Ah, how things change.

In this chapter we'll get a bit more of Fang's side of the story and his recovery. Some steamy stuff in a hottub (you'll understand). Oh! And I came up with a wonderful idea for some upcoming chapters! Right now, there's a lot of Angela/Fang and Iggy/Max in the chapters, it's going to have a few more characters a bit later, plus some more of Nudge, Gassy, and Angel, of course. Just a little fun fact for my readers, all my chapters are named after some of my favorite (or at least half decent) songs, not original, but oh well. I want to see who can name all the songs and artists.

On to the reviewers!

livXfoXmiXmusic: Max/Fang? This will answerthat question at least. Is the suspense really that terrible? Oh, it will get worse. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! I love that movie! "Everything in this room is edible, even I am edible. But that dear children is what we call cannibalism and is infact frowned on in most societies." -Willy Wonka

xPNMx: Let me first say, thank you! I can't believe I got that good of a review! Anyways, yeah, I thought it was a bit emotion on Max's part. Some more Iggy aserting himself and Max being weak to come, but not now. I am also sad to say that, though I'd love to lead you on, no it's not a Fang/Iggy slash. That idea was taken by the author of Belt Loops. Is that how it sounded? I didn't mean it to be... it's more of... oh what do I want to call it... brotherly love? male bonding? something along those lines, though there's nothing romantic between the two. But there is a lot of romance to come (I can't stress how much there really is). Hope you like this chapter!

IndigoWolf: You know, I have a friend named Indigo. How random of me. Anyways, yes. Poor Max. A lot of sympathy for her, isn't there? We should have a candlelight vigil later (just kidding!). Oh and yes, I agree, Maximum Ride is awesome.

Chapter V: Scars

"Ow." Fang muttered as his already bruised hip collided with the white wall of the corridor. He clenched his jaw as he pressed his palms against the wall for support. He cursed as he continued to stumble his way down the hall. He winced as he stiffly dragged his right leg along with him. Pain was racing up and down his back, but he had to do this. He woke up this morning and set himself to this task, he had to do this. If he didn't... then he would be a failure. Failure was not an option. He felt himself lean too far back, and went staggering backwards for the other wall, where his shoulder collided with the plaster painfully. A slight grunt escaped from his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut. Crap, Crap, Crap! He gasped as white hot searing pain burned from his right leg to his wings, but Fang gritted his teeth and rolled his shoulders to face the wall. He glared at it, in all of it's plaster embodied glory, his greatest enemy at the moment. He banged the heels of his palm against it, silently willing it to stop sending him, as if magnetically, across the hallway. He was already banged up enough, he didn't need a broken shoulder.

Fang knew if Arthemus or Dagan, or any Erasers for that matter, caught him he was as good as dead. For some reason, the Erasers hated him with a passion. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why. No matter though, he didn't like them either. Fang sighed and set his right leg, then continued down the hallway. His swagger was proud, determined and powerful, but it was paired with a heavy limp. Fang moved his right leg stiffly, with very little bend of the knee. As if it pained him just to move it. And it did. Why did this have to happen to him? What did he ever do? If only he had never been so foolish as to crowd surf at the concert...

Nice time for if-onlys.

That damn voice! Fang thought he'd gotten rid of it, but apparently not... Fang shut his eyes, just for a fleeting moment, and as he did he felt his delicate backbone slammed against the wall. He felt his body screaming out in pain as Fang slowly opened his eyes and looked up, into the gaze of Dagan. "Go back to your room." He growled, pinning Fang by the shoulders. "Gerroff me!" He said desperately. "Go back to your room." Dagan repeated. "Why should I?" Fang croaked, struggling to break free of the Erasers's grasp. "Because I said so you little maggot." The Eraser pressed harder on Fang's shoulders. He knew he had little power over the man. He, Fang, was weakened by his injuries and bed rest, and Dagan was at his prime. Four or five probably. Soon, he would start the journey down hill, to weakness, then, to death. But for now, he was at his strongest. "Let me go you throw rug of a being." He countered, giving a good kick with his better leg. Dagan showed no effect. "Go back." He snarled. Fang searched his mind for an excuse, any, to get Dagan off of him. "Hey! Dagan! Get off him!" Another voice broke in. Fang felt Dagan's grasp release as he was pulled off the bird-child by Angela. Fang fell to the ground in a collapsed heap, with his right leg stretched out in front of him. "Angela, I'm so glad you came! This little worm was trying to go somewhere." Dagan said, throwing a sneer at the collapsed Fang. "For your information-" Angela snatched Fang up by the forearm. "He was coming to see me." She said fiercely. Dagan looked dumbstruck. Fang wanted to laugh but had not the strength to do so. "Sorry then, misunderstanding." Dagan spat at Fang, who was standing limply, half supported by Angela. "If you hurt him at all you will be out on the street before you can say misunderstanding." She snapped, as Dagan set off in the other direction. "Come on, let's go to the living room." She said, turning Fang about. "No." He mumbled. "What? Why?" She asked, looking at her companion strangely. "I have to go down this hallway, by myself." He breathed. Angela nodded, "Go ahead." She said as she let him go. Fang resumed his place, limping with the wall for support. But Angela did not leave. "You know, when I first learned that you guys, the bird-children, had escaped my first thought was 'They are so lucky, they'll never have to see this place again.'"

