Chapter 20

(Fang's POV)

I went to the hospital and I had the paper in my hand. She had narrowed it down to two people. She said that she was sure it was them. She wrote the address and everything, I don't know what it was that held me back from reading the two names and two addresses scrawled on the piece of paper. I wasn't sure why I didn't want to know.

But most of all I didn't know why I thought I already knew. Deep inside my mind, my mind had already figured it out, but was unwilling to believe it.

I sighed and stopped walking, I had to know, to put my mind and rest and complete the suspicion in my mind. I looked down at the names writing neatly in the woman's handwriting.

I sighed, "I knew it." I growled out. My hand crumpled the paper and I was going to throw it to the ground, but something stopped me.

Was it so horrible that they were my parents? If I had to pray for a mother and a father, who would I pray for? There were only two people that came to my mind, and they were my parents.

I sighed; this wasn't just my choice anymore. This was theirs. I shoved the paper in my pocket and ran to school. If I got there on time I'd arrive when they got out.

As I ran into the school yard and my blood seemed to have been drained from my body. Sorrow was being pulled across the school yard by an obvious Eraser. I gasped; I'd seen that face, the Eraser from the hospital. The Eraser even grinned at me as he pulled Sorrow. I could see the fear in my little brothers' eyes.

I gasped and ran hard through the kids. "Sorrow!" I screamed, "Matthew! Sorrow!" People complained at me as I ran, calling at me angrily, but I wasn't listening.

Sorrow was pulled around the corner, but he'd seen me, I could see his terrified eyes.

A face appeared out of no where; she watched my horrified, terrified face and ran forward. Ms. Deval cut me off, "What happened?" She yelled as she ran beside me.

"Sorrow, in trouble, Eraser." I said as I rounded the corner, she was right beside me, until I put on all my speed and I shot almost like a rocket after them.

"Fang!" Sorrow screamed, trying to pull away from the Eraser.

I ran forward and the Eraser pushed Sorrow against a chain link fence. His head cracked against one of the metal polls and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

I reached the Eraser and pulled back my raised fist, it snapped forward and made contact with his face. It snapped to the side, but he used the momentum to catch my feet and I went down like a sack of potatoes.

I landed with an 'oof' before I rolled quickly out of the way of his boot. There was the sound of metal whizzing through the air and then there was the sound of metal connecting with the Eraser's head. He swayed a bit before there was more swinging and whizzing and this time the metal bat made contact with the back of his knees. He collapsed to the ground.

I jumped up, not even caring who had hit the Eraser. I skidded on my knees to Sorrow and knelt over him.

"Sorrow, Sorrow, come on Little Sorrow, get up." I begged. I felt the back of his head tenderly, I saw him cringe and his eyes fluttered uselessly.

"Fang," he groaned.

"Hey buddy, I'm right here, it's okay." I whispered to him.

I looked around, "Max!" I called seeing her over with the groups of kids, looking around for the flock. She hadn't heard me.

I sighed and looked for the person who helped me. I looked up at Wyatt as he came over. Ms. Deval walked over and he slapped Mrs. Deval a high-five, "Nice shot Wyatt," she said with a grin.

He laughed and they turned to look at us. "Hey you think he'll be okay?" Wyatt asked leaning over my shoulder to look at Sorrow.

"Um… I don't know. I need to talk to Iggy." I said and looked back over to the other kids, "Damn it." I grumbled I felt my eyes change, Yo Max, come around the corner, bring the flock, Sorrow and I ran into an Eraser. We need Iggy.

"Whoa dude, that was way cool," Wyatt said his eyes wide as he watched my eyes.

I smiled sheepishly, "Thanks that happens when I talk to people in my head." I grinned at his eyes which went wider.

"Cool," He said making the word hold.

"Fang…" Sorrow groaned.

"Hey, hey, Sorrow, relax, Iggy will be here in a-"

"I'm here, I'm here," Iggy called coming up behind me and kneeling beside Sorrow. "Where'd he get hit?" he asked me.

"He hit his head on the poll."

Iggy frowned and felt the back of Sorrow's head. "Well the good news, no fractures, bad news, he'll probably have a concussion and a humongous bruise on the back of his head, good news," Iggy took a deep breath, he'd said that all in one go, "his hair is black will probably make it impossible to see." He grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes at him.

Wyatt cleared his throat loudly. "Oh, flock, Wyatt and Mrs. Deval, Ms. Deval and Wyatt, this is the flock." I mumbled.

