A/N: Hey y'all! Second fanfic, don't I feel accomplished. I wrote Fang's story and a little bit of the actual stuff. The rest is written by Bookaholic711. The majority of this chapter was written by her, but upcoming chapters are going to be by me mostly. Going to be in Max's point of view, but the story will be told by Fang. You don't have to review, but I would appreciate it and constructive criticism would improve my writing loads. If you have any suggestions for a title, send a message or review! Happy reading. ~Raggles
Hey everyone! Bookaholic711 here. Raggles and I are co-writing this, although the majority of the story will be her writing, anything that is actually happening will be written by me. Just wanted to let you know and happy reading people!
Neither theraggles or Bookaholic711 own Maximum Ride, in case being posted on Fan Fiction just wasn't obvious enough for you.
***
Well crap. Cue awkwardness.
Let's just say it was raining. And I mean really freaking rain. The kind of rain that just makes you want to hide under the covers and ignore the world.
The Flock and I were at Mom's for a little while, but she was away for the weekend. She'd left Ella with us and, naturally, Fang and I were in charge.
What we hadn't anticipated was the huge storm that was rolling in. Now don't get me wrong, we got some pretty big storms while we were living in Colorado. But none like this one. The wind blew so strongly that trees were being knocked down, the power was out, and the rain was pouring down so hard that it was painful to walk outside.
It was about 8:00 in the evening, and I had a problem. There was nothing to do. I mean I have a bunch of kids lying around with nothing to do. And the kids were pretty freaked about the storm, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't worrying me. I mean, freaking trees were falling over! That's not normal, is it?
So we were all sitting in Mom's living room, doing a grand total of nothing. I was squashed between Gazzy and Nudge, with Angel on my lap, all terrified. Iggy and Ella sat on another couch playing Sticks, which I wasn't quite sure how Iggy was doing, but he didn't seem to be cheating, so that wasn't a problem. Total, at the first lightning strike, had run straight up the stairs and presumably under Angel's bed. I guess thunderstorms and dogs don't mix. Who woulda thunk?
But did you notice who was missing?
Yes, the royal prince himself. I had absolutely no idea where he was, or even if he was in the house at all.
A huge crack of thunder had sounded, and the kids edged closer to me. Angel pressed her face into my shoulder. "I'm scared, Max."
I had held back a sigh, knowing that it would just make her feel bad. I had to do something about these kids.
"I know, Ange. But it's okay. It's just a thunderstorm, and it'll pass. Why don't you go to bed?"
"I don't think I can sleep."
Suddenly, I had had a fantastic idea. Something I hadn't done in years, but I hoped it would take the kids' minds off of the storm.
"Well, why don't we all go upstairs?" I had suggested. "I'll tell you guys a story."
Iggy perked up. "Max? Tell a story? Oh this is going to be good. Do we have an invitation?" he said indicating to Ella and himself.
I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
Well, looking back, there were a lot of reasons why not, but unfortunately, I hadn't thought of them at the time.
And so Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Ella, Iggy and I had made our way upstairs. We stationed ourselves in the room Nudge and Angel were sharing, because I figured they would probably fall asleep.
Angel, Gazzy and Nudge squeezed onto one bed, with Gazzy on the outside and Angel smoshed in the middle. Iggy and Ella sat on the other, leaning against the wall. Everyone looked at me expectantly.
Oops. Time to come up with an actually story.
"Well?" Iggy had asked impatiently. "Any day now is good."
I had cleared my throat.
"Once upon a time," I said, "in a land far, far away, there were two kids."
"Bird kids?" Angel asked.
"Of course," I replied. Might as well shake things up a bit. "Anyway, there were two bird kids, a boy and a girl."
"What were their names?" Angel interrupted again.
Iggy stifled his laughter and said, sounding very serious, "Max and Fang."
"Oh, shut up," I said. "I'm telling the story. Their names were—"
"Max and Fang," a voice said.
I turned to tell Iggy to shut up again, until I realized that it wasn't him talking. I whipped around.
A dripping wet Fang stood in the doorway. His soaking hair fell into his eyes, and his trademark smirk sat on his face.
"What?" I asked.
"Their names were Max and Fang," Fang replied.
Iggy snickered again. "And it was a love story."
So, welcome to now. Cue the awkwardness. Time to go over possible reactions. 1) No response. 2) Screw the Flock; wrap my arms around Fang's neck and kiss the hell out of him. 3) Roll my eyes and continue the story like Iggy hadn't spoken.
Truth be told, I hadn't actually figured out all the confusing feelings I had about Fang. He was like a brother, but recently, well, the figurative fecal matter was starting to hit the figurative fan, and I was starting to feel some other stuff.
But now wasn't the time to contemplate my heart. Now was the time to respond before Iggy got any ideas. In snap judgment, I chose option 3) Roll my eyes and continue the story like Iggy hadn't spoken.
"So anyway the two bird kids in the land far, far away were going for an adventure, to a mysterious castle. They were just taking off when…"
A huge crack of thunder rolled across the sky, and lightning flashed in the window. Angel and Nudge held tightly to each other, Gazzy tried to look strong, but I even saw Ella jump and grab Iggy's arm.
"Hey, it's okay guys," I said, going over and putting my arms around Gazzy. It's just thunder."
Another horrible boom ripped through the night, and Angel burst into tears. Nudge moved closer to her, freaked out, and Gazzy buried his head in my shoulder. Iggy wrapped his arm around Ella, who looked sufficiently scared.
I didn't quite know what to do. The fear of thunder is irrational, but even I was getting a little freaked by it. I looked up at Fang, who was just standing there, staring at us, for help.
To my surprise, he complied. Squatting down beside the bed, his hand on blanket next to Gazzy's leg, he picked up the story. "They were just taking off when The Evil Bird Kid came down and swooped up into the sky all of Max and Fang's supplies clutched in his arms.
"'No!' Fang yelled. They needed those supplies, if they were going to go on their adventure. They stared off after him as he flew South.
"Max and Fang knew exactly where the EBK was going: the same place as they were. Of course everyone in Flockland knew that off in the far south, there was a beautiful village, called Mesa that was home to a very special artifact. It was called The World and supposedly could control the entire world's environment. In the wrong hands, every plant would wither and the air would become gross and polluted.
"Max had been born to become The World's next keeper, the one person to keep The World from harm. This was her destiny, her job. The EBK needed to be stopped. So it was up to Max and Fang to save The World."