Words: 1458
Rating: K+
Takes place: TAE, SOF, STWAOES, TFW, MAX, FANG, ANGEL
Author Notes: I don't hate Max as a character. Just thought I'd let you know, because she's not favorably portrayed in this.
Disclaimer: I'm not Jimmy P. Why, do I look like him? Therefore, I do not own MR or any of its characters.
The day Maximum Ride soared into my life, everything changed. And not for the better.
My life had always been normal, simple, ordinary. There was no School, no Itex, no apocalypse, and definitely no Maximum Ride. My life was made up of soccer practice and getting beaten up every other day, helping my mom with work or making dinner and walking dogs. And I was happy with it like that. Sure, it was bland, it was ordinary, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Then Maximum Ride came into the story.
I was engaging in my favorite after-school and weekend activity- namely, mouthing off to some kids who could kick me from there to Alaska. I wasn't too worried, I was handling it- it was the type of thing I did often. I picked fights a lot.
And then, lo and behold, down came Maximum, like an angel descending from on high, all high and mighty and completely taking over, ordering me to leave and telling me that she would handle it. I was angry, but I didn't argue- I just headed back home, seething.
Later, after dinner, I brought Magnolia out for a walk, and found Maximum Ride herself, with a shot-up wing. I felt bad that I had felt so angry at her, and brought her inside to Mom, to get fixed up. I was also, on the inside, completely freaking out. I mean, the kid had wings!
Mom fixed her up, and Max spent the next few days with us, and I found myself actually kinda getting along with her. She was funny, you know? But really nervous and twitchy. Blah blah blah, she flew off to save Angel, we didn't even hear from her for another few months until she turned up asking Mom to take a chip out of her arm. Mom did so, and in the process shot Max up with Valium. The results were, in a word, hilarious. It was awesome.
Then she and her tall, dark and snarky friend Fang flew off and we didn't hear from them for another few months when it turns out Max is my sister. Yes, that's right, my freakin' half-sister. And Mom had never mentioned this why?
But what was worse was that, suddenly, I was invisible. Mom had a new daughter now, after all, and it was like, Ella who? I wasn't interesting like Max. I was bland and boring and normal Ella Martinez, while she was exotic, fascinating, winged Maximum Ride. Everything was about her and her saving-the-world thing, and her flock and her boy problems. Ella? Who was Ella? I wasn't good enough to deserve any attention; I was in the background, forgotten, ignored, just Max's half-sister.
Max disappeared to Antarctica, and I was hoping that everything would be back to normal between me and Mom, but noooo, everything was about Max, Max, Max.
When Max returned from the Antarctic, she once again replaced me in the eyes of my mother. Max and I were two different worlds; Max had everything I had, only everything she had was better. I had a boring, bland life in Suburbia; she had a life of adventure, from New York to Africa to Antarctica. I had a great mom; she had a close-knit, loving family, plus a great mom. I had a huge, unrequited crush on Iggy; she had two guys vying for her attention. I had Magnolia; she had a talking, flying dog. I had been in the local newspaper once; she had mangas about her 'awesome' adventures, was known all over the world and had her face pasted on every newspaper from her to Timbuktu.
Max starts doing shows for the CSM, and everything is about how everyone will simply love the flock and their air-shows, and how the flock simply couldn't work in Mexico City due to the polluted air.
And then Mom gets kidnapped, and it's Max's fault. Everyone is worried about how poor Max is doing, and what Max thinks about the kidnapping, and how does Max feel? I want to scream- she's my mother too, she's been my mother all of my life!
I want to slap Max across the face. Mom is gone and all she can think about is how haaaawt Fang is. The Flock jet off to go on a submarine to save Mom, while I'm left at home twiddling my thumbs.
Ella who?
After Max and co. save Mom, they shoot off to Africa to help people. They're gone for a while, and slowly, slowly, my life starts to right itself. Me and Mom make chocolate chip cookies. I help Mom with the CSM. I get beaten up and attend soccer practice. Mom stops raving about Max twenty-four-seven.
And then, bada-bing- Max is back, broken hearted. Fang has upped and left, and poor Max has been left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.
She angsts and angsts, and basically abandons her flock to sob her little heart out.
Me and Nudge hang out; I play with Angel; I read books to Iggy; I help Gazzy clean up after his experiments so Mom doesn't notice. And slowly, gradually, I come to love the Flock like they're my family. They're so much more likable than Max- not big-headed, not pompous, not ego-filled. They're just genuine, abused kids who have never had a home.
I don't shun Angel, as Max does. Sure, her power is slightly creepy, but that's not her fault. She's a sweet kid, friendly, and she sticks up for Max. She idolizes Max, and Max treats her like she's the Anti-Christ.
Doctor Gunther-Hagen and Jeb arrive and rave about Max some more, talking about how super-duper and talented she is, and how soon, she will be queen of the world! (No, I am seriously not kidding) She and the flock and Jeb and the doctor and Mom go to a school for mutants to have a look around, and I'm left at home.
Ella who?
And then, after the crash, I'm the one staying at the clinic with the Flock. They can't figure out what medicine to use for Nudge and Iggy, due to the DNA thing, so they're left without painkillers while they're being sewed up. I feel like I want to kill Max. I'm the one holding Iggy's and Nudge's hand while they're being sewed up trying to persuade Gazzy to talk, helping Mom and Jeb, while Max is off making out with Dylan somewhere in the desert.
I feel like I hate her.
And while I do all this, I slowly find myself wishing that I was in the Flock, that I was one of them. That Max wasn't in the flock, that I was Nudge's sister and Angel's idol and Gazzy's 'mom'. I find myself criticizing every decision Max makes- she doesn't care about what the flock thinks, she does what she wants when she wants and to hell with anyone else's opinion.
I want to have wings, to fly like they do.
Angel disappears to find Max, and the rest of us stay at home.
That's when they approach me.
I want to help. I want to help to save the world, to do something Max isn't. While Max is off angsting about whether to date Fang or Dylan, I want to help. I want to, just once, be a hero. To be seen.
Me and Iggy join the Doomsday Group- known amongst it's members as the DDG, or Dee-Dee-Gee. When Max comes home, we try to show her that here, here is an easy way to save the world- just follow the One Light.
In truth, I think the One Light is a pretty cheesy name, but it makes sense to me. They've done something to my mind, made me believe this so completely, so entirely. I can't explain it- I just know that the DDG is trying to help, that killing all the humans is the right thing to do.
Iggy and I bring Max and Dylan and Angel to one of the rallies- I don't want to bring Max. The DDG is mine. I don't want her stealing that away from me too.
They kidnap Iggy. I hate her even more. Why does she do this? Iggy and I were happy, happy with the DDG, but nooooo, Max must always. Be. Right.
We head out to the School, and I'm happy. I'm noticed. People notice me. I'm no longer bland-boring-Ella-the-invisible. I'm liked, I have people who like me not just because I'm Maximum Ride's half-sister.
Then Max turns back up and kidnaps me. They stick me in a hot spring, and I feel like I'm going to die. Everything grey and cold and hot, way too hot, but I'm shivering, and pain is shooting up my veins and I hate Max so much and everything hurts.
Max is acting all high-and-mighty. Look, she practically screams. I just saved the helpless damsel in distress. I'm so great, look at me.
I can't stay without trying to strangle her. I leave.
Ella who?