Chapter 14 - Life

Max stared at the words blindly, as if she had never read anything before in her life. While they clicked in her mind, she understood what it said, she couldn't bring herself to process the implications. 'You have to kill me.' It might have been easier if it was an Eraser or a whitecoat or a Flyboy or dumb-bot she was facing, but it wasn't. She knew that it wasn't Fang she was facing, and that the real Fang was some sort of ghost that was with them at the present moment, but fighting his body would be extremely difficult. She had never had a problem sparring with him in the past, and she could even live with having to beat his sorry little butt in front of everyone. But kill him? What if something went wrong? What if, by killing Derrick, she would keep Fang dead forever as well?

It all came down to who she trusted more, Fang or Derrick. It may have been a stupid question, but the end result of this choice could result in Fang's permanent death.

And she wasn't sure she could handle that.

All these thoughts passed in her mind in the span of a couple seconds as she looked at the words Fang had traced in the dirt.

Derrick finally seemed to notice that Max's attention, as well as the rest of the Flock's, was not on him. He tried to see what they were all looking at, but he was too far away. All he could gather was through their shocked expressions that it wasn't anything good.

Max gulped. Whether she wanted to or not, she still had to face off with Derrick, one-on-one. And she only had a couple hours before the reversal could still be performed. Time was ticking, and she wasn't helping herself, the Flock, or Fang by standing around.

God, she hoped she was strong enough emotionally to kill him.

We're here for you, Max, a small voice said in her mind.

She turned to look at Angel, who had a sad smile on her face. All the Flock had varying degrees of dismay or stoicism on their face, and Max knew she had to be strong for all of them. This really was their only choice if they wanted to get Fang back.

She turned back to look at the black eyes she knew so well, now belonging to a complete stranger. You'll pay for what you've done to Fang, she thought to herself, knowing that neither Derrick nor Fang could hear her. Anger, white and hot, flashed in her vision, and she wanted nothing more than to make Derrick suffer for what he had put their family through.

Taking a step forward, she beckoned him with two fingers. "We fight now." Her voice was quiet, deadly. She had never been this determined in her life. Messing with innocent people was one thing, messing with family was another. Especially when that family member was Fang... She tried not to blush to save herself from embarrassment. No. She couldn't. Not in front of him.

A sadistic glimmer shone in his dark eyes. "Just you and me. No funny business from the rest of your Flock."

She nodded. "You have my word."

Gazzy and Iggy looked a little disappointed, but when someone messed with Fang, they also had to answer to Max. That was just the way it worked, especially after they made their relationship official.

"Let the games begin," he said with more amusement than Fang could muster, and he shot forward at lightning speed. He tried stabbing at her as fast and hard as possible, so much different from Fang's fighting style, who was calculated and waiting for the right opportunity. Derrick was all power, while Fang was all finesse.

She dodged the strikes skillfully, but not without some difficulty. With Fang's agileness, his reflexes were fast, probably faster than he was used to having. She found it difficult to get out of the way of one fist before another one would be there to hit where she was moving to. Right when he kept aiming for her head, he caught her off guard with a quick strike to her gut, raising the bile in the back of her throat and making her organs scream in pain. Derrick allowed himself a small, satisfied smile, which was a huge mistake on his part.

She planted a roundhouse kick to his head.

She saw blood run from his mouth as he fell to the floor limply.

For a moment, she couldn't move. What if Fang felt Derrick's pain? What if anything she did to him permanently affected Fang? But she couldn't make herself think like that. No, you have to trust Fang, she reminded herself. Fang said it was okay...

Wanting to catch him off guard, she jumped where he was lying on the floor. Derrick, only feigning injury, rolled out of the way and shot a kick that took out her legs from behind. She came crashing to the ground, the air in her lungs leaving in a rush.

"C'mon, Max, you can do it!" Nudge shouted.

"Yeah, get him!" Gazzy called.

The rest of the Flock showed varying signs of support through their comment to her.

Derrick had gotten back to his feet, and, very slowly, Max brought herself up to face him. He looked a little frazzled, but otherwise his face showed determination.

