AN: Wow, so we totally just passed 200 reviews and left it behind in the dust. And it wouldn't have happened without your guys' dedication to this story. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! :D
This chapter's for Kit-Kat-AnGeL, who was kind enough to remind me what Katniss's daughter looks like. Which enabled me to finish my Hunger Games oneshot, entitled Terror. Which enabled me to post it for your enjoyment. Check it out, if you're interested.(:
My old MR fic The After Years is currently undergoing some major renovations, if you want to check it out. I've reposted the first three chapters so far, and plan to post the other twenty in due time.(:
There's an important-ish AN at the bottom. Please read it. But for now, enjoy the chapter!
The Battle of the Exes
Summary: Two years after Fang left, he's back, with his own flock, on Jeb's orders. Chaos ensues as Dylan fights for Max, Max wreaks havoc on Fang and his new 'girlfriend', and Fang attempts to execute his own plans without revealing his ulterior motive for returning.
Chapter Twelve: Mission Impossible
The moment I had entered my room, I had slammed the door, flipped the light switch, and then I punched the wall with all the strength I could muster. I ignored the hole in it for the moment.
"Damn it!" I screeched. I had been stupid, an imbecile, a complete and total fool.
Fang was my ex. That sort of stuff was not supposed to happen with ex-boyfriends. And yet it had. I had let it happen, encouraged it even. I had kissed him back! Maybe I was even the one who had kissed him in the first place! Who the hell knew!
I pounded my fists against the wall again, but not with as much force this time. I was so frustrated with myself for playing right into his hands—and lips—like that. UGH!
I sank down onto my bed. When would this all go away? Couldn't Fang just pack his bags and walk right out of my life again? It hadn't seemed so hard for him to do the first time. And this time, I wouldn't wish for him to come back.
Never again.
I sprang up and violently pulled open the closet door. It was time to get rid of the last shreds of evidence that proved a relationship between Fang and me.
I moved all the clothes out of the way, mine and Nudge's, not caring if they fell to the floor. I dug through all the junk that had piled up in the back, searching for a specific box. A box that held some terrible things.
Okay, so maybe not terrible. There were exactly three things in the box. One was a black T-shirt that had always been too big on me, which it would be, as it was not mine. It was Fang's and it had been one of the things that he had left behind. I had taken it during one of my desperate-heart episodes because it had smelled like him.
Another thing was a pure black feather, the deepest black imaginable, the kind that looked purple in the light. It was soft and smooth and the end of the plume was sharp, like a quill would be, or a knife even. Fang's feather.
The last thing was the most important of this collection: It was the letter that Fang had left, still in the envelope with my name on it. MAX, written in all-caps in his quick, spiky writing.
Tonight, these three things would burn.
I dashed out of my room, forgetting to clean up the mess and cover up the hole in the wall. I ran into Gazzy's room and found one of the many lighters I knew the kid owned. In the middle of the hallway, I saw one of my mom's tall vases, shattered on the floor. I hoped it hadn't been my fault. I peeked into Iggy and Dylan's room and saw Fang dead asleep on the mattress. I suspected he had broken the vase, whether on accident or on purpose, I had no idea. Shrugging, I sprinted downstairs and grabbed a stack of week-old newspapers. Then I was in the backyard, on the cement area, and setting the newspapers on fire. After that, I ripped the shirt to shreds with my teeth and hands (it most certainly didn't smell like him anymore), feeding each piece to the hungry flame.
I watched the fire dancing for a bit and I suddenly knew why Gazzy loved it so much. It was enchanting, hypnotizing to watch. Different colors and different degrees of heat. It was fascinating.
Before I could forget my purpose, I tossed the feather onto the flames, watching it curl as the heat devoured it. My eyes were glued, tracing the ever-changing pattern of smoke and flame swaying before me to the music of the night.
Then I gingerly picked up the enveloped letter. I freed it from its prison and tossed the envelope into the fire, watching my name burn into smoke and ash. I looked at the box, plain and wooden. I wouldn't need it after this, so why keep it? I ripped off the lid and threw it into the pile, watching as the fire accepted this newcomer. The delicate carving seemed to rise up off the wood itself. I dropped the rest in.
For a moment, as my little fire crackled on, I stared at the letter, wondering what the best way to dispose of it would be. I wanted to tear it beyond recognition and watch as it became a charred black. This was it. The last evidence of Fang's so-called love was in this letter and this letter was about to die.
I opened it slowly, considering reading it through one last time. But I knew that it would only make me change my mind so I released my grip on the paper and watched it sail down toward the flames. It was licked once, twice, before it actually landed. And then it really started to burn.
The corners rolled in on themselves, turning brown and gold and black, singed with orange heat. The ink faded. I watched, not satisfied or displeased. But when I saw three words screaming out at me, I betrayed a reaction.
