Fang POV
Oh God... Come on Max open your eyes.....come on...for me....please Max...please....Oh God.....oh my god, no, no, no, no, no, please Max.....don't leave me again.....please Max......find your way back Max.....come on Max I know you can do this....I can't live without you Max....please don't leave me to try again....please Max...please.....
Max POV
The first thing I was aware of was intense pain. All over my body. Crap..what happened? Was I attacked with a cheese grater or something?
I was starting to be able to feel my hands and feet. And I wish I couldn't. God, this was excruciating. What happened? How did I end up in so much pain?
I tried to lift my head, but that brought on a wave of nausea. And made me aware of what felt like a metal spike sticking out of the back of my head.
It all came back in a flask of images and sounds. The flock, Luke, finding them, the attack, the bombs, Fang, me flying in, Fang, saving him, Fang, the explosion, Fang...
Now that I remembered how I got here, I became aware of a ringing noise. High piercing and shrill. God it was killing my ears. I tried to block it out to no avail.
"......come on Iggy don't lie to me....she should be up by now right?........"
".......God I don't like the colour of her face...."
"..Shut up guys....Iggy......she......up....wrong?......"
The noises were getting shriller and now I could only distinguish odd words. And those were even more painful than before, of that was possible. I tried to curl in to a ball to protect my ears. But I couldn't move my arms; it was like they had several boulders on top of them. My muscles tried to tense; the school had done experiments like this, was I back there? But I couldn't do that either. I felt panic rising in me and tried to harness it. I would give my muscles the strength they needed to break free of the drugs in my system.
".......Oh .......did she just move!........did she?!..."
That voice was even higher than the others, so it felt like finger nails on a blackboard to me.
"Nudge shut up.....I'm trying to concentrate...."
GOD!! That voice was awful!! It was even higher than the last and the panic rising in me let my muscles loosen, so of course I let out a small whimper of pain. Typical.
".....I heard that too.....is she......can she.....?"
"...Angel.......can you....is she OK?"
"...Give me a sec.....I'm trying to get in.....she has really strong mind blocks up....but they've been weakened by the attack...."
Hey Max....are you OK?
I jumped at the voice that had sounded in my head. That hadn't happened for years.
Angel?
MAX!!! I thought I could hear you in here somewhere.
Pain laced through my skull again. Angels joy had been at bit loud.
Angel honey...could you tone it down a bit? My head still feels sore.
Oh sorry Max, I forgot to bock that, I was just so happy to hear you. You've been out for ages and I couldn't hear you the whole time.
The whole time? I thought to myself. How long have I been out?
And what do you mean" a bit sore" I can feel your pain and this is way up there.
I mentally rolled my eyes. Damn, I'd forgotten to block my emotions. Just then someone asked Angel if I was OK. The sound of their voice sent me in to spasms of agony. But I still couldn't move. It was hell, being in pain but unable to move.
Honey,I managed to mentally gasp out, could you tell them to SHUT UP for a sec?!!
Oh sure...sorry I hadn't realized..I'll tell them in their head then.
Tell them I said hi, but to please put a lid on it.
Will do
There was blessed silence for a minute or two while Angel relayed what I had said to the flock. Well I was guessing that was what she was doing, as they were all silent but every now and then there would be gasps of joy that sent pain snaking through my ears to settle at the back of my head.
I tried to enjoy the peace while it lasted. 'Cause I knew that it wouldn't.
OK...Nudge says that she'll do her best to shut up and that she is quote" soooooo happy that you're, like, OK".
I smiled at that. Looked like Nudge channel was back online.
Gazzy says that he can stop talking but that he can't guarantee about the smell.
Typical, I thought
Total says that is was about time someone had the sense to tell us kids to shut our traps as we've been talking none stop for hours and it's been giving HIM a headache.
Him a headache. HIM!!!! Try being attacked by flying pieces of metal, I fumed silently to myself.
Iggy says that you should try to rest as you've taken a big hit to the head and lower back, and you shouldn't even try to move 'cause you probably can't for a while.
Brilliant advice Ig, I thought sarcastically, you can't move so don't try.
Finally Fang says that it will be a challenge but he'll TRY to stop talking.
The thought of Fang having to try to stop talking made me want to double over in silent hysterics.
And then he has a special message. He says that he'll do anything to help you feel better so you need to let him know if he needs to do anything, and that you should know that he's told me to keep an eye on your pain levels, so if I think it's getting too high then I'm to tell him and ask you what you need so don't try to be a maytr and do all that suffering in silence crap.
Fury washed trough me at these words. Who was he to order me around?! He hadn't been there for almost a year. He had sacrificed that privilege when he left me in that corridor. On top of this anger I noted Angels swearing. I was going to have to talk to Fang about the language he used in front of the kids.
