*This one's for chanceXinfinity. Exactly what she asked for was "Could you make a really Figgy-filled chapter where Iggy is in danger and Fang comes to his rescue, like a knight in shining armor with flowing midnight hair?" I was taken at 'flowing midnight hair' and just had to do it. hehehe.*

It started out innocent, as it always does, but nothing's fun until the skinny, awkward red head gets into a sticky situation, right? Right.

It was his own fault, but he couldn't really be blamed. The whole thing was a little funny, though, once you get past the slightly awful part.

Max, Fang, and Iggy were all playing outside, having a grand time. The trees at the very back of the grassy yard were perfect for climbing. The branches were like arms or chairs, perfect for sitting in, but close enough to the other branches so that climbing up wasn't so hard; only fun. Iggy had quite a knack for climbing trees, and was usually the first one up, and today wasn't any different.

Iggy had many strange talents. He could cook, which no nine year old, regardless of genetic mutation, should be able to do well. He could also wire a bomb all by himself, which was a little frightening, at the least, but sort of cool, none the less, considering he was completely blind. But what was really impressive was that Iggy could make fire out of anything. ANYTHING. If you left the kid alone in a room with a gym sock and a glass of water, he could make it burn. He was crazy, a little red headed madman with freckles and a grin that was so mischievous, it would kill you with sheer anticipation of what he was going to do next. He was absolutely nuts, and wise cracking on top of that. Max thought he was a little overbearing. Fang thought he was perfect.

Fang had missed the 'old' Iggy, from back when he could see. He was loud and sarcastic and just…funny. He was the perfect playmate, even when they were trapped in cages. Iggy always came up with games they could play between the bars: clapping games, cats cradle with shoe laces (which he secretly collected. Don't ask how, nobody knows.), and ways to make even the worst experiments and tests not so bad. But after his sight was taken away, he had changed. He became quiet and introverted, hardly speaking and getting startled at everything. He was fearful of his surroundings, the eternal darkness making him feel miserably alone. But now, he was bouncing back. It had been almost a year since he lost his sight, but he was getting much better. He wasn't the same…not yet, but he was becoming 'Iggy' again, not 'Blind Iggy', just 'Iggy', and it made everyone happy, especially Fang. It was like meeting his best friend all over again.

Anyway, the kids were having quite a good time in the tree, just climbing sitting and talking. Jeb had brought out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which they ate as they climbed, seeing who could get the highest without dropping it.

"Aw my sandwich." Fang pouted as his PB&J fell to the ground. He jumped down easily, extending his raven wings to break the fall (none of them could fly quite yet…Fang was getting close, though!) and retrieved his sandwich and took a bite. A little dirt never hurt anyone.

"Ew Fang! Don't eat it off the ground!" Max scolded, hiding a giggle. Iggy laughed.

"It's okay. He's already full of sh—"

"IGGY!" Max shouted, stopping him before he said the 's word', though she was laughing as well. Fang scurried up the tree again, his sandwich placed safely between his teeth as he took a seat on a branch next to Iggy, whose sandwich was already almost gone.

"Bet I can climb higher than you, Max"

"No way. I got higher than you the other day, remember?"

"I bet I can get higher than that."

"I smell a contest." Said Fang, straddling the thick branch and scooting out of the way.

"You first, Max." Iggy said with a smirk that was meant to be right at Max, but it was more at the squirrel's nest just to the left of Max…What Iggy didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Fang certainly wasn't going to tell him. He had been back to his old self lately, and Fang didn't want him to have a relapse.

"Okay! I'll go all the way to the top!"

"Yah I'll believe it when I see it." Iggy said, then laughed. "Which will probably be never." Fang pulled Iggy into him from behind, giving him a sort of backwards hug.

"I'm sure you'll see her someday. But I don't think she can get higher than you." Fang said, nuzzling Iggy's strawberry hair with his nose. He liked the way it smelled. Iggy always used Max's conditioner by mistake, and that mixed with the 'boy shampoo' created a sort of…good smell. Fang didn't know how to explain it, but he liked it.

"Mehh!" Max tossed back, sticking her tongue out at the boys. "I'm sticking my tongue out at you, Iggy!"

"I'm mentally whooping your butt!"Iggy replied, Fang's arms still around him, keeping him up on the branch, the other's long, black hair tickling his arms as strands ran past his skin in the breeze.

Max climbed up the wide lower branches like a ladder, the familiar limbs had been committed to memory. She scurried up quickly at first, but began slowing as the limbs became smaller and thinner; less familiar. Though she was only about nine years old and with semi-hollow bones to boot, she was getting nervous that the thin branches wouldn't be able to hold her, but none the less, she continued climbing with a smile, determined to beat Iggy, the previous climbing champion.

