I strained against the chains, desperate to break them. She couldn't be dead… she couldn't be. "Max! Max, cut it out. Please. You're not dead. Come on!" But she didn't answer. She didn't do anything. "Max…please." I begged, falling to my knees. But nothing happened.
The scientist didn't do anything. They simply stood and watched me; watched as I tore at the chains. A single tear fell down my cheek. Finally, they removed the chains and pulled me back into a new cage and rolled me away. I didn't fight them though. There wasn't anything to fight for, anymore. I was thrown, head first into the new cage.
I barely caught myself as my forehead slammed into the bars. Holding my forehead, which had now begun to bleed once more, I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Oh, Max," I whispered. I'm not sure how long I sat like that.
They placed a small amount of food in front of me but I didn't take it. I stared at it and didn't move. They pushed me toward it, trying to get me to eat, but I refused. "Fine," I heard the man tell the assistant who'd given me the food. "Take it away. Once he talks he'll eat." With that, they all left the room, giving me strange looks.
Finally, I ate. But I didn't tell them anything. At least nothing that they would believe. See, this is what happened. I slapped myself a few times (mentally) so I looked sane and I stood up. "Umm…Hello," I called out to the seemingly empty lab. "I give up…I'll talk, I'll talk!" I yelled, putting an edge of desperation and sadness in my voice.
Suddenly, the man appeared and strode toward me, his hands clasped behind his back. "I knew you'd give in eventually." I glared at him, but ever so slightly nodded my head. He chuckled. "What is it you want to tell us?"
I gulped and took a deep breath. "I was created far away, in a land called the Earth Kingdom. I don't know if that's what it's called to other people. But that's where I was…made. Well, I was born in a place called…"
"Wait, wait, wait!" The man cried. He ran into the other room and when he came back, the girl who'd I'd met before was right behind him, her clipboard in hand. She quickly began writing as I recounted what I'd said.
"I was born in the Fire Nation but then was banished. I traveled to the Earth kingdom and was living in a city called Ba Sing Se. One day, I got really sick. The next thing I knew I had wings." I looked up and nearly smiled at the astonished faces around my cage. The man had his eyebrows raised and a slight smile on his face. I didn't mention the Avatar; if Aang does get kidnapped…too many things could go wrong.
"How did you get here then?" The man asked, folding his arms.
"It was…a portal of some kind." I said, hating how stupid it sounded. The scientist agreed with me.
"Sure, a portal. Perfectly believable."
"Look, I told you where I was created! Can you hand over some food?" I yelled, clenching the bars.
He stared at me but finally snapped his fingers and nodded toward me. An old McDonald's bag was thrown into my cage. I didn't touch it until they'd left the room.
Once I had, I found a nearly crushed cheeseburger and some old limp fries. Still, food was food. I ate the food quickly and lay on the hard floor. "What am I going to do?" I moaned, my arm hung over my face.
Before I knew it, I was fast asleep. I dreamed of Max. She and I were flying high over a desert like land. We held hands and she smiled at me. A second later, she pointed down to a tall canyon of caves. We swooped down a cave and I found families of hawks flying around the caves. "Wow," I whispered.
Max smiled and nodded. "Yah, the flock found this place a few years ago. Pretty cool huh?" I nodded. Max sat on the ground and I pulled myself around her. "Zuko, I need to tell you something." I nodded and turned so we were looking at each other. "Zuko, ever since you joined the flock, ever since I first saw you flying on the horizon, I knew there was something special about you. I knew we'd be…together."
"Are we together?" I couldn't help but ask. "Because I thought you and Fang were…"
"That was before I met you. I mean…Fang's great but…" she seemed at a loss for words. "You're better." She whispered moving her lips closer and closer. Finally, they touched. I moved my head to the side and moved my hand up her neck and ran through my fingers through her hair. Her hand lingered up my chest and then onto my face and scar. I sighed slightly as her fingers caressed the skin.
