Hello again. You know the drill.
--
Is it possible to feel worse than crap? If it is, then you know exactly how I feel. Worse than crap. Probably even worse than shit. I hate admitting that and even succumbing to that sort of language. I blame Miles. But I am speaking the truth. Ari was winning this battle and all I could do was take the blows until my body couldn't take much more of it.
I know what you're probably thinking. Why not just fly off, Max? Who cares if you leave your dignity and pride left behind, it's better than floating there like an idiot just waiting to slip into your own death. Well, FYI, I've tried that. Multiple times. But Ari just keeps coming at me full throttle. No matter what I do, I can't get away.
When the freak did he get this strong?
I felt myself cough up a spew-full of blood when Ari's strong, Eraser-fist sunk into my stomach followed by a powerful strike to the side of my face. I swaggered to the left and tried shaking off the pain, but I think Ari managed to break one of my jaw bones. I don't know. All I know is that my jaw made this huge-ass loud crack and it felt out of place now.
Crap.
"What the F is wrong with you!" Ari screamed furiously, kicking me in the ribcage, which almost made me forget to flap my wings in order to keep myself up. Flying was becoming such a burden now. At this moment, I just wanted to stop, not caring if I went crashing down into the now empty streets of Ventura. Just as long as I got away from this death machine.
Suddenly, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I heard myself mumbling a few words in front of Ari as he flew closer to me. At first, I couldn't make out what just escaped my now bloody lips, but when I said it that second time, I wished I couldn't hear it in the first place.
"Stop, Ari," I groaned, my head dangling from lack of energy. That, and I think it was because I couldn't bear to face Ari after what was coming out of my mouth. "Please … stop….I can't take anymore of this….It hurts too much."
Oh, God, just kill me now. Not only was I getting the living crap kicked out of me, but all my pride and dignity was completely stripped away from my system after I practically just begged for the enemy to go easy on me.
What has become of me?
I didn't know what kind of face Ari was making right now, but I can surely imagine what type of face he was making. He was probably gawking at me for a few seconds, having his mind process what I just said to him. Now, his stupid Eraser-face is probably twisting into a satisfying grin, keeping himself from laughing hysterically at my words after what he just heard.
I tried telling myself I could be wrong, but after the pompous sound of low snickering entered through my eardrums, I couldn't help but feel like a ton of bricks just unloaded themselves on top of my head.
Please someone just shoot me.
"Stop?" Ari asked. "You want me to stop, Max?"
Well, it'd kinda be much appreciated if you did, I thought, too weak to have those words shoot out of my mouth.
"Are you freakin' kidding me?" he asked. "Did you go soft or something, Max? First you don't pull up a good fight and now you're practically down on your hands and knees, begging for me to have pity on you and just leave you here to suffer and supposedly die on the spot while the rest of your flock and Miles' flock get sliced and diced by the rest of the Erasers?"
I felt his presence walk closer towards me, his shadow leaning over my body as I coward in fear before him, my eyes shut dauntingly.
At first, there was a long pause. A part of me wanted to look up and see what was going on with Ari; how come he wasn't talking.
Bad mistake.
As soon as I looked up into his Eraser-face, I got a fist-full of pain knocking me clear in the face, making me lose all control of my body. That did it. That enormous wash of anguish and throe suddenly made my whole body go numb. I couldn't feel my arms, my legs, or any other part of my body. All I could really feel was the gentle wind gliding through my body, having it brush faster and faster until I realized I was free-falling through the icy wind like an anvil falling through the sky like in those old cartoons.
This was it. I was really going to die here and now. It was the end for me and I went down with my self-pride way above my head. Funny, I always thought I'd die a very peaceful death with my pride still fully in my body. But, a lot can happen when you're a fourteen year old female hybrid constantly being chased by these stupid wolf creatures. I should've known I was never going to die a normal death. But all of that doesn't matter now. If I was going to die, might as well die with my eyes closed, shielding my vision away from my pathetic failure.
Just then, as soon as I was certain I was merely a couple of feet from hitting the ground, my body collided with something hard. Well, not really hard, but more like soft-hard. If that makes any sense.
I suddenly felt really warm and incandescent. Like I was just thrown into an oven or something. Was I going into heaven? How come my whole life didn't start flashing before my eyes? I hear that's one of the number one things that happens to you when you're reaching towards death. And where's that shinning light that's practically the gateway to Heaven?
"Max."
I heard a voice. It was kind of faint, but I could still hear it. It sounded peaceful and really musically enjoyable. Was it Jesus? God?