"The clock's ticking, Maxie," he taunted, a jeering smile on his face.

A cool, hard chill passed through her, as if the world around her had just dropped thirty degrees. A tremor shot through her toes and worked its way up through her spin. She shook as it overcame her, but once it passed, a warmth unlike nothing else settled in her. The comfort it brought made her feel reenergized, strong.

Fang.

She wasn't sure if it was the Voice, Angel, or her own subconsciousness, but the acknowledgement came nonetheless. She could feel him, and with this new enlightenment, she knew what she had to do. His support was enough to make her kill Derrick.

She moved swiftly toward Derrick. When she was within striking range, he stuck out his fist at her face, to which she held out both arms in a block. With his other hand, he swung at her side and made contact with a rib. She hissed in pain, but but used the anger it instilled in her to lash out at his face. The first blow was blindingly fast; he had no way of blocking it. He stumbled backwards, but she kept on him, landing blow after blow to his face. When she was going to deliver the final blow, he surprised her by catching his fist. Her eyes widened.

Clutching to her hand as if it was life support, he twisted her arm at a painful angle. His knuckles turned white and he gritted his teeth with the effort. She fell to the ground on her knees, holding her wrist to her chest delicately.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the rest of the Flock getting fidgety. They wanted to help, but that just wasn't fair. This was a matter between her and Derrick.

Keep them calm, she thought to Angel, hoping she was listening to her thoughts.

She didn't have time to look if they had been given her orders as Derrick came back at her. While on her knees, she charged him before he could duck down to strike; she wrapped her arms around his legs and tackled him to the ground. They tumbled over each other, almost as if in a synchronized set of body rolls, each battling for superiority.

When they separated, they both hopped to their feet and squared themselves to fight again.

Jumping into the air with all her strength, she managed to flip over Derrick's head and land behind him. Before he could react, she kicked him in between his wings. She and the Flock could hear the breath rush out of his lungs as he crumbled to the ground, face first.

"Get him now, Max!" Angel shouted, looking anxiously at something in front of her. The rest of the Flock noticed it, too, and were watching the ground with worry. Max only figured that it was some message from Fang, telling them that she needed to hurry up because of time. She gritted her teeth—why couldn't there be a giant scoreboard that kept a clock of how much time Fang had left? This way she would know for sure whether she had a matter of seconds or minutes. How much time was left?

She meant to jump on top of Derrick, but he scrambled back to his feet and did the one thing he probably shouldn't have done—shot to the air. He avoided her momentarily, but the air was Max's territory. She flew after him.

With her hypersonic speed, she caught up to him in a matter of seconds. Coming up from behind, she elbowed him between the wings again, hoping he was feeling especially sore from her previous strike. He dropped several feet, but before he could fall too much, she swooped below him and kicked his chest. He clutched at the spot where she had kicked him, but managed to flap his wings to keep afloat.

"C'mon, Maxie, be glad you have me instead of no Fang," he persuaded. "Your time to get your precious boyfriend back is almost up. And even if you could find a way to do it, you should be glad that you still have someone in your fellow birdkid's body. Having me is better than not having Fang at all!" His eyes were dark, fiery, excited. Something that Fang would have never been able to do. Even if someone was in his body, he could never fill the void that Fang would leave behind in his death.

Max was seeing red. She had to control her emotions so as to not allow the tears that pricked in the back of her eyes to spill. Through all the thoughts that were spiraling through her brain, only one was able to escape her lips.

"Why would you do this?"

The question hung in the air between them. It seemed as if time had stood still, allowing them both time to examine the situation they were in. If time ran out, Derrick would stay in Fang's body forever. If she could kill him, then hopefully his body wouldn't be too mangled for Fang's ghost to take it over again. The question is, though, what sick soul would try to ruin someone's life like the way Derrick was doing to Fang and the Flock?

Derrick pressed his lips together tightly, the tautness causing them to turn white. The skin around his eye crinkled out of anger. His chest heaved in rage, and Max knew she had just opened a flood gate.

"Why?" He asked, screaming. "Why? Because he got the chance to live again! None of us got that chance! Why do you always get exemptions from the rules, just because you're fucking mutants? You should have to have the same fate as the rest of us!"

