Love you guys! You have no idea how happy I was with your reviews. Shout out to kate childof athena for her….inspiring comment. Sorry it's been a while, that I'm late, yada, yada, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have had very rough week. And, I need advice; what do you do when you like a guy who has a pretty 'tough guy, stupid, arrogant' exterior, but you have also seen his sweet side, and you just can't stand him, all at once. VERY IMPORTANT! What do you guys think about me doing a non-cliché 'after Fang' story?

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, as much as I love them.

~Stardust
/) ~*~ (/ I'm a singing line break, La, la, la! /) ~*~ (/

I picked up Max, holding her to my chest, trying to keep her heartbeat a constant sound near my throat. I swung onto Blaxton, praying that we would be fast enough. And even if we were, she wouldn't be able to go over the mountains in her condition. That meant that we would have to go through the Sea Kingdom, which was the last thing that I wanted. What made it worse was that this time of year, there were awful storms over the foothills, so we would have to go all the way to the Port Cities to cross correctly.

I shook my head, reminding myself that I should cross that wave when I came to it. Right now, I needed to get Max help, and come up with a respectable excuse for our being gone so long. Then, I noticed our position. It seems that Max's sense of direction was even better than I had realized, because we were not a half mile from the camp. I could see the smoke from the fires above the trees. I nudged Blaxton and Firestorm forward, wanting to get there as soon as possible.

We broke into the clearing, in the middle of a very important meeting; the soldiers were assessing each other's wounds, seeing how long it would until they healed. I slipped off Blaxton with Max still cradled in my arms, holding her carefully so as not to jostle her. One of the doctors came to me, motioning me to Max's tent. I walked in, and gently swung her onto her pallet. The doctor took out his medical instruments, and I was instantly wary. He listened to her heart, lungs, and something on her stomach.

He looked at me and said, "She is merely unconscious. It seems that she over exerted herself, and collapsed."

I nodded, that I already knew, "How long before she wakes up?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "That depends on her strength and the Courts' favor." (The Court is like Lady Luck, Lord War, any of the afore mentioned deities.)

If that were all, Max would be up in no time. She was the strongest, healthiest, prettiest, the most perfect… WAIT! When did I start thinking of Max like that? Sure, she wasn't the most beautiful princess, but there was something about her that made you so light that you just wanted to live. It was like she was the essence of life, or maybe fire. She was just that spectacular… FANG! You aren't a prince, duke, or lord! You shouldn't get close to Max; it will only make you feel worse. So I decided to distance myself as much as possible from her, and hope she took the hint. Maybe she will find a nice prince, have a family of her own, and be a queen, duchess, or lady. It was right, but then why did it make me so angry?

I was dragged out of my thoughts, and for a moment, I was almost angry, but then I realized why. Max was waking up, her pretty… NO! Her eyes fluttering open, looking slightly confused.

"Fang?" she asked, "Why are you here? And where are we?"

"Lovely, time for twenty questions again."

"No, dork," She was getting irritated, "Tell me where we are and why, before I murder your face."

This was too easy, "You couldn't hurt this work of art."

"You want to bet?"

I smirked, it was too easy to get caught up in our conversations, "Not really, I have to take care of some things, and you need to rest."

"Like what, your harem?"

I rolled my eyes, "No, we need to get out of here soon, before we have another avalanche started."

Snorting, she said, "Fine. Just make sure that they're still alive when you get done with them."

I smirked and ducked out of her tent. It was odd, because she had the same provisions as her soldiers, and she was happy about it.

I assembled the troops at the far end of the clearing, and said, "We leave in two days, make sure that we could be ready to leave before that."

One of the guards, a raunchy, potbellied man with a taste for liquor and women said, "What about our Maxikins? Is she alright?"

"She is fine," I said reluctantly, "But we will be leaving regardless."

"What did you do to her, man? I haven't seen her that awful looking, ever! Not even when she got thrown off her horse and landed on her head."

I sighed. I hated dealing with these kinds of guards, stupid and mouthy. "She got me out of the ice, and the minute I was warm, she passed out."

"Woo!" The guard shouted, "Lucky! Do you know how many guys have wanted in her pants since…"

"ENOUGH!" I roared; he was seriously over stepping the line, "You have just crossed the line! You are hereby discharged from this regiment. You are to turn over your horse and begin your way home."

The other guards were shocked; apparently they had never had a captain actually tell them what to do. "That goes for the rest of you as well. Max is a princess, and deserves to be treated as such. There will be no more comments or such about her that is anything but respectful! And the same goes for her Ladies-in-Waiting! They are a part of her court, and are to be treated with the same courtesy and chivalry as the Princess herself."

With that I stalked away from them, trying to cool myself down before heading into the main camp. Hopefully my little 'speech' would keep them in line for a little bit.

I was heading toward Max's tent, when the doctor appeared from inside one of the soldiers' tents, and looked me in the eye. "That was some speech you gave," he said, "And I'm beginning to wonder why it is that you care."

I took this opportunity to study him. He was around his late forties, slightly graying hair that once might have been blonde. I told him, "I care because I want a certain amount of respect from my soldiers, and if I have to discharge a few then so be it."

He made a skeptical little noise in the back of his throat, which brought my line of sight back to his eyes, which were a clear, hard blue. "Well then," he said, "I better let you go check on the princess then, shouldn't I?"

And with that, he walked off, without looking over his shoulder. "Just a moment, Sir Nickolai," I turned to him, "Max will not be able to travel through the mountain air for at least two weeks, or until she has fully recovered. So I would suggest that you take her through by the shoreline."

He turned back around and walked off without another word. I stayed still until he left, in case he had anything else to say, but he didn't.

That settles that. Since Max can't climb, that leaves only the Sea Kingdom. Oh, the joys to be had.

)/ ~*~ / (Hey! I'm Rose! Nice to meet you! ) / ~*~ /(

Sorry about the filler, but it kind of had to happen. Give me any ideas that you have for this story, and I will be happy to consider them. PMs are enabled, so if you don't want to leave a review, you can PM me. Don't worry, I like talking to people! XD I hope to update soon!

Drink Chai, Live Life, Love Fax
~Stardust