"Yeah, lucky, right." Fang grunted.

"I guess I was wrong."

"I guess you were."

Angela laughed heartily. "Yeah, I was."

Fang smiled.

"You know, if... if you know, your friends never call... you can stay here."

Fang paused, slowly turning his head to look at Angela in pure shock.

"I'm, I'm not saying that they won't! I'm just saying you can stay here... you know, if they don't." She added quickly.

Fang, still in shock could only nod. Of course they would call! They wouldn't just ignore the fact that he almost... he almost died. They, they'd come for him. They had to... if they didn't...

"Never mind, pretend I didn't say anything." Angela flustered, blushing so hard she had turned as pink has her hair.

Fang was willing to comprise. As far as he was concerned, nothing had been said.

He looked back down at his feet. The one size fits no one hospital gown hung loosely by his ankles. Sometimes everything just felt like a dream. He wasn't here, he was at the hotel with the Flock and he would wake up any minute. Angela was just a dream, she wasn't a real person. He didn't have this horrible limp. This? This couldn't be real. But then... the pain came back and he knew... he knew it was all real.

"Here we are." She said softly as she took him by the elbow into another room.

There was a mismatch of leather couches, tweed swivel chairs and plaid lazy boys. It looked like the basement that a college drop out would live in when he moved back into his mom's house. "Take a seat." Angela said, gesturing to a large couch. She herself plopped down on a blue plaid lazy boy just next to the black pleather monster. The brown haired boy sat himself down weightily. He rested his fingers on his temples, deep in thought. He had to find a way to contact the Flock. Get out of this place. He could go find them... but he could hardly walk, he wouldn't stand a chance on the streets, and he didn't have the money for a cab. He was pretty sure that no one around here would loan him any cash. He couldn't let any of them find out what he was doing... the phone and the mail were out of the question... How was he suppose to get out of here?

"Can you even feel this?"

Fang looked down, the pink haired girl was massaging his right calf. Could he feel it? He concentrated on his leg, but he felt nothing. What did this mean? "No." He said breathlessly. Angela shook her head, she began rubbing his knee, then his thigh, she moved through his whole leg. At best all he felt was a slight tingle or a bit of pressure. "W-what does this mean?" He asked, slightly panicked, as Angela resumed her seat. He couldn't be paralyzed, he could move his leg, so what the heck did that mean? Angela leaned down to her knees and ran her fingers through her waves, eyes wide with worry. "Angela, what does this mean?" He demanded, throwing his hands up. Shaking, she turned to him and said "It could mean a lot."

"Like what?"

"A lot."

"Angela, tell me. I can deal with this."

"Fang, that limp... it could be permanent."

"Like... I'll never be able to walk normally again?"

"Mmm-hmm." She choked.

The words took a second to hit... but then, they consumed Fang. He would always walk like this. He'd never be able to run again, he'd never be the same. Salty tears clouded his vision and ran down his cheeks. He felt an arm around his shoulders. "It could mean a lot more... your muscles might have just tightened. We can fix that." She said softly. He looked up at her, he didn't know if it was the tears clouding his vision or if he was just delusional but she looked... she looked like an angel.

"Honey, I'm not angel." She smiled.

Fang laughed, it was just a trick of the light. No way she could be an angel.

"Who ever asked you?" Came a loud wheeze from a neighboring chair. A very old man was sitting in the corner of the room in a rocking chair, he wore thick glasses, a checkered shirt and tight suspenders, he was also missing the vast majority of his teeth. "Go back to sleep Arty." Angela said carelessly. "In my day... uh... what were we talking about?" was the reply. Fang had to suppress himself from laughing. The old geezer had totally lost his marbles obviously. "Sleep. We were talking about sleep." Angela replied.

"Right, in my day we slept for three hours if we were lucky! We got up at four to load the docks, worked as a soda jerk at nine, and until one o'clock we sold apples on the street corner! Three hours of sleep! If we were lucky!"

