So I actually changed this chapter a bit, in my opinion there was a bit too much Fax. Don't kill me! It was just too mature for fourteen year olds as Harry no. I'd do Ron pointed out, and I couldn't sleep until I fixed it. If you want the old one, at the end of the story I'll post it just for fun.
Chapter Twenty-Five!!!! Half of fifty! One fourth of one-hundred! Wow, I really can't believe I've written twenty-five chapters… And another plus? 102 reviewers as I check right now! ONE HUNDRED-THREE! That's seriously cool, folks. Granted, I also didn't leave you all at a great spot. Apparently the last chapter was good, though it wasn't my favorite, so I'll make it up to myself by having a great ¼ of 100 chapter! And the group hug was Kelsey Goode's idea, just FYI. I know there haven't been any videos in about two chapters, I think, and I don't know if there will be any in this one, but I'll add more soon! Perhaps Stripes will come in soon…
LovelyNBLue-of course!
FreeSpirit329-yes, I was thinking that'd be nice. Once she ditches the guy. Thank you!
Kelsey Goode-group hug… I will probably use that idea in this chapter.
Harry no. I'd do Ron.-that really means a lot! I like nailing it ;) glad you enjoy it, I'll try to update more often
CHSMR-extremely soon… is this soon enough?
Rainie16-I'd never take Fang away from Max. I'd kill myself ;)
1910tsuki-the wonder of Harry Potter…haha, thank you!
Mo-I bet so, too…
Kara Nicole-nice. Don't break anything, which is all I do when I dance :D
Commencing. I love that word. I hope Samz didn't explode… haha, here's the next chapter!
Have you ever, like, I dunno, had something that you really hated, and then it got cancelled? Ella used to have to take piano lessons, she told me, and so when mom finally let her quit, she said she was sooo relieved she didn't know what to do with herself. Or maybe your friend really wanted to take you to a dance, and you didn't want to go, but the school burned down, though maybe I'm the only one who would be happy about that… Anyway, if you have, you must have a small sense of how I felt after the car drove away. Well, I guess it wasn't just me because as soon as they left, Nudge came flying into Fang, squished him back into the wall, chattering her mouth off the whole time.
"OhMyGodI'mSooooGladYouDidn'tGoWithThem,Fang!'Cause,Like,YourMom SeemedReallyNiceButIWouldn'tWantYouToLeaveAndYouDidn'tSoIFeelSortaBadButIJustThoughtYouShouldKnowI'mGladYou'reStillHere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I had to laugh at Fang's expression as Angel mimicked Nudge, though without the audible theatrics, and even more so when Iggy shooed them away saying,
"C'mon kids, shows over, give the anti-hug emo kid room to breathe." Which was Ig's own way of showing relief, and then Fang kicked him, so I knew they'd be all right. Gazzy shuffled over, trying to seem all mature, but when Fang met his eyes and held out a hand, the Gasman high-fived him like it was his own hug.
"Iggy?" I said, my mouth beginning to get a little sore from all my smiling, but I couldn't stop. I mean, Fang was staying. He didn't go with his mom, he stayed. With me. Well, and the Flock, but I'm only me, so that's how I saw it.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for covering me back there." I laughed again. "I probably woulda screwed up that cooking part."
He laughed, too, and dodged another kick from Fang. "You definitely would have. Seriously. You'd say, like, tomatoes and ketchup on toast or something."
"Some people eat ketchup sandwiches." I defended, getting to my feet.
"Yeah, three year olds."
"Okay!" Mom's voice carried over the racket. "I know you're all happy and everything, but Fang and Iggy, if you're going to continue to kill each other, please do so outside. Nudge, Angel, please pick up the magazine box you spilled over while sprinting across the room, Gaz, that's gross." I coughed, as a minor but still nuclear wave hit us as the Gasman grinned, not at all sheepishly.
"Gasmasks!" I exclaimed, exiting the room with everyone else. "Poison Control Center, we have a problem."
"It's Houston, we have a problem."
"It could be-"
"Iggy and Max! Shut up!" Ella smacked us both on the back of our heads, laughing all the same. I rolled my eyes, but complied. After aiming another kick at Iggy's shins, of course.
"What is up with people and picking on the blind kid?" Iggy howled as mom ushered us through the small hallway and out into the yard where we spooged out of the house in a great laughing mass of feathers and human.
"Yeah, 'cause you're so defenseless." Fang muttered, brushing dirt off his knees.
