I waited, in the cave near Lake Mead, where the Hawks were, awaiting Fang. I had been there for hours. My stomache was beginning to wonder if my throat had been cut and I had the worst headache in the world. I sat on the cold floor picking at my nails wondering if Fang had forgotten to meet me. Would he even show up?
Suddenly I heard hawks beginning to screech louder than before and my attention turned to the entrance of the cave. I saw Hawks scattered around in the sky, circling each other. But then I caught a glimpse of a large dark figure, too large to be an actual hawk circling with the hawks in the sky. My heart began to thud in my chest as I gazed out of the cave. The dark figure faced me and slowly flew towards me. As it got closer I saw it was Fang. I gasped at the sight of him and froze instantly on the spot with my hand over my mouth.
He landed in front of me and smiled.
"Max, I've missed you. How have you been?" He said staring into my eyes.
"I've...I've been...lonely." I began to sob. "How have you been?" I asked.
"Hungry." Fang said and in an instant Fang morphed into an eraser, towering over me bearing his huge claws and sharp teeth. I screamed as he came forward to attack me cutting my clothes to ribbons and leaving on the floor, cold, naked and shivering. He began circling me, growling and licking his lips. Then he got to the floor and began to rip my limbs off one by one, chewing on my bones and licking them clean.....
That was when I jolted awake crying out for Fang to stop. I looked around my surroundings. I was in some sort of bedroom. Large, with a clean wooden floor and one wardrobe in the corner. Then, laying next to me I saw Dylan looking at me in shock. I looked down with embarrassment. I was almost naked.
"Another bad dream?" He said wiping a wet strand of hair from my face. I nodded.
Yes just another bad dream. Hello the angel from my nightmares.
I had many dreams like that. Some more aggressive, some more graphic and some more confusing than others. But all revolved around the same thing. Fang.
"Where am I? What happened? Where's Iggy?" I asked all at once.
"Your safe. Dr G.H insisted upon putting you in my room to rest." He began. Three guesses why I scoffed. "Iggy's fine he's resting too and the doc did some tests and stuff, you were asleep so it was easier, but you might feel a bit sluggish for a while." He finished. I nodded again lieing back down covering my naked, wet body.
"Where are my clothes?" I asked clearing the lump in my throat.
"Being washed. They will be ready in the morning. Its only 3 am." Dylan said. I had my boxers on, but being almost fully naked around three guys was not my idea of fun.
After than I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to .All I wanted to was climb into the shower and sob. Still, look on the bright side, Iggy will soon be able to see and I will be able to return to the flock.
"Are you okay?" Dylan said rolling over to his side and facing me.
"No." I said quickly and sat up rubbing my forehead.
"Can I get you anything? Glass of water? Something to eat?" Dylan said looking at me with his big turquoise eyes.
"No, I'm fine!" I snapped. "I'm sorry. Just...not feeling too good right now." I apologised.
"It's alright. I understand. This is hard for you. But things will get better I promise." Dylan smiled. He put his hand on my shoulder and traced it down to my wings giving me a reassuring pat on the back. I fell back down onto the bed and let out a huge sigh.
Dylan POV
She laid back down on my bed and let out a long, painful sigh. I winced. I wanted to hold her, put my arms around her and make her feel safe and happy. After all, that was what I was meant for, right?
I watched as she closed her eyes and lay perfectly still with the moonlight shining off her face. She looked beautiful when she slept. Even more beautiful when she was angry, but I'd never tell her that. She would probably try putting my head in Iggy's food blender. She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a couple fo times before looking over at me. I looked back at her and she rolled onto her side facing me. She smiled faintly.
"I'm gonna go check on Iggy." Max said pulling my top over her head and walking towards the door. "Stay here." She called as she left the room.
Max POV
I left Dylan's bedroom and made my way across the hall, scanning for any signs of where Iggy might be. At the end of the corridor, I came to a small bedroom and inside Iggy lay neatly on the bed wearing a scruffy white vest and white boxers.
"Hey Ig." I whispered. "You asleep?".
"Nope." He replied popping the 'p'. I walked over to him and saw a bandage around his eyes.
"Doc says that when I gain my sight, I may loose my super hearing a little bit." Iggy said with a gruff voice.
"Oh. I'm sorry Ig." I said holding his hand.
"Don't worry about it. I'm still more than happy to have my sight back even if it means loosing my super hearing touch." He laughed. "Also, he did say might. So I may not loose it. But it's a possibility." Iggy finished.
"I'm sure you'll be fine." I reassured him.
"Oh and another thing, I could be next in line for a new ability. Getting my sight back may give me another ability. I could see some colours and stuff before but maybe having my sight back I will be able to see even better." Iggy said happily.
"See stuff like me?" Dylan asked standing in the doorway. Iggy's head turned.
"Nah, not as good as you Dyl, but who knows. The possibilities are endless." Iggy smiled. I'm glad he was happy. I did this for him and him only.
"Well get some rest Ig, big day tomorrow. We're gonna find out if that Doc is a man of his word." I grabbed Iggy's hand tight and stacked my fist upon his.
"G'night Max." Iggy smiled turning over.
I steered Dylan out of the room and jabbed him in the side for not staying put. I admired his courage.
"How are you feeling?" Dylan asked getting back into bed. I must admit, getting into bed, his bed, made me feel unusual.
"I feel alright."I lied. Truth was, I don't think I was ever going to be okay. The nightmares would probably never end and I was going to have to put up with that for 20 long years.
