Chapter 20: Her Resolve
Max POV
"Send them all at once if you dare Lissa. I swear I'll die before I let a single fucking beast get past me."
I never felt so useless in my life than in that moment that I heard Fang utter those words with his broad back, cloaked in his favorite navy t-shirt and black leather wind breaker, facing me and taunting me with its distance. Why? Why couldn't I remember anything? Why couldn't I remember Maximum Ride? Why does it seem like the distance between Fang and I was only growing?
I've come to terms with the fact that my past doesn't matter, all that mattered to me now was moving forward with my flock beside me, with Fang beside me. But how can I walk along their sides useless and unable to fight as I am now? I remember Angel's stories vividly. I committed every word she said to my memory, so I knew. I knew that the flock, try as they might, would never escape from the fight.
They would never want to either. It was too great a part of them to cut off completely and live a "normal" life. If I wanted to stay by their sides I needed to know how to fight and survive. Not with those rudimentary lessons that Fang had only just begun giving me, but the kind that the Old Maximum Ride had honed and created through nearly sixteen years of her eccentric living.
I need to be that Max. I need her right now!
"Fang, don't do this!" I cried. I cried and cried and cried. That's all I've done since the flock picked me up from New York. That's all I could do – cry— because I was the biggest idiot in the world to leave the old me behind. I brought my arms around my then torso and held myself together, quivering and shaking like the weak damsel I was.
"You might want to close your eyes." Fang smirked at me and lifted his wind breaker up to reveal his hidden weapon. He brought the silver cylinder out and revealed what looked like a butcher's blade on the end. He pressed a button on its side and the cylinder extended into a staff, the staff like end crackled with blue electricity…a stunner? His words suddenly made sense.
"Where did you get that? Where did you get a Tamer's weapon?" Lissa cried, disbelief coloring her voice. Fang didn't reply. He watched the Wyvern's come forward cautiously, now within swinging distance of Fang's weapon. They recognized the silver tube in Fang's hands. Lissa's glare deepened when Fang became unresponsive.
"Forget it. What are you sitting around for? Attack him now!" Lissa literally growled. My eyes flew to Fang. There was no way he could fight all of them! There were forty of them and only one of him! He didn't even have proper footing as Fang and I were both backed onto a narrow bridge of land.
Any semblance of reason finally left the Wyvern's eyes and the mindless beast within them took over at Lissa's command. They charged fiercely sounding a cry that reminded me of a feline sizing up its prey—the sound of bone-rattling graveness, a sound that signaled your helplessness. They charged forward claws first. It was like watching a film in slow motion—their claws, sharp as steel knives, were inches from Fang's face. A loud cry bubbled up my lips. I resisted the urge to shout as loud as I could as if that keep the wyverns off of Fang.
In the last possible second, Fang ducked and swung the blade around like a sword. The knife-end connected with their necks and in a split second I was watching two discombobulated heads fall down the cliff and into an endless ravine. Their bodies fell immediately after a sharp kick from Fang. I watched slack-jawed.
"That's two down." Fang whispered darkly. My heart hammered wildly in my chest and the fight continued after a split second of dead silence. The wyverns didn't charge immediately this time. Three flanked from Fang's left side and two from the right. They were trying to close in on him. One came in from above.
"Fang, above you!" I tried to warn him. Fang didn't move. What was he doing? Why was he just standing there? "Fang…"
Fang finally thrust the stunner end under the belly of one beast launched it towards the wyvern in the sky. The two wyverns clashed in the sky and were sent flying back by the force of Fang's attack. The remaining beasts charged in as Fang's arms were still extended upwards. The wyvern on his right managed to clamp onto his leg while Fang was swinging out at the three that were coming from his left side.
He growled in pain and tried to shake the wyvern off his leg, but its teeth had already sunken in and the three wyvern in front of him were clamped onto Fang's weapon, preventing him from using either end.
"Enough!" Fang cried, his face flushed a deep angry red, the vein bulging in his forehead like it was on the verge of bursting. Fang ducked into a crouch and muscles on his back rolled into a taut position. He looked poised to spring. Fang took quick breath and then sprung to his feet— using all of his body weight he swung the three wyverns chewing in his weapon into the sky. His sudden momentum caught the wyverns off guard and they couldn't keep their grip.
