Extended on request. Thank you, dragonheart3, for your review and favorite. I hope you like the new chapter.

Again, I don't own MR. Any of it. So please do not sue...


In Reverence

Chapter Two


His flock's eyes were like needles piercing his pain-wracked frame, diving beneath his skin and threading in and out, in and out, stitching their picture of worry of anxiety. He might not be able to meet their gazes and read all the emotions pent up inside, but he could feel the unspoken grief weighing the air down like a shroud. It made it hard to breathe. Or was that just him?

He hadn't realized just how weak he felt until he tried to make the trip down to the living room. The ground pitched beneath his feet with every slow step and his head swam nauseatingly. If he had been able to see, the world would have swirled and twisted.

He felt cold.

Iggy kept his short, tattered wings tugged in against his body in case he staggered and fell. It was all he could do to keep upright, though he'd never admit it. Angel's comforting presence and her tiny hand in his blood-streaked one drove him forward through each agonizing step.

He couldn't let his flock see his weakness. They needed to believe in him. He needed to believe in him.

For a moment, when he finally cleared the staircase with Angel's guidance and stepped into the living room, there was absolute silence. The only thing that broke it was that infernal clock, ticking endlessly away somewhere upstairs. He felt his family's anxious gazes the minute they hit him and went still, sightless eyes searching for…well, what, he didn't really know. Something. Anything. Any word, any noise, anybreath of relief at seeing him on his feet. His flock was completely silent.

Angel squeezed his trembling hand and he let out a low, tired sigh.

That soft noise broke the silence.

They rushed in on him, the younger ones crying and trying to hug him without hurting him, and Fang touching his shoulder to let him know he was there. He didn't feel Max. He wanted to ask where she was, but for some reason his mouth wasn't cooperating.

His family drew away from him one by one. Small, grimy fingers encircled his arm and their owner's identity registered in his muddled mind — Gazzy.

"Iggy?" The younger boy's voice shivered with uncertainty. "Are you okay? You're shaking…"

Iggy tried to give him a smile but only ended up wincing. He still felt…cold. Maybe the chill from outside had sunken into his bones while he'd been hiding in the room upstairs…

"C-cold," he got out. His tongue felt too heavy and his friends' needles were beginning to hurt, sending sharp little pinpricks through his crippled wings. Some rational part in his brain realized that he couldn't really be being sewn up with needles, but that didn't stop him from feeling like he was.

It reminded him of the Erasers' talons sinking deep into his wings, tearing and pulling and shredding the only means of survival in his lightless world...

Got you, you little freak!

No.

Fang pressed a cool hand against his forehead and Iggy flinched away from the touch, imagining it belonged to a monstrous wolf-mutant. A deep frown tarnished the other boy's voice when he spoke, but the words seemed to come through a dense fog.

"Crap. Gazzy, give him your jacket. We need to keep him warm."

Gazzy fumbled with the heavy fabric and fought with the zipper. Fang gripped Iggy's arms, making the taller boy wince as thin fingers pressed into the bruises decorating his skin.

The Erasers grabbed him, yanking on his wings to bring him closer, and he fought them but could not escape...

"Iggy, talk to me, man. How do you feel?"

Iggy shook his the memories away. There were no Erasers here.

"Tired. Dizzy," he breathed. He felt himself start to sway and shook his head, blinking at the sudden exhaustion that was bending his body to its will. The needles kept on jabbing him.

"Needles," he gasped, trying to make Fang understand that he was hurting him. Fang loosened his grip.

"Here, Iggy," Gazzy said. He reached up to wrap his jacket around Iggy. His trembling hands moved too quickly and he accidently brushed the rough coat against the edge of Iggy's wounded wings.

A burst of pain jolted through Iggy's entire body, needles piercing and plunging deep beneath his skin, and he cried out in pain. He heard Gazzy gasp and the Erasers roar with laughter, and then everything went dark.


Pain preceded sound, and sound preceded feel. Coherence came last, dredged up from the depths of unconsciousness. He was lying down but he was moving — car? Where did we get a car? — and every bump they went over sent a wave of pain rolling through him.

He let out a strained groan and felt someone's fingers on his face.

"Iggy? Are you awake?"

"N-Nudge," he said in a slurred voice. "What…?"

"We're with Doctor...Martinez? Martinez. We're with Dr. Martinez. Max went to go get her since she didn't live far away. She came like a couple minutes after you collapsed and we're…we're going to go get some help for you now."

"Don't need…help," he muttered. "Just need the needles…out…"

"He lost too much blood. He's delirious." A woman's voice. Far, yet so close. "Just keep talking to him, Nudge. Try not to let him fall unconscious again."

Sleep did sound nice…

"Okay! Iggy, can you stay with me? Please, you've gotta hold on…we're only a couple of blocks away…I think…"

"'M tired," he protested.

"I know, but you have to stay awake! Okay? Iggy? Listen to me…"

But he couldn't. The darkness and warmth swelled up again and enveloped him in its grasp, and the needles pricked him once more before he let sleep carry him away.


This was short, even by my standards, but this is where I wanted it to end. Plus, they may be stronger than your average human, but I can't see members of the flock losing too much blood and not passing out. So I couldn't really draw out the scene. Wah. :/

In comparing this chapter to the previous, I think I like the first one more...

Ah, another note: I've changed the second genre to Friendship, since there's going to be more of that later on...

Read and review, please! The next chapter will likely be the last one. Or not. We'll see. It depends on the response to this one and if I can bear to prolong Iggy's suffering. ;)

-Kimsa