Yagh! Finally, I found the time to post this! I wrote it when I was super-bored butI think it's at least okay, right? Anyway, the plot bunnies bestowed this story upon me and now I shove it in your lap and ask for reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of that, but I would torture James Patterson for the rights. Oh yes I would...
Max sat quietly in the room, watching the rest of the flock move about. It was as if she didn't exist, the way they moved past her, close enough to touch but so far away. She wanted to reach up and touch them but the movement seemed hopeless to her. Now, after so much time had passed, she had given up hope. They would never be able to see her again.
She let out a silent sigh and rose easily. Her body felt near-weightless now. With barely a thought her wide wings spread from her back, but no matter how hard she beat them there was no wind. Without any noise, she walked from the busy front room of the house to the back. She passed several doors but at a certain one she stopped, the only one that was closed. She couldn't hear any noise from outside and she passed through the door to see the other side.
Fang was lying spread-eagled on his bed, silent. Max was once again reminded that she had never told him how she felt, she'd always put it off for another day. Suddenly she opened her mouth to scream the truth at him, but no sound would come out. Fang rolled over onto his side, facing the other wall. Max walked to the side of the bed and lay down next to him, staring at his shoulder. She could smell him. She could hear his soft breathing. She could feel his warmth. So why couldn't he feel her?
It didn't seem fair. She had left him, alone. But not on purpose, she hadn't meant to die. She reached up and with one trembling finger traced a line down his neck to his shoulder. She leaned in close, rested her cheek on him, and pretended that this was how it would have been if she hadn't kept her mouth shut so long. Fang shivered, but lay still. He curled up on the bed and Max let her hand drop. She turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, feeling her eyes water up.
"Fang!" a loud voice called out, and his door was slammed open. Iggy, sixteen and blind, ran over to the bed. Max rose and jumped off it just in time for him to land where she had been sitting. Fang didn't move. "Fang, it's time for us to go," he said, in a softer voice. "Fang? Will you please come with us this time?"
Fang shook his head almost imperceptibly. Of course, Iggy, didn't see this. "No," he mumbled quietly. "Maybe next time." His voice wavered, and almost cracked. Iggy nodded to himself and left, shutting the door behind him. Max could hear noise in the front of the house, young voices asking if Fang was coming, sad voices when Iggy answered no.
Fang... Max thought. She noticed his shoulders shaking and went around to the other side of his bed. Silent, bright tears slid down his face. His eyes were closed tight and so was his mouth. Giving in to a strange urge, Max moved her hand as if to brush the tears away, but nothing happened. She leaned close and closed her eyes, and pressed her ghost lips to his. She could almost feel his heartbeat. Fang shivered and leaned closer, and automatically she opened her lips to his.
For a few seconds, he thought he was dreaming. But then Fang opened his eyes and he could see a faint outline of what looked remarkably like Max. Half asleep, he kissed her back, feeling her as if she was still alive. He reached up to touch her face, and his fingers met something warm, almost like skin, before they slipped through. "Max," he murmured.
Her eyes snapped open. Fang's eyes were still closed, but the tears had stopped. His hand had almost rested on her cheek before it fell straight through her. She yanked herself away, catching herself before she fell flat on her butt. Had that just happened?
After all these months of trying and trying to reach through, this... Did this mean something had changed? Max held her hand up and peered at it. The air around where her fingers would be shimmered faintly, but as she breathed out, it flew away with a whisper on the air. She sighed and reached up to touch her lips, and felt the warmth there.
"Fang," she whispered. Her eyes widened in surprise. She could barely hear her voice, as if hearing a yell from far away on the wind. She said his name again and this time, it came out stronger.
Flames engulfed the building. Fang could hear several cries from within, but the only one he was really focused on was Max. He couldn't hear her and he couldn't see her, but somehow, he felt her. His eyes burned with the heat and his skin felt like it was blistering. He ran through the halls and stairways, throwing doors open. Flames licked along the surface of everything and the walls groaned with the pain of holding up something heavy.
"Fang!" a voice yelled out to him. "Fang, help me!" It sounded faintly like Max. He hurried to the sound of her voice, and found her. She was chained to a table and the fire taunted him, running up and down her legs and arms. She pulled at the chains with all her might but they looked like they were sixty pounds of solid steel. Max looked up at him, her eyes full of panic, and jerked at the chains. The table screeched across the floor, dragging bright orange fire.
Fang wasted no time, rushing over to Max and taking her in his arms, beating the flames away. Her skin was burned pretty badly, but the great building shook with the strain of holding up four fiery floors. He began to rip at the heavy chains as well, and found they were hot with the heat, and instantly dropped them. He looked up at Max, at her big, scared eyes. "Fang, go! Leave! The house is going to fall, save yourself!" she yelled at him, her throat scratching over the words. Too much smoke. She coughed loudly, a cough that sounded like it hurt as if her limbs were being torn off.