"Max."
I suddenly felt like I could open my eyes again. They began to flutter up, revealing my blurry vision, but it was starting to settle. I could see a face in front of me. My vision was still blurry so I couldn't really make out who it was. By the looks of it, they had dark hair. Does Jesus or God have dark hair?
"Max, wake up."
My vision began to settle a little more, making me stare into a figure with sort of dark skin. They looked young too, so this had to be Jesus.
"Jesus?" I whispered, shaking my head slightly.
There was a slight pause, but it didn't take me that long to realize I wasn't in Heaven and that the arms I was being held in weren't Jesus or God's.
"Man, you look like crap. And can you be any heavier!"
Nope, I was just in the arms of a moody bastard.
"Gee, aren't you a lovely wake-up call." I spat, rubbing my head slightly to relieve any pain I was feeling in my head.
I felt Fang grab onto my arm forcefully. "We need to get out of here, now!"
My eyes suddenly shot open. "Where's the flock? Where are Miles and the rest of his flock?"
Fang held up a hand before I could speak anymore. "Don't worry, he took everyone and split up into separate directions so the Erasers won't track us down. We're all meeting up in one place, but if we stay here any longer, Ari's gonna clip our wings off until we even reach our destination."
I stared up into Fang's dark eyes, cocking my eyebrow slightly before we heard Ari screaming at the rest of the Eraser's above our heads.
"Max! This isn't over yet!" he yelled, turning towards the Erasers and giving them hand signals that made them dive-bomb our way.
Fang turned towards me, his face semi-calm, yet I could still see the slight bit of tremor in the rims of his dark eyes. "Unless you want to be reduced to a pile of bloody mush, I suggest you follow me."
"Good enough," I told him as we immediately began running into the multitude of empty booths and leaving cars.
--
"Why the hell are we running away, Miles? We could've totally kicked their asses!" Kat yelled, flying beside Miles with a rather irked look on her dark features.
"Where're Max and Fang? Are they going to be okay?" Nudge asked worriedly.
"I'm sure they're going to be fine," Angel said, ruffling Celeste's dirty fur with worried, crystal eyes.
"They have to be fine," Mini said. "Right, Miles?"
Miles stared into the night before him as he flapped his wings rhythmically and silently. The younger kids looked at him quizzically, staring at one another before one of them had the guts to speak again.
"Miles?" Dash spoke.
"What?" he asked sternly, not even bothering to glance behind him to see who was talking. Dash winced slightly from the hint of anger that was dripping from Miles' words. He coward slightly behind Gasman, giving him a look before Iggy spoke.
"Geeze. What the hell crawled up your ass?" he asked, giving off a dark glare. Conner glanced past Iggy's shoulder to take a look at the younger kids and gave off a wave of sign language that said something along the lines of I'm sure Max and Fang are alright and that we'll catch up with them in no time.
The younger kids smiled while Kat looked towards Miles and raised her eyebrow unsurely. With a shove of her body, she flew towards her leader's presence and stared at him with her brown eyes swimming with thoughts and questions.
"I'm sure Max will be fine, dude. Fang is with her, remember?"
"No shit, Sherlock." He spat acidly, glancing at Kat to award her with an acid glare to match.
Normally, Kat would've taken this very seriously and by seriously, I mean she would've punched Miles right in the face for his rudeness and start cussing him out with more foul language than he just threw at her. But not tonight. Instead, she slumped her shoulders slightly and looked at Miles, staring close attention to how his jaw tightened slightly and how his hands were locked in a tight fist position that was making his knuckles turn ghost white.
"It's okay to be scared, Miles," she told him in a tone that only a mother portrayed. "Nothing's going to happen to Max. I know I'm not the one who's with her right now, but I promise you that Fang will keep her safe. You know that, don't you? I mean, you've known the bastard before you two reached puberty, right? You out of all people should know that he'll keep her safe."
Miles stared into the bullet sky, glancing down to see the empty streets of Ventura as they began entering through Oxnard. The street lights were gleaming wondrously throughout the darkness while houses shimmered with mystical lights of red, green, yellow, and so one and so forth, filling the atmosphere with the excitement of Christmas growing nearer and nearer.
A sigh escaped Miles' lips, fog emerging from his thin lips like smoke pouring out of a freshly-lit cigarette. "It's not Max I'm worried about, Kat. I mean, I am worried about her … but—"
A small hand blanketed Miles' shoulder, making him turn towards a smiling little girl. "I get what you mean, dude," she said, her features loosened, showing the face of a young girl Miles hasn't seen in years.
