Ari- Part 2

Pain. It coursed through my veins, replacing the blood that was now leaving a trail behind me. I wanted to cry out, to yell, to scream, to do something to help soothe the pain, but the only thing that left my mouth when I opened it was a breath of air. Gasping, I tried to focus on a single thing, but for once in my life, my perfect vision failed me.

I closed my eyes, but then forcibly pushed them open. The faces of my friends greeted me- two of every one of them. I needed to get better fast because I could barely stand one Fang in my life, let alone two.

I tried to push myself up at least into a sitting position, but my weakened limbs refused to work correctly, causing me to collapse back onto the cold tiles that seemed to suck me in deeper and deeper, promising a slow, painful death.

"Well I thought you'd at least be able to stand up," A familiar voice said, and I could just picture the grin on his face as his hand gripped the back of my shirt, his nails digging into my back as he yanked me up and threw me against the wall. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that this was all one big nightmare that I would eventually wake up from.

The amount of pain I was in was too great for me to even move anymore. I was at a rare moment in my life where I actually accepted the fact that I was going to die today. He was going to kill me and I was going to be happy in whatever Hell I ended up in. Nothing could be as horrible as where I was now.

"Ari!" I heard my sister yell, although it sounded like nothing more than a whisper that stretched it's farthest length, forcing itself to be heard. I timidly blinked my eyes open, hoping to catch a glimpse of Max, just something that would will me to my feet, something to remind me what I was fighting for.

I never got the chance to see her though, because as I lay, crumpled against the wall, two hands clamped around my neck and I watched warily as Tanner grinned down at me, a grin so familiar that I saw Omega for a brief moment as he lifted me up off the floor, holding me so high my feet couldn't touch the tile anymore.

"Nobody move or I snap his neck!" Tanner yelled, causing the throbbing rhythm in my head to increase its pace. I glanced towards my friends, briefly noticing the torn look on Max's face before Tanner tightened his grip, cutting off all oxygen to my lungs.

I began to cough, clawing at his hands as the wolf inside of me howled for control. I couldn't let that happen though, not in front of Max. She didn't need to see the monster I could be.

"Tanner stop! Please!" Max begged, and I knew she was desperate to get me back because Max never said 'please' to the enemy.

"And what do I get if I let him go, huh? The satisfaction of helping out the people who killed my brother?" Tanner growled sarcastically, and I watched as they all froze, even Fang looked absolutely clueless.

"Omega," I squeaked out, sinking my nails deep into Tanner's skin. He flinched, but other than that didn't seem to care. I was nothing more than an annoying bug he could crush in one footstep.

Fang sent Max a look, obviously understanding my barely-audible word, and Max looked absolutely horrified. "Don't kill Ari! He's not the one who-"

"It was me," Max snapped, interrupting Fang before he could plead guilty.

"Ha, there's no way you could have killed him, Max. We both know you're lying." Tanner scowled, "Who do you think you're fooling?"

"Tanner, Ari didn't kill Omega. You have no reason to hurt him," Fang said calmly, surprisingly keeping his cool.

"Ha, who else could have done it?" Tanner asked, although something flickered in his eyes as he asked, something like… oh no. He already knew who killed Omega, he just wanted the confession. He wanted Fang to admit what he had done, and unfortunately, he was about to get a spoken statement.

"Guys, don't protect me," I choked out, weakly kicking the mini-hulk that was trying to kill me, hoping I could stall Fang from admitting anything.

"Ari-" I finally got a good kick in, causing Tanner's grip to loosen just enough for me to pry his fingers away and half sprint, half stumble towards the small group that was my only salvation now. I barely managed to get to Max before I collapsed again. However, she wouldn't have any of it. Max grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me to my feet, letting me lean on her as much as I needed to, which meant she was basically holding my entire weight.

"Ugh, you are not allowed to have dessert ever again," She muttered, keeping a close eye on Tanner as she joked about my weight. Something like a smile tried to spread across my face, but I doubt it looked anything like one.

I turned my focus to Tanner too watching as he stood there, waiting for any possible twitches that would mean he was about to pounce, but he didn't. In fact he didn't move at all, he just stared at us, blinking every now and then, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths, but other than that he did nothing, said nothing. Suspicion began to rise inside of me. We needed to move, but nobody seemed courageous enough to take one step. Why was he just standing there?

"Max, we need to get out of here," I whispered concentrating hard on making every word I spoke legible. Max nodded once, and pushed me upwards a little.

"Fang, get them out of here-"

"No way in hell am I trusting that skinny white boy to save my neck," I interrupted, still watching Tanner out of the corner of my eye. What was he waiting on? Why didn't he attack already?