Shortly after the branches began to sway under her weight, Max stopped climbing, looking down at Fang with a smile.

"Okay! I did it! I climbed as high as I can!"

"Tie a shoelace around the branch so we can see who climbed higher." Fang suggested. Max unlaced one of her sneakers and tied the shoelace to the nearest branch before carefully climbing down the tree, back to the lower branch Fang and Iggy were sitting on.

"Kay my turn." Iggy said, shoving the last little bit of sandwich in his mouth before standing up from where he was sitting against Fang. Instead of starting on the lowest branch where Max did, he jumped, grabbing the branch directly above his head and climbing up. He did this all the way up, making record time as well as height, easily surpassing Max's pink shoelace. It was amazing. Though he couldn't see the branches, he found the right ones quickly and easily, his eyes flicking eagerly as he climbed. It wasn't until he literally ran out of branches to grab that he stopped. He was at least fifty feet off of the ground. Max made it up about thirty.

"Whoa! Iggy you're all the way at the top how do you stay up there?" Fang called up to him. Iggy shrugged, his eyes facing the vista as if looking over the distant mountains.

"I dunno. The little branches are sort of scary, but I can't see them shake and stuff, so I don't get scared…" Max nodded, a reasonable reason.

"Well, you win! Come on down we'll go inside and watch…er…put in a movie." Max suggested, careful not to mention 'seeing' since Iggy always picked up on it, even if he didn't say so. He just lost his luster when someone shouted 'whoa did you see that!' or 'lets go watch cartoons!', so they all tried not to use those words to make Iggy feel better.

"Okay." Iggy said, but he didn't come down. He just sat there.

"You okay, Ig?" Fang asked, standing and grabbing the tree limb just above his head, worried that Iggy may have gotten himself stuck.

"Yup."

"What are you doing? Climb down! Do you need help?" Max asked. "I can try to climb up there…"

"Nope." Iggy answered simply. He shifted his position slightly, rolling his shoulders. Then he extended his creamy white wings, and Max and Fang knew exactly what he was doing.

"Iggy you can't do that! Jeb said to start on the ground first!" Max protested, frightened Iggy would fall and hurt himself.

"Yah Ig," Fang agreed, "Maybe you should climb down…at least start lower…" Iggy ignored them and poised himself, getting into a sort of squatting position on the skinny branch he was perched on.

"Iggy please!" Max pleaded, truly worried for his safety. "I don't want you to get hurt please come down!" But he hardly heard her. He straightened his wings out behind him, then moved them together, the ends of the longest feathers extending far above his head. He flapped once, as if practicing, and straightened his legs with as much force he could muster, and took off into the air, extending his wings smoothly, perfectly, as if he had been flying his entire life.

"Wow…" Fang said in awe, watching as Iggy glided above the house, flapping occasionally when he began to sink down. "Max look at him go!" Max said nothing, just watched, her mouth agape in awe at Iggy's light wings, the creamy brown tips curling ever so slightly upwards as he turned.

"Guys! I did it!" he called, "This is really cool!" he laughed, in total joy. Flying finally gave him freedom from everything; there was nothing to hinder him in the air. It didn't matter that he couldn't see. All that mattered was that he was in the air, and that the wind was in his face, and that he was in total control of everything around him. The sky was at his mercy! He was free—

Max and Fang's smiles vanished in a hurry when Iggy hit the chimney, just like a bird against a windshield. His wings crumpled around his body as he fell to the flat roof, landing with a thud Max and Fang could hear all the way from across the yard.

"Oh gosh! Iggy!" Max called, jumping out of the tree and running to the house, climbing the trellis up to the roof, something Jeb frowned upon, but in this case, Max didn't mind breaking the rules. Fang followed quickly behind her, jumping into the air and flying as far as he could, for it was far faster than walking.

Fang reached Iggy's skinny little body first, leaving Max at the edge of the roof, holding a hand up for her to stop and stay away. Iggy's nose was crooked and bleeding, his left arm bent the wrong way, and a huge scrape running across the entire side of his body, his Aerosmith tee shirt ripped from the top of his ribcage to the hem.

Fang sat him up, hurriedly brushing his waist-length hair out of his face and behind his ears, his dark indigo eyes wide and focused only on Iggy. He rushed to take his shoe off, placing Iggy's head on his lap, and pulled off his sock. He put it under Iggy's nose to catch the blood. The smell wasn't important at the time. It was the sock or the underwear, and Max was right behind him.