With his weapon free, Fang struck the one sinking its teeth into his leg. He cut its head off cleanly and pushed it into the ravine.
"Four!" Fang shouted in Lissa's direction. The three wyvern he had thrown off charged at him once more. He used the stunner side to stun two of them, and then quickly flipped the weapon around to take the last one's head off. He didn't pause for more than a second to swing the weapon back to cleave off the heads of the remaining two. "Seven!"
Lissa bit her lip furiously, drawing blood in the process. She didn't look too worried yet, but I could tell she was boiling because only one wyvern had managed to draw blood from Fang so far.
The fighting continued like that. Every time I watched one of those mindless beasts sink its teeth into Fang's soft flesh, his torso, or his arms, I felt myself shattering on the inside.
Useless. You are so useless Maximum Ride.
"Nine."
"Thirteen."
"Seventeen" Fang's cries echoed around the mountains, and like knives stabbed me over and over. I couldn't take my eyes away from the fight even if I wanted too. The sounds of blade clashing against scaly skin and disgusting wet sound of flesh being torn apart, it echoed relentlessly. Fang's clothes were drenched in blood, crimson and black smoldered together in a horrific pattern. I was barely holding myself together.
"Twenty-one!" Fang roared pushing two more headless wyverns into the ravine. Fang's leg gave out and he fell to one knee, breathing heavily. Sweat poured from his ivory skin, painting his face with a grotesque pinkish-red as the sweat and blood marred together. His clothes were in tatters. His forearms and legs ravaged by alternating shallow and deep wyvern bites, enough to make him feel pain but not kill him. He was bleeding heavily, his own blood mixing with the beasts.
Lissa's shrill laughter reached my ears and her pristine snake-green eyes latched onto Fang's exhausted form. "Still think you're a hero Fang? You can't save that bitch. No one can!" She cackled and hissed new orders to the wyverns, "Bite," Lissa whispered. I felt the blood draining from my face. Fang's back tautened.
"Fang, get up!" I shouted. "Get up, please!" He struggled, but it looked like Fang was beyond exhaustion. His body wasn't listening to him anymore. I stood helplessly as Fang tried to use the Tamer's weapon to stand. "Fang!" I cried again, my voice breaking.
"Stay. There. Max." Fang rasped; I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. But there was a dark undertone to his otherwise steady voice, a coldness that did not suit him –a burden, a pressure weighing on his soul as the fight took its toll. His eyes fell on the Tamer's weapon and shudder rolled down his spine.
I bit my lip. I knew how much Fang hated weapons, no, he despised them. From his fear of needles to his hatred for almost being turned into weapons ourselves, Fang hated weapons of any kind. He especially hated guns, having been shot by one before. Fang was also inherently sympathetic to experiments, we all were, but Fang was sensitive when it came to these things.
This fight was going to ruin him.
A wyvern charged at Fang, baring its teeth widely. Fang couldn't get up in time. He tossed the Tamer's weapon aside and held his hands out. Just as the wyvern tried to take a bite out of his flesh, Fang brought his hands down on its neck and swung his body onto the wyvern's back. With a growl, Fang managed to clamp the wyvern's mouth shut. The wyvern cried out ferociously, and rolled onto its back, trying to crush Fang. Fang let out a painful 'oof' but held on tightly. Finally the wyvern, launched Fang off its back.
Fang soared freely in the air and landed with a thud inches away from me. "Fang!" I feel to my knees and brought his head in my lap. "Fang." I whispered and brushed his sweat matted hair out of his face. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes flickering in and out of awareness. His shallow breaths hit me hard. It was too much. He was too weak to stand again. I heard growls surrounding us, but the wyverns didn't attack yet. I stared at the man I loved laying in my lap, dying…for me.
"Why….why do you go so far for me?" The last part came out as a whisper. I closed my eyes and fat tears rolled from them. I felt his hot fingers press against my cheek and I leaned into his touch. How could he still love me when I was like this?
I was not his Max at all.
Fang POV
I felt something cracking when the stupid wyvern bucked me off its back. A tremor of pain rolled through me and I let out an awful groan. I couldn't move. I couldn't even open my eyes. My air supply was draining out of me too.
