Me: Fang, disclaimer please
Fang: What do I get?
Me: You'll love it, I promise
Fang: Goddess of the Books owns nothing but her ideas.
Me: You know, if you all like this story, please review it, because if two more people alert this story, then it will have more alerts then reviews, and that's just sad! So please, for the love of chocolate chip cookies and bacon, please review! Also, xXxScars Still ShowxXx, I fully intend to slow it down a bit.
Fang: Are you done yet?
Me: Yep
Define, Legal
Max P.O.V.
He looks down at me, grim determination on his face. I nod and wipe my tears. Time for school to be out, permanently. I step away from Fang; I can't get close to him, not if I could lose him too. Nudge walks slowly into the room, tears falling freely. She looks dazed, and she looks up at me, the sadness in her eyes overwhelming. I rush over to her and sweep her into a tight hug.
"Nudge, we're going to get him back." The pain in her eyes reminded me so much of my own, but I couldn't show my own, because then she would have nothing to believe in. There was more than just pain there, she cared about him, she liked him, maybe even loved him. Like you care about Fang? NO! I shove the thought away forcefully.
"Promise me Max; promise me we will save him." I nod once, and she wipes away her tears. I'm proud of her; she's strong, stronger than I would be if I lost Fang. NO! I'm not going there right now, not now, maybe not ever. I'm a mutant freak, I'm not meant to have a happy, carefree life. Right then, I hear a scream.
I turn around and see a terrified woman and two kids. They are obviously related. The little girl has big blue eyes and curly blonde hair; she looks to be about eight. Her eyes are wide and she looks nothing short of angelic. The little boy looks intrigued by the situation. He too has blonde hair and blue eyes and looks about ten. He looks around and takes in the three of us. The mother faints. What a wimp, I really, really hate wimps.
"Do you hate me then?" The little girl asks, looking straight at me. Her voice is so sweet, it matches her appearance perfectly, but I'm disturbed by the fact that she seemed to know what I was thinking.
"Where's Iggy? We were coming to visit; we even gave him a heads up. Did he set off another bomb?" The little boy studies the room, intelligence sparkling in his eyes. "Angel, Gazzy, the Erasers took Iggy back to the school." Horror mars their young faces, and their panic becomes evident. "What do you mean? They can't have taken Iggy! They, they just can't! No!" The boy says, his pain evident in every word. Tears spring into their eyes, and they look mortified.
"We have to get him back!" The girl is not as soft as I had initially thought. Her face is tear streaked, but her voice does not waiver. She looks over at me. "Who are you, how do you know Iggy?" Her question surprises me, I'm about to speak, but Fang speaks first. "Angel, Gazzy, this is Max. She's like us." Angel looks at him curiously, but says nothing.
"We are going to get Iggy back, I promise you." Just then, the mother stirs. She sits up, and takes in the wreckage around us, her eyes widening. "The-the-the, what happened here?" Her voice aggravates me; it's so high and scared. That's going to get old quick, really quick. "Angel, Zephyr, who are these people?" Fang rolls his eyes and Angel pouts at him.
"Mother, these are the people we told you about, the people who found Zephyr and I." Understanding dawns on the woman. "Where's Iggy?" Oh crap, no way can I tell her the truth. I need her unconscious, and quickly. I snap open my wings and lower my head, looking at her from the tops of my eyes. I smile darkly and she faints. I stifle a giggle and close my wings and stand up straight. I love being a mutant bird kid sometimes.
"We need to go after him now, the sooner we leave, the less time he spends at the School." Nudge's voice is hard and angry, so unlike the sweet girl she was mere minutes ago. Fang stands silently, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Angel and I can't go with you, but we can still help. Give me twenty minutes." Gazzy runs off and comes back with a bunch of materials, and starts mixing them. I'd tell you more, but I really don't want a bunch of homemade bombs in you guy's homes.
I must admit, the kid impresses me. In twenty minutes he has made enough bombs to blow up at least three fair sized buildings. I put them all in their own little bag, and Nudge, Fang and I split them up between the three of us.
"I want to help save Iggy!" Angel says, distraught. Gazzy grabs her hand and shakes his head. "Angel, you know why we can't." She nods sadly at his words. Then she does something that surprises me, she hugs Fang. "Fang, go get him back." Fang nods and Nudge, Fang and I leave the apartment.
"I guess it's time to pay Itex another visit. This one will be much less pleasant for them though." Fang's voice has a steely edge. Nudge nods and I take a deep breath. "Well, at least it's in California. It could be in some totally dismal state." Though I meant for the words to be light and happy, they came out rather dull. We snap out our wings and leap into the sky. This would be an interesting trip, no doubt.
Well, it wasn't exactly morning when we left, so our flying time was cut short. We land in a Cliffside cave that overlooks a small city. I believe that we are now somewhere in Tennessee, but I could be mistaken. We open up some of the food we packed and munch on beef jerky and a few pieces of fruit. Sadly, this is the only day we'll have fruit because we don't want it going bad.
"Why aren't we down there in a house eating? It's Saturday, so somebody is going to be out and about, and not at home." Nudge says it like it's the easiest thing in the world. "Because that's considered breaking and entering in all fifty states." My tone is even, but Nudge doesn't back down an inch.
"And? It's not like we're going to destroy the house or burn it or take any valuables! We are just spending the night indoors instead of in a cave." She has a point, and right now, I'm not all that concerned with crime. Within minutes we are scouting out some neighborhoods. We find a vacant house, but it has an alarm system, Nudge grins. She walks up to the door after we make sure nobodies watching, and she picks the lock, and then gets to work on the alarm. After about five minutes she has it disabled.
