You guys . . . are the most AMAZING fans in the world! Thank you for being so understanding and not cursing me for my ridiculously slow updates. I love you guys so much, and for you guys I will definitely finish this story! Never stop kicking my butt about updating!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride

I read Date Crashers for the first time since I posted . . .and I cracked up! I thought: no way in he-double hockey sticks- did I write that!

Kiki's Advice (My real name is not Kiki, but I love that name so much): If you are a passionate writer then love what you write. If yours story is funny, then laugh while you write it, if your story is romantic, then "Aww" with it, if it's sad, then cry with it, it's hateful and angry, feel the burning passion while you are writing. It's okay to put your emotions into your writing, just keep your characters in mind.

Chapter 11: Monsters

Iggy Pov

The sizzling of stir fried veggies made my mouth water. I did a quick taste check, it needed more soy sauce. I grabbed the bottle without looking and poured it in generously. While the veggies fried, I started to add the rice and soy sauce to my fried rice. I gave it a quick stir and bent down to check the chicken in the oven, it was baking well. Lastly, I did a quick taste check of the teriyaki sauce . . . ahh ecstasy! This is what I called heaven!

Dinner was coming along quite well. It was Max's favorite Japanese food. Now we had stir fry veggies, fried rice, and teriyaki chicken with a hell of a lot of cake left over from our "Welcome party." Sadly it ended even before it began.

After putting the final touches of dinner together and setting all the massive proportions of food on the table, I grabbed another plate and piled up a little bit of everything, grabbed a slice of chocolate cake (there were also chocolate chips in the cake part . . . Praise my ingenious mind!), a glass of water and started to head up. But the conversation in the living room stopped me.

"Maybe we were too harsh Fang?" Angel said. I stared at my feet guiltily. I get why Fang did what he did, but that didn't mean I liked watching it. I peeked into the living room to see all the bird kids and the leader sitting on the couches. Angel's head was buried in Fang's lap, and Gazzy sat close to Fang so that they were almost touching. Nudge sat across from Fang, and seemed to be the only one (besides Fang) who didn't have puffy eyes. When did she grow up so much?

Fang sighed. "You can apologize to her later." He replied stoically. I scrunched my nose and attempted to roll my eyes. Leave it to Fang to not show any emotion.

"What about you?"

"I don't take back what I said,"

"Should one of us go check up on her?" Gazzy asked after a long pregnant pause. He looked to Fang expectantly.

One thing for sure, in the short time that Fang ditched that B. Lissa, the Flock started looking up to Fang more than usual. It was a strange thing to witness, but in his own way Fang made a really tight bond with the Flock. It was a little different than with Max, but important in its own way. Maybe with Max, she was like the mother, always babying us and scolding us. Whereas with Fang, he was like a father, slowly letting you grow and leading you down the right path. What a depressing thought. Where the hell does that leave me?

"I think Iggy's got it," Fang finally replied, his eyes rolling over to where I was. I muffle laughter at his smug grin. The rest of Flock spotted me out.

"Gah, can't hide anything from you huh Fnickie?" I tsked, shaking my head dramatically. Fang's smirk widened.

"That goes without saying,"

"Papa Bear just see's everything huh?"

"Quite spouting Shi-crap and go give her the food!"

"Nice catch Fnickles, yo birdkids, you're dinners on the table," I say, and stick my tongue out in Fang's direction. The Flock's faces immediately brighten at the mention of food and they climb over one and another to get into the dining room. Even Fnickles began to run. You know what they say . . . last birdkid to the table gets the chicken leg!

I wondered if I should knock before entering Fang's room, where Max was currently staying. But that wasn't really my style, so I just walked in. Max was in the position we left her in over an hour ago. She was still curled up in ball sobbing silent tears. I silently set the tray beside her and sat down on the bed. She flinched, finally noticing my presence. She looked at me with teary eyes, I stared back at her evenly. I half expected her to look away but she never did.