"Fang…" I heard Max whispered. I felt myself being tugged into her lap and her gentle fingers brush my hair out of my face. I wanted to yell at her, tell her to get away, but the words wouldn't come to me. Get up, get up, my mind kept yelling but I couldn't. I felt so fricken useless and Max was too close.
"Why…why do you go so far for me?" She whispered, her lips hovering above my head. Something wet splattered on my face. Max as crying. Max…what a stupid question. Wasn't it obvious? She's Max, my Max—no matter what shape, form, or memories she had. She was still her and she was still, as she always would be, mine. But I couldn't say that to her, instead, with what strength I had left I blindly reached towards her face and pressed my fingers against her cheek. Open eyes, I commanded myself.
She was right there, beautiful, in tears, in smiles, in sweat, in blood, Max would always be ferociously beautiful.
"You're stupid." I managed to croak, successfully dissipating our little moment there—yeah, way to go Fang! The damn beast's growls around us had brought me back to awareness. I had to get up and fight and I needed to finish this fast. The broken expression in Max's eyes…. She was falling apart fast, and she was losing herself. I need to finish this for her. I need to keep my promise. And I need kick some wyvern ass for Gazzy and Angel's sake. Hell, I'll even avenge old Jebidiah Batchelder.
I stood up right and spit the taste of iron and metal out and wiped my mouth off with the back of my sleeve. Max was still on her knees beside me. I reached down to ruffle her hair….and I sprung forward.
I skid to my side and slid under the belly of two wyverns like baseball player diving for third base. I grabbed the Tamer's weapon and jumped back to my feet just as the wyvern's circled around to attack me. I struck high left, low right, swung the blade around and tazed with one end. I stunned at least five wyverns, but with three more coming at me I couldn't deal the finishing blow. I cursed and jumped back. They were pushing me out into the open and away from the narrow land bridge where Max sat.
That wasn't good. The greatest advantaged against greater numbers was narrow space to fight. The wyverns could only attack two or three at a time on the land bridge, now that I was being pushed into the open, they were coming in large groups. There was at least seven feet between me and the land bridge. Thank god I was a bird kid or this would never work.
I tazed the wyvern to my left, jumped onto its back and launched myself into the air. The momentum wasn't enough. I forced my body to spiral forward. I think I did three flips in the air before I managed to stick the landing.
"Did you see that? Cuz I'm not doing it again?" I asked no one particular. The wyverns answered me with a growl, typical, and charged. "Geez, can't you take a joke?" I ducked when one came for my head. My leg suddenly gave out and I went down on my knees. I tazed it in the chest and swung the weapon the other way around to slice its head off.
"Twenty-four" I yelled out in satisfaction. The red-headed bimbo bit her nails furiously. I smirked tauntingly and patted my leg. Don't give up on me now, I tried to encourage it. Yes. Yes, I am talking to my leg.
Lissa's frustration was spreading to her little pets. They were agitated now, their attack speed was increasing and worst of all…they were getting smarter. They knew already to avoid the Tamer's weapon. When I struck too close, they let themselves get cut in the legs, arms, tails, and body and jumped back to heal themselves. They protected their necks. If it had been anyone but me, they might have been screwed. But I'm Fang, the leader of the Flock, and no one learned to adopt their fighting style faster than me….except for maybe Max. Maybe, it was quite debatable.
"Thirty-one," I growled out. Lissa yelled in frustration, stamping her feet like a child. The two wyverns that had remained at her side whimpered in fear. It was comical that such mighty beasts would cower at that powerless girl's feet. But manipulation was Lissa's specialty. The wyverns feared being controlled by her. I couldn't say I didn't sympathize with them.
Nine more to go, just nine more. Don't give up now, dimwit. I sort of chanted to myself. Was it helping? No. It really wasn't. The bites in my legs were throbbing now, and the loss of blood was making me dizzy. My arms were sore from swinging the Tamer's Weapon. It was heavy as shit now! And it was hot. It was so frikken hot outside. We were in the middle of dessert why should that be such a surprise? Are even in Colorado anymore?
My thoughts blurred into nothingness and my movements became slow and sluggish. The wyverns were moving at the same speed. They were still full of energy.
"Thirty-three" I croaked out in pain. My throat was so parched, I could hardly recognize my own voice. The world began to sway.
