Theanimedude: Updating is fun... I'm back, for those of you who care.

Nick: Am I dying? Are you ending the series?

Theanimedude: Well, no. Not really. The way things are going, I'm uploading this and then two separate possible endings for this installment, one of which leading to the next one, the other ending the series entirely. Take the one you want, mah... loyail readahs. Seriously though, if you're reading this, it proves you are a loyal reader. After all, I was gone for like, a month or so. Then again, there are those fanfics that don't get updated for months. So you know what? From now on, I'll update at my own pace. Please don't complain. I don't like ranting, even when I do rant.

The Christy hate mail stopped coming in for some reason. I'm glad.

One last thing- I'm not sure if this next scene is rated T, so if you're squeamish, don't read.

Now, on to the next chappie- may Tails Doll haunt your dreams like LightningSword5.

Nick the Eraser 2 chapter 29

"Can you feel the sunshine?"

The question echoed in my head as I walked down an endless dark corridor.

"Does it brighten up your day?"

The voice seemed to be singing slowly. I saw Nick sitting far from me in the corridor, strumming his guitar with his back to me. He was doing it.

"Don't you feel like sometimes you just need to run away?"

Did I ever. But for some reason, I felt compelled to keep moving, no matter how off things felt.

"Reach out for the sunshine, just forget about the rain."

The words were calm and kind, words of encouragement, but they gave me chills as he sang them.

"Just think about the good times, and they will come back again."

As I finally reached Nick, he turned around to face me, not moving his body at all, but seemingly levitating to get in this new position. I gasped shortly in surprise as he stood up, again seeming to float.

"Help me, Max," he slurred. "Or... you could just stand there and watch me burn!"

He suddenly was engulfed in fire before he disappeared altogether. I leapt back with fear, my combat instincts seeming weaker than usual for some reason.

I immediately woke up to see that I was surrounded by derasers. As I looked for my flock, they seemed to growl in a low rumble, salivating in anticipation.

It happened so fast.

I was fighting for my life, beating down deraser after deraser, their shadowy forms dissipating upon contact. Their howls of pain rang in my ears, unnerving me and making me panic.

Stay calm, Max, I thought to myself. You can do this.

Could I, though?

The end was nowhere in sight as I kicked, punched, and battered everything that got near me. They kept coming, their ruby red eyes staring into my soul.

I gasped out as one lashed my arm with a clawed hand, raking five lines of blood across it. Then they all fell on top of me, slashing before retreating over and over. I kept moving, moving myself onto my head and attempting to spin upside-down, my legs spread, a sort of break dance move that kept the less powerful ones away. Yet, they kept coming.

I was getting dizzy. Blood clouded my already dull vision. My hair was being weighed down by said blood, sticking with sickening warmth to my face. I felt bile in my throat as a particularly brave and fast one drove its hand into my stomach, feeling like I was caving in on myself.

I was running purely on adrenaline now, working hard to stay alive as I weakly launched myself at them. They got me to the ground, pulling my arms behind my back and twisting them while they held my legs down.

One let its tongue loll out and dragged it across my face, making me shudder with horror and disgust. Its smirk was to real as it looked down at me, deraser drool dripping onto my cheeks. Their hold on my arms and legs was rough, but... spongy. Like a sort of slippery, malleable substance comprised their bodies. The one straddling me had an awful look in its eyes, and I didn't know what to think of it.

Suddenly, it reared back before shoving a paw into my wide open mouth. I felt like I was going to vomit up an ocean as the slimy substance oozed its way down my throat. I choked, I puked, I struggled, but still the volatile creature poured into me, slowly making its way into my body. Intense pain veined me, starting with my neck, than going down through my back, my legs, and back up.

I sobbed pathetically, not even able to scream. Struggling against the demons' hold to no avail, I was only pushed down further into the ground as I was devoured from the inside out. This creature was eating me alive.

When it seemed as though I was definitely dying, the pain vanished, healed, even, with a flash of searing light. A vision of Nick showed itself for about half a second before disappearing.

"I won't always be there to help you," his voice spoke into my mind. "Cherish me while you've got me."

"What?" I asked the empty air, looking for answers. What was going on? What had just happened?

I took deep breaths, trying to erase from my mind the fact that I'd almost been eaten alive by a freaking monster (still having nightmares about it, in case you were wondering) and looking around. My breath was ragged, my clothes and muddled hair giving me a haggard look.

I noticed I was in yet another forest, and that it was late at night. My internal clock told me it was about ten-thirty. The trees and grasses were clean, showing no sign of a struggle. Had it just been another nightmare?

No. I could still feel how that demon had slid into me, how it tried to devour me, even if the pain was gone.

The flock was nowhere around me, just as they hadn't been when I was being attacked. I felt much more vulnerable without them now. I liked to make people think that I believed I was perfect. Well, I wasn't. I'm still not. I almost got killed, and I would've if Nick hadn't swooped in and rescued me in the... heh heh, nick of time, like he always did.

I was supposed to be able to protect myself. I wasn't supposed to constantly need a handsome guardian angel to stay alive. And yet, I still was being rescued by him. I was grateful, but... I guess frustrated was the right word for it. I felt weak. And what is Maximum Ride if not strong?

Nothing. I'm nothing if I can't keep myself alive, I thought grimly. It's only when you're alone that you can truly be yourself. And it's only when I'm alone that I allow myself to cry. When it rains, it pours, and when I cry, I bawl. I don't care if I look like a blubbering wimp when I'm alone.