The words were "I love you."
And I darted my hand into the fire and grabbed what was left of the letter, pulling it out onto ground that wasn't all-consuming hungry flames. Still, it burned. I stood up and began to stamp on it with my bare feet, ignoring the slight pain. I'd had worse.
Finally, it was out. The rest of the fire died soon enough, dwindling into nothing but smoke and ash in the night air. Most of the letter had become ash, but there was still some left. Most importantly, the part that had caught my attention was still there.
"I love you." I wondered, not for the first time, if Fang had really meant that. If he had, then why had he left me? Why had he left me with nothing to remember him by but a pathetic T-shirt, a pitiful feather, a letter of questionable honesty, and a pain in my chest?
Why had he left me with a broken heart?
I shook my head and left the ashes where they were, folding up what was left of the letter and tucking it into my pocket. I didn't know if anyone would ever fall in love with me (again), so I thought I might as well remember that, once upon a time, someone had maybe loved me.
As I walked up the stairs to my room, I vowed to always keep the remnants of the letter with me.
{[(/*\)]}
I wasn't sure what time the others would get back, but I was sure they would see more than one movie on each of their one tickets. I heard my mom walk in the front door around ten and knew she would find the note Ella had left on the fridge, so I didn't get up. Everyone else was back by the time I woke up the next morning.
At breakfast, I saw Angel's face, and she was looking at me funny. I had known she'd had something to do with what had happened the night before!
We all ate breakfast quietly. My mom didn't have to go to work until later that afternoon, so she had made waffles. Iggy and Ella were on time to breakfast for once. I silently counted the people in the room and found that there were only twelve people around the table. Someone was missing.
Fang.
Angel, the darn mind reader, caught on to my train of thought and asked, "Where's Fang?"
I was actually grateful that she hadn't made me say it.
Iggy answered, "He said he wasn't feeling good. And he sounded like he was genuinely sick."
Angel's face twisted up weird and she glanced at Lux. They were working together! Of course… Those stupid mind readers!
"Didn't he say that last night?" Nudge pointed out. She was sitting next to Artemis, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Yeah." Angel nodded. "Strange, isn't it? I guess it was more serious than we thought."
My mom looked up. "You guys tell me if he gets any worse and I'll see what I can do, okay?"
Iggy nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Ever since she had walked in on him and Ella, Iggy had been extremely respectful of my mother, calling her ma'am and holding doors and taking out the trash and such. It was actually quite amusing to watch him work on his gentlemanliness, especially when he was being a gentleman to the woman whose daughter he spent most of every day kissing and touching in places he maybe shouldn't. Not that Ella minded, though. She probably did the same.
I tried to not remember when I'd had someone I could kiss.
Angel looked over at me and I felt a completely involuntary thought intrude in my mind:
What happened last night?
You don't need to know, Angel, I responded. Please just leave it.
She glared at me and shook her head stubbornly. Where had she learned to be stubborn as an ass?
Oh, right. She'd learned it from me. Oops.
Angel turned to Dylan. "Did he look alright?"
He shook his head. "Nah. He was pale and sweaty and he was breathing heavily. Looked like he was about to puke at any moment."
"Maybe he ate something bad," I muttered.
"Maybe he's lovesick," Lux commented, looking at me pointedly. I tried to look away before she could see the blush in my cheeks.
Angel grinned. "Probably."
I stole a glance at Izumi, expecting to see some kind of reaction, but she was engaged in conversation…with Dylan.
What the heck? What was this world coming to?
My mom absently turned the page of her newspaper. "Let's hope that, whatever it is, he gets over it soon. Jeb called and said he was going to stop by tomorrow. Something about the first part of your training."
"What?" I said, incredulous. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
She shrugged. "I was going to wait until everyone was here together, but I'm just going to have to trust that someone will relay the message to Fang." She very clearly looked at me as she said this and I glared at the floor.
Iggy nodded. "I will," he volunteered, then mumbled under his breath, "I just hope he doesn't puke on me."
Soon after, my mom left the table. A couple of people, namely Angel, Lux, Gaz, and Pepin, wandered off, but I just stayed at the table and continued to glower at the floor, doing my best to ignore the cooing sounds coming from where Nudge and Artemis were sitting, the flirtatious laughter coming from Dylan and Izumi, and the occasional kissing noises coming from Iggy and Ella.
But most especially, I tried extremely hard to ignore my own thoughts, most specifically the ones that worried over Fang.
Needless to say, I failed horribly.
{[(/*\)]}
The following day, I woke up to the very pleasant sound of Nudge and Ella yelling at me to get up. Ella violently shook my shoulder and periodically beat me with a pillow. What are sisters for?
"Maaaaaaaaaaax! Get uuuuuuuuuuup!" Nudge whined.
I groaned something that I hoped sounded like, "No."
