Love, Pain, and Wings-Chapter 9

By MyNameIsCAB

I just hated how my voice sent me off to do things all of a sudden during times that could have been really happy and joyous, but I learned that if I didn't listen, I would get burned in the end.

Fang asked, "Where are we going?"

I asked the voice and got that monotone reply. Max, it's time you know what happened to the Itex director that claimed to be your mother in the beginning when you attacked Germany. I asked the voice where we were going again. To Canada. That's where she is recruiting. You have to stop her.

Canada was cold unlike Arizona. It really disappointed me we weren't going somewhere warm, but to tell you the truth, I always wondered what happened to Marian Janssen, the Director of Itex that I had helped destroy in Germany. I would have killed her, but Voice stopped me and told me that I wasn't a killer. It was right. I wasn't a killer. So with new info from the Itex director, we let her go after some questioning. In fact, Marian Janssen was genetically half Galapagos Turtle and was over one hundred-seven years old.

"Canada," I whispered to Fang after a long moment of silence. "To find Marian Janssen."

"The Itex director?" Fang raised an eyebrow.

"Yep," I nodded. "According to ol' voice here, she's in Canada."

I watched him rub his chest thoughtfully. That wasn't even the wound from the unnamed man. It was the wound from the explosion in Fenway Park, Boston. Maybe that pain drug had done more damage than I thought. Fang caught me looking and dropped his hand. He looked down to see we were flying over darkness.

"We can stop if you want," I told him.

He shook his head and dropped back alongside Iggy. They exchanged a few words, but I couldn't hear them over the whir of the wind.


(Fang)

Fang watched Max fly. Her wings beat powerfully. For a moment, just watching her stopped all the pain, but then the pain was back and he found his hand planted on his chest again.

"You know, Fang," Iggy said suddenly. "I may be blind, but not deaf. What's going between you two? And don't lie to me."

Fang looked back at Max and decided she was too far ahead to hear them. "I don't know Iggy. Just something."

"Okay, then," Iggy sighed. "You should have seen Max that first week you were gone."

Fang glanced back at Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel. They were flying playfully. Too busy to try and catch his conversation. Then he spoke in a low voice. "Yeah, okay Iggy."

"Fang," Iggy paused for a moment in thought. "You know she loves you. Don't hurt her because if you do, we're all going to be part of her downfall."

Fang sighed. Iggy was right. "I know."

"No, you don't," Iggy pressed on. "You weren't around when Max was all depressed and everything. She cried her eyes out for you. Almost every day. I could hear it through the wall. Just…don't leave like that again."

"I didn't have a choice, I was saving family," Fang said.

"Okay, but don't leave her," Iggy repeated. "Don't walk away without a good reason."

Fang let that seep in past all his pain. He knew Iggy was right. Max wouldn't be able to live without him. Not that Fang took that proudly, but he knew Max loved him. If he ever left, the result would be disastrous. He looked over at Max, watching her wings again.

Iggy spoke suddenly. "Describe what we're flying over."

Fang looked down. It was Arizona for God's sake. There was nothing but the moonlight lighting up red rocks, but only faintly. Other than that, there was darkness. "Well, there's a bunch of red rocks and a lot of darkness."

Iggy frowned. "Not as interesting as the beaches in California."

Fang smirked. He remembered when he had described a bunch or girls at a beach in Los Angeles when the flock had split up after a disagreement about Ari joining them. They had gone to the beach and since Max wasn't there, Fang had given in to describing all the girls on the beach to Iggy. "Yea, Iggy. Nowhere near as interesting as the beaches in California."


(Max)

I wondered what they were talking about. Fang and Iggy's conversation had just ended because Fang had dropped back to the end of the flock, behind Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel. Judging by the way Fang looked at me, I was the topic of conversation.

That thought slipped to the back of my mind when we came up on a little town. It was the only light other than the moon and then Gazzy complained he was hungry and Nudge was exhausted. So we landed just outside and greeting us like an old friend was a Burger King. We grabbed some stuff to eat and just like another old friend, a small motel. This time, we all crammed into one room.

"I want to sleep on a bed," Nudge told me after we had finished our meal.

"Okay, fine," I said.

"I want to too!" Total jumped up.

Nudge, Total, and Angel ended up on the bed. I was going to let Fang on the couch, but he insisted Gazzy get it. Then Iggy managed to convince Total to let him sleep at the edge of the bed. That left Fang and me on the floor. I wasn't tired though. I stared at the ceiling, tracing the cracks with my eyes. Then Fang's arm brushed up against mine. "Max."

"What?" I turned to face him.

"I'm sorry." That was more un-Fang like thing he had ever said other than his words of affection.

"Fang, how can you be sorry for saving us and Mom and Ella…and I guess Jeb too?" I asked. Maybe Iggy had said something to him during our flight.

"But you guys suffered so much without me," Fang whispered.

"But we were safe," I reminded him. "Because of you and now you're here so it doesn't matter."

That was the end of the conversation, but he moved closer to me and I felt an arm wrap around me. Fang's warmth felt good. Then he whispered in my ear, "I love you, Max."

I put my arm over his arm around me, pressing it a little tighter against my body. "I love you too Fang."