My cheeks began to heat up. So this was Maximum Ride . . . she was more beautiful than she was in the pictures. This is the girl that I grew up with, the beauty that was beside me from the very beginning. Fang said that she's not the Max that we knew anymore . . . how much of that was actually true?

"You should eat," I say quietly, and add a slightly smile. She stared at the food nervously. I sigh, "It's not poisoned or anything you know. If we wanted you dead there would be easier ways of doing that," I snicker, much much easier ways to kill a person. She still didn't look completely convinced, so I grabbed the fork and took a big bite of fried rice . . . definitely cooked to perfection. I pushed the tray back in front of her.

"Eat," I command a little more firmly. Max nodded hesitantly and began eating small bites. Her eyes instantly widened, and she began eating faster. I laughed smugly. "I'm a pretty good cook aren't I?"

"You made this?" Max said barely above a whisper. I gave her a peace sign and winked. She smiled a little (YES one for Iggy zero for Fang!). Then she looked at me apologetically, and tears started rolling down her face once more. "I- I'm sorry. You're . . . not bad people, right?" I pondered that question.

"You decide," I say lazily, and lean back on the bed. Max giggled a little. What a pretty laugh, I thought dreamily. I cracked one eye open to see Max happily devouring her food. She was starting to look a little better now.

"What about that time in the alley?" She asks.

"Max, do you really think we could stand to watch some man invade you're privacy like that? Can you blame us for getting murderously angry seeing a girl going through that?" I ask seriously, clenching my fists into tight balls. I hissed loudly trying to calm my nerves. "Besides, we don't fight to kill, we fight to protect and survive,"

"Oh, I see. So you're not monsters," Max states. I flinch at that word. Monsters . . . it was a taboo among the Flock members. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say it again!" Max added quickly. I shook my head.

"No it's okay. You probably don't remember why that word would hurt us anymore."

"Will you tell me? I hurt those kids and that boy badly, didn't I? I want to know what I said was wrong so that I can apologize," She pleaded with wide eyes. I smile, her eyes were so hard to resist. Fang described her as having chocolate eyes, but to me they look more like caramel. I settled myself into Fang's bed, crossing my arms behind my head, and stared at his ridiculous navy blue ceiling. This room was seriously starting to depress me. No wonder Max would be scared waking up in here.

"Probably, because that word describes us . . . in the truest way," I muttered in defeat. "I should probably tell ya about our past first. About those wings on your back."

"Ehh, how did you know I had wings?"

"Cuz we do too! Come on, you saw Fang's wings earlier too,"

"When?"

"Hahaha, don't tell me you had your eyes closed or something, that was by far the funniest nose dive rescue attempt I'd ever seen in my life!"

"So . . . he saved me huh . . . do you know how to fly too Iggy?" She asked, curiosity brightening her chocolate brown eyes. My cheeks immediately flamed red.

"Y-yeah, you taught me when we were younger,"

"I taught you?" She exclaimed in shock. I laughed awkwardly. I should probably tell her about her past, but that would mean the part about Fang and Max's relationship. What if she fell for him again? I sighed, the feeling of depression clouding my judgment. I'm being really stupid. Max deserves to know who she used to love. Though my chances are small . . . maybe she won't remember and I'd actually have a chance this time! No that'd be unfair. I have to win Max from Fang fair and square. Right, so either way I have to tell her about her past with Fang.

"I . . . well, I'd tell you, but it has a lot to do with your past. You sure you're ready to know?"

"Absolutely! I want . . . to apologize to those children for saying they are monsters, but I don't understand why it hurt them so much. So if I apologized now, it would be meaningless," She insisted with big wide sincere eyes. I cracked a grin. This Max wasn't so bad either.

"Let's see . . . . You, Maximum Ride, are Itex's Multimillion dollar experiment and the first ever successful avian-human. After you came Fang, myself, Nudge, Gazzy and lastly Angel."