"Max," I whispered, pulling her closer to me. "You're dead. You're not actually here."
She shook her head. "Zuko…" All of sudden, she whipped her head back and screamed in horrible agony.
"Max! Max what is it?" I yelled, trying to hold her. However, she shook and jerked around, screaming and moaning. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and she raked her nails into my arm.
"Oh, God, please make it stop! Please, please, make it stop! Oh God, God, God!" Tears fell down her face and she rocked back and forth.
"Max! Max, please. What's wrong? Please, tell me. Talk to me Max. Max, Max!" However, she couldn't speak. All she did was scream and shake with sobs.
Suddenly, I sat up and found myself back in the cage. However, I could still see Max, screaming and crying. Her image was flashing in front of my eyes. I could still hear her screaming, her begging. I covered my ears and whipped away my own tears. "When will this stop?" I muttered. "Please." However, her screams didn't cease. "Get out of my head!"
That's what I realized. Her screams weren't in my head. I wasn't imagining her screams. They were in the lab. She was here. But I knew that, her dead body was here. But if she was screaming…I stood and leaned against the cage door. "Max! MAX!" I screamed, hitting the cage. "Let me out! Max! Don't you dare hurt her!" However, no one listened to me. No one came. I just listened to Max scream and scream far into the night. I eventually fell to the floor in pain and torment. I could almost feel myself going insane from hearing her scream, over and over. She begged for mercy but nothing happened. She kept screaming. I kept screaming. Finally, the screams contaminated my mind, leaving on the ground of my cell, the screams getting weaker and weaker…and weaker.
I felt something heavy hit my body and I woke with a start. "Ahh!" I gasped, sitting up. My vision was blurry, my head ached and my stomach growled. "What the…" I cried, massaging my temples. Then, I realized what was going on. I turned and found a figure lying on the floor. Her brown hair cascaded down her back and her smooth tan skin was covered in bruises and cuts. "Max," I whispered, my voice shaking. Her chest rose and fell but only slightly. I turned her over so she lay on her back.
"Hmm." She murmured, her eyes opening just slightly. "Zuko," she whispered.
"I'm so sorry. Can you talk?"
"Are you…kidding? I've been through much worse than…this," Max told me, her voice struggling over a whisper. She pushed up with her elbows and tried to sit up.
"No, no, no, no, no," I muttered, pushing her down softly onto the ground. "You need to rest. Tell me what hurts."
She looked herself over and felt her arms and legs. "I don't know. I just feel sore all over."
I bit my lip and held her hand. "What did they do? What did they do to you?"
She shook her head and stared off into space. "I'm not sure. I was strapped to a bed and they put something into my arm. It made me feel numb and weird. Like I've been flying for a long time. I felt exhausted but that's before they began to do things to me. They…they hit me and poked me with…with…" However before she could finish she broke down with sobs.
"Oh, Max," I muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder. She grabbed me for a second and pulled me close, wrapping her hands around me. I gasped but didn't push her away. I hugged her tightly.
Then, without saying anything, she suddenly pushed us to the ground together and began to kiss me. My eyes opened a mile wide while she pushed our lips together. Her eyes were open as well, surprise and confusion illuminated in there brown orbs.
She finally pushed me away and stared at me, accusation but guilt on her face. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that."
We stared at each other for a minute. All of sudden, we saw a scientist come into view. "This is good. Very good." He muttered, taking down notes. We looked up at him.
"What's good? What's very good?" Max asked. I stood up and glared at the scientist but he didn't say anything or even glance at us. Without a word he put his clipboard up under his arm and left the room.
Max and I continued to stare at each. At first all I could think was, if a scientist says something is good, it was very bad for us. Especially if he said that something was very good. That's what my first thought was but after a minute I couldn't help but delve deeper into my mind, into a shallow, self centered and more innocent part where all I could think was one thing: Max kissed you. She kissed you and didn't stop. And a part of you knew she liked it. She kissed you and she liked it. And you like it too.