Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Maximum Ride novels. They belong to James Patterson and so on. Any other characters not referenced prior in the books belong to me and any other resemblances and strictly coincidental and not intended.

Can't Cry: Gestört

Chapter Thirteen: 1%

Max stepped away from him. He definitely was a different Fang now than she had ever seen. She knew all his faces by heart… His calm, cold face that he usually kept present all the time, the subtle yet agonizing look he let escape when he thought no one was looking, the coy and warm smile that he sometimes saved for Max, the distant shell of a creature when he was under the influence of his powers, and the comatose Fang. This Fang, though, was something different entirely. It was if someone had taken his calm and cold personality and injected it with venom. It was truly frightening.

"Oh, come now, Max… I want you… Don't you want me, too? Isn't that why you came here in the first place?" Fang asked. He stepped close to her again and twirled a strand of her hair. His sickly sweet voice made her feel nauseous.

"Stop it…" she muttered. Against her will, she jerked from his hold and put on her fiercest mask. "I came to rescue Fang, not you." Fang chuckled a strange, melodic yet mad chuckle.

"This is me, Max! Don't you get it!? I am this," he said, his voice absolute. Max lowered her gaze to the ground.

"So… this is what you have chosen. You want to give up, then?" she said, trying and failing miserably to keep her voice above a whimper. Fang shrugged.

"There was never a choice to make. Like I said, I am this and always have been."

"Liar!" Max shouted, using the growing pain in her heart to fuel her anger. "I knew a Fang that used to fight against this! He used to care for the flock… for me… He wanted to get better!" Her fists clenched as she glared daggers at Fang. His smug grin faded and was replaced by a cold, distant look.

"Yeah," he said, lifting up his arms so that the pulsing bruise-like scars were visible. "And look how far that got us." Max winced as she saw the healed wounds. Fang took an almost imperceptible step forward. "Don't you see, Max? I was fighting against something that was a part of me… I was killing myself without even meaning to. Ah, this freedom! I feel no pain! The headaches, the nausea, it's all gone!" Max let her fists drop slightly. Fang took another step towards her. "Do you really want to take that all away from me?" he asked in that same sickly sweet voice. Max fought back several emotions at once.

"Fang… We can help each other… Please… Don't do this. You know what I have to do if you refuse to come with me… to get help…" She forced the words out of her mouth, but allowed herself to look at the rough edge of the building instead of facing Fang.

It hit Fang before he could sense it. The gaping hole that his heart felt like was searing in agony all over again. He felt as if someone had stuck a searing hot iron in his chest and burned the edges of his heart. Unwillingly, he clutched his chest and his breath came is short gasps. Despite the subtleness of it, Max saw his sudden change.

"I guess all the pain isn't gone, is it?" she said, growing braver. She was the one who stepped forward this time. "I can see it in your eyes, Fang. Something is hurting you… You have to come with me… Please, Fang," she said softly. She watched in slight horror as black tears fell from Fang's eyes. She did her best to keep composure. "I can see it in your eyes…" she repeated.

Fang stepped away from her, all his will suddenly gone. This girl, Max, his Max… Suddenly she was dangerous. She didn't hurt him before. In fact, she seemed so weak compared to his nightmares, but now… He clutched his chest again as another ripple of agony went through it. He shook his head, his eyes becoming more menacing.

"You are weak…" he said, his voice low, threatening. Max shook her head.

"No, Fang… I think it's you who are the weak one… But you can fight back! C'mon, Fang! I didn't drag your ass out of some hole in the ground a year ago for you to give up now! You beat them at their own game last time! Do it again! You can win against what's inside you!" She stepped closer now, only a few inches away from him. Her eyes pleaded along with her words. "Become the Fang I once knew… Come back to me…"

It was all too much.

"No!" Fang shouted, launching himself at Max. She was caught off guard, but managed to use his sudden momentum to swing around him. He missed her by only a few centimeters. "I'm not going back! I want this, Max!" he shouted. Everything in Max's head, aside from the Voice, screamed at her that Fang was an enemy; that he was a cold blooded killer and needed to be stopped.