"That's very interesting Arty."

"Don't be short with me!- Oh, and who are you?" The old man blinked at Fang as if seeing him for the first time.

"I'm, uh, Fang."

"Fang! What a name! They called me Cobra when I was with the army!" The man said triumphantly.

"I'm sure they did." Angela replied gently.

"I've never met him before." The old man shook his cane in Fang's direction "What's he doing here?" The old man added squinting at the brown haired boy.

"He's just... erm," She paused, searching for the word, "visiting." she decided.

"Right-o!"

"Go back to sleep."

The old man obliged, leaning his head back and snoring loudly.

"Crazy old bat." She shook her head, Fang could have sworn the corner of her mouth twitched in a bit of a smile. "Come on then, we'd best head back." She said standing up. Her lab coat swished behind her as she opened up the door, she was about to leave when she spotted Fang, who was rooted helplessly to his seat. Blushing she walked over to Fang and pulled him up by the hands. "Do you want to do the hallway by yourself?" She asked quietly. Fang considered this, but feeling how tired he already felt he thought it best to take the secondary option. "Right then." She said suddenly, obvious she had read his mind again. She offered the crook of her elbow and he wrapped his fingers around it. With Fang clutching Angela for support the two walked into the hallway. Like some strange type of siamese twin. Fang cringed at how pathetic he probably looked. Being held up by Angela as he walked down the hall. How was he suppose to fight the Shadows with the rest of the Flock? Was he suppose to just stay home and play housewife? Fang lowered his gaze, ashamed if his worthlessness. By chance, he glanced at a door. In peeling back letters the words HYDROTHERAPY were printed across it's frosted window. "Hey, Ange, what's that room?" He asked, jerking his thumb at the door. "Oh..." She said thoughtfully, "Oh!" She repeated, but this time it sounded more like an idea. "Oh! Oh! I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" She said excitedly, almost jumping with happiness. "What? What is it?" Fang asked, whipping his head from the pink haired girl to the faded door. "Come on!" The girl said, practically wetting herself with excite as she dragged the confused boy with her into the room.

Fang's first impression was that the room was simply a very large bathroom. But then he realized it was actually twelve small, circular tubs. Every inch of the room was tiled, even the ceiling. "Here, take this." She handed him a pair of black board shorts and shoved him into a closet like stall. He fumbled around slipping off the hospital gown and pulling on the shorts at the same time. After many painful collisions with the door, as if he needed anymore, he stepping out into the open, to find Angela laid out in one of the tubs. She had a one blue one piece bathing suit on, which she had obviously changed into much quicker than Fang had. "Come in!" She said giddily as she beckoned him forth. Fang nodded and slipped into the water, which was swirling with bubbly warmth as Angela put on the jets. "What are we doing?" He asked as she laid her hand back and closed her eyes. "I am soaking my troubles away, you are fixing your limp." She sighed. Fang cocked his eyebrow, but didn't question it any further, instead he relaxed and let the heated water take him over.

This was what perfection was. He felt his muscles relax as well as his mind. This is what his heaven would be like. A hot tub.

"Hey."

Fang looked up. "Wanna go under the water?" Angela asked mischievously. "Sure." Fang smirked and they both dunked their heads under the water. Fang came up gasping in only a few seconds, but Angela stayed for a good minute. As he waited for her to come up he felt his hair graze his shoulders. It was about time to cut it. He'd ask her about that later. Just then, a gasping mass of pink appeared in the water. Angela's hair completely covered her face as she sputtered for air. "Roots." Fang said softly. "What?" Angela said flipping her hair back. "I can see your roots." He said picking up a lank lock of her hair. At the roots of her pink was brown. "Oh, time to dye it again." she blushed pulling her hair back. Their faces were but an inch apart. He could see every fleck of gold in her hazel eyes, he could count her eyelashes and all he could think of was how pink her lips looked. Without warning, they leaned in towards each other. Just as their lips were about to meet, a buzzing alarm went off. "Oh!" Angela jolted. "Fang... we really can't do this." She said knotting her hair as she pulled her clothes over her bathing suit. "I-I have to go." She said swishing out the door.

Fang suddenly realized what he'd done... who he'd done it with. He swore loudly as he wrapped a towel around his waist and he swore once more as he opened the door. As he limped down the hall all he could think of... was the fact he had almost kissed Angela, who was not Max. If only he hadn't been so foolish...

If only... if only... your not getting yourself anywhere.

"Yeah, yeah." Fang muttered, as he closed his eyes and shut out the world.

:Shakes head: Oh dear, poor Fang. Poor Max. Sympathy party!

Review for the sympathy party?