OMG! I feel loved! So many people have favorited and alerted this story! And 6 reviews already!
I love ya'll!
Mountains of hugs and Iggy Love to anyone reading this!
WARNING! Non-graphic sexual abuse! Consider yourself warned!
Moe10: Thanks for the review! I'll keep that in mind! As to the other part of your reviw… I won't say here cause of potential spoilers.
Kalianna Loralei: Aw! Thanks! I love nice reviews! They make my day! I always felt bad for Iggy, too! He's by far my favorite character!
Um… my email and internet is jacked up, so I'm sorry to those who got left out. And I usually try and send a private reply as well, so if I forgot to include you here, you can check you emails and see if I responded to you!
Pandorad23: (I think I got your username right… my internet's down, so I can't check.) Thanks for the review! I'm a spoiler Nazi, so I'm not giving any answers! …Though you'll probably get the answer to your question in the warning. 'Creeper' is dead on though. (;
On this chapter, I've done a bit of research to see the effect of a blind person getting their sight back. It's really an interesting subject… I found myself reading it for fun. Anyhow, I'm gonna try and make this as real as possible, but the process is going to be sped up for the sake of the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own.
I sincerely apologize for the Max/Fang fluff later in the chapter. It made me almost puke just writing. (I'm not a Fax person if you can't tell. I really just plain don't like Max.)
When I wake up, I can see.
I gasp at the sudden assault of light on my eyes and squint them shut as quickly as possible. My eyes are burning at the brightness, and even through my closed lids, I can still feel the light burning me.
I turn and bury my face into my inner elbow, trying to replacate the darkness I'm accustmed to, but I can't quite seem to get there.
"Dim the lights. Please. Too bright," I whine, hoping someone's standing there to hear me.
"They are dimmed," I hear the guard's voice say. "This is a prison, below ground floor. This is the darkest place in the building, as are all basements!"
"Dim them more!" I demand impatiently.
"The only thing dimmer is no lights!" he yells back at me, obviously annoyed and angry.
"Then do that!" I say, just as annoyed and angry and he is.
He just laughs, and doesn't speak to me again.
Slowly, I pull face out of my elbow, and wait to become accustomed to that. Then, I try and relax my eyes from their squinted posistion, to just closed and get used to that. The process is much like getting into cold water and waiting each couple steps to get used to the temperature, except much more slow and painful.
Eventually, I get to where I can open eyes while squinting away from the light.
"Ah, Igneus. you're awake, I see."
I turn my head over to where the voice was coming from. I see a figure next to what I assume the guard is.
It takes me a second to comprehend that this another person. Then, have to take a second to analyze the voice, and realize it's Master.
Seeing is harder than I remember.
"How are your eyes? You may respond."
I bite my lip, trying to think of the best way to reply. I finally settle on honesty.
"They hurt," I whisper, "especially in the light."
"Come here." I stand reluctantly, and walk over to the bars of the cell.
Master does something with his hands and the guard comes over and unlocks the cell. I commit the gesture he made to memory, once I realize that it meant for the guard to move forward.
I walk through the doorway and stand in front of Master. My eyes are still squinted and averted from the light.
He lifts my chin with two fingers, and I have to squint my eyes even more, because this causes me to have to look more directly into the light.
Master chuckles at this and instrusts me to open my eyes.
I try and manage to, but I can feel the involuntary tears running out of the corners of my eyes.
He pulls out a small light and shines it in my left eye. I whimper in pain and he chuckles again. He repeats the action with the right eye, before releasing my chin and putting the flashlight away.
I drop my head immediately and try and block out the light again.
"Well, number nine, the good news is that your eyes appear to be healing up very well. It will take some time for you to adjust to seeing again. Your mind will try and work from the wrong part to comprehend stuff, and you won't put items together by what they are and what they look like. But with your healing abilities, and the fact that you lost your sight rather than being born blind, should speed up the process considerably.
"Until then, we'll do exercizes. Once your better, we can work on controlling your, ablitiy, shall we say? Do you have anything to say to me?"