"Jeb's here already! You have to wake up!" Ella shouted.
That made me shoot up like a bullet. "What?" I had completely spaced on that. Jeb was supposed to be coming.
"Jeb's here. Everyone else is up and ready to move, even Fang, and believe me when I say that he looks like a half-dead cat. He's got these HUGE shadows under his eyes and he can barely stand and if you get real close, he looks like he's gonna throw up on you, but he still managed to get up!"
"Okay, okay, okay." I basically felt like Nudge was telling me that I was being an inadequate leader. "Gimme a minute." I rolled over, intending to land gracefully on my feet. Of course, I ended up misjudging the distance and falling flat on my butt. Talk about getting up on the wrong side of the bed.
I heard Ella and Nudge both giggle at my disoriented state. I glared at them, hoping it intimidated them at least a little.
"You've got two minutes," Ella said and Nudge followed her out the door.
I threw on the first clothes my hands touched, realizing too late that the shirt I had grabbed was Nudge's and about two sizes too small for me. I groaned and tried again.
Everyone had already eaten by the time I got downstairs. The flocks were crowded in the living room and Jeb was in there, too, looking ready for business. I guessed that meant no breakfast for my growling stomach.
I sat down begrudgingly beside Nudge. Not that she noticed, as she was too busy talking to her new best friend. Or maybe they were more? I stole a glance and saw their fingers laced together between their legs. I resisted the urge to gag. Stupid love fest.
Jeb smiled at me. "Thank you for deciding to join us, Maximum. Now we can begin."
I noticed then that Ella wasn't in the room, and neither was our mom. Iggy sat by Fang, who really did look half-dead. The two were whispering to each other, igniting my curiosity.
The sound of Jeb clearing his throat brought me back to the real world. "Shall we begin?" Without waiting for a response, he continued. "Now, as I'm sure you all know, something is coming, something that you all are going to have to work together to face. You are two flocks, and you must remain so, but you must also learn to act as one. If the leader of the other flock gives you an order, it must be followed without hesitance. If a member from the other flock is in jeopardy, risk everything but your own life to save him or her. We can't afford to lose one person, but to lose two would be tragic."
I nodded, accepting these terms, no matter how much I disliked them. If I saw Izumi, helpless and unconscious, dangling from a cliff, about to fall to her death, I probably wouldn't move more than an inch to save her pitiful life.
But that's just me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Fang also nod, but very weakly. He then rested his head in his hands. It was obvious, though, that the two of us were the leaders and that we had to speak for our flocks.
"Now, before we actually unleash you on the bad guys, we need to test the waters. See just how well you guys can work together. I imagine that there was some…conflict at the beginning, but now you've had a week and a half to settle, so I hope you can get along decently.
"Today, I will be taking you to an abandoned warehouse. My colleagues and I have set ourselves up there and we will simulate an ambush. When we arrive, you guys will enter the warehouse and the faux attack will begin. The main goal is to get all of you out of there unharmed in less than thirty minutes, without doing more than disarming anyone you encounter and without flying. You might as well consider your wings useless while you're in there. If you die, you'll know."
I glared at my father. Of all of those specifications he listed, I was sure that he knew the disarming part would be the hardest. I was used to at least knocking my enemies unconscious.
Another thing: My flock hadn't encountered enemies in two years. Our world had been awfully peaceful. I just hoped that our fighting skills wouldn't be too rusty.
"Does everyone understand?" Jeb asked.
There was a chorus of "Yeses" and then Jeb said, "Let's go."
We all shuffled out of the living room, putting on shoes, or grabbing packs of gum at the last minute. I saw Iggy slink out, presumably to find Ella. When most everyone was out the door, he was still missing. I peered into the kitchen and saw him glued to Ella. Instead of upchucking, I decided to get back at my sister and yelled, making sure my voice was loud enough to be heard all through the house and even from Antarctica, "ELLA! IGGY! QUIT SUCKING FACE ALREADY! WE'VE GOT TO GO!"
They broke apart immediately, both blushing deeply. Ella glared at me and I smirked. Revenge could be so sweet.
AN: Max's infamous box of all things Fang is also featured in my oneshot Broken Falls. Oh, and the "quit sucking face" was inspired by a scene in Vamps-With-Wings fic Magical Mayhem: Flight of the Half-Bloods...if I remember correctly...(:
Okay guys, here's the situation: I NEED MORE HELP. Now this help doesn't even require you to move or think super hard, like last week. I'm trying to decide, once and for all, on the spelling of a character's name, for my NaNoWriMo novel. I've asked so many people already and it's currently at a tie. So I leave the choice to you: which spelling do YOU prefer?
ALEXANDER
or
ALEXZANDER
PM me or something if you want a description to go with it. But, otherwise, tell me your preference in a REVIEW!