"You know you won't win Fang. It's over now, and we both know it." Lissa hissed her taunt. She was at least fifty feet away, but I could hear her as if she was whispering in my ear. Her smile was coy and she was still unperturbed by the number of wyvern I had managed to take down. She was laying back on her beast of a wyvern (this thing was the biggest one yet, the size a teenage dragon –not that I know what a teenage dragon looks like), fanning herself, her eyes weren't even on the battle. That little…
I swung the Tamer's out with reckless abandon. I couldn't afford to stop now. If I stopped, I wouldn't get back up again. I manage cleave off the heads of two wyverns in my mindless stupor. I kicked their bodies over the edge. Two more charged at me, aiming for my legs. Those little buggers…when they were close enough, jumped as hard as I could. I shot up at least four feet in the air and came down on their backs. With either foot on the back of the wyvern's long, greenish neck, I could perfectly make out the spines their neck. I cut them off cleanly. They never saw it coming, they wouldn't have felt any pain.
"Thirty-seven" I whispered and stumbled off the headless creatures. I fell to me knees. My arms barely held me up. "No, not now."
"IT'S OVER FANG!" Lissa shouted above the roar of the wind. My eyes flickered open and close, but I could only see darkness. So…tired. I need to rest. Just for a moment. Just for a m-
"FANG!" Max's sharp cry broke me out of my stupor. My heart ignited like rapid fire and my veins were suddenly filled with a burst of adrenaline.
"Rawwgh!" I let out a warlike cry and pounced on the remaining wyverns with my weapon raised high. I cleaved the head off the one closest to Max and swung out to taze the one on my left. I quickly flipped the weapon around and brought down on its neck. The blade never reached the wyvern though. Another one had pounced on my back. "Argh" I cried and fell onto my stomach. Its claws dug into my shoulders and I felt its teeth sink into the crook of my neck.
"AHHHH!" I screamed like I never had before in my life. The pain. Fuck, all that pain. Involuntary tears rolled out of my eyes and I heard Max screaming my name in the background. I clenched at the gravel and willed my arm to reach for the Tamer's Weapon. The second wyvern, which had been watching my tussle, picked it up gingerly in its mouth. Its beady eyes turned to the side, the ravine. "No…" I whispered when I realized what it was doing.
"NO!" I shouted in rage and tried to launch for it. The wyvern on my back released my neck just long enough to cry out and bite again. I grabbed it by the neck before it could sink its teeth into me and flipped all three hundred pounds of scaly flesh over my shoulder and slammed against wyvern number two.
The second one spit out the Tamer's weapon when the weight of the wyvern I just threw hit it square on. It rolled right to my fingers.
"Forty" I whispered and swung the blade down hard. The shrieks died instantly and all the energy in my body with it. I fell to my knees. Max….
"No…no…th-this wasn't supposed to happen." Lissa's fearful cry reached my fading conscious. She stumbled off the wyvern and reached for something in her pocket. "I can't. I won't let it end like this. You will die….FANG!" She propelled forward like a lioness on a hunt. I was the helpless prey in the path of a monster.
Is this how it's all going to end?
The end didn't sound too bad. No more fighting. No more killing. No more struggling to survive. No more going hungry. No pain, no responsibilities, no cares in the world. It didn't sound too bad. Except…it meant no Max. A world of fighting and struggling to survive sounded like heaven compared to a world without Max.
The world slowed down in front of me. Lissa's knife, raised high in the air, glinted off the reddening sun, sending crystal lights in the colors of the rainbow glittering around me (Now I really hope I don't survive this, Iggy would never forgive me for thinking so). It was almost kind of nice. In a final moment of peace before death kind of way. I blinked. Red hair, fiery red, disgusting like the blood that coated my body. I did not want it to be the last thing I saw. I wanted to see the color of chocolate. Her eyes. My Max's eyes.
I closed my eyes, envisioning Max smiling and carefree. Losing her memory could be counted as a blessing if it meant seeing that kind of expression on Maximum Ride.
"ARGH!" Lissa cried and brought her blade down. I waited, and waited. The pain, the nothingness, it never came. Instead I heard a wet gurgle and a surprised gasp. "You bitch..." Lissa hissed. My eyes snapped open and my world really did come to its end.