Max waved, "Hey, I'm Max," she mumbled. The flock slowly said their names.

"Little Sorrow you okay?" Shadow asked with a grin.

"Is that his pet name now?" I asked returning her grin.

"You know what? Shut it Fang-y-Fang." She said still smiling.

"Sure Sha-Sha." I mumbled seriously and looked at her with a smile.

Iggy gave an exasperated sigh, "Stop with the nicknames," He warned.

Shadow pouted at him, "It's a sibling thing." Shadow said sticking her tongue out at him. Iggy rolled his eyes, but sent her a loving look. It was my turn to roll my eyes.

Sorrow groaned from the ground and I slowly helped him up. "Why do people always have to hurt me?" Sorrow whined.

I smiled lightly, "Because life's cruel like that?"

"Probably," Shadow mumbled darkly.

"Ya, well, it seems that if it's not Sorrow, its Fang, and if it's not either of them, it's me, and then if it's not me, it's Shadow, and if it's not Shadow, it's just got to be somebody else." Max said with a smile.

I gave her a look, but she just grinned back.

"Where'd the Eraser go?" I asked quickly and looked back. He was already gone. "He's starting to piss me off." I grumbled and turned back to Sorrow.

Sorrow smiled at me almost sleepily. I looked at Wyatt and Ms. Deval. I looked at the flock, Max was starting to shepherd us off towards Mrs. Martinez's house.

I sighed and looked at Wyatt and Ms. Deval. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper. Sorrow, which was leaning against my side, slowly reached up and took it from me.

He unwrapped it slowly. He read it and gave it back to me. He closed his eyes and a small smile drew itself onto his face.

I folded the paper 4 times before I held it out to Wyatt and Ms. Deval. "Here," I said, I smiled as Wyatt took it from me, "Whatever you think, its fine," I said seriously. I pulled Sorrow closer to me as I turned.

I squeezed Sorrow's shoulder as I turned to walk after Max. He laid his head on my shoulder, "Was that real?" He whispered to me.

I nodded, "Yep," I sighed.

He smiled, "Well, that's okay with me." He whispered and I smiled at him.

"Fang, Sorrow," Shadow called looking over at us. "Hurry up you slowpokes." She called with a smile.

"We're coming." I called to her.

We walked over to her, but she wasn't watching us anymore. She was reading a poster that had been stapled to a bulletin board with a slight overhanging to keep the rain off it.

It was for a talent show, you could sing, dance, whatever you wanted. "I am so going to that."

I laughed, "It's on Friday." I informed her, pointing at the date and pointing out the detail she would have obviously missed.

She grinned, "I am so there," she said with a grin. "Hey what's with Ms. Deval and whatever his name is? They're staring at us weirdly," She said as she looked at the poster, her pointer finger skimming over some words. It was something she'd picked up at the school so that she didn't look like she was talking about something.

"Is one of them holding out a smoothed out piece of paper?" I asked her looking at the poster.

"Ya," She said glancing up at them for only a millisecond.

"I'll tell you later." I promised her. I knew Shadow, if I told her now she'd make a scene.

"What?" She whined at me.

"Later." I insisted.

"Fang!" She whined louder as I pulled Sorrow with me in the general direction of Max's house. "Fang, tell me!" She complained running after me. She play tackled me as we made our way outside school grounds. She complained and pleaded the whole way home, I was sure they'd heard, but I didn't really care at this point.

Outside Max's house I stopped and she waited for me to tell her.

"Ms. Deval and Wyatt, 'whatever his name is'" I grinned as I air quoted her, "Are our parents."

Shadow's eyes bugged out, she blinked a few times, "Sorry?"

I explained to her the sequence of events that led up to figuring that out.

"Oh, my God," she said with a grin. "So, wait, what are we going to do about it?" She asked me.

"That, my favorite sister, is up to you." I said with a smile.

Her eyes narrowed, "You only have one sister," She accused.

"Hence why I said that," I teased.

She smacked my shoulder lightly as I grinned.

"I want to stay with Fang." Sorrow mumbled from under my arm.

"I want to stay with Fangy too." Shadow teased me.

Sorrow frowned, "Don't be mean." He said but he was smiled.

I looked at them, I sighed, "What are we going to do? If they accept us as their kids?"

"They know!" Shadow practically screamed.

I sent her a glare, "What the hell do you think the paper had on it? A recipe for chocolate chip cookies?" I asked her sarcastically.

