(A/N; I don't own anything... Thanks for reminding me to put this up.)
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They had him. She could see that clearly, four of them had descended upon him and were struggling to restrain him.
There were hundreds of them. Hundreds of wolfy winged Erasers flying around in the night blotting out the stars like a black curtain.
Claws were tearing at her, pulling feathers from her wings and she could hear the others fighting for their very lives.
But all she could see was him. His dark hair falling into his face his wings beating the wind, trying to break free from the monsters that held him.
They were going to tear him apart, literally. Tear him limb from limb and let his mangled corpse fall to the earth like so much refuse and old leaves.
She wished she hadn't left. She wished they hadn't flown away from home. She may not have been able to trust Jeb again, but she knew she could trust him. She should have listened and stayed home. She should have kept her Flock home.
But now it was too late. Now they were going to die.
She screamed his name and their eyes connected across the moonlit expanse between them, "FANG!"
His face went slack and for a moment she saw an overwhelming sea of emotion swelling there, love, fear, sadness, regret … Hate.
He bared his teeth and inhaled, she could hear the hiss of the air as it was sucked through his nostrils. He opened his mouth and for a moment nothing happened, then he screamed and a dark light exploded from where he hung in mid air.
It blinded her. She felt the claws rake her skin and she threw her bruised and torn arm over her face to shield herself from the light.
She could hear him screaming in rage and it echoed like thunder in the valley. She felt an arctic wind blast past her like a shockwave and she was thrown through the air, tumbling head over heels beating her wings against the sudden wind.
She cried his name once more but she couldn't hear it above his wail.
Then the light blinked out and everything went quiet.
She stared around and saw above and below her the terrified faces of her Flock. Every single Eraser was gone, as if they had never been. She looked around but couldn't even see their silhouettes on the horizon as they flew off. They were gone, devoured by the dark light.
FANG!
Her head whipped forward and she saw him, plummeting through the air his body limp his eyes closed.
FLY GIRL, FLY! And she streaked toward him at light speed snatching him from the air and landing hard. She stumbled under his weight and fell her face pressed into his stomach.
She heard the Flock landing around her, heard their feet hitting the well packed earth of the forest floor. But the only one she could see was him.
He looked blue in the moonlight his face slack eyes closed mouth open gasping in lungful after lungful of cool mountain air.
She took his hand and rubbed it, hoping to draw some warmth in his suddenly cold body. She brushed the hair from his face knowing that in a few seconds it would be right back in his eyes.
He whimpered and an agonized expression spread across his pale face.
She felt a tingling in the back of her mind and felt a faint pain in her stomach and her head. It took her a moment to realize exactly what she was experiencing.
"Water, he needs water," She turned to Nudge who nodded and began a frantic search of her backpack.
Max turned her attention back to him, knowing that the pain she felt wasn't her own, but was his. Somehow he was making her feel his pain, literally.
"Just relax, you're going to be OK."
He didn't move, but his hand tightened on hers.
She ran her hand through his hair again and noticed something odd in the usually black locks.
White. He had a white streak hanging into his face.
Nudge shoved a bottle of water into her hands and she slipped an arm beneath his shoulders, lifting him. She could feel him trembling as the bottle touched his lips.
A thin stream of water trickled from the corner of his mouth and dribbled down the side of his neck. He swallowed greedily, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down in the porcelain sheathe of his throat.
He drained the whole bottle then tossed it aside panting. After a moment he opened his eyes and stared up at her helplessly.
Max held him close, rocking him back and forth silently.
Suddenly four more pairs of arms wrapped around them, holding tightly to the dark angel lying on the ground.
Max could hear Angel whispering something to the bear Celeste and Total was wiggling at her side, trying to lick at Fang's face. They stayed like this for a long time, huddled together in the night, comforting one of their own.
After nearly ten minutes of this Fang opened his mouth, his voice was thin, strained, but somehow more powerful than it had ever been. "I'm OK."
One by one they peeled off of him, rubbing tears from their eyes. Max reluctantly let him go and he sat up, his wings trembled in their hawk like position and he hung his head between his knees.
He raised his hands and stared down at them for a moment, flexing his fingers and turning them, palms up then palms down. So this is what it felt like to have powers?
He laughed in his head, a sad, half crazy chuckle. When he'd seen those Erasers on Max, on all of them he'd … He'd…
It had been like someone had opened a door inside him. Like all his life he'd been stuck in clothes that were too small and someone had finally let him have ones that fit properly.
He'd felt relief, like a weight had been lifted from him. He had opened his mouth expecting to put up an even bigger fight, and he'd screamed in fury. A fury he had never before experienced.
The only thing he'd been able to think about was that those Erasers were hurting his family. His Flock…
He'd been angry like this once before, when he'd kicked Ari's butt. But then, the anger had been pent up inside him and he couldn't let it out, it had welled but not exploded as it had tonight. Something about tonight made him snap, made him relax enough to let his abilities come through.
He just hadn't expected what happened next. He hadn't expected to suddenly be able to vaporize one hundred Erasers with his mind. The power had taken over and he'd only just been able to stop himself from killing the Flock.
If he'd kept going he would have. He would have killed them all, himself included.
But he didn't. That was the final test, he was able to stop himself. He could control it.
He raised his head and stared at the ashen faces of the Flock. "I'm Ok, now … Just a little freaked out."
Nudge snorted, "You and me both!"
He climbed to his feet and stood there trembling for a moment flexing his wings.
Max stood, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear, "Can you fly?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
She gave his arm a squeeze and turned to the Flock, "Up and Away!"
They took to the skies again, flying ever onward.
Max felt his wingtips brush her own, and she turned to him smiling. The wind was throwing his hair away from his face, and the now white streak shimmered silver in the night.
He smiled at her and she knew he was thanking her he didn't have to speak to tell her that. The smile was enough.
Max smiled to herself and looked to her left at Gazzy and Iggy, flying side by side, wing tips touching. Total had his head peeking out of the 'Total-tote' as he had called it his tongue out smiling at the night sky.
She motioned to Fang who looked over at them and rolled his eyes.
Max gave him a long, almost mournful look and bit her lip. She didn't say anything, the look was enough.
Fang smiled at her gave three hard flaps and sailed forward ahead of the group a dark angel in the heavens.
. .
(A/N: Okay, people, I've got what you want... Now what are you willing to do for it? I've written two different versions of this fic, using the first chapter you've just read, now, which version do you want? They're both really different, let me assure you. Version one leads down a path of darkness that not everyone will survive. Version two leads down the weathered path of a 'fun happy fic'. Which will you choose? Which will prevail? Which of these two Versions will be posted and end the lamentable tale of The Fang of Death?
It's all up to you people. All you have to do is leave a comment with this chapter 'Which I'm going to remove as soon as I'm satisfied with which version I should post' explaining which version you want, and why I should post that one.
It's really simple, both versions are good, but I'm only posting one, the other I'm going to put in the recycle bin of my computer until it AUTO DELETES it, then I won't have to worry about it anymore.
Yeah, I'm being a jerk, but this is big, man, BIG. Which one, which one...)