"Iggy." He coaxed, brushing the red hair off of the other's forehead. "Ig you okay?" he asked again, more urgently. Iggy's crystalline blue eyes fluttered open, and he immediately yelped in pain, grabbing his broken arm with his other hand. Fang grabbed him, scared he would hurt himself further, and just held the smaller boy against himself, holding him in a tight hug, partially because he wanted to restrain Iggy, but also because he loved him, and he loved the fact that Iggy was okay.

"Fang it hurts!" Iggy shouted through gushing tears and a bloodied nose. Not only was Iggy's shirt ruined, but now Fang's was too, drenched in a teary, bloody mix.

"Max to get Jeb." Fang said, looking back at Max, who had approached and was looking over his shoulder, also crying.

"Okay!...Is he okay?"

"Yah just go get Jeb." He said as she turned and jumped off the roof, extending her wings to break the fall.

Though he was nervous about going to the hospital, Fang came with Iggy and Jeb. Jeb had decided it was the best thing to do, since he had to get his arm fixed, and the procedure was so simple, they wouldn't even see his wings. He was right, of course, and Fang sat next to him as they set his skinny arm and wrapped it in a cast twice the width of his shoulder.

"You okay, Kiddo?" Jeb asked after the doctor left.

"Yup." Iggy answered with a quick nod and a smile.

"Does it hurt?" Jeb inquired, picking up his cast, which was wrapped in blue on Fang's request.

"At first it did, but now it's okay. This thing is heavy, though." He said, and in fact he was tilted a bit to one side as he sat, the cast weighing down his lightweight body. "Hey can I have a candy bar?" he asked with a meek sort of smile. Iggy didn't ask for much, but when he did, he was very thankful when he received it.

"Sure, Bud. I'll be right back." Fang stayed behind to keep Iggy company. He sat on the foot of the hospital bed and tapped Iggy's hand so his friend would know where he was.

"You fell pretty hard." Fang said, pulling his hair out of it's loose ponytail and pulling it back again, tighter this time.

"Yah…it was pretty cool at first, though." Iggy smiled, his two front teeth only halfway grown in, leaving a gap when he grinned.

"It was really cool. You're the first one to ever fly." Iggy beamed. He hadn't thought about that.

"You have a black eye, too, from breaking your nose."

"Yah…I think that hurts more than my arm. Noses are gross. You know that feeling you get when you hit it real hard?"

"Yah…"

"It feels like your nose totally wants to throw up." he said, sticking his tongue out, scrunching up his nose, wrinkling the thick layer of gauze that had been placed there to hold the bone in place. Fang laughed.

"I guess that's about right."

"It's sorta creepy in here…it smells like the school, sort of…only…cleaner, I guess…less nasty. No White Coats stunk it up in here."

"White Coats smell?"

"Yah like road kill." Iggy chuckled, so did Fang. Even minutes after losing his sight, Iggy's senses mutated and he began picking up on sounds and smells none of the others could. It was actually really weird. Iggy could hear a pin drop across the room. He was amazing; truly superhuman.

"Don't worry. It's not like the school in here…There's a little TV and the blankets on the bed are pretty blue with clouds. The walls are painted up too. There's a giraffe by the door with a smile." Fang described, looking around the room for Iggy. "It doesn't really smell like it too much either…It's more like a house than a hospital…like a kid's bedroom, only with a sink."

"Cool." Iggy said with a smile. "the whole hospital is for kids, I guess."

"But even if we were in the school, nothing would happen to you."

"How do you know that?" Iggy inquired as Fang crawled across the bed to sit on the pillow, pulling Iggy into his lap, Iggy's head rested against Fang's chest.

"Because I'll protect you!" Fang declared.

"Good lord now I'm a damsel in distress." Iggy chuckled. "Like Rapunzel in that book Nudge likes."

"Well if you're trapped in a tower, I'll be the knight to save you." Fang smiled.

"I'm glad." Iggy said, closing his eyes. It was only about noon, but Iggy was exhausted.

"I'll always be there for you. Even if you run into another chimney."

"Shut up." Iggy lifted his broken arm and whacked Fang in the side of the head with the cast."

"Ouch!"

"You're my knight. You're supposed to be brave and fearless."

"Yah, but that thing's heavy!" they both laughed.

Jeb walked back in,

"Here ya go. Plain chocolate, that's what you like best, right?" Jeb said, putting the chocolate into Iggy's hand, watching as he ran his sensitive fingers along the wrapper, finding the best spot to open in it. The little boy nodded. He thought nothing of Iggy sitting in Fang's lap. They were always together, and it just wasn't odd anymore. Plus, Iggy acted more or less the same with everyone. He was very snuggly and liked physical contact. Because of his blindness, the contact gave him a sense of environment and atmosphere that he couldn't get without his sight, so Iggy sitting in Fang's lap wasn't really anything unusual, though Jeb suspected they were getting a bit closer than friends, even if they were only nine years old. "Ready to go home?"