He flew straight at her, head butting her in the chest. She almost swore she heard a rib crack. Damn, I knew Fang was hard-headed, but that's ridiculous, she thought as she swore aloud.

He kept his momentum forward, forcing both of them toward the trunk of a gigantic tree. She knew she was in trouble if she didn't act fast. Reaching forward, she was able to stretch her arms out enough—ignoring the pain in her ribs—and grabbed his wings. They were powerful and fierce, glinting purple in the afternoon sun, but grabbed them at the joint, ruining the pattern of their flaps.

They descended quickly.

Derrick seemed to be choking with rage and fear, but Max noticed their closeness to the trees and figured they would likely hit one before they hit the ground. Acting fast, she pushed his wings forward and flipped them mid-air so that he was approaching the tree.

"Wha—?" he managed to get out before the collided with the massive trunk. He absorbed most of the blow for her, and she could hear the sickening crack of bones within his body. She winced, feeling horrible. It's not Fang, it's not Fang, she chanted to herself, but she couldn't bring herself to get over it.

She let go of Derrick, who looked unconscious, and flapped to keep herself aloft. He dropped limply through the air, and all Max could do was watch. Tears rose in her eyes, but she dared not let them spill. Even if it wasn't Fang, she could hardly live with herself for killing anyone that was not an Eraser or a whitecoat. He may have been dead, but he hardly deserved a second death like that.

When she heard the body land on the ground, she tucked her wings and shot toward him. The site was not pretty. Fang's body was bent at strange angles, and there were branches and leaves that clung to his hair and clothes. She bit her lip, tasting blood, to keep from breaking down right then and there. It was almost too much for her to take in.

The rest of the Flock came poring in through the trees, and, upon seeing Fang there, gasped. Nudge put her hand to her mouth and started to cry. Max wondered if they were all thinking the same thing—that there was no way Fang could use this body again.

"Let's straighten him out," Max said flatly, trying to ignore the void inside that was threatening to rip open if they were too late or if it was impossible for Fang to live again in that body. She and Iggy worked to pull him into a normal position, laying him on the ground, straight and stiff. His body was cold and lifeless, so at least they knew that Derrick didn't possess it anymore. Max pulled Fang's head onto her lap, brushing his shaggy bangs away from his closed eyes.

"Fang?" she whispered, hoping that Fang had been able to get back in.

"Do you think he was following us?" Iggy asked, looking around, as if Fang's ghost was suddenly going to appear for them.

"I thought I felt him with us," Angel said softly, crying silently. "He wouldn't not give up this opportunity."

Max remembered when she felt Fang with her during the battle, and she shivered.

"Fang," she tried again, hoping that he was just adjusting to being back in his body—or teasing them.

After a tense moment, in which the five birdkids held their breath, Fang started shifting uneasily. A low, pained groan sounded in his throat. Very, very carefully, he opened one eye in a slit, as if the light stung his eyes. He looked up, eye focusing on Max blearily, and smirked that special smile that she loved so much.

"What's up, guys?"

Only one more chapter. I can't believe that it's almost done (once again, I know it should have been done a long time ago...), but it's always sad to see them end. I rather like "Ghost of Me", especially when it's parodying "Ghost Girl". But I assure you, pretty much the next chapter wraps things up and will be a little mushy (Yay Fax! Awww). It was actually really fun writing this chapter, even though it was pretty serious.

To anyone who reads "Anything But Easy", you'll see that I mentioned something about starting this crazy list called "100 Things That Won't Happen in MR 8". It's very random, supposedly funny, and I need viewer input for future additions to the list (because I really only have so much funny within me). Here are some examples of the complete randomness of it:

~Fang cries...and wears white

~Ella performs a strip tease at a show in Vegas.

~Nudge becomes a national recording artists and produces 500 albums that go gold over the span of three months.

Just so you guys have some idea of what it's like. It's not a story, just a funny list. Like the idea? Love the idea? Tell me in a review or on the poll on my profile!

Please review!

-biteoutoflife-