"Where did you learn that?" Fang took the words right out of my mouth. She just grins. "Iggy taught me." That is one of the shortest I've ever heard her say. No joke. We open the door, and no alarms sound, wow, go Nudge! It's a two story house with very nice view of some woods and a small lake. Very nice in my opinion. We head straight to the kitchen. We end up eating hot dogs, bacon, some small assorted vegetables and some cookies. Dinner of champions I tell you!
We head upstairs and find three bedrooms, and two master baths. And get this; one of them is full of hair supplies, including dyes. "This could help throw the Erasers off our trail, they are looking for us, but if we don't look like us…" I let the sentence hang in the air. They get the point. Fang automatically looks horrified. "No way. I am not dying my hair." His voice is serious and brooks no argument. I nod, and Nudge and I get to work.
After a few minutes of work, our hair is completely different. My hair is dark brown with a streak of crimson near my face on the right side. Nudge's hair though, now that's a complete change. Her hair is dirty blonde with pink streaks, and let me tell you, it looks a bit odd. We wash our hair then, and cut it. My hair is always long, that's just how it is. But after Nudge is done with it, it's barely shoulder length. She also did some side bangs that I just know will drive me insane. But I look different, and different is good.
After our hair is taken care of we pillage the closets, and manage to find some new clothes that fit ok. Dark colors and average, nondescript clothes. Perfect in my opinion, but not to fashionista Nudge. To her it's a fashion disaster and a complete nightmare, and as per usual, she won't shut up. I step into the nearest bedroom and close the door, and guess who I find? Fang. Of course I find Fang in here. And for all you perverts out there, he's fully clothed.
As I'm about to leave, he stops me. "Max, wait." I freeze, consumed by relief and fear, each battling the other. I slowly turn to face him, and he stands up, having been sitting on a simple grey twin bed. "Why are you avoiding me?" I hesitate and step closer to him. "I'm not avoiding you." I sound uncertain, even to me. He looks aggravated, uh oh.
"Max! You've been avoiding me ever since we left the apartment! You won't talk to me, heck; you won't even look at me! Do you hate me that much?" The anger in his voice fades, only to be replaced by something resembling pain. Does he, actually care about me? Do I care about him? I know the answer to the latter of the two is yes, no matter how much I deny it. I don't want to hurt him. That's the last thing I want.
"Fang, I don't hate you. It's the opposite in fact, but every person I care about is snatched from me, and I don't want to lose you as well!" The words surprise me, but Fang looks calm. "Max, I will never let anything come between us. I realized the night of the astronomy project that you matter to me. And I know now I won't ever be able to just walk away without someone dragging me. Max, I care about you." I know my eyes are wide. I wait for someone to wake me up, this has to be a dream, reality is too cruel for this to be real.
That's when I realize how close we are. We're just inches apart. He's taller than me, and I look up, staring into his eyes. He steps closer so that we're almost touching. I can't breathe; my brain screams at me to push him away, it tells me that he's going to get hurt. He leans towards me slowly, giving me time to run, time to get away. With every inch, my brain screams louder, but my heart just gives my mind the finger. He brings a hand up to cup my face, and I lean towards him, my eyes drift shut.
Our lips touch, and I'm lost. My first kiss and it's by far the best I could ever hope for. I feel his other hand on my shoulder. I put my hands in his hair, tangling them in the shaggy black hair that only looks good on Fang. He tilts his head, and his hands snake around me and rest on my back, pulling me ever closer until our bodies touch. The passion in that kiss enough to fry my brain, and I'm not thinking, just reacting.
Oh my gosh, I'm kissing Fang. We end the kiss, and I giggle. Yes, I know, giggling is so girly, but the mighty Max giggled. Well, I guess Fang is giggle worthy, but that's not a bad thing…
Fang P.O.V.
I don't know what I'm doing. I mean, I know what I'm doing, I just can't figure out how. One moment I'm standing there, expecting her to hit me or push me away, and the next, we're kissing. I've kissed girls before, but this, this kiss was different.
She wasn't kissing Nick Walker, the strong and silent, egomaniac, smart, hot and sarcastic guy, Fang. She was kissing me. The one nobody sees, the leader. The one who bites the bullet and takes the blows without flinching, knowing that if he doesn't, someone he cares about will get hurt. The one who feels every blow, but accepts them, because he can't let anyone he cares about take them for him. The one who needs something to hold onto, but can never find anything to grab. But now, I have Max.
It's like in that instant; I didn't feel the pain that's always there, because it just wasn't. Max took the constant pain of my failure, and made the bleeding stop. She's the only one that has ever been able to do that, and she's the only one that ever will. But she needs someone to lean on to, and I don't know if I'm strong enough. I can only hope and pray that I am.
"MAXIE! Are you in there?" Nudge, of course it's Nudge. Max smiles at me slightly, and fixes her hair before opening the door and leaving my room, only to be bombarded by the Nudge Channel. That's what we call Nudge. The Nudge Channel, all Nudge, all the time. I lie down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling, knowing I won't be able to sleep. Well, we all make mistakes. The second my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.
I'm so sorry it took so long to update! I tried my hardest, but I was mega busy! School is starting soon and softball started today, so I won't be able to update any more than twice a week most likely. Maybe three. But many thanks to my wonderful readers! You guys rock! Also, if you haven't checked out any of GigglesandBooks stories, I highly recommend them, they are awesome! Well, that's all for now, chao!