Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Max would kick my butt if I tried. Maybe JP too.
We all waited in the computer room. We were all nervous and going out of our minds waiting for Asch, fearing the worst.
Sebastian was on the radio trying to call him, but getting no response. He figured Asch must have thrown it away so that if he did get caught, they couldn't track it to us. But he didn't sound too enthusiastic.
I kept pacing the room, hating myself for leaving him behind. I can't believe I just left him in the building, knowing he was seen and that Jeb was in the building. If it was someone in my flock I'd have gone back in a heartbeat. I just couldn't believe I allowed myself to be told to let him be.
I looked over and I saw Lily sitting in the corner. She was all curled up.
I walked over to her and crouched down. "They got him, didn't they?" she said, trying to hold back sobs, "The bad guys got him, didn't they? The bad guys got Asch."
"No, no sweetheart," I said, "We don't know that. Don't think like that."
Lily started to cry. "They got him. They got my daddy."
Angel came over. "C'mon Lily," she said, "don't think like that. If anybody can outwit those Itex guys, it's Asch. I don't even need my mind reading power to figure that out. And even if he doesn't, you can rescue him."
"I can?"
"Of course you can, and we'd be there with you."
I was amazed at how well Angel managed to do with Lily. I guess they really got close in the short time they've spent together.
Lily started to stop sobbing. "Thanks you two."
Suddenly we heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Then somebody started to bang on the door. We were all hopeful that it was Asch but there was still the possibility that it was Erasers.
Calypso went to the door and looked through the peephole. She then breathed a huge sigh. "It's Asch," she said. Everyone then breathed a huge sigh of relief. Calypso opened the door and Asch came in.
"Is everybody all right?" he asked.
"Are we all right? Are you all right?!" I cried. I had to give him credit for putting his flock before himself.
"Of course I'm all right," he said, "You guys weren't actually worried about me, were you?"
Lily came running over to Asch and wrapped herself around him, still sobbing a little bit.
"Ooh, I guess I'll take that as a yes."
"I thought the bad guys got you," she said. "I thought I might never see you again."
"Oh, honey," he said, picking her up, "I'm sorry I scared you. But I did what I had to do to make sure you were safe. Besides, they couldn't touch me." Asch smiled, and it made Lily smile.
"So, what happened back there?" asked Sebastian.
"Well, after I got surrounded by a bunch of goons with guns, I came face to face with the devil incarnate."
"You met Jeb?" I asked.
"Yeah. He said I looked familiar to him, but I can't think of where he might have seen me from. But I doubt his memory will be working for awhile anyway. I gave him a nice knee to the head and dived out a window. I'd say he's looking like a sick unicorn right about now."
"Way to go Asch," said Calypso.
"So what happens now?" I asked.
"What did you find in the building?" Asch asked.
I had almost forgotten about the papers I tucked in my shirt. I pulled them out and said, "I found some really good stuff. All this is about Re-evolution being restarted; where the main stations are, who the head honchos are, everything that we'll need to know."
"Awesome, we'll look at them tomorrow. I think we should call it a night."
Lily let out a yawn. "And it sounds like somebody is ready for bed."
Asch went out of the room and went downstairs, carrying Lily.
"Wow, he's really good with Lily, isn't he?" I said.
"Just like you took good care of me Max," said Angel. I looked down at her and smiled.
"I'm glad I could." Then something occurred to me that Lily said. I looked over to the others and said, "Hey guys, did Lily call Asch daddy, or did I just imagine that?"
"Yeah," said Sebastian, "But of course, he's not really her dad. She just kinda sees him as her dad. He did practically raise her. He practically raised all of us."
"Oh, I get it."
Wow, Asch and I were almost the same. I had Angel and he had Lily. Of course, he probably did a way better job than me. Once again, I would never openly admit that.
I walked over to a table and put the files I had on a table.
I needed to talk to Asch so I went downstairs after him. I looked in his room but he wasn't in there. And neither was his keyboard.
I heard Asch and Lily talking down the hall. I went further down to see that they were in Lily's room. I came in the doorway and saw them. Lily was in her bed and Asch was sitting in a chair with his keyboard.
"How can I sleep?" asked Lily, "The bad people might know where we are."
"Don't worry," Asch said, "The bad people don't know where we are. They're not gonna get us. Here, I'll play that song you like. That'll help you relax."
Lily squealed a bit. She must have really liked the song he was gonna play.
Asch began playing. It was really soft and nice. And it was really relaxing. As Asch played, I could see Lily slowly drift into a deeper state of relaxation and then she fell asleep.
Asch kept playing for a little while longer and then realized Lily had fallen asleep and slowed the song to a stop.
He looked over to me and saw that I was in the doorway. He smiled as if he was a little embarrassed that I saw him doing this.
"What's that song called?" I whispered making sure I didn't wake Lily up.
"It's called 'Dearly Beloved'," said Asch, "She heard it from somewhere and she really liked it so I learned to play it. It wasn't really hard. Not for me anyway."
He picked up the keyboard and walked out of the room with me following. He went into his room and put the keyboard down where it was.
"We need to talk," I said.
"About what?" Asch asked, a look of concern coming over his face.
I wanted to talk to him about the what we saw in the building, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. "You take good care of them," I said instead.
Asch let out a short laugh. "I figure if I can at least keep them alive, I've done my job. All this stuff, home, food, movies, playing music to get them to sleep, it's just me going the extra mile."
"I guess I don't get extra credit."
"Oh, don't put yourself down Max. You've done a great job with them. And before you say a thing about Fang, don't worry about it. We'll find him."
"Thanks Asch. I think I'm gonna go to bed."
"All right, good night Max."
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After Max left the room, Asch reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of Boost. He stuck it into a nearby drawer and shut it.
He would have to wait until he was alone with Sebastian to give it to him and see if he could analyze it.
He began to wonder how Fang was doing, where he was staying, if Itex was looking for him. He wanted so much to tell Max about Fang. He didn't want to hide the thing she wanted to find most from her. But he made a promise to Fang. And he was going to keep it. He was a man of his word.
Yeah, he thought, just like the promise I made to Max about seeing the world. That really worked out for me.
It pained him to keep secrets from her. And Fang wasn't the only secret that he had. All the time that he had spent with her, or away from her, he began to care for Max more than he realized. Sometimes he thought he may have even, dare he think, loved her, but he could never be sure. He never really had the chance to talk about his feelings, especially with her five year absence. But she loved Fang, and he knew it. How could he possibly talk about such things with her?
He put the thought out of his mind. Now wasn't the time to think about such things. Tomorrow they were going to find out more about Re-evolution, and now that Jeb knows somebody is on to him, he'll turn up the pressure.
He decided to go to bed. He was tired and the next day was going to be work.
Max and Asch, could we call it Maschness? I'm torn as to if something should happen between them or not. Tell me your opinion, and I'm open to all. And of course, review the chapter.