He smiled, his knuckles popping back into place as they morphed back into gentle hands before the small glimpse of a wooden cross came into view about a couple of miles away from them.
--
Fang perched himself against a nearby building with me right by his side, wincing in pain slightly after the vicious battle from Ari, but making sure he didn't notice. I seriously felt like crap right now. My ribs hurt, my face felt like it was burning because of the multitude of cuts that were cascaded all over my face. (P.S: Open wounds and cold air doesn't mix) And my head was pounding so much it was as if a person was using me as a piece of word and started bashing me with a hammer.
"You okay?" Fang asked, looking at me with gentle eyes. That was rare for him.
"Never better," I replied, trying to shake off the pain so I didn't look as bad as I actually felt. "Any sign of Ari?" I asked.
Fang surveyed the sky quickly before shaking his head back and forth. "I think we finally lost them. And the church isn't that much farther."
Thank God, I thought, feeling the veins in my forehead begin to pump degradedly. I swear, as soon as we got to this church, I was going to plop myself right on the nearest pedestal and drift into dreamland. Well, after I made sure that all the kids were okay, but after that, it's straight off to—man I feel dizzy. And lightheaded. Like my feet aren't touching the ground anymore. Seriously.
I opened my eyes slightly, my head dropping south until I realized I wasn't touching the ground anymore. Holy Hell! I'm in the air! Why aren't I standing anymore?
"Man, you weigh a freakin' ton." Fang grumbled as he began to walk into the streets once the cars stopped to let passers walk through. I looked up at him and felt my mouth gap.
"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling my cheeks flame up once I realized how many people were probably staring at us. Not every day you see a teenaged guy carrying a teenaged girl in his arms like it was so God damn normal.
"Just shut up and keep still 'til we get to the church," he said, looking down at me with those serious eyes of his. I grumbled, giving him a small glare that he shrugged off and reached the other side of the street.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking, you know," I told him with an angered pout.
Fang smirked as if he just heard a hilarious joke. "I doubt that. After you just got the shit beaten out of you, I doubt you'll be able to walk properly for quite a while."
I glared slightly once more, my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "I see Miles' colorful language has gotten to you too."
Fang shrugged once more, the slight amusement in his features disappearing into serious mode like they always were in. There he goes again. Every time I mentioned the name Miles or even hinted anything about him, he'd get all serious and 'meh' all over again.
"Fang," I said, finally losing the urge to struggle out of his arms and begin walking on my own. He looked down at me. "I know I've asked you these type of questions so many times, but you never seem to give me a straight answer every time I ask you."
He raised his eyebrow as if this were the first question I've ever asked him about him and Miles. It irked me so I took a deep breath and asked away.
"What the hell happened to you guys in the past. I mean, you said that you guys were such good buddies but something tore you apart and you lost your friendship," I said, looking back up at him. "What was the thing that tore you guys apart?" I asked.
Broken hearts and a relationship that wanted to be dragged into something more, I heard the Voice say, making me ignore his words by staring into Fang's dark eyes to see if I could find even a hint of answers to my questions. Which of course I didn't. Man, why do I keep on doing this? I know he's never going to give me the answer through his eyes. He's just too locked up. Stupid bastard.
Silence filtered between us. A silence that wasn't awkward, yet it still made me feel a tad bit uncomfortable. Maybe it's because I was so worked up on whether Fang was going to answer me or not. Surely, the possibilities of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Moody answering my question that'll actually answer what I've been wondering for the past couple of days were slim to none. But hey, a girl can dream can't see.
Fang looked up into the horizon, ignoring any eye-contact he could make with me until he finally opened his mouth to speak. But they weren't the words I was hoping he would say. Nope. They were words that told me we were at the church already and that there were a lot of cars parked in front of it.
He set me down as we stepped through the double-doors of the church, staring into a hoard of little kids and adults chatting away to each other and opening presents. Tables were set against the walls that held cookies, brownies, Mexican punch, cake, tamales, and a ton of other stuff while the atmosphere was coated with fits of laughter shared by old friends.
"Mama! Mama, look! Someone gave us a Barbie Doll!" a little girl cried showing a rather used Barbie Doll that was still in good condition, making the mother—a woman who looked too old for her age—smiled warmly.
"Oh, how nice. Don't forget to thank God when you're praying tonight. And make sure to pray for the children who donated all of these gifts for us, okay?" the woman said while the little girl nodded and started stroking the doll's wavy, blond hair.
