine, she can feel Fang's gaze on her as she stands there. She remains, her head thrown back, her eyes closed.

"I had a strange dream," she tells him without opening her eyes or looking at him. But she knows he is listening. He always listens.

"What was it?"

His prompt is careful, almost tentative.

Max remembers the feeling of wind in her face, of storm on clouds. The overwhelming, exhilarating feeling of being free. A feeling so different to the one of happiness she knows she has in her life - and yet so familiar. She does not want her life to change. And yet...

"I dreamt of flying," she tells him.

…

I wish I could have taken the direct path to the kind world I long for.