He knows and says that he's sorry he'll try harder in the future to not swear in his mind. But that he has all the right in the world to order you round as he does care about you and you saved his life. So it seems right that he returns the favour.
I mentally groaned. So I was to be looked after by a guilty Fang? Brilliant, just my idea if a fun filled experience (note use of sarcasm)
Just then one of the flock shrieked at something that they had seen or heard ( I couldn't tell, I was on the floor talking to Angel in my mind). I moaned out loud and again tried to curl in to a ball. It felt like a child was trying to knock nails in to my head with heavy concrete bricks and having a good time hitting me over the head with them as well. The sound of the screech reverberated around the inside of my head, seeming to increase as time went by.
That pain spike was way too high Max. You need to sleep and let your body repair.
Angel honey I'm fine, I lied.
No way Max, you need to rest.
And the next thing I knew I was sinking in to unconsciousness again, the welcome blackness with no pain, worry or need to appear string for others. A welcome relief.
Chapter ?
I woke to the sound of a whispered conversation.
"...she's back...."
"Glad she left that jerk......no good for her...."
"....she's back...."
"....didn't like the look of him...."
"...she's back..."
"His mind sounded clear.......protective of her....."
".....she's back...."
"...Too bad....."
".....she's back..."
I slowly started to move my legs. God it killed trying to move. But I pushed the ache of my muscles to the back of my mind and concentrated on getting up. First my legs, then my arms and finally my head all made it off the ground. I cracked my eyes open and saw the flock sitting at the other end of the cave around a fire talking in hushed whispers.
I got up slowly and made my way over to the group. This felt strange, waking up with other people, not having to take half the nights watch, having others you could talk to. Not bad but still strange. Like I hadn't done this in a while and it took some getting used to.
I came up behind Nudge as I knew that she would be making the most noise to cover my entrance. And knowing that when she spoke no one looked at her as that made her talk even more. I snuck up behind her all stealthy wings, but then I caught what they were talking about.
"We'll need to go somewhere that she can rest. That hit will take a while to heal from, even with our advanced healing powers" Iggy was telling the group. Who were they talking about?
"That's Ok, I don't mind, if it makes Max feel better, then I'm on board. Ooohh do you think that we could go on a ship to make her feel better? The waves are said to be calming and soothing and all that so if we took her there then she might heal faster and then we could go to see her mum faster, we haven't seen her in ages, not since right after they took Max. Do you think she'll be Ok with us turning up....?"Thankfully someone gave her a look that told her to stop now if she wanted to retain the ability to fly. I was glad. I needed time to think.
The flock wanted me to come back. Well I had known that before, but it annoyed me. Not the wanting me back part, don't get me wrong that did annoy me as soon as I'm out of the school and they need help their fine to let me back in, but the long months that id spent in the school they didn't once think of coming to get me. Nice, that really said clearly what I meant to them.
But what annoyed me more was the fact that they seemed to think it was a given thing. They hadn't even asked me, hadn't even voiced the possibility, and now here they were, with me seemingly unconscious a few meters away, talking about where they should go when I woke up, where would be best for me.
Plus they seemed to accept that I would have said yes. Even if they had asked me they thought that I would have said yes. They were expecting me to forgive and forget? Did they know me but at all! They were asking me to act as if the last year hadn't happened. That they had never left me and we were all fine and dandy now that I couldn't protect them again? Well sorry to burst your bubble, but Maximum Ride doesn't forgive easily and I never ever forget.
"OH!!...Max you're up" My head snapped up at the sound of Angels joyful voice. All the flocks heads snapped in my direction too, even Iggys which was a bit creepy. The next thing I knew I was being crushed from several directions by several different flock members at once. I struggled for breath.
"..Guys.....can't....breathe...."
They let go at once and settled for touching some part of me instead. All of the flock were around me. Except for one. Fang stood beside the fire, looking like he hadn't moved since they found out I was awake.
"I need to talk to you Fang," I said, "alone." He nodded once.
I turned and motioned for him to follow. I jumped off the cliff and snapped my wings open. I didn't turn around to make sure he did the same.
I lead Fang past the cave where me and Luke were staying, just to make sure he was there. He wasn't. Crap. I've got too much to deal with now and I don't even have anyone on my side anymore, not even Luke.
I felt like punching something hard. I decided to land in the forest beneath, with Fang on my tail. I spun around to talk to him.
"Why Fang?" I said simply.
"Why what Max?" He replied. I felt anger and sadness well up inside me.
"You know what. Why the hell did you finally decide to show up?" I said in a raised voice, almost shouting.
"Max, we just want you back. Please." He almost whined, so un-Fang like. He's teasing me, I know it.
Fang POV
"Max, we just want you back. Please." I persuaded. My longing for Max made me act in ways I never usually would. I love her and I would do anything for her and I just wish she could see that.
She just looked at me angrily. I love you Max, I thought over and over again in my head.