A/N: now celebrating 1000 hits and my first criticism! Adressing 'someone-or-another' I apologize if my story line sounds unoriginal to you, but it is my first fic. I hope to get better the farther along I go, and I hope my future writings don't disappoint you. Until then: Yojne!
Nari Streeter
Chapter Fourteen: AFO Schmidt
Wolf planted his foot against Pandora's small back, his hands wrapping around the joint that connected her wings to her shoulders. She screamed shrilly as the waves licked at her feet, in seconds, the night was soaking with blood.
The picture blinked out.
Max was standing on a beach, cradling a dark haired boy's head in her arms. The sand was stained dark crimson, almost churned up into a bloody mud puddle. Four blotched out figures surrounded her in a half-circle.
Everything twisted and shifted.
Buildings, all shapes and sizes, their bricks crumbling in a cascade of fire. People, kids, tearing the structures down with their bare hands, everything tumbling and cracking beneath the sheer pressure.
Fuzzy and blurred, the picture changed for the last time…
A toy store. Stretched out like a piece of discarded newspaper across New York's wild streets. An oversized nutcracker stood guard at the entrance as streams of children poured in. Max was leaving, her hand draped across the shoulders of a small girl with blonde curls, a fluffy teddy bear fastened in her arms…
Nari crouched lower against the concrete, running her hand through her hair as she brushed away the last threads of the dream. She scanned the gathered crowd of homeless that had made the subway tunnels their home, anticipation pulsing through her veins. Nickoli didn't stir as she stood up, stretching her bunched up muscles with relish.
She had seen the toy store in her dreams, AFO Schmidt, and knew that was where she needed to be. She glanced down at Nickoli, a smile twitching at her lips as he turned his head in deep sleep.
Maybe this was…
Nari shook her head, picking up a bent iron pipe nestled against the wall a sliding in under her jacket. She ignored the pain when the bar scraped across her bandaged ribs, knowing now that much worse pain was yet to come. The concrete echoed hollowly under her feet as she sprinted down the tight tunnels, the unfinished thought worming back into her mind.
What if that was the last time she would ever see Nickoli?
Nickoli slid his arm over the empty spot next to him, his eyes snapping open as he quickly sat up. A homeless man shuffled past him, his frayed coat dragging on the ground as he took a long drag of a half-finished cigarette.
"Hey!" Nickoli shouted, quickly pulling himself to his feet. The man stopped and turned around, scratching distractedly at the scruff clinging to his chin. "Did you see where my friend went?" Nickoli asked, "She's a bit shorter than me…blonde hair, blue jacket, big bruise on her face?"
The homeless man muttered something and turned away.
"Hey!" Nickoli snapped.
"I don't know," the man said louder, waving his cigarette in the air, "you ask me questions I don't know. Ask me something I know, and I answer. Until then, I don't say anything." Nickoli watched the man scamper away, a tiny mouse sliding out of the bottom of his coat.
"Dammit!" Nickoli burst, slamming his fist against the concrete.
Where the hell had she gone?
"Are you angry?"
Nickoli spun around, his gaze resting on a small girl that was staring up at him with wide blue eyes. She tugged at the tattered bear stuffed in her waistband, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her face. "Are you angry?" she repeated, impatience creeping into her voice.
"No," Nickoli snapped sarcastically, "punching walls is a favorite past time of mine, wanna join? It's great sport, really."
She shook her head, "No thanks. You are angry. Why?"
Nickoli gritted his teeth, "I've lost something."
She cocked her head, "Something important?"
"Yeah," Nickoli growled, ashamed for yelling at her when it wasn't even her fault, "something really important."
The girl nodded, her face serious, "Don't worry though, Nari will come back."
She flipped her blonde hair one more time and loped away, humming an off-tune lullaby as she zigzagged through the crowd.
Nickoli was glued to the spot, breathing shallowly as he tried to figure out what had just happened. "Hey," he whispered, stumbling forward, "Hey, wait! Come back!"
The crowd parted for him as he rushed after the little girl.
Nari ran her fingers across a long line of plush elephant dolls, tilting her head back to look at the large industrial ceiling spanning over EFO Schmidt. Several giggling kids rushed past her, wide grins plastered on their faces as they scanned the endless shelves of toys crammed in a single room.
Nari smiled, cradling the pipe under her jacket with one arm. She wondered what it felt like, to just be little and innocent, never having to care about anything.
A voice over the intercom announced that there was a sale on exclusive Lego packs, starting at just sixteen dollars and down. The hairs on the back of Nari's neck stood on end as she picked up a stuffed bear from the shelf, not turning around as a pale figure stepped up behind her.
"Hello, Wolf."
Wolf stared at her, dark circles painted under his bloodshot eyes, "Hello, Nari."
Nari turned around, picking pieces of lint from the bear's furry paw, "I thought you might find me here."
Wolf clenched his fist, blood trickling down his chin as he bit his lip, "Then why did you come?" he growled, anger flaring in his eyes.
Nari set the bear back down, "I have questions," she mused, brushing her hair behind her ear and leaning against the shelf. Wolf took a deep breath, holding back the flood of rage locked in his chest, "Shoot."
"You killed Pandora."
He froze, his eyes narrowing, "How could you know that?"
Nari stared at him, sliding the iron pipe from under her jacket behind her back, "I dreamt it. She came to you in the fog, tired from keeping herself aloft for so long. You tore her wings off…and left her body to sink under the lake. Why?"
Wolf smirked, "She was weak. A child. She could never have kept up with us. Pandora was an anchor…I simply cut the chain."
Nari gritted her teeth, "You said your one goal was to help Max save the world. You were lying then, too, weren't you?"
Wolf shook his head, "Absolutely not. I will help Maximum Ride save the world. I'll help her do that if it's the last thing I ever do."
"How?" Nari snapped, "How will you help her?"
Wolf blinked, shaking his head slightly, "I thought that part would be obvious…I'm going to kill her."
Nari felt the cold metal bite into the palm of her hand as she gripped the pipe tighter, "How does that help her?"
"You just don't understand," Wolf sighed, rubbing his hand over his face, "by killing Maximum Ride, I am helping her save the world. You see, she's a warrior. She'll never give up no matter what the School throws at her. She's too stubborn to see the truth, even when it's staring her straight in the face."
He laughed, his eyes pleading her to understand, "The School is trying to save the world, and Maximum Ride is trying to destroy the School. Simply by removing Max from the picture, the School will have a clear shot to their goal. To save the world."
"The School is evil," Nari growled, "what makes you think the white-coats are the key to saving the world."
"It's what they told me," Wolf spat, tears of frustration gathering in his eyes, "they told me everything. There's a bigger plan, Nari, and Max isn't bending like they want her to. I have to kill her. To save the world, Maximum Ride must be destroyed."
"They lied to you, Wolf," Nari pushed, wondering why he couldn't see that for himself, "it's what they do. Max is a good person, you can't just kill her. The School, lies, and manipulates…it sits on a giant pile of secrets."
Wolf bowed his head, his gray eyes fixed on the floor. Nari felt a twang of sympathy in her stomach. The School had pushed Wolf too hard, they'd twisted his mind, made him the monster he was. If there was someway to save him…
"The School isn't the only one that has secrets," Wolf whispered, his face gradually distorting as a row of sharp incisors split free from his gums…