"Max..." I managed to breathe. Why? Why Max? She stood in front of me, her arms steadily at get side and her back straight. For a split second the infamous Maximum Ride was standing in front of me. Then she pitched forward, coughing up blood.
"You're a spineless snake, you red haired witch." Max hissed with every bit and bite of sarcasm as she could muster. She groaned and pulled the knife out of her gut. Blood poured out of her like an open facet. My body was useless to go to her. I watched Max tighten her fingers around the bloody blade and shakily rise to her feet. "I won't let you hurt him."
She leapt forward, too fast for my dazed eyes to see her. Max tackled Lissa. The two tumbled off and spun twice before Max was able to pin her down. She pulled her fist back and punched her hard.
"That was for making out with my boyfriend." Max shouted, pulling her other fist back for a second. "This is for trying to buy my family." There was a loud smack and shrill cry after it, Max's fist connected with Lissa.
"Argh! I should have killed you when I took your boyfriend! I should have let my father turn you into his who—" Lissa's voice cut off with a scream when Max raised her fist again. "Please. Let me go, just let me go." Lissa cried hysterically.
"You're not even worth punching Lissa." Max sighed above her and rolled off her body. Lissa gasped in shock and curled into ball breathlessly. My eyes switched to Max, she was smiling at me, the look of recognition in her eyes. No way…it wasn't possible.
"Fang!" Max suddenly cried. She tackled me to the ground with such a force. I think I heard my head crack. My eyes flickered to an open a moment later. Max was right above me, her chocolate brown eyes glittering with a half-smile, half-smirk on her face. Her arms were on either side of me, and she was supporting her own weight so that she wouldn't crush my body. Blood dripped from her mouth.
"Max?" I dared to ask. She coughed and blood splattered on the hard rock beside me. She let out a soft groan and her eyes flickered dangerously. She fell on one knee and her arm stretched forward, reaching for something. "Max what are—"
Her hand must have connected with whatever she wanted, in a split second she swung around and cleanly sliced of the head of the wyvern hanging above her. I caught sight of something gruesome…a tail piercing Max's stomach.
She collapsed.
"Max"
No response. My arms were weak, useless.
"Max?"
She was motionless.
"How dare you…." The red haired witch rose again. "My pets…all of them." Lissa hissed murderously. Didn't Max already teach Lissa her lesson? Lissa pulled out her blade again, the same one that had impaled Max and raised it above her head execution style. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" She screeched and brought her blade down.
Every part of me screamed MOVE, for god's sake you stupid body just move already!
I wrapped my arms around Max and spun her over. Lissa's blade missed us by a fraction and the momentum threw off her balance. I gave kicked her legs out from under her. She fell on her side and rolled off the edge of the ravine.
"FANG!" Her screams echoed until they could be heard no more.
Breathing hard, I pressed her warm body closer to me.
"Max. Wake up." I rasped. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. Blood quickly pooled beneath us, too much for comfort. "Shit Max. Please!" I begged her, shaking her shoulder's remorselessly. Just please, be alive.
Max finally groaned and her body curled against mine. I sighed in relief held her tightly. Max mumbled something I couldn't make out and her arms wrapped around my torso as well.
"Don't die Max." I whispered to her, a pressing a kiss into her sweat soaked forehead.
"Touché Fnick," she whispered back. I chuckled in response, but it hurt too much to laugh so I stopped.
"You remember?"
"Yeah…"
"Max?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry. For everything."
"Shut up Fang." Her arms tightened around me, and I pulled her closer as if it were possible to be any closer than we already were. It felt so right, having Max here against me. It wasn't impossible to imagine a future like this, holding Max in her sleep and waking up beside her every day for the rest of my life, the rest of my forever. It sounded…kinda amazing actually. The pain escalated sharply, and I could hear my heart beats slowing down. Fnick.
"Max. Be mine, forever."
"Okay Fang. Forever."
I smiled, genuinely and the pain finally ceased.
EPILOUGE
THIRD PERSON
Six Months Later
There was festive music filling a white banquet hall. The bride and the groom, a white lab by the name of Akeila and Yorkshire terrier by the name of Total, were happily devouring a pink frosted cake— custom made for dogs by one not-so-blind bird boy by the name of Iggy. Said, not-so-blind bird boy was happily eating human food with his beautiful girlfriend, a mocha skinned sixteen year old bird-girl by the name of Nudge, hanging onto his arms. He held out a spoon of hot pink icing and she happily bit down on it.