"Maybe I am." Iggy sniffed. I rolled my eyes and fell back into the grass. Until I was lying, somewhat uncomfortably, on my back, I didn't realize how heavily I was breathing. Like I was a measly human and had just run a triathlon. Or I was myself and I had just flown from Upstate New York to Mexico. I concentrated, making myself slow my lungs…
Gee, Max. I told myself. Way to nearly hyperventilate.
And then, just as I had managed to get oxygen to my brain, a motorcycle revved by, doing that 'brum, brum' thing which made me jump to my feet and have to start all over again.
"Max," Gazzy, whether by hearing it so often or his mimicry, said my name in just the same tone as Iggy or Fang when they were exasperated with me. He was looking up at me from over his little mound of dirt (???) and rolling his blue eyes. "Take a chill pill."
I snorted, ignoring Iggy snickering and repeating, "yeah, Max, take a chill pill. Or five. Hundred."
"How many times has my paranoia saved your sorry butt?" I asked the Gasman, laughing quietly all the same. It was totally not funny when Iggy or Fang told me to take a chill pill. Gazzy on the other hand? So cute. And yes I said 'cute.' If Ella ever read this she'd be proud.
Gazzy, eyes turned back to his dirt pile, began ticking off on his fingers slowly, before finally giving up and saying, "I dunno. I can't count that high, but seriously, this isn't gonna work if you scare all the voles away."
I refuse to say that I wasn't worried when Iggy's face lit up, Fang rolled his eyes, and Angel glared at her brother from Ella's lap because I would be lying.
"That's mean, Gaz!"
"Mind explaining what's mean, Gazzy?" I crept to his side and looked down at his little dirt mound. He snuck a glance at Iggy, chatting casually with Ella but I knew also listening to us, who bobbed his head once. I ignored it.
"Well, Max. So, it was completely innocent, 'k?" He looked at me for confirmation. Sighing heavily, I nodded. "Right. I am guiltless, you can't prosecute-"
"We're not in court, Gasman." I informed him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Now tell me before I tell mom the house is about to blow up."
"But it's not!"
"She doesn't know that." I winked at him, even as he realized the small threat. Small because I'd never turn him in to mom, he'd sooo be dead. Otherwise, I don't think it'd be too small.
"Fine. Well," Gazzy gestured to the hole and bent down to eyelevel to look into the dark hole. I mimed him, but didn't see anything but a small trail of hopefully not gunpowder. I sent a brief prayer to any deities that may exist. "So, Angel rigged up this vole for me, see? And it ran through these tunnels with a little box I attached to his back, completely harmless. I took it off when I was done, so it wasn't mean." He stuck his tongue out at his sister. I ruffled his hair. "But now there's this trail of gunpowder," shit. Uh, I mean, crap. Dang and blast. Shucks. Darn. "Through this abandoned trail of rabbit burrows. I heard your mom say on the phone to some game warden guy that a flashflood had knocked out the rabbits, but now she was pretty sure some snakes were entering the immediate area." He sounded like a little kid playing battleship or some other war game. I had to remind myself that he was just a little kid, only eight. I found myself rubbing his back slightly. "And so Angel cleared the snakes out, it wasn't hard, but she said they wanted to come back. Anyway, my point, as soon as I light the trail, the burrows and such will all blow-which, but the way, will be soo cool, but-"
"Attention, all passengers who wish to remain in one piece should vacate the immediate area!" Iggy announced in some deep, serious voice he probably got from the Titanic movie or something. Why had he watched the Titanic, may I ask you? I have no idea, it's not like he likes romances or anything… And it was a very visual movie, which he hates. Well, maybe he got it from a different movie. Either way, it worked, and so we all scrambled to the porch to watch (or in Ig's case, listen) to Gazzy leave a little trail of powder away from the hole in the ground and toward the woods. Giving us all thumbs up and a huge, gap-toothed, eight year old grin, he struck a match and placed it on the gunpowder.
Well isn't that reassuring. I had almost thought that my two favorite pyro's were now above matches. He rushed over to us; face flushed with excitement, and started a brief countdown, joined shortly by Iggy.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One!"
It wasn't a very loud boom, but there were sudden firecracker sounds erupting all over the yard and little chunks of dirt were thrown into the air.
"Mad awesome!" Total barked in excitement, putting his paws on Fang's knee for a better view. Fang's expression=priceless.