"And no way am I leaving-"

"You shut up," I growled at Fang, not realizing I was able to walk until I found myself right in front of him. "I'll stay with Max, you take Iggy and Lupo and get out of-" I never got to finish that sentence though, because that's when Tanner exploded.

Literally.

Bright, golden flames licked my body, leaving behind searing pain wherever they touched. I was flung through the air like a vase, weightless; flying even. For a whole second I was nothing more than a piece of paper floating towards the ground, and then I landed. A mass of broken bones, torn skin, and blood, laying in a puddle of crimson that only got bigger with each passing minute. For a moment I wondered if I was dead, but then I realized I couldn't be, not with the pain I was feeling.

Smoke drenched the air, soaking up oxygen like it was the only life source it could find. The thick grey cloud wrapped itself around me, coaxing me to take a nice, deep breath. Slowly it crept up to my lips, kissing me so gently I found myself breathing in the toxic.

I woke up under three layers of dark blue sheets that held me down, hugging my close. My head rest against a soft pillow that was cold to the touch. I didn't open my eyes yet, I didn't want to. The last thing I needed was to wake up from this comfortable location only to find out I was in Hell or something, dead as I thought I was.

"Look Max, I know you love him, but Ari… well he got hurt pretty bad. I don't know if he'll-"

"Fang, don't make me take that glass of water and shove it down your throat, cause I wouldn't have a problem doing it," I heard my sister snarl, and something broke.

"Jesus Max! Do you want to kill me or something?" I risked squinting open my eyes to find Fang against a light grey wall, his arms held up over his face protectively, and Max with her fist clenched and pulled back, ready to spring out and punch him. To Fang's left, broken glass littered the floor, along with what looked like a picture frame. "You need to accept that not everybody you love is going to make it through. If I can deal with it, then you can," I watched Fang muster enough courage to shove Max out of his way and begin to walk out, but he paused when he heard her sobbing. I watched uselessly as my sister fell to her knees, hugging herself tightly, and tried to sit up, to say something, but it seemed all I could do was blink.

"I'm not apologizing for pushing you," Fang muttered, walking over to Max and kneeling down next to her, hugging her to him. "Or for what I said, but I am sorry you don't understand loss-" Fang mumbled.

"What do you mean I don't understand loss? I've lost everything, Fang-" Max started, but he cut her off.

"No you haven't. True loss is losing someone or something you love. And, besides Ari I don't think you've lost anything you've loved." Fang inquired, to which Max stayed silent. I remembered a time, a long time ago, when Max loved Jeb, but she stopped loving him when he experimented on her.

"Does Jeb count?" She asked quietly, and I watched Fang shake his head.

"Monsters don't count, Max. You can't love a monster, no matter how much you think you do, you don't."

"But you love me," Max whispered and without my hyper-sensitive hearing I probably would have never heard it.

"Well, then I guess you're not a monster," Fang smiled and kissed her forehead, and a thought occurred to me. Maybe Fang wasn't so bad-

But I still could never deal with two of him.

The next time I woke up my body seemed to be fully functioning. I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position just in time for Max to walk in my room. She froze when she noticed me, alive and awake. For a moment we just stared at each other, me wondering how horrible I must look to her, probably still covered in blood, burn marks all over my body, and bandages covering most of my skin. However, that didn't seem to bother my little sister.

"Ari!" She exclaimed, sprinting over to the bed and jumping on me, wrapping her arms to tight around my neck I thought I was going to choke to death. Aching pain radiated through my body, but I forced myself not to wince, not to show any signs of it. I needed this hug right now, I didn't want Max to stop. Timidly, I wrapped my arms around her waist, hugging her a little closer. "You don't know how happy I am to see you, after Tanner's freak suicide mission, and with all your other injuries, I- I…" I shushed Max gently, tightening my grip a little more if that was possible.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere, alright?" Max seemed to take that promise a little differently than expected. She crawled off the bed and sighed to herself.

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," She mumbled under her breath, my hyper-sensitive hearing barely catching her words. "Um, Iggy made some dinner, think you can make it downstairs, or should I bring it up?" She asked, and I shook my head.

"I'm good. I'll be down in a sec," I promised and Max smiled weakly before leaving me alone in a room I didn't quite recognize yet. For a good ten minutes I just sat there, thinking about what she had said, what she had meant,

That's what I'm afraid of.

Next chapter is not Ari's POV. These 2 part chapters might start showing up, but they'll only be 2 parts unless I say otherwise. Anyways, please review.

Soar on

VR