On the dance floor, a young woman with bright red hair was happily dancing with her fiancé and the love of her life. Bridget Dwyer and John Perry were a wonderfully, inseparable, adorkable young couple (Total's word's). He twirled her around and dipped her once, she laughed and let herself be carried away. In another corner of the banquet hall, there were two ten year olds, one bird girl and a de-Erasered boy, and one twelve year old bird boy. The two boys, Gazzy and Ari Batchelder were engaged in an intense eating competition. The de-Erasered boy's eyes kept flickering over to the blonde haired ten year old at his side, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.
"Iggy…"
"I see it Nudge."
"When do you think Gazzy will realize?"
Iggy snorted. "Probably after they get together." He chuckled fondly, gazing on his little partner in crime. His eyes continued to scan the happy occasion, reminiscing the months leading up to this day. It was a helluva drama planning Total's wedding, he was a diva after all.
"Funny how the best man and the maid of honor are the only one's not here." Iggy commented drily when he noticed the missing head counts. Nudge snorted beside him.
"They're in a world of their own Iggy." She rolled her eyes. Iggy grinned.
"Aren't they always?" The pair laughed. But Nudge's laughter died quickly and mood turned solemn. Iggy found himself marveling at how natural their relationship felt. It was light and playful, but Nudge understood Iggy more than Iggy often understood about himself.
There was never a boring moment in their relationship, and funnily enough, they never fought. Yes they disagreed on like everything, which usually lead to heated arguments wherein Angel and Gazzy were often brought into proctor, but never fights. They didn't take these little arguments personally. It was just fun, their sweet and sarcastic relationship. Above all, it was comfortable, like being wrapped in a blanket. A weird metaphor, even for Iggy.
"We're all together again aren't we?" Nudge whispered softly, leaning into Iggy. He rubbed her shoulder understandingly. It was a really rough six months. "Jeb was buried while Max, Fang, and Gazzy were all in a comma. And poor Ari. He lived through hell and still didn't get to meet his father."
"He's lucky that Bridget was able to patch him up. He may not be an Eraser anymore, but he's still got all his wolfish features. The kid won't have a normal life out there. Same with the Gasman. He'll have to live with those scars for the rest of his life. Thank god for now he believes their cool. Hopefully, he and Ari will help each other out when the time comes."
"Isn't that why you decided to let him stay Iggy?" Nudge blinked. Iggy nodded in response. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make, not because of Ari but because while both Max and Fang were in a comma, Iggy was just suddenly thrown in charge. He enjoyed taking care of the flock, patching their wounds and filling their stomachs, but he was not cut out for being responsible for them. It made his respect for Max and Fang grow tenfold. He also felt guilty for being on the butt-end of giving Max so much trouble in the past. Hell, he hadn't even thought of blowing things up since….he couldn't even remember.
"Nudge….I feel so old," Iggy shuddered at the thought.
"You're eighteen Iggy." Nudge snorted, rolling her eyes delicately, and kissing her boyfriend's cheek.
"So old!" The strawberry haired teen's fretful whines were carried away by music.
A brightly lit hallway was leading away from the ballroom and opened up to a wide balcony hanging over a seaside cliff. The sky was navy blue and the stars were visibly glittering above head. Below, the subtle crash of waves against rocky cliffs could be heard. The salty ocean scent carried with it the warm spring breeze and danced around a solitary figure in white gown leaning against the balcony.
The figure tucked a long hazel-blond tress behind her ear, and smiled softly into the fresh air. The figure was unaware that she was being watched by a certain birdboy garbed in an elegant black tux, standing in the shadows and waiting for her to notice his presence. She was oblivious, relaxed in a manner she hadn't experienced for a long time.
The birdbow in the shadows watched with an amused smirk. She had her memories back, she still liked to snap at him and mess with his head, but she hadn't lost any of her sweetness or her newfound calmness. The Maximum Ride of the past was living in constant paranoia, the scars of her past never fading, never healing. This Max had come to accept her past and she was steadily moving forward. Fang felt like an idiot for watching her, but it had become a bit of a habit in the past few months.