They were all over the yard, little land mines making little 'spiff'ing noises and making small dust clouds. It was over pretty fast, maybe eight seconds of action, but even I'll admit it was cool.
"Gazzy," Ella said seriously as the two pyro's high-fived. "Please, please, promise me that you'll never work for terrorists."
Gaz giggled, but shook his head.
"I promise. So long as that includes Max." Then he dodged as I swiped at him, laughing the whole time. I had to grin. It had been so long since I had seen him laughing so much, the nice change to constantly being hunted was good for him. Angel and Nudge, too. Granted, all three were very flexible, but I could tell they were happy. And Total was with Akila, so that toned down on his talking and presence, both of which were sometimes overbearing. However, even though I loved mom and Ella dearly and wanted everyone to be happy, I felt a little nervous. Aside from Anne's and the E-House, we had now been in a singular place for the longest amount of time. Permanent homes make me nervous, and if we were to be attacked, I didn't want to be anywhere near my defenseless human family.
"Fly?" Fang's breath brushed past my ear, even with the singular word. I grinned, anticipating the feeling of sheer freedom that few others would ever experience, and got to my feet.
"Nice show, Gaz. Fang and I are gonna go for a flight, behave for mom. She and Jeb are inside, talking, so don't be too loud, okay?" I brushed the dust from my jean cut-offs and faced the Flock and Ella. "No big explosions, Gaz and Ig. Ella, please make sure that they listen. Nudge, no shopping-"
"Yeah, you've told us a hundred times." Iggy rolled his sightless eyes and nudged Ella's shoulder. "See what a paranoid maniac she is? You're so lucky you don't live with her."
I kicked his shins.
"Okay, okay!" He protested, even as Ella laughed. I glanced at Fang, and we began to walk away, slowly unruffling our wings, but his voice still carried. "Just keep it PG and keep the Fax to a minimum."
Fang and I froze, slowly; I turned to see Iggy with an evil smile on his face. I did notice, however, that I had moved behind Ella slightly. Smart boy. I wouldn't hurt Ella.
"What?" Fang asked, his voice deathly cold. Kind of creepy, if you know what I mean.
"You heard me. A mix of your names, since you're together and everything. Don't blame me, your stupid fans came up with it. Fax. Mang. Either work."
Fang and I exchanged another brief look.
"If you say that again, I will kill you." I said slowly, furious that my glare was useless on him. The others were watching the exchange quietly, and that better not have been a hidden smile, Nudge.
"And then I will bring you back from the dead." Fang continued in his quiet voice. "And kill you again."
"Is that a threat?"
"No," I snarled, "it's a promise. One last thing, I was looking at Fang's blog last night, so before we go, just wanna warn you…"
"Keep the Eggy to a minimum." Fang continued for me. I grinned evilly as both Iggy and Ella had their mouths drop open, even as Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel began rolling around on the grass in laughter.
"You know, a mix of your names." I examined my fingernails, tres casuale, "Or it could be Illa, but I think the fans prefer Eggy. Except for when they want to kill Ella and marry Iggy, but whatever." I shrugged, and taking pleasure in their sheer terror as only a very compassionate leader can, I leapt into the air with Fang right behind me.
Once high enough so we wouldn't be immediately noticed by the naked eye, and at a comfortable height, I noticed Fang shake his head and mouth a word.
Fax.
"Who the hell came up with that?" I demanded suddenly, whirling to look at him. "Who wastes their time rereading my books and your blog a million times, pledges eternal loves, and names us?" (A.N. hehe, me… not the eternal love thing, though.)
"Apparently our so-called 'fans.'" Fang sighed. "Least it has a better ring than 'Eggy', though."
"Yeah, we're named after a machine!"
"Mang?"
"Like Manga, that art form." I rolled my eyes for about the millionth time. I wasn't that peeved, really, about the fans. More Iggy and his senseless teasing.
"He's soo gonna pay." I continued threateningly. Fang looked up at me, then tucked his wings so he swooped upwards and sideways to come as close as he could. I saw him nod twice, total confirmation. I could nearly hear the gears in his dark mind working on revenge, or maybe those were just mine… Unfortunately, evil gears of mine are easily distracted, often by sunlight glinting off raven black wings and Fang's eyes. Eyes so similar to his mother's. I wanted him to be happy, truly, I did. But I didn't know how I would have fared without him.
Fang took one sideways glance at me and seemed to read my mind.