Save the world, Max.

Hmph, she thought. Speak of the Devil and the Devil…

I'm serious, Max. He's dangerous, deadly, and very unstable. If you don't save him someone will get to him before you do… And, trust me, the options aren't good.

Max rolled her shoulders, trying to make sense of the advice. So, basically, she had two options: save Fang, or kill him herself. She shuddered.

"Fang… I'm… I'm only going to ask you this one more time… Please, come home. Don't let it be this way," she pleaded. Fang crouched into a preditorial position. His eyes flickered back and forth between rage and pleasure. She shuddered again. After a moment of silence, Max hung her head, forcing back tears. "I understand."

The clouds darkened quickly, the whole situation seeming surreal. Max tensed. With anger and agony treading through her heart, she knew what she had to do.

At the first drop of rain, it began.

Fang launched himself at Max, using all of his force to try and land a nice and hard kick on her stomach. Max easily dodged and tried an elbow jab to her left. Her arm flung through empty air as Fang appeared to her right. She had to duck as he heel came crashing down above her head. She could smell the rubber of his boot as it passed by her face. Thinking quickly, she pushed off the ground and jumped back from the fight a few feet. Fang copied her.

Then, both combatants launched themselves into the air. Airborne combat was a little more difficult, but left Max more options than the rooftop did. She swung tightly behind Fang and actually managed a nice crack at his spine. With a cry he sank about a foot before tilting backwards and bringing his boot up to connect with her chest. Max's breath left her with a whoosh and she plummeted. Fang zipped after her, honing in on his prey.

Max pushed her feet off of the building, sending her speeding in another direction. The angle was too quick for Fang to compensate for and she was able to get higher before he chased after her. She paused, breathing hard. Fang was silent in the air. Max suddenly felt uneasy, like she had been missing something.

Keep him moving, Max! The Voice shouted in her head. She obeyed without question. She quickly went full bore at Fang, throwing a shoulder into his. The collision was painful, but seemed to stop him from whatever he was about to do. He righted himself and rose above her, probably for another drop-down attack. She flew upward, trying to get level with Fang. Suddenly, she noticed something.

Fang wasn't in the air anymore.

She looked around her, panic leaking even more adrenaline into her veins. Something wasn't right, she obviously knew that. Not knowing where Fang was put a bad taste in her mouth. Something was seriously wrong.

On the roof!

Once again, she obeyed without question. She turned to see Fang standing on the edge of the roof, his eyes lowered to the ground, black tears falling. His tense body, the ever pulsing scars, the electricity in the air around him…

Oh.

Max flew as fast as she could at Fang, even pouring on her supersonic speeds. If he summoned his nightmares, her chances at winning or saving him were over. That's when she noticed it, sticking out of the building, directly behind Fang. So, she did the only thing she could do, and it was the most horribly painful decision of her life.

She contacted with Fang, sending him flying backwards into the large metal rebar that jutted from a slightly collapsed part of the building. Blood sprayed on her face as the rod ripped through Fang's flesh, piercing through the right side of his chest. He gasped in pain, the air's electricity dissipating and the dark look in his eyes gone. The black tears sucked back into his eyes and he let out a cry of agony.

Max stepped back, her eyes wide. She covered her mouth with her hands, trying to gain control of herself. She had never hurt other members of the flock before… Especially not her right-hand man. She watched in horror as Fang writhed in pain, gasping and gripping the metal bar with his left hand. Max rushed to his side and pressed on the wound, trying to slow the bleeding.

"Oh, God… Fang, oh, God… I'm so sorry…" Tears that she had been holding back since he left fell freely from her face as she watched him gasp and cry out. "Fang… Oh, my God, I'm so sorry…" She felt utterly at a loss. She had to stop him… She had to keep him from falling prey to thenightmares. It was the only way…

Fang opened his eyes, looking at her with a look of pure rage, then betrayal, then pain… Then, after another fit of agony, he looked at her with so much relief she almost wondered if the rebar wasn't even there, just one of his allusions. But, his eyes were no longer full of anger, or rage, or malice… They were Fang's dark, brooding, yet peaceful and kind ones. Max shook her head.

