EPILOGUE
MAX POV
Two months have passed since we jumped from the plane. Two whole months, it seems both longer and shorter than that. Shorter because we had been having so much fun just being free, but longer because it had been hard adapting to our new life, hard, but still fun.
We had found the house, it was just like Jeb had said it would be; perched up in the mountains, two arms of the 'e' hanging out over the edge of a canyon. It was winter now, and freezing cold. There had been clothes inside the house but not many were the right size, having been bought years ago, but we managed to find some.
Right now, I was standing out on the balcony, hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. There had been some food in the house when we arrived. Most of it was canned, thank God, but not all of it was still good. We had quickly learnt to avoid anything with meat in it after a painful experience of food poisoning when Gazzy ate some pork.
I grimaced at the memory, recalling it all too clearly and absentmindedly pulled my jacket tighter around my body.
"What is it?"
I jumped as Fang spoke from beside me. He was a quiet walker, a really quiet walker.
"Just remembering the pork incident." I told him. A small smirk graced his features and he nodded slightly, showing that he, too, remembered what had happened.
We stood in silence for a while longer, forearms resting on the wooden rail of the balcony. This morning was freezing, even for a mountain winter, or so I would imagine. Small clouds of white drifted down over the canyon every time Fang or I exhaled.
I found the silence somewhat encouraging and finally dared to breach a subject that had been bothering for me for a while.
"Fang?"
He made a noncommittal response in reply.
"You know that morning we were put in the cages," He tensed, probably realising what I was going to say next. "Why didn't you help? Why did you just stand there?"
He stood still for a very long time, his dark figure clearly outlined against the white of the surrounding snow. I began to think that he wasn't going to answer.
"I don't really know." His voice was soft but it carried clearly through the mountain air. "I hadn't seen you in years, not even a glimpse until that day in the hall. I didn't know if you were still the same Max, I didn't know if you wanted my help."
I took a moment to digest this. It sort of made sense to me but I had never really picked Fang as the indecisive type. We had all changed a lot in the years we had been apart. Jeb's death had affected all of us in its own way as well. It was still awkward now, us all living together, sometimes it felt like we were just strangers living in the same house.
I guess Fang hadn't really known how to act; he had still been confused from our sudden, and surprising, reunion. Hell, I was still recovering from it now.
He was watching me, dark eyes curious, waiting to see how I would respond. When I looked up from the snow-clad treetops, however, he looked away, staring out at the pale sky.
Making a split second decision, I stepped forward and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his thin frame. Then, before he could react, I let go and turned around and went inside, taking my now empty cup with me.
