A/N: Chappie numero dos of 10 Secrets of the Maximum Ride Characters! (Man, I need a more creative title.) I've decided there may be spoilers for MR4 in each chapter (MAYBE) so if you still haven't read it yet for some reason, be careful. Oh, and this is now rated T.
As many of you guessed, yes, this will be Fang. Thanks for all of the reviews, alerts, and favorites, guys! I got twelve reviews in one day! You rock! (And there are now seventeen. AMAZING. Keep it up!)
One: His earliest memory is of pain. Blinding, stabbing, white hot pain. Apparently, the head whitecoat had a few apprentices that needed to learn how to successfully perform surgery on a recombinant DNA life form. So far, though, it wasn't too successful, since the anesthesia had worn off too early – and he could feel every cut, stab, and slice. He screamed, and he could dimly hear scientists arguing over his head. He felt another prick in his arm, and the pain faded away.
The pain may have gone, but his consciousness had not. He was still awake, and they didn't seem to care.
Being dumped in a new cage in a new area of the School two days later had hurt everywhere. A blond girl about his age was there. He glared up at the whitecoat with the loud voice that had landed him here, in this new place, with nothing familiar. The girl moved away, but he was too angry to care that he had scared her.
He calmed down later, but it took time. Later, he would believe that the surgery he had undergone was the best thing that had happened to him at the School – because it had landed him with Max.
Two: Four year old Fang was absolutely, positively terrified. He was…actually; he wasn't sure where he was. He knew he was in the middle of a lot of trees, and that was it. It was the first time he'd been outside, ever, let alone away from the School. He was by himself – but he was being followed. It was another test, but he wasn't sure what they were testing. He just knew he had to get away, away, away.
He could hear the Erasers tearing through the forest after him and pumped his legs faster. For what seemed like endless hours this went on, until his lungs burned and his legs felt like they'd been pounded on endlessly by Eraser fists. He collapsed, silent tears streaming down his face, hoping fervently that the Erasers wouldn't find him.
Unfortunately, he didn't get his wish. Luckily, however, a whitecoat was with them, which was the only thing that prevented them from jumping on Fang and tearing him apart. "Are you crying?" the whitecoat demanded. "Stop that! Stop right now! You're not made to be a whiner. You are a fighter. A machine. You got that? Stop!" He hit Fang's face hard, who squeezed his eyes tightly shut at the blow.
When he opened them, there was only a bit of hurt left as he buried himself deep inside his head, where no one could disturb him. When he looked up at the whitecoat again, not a trace of emotion could be found in the dark eyes.
Three: He had listened to the blond girl talk to the blond boy in whispers night after night. He wondered if they were siblings – they had the same color hair, even if their eye color wasn't the same. He would lean against the wall of his cage – he had his own now, after all, he was seven, even if the cage was too small for him– and listen to them talk. If they were brother and sister, he was really jealous. He was close to the blond girl, and he hated to think that someone else had that too.
Four: He looked up to Jeb. He liked Jeb. After all, he'd set them free, so how could he not? Did he ever love Jeb as a father, though? No, not really. He didn't think that he would ever be able to fully trust a whitecoat again, and sometimes, Jeb acted a little off at the E house. Fang seemed to be the only one to notice when he would get a strange look in his eyes, but it was only when he was looking at Max. Anyway, even if she was only a few months older, he did have Max. Not really a parent, but the two of them together could do anything, he thought.
Five: He gets called emo a lot for his black clothes and silent nature, but he's really not. Black was a habit at first – it made it much easier to blend in with the shadows at the School. Not that they exactly had a choice of what to wear, but blending in meant that you weren't caught or experimented on. Later, though, black just seemed to fit him – Fang and black just went together like…like salt and pepper. And as for being quiet? Well, for one thing, there's no reason to talk all the time. Why should you talk a ton when you can get across what you need with one word? Plus, he had Nudge. Enough said.
For another, it was calm inside his head. His head was the one thing in his crazy life that he had complete control over – except at night, when thoughts of the School crept back inside his memories. It was better not to talk sometimes.
Besides, the person that he talks to the most understands him with just one glance.
Six: Total bugs the crap out of him. Sometimes, it gets to the point where he regrets letting Angel keep him. He can tell he makes her happy, which is all fine and good, but how the heck does the little furball know everything? It gets to where if Total says one more thing about his love for England or the Eiffel Tower of France, Fang just wants to take Total's mouth and clamp it shut. He would – he tried, once – but Angel stopped him. Thank God he actually can put his hand over Nudge's mouth.
Seven: Lissa. Just her name makes Max's eyes narrow, Nudge giggle, and Iggy stare off into space wondering what she looks like. And, okay, so maybe he had liked her a little bit. A little. She was nothing like Max, of course – they were practically polar opposites. But hey, he was a guy, Lissa was pretty, she was nice to him, and she actually liked Fang. He never expected any girl to like him, but then all of a sudden, there was Lissa. And when she kissed him, he was so surprised that for a second he didn't know what to do.
Max getting jealous was just a big plus. But then she'd gotten him back with Sam. Why did she always have to go one up on him?
Eight: He hates the color red. Don't ask him why, he just does. Maybe he's seen too much blood, too many red glints in Eraser eyes…actually; he does know why he hates the color red.
Nine: He realized that he felt something different for Max than just brother/sister love that day on the beach, when Ari had smashed his head on a rock and Max had kissed him. A million things had rushed through his head at light speed – did Max like him that way? Was that just a sisterly kiss? Judging by the way she had just turned bright red, probably not. Why had she kissed him, then? Did he like her? Could she like him? He was utterly glad that Angel (hopefully) wasn't reading his mind just then, because his thoughts were getting to be as talkative as Nudge.
It had taken him awhile to sort out all of his thoughts. He still wasn't sure that he liked Max that way until he saw her kissing Sam. His insides clench just at the thought. It was then that he was sure – because all he had wanted to do was go down there, rip Sam off of her, and kiss her himself. But of course he hadn't. He had settled for gently teasing her when she had gotten back inside – but after he left her room to go to sleep, he stayed awake, staring at the ceiling. What the hell was going on with him?
And he'd kissed her. He wasn't thinking. He was sure that she felt at least an inkling of what he did. He was definitely sure now, after their talk on the docks. Both times he'd kissed her she had responded, but then ran away.
God, she was so damn stubborn.
Ten: The best day of his life wasn't the day that Jeb had rescued him from the School, like the day that tops the rest of the Flock's list. The happiest day of his life was when he had met up with Max and the rest of the girls. When he hugged Max, he was finally whole. Yeah, he'd been pissed that she'd chosen Ari – Ari of all people! – over him, her best friend in the entire world, but that was okay. They'd get over it eventually.
They spent the rest of the day away from the flock, talking, catching each other up on everything that had happened in the weeks apart. Those had been the hardest weeks of his life – even at the School, Max was a certainty. During those hell weeks, he hadn't known if he would see her again. Ever. That was the worst part.
It didn't even matter that Iggy called him a lovebird when he and Max finally got back to the rest of the flock. Max was back.
A/N: That first part was way sadder than I had intended, but Fang kind of wrote himself, if you know what I mean. He was so much fun to write, that I came up with more than ten – so if you want to read those, just leave a review and I'll give them to you in the reply!