"Th-thank you, Master."
"Thank me for what?" he prompts
"Thank you for giving me my sight."
He strokes my cheek lovingly, making flinch and shudder. "You're quite welcome, my pet."
Max's POV
"Dammit!" I curse, as we fly over to landscape for the trillionth time, with still no sight of Iggy. "What happened to him?"
"Max, it'll be OK. Iggy's tougher than we give him credit for. We'll find him," says Fang.
"Thanks," I mumble, grabbing hand, though all I can think about is while at the school, just after his operation, how he was taken away again, and not given back until just before Jeb got us out. I have no clue what happened to him, but after getting back, it took him awhile to get used to being around people.
I never asked him about it, figureing that it was something he wanted to deal with alone. The fact that he speant much of his time at the school away from us, is probably a lot of the reason he's never been as close to us older kids. Hm, I've never really thought about it like that before though. I scowl guiltily. Probably because none of us really ever think about him enough anyhow.
Truth to tell, I hadn't realized how much we needed Iggy until he was gone. Yeah, yeah, corny line, I know, but it's true.
He can cook, build explosives, start a fire, super-hear, and if nothing else, the way he could so easily add levity to a situation is extremely needed. He keeps us sane.
I gather my thoughts and decide that taking a break for the night is what will be best for the flock.
"Everyone!" I call in my authortative leader voice, "we're stopping for the night! Find a good stop and we're landing!"
"What about Iggy?" cried Gazzy. "We can't just stop looking for him! He'd never stop looking for us! Never!" There were tears running down his face and he wiped at them angrily.
I was surprised at the outburst, but not really. He and Iggy were best friends and he'd been such a trooper the past days. It really was incredible he'd kept it together this long.
But once I listened to the words, I realized that they hurt. Because I was thinking the same thing.
"Gazzy, sweetie, I'm sorry, but we need to rest. We can't be at our best if we're falling out of the sky with fatigue and we need to be at our best to save Iggy. Alright?" I say, flying level to Gazzy's eyes and speaking sympathetically.
He nods reluctantly and turns his head away in anger.
I sigh, wishing I could react the same way, but I couldn't. I had to be leader. That meant doing what was best for the flock.
Iggy's POV
I curl up in my cell after a long day of tests and excercizes about my sight. I can and comprehend what I'm looking at much better now, but not much.
So far the thing most clear to me is Master's face. His short and perfectly groomed salt and pepper hair. His pale skin. His chissled, sharp features and the way he always tilts his face up, so he's looking down at you. But mostly his striking ice-blue eyes, that seem to pierce every sercret I have.
I hold myself tighter, as I remember everything that that man has done to me.
"Igneous."I whimper at the voice that I know all too well. I just want him to go away.
Please, please, not again. Not today.
I want to form the words, but know the punishment if I do.
Instead, I convince myself to get on my knees and bow my head, as Master taught me.
"Good boy," he says coming near me. He kneels in front of me and lifts my chin. "Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are? Espellically your eyes, even if they are blind."
I try not to shudder as his hand maps out my face, tracing my jawline, around my eyes, my mouth…
Suddenly, I feel his lips press against mine. I gasp, allowing him entrance, his tongue exploring the contours of my mouth.
I don't struggle, knowing what happened last time I tried. But I couldn't stop the tears and he reached down, in between my legs…
I force myself out of the memory.
Oh god, I hope he's not attracted to me anymore. Please tell me he doesn't like older boys. Please, please, I beg silently to myself.
A little voice in the back of my head though, tells me it's not likely. Calling me 'pretty' and the way he'd stroked my face.
I about puke at the thought, but don't. I don't want to lose what little I have in my stomach.
"Igneous."
I wince at the familiar voice, wanting to escape it.
"Ready for your training?"
Ah! That flashback I wrote is the most graphic thing I've ever wrote.
Did I do it OK? I didn't want it to be too graphic, as I'm not comfortable writing that.
Please, review!