"I can't leave you Max! I can't leave! We are both walking out of here alive, you hear me? " He said, changing tactics. He pulled the chains out in one direction and raised his leg to kick the table. It was made of thick, solid wood and he barely made a dent in it. Suddenly he felt Max's arms around him. They trembled, probably with the pain she was in.
"I hear you, Fang, I do, but you have to leave! Can't you see, there is no way for us to get out of here alive if you stay and try to rescue me!" She began to cough again, and Fang continued kicking the table with all his might.
He shook his head and yelled back at Max. "I can't walk out of here without you," he replied. "I love you too much to let you go!" Her arms tightened around him just as the table splintered apart. He pulled the chains away from the table and tugged them off of her. "Come on, we're getting out of here," he told her. He picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling until her head rested on his shoulder.
"I... love," she managed to choke out, before her eyes fell closed and she coughed once. Her whole body shuddered with the strength of it and he felt warm blood on his skin before she went limp in his arms. He turned to the window and made a move to jump out, stopping when the frame collapsed in flames. Fine. The long way.
Fang turned and ran as fast as he could out the doorway and down the crumbling hall. In some places he had to jump over holes in the floor, and in others he leaned forward to shelter Max from the falling flames. Boards fell and the walls buckled, and he felt a hole yawn open in him. "Max!" He yelled out, turning to look at her. Her eyes were closed as if in sleep and her lips slightly parted, but when he touched her neck, he could feel no heartbeat. "Max!" he yelled again, his voice cracking at the end. "Max..."
He burst out from the heat into the cool night air. The noises of sirens and voices were around him as he put Max on the grass and started to push air in her mouth, pumping his hands on her chest. The flock surrounded him and Max, and he could feel cold tears fall on his back. "She's gone," a voice said. He shook his head furiously, breathing out into her mouth again. "Boy! She's gone, there's nothing you can do for her now!" The voice said, yelling at him. Rough hands pulled him away from Max's body. She was still warm with the heat.
"No! She can't be- can't be- gone!" Tears fell down his cheeks and he shuddered with the pain. Iggy, Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge wrapped him with their warmth, tears falling from their own eyes as well. Max's body lay silently on the grass.
In a dream she would have sat up to cough blood out of her throat, and fallen back again, breathing weakly but still alive. Her pulse would have been light and thready, but she would open her eyes and see the bits of flame the building threw out into the air, making shooting comets among the stars.
But this reality had been a nightmare, and Max lay there as firemen hurried around her and Fang, more than ten feet away, had to be restrained by the flock as he tried to reach her. Finally they gave way and he flew to her, huddling over her body and letting the tears fall onto her.
Fang jerked awake from the dream, the reality, and sat up in bed, breathing heavily. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and his hands trembled, and he could see the shimmering shape again, off in the corner.
Max rose, feeling herself become more real as she got closer to him. His dark eyes stared straight at her, wide but not scared. His mouth opened slightly and he sucked in a breath of air, and in that moment Max found her voice.
"I love you!" she yelled, and rushed to him. His arms raised and she was real, hidden in his arms. He held her to his chest, crying with joy now, and pushed his face into her hair. He could smell the faint strawberry scent of her. "I love you, I love you, I love you Fang!' She said into his chest, her voice muffled faintly by his shirt. He eased his grip around her and she sat up. She gripped his face with her hands, feeling his skin and his warmth. He was smiling sadly and she kissed him again, whispering, "I love you."
"Oh, Max," he said. "I miss you so much you wouldn't believe." It was as if they both knew, that after this she wouldn't be able to come back, that she would be gone for real. He rubbed the skin of her cheek with his thumb and kissed her again, and she clutched at him as she felt her skin heat up. It was as if she was in the fire again.
"Fang!" she cried out, hunching herself against him as if he would protect her. Fang cradled her softly, kissing her forehead and her cheeks and her lips, as she cried out for him again and again. Tears began to fall from her skin and it was all too real. She felt like a furnace beneath his fingers, and he wept for her. She coughed, hacking loudly, and he could see the blood inside her mouth, coating it. She was dying again.
"I love you Fang," she said, looking up into his eyes. He pressed a tender kiss to her forehead and ignored the burn of her, holding her.
"I know Max, I know, I love you so much you wouldn't believe," he said, blinking back tears. She arched her back and burst into flames, repeating her dying words once more.
"I... love." She burst apart in his arms, flying into the air. The words seemed to linger in the room, teasing his ears. Nothing remained of her but the burns on his hands and arms and the faint outline of her hand on his arm. Fang sighed, and feeling a sense of closure, leaned back and closed his eyes, falling into a peaceful sleep.
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