I glanced up around the church, seeing it shadowed with streamers of green and red that said things like, "Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus" or "God Bless the Less Fortunate". In the middle of the church was a large banner that was painted by what looked like second graders by all the little pictures of Christmas trees and squiggly letters. The sign said, "Merry Christmas" and at the bottom, it said, "Thank you for donating your love to our children and God bless you all".
I felt my heart skip a beat as a welt in my throat began to form. I choked, feeling my eyes glimmer with moist liquid. Seeing all these kids get gifts by people who were kind enough to donate stuff to them was just so heartwarming. And seeing all the adults with loving smiles on their faces was enough to bring a tear to anyone's eye. Seeing their kids happy that they still got something for Christmas was enough to make them happy and seeing all of their old friends was enough to make the adults happy. Just being together and being satisfied that the ones they loved could say they had a wonderful Christmas better than anyone with enough more money.
"Max," Fang spoke in a gentle tone, making me look up at him before I swiped my arm across my eyes to rid them from any moisture that was leaking out.
"Hm?" I asked, looking up at him.
He looked flushed as if he were running a high fever as he turned his face away. "Um," he said, keeping eye-contact away from me until I tilted my head in bewilderment.
"What is it?" I asked.
He gulped nervously, making me almost double-over in shock. Fang, nervous? Were those two words even legal to put together in the same sentence? He motioned his head upward, his cheeks turning a fine shade of cotton-candy pink.
"L-look up," he said, shutting his eyes slightly as if I were about to whack him. I did as he were told and looked up until I realized my face was flushing also. Up above us, pinned to the wall by a mere staple, was a small piece of mistletoe.
"Oh," I said, mimicking Fang as I turned my head to the side to keep from looking at his face. For those of you who don't know, even though kids like us, who've grown up without experiencing any human behavior, we've still seen a lot of TV, including Christmas specials. Which means, we know what to do when under a mistletoe.
"We don't have to if you don't want to," Fang said, shoving his hands into his pockets and kicking up a patch of imaginary dirt as he moved his gaze downward.
I managed to look at Fang, who, as if reading my thoughts, looked at me also. We both stared into each others eyes for what seemed like an eternity as if we were having a discussion with our gaze. That's when I took notice at how gentle Fang's features have looked throughout this day. The fact that we were so close to each gave me a good look at his face, noticing how light his eyes seemed to be. Instead of noticing how dark they were, up close, you could actually catch the hint of brown in them; a nice, placid brown color that took the form of creamy chocolate.
I didn't know what it was, but I seemed so drawn to those eyes that I felt my body pushing itself forward, my face inching closer towards his; slowly.
"Do you want this, Fang?" I asked in a tone that could be mistaken as a whisper.
I noticed a small lump travel down Fang's throat, which probably meant that he gulped nervously. I stopped, noticing how close we were now. Our chests were merely pressed against each others and I could smell the hint of peppermint lingering on Fang's breath. Candy canes at the fair must've been the culprit. I remembered watching him leaning against the booth where I was trying to win that stuffed kitten, sucking on a half-finished candy cane; his lips wrapped around the red and white swirled sugar stick, savoring the flavor while trying not to show it too much. The low moaning noises he was making at the pleasurable taste.
I suddenly felt myself move closer, staring into those thin lips. They looked so warm to me; so gentle while slightly apart as he breathed. I remembered when I kissed him on the beach when I thought he was dying after his big fight with Ari. His lips were soft under mine, even if it was just a quick peck. But still, they felt heated and smooth. Just thinking about it made my head dizzy.
"We don't have to if you don't want to, Max," he whispered, his eyes glazing half-lidded as if he were tired as he moved forward a little bit but then pulled back; like his head was drooping.
That was it though. I kind of wanted to kiss him again. Just to relive the moment we kissed last time on the beach. I wanted to remember how his lips felt underneath my own again. Wanted to relive the spark of pleasure that surged through my body before we pulled apart.
I wanted to taste those lips again.
Without a word, I began moving closer to Fang, my eyes sliding slowly as I reached upward towards his lips. He mimicked me sort of, shutting his eyes and leaning in as our faces came into contact; closer and closer like two magnets being dragged together by magnetic force.
Fang and I were going to kiss.
--
Ha! I have succeeded in finally writing Fax! Boosha! But, sadly, this chapter is already long enough as it is, so I think I shall stop it right about here. But don't worry; there will be more soon to come. Now that this story has been going on for almost a year, my goal is to be done with it by Christmas Eve. Wish me luck everyone, and be sure to stay tuned for more chapters. Laterz!