"I'm just a kid!" I shouted, not caring if the whole world heard me. "I can't handle all this on my own! Where are you guys?! Fang, Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, Angel!" I was curled in an upright ball on the ground, hugging my knees to my chest. My sobs were only partly muffled by my jeans, my voice reflecting how I felt in the moment- broken and weak. I needed my flock, I needed somebody.

"Nobody can be alone forever, Max," a quiet, rough voice came from right beside my ear, making me jump. Strong, gentle arms made their way around my stomach and lower back, brushing the tops of my jean legs. A head settled itself on top of my own like a puzzle piece, snug and comfortable for me.

"Fang?" I gasped in mortification. How could I have let him see me like this?

"Not exactly," the person whispered again, his voice familiar.

"Nick?" I almost sighed with relief. Almost. "Why are you back?"

"I wanted to see you again," he whispered. "I had something I really wanted to tell you."

"Yeah?" my heart beat in my chest rapidly, feeling and sounding to me like hammer blows in my bosom.

"I wanted to tell you..." he paused before I could hear the smirk in his voice. "That you're an ignorant little skank!"

The warmth disappeared completely as cold, mean laughter echoed through the forest, and I finally rose to my feet, looking around to see any immediate threat.

"You may want to go to your brother, Maxy," the voice chortled. "It may be the last time you see him."

I wanted to get away from that voice, this forest, everything. My face feeling dry from the absence of tears, I dashed my way out of the forest, taking flight the first chance. I tried to link my mind with Nick, and heard a sound like static. I flew through the night, trying desperately to get something, anything from Nick.

Then- an image.

My destination.

I veered to the left and blasted away with my super speed, hoping to make it before I was too late.

3-3-3-3-3

I picked up the small MP3 player, staring at it with piqued curiosity. It was in Nick's room, on top of the blankets set into his bed. The blankets that I'd made the night he'd vanished. I turned the switch to on and put the earbuds in, flipping through the options until I found music. I scrolled through it- and found nothing. No music whatsoever.

After sighing, I went back and went through the other options. There was one reading "Playback" next to another reading "Record."

I checked the playback option, and found four files. Four, measly files, just sitting in the MP3 player. What good could they have done? I clicked the first one, listening to it for a good few seconds of rustling before a voice came on.

"Nick Tundra here! I'm recording myself on this thing so that I can pass time. Anyway, this'll mark my first night living in the mutant underground. Christy and I got the same room, so that's a good thing.

"We met the leader tonight. He's not really suited to the role, in my opinion. He seems like he doesn't really care about taking the school out, but he does have some motive. Not quite sure what it is, though.

"In any case, I'm here to help bring down the school at whatever cost I have to pay, so that's what I'll do!

"Oh, the boss is calling us- guess he's got a job for The Pack. I'll make another one of these soon, I promise. ... Look at you talkin' to yourself, Nick. You must be insane. But then again, isn't sanity overrated?

"See ya'!"

His voice made me smile. He was upbeat, enjoying himself, nothing like he'd been the last few days. He must've recorded this the day we arrived here. I pressed the button to go to the next one.

"Hey. This is Nick Tundra again. Who else would it be anyway, right?

"Well... long story short, Sara's dead. It's a pretty heavy blow on me, to be honest. I never saw it coming.

"So now that she's gone, I'm... seriously upset. I can't tell you how much I hate to have lost her.

"Don't mind that sound, it's just me sniffling. Sad, right? But whatever. Back on topic, now that she's gone, I know something for certain. Nobody can live forever. Nobody can be prepared for death, nobody can move on without grieving death. So why should the whitecoats be allowed to decide when anybody dies?

"They shouldn't. So that's why I'm going to win this battle tonight and claim the underground as my own army- so that we can obliterate every last one of them and end their insanity.

"You might argue that I'm saying when the whitecoats should die- but honestly, they aren't people. Anybody who kills another person in the name of something other than good isn't human, in my opinion. The whitecoats don't deserve life. Not if they get to decide when people should die.

" Nobody else wants to do this. Nobody else can do this. That's why I'm going to.

"Sanity is overrated- life is not."

This time, I had to hold my own tears back. This was right before he and the old leader had fought. I sniffled, remembering the good old times when it felt like Nick loved me. Who else was there to love me? I had to cling to that. I had to have that no matter what. So when he stopped loving me, I had to try so hard not to fall apart.

Thinking back, I should've accepted that he had other people that he loved, even if I didn't. Maybe if I had, Sara would've still been alive. I sadly pressed the next button.

"Sara's alive. Sara's fine. I-I felt her heartbeat. That means she's alive, right? Nobody believes me. Christina wouldn't believe me either. I'll show them all. I'll prove to them that Sara's alive."

He'd called me Christina. He always called me Christy. This was right before he left with Sara. He was out somewhere else now, and I was probably in the back of his mind. Alpha had been right. I forlornly went to go to the next one, my finger hovering above the button before pausing.

That last one was recorded just before he left, I thought to myself. When could he have recorded this? I pressed the button warily.

"Christy."

I froze. The voice was a raspy whisper, but I couldn't deny that it was Nick.

"I need you to follow my instructions very carefully. Go outside and fly in thisdirection until you find this place."

Two images flashed before my eyes, but I remembered them well, dashing with all my supermutant speed to get where I needed to be.