I'm just spewing chapters out as fast as I can before testing! So here I go with chapter nine, however long or short! And I just don't feel like dedicating this today….I'll dedicate it to one of my friends, Kassidy, who hasn't gotten into fanfiction yet, sadly.

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I lurched back into reality, the final images of my fall replaying over and over in my head. Fang. Fang caught me. Fang was—Oh God, my shoulder hurt. And ribs. And my right wing. Pretty much my whole body. I opened my eyes finally.

"Max! You're awake!" Nudge's voice said from somewhere on my left. I groaned in response and looked over to the left. She was sitting on the window seat, anxious brown eyes staring back at me.

Angel was sitting beside her, smiling, well, angelically. And Iggy and Gazzy were beside her. But no Fang.

"Fang." That was the first word I spoke.

Each of them automatically darkened.

"He's, um, in his room. He's not looking so good." Iggy whispered.

I was lying on my stomach, which seemed to be the least hurt part of my body. My ribs hurt, but it was most likely that they were just bruised, and they hurt because I'd been laying here like this for who knew how long.

"A day and a half." Angel said quietly.

Wow. That was a long time, especially for us bird kids, who heal fast. Really fast.

I noticed that my right wing was spread out beside me, with some bandages on it. I felt like a bird kid with a broken wing. Oh wait, I was a bird kid with a broken wing. And it hurt.

"Fang." I said again. I sat up, wincing in pain.

Iggy helped me stand, and I wobbled unsteadily on my feet. Whoa, head rush.

"He's in his room." Iggy repeated.

I cared only about one thing right now, and that was Fang. I needed to see him, needed to make sure he'd be okay. I had to. He'd saved me. I owed him, in some way. I wobbled again at my door and Iggy caught me again. It was creepy how he did that.

I pushed open Fang's door, my heart thumping hard against my ribcage.

The flock sensed that I wanted to be alone and went off in different directions.

I opened the door and stared, a gasp escaping my throat.

Oh God.

"Fang!" I cried, falling to my knees beside the bed.

Not so much as an eye twitched, and his breathing was a little ragged.

"You saved me." I whispered, pain encasing my heart. Wow, that sounded really good. Like a poet. Pain encasing my heart. That was so true, but it sounded good.

Fang's finger twitched. I grabbed his hand, tears in my eyes.

He loved me. I hadn't doubted it before, but now I knew. He loved me, more than anything else. I needed him. He had to be here with me. It wouldn't be the same without him. And he was dying.

Unexpectedly, Fang's hand tightened around mine. I looked from his hand to his face, studying it, looking for any sign of him waking up. But his eyes didn't open. I sighed in disappointment.

"Please wake up, Fang. I need you. I need to be with you every minute. I can't stand this." I whispered brokenly.

His hand tightened around mine again. Hm.

"Fang. I love you. Wake up. Please. I need you here with me." I said sincerely. His eyelids fluttered then went still again.

"Fang. Fang, don't leave me. You promised. You said that you wouldn't ever leave me again. You promised." I kept on talking, trying to see if he'd wake up. His eyelids fluttered again.

I used my other hand to smooth some dark hair off of his face. His face was sweaty, kind of like he had a fever or something. I saw a wet washcloth on the bedside table and wiped it gently across his forehead. Then I squeezed his hand lightly.

Finally, he opened his eyes and let out a low moan.

"Fang!" I cried, immediately moving into his view.

"Max." His voice was strained, but full of relief. I knew what he was thinking; she's okay.

"I'm here. You were—You saved me. Why'd you do that, Fang? That was stupid, you could've gotten killed!" I was practically shouting at the end.

He just looked at me with his dark eyes.

"You could've died, too." He said after a minute. "I'm dying anyway." He added.

"Don't say that!" I shouted. "I don't care; I need to be with you every second! You die when we die remember?" I said, reminding him of what he'd told me a long while back, on the beach after I'd tried to saw my chip out with a piece of broken seashell.

He looked away.

"And since none of us are dying anytime soon, you are not going to die." I said, using a no-nonsense tone.

"You don't know that. You don't know what will happen." He whispered.

"Yes, I do! I'm going to keep all of you alive, even if it kills me!" I said, my voice like steel. I actually meant those words. I'd sacrifice my life for the safety of my flock whenever the need arose. Which meant that Fang couldn't die.

"Don't say that. I'm dying, and you can't save me! Look at the Erasers! All of them are dead, in case you haven't noticed. They had expiration dates just like the one on my neck!" he said in a dangerous, low voice.

"It doesn't matter. I'll stop it from happening. I'll—" I was interrupted as Fang's lips met mine.

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Sorry for the short chapter! And that quote, 'You die when we die' is from book two, near the end. This chapter was just to get some points across. And I decided against a cliffy this time! PLEASE REVIEW!