He was told that he'd been in a light comma for almost two weeks after his fight with the wyvern. He couldn't remember the last time it took him so long to recover from…anything. According to Bridget, by all rights, he and Max should have died that day on that cliff. But the extremity of their circumstances forced their bodies to evolve. Their already hyper-healing abilities increased ten-fold, and in Max's case thirty-fold. Fang's injuries were deep, but none were fatal wounds. The loss of blood would have killed him faster than this bites and scratches.
Max on the other hand…her inners were shredded apart by that wyvern. It took her a month to wake up, and another two months for her body to heal itself. She slept a lot in those three months, and it took another month for the pain to cease all together. In Fang's mind, the last six months had passed in a bit of a dream. Between watching over Max, rehabilitating Gazzy, holding Angel's hands through the nightmares, and threatening Iggy not to hurt Nudge, the past six months passed in a blur.
After she woke up, the pair had been thrown into the chaotic mess that was planning Total and Akelia's wedding. Yes, yes, it did take two months to plan a wedding for two dogs. Fang hadn't really had a chance to talk to Max in private since that day on the cliff.
Getting impatient, Fang finally decided to make his presence known. Max didn't move, but he could tell from the way her back tautened slightly that she was aware of him now. He walked up to her from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. Max leaned back into Fang's arms.
"You know, back then on that cliff…" Fang began, trailing off. Her entire body was perfectly fit between his two arms. Max wrapped her hands around his and looked back up to him with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, I remember. What about it?" She was teasing. Fang raised an eyebrow, skeptically.
"You promised me something, remember?"
"Did I?" Max asked dubiously, her lips pursed in wonder. Well, two can play at that game. Fang leaned in until his lips were just hovering over Max's ears. She shivered when she felt him breathing against her neck. "Will you stop that?"
"What? Breathing?" Fang snickered. Max chuckled elbowing his gut. Fang wasn't quite deterred yet. "Don't change the subject." He added. She opened her mouth again, the expression on her face teasing. Fang wasn't about to give her the chance to distract him. He pulled her in close and captured her lips between his. And he kissed her in a desperate "god where the hell have you been?" kind of manner.
Max responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, and Fang wove his fingers through her hair as if he could bring her any closer to him than she already was. His other hand was on the small of her back and he pulled her in close enough to feel the heat radiating from her body. He kissed her once, and then twice, a third time, a fourth—he lost count after that.
Max eventually pulled back with a gasp and Fang swooped in to press a trail of kisses along her neck, stopping between at the crook of her neck to bite into her soft flesh. Max gasped and her legs gave out. Fang pushed her back into the balcony and continued his ministrations on her neck.
"F-fang…" Max gasped, holding onto his tux for dear life. Her heart was beating thunderously in her chest and she was losing all forms of coherency. They've kissed before in the past, even a year ago when they first got together but this level of intimacy was entirely new for her. His hands began to roam her body and just when she thought he would drive her crazy, he pulled away.
Max almost pouted. Almost.
"Forever. You promised me forever."
"I-I did." She whispered back, slightly star-struck. A deep blush spread across her neck and face, and colored her cheeks red.
"Marry me, Max." Fang asked, no, told her. Max's jaw unhinged and she gaped like a fish.
"WHAT?" She finally cried.
"Marry me."
"Fang we're—"
"Marry me."
"But we just—"
"Marry me."
"Hey! Are you even—" He cut her off by kissing her.
"Yes or no Max, it's a simple question." He kissed her again.
"YES! YES!" She cried out in exasperation. Fang smirked his signature smirk, knowing that he'd won this round.
"I knew you'd come around."
"You didn't really give me much cho—"
He kissed her again, and though she whined a little, Max finally gave in and kissed him back.
-Fin-
I want to thank everyone who has been with my since the beginning of this story. I started writing The Forgotten on a whim at the age of 13 because I wanted to explore the idea of a nice Max, Fang and Iggy fighting for Max's love, and I wanted to write the scene where Max was taught how to fly. This story has really come such a long way since those simple ideas.
The story is special to me because it really shows my growth as a writer. It's also the FIRST story I have ever finished and I'm really glad I decided to finish it. Again, thank you all so much for reviewing, favoriting, and following this story. I hope the ending was as good as you all imagined it to be.
Review, Review, Review!
With Love
Kiki1770