"No, no, no, no…" she said, cupping his face in her hands. Her choked up breathing broke her words apart and she failed at trying to speak again. Fang slowly reached up, putting a cold, shivering hand on her cheek.

"H-hey… Don't… please…" His eyes rolled backwards and his body quivered again, his lips trembling. The rain had started to wash some of the blood away from Max's face. She watched as it ran down his outstretched arm. She grabbed his cold hand and held it to her face.

"Let me help you…" she whimpered, talking through her tears. Fang shook his head slowly, shivering again.

"You already ha-ha-have…" he whispered. "I w-was going t-t-to k-kill… everyone… Th-thank… thank you for st-stop-p-ping m-me…" He shuddered again, this time, crying out softly as the metal bar grated against him. Max shook her head again.

"No! I can help you! Dr. Martinez… She can fix you, Fang!" She clutched to his ever-weakening hand, not willing to let go. She knew that there was no way Fang would survive the trip from Manhattan to her mom's house… and she knew she couldn't carry him there. Still, she would try.

"P-p-please…" Fang whispered. He reached up with both arms, wincing at the effort, and pulled Max down so that her head rested against the left side of his chest; against his heart. Max listened to his ragged breathing. Definitely a punctured lung… His steadily slowing heart made her own speed up dramatically. As if he felt it, Fang meekly held her tighter to him. He had finally lost all feeling in his legs, and his fingers were starting to go numb as well.

"Please, Fang… I know that Mom can help…" Max said, trying one more time to sway him for the impossible. He sighed, trying his best to show that he didn't hurt. In fact, he was starting to hurt less and less as the time went by.

"Max… Let… Let me go…" he finally said. Max's eyes widened as she finally accepted it. He meant for her to let him die. She buried her face into his chest as she felt his breathing get slower and slower. Fang leaned his head forward into her hair, trying his best to memorize the scent. His numb fingers sat idly against her bare arm. He only wanted to touch her, to feel her one more time… And now he couldn't smell her. Her lovely scent was gone as he felt the numbness creep along his spine. So, he watched her cry. Taking in the way she gripped his shirt, the way her knuckles were white as she gasped with sadness, the way her hair flitted in the breeze, the way her skin seemed so smooth and flawless, save the scars of battle, the way her eyebrows pulled… together when she was angry… the way… her lips curved… when… she… smiled…

Silence.

Rain.

Silence.

Rain.

Rain.

Rain.

Max couldn't feel him anymore.

She couldn't hear his soft breathing.

She couldn't feel the warmth that used to be on his smooth skin.

She couldn't feel the usually taunt muscles beneath his wiry frame.

She couldn't see his dark eyes behind the long closed lashes.

She knew it… Knew that he was gone. There was nothing left for him to fight against. She had let him go, like he had asked. He would never have to feel pain, feel anger, feel sadness… The constant turmoil inside of him would no longer trouble him. He would be at peace…

Max smiled as tears slowly slid down her face. How selfish she had been… She had wanted to save him, to keep him to herself. She had wanted him to reject the very thing he was just so that he could be with her. He would suffer, she knew that, but she still wanted to be with him. So, now that she had let him go, he could be in peace… Finally.

-+-

Ivan stared at the screen. The chopper was only a few miles away and the life signs had finally fizzled out into none. He growled and kicked the door of the chopper. This made things so much more complicated.

"Well, boss… If the thing's dead… Doesn't that kinda mean we got nothing to come get?" the co-pilot asked. Ivan glared viciously at him.

"You idiot! This thing you're talking about is a much more complex creature than that!" he growled. The co-pilot scratched his head.

"But the monitor says that he's dead."

"His heart has stopped beating, that's all," Ivan said acidly. When the co-pilot turned away he allowed himself one little wicked grin. "This creature's life mainly lives off of his heart… but as long as there are those souls inside of him…" His grin grew. "There's always a 1% chance of revival."

-+-

Nya! Is he dead? Is he not? Ho ho ho!