She huffed at me as I smiled at her.

"So… are we going to go live with them?" Sorrow asked looking a little confused.

I fidgeted, "I don't want to leave the flock, but…" I trailed off.

Shadow sighed, "Let's discuss this later," she started up the steps and we followed her.

The flock was all over us, teasing us about how we were so much later than them. Shadow explained the poster thing, and how she wanted to do it, and that we all had to go.

"That's okay; Fang and I are going to sing, aren't we Fang." Iggy winked as if this was all planed and nudged my side with his elbow.

"In what alternate universe do I sing?" I asked him nudging his elbow, by now it had turned into a sissy fight with some elbowing mixed in.

"Stop making fun of me you two," Shadow complained with a grin and came over to join out mini fight. Suddenly the whole flock was wrestling on the kitchen floor.

Sorrow walked into the kitchen and watched us for a second, "You guys are so weird." He said shaking his head, before he grinned and started tickling people.

Now that kid can tickle, Nudge was crying as she tried to roll away from him.

He turned to me, and let me just say, I can't deal with tickling, seriously. You poke my somewhere I'm ticklish and I'm already restraining laugher. I know, I know, you don't expect if from me, but who honestly thinks I'm ticklish?

Needless to say, I was rolling on the floor, laughing my freaking ass off, practically choking on my spit, practically crying, and gasping for air like some fish out of water.

The flock was laughing at the sight of me. I looked like I was half paralyzed and half like I was having a seizure. Two totally different things, yet somehow I think I pulled it off.

Shadow was laughing uncontrollably, "Sorrow, that's not fighting fair, he's too ticklish for this kind of torture," she teased.

Sorrow stopped tickling me and I gasped in between words as I spoke, "I… I can't… I can't breathe." I laughed even though no one was touching me.

"Alright everyone stop with the giggle fest." Max said still smiling. She suddenly cracked up, "I'm sorry; you should have seen your face. It was so red." We all burst out laughing.

Once that was all over, and dinner and homework was done. The little ones had gone to bed and so had Shadow and Iggy. I sat at the kitchen table, staring off into space. I had a job to do now. Think of the reasons, think of the pros, think of the cons, and think about what I would do if they didn't accept us for who we were. What would I do if they didn't want us?

I sighed, Shadow and Sorrow had made it clear, wherever I was, and they were going to be.

So what was I going to do?

Max found me there 30 minutes later, just staring off into space. I couldn't do it. One way I was hurting myself, the other I was hurting myself. One way I was hurting the flock, the other I was hurting my parents. One way I was taking away the only normal thing in Shadow and Sorrow's lives, the other I was keeping them away from their friends, their first ever family.

"What's wrong?" She asked me, watching my face warily.

"If I told you I found my parents, and I was to ask you if I should go live with them or stay here with you, what would you say?" I asked her, looking her strait in the eyes.

"You found your-"

"Max, just answer the question." I pleaded closing my eyes.

She pursed her lips, "I would say, do whatever it takes to make you happy."

I groaned and sat back in my chair, "But I don't know what would make me happy." I said sounding absolutely pitiful. "I want to stay with the flock, you're my family, but I have wanted parents all my life. What the hell should I do?" I asked her a desperate look in her eyes.

She looked down, "Well, who are your parents?" she asked me. I told her. She stared at me, "Ms. Deval?" Her mouth hung open in shock. "Wyatt?" her mouth dropped a little more.

"You can stop that any time you like." I mumbled my eyebrows pulling together and my lips curving downward.

Max sighed, "You know what I say? I say you give them a chance." She looked down at the table, "Just don't forget us."

Inside, I knew she wasn't just talking about the flock; she didn't want me to forget her, at all.

"I won't," I whispered, "We'll come over every day." I said, my eyes wide with sincerity, "and if something goes wrong, we'll be over in a heartbeat." I promised.

She nodded, "You don't have to leave tomorrow…" She said trialing off.

"I know, actually, I don't even know if they want us. I have them the sheet that told me who my parents were. It's up to them whether to act on it or not," I said looking down.

Max sighed, she came over and hugged me. "I'm going to bed now." She whispered in my ear. I nodded and we both got up and climbed the stairs.

That night, I dreamt about how my life would be like if my parents actually kept Shadow, Sorrow and I. I dreamt about how my life would be different, and you know, sometimes I wonder if my mind is trying to depress me.