"Max." He crooned my name softly, spinning to hover in front of me, so now we were stopped, somewhere high above some forest. It made my heart stutter, especially seeing on how close he was…
And how close I was to losing him. I looked down.
"We should go…" I muttered, but even as I turned, Fang reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling him right up against his chest.
"Max." This time he said my voice with a slightly harder tone, the one when I knew he wanted to tell me something important. Previously, I had shrunk from it, but now I waited, looking through my wind-tossed hair into his eyes. "I promised. Stop doubting me."
"Sorry." I murmured, refusing to put too much emotion in my voice. "But she was nice, your mom. I would have let you gone with her-"
"Maximum Ride. Let me speak, dammit."
I drew away, just enough to place my hand over my mouth.
"Care to repeat those words, Fang?" I began to rummage in my pockets. "Hold on, I think I have a recorder around here somewhere…"
Suddenly he rough, hardened hands were holding my head between them so I could stare directly into his dark eyes. Our wings still beat in unison, barely missing each other as we flew so closely.
"I. Am. Never. Leaving. You." He said it slowly, accentuating each word as if to be sure I heard. "I promised, Max. You couldn't order me away. Yes, she was nice, but she wasn't you."
My eyes looked down again.
"She's your mom…"
"And I've done fine without her for fourteen plus years." Fang interrupted. "Now, I will never leave you. Ever. Max," Fang seemed to choke for a moment, his wings pausing in midair. Instinctively, my eyes turned toward his face. "I…I…I love you, Max. You have been my best friend for as long as I remember, you were always there. A perfect leader, you helped us all. And I never properly thanked you for it-"
"Don't damage your vocal chords." I muttered, trying not to sound surprised by the sudden word usage. Not that I wasn't pleased, I was beyond it. It was just too good to be true.
"I'm here till you don't want me, Max." Fang finished, his voice barely discernable over the wind up in the air, but making me wrap my arms around him suddenly and hold him tight anyway.
"Don't go." I sniffed into his warm, black shirt. "Ever."
"I promise."
I hiccupped once, a grin playing on my lips. Fang didn't lie, I knew that. He wouldn't leave me, he was the one person I could cry near, who would hold me and understand. Who knew that I didn't always have a plan, but didn't tell anyone because he knew what would happen if anyone else did.
"Thanks." I whispered, planting a quick kiss on his lips, and laughing when he pulled me closer to kiss me harder.
"No problem." He murmured, leaning away but brushing my tangled hair from my eyes and behind my ears. A throaty chuckle escaped him. "We'd better hide our thoughts well before we get in range of Angel again."
Oh God yes. I yawned, and we slowly began to spiral downwards until we landed in a stunted forest and sat in the coils of some roots.
"That child is more trouble than…"
"Iggy and Gazzy in a pyrotechnician's store?"
"What's a pyrotechnician?" I murmured, leaning into his warm arms. Just a hug.
He shrugged. "Bet Gaz and Ig know. Either way, it's true."
Our breathing, though still crazed, was getting better. However, I could still feel my heart beating totally out of whack, and I knew Fang would hear it. He sighed heavily and leaned his head on my own.
"Max," Fang whispered my name again after some time of just sitting there. Again, I felt like my eyes were beginning to drift close. I hoped it wasn't a new power of Fang's, making me fall asleep. That would be problematic.
"Mmh?"
"Just saying it."
"Why?" I yawned. My eyes closed again.
"Your name. Beautiful."
I almost convinced myself that the last part was just the whisper of wind in the trees, an acorn or something falling. But it didn't escape me, even as I couldn't escape sleep.
He'd called me beautiful.
******
Have you ever been abruptly shaken awake by the literal shuddering of the earth? This was a first for me as I jumped to my feet and spread my wings next to Fang. It wasn't earthquake shaking, but the little stones on the rocky forest floor (I know, sounds weird, but we were in sparse tree growth in a desert-y area) were bouncing up and down, and the smaller tree branches were shaking. I looked at Fang who looked up. I nodded, and as one we rose above the trees, careful to stay low all the same.
Behind us stretched the same scraggily trees for miles, so we swooped forward to when the forest ended very suddenly at the edge of a cliff.
