Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own MR

Me: I'm sorry it took me so long to update guys, it's been pretty hectic. Basically school is trying to drown me in homework so I've been stressed and running all over creation. Also I just found out that my grandparents' dog is dying so I'm really depressed. This may seem weird to some of you, but that dog is like a sister to me, I picked her out and grew up with her. She is family to me and I love her. I don't want her to go. :_(

About the story, I know there are obvious questions that need to be answered, no I can not answer all of them at the moment otherwise I will give away the storyline and that will make this story downright boring now won't it?

I do plan to answer the questions about the whole Max/Fang thing, in due time, in fact many of those questions will be answered within in the next few chapters, all I am asking of you guys is to be patient.

If the story is confusing you, don't worry, that means I'm doing my job right, you are supposed to be confused right now, or at least that is my aim at the moment. I do plan on clearing up this confusion in the future, but slowly, I am trying to be more realistic than I was with The Runaway Case, as strange as that might be since this is kind of a paranormal story and Runaway was completely human. Answers in the real world don't always come easily, and sometimes it takes a long time to find out the truth. That's why I am revealing things so slowly.

If you aren't confused, congratulations!

I do encourage you to ask questions about the story. It really does help to know what you guys are wondering about. It helps me to make sure those questions get answered so I'm not leaving any loose ends.

Thank you everyone for your continued support of this story

FOREWARNING: This chapter may be a bit graphic

Max's POV

It took me about a half an hour to sort through my jumbled thoughts and regain my composure. Then about five seconds after that, I realized what an idiot I was and flew back to Fang's house at speeds well excessing three times the speed limit of most highways, in other words, I flew like a bat out of hell. Excuse my French.

When I got to his house, all was still and peaceful. I flew up to Fang's window and peered inside, upon doing so I sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens. Fang was okay.

The lights were off and Fang was sleeping fitfully in his bed. I phased through the window. I hated the feeling of it passing through me as I passed through it. I wished that the window would have some resistance to me. I wished that I could feel and touch the world around me like Fang could. I wished that I could talk to somebody without having to worry about him going to an asylum. I wished that I could be seen. I wished that Fang could see me.

And for the first time in my existence, I envied humanity.

I felt tears of shame build up within me, but I didn't let them spew. I'd cried too much already for one night.

Was it too much to ask for me to be a good angel, one that didn't screw up, one that didn't feel, one that wasn't so messed up?

I blink a couple times and look over at Fang, there's a thin sheet of sweat on his brow and he's tossing about as if trying to wake up. He moans, he can't escape his subconscious. I walk over to him and sit beside him.

What could he be dreaming about that could be so bad?

I closed my eyes and entered his dream.

I hear a girl laugh. It's distorted at first but then becomes clearer as my surroundings unfold. I'm in the backseat of a car. The radio is turned up really loud to something that sounds like what Zeph's grandfather would play on the record machine when he used to go over there for the holidays. I look forward into the seats in front of me, in the driver's seat is Fang, smiling and singing along to the radio. Beside him in the passenger seat is a girl, she had blonde hair with a pink streak in it and dark brown eyes, Maya.

Maya died in a car wreak.

Now it all clicked, why Fang believed Maya's death had been his fault, why he was thrashing about during what looked like a seemingly pleasant dream. It was because he had been the driver, and now in his dream he was reliving the day she died.

The car halted to a stop at a red light. I could feel Fang thrashing about on his bed, trying to escape.

"Hey, Fang?" Maya asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Yeah, baby?" Fang looked over, smiling.

Maya leaned over and kissed him passionately, unbuckling her seat belt.

I couldn't help but feel confused by the mixed reviews my mind and my heart were sending me. One was happy, the other was sad, and I had no idea what to feel.

Then I saw it, a U-haul truck coming at full speed across the intersection, right towards us.

"Watch out!" I yelled out to the pair.

Fang's eyes snapped open and the truck hit the car.

