Authors Note: Okay, so not a one-shot! This will continue, although I'm not sure how long it will be. Criticism/reviews appreciated! I will try to do a chapter from at least every PoV… and I will alternate from flock's side to Iggy's often. And, sadly, I will be unable to update as frequently because school is staring up again! :(

Disclaimer: Not mine yet… but I'm working on it…*insert evil laugh here*

Broken Fragments

Chapter 2: Almost Isn't Success

Fang PoV

We were flying, searching for Iggy again, like always. He was insane. He left; no actually he abandoned us, without even saying goodbye. And now, he refuses to talk to us, and even let us know the reasons behind his departure.

Angel says it's because he developed a new power, but I know that's not it. He would be glad for a new ability; especially one that made his vision improve.

I missed Iggy so much; it hurt to say his name out loud. And because all we ever talked about, or were doing, anymore is something that involved Iggy, I didn't speak.

There was no reason for me to talk, and anything even remotely important I thought came out of Angel's mouth. I didn't mind, besides she never searched my thoughts anymore. She told me they were too depressing and that I could talk if I wanted to. But I didn't want to. I haven't wanted to talk for over five months now.

Sometimes I thought Max thought me insane, maybe worse then Iggy. But Iggy was alone, and I had the flock. Iggy had no one to help him, no one to save him from his own mind.

"Angel, hear anything?" Max muttered lifelessly.

She froze, and nodded.

I perked up, but only slightly. We had had many false leads, many disappointments, and most of them ended in us almost catching Iggy. But almost didn't count.

"Gazzy blinked and slowly lifted his head, staring at Angel with barely a hint of hope.

"What's he saying? Translate for us, Angel! And we have to hurry, before we lose him again! Oh, Iggy. I can't believe he cracked. And why'd he have to do it like this?" Nudge moaned.

She didn't talk as much, none of us did. But she still talked the most, and managed to keep our spirits up as much as possible.

"Nudge, be quiet. I'm listening."

Angel paused again.

"Gazzy, can you… please… translate? I just want to hear… his voice. I'm sending you the… exact thoughts," Angel whispered hesitantly.

A single tear drifted from his eye, but he wiped it away and frowned. "Sure," he agreed in a dead monotone.

I silently groaned. It just about killed me when the Gasman did this, but I guess everyone but me liked hearing Iggy's voice. I hated it, it reminded me of the Iggy that we will never have, or see, or joke around with again.

"Oh, crap. Angel was close. She could hear my thoughts. I had to get away from her! She could figure it out, and ruin everything!" Gazzy began.

Nudge choked back a sob.

"Hold on, I'm replying to him," Angel murmured.

"Max might try and chase me now, and I had just left that last batch of Erasers. There was no one to stop her now, unless I landed. I guess I could escape; I had my new power to act innocent. I could even go into that costume shop and steal a costume… cut and dye my hair… they would never recognize me," Gazzy considered, with alarm creeping into his, or actually Iggy's, voice.

"No!" Max growled. "Angel, I'm going warp speed and catching him this time."

"Max, you can't," Angel replied, grabbing her arm. "He would hear you coming and immediately land, and hide among the town's people. Then we would lose his trail again."

Max rolled her eyes. "Iggy is so… difficult."

I almost smiled. There was a little hint of the old Max showing there, the Max that was trying to save the world, the Max that was whole and connected. We all seemed disconnected and distant now.

"She figured out my power, what else does she know? I had to block out my thoughts, and create a mental wall. I always love hearing Angel's voice, but when she started knowing too much, that was when it has to stop," Gazzy finished.

Angel shook her head. "He cut me off," she whimpered. "He blocked his thoughts, and flew away again."

Gazzy sucked in a huge breath, exhaling slowly. "Iggy's really gone nuts. We've lost him, and I don't think he's ever coming-b-b-b-b." Gazzy couldn't finish the last word; turning his face away from us and hiding muffled wailing.

Nudge sighed, her wing beats faltering. She sank down a few feet, and didn't come back up. She continued to follow us, though.

I swallowed multiple times, struggling to clear the thickness from my throat. It really was useless; finally, after all we've been through, one of us became broken, lost. And it just had to be Iggy.

I flew next to Max, gently touching her arm and looking into her deep eyes.

"What?" she snapped. "Are you finally going to talk to us and help us deal with this?"

I backed off, swerving behind her again. I didn't blame her. I could see the immense pain, sorrow, loss, and damage reflected in her eyes. We all carried fragments of Iggy in our memories, pieces of hope and disappointment.

Max had tried talking to me for three weeks after I went mute. But I just couldn't talk. And she just didn't understand it. She knew I had always been quiet, but not that quiet.

Even after Angel explained my thoughts to her, she was still mad. Because the rest of the flock talked, why couldn't I just do the same? But she thought it would wear off. But it didn't. And our relationship just seemed to melt away with my voice.

She was nicer to me, now. Although I could still tell she was waiting for me to comfort her, and be the bigger person. But I was weak, and I knew she hated me for it. Hated my weakness, my muteness, my rock hard outside and the way I never showed much emotion.

I tried to comfort her, with my eyes, my gentle gestures. Yet she wouldn't respond. I even tried kissing her once, but that was a huge mistake. She flew away from me, looking a bit angry, confused, and definitely defiant.

And then she told me words that broke my already torn heart.

"You can kiss me, and love me, when you start talking again. But until then, since I don't know what you're thinking, you won't know what I'm thinking and you will certainly not kiss my closed lips."

And that was that. I avoided her now, but I always tried to make it up to her. I could never hate her, and I knew her anger and cruelty was just due to the stress and hardships of losing Iggy and being leader. Angel always reminded her of our feelings towards each other though, and I really felt grateful for that.

Right now, besides Max, I felt like Angel was being the strongest and the most mature out of all of us. And that I was being the immature, childish, weak one.

"You're being strong, Fang. You're not weak, either. You just have a unique way of dealing with this. We all do. And Max doesn't hate you either. She loves you just as much as you do, she just doesn't want to, because she can't be distracted in order to save Iggy."

"I thought you weren't reading my thoughts any more," I responded mentally to Angel.

Angel flinched slightly, and dropped her gaze. "I… I try to tune in every now and then. Just to make sure you're all right, and not being, uh, suicidal or anything," she admitted.

I shrugged. "I'm doing fine on my own, and I couldn't leave you guys when Iggy's gone, too."

"I know. You're doing much better then Gazzy."

I turned my gaze to stare curiously at her, and she looked away, letting her curls fall into her face.

"Gazzy is… distraught. And you notice he doesn't explode things, make bombs of any kind, fart, or even mimic unless necessary? Gaz and Ig were really close. And Gazzy also… never mind. Forget I said anything, it's not something you need to be concerned about."

I paused and dropped a few feet, almost hitting Nudge. I touched her shoulder apologetically and soared to catch up with Angel.

"What about him?" I demanded.

Angel huffed in annoyance. "I said nothing, Fang. I know you don't talk out loud, and so you don't talk to anyone else, but could you just leave me alone and not bug me about him? I'm worried enough as it is."

I just nodded, and flew back next to Gazzy, occasionally glancing at his tear stained face and puffy red eyes.

It made me wonder, what exactly could Gazzy be doing that concerned Angel? It obviously wasn't good, and it tied in with Iggy's disappearance.

Angel was right, Iggy and Gazzy were close. And she did say everyone had there own special coping mechanism. Could Gazzy have one that maybe wasn't as healthy as mine? Not that mine was healthy… but it beat some of the more dangerous options.

What had our flock become? And could we fix it before we tore each other apart?