"Look!" I jumped back, if that's even possible, in the air, leaning over the edge. Below us in a low valley, galloping around bushes and up the side of a small hill, were countless wild horses, running with abandon. One, brown and white spotted, clearly led the pack, peck, herd, thing past a canyon and over a small rise, where another dark brown one herded the stragglers off after the group. He had a stripe down his back and was tossing his black tail back and forth in haste. Now that I saw the wild horses, I was surprised I hadn't known what they were. There were whinnies and snorts sounding throughout the group, and tiny shrieks from a small, long legged one.
I pointed towards it, and Fang's eyes followed my finger. It was a baby, I don't know horse talk so it could have been called a chick for all I know. There was a small glimmer in his eyes.
"Angel would so love this."
He nodded. "Nudge and Gaz, too."
Come to think of it, Iggy would as well. I mean, it was so cool seeing these wild horses, not held by the conformists of society just winging it across the desert and dry riverbeds. Fang looked like he shared my opinion.
"There's another!" He gestured toward a small black one, another baby being nudged from behind by its mother. Come to think of it, all the young ones (I counted seven) were all in the general center of the group. Movement caught my attention, but it was just Fang, reaching into one of his pockets, where he pulled out a digital camera. I didn't ask where he got it, for all I knew he had taken it back from Itex with the computer, or how long he had been using it. I did, however, ask,
"Wanna go get some shots for the others?"
He gave me a look, then slid off the edge of the cliff, I just behind him. In the air, we easily caught up with the wild horses.
They were mostly sandy or muddy browns, but then there were the few spotted ones and even a striped one. I knew that must have taken breeding, so it must have escaped from a farm or something. Then there were a few white and gray ones, but none seemed bothered as we ducked down to fly next to them. Maybe they thought we were just really damn ugly birds, or maybe they hadn't learned to fear flying humans, either way, Fang kept clicking that little button. I laughed, rolling over in the air to circle to the other side and get a look at the spindly little horses. With their tiny little bodies and out of proportion legs, they were just too cute. I made sure Fang got a close up on them.
"Isn't this great?" I shouted to Fang, who turned in the air to look at me and nodded enthusiastically. Again, I laughed as we flew alongside the horses until the sunset and they wheeled away into a canyon. I came to a landing beside Fang at the edge as we watched the last brown one, same as earlier, heard the last one in behind the rest. As I turned again to look at the area surrounding us including a blood red sky, beautiful desert, I sighed. Fang raised his eyebrows.
"Doesn't it suck, having a curfew?" I'd never had to deal with one before where I couldn't stay out and enjoy myself as long as possible. Not that it really happened very much, but when I did get to see Angel Falls (In Venezuela, Angel loved them) or hot springs in Antarctica, I liked to stay a while.
Fang laughed and pulled me in for a short kiss before breaking away until he just held my hand.
"Nothing major, don't worry." He winked. "But yeah."
"Wonder what's for dinner?" I mused as we took to the air. "If Iggy allows us anything. We didn't really tone it down on the Fax, as he asked."
Fang smirked.
"Granted," I continued. "He doesn't need to know about that, and it's not like we took off our clothes or anything. Just kissing. Plus I'd like to see him refuse us food."
"I think the term nowadays is 'making out.'" Fang added. "But I wonder how the Eggy turned out." I laughed again, ducking in for a minute to kiss the top of his head before spiraling upwards with him right behind me.
*******
Dinner was a large affair taken place out in the front yard (after the dust clouds had cleared) of homemade tacos and lemonade. Angel kept the mosquitoes away and instead told them to chase Total for a good five minutes. He was being mean to Magnolia again. ("You ugly tramp!") But when we finally finished everything and were licking dripping ice cream cones, Iggy used a very sly tone, which I quickly kicked him for. I knew what he meant; luckily it was just Fang, Ella and I who did though. Mom would have killed him.
"So," he began, "What did you two do today?"
Again, I kicked him and rolled my eyes. Fang chucked the camera at his head.
"Ow! What the heck was that for? And don't throw your camera! Cannons are expensive."
"Yeah, well they've got a test rating of being able to drop into ten feet of water… or get thrown at rocks." Fang said calmly.
"Ouch, Ig." The Gasman laughed, punching Iggy's shoulder. "I'll look at your pictures."
Then another ten minutes was spent as they passed around the tiny camera and 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the pictures. Then I did, even though I had already seen the horses, and I think that if Fang grows up, he should be a photographer. There were some headshots, ones of the group, single ones, plenty of the little horses, and even a few of me.
And it totally made up for the two adults coming to the house earlier.
Fax.
Sheesh.