The next few minutes were a blur. Sirens. Screaming. People running this way and that. A fire. The U-haul was on fire. It smelled like burning flesh. Smoke was clogging my lungs. I choked and coughed, trying to escape the black cloud. I was still in the car, and so was Fang, but Maya… There was a large hole in the windshield and on the black asphalt about 20 feet away from us in a pool of blood was Maya's bruised form.

Fang groaned, there was a large gash on his forehead.

"Maya?" He moaned. "Maya, are you okay?"

His head turned and he saw the empty seat beside him and the hole in the windshield. His eyes grew wide and then he caught sight of her, lying on the ground, surrounded by her own blood. He started to scream. It was painful. I continued to cough as more smoke poured into the car from the burning vehicle.

I saw flashing lights and paramedics surrounding Maya's unmoving form, they went to work quickly, checking her pulse. Then everybody seemed to stand still. The man looked up to his fellow paramedics and shook his head.

No, please no.

He stood up and another man covered her body with a white sheet. Fang saw.

"No!" He screamed, and then a team of firefighters started attacking the door with the Jaws of Life, trying to pry it away while Fang howled, seemingly unaffected by the smoke inhalation that was suffocating me.

I raised my hand and leaned into the window so I could phase through it. I pushed and—my hand—it didn't go through. I pushed again and again, only to meet up with resistance time and time again.

This—this wasn't supposed to happen.

One of the abilities of an angel in the dream world was to be able to freely move about within the dreams of his or her ward. Getting stuck somewhere inside a dream simply was not possible.

But here I am. Stuck.

I heard the Jaws of Life tear off the driver side door. Fang was still screaming and as soon as he was free of the car he ran to Maya's side despite the protests of the paramedics. He shook her and tried to revive her, but nothing he did had any affect. Maya was already dead.

I choked some more on the smoke that was filling the car and struggled against the seat belt which held me in place. For some reason, in Fang's dream, I interacted with everything, without even needing the slightest bit of concentration; I didn't have to even acknowledge the interactions to interact. It was strange and exciting, but it was also frightening, especially now.

Then the irony of the situation hit me, only minutes prior I had been wishing to be able to touch and feel. Now that I could and I didn't want to.

I pulled at my seat belt, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't budge. I looked up. The fire had spread to Fang's car, the car that I was currently in. The firefighters were trying to put out the fire, but none of them came to save me. Why would they? None of them could see me.

I started pounding on the window, hoping somebody would hear and just open the door, get me out of there.

Please, somebody hear me!

By then the paramedics had pulled Fang away from Maya. She was on a stretcher in a body bag now, being rolled away. Fang was fighting against the men who held him, trying to get to her. But eventually he broke down and fell to the ground, sobbing.

The fire had crept into the front seat of the car. I could feel its unrelenting heat. Nothing the firefighters did seemed to quench its thirst. I scooted back from it as far as possible. A flame reached out toward me and I screamed out.

"Fang!"

I don't know why I screamed out his name. I doubted he could help me either, but I was scared, and when a person is frightened, all logic goes out the door. I felt tears build up on my face, I didn't want to die like this. I didn't want to die like Zeph did, not even in a dream. But maybe I deserved this because I failed him… I don't know, I don't know…

God, please, somebody save me. I don't want this…

The flames were licking at my legs now. I screamed as pain and heat radiated throughout me. I shrunk back as far as I could. But the fire had tasted me, there was no escape now.

"Max!" I heard somebody slam against the door and struggle with its handle, trying to pry it open.

I looked up through the darkened window. Pain surged through me and I screamed, my legs were on fire now. The fire attached itself to my clothes and ran up my body, trying to engulf me.

I took in the figure on the other side of the glass. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Olive skin.

Fang.

A tiny flicker of hope bloomed within me.

He slammed against the door again and pulled at it. Nothing happened.

My hair caught fire and the air held an overwhelming smell of burning flesh. My burning flesh.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Somebody help!" Fang screamed out in fury and panic.

But instead of helping, the firefighters and paramedics started pulling him away.

My hope died in an instant.

"No!" Fang yelled, hitting the man who held him in the gut. The man was unfazed. "What are you doing?"