"Yes please." Iggy said, sliding off of the bed, eating his king-sized chocolate bar. No doubt he would finish it all himself, but even so, he broke off half and held it out to his side for Fang.

"Thanks, Ig," He said with a smile, "but it's yours. You have it." he gently pushed Iggy's hand back.

"That was nice of you, though." Jeb praised. He was one of those 'positive reinforcement' parents. Iggy smiled, sucking on the corner of the bar. Iggy had an odd habit of sucking on things; the end of spoons and forks at the dinner table, the left ear of his favorite stuffed animal, and even his own lip when there was nothing else to suck on. It was actually pretty adorable, when it wasn't disgusting.

Back home that night, Iggy lay half asleep in his bed across the room from an equally as sleepy Fang. After getting a nice warm shower, they somehow felt more at ease, as if the hospital had been washed away. That, and now both of them smelled nice.

"Thanks for coming with me today. That was pretty stupid of me, huh?" Iggy said quietly, his light, sing-song-y voice muffled slightly by his pillow. Fang shrugged.

"It wasn't so bad, and the doctor was funny."

"yah he told jokes and stuff. It was cool 'cause I didn't really have to see to think it was funny." Iggy said with a little chuckle. "And he got all freaked out when he looked at my eyes." He loved it when people looked at his eyes because they looked so strange. As time passed, his pupils became more and more cloudy and small. That combined with the crystalline blue color made his eyes look very spooky to someone who wasn't expecting it. Fang laughed as well.

"Your eyes are pretty, though. I don't know why he got scared like that. They're just a little different." Iggy shrugged, his cheeks and the tops of his ears growing hot and turning pink at the compliment.

"They're not that great." Iggy said almost sadly. Fang heard the drop in Iggy's voice and suddenly felt guilty for mentioning it. He stopped talking for a moment and was almost asleep when he heard the telltale sniffle that always came right before Iggy burst into tears. Fang slipped out of his bed, bringing his stuffed raccoon with him, and slipped under the covers next to Iggy. They were both thin, and Iggy was tiny, so the twin bed was big enough for both of them to have room.

"Sorry, Iggy. I didn't mean to say that…I meant…" he was at a loss for words. His compliment had been taken the wrong way, and Fang was never good with words, but Iggy knew what he meant.

"It's not your fault…" he answered, his voice cracking, holding back tears. Fang rolled over to face him and grabbed his hand, running his thumb over Iggy's knobby knuckles.

"It's still not fair, though…I wish I could give you one of my eyes." He said; it couldn't be closer to the truth. Fang had wanted to help Iggy since the moment he was thrown back into his cage after surgery. He had even spoken to Jeb about it, and whether or not he would be able to swap them out so that Iggy could see again.

"No…you have to see so that you can tell me everything." Iggy smiled meekly. "If you can only see half the stuff, and I can only see half the stuff, then both of us only have half of the whole world. But if you can see everything, and you can tell me all about it, it's better. Then we both get everything, sorta kinda." Iggy explained.

"Yah I guess that is better…" Fang agreed thoughtfully. He was always impressed at the wisdom buried underneath Iggy's childishness and sarcasm. When everything was finished and quiet and still, Iggy became more serious and thoughtful. That was something he had adopted when he had been robbed of his sight. It was as if he had seen the light and gained some sort of knowledge when his eyes were taken.

"I'm glad you came with me…I would have been really scared if you didn't come…" Iggy said quietly, rolling over towards the window, his back pressed against Fang's, their wing's expanding and contracting as they breathed, able to feel each other's inhale and exhale melodically.

"I'm glad I came too, then." Fang answered equally as quiet. "I don't like it when you're scared." Fang smiled, feeling Iggy's breath slow as he slipped into slumber. Iggy always fell asleep first. "Don't worry, Iggy. I'll protect you." Fang said more to himself than Iggy's sleeping body beside him. "I'm your knight in shining armor."

*Kay I feel like that was a crappy ending, but this is getting long and I don't want people to get bored hahaha! Hope you liked it, especially chanceXinfinity who requested the story! Hope it had enough Figgy for you, chanceXinfinity. It was sort of strange to make it really lovey because they're so little! But I did my best!

Thanks for reading, everybody! I love comments, good or bad, so tell me what you thought, send ideas, requests for stories, whatever!*