"You have a unique name," Max cut, carefully choosing her words, probably not to offend me. Please, I'm not moody like Fangles, nor am I easily upsetted.

"Probably because we chose them ourselves when we were younger. Expect for Angel, you named her,"

"I did?"

"It's part of the story. Itex is made up of a bunch of inhumane scientists who view the word 'life' from a scientific perspective. To them humans are merely mammals made of blood, DNA, and . . . err flesh I guess. Geez, I feel stupid. Anywho, to those bastard scientists created us and therefore we automatically became nothing more than experiments. That's not how we see it of course. We're just more awesome than humans because we have wings.

"And well . . . for about the first eleven years (you, me and Fang are the same age) we were experimented on. I think you should be happy you don't remember this part. I'd love to forget about you know. Their experiments were down right cruel and inhumane. But when we turned eleven, a man named Jeb, broke the six of us out of Itex. He took care of us for about two years. We looked but to the man like a father.

"The bastard took off on us about two years later. Life was living hell after that. We got chased by these psychotic five year olds. They had their DNA and stuff altered like us. They were like . . . a sown together half-wolf –slash- five year olds. We called them Erasers. Cuz their job was to erase us. Stupid scientists.

"Those kids were altered beyond help . . . the kindest thing we could do for them was put em outta their misery," I paused as Max gasped and stared at me with horror filled eyes. I almost wanted to stop talking. But the Max I knew was no sissy, I'm sure she'll tough this part out as well. "So when the Erasers attacked, we more or less . . . beat the shit out of them."

"Did . . . did we k-kill anyone?" She asked. Should I answer that? Yeah I probably should.

"Well, we may have occasionally thrown an Eraser under a bus or somethin. But you gotta understand Max, it was either us or them. And I don't regret a single day choosing us. So yeah we are monsters. We killed and beat five year olds senseless." I conclude my Shakespearian length monologue. Now I'm no Nudge, but I do my fair share of talking. I think for now, she knows more than enough.

"That- that's not right! You were defending yourselves; I mean we were defending ourselves. I can see it in your eyes, we didn't enjoy killing. We did it to survive right. You're not monsters at all!" She defends raising her voice to an almost Max like level. I snorted and punched Max's shoulder, lightly of course.

"Hold the banana phone, I ain't the person you should be sayin all this too," I say, and roll my eyes when she mumbles a small ouch.

"You say weird things, Iggy," She said with small smile, her eyes began to twinkle. Hmm, I don't remember telling her my name. But my face softened at her cute innocence. . . . I just thought the word cute. WHO THE HELL AM I? Must go blow up things with Gazzy later! "I think I'm beginning remember things now,"

"Like what?"

"Not much," She says sadly. "I think I can connect names to faces- I should probably go apologize to those children now,"

I jumped to my feet and stretched a hand out to Max. She smiled gratefully and rolled onto her feet. She smoothed her skirt (Trying not to stare at beautiful legs), and let me tug her along. She was hesitant, but seemed willing to follow. We were about to get out of Fang's room when she tugged my arm to a stop. Geez talk about crazy strong.

I stare at Max. She had a really strange expression on her face. I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to be patient with her, really I did. BUT I'M ABOUT TO LOSE IT HERE!

"Something wrong Max?" I ask. She hesitated and opened and closed her mouth several times before speaking.

"Why did F-fang kiss me?"

Has the pairing been decided?

NOPE! I'm completely open to votes and ideas, and comments!

You know, my school starts in two days. (Sucks right?) But on the bright side for you, I'll probably write on regular basis during the school year. If not specifically for this story. But my goal is to start a creative writing club! So I need all the practice I can get helping writers.

If you need some advice, I'm more than willing to help. But I'm afraid I don't do editing

P.S. I kinda struggle writing from a guy's perspective, did I make Iggy sound like a guy?

~Kiki1607 out