Then I breathed in and fire poured into my lungs, burning me both inside and out. Charring and burning my body beyond all recognition. The pain never ceased, consuming me until finally the utter darkness took me.

I come out of the dream world with a jolt. Tumbling off the bed and fall onto the floor, I land on all fours and breathe in heavily. Then I flipped over and laid down on the ground, trying to catch my breath.

What was that?

Suddenly there was a yell from the bed and Fang sat up quickly.

"Max!" He called out, his body was wet with precipitation and his sheets were in a piled mess.

"I'm—I'm here, Fang." I reassured him, closing my eyes and resting my head fully on the carpet.

Fang shifts on his mattress and lets out a quiet sigh followed by a few short sporadic breaths that almost sound like laughter, but they could be the sound of grief as well. The sounds confuse me. It's hard to place what they are.

I hear Fang settle back down. His breathing doesn't quite seem to have steadied yet, but I guess that it must be because of the nightmare. I have often reacted the same way after re-experiencing Zeph's death. Losing Maya must have been just as terrible for him if not worse.

After a few minutes of dark silence I speak up, wanting to apologize.

"Fang, I'm sorry about earlier." I whisper.

He doesn't respond. I don't know whether or not he heard me, he probably already fell asleep. I'm told that humans fall asleep much more easily than angels do. I guess that must be true. As for me, I doubt I'll get a wink, especially after that nightmare.

His dream scared me, not because of its content, but because I couldn't get out.

I couldn't get out.

I burned.

And I felt it.

That was the most troublesome thing of all. Nothing was supposed to interact with me physically in a dream unless I allowed it.

I hadn't given the fire permission to burn me, but it did so of its own accord.

There was something strange about Fang's dreams, something special.

Something dangerous.

Me: So what did you think? This wasn't how I was originally going to end it, but I think this ending makes more sense psychologically than what I was planning on doing. Please review and tell me what you think about the chapter.

Onto the reviews:

Lacey, sorry to torment you! I hope you liked this chapter! ;)

Chocolatechipcookies13, Fang saw the window open up and Max told Fang that she needed to get away for a bit, that's how he knew she was leaving.

BiteMeBro522, I hope you got over your head cold! Glad you liked the last chap and I hope you like this one too.

Everiss K, that's really cool that you've gotten acceptance letters from publishers, that sucks that they are asking for so much though. I wish you luck on your savings, and I definitely plan on saving up to publish my own story. It's good to know that there are other authors out there too! I hope your move goes well and I understand where you are coming from. No offense to big city lovers, but huge cities drive me nuts, well most of them, I absolutely love Austin, Texas and it's a pretty big city.

Feather flyer, hehehe. Gotcha!

Guest, I didn't want to have to write out that Max concentrated every single time she touched something, that would get repetitive and boring I think. For the most part, interacting with the world around her doesn't take much concentration at all on Max's part. Only in certain situations does it really take any effort. When Max threw open that window, she didn't really have to concentrate on doing it because her emotions were so strong that the simple thought of what she was going to do next, opening the window, was able to give her the level of concentration needed to do so.

As for your other questions, they will be answered in due time. I know that Fang seems to have bonded far too quickly to Max, but there is a reason behind that as well. Plus, as for Fang not knowing Max all that well, I'll point out that he didn't know most of those girls he kissed at the party very well either.

I'm glad you like the story so far, and sorry if any of that came across as rude. I didn't mean to be if was.

Sapphira Volkov, perhaps, perhaps not ;) I can tell you this, I haven't revealed all of Fang's history yet.

carcinoGalibur (Guest), thanks for the mass review! I'm glad you like you have liked the story so far, and thank you for your suggestions they were really good and I plan to implement them in the future. But please don't pick it up again, you know what I mean, you are a very important person in somebody's life and shouldn't endanger yourself like that. I did get your first review, and good guess but nope, Harry isn't my 1D crush (His last name is Styles btw, I only know that because of Gabby), but I'll give you a hint, his name starts with the letter L.

Okay, that's all of the reviews. Sorry guys, no funny A/N's this time, I just can't do one right now.

Please review and tell me what you think!