I snuggled down wrapping my arms around the soft, fluffy pillows and sank my head into them. I watched as Dylan's chest moved slowly up and down and moved my eyes curiously over his abs. Part of me felt like grabbing some whipped cream and smothering his gorgeous body in it and licking it off...No bad Max! You can't think like that! I shut my eyes tight and tried to picture the hawks flying and circling each other. Then my mind wandered to Fang. I wanted to think of him covered in whipped cream instead but it would only make things worse. I felt tears begin to form in the corner of my eyes and i quickly brushed them away with my hand, trying to forget.
"The only way you are going to forget is if you let yourself forget, Max." The voice told me.
Oh wonderful, it's you. With more riddles I see. Fangtastic! I said to the voice and almost feeling tears start to reform in my eyes after realising I had said fangtastic. I'm such an idiot sometimes.
"Trust me, the only way to forgetis if you just let got. Move on. Remember Max: Expect pain and it will hurt less. Get surprised by it and it could kill you." The voice said, giving me another riddle. Well, alright maybe I understood that one. But first things first, now way in hell was I going to just simply 'get over Fang'. Yes your probably thinking 'but it's for the best Max', 'you need to do this Max'. Well I've got news for you.. I ain't doing it.
I half expected the voice to give me another riddle, telling me my duty is to 'save the world' and 'that Fang will only distract me'. But it didn't. So I relaxed my mind and let myself fall asleep. Here's to hoping I won't have anymore disturbing nightmares.
I felt the warm sun on my back and began to open my sleepy eyes. My head had been resting on something hard and as I lifted my head up slowly, I saw it had been on Dylan's shoulder.
"You really do make a cute couple, you know." Oh shut up.
I blinked hard serveral times and noticed the clock read 8:25. Time to wake Iggy up.
Dylan was fast asleep and I didn't want to wake him...again. My left arm was outstretched over Dylan and my right arm had been neatly by my side. As I tried to move my left hand I noticed it was also on something hard. I looked down and saw my hand placed over his..well you know. This was just great. The perfect morning welcome. And it was really hard too!
Oh my God , Oh my God, what if he wakes up and sees me with my hand on his...
"I'm sure it would give him the perfect morning welcome." Oh please do be quiet! I spat.
I slowly began to lift my hand from 'the place' when a hand grabbed my wrist. It was Dylan's hand. Shite. He grabbed my wrist so quickly that I didn't even have time to think and I gasped. Which is unusual for me. I always act before I think, Jeb had taught me that.
He pulled on my wrist and brought my hand..you guessed it..back down to where it origionally was. Who did he think he was grabbing me like that and putting my hand in unpleasant places.
"Your perfect other half." The voice said with a slight laugh. Okay this has to stop. It was a rhetorical question for goodness sake! Silence.
Not only did Dylan re-place my hand back onto his unpleasant parts, but he put his hand on top of mine and curved my fingers around it!
He sat up slightly and moved his head to look at me, keeping my hand in place with his own. He gave me one of his gorgeous smirks, the kind that makes you want to kiss his kissable lips...I didn't just say that... and he stared at me. He applied more pressure to my hand and very slowly moved his face closer to mine. I could smell his skin as he drew closer to me. Clean, like mountain fresh air. At that point I realised, he was too close.
Jezums, he's going to kiss me again. I thought.
"And your going to let him. For once in your life Max, let someone else lead the way." The unwelcome voice spoke again for the 55th time in the past 5 minutes.
For some reason, those words kept repeating in my brain, over and over. 'Let someone else lead the way'. I was the leader of the flock and leading was what I was born to do. I was made to lead. No voice, lets not talk about why Dylan was made, shall we? I said before the voice did. Rhetorical question so don't answer that.
Dylan's clean, mountain air smell filled my nostrils and my eyes began to flutter shut. Suddenly his lips pressed against mine and all I could think of was, let someone else lead the way. But did I have the power to do that? Could I do that? I pressed my remaining free hand against his chest to push him backwards. Although that kinda didn't work and I ended up feeling his abs and running my hand over them. Stupid Max.
"Good Max." The voice said soothingly. I gave a sarcastic laugh and continued kissing Dylan. Wait.. I did what?
"Just give into him Max. You are obviously attracted to him, so do something about it. Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead." The voice spoke again.
I replayed the voice's words over and over in my head. 'Let someone else lead... Seize the moment..." I think the voice was really starting to get to me, because not only did I find myself touching Dylan's abs, but I was kissing him too. The more I kissed back, the more I wanted it. The more I wanted it, I more I kissed back. What a dilema. I heard low moans escape Dylan's mouth in between kisses, especially when he ran his tongue over my bottom lip. His grip on my hand tightened even more and he moved his hand up my arm and around my back, rolling on top of me. Now this was embarrassing. I was so thankful he didn't decide to sleep naked last night.
His arms wrapped around my back and he grinded his groin into mine. The feeling of him grinding against me made me think of Fang. He would grind against me whenever we kissed and it had felt so nice. I tried to imagine that Fang was on top of me now, repeating to myself It's Fang, It's Fang.
But it didn't work. Fang tasted different, kissed different. Fang would never have the courage to grind me this hard...
Dylan POV
The feeling of her hand on my parts snapped something inside of me. I realised that I wanted her, then and there. I wanted to kiss her so bad, hold her so tight and never let her go. I slowly moved my way in to kiss her, scared that at any moment she would push me away and most likely never talk to me again. Truth was, I had realised weeks ago that Max and Fang were meant to be. The way they looked at each other, laughed with each other and they way they flew close to each other made me realise that I could never come that close to Max as he was. I had even tried to commit suicide knowing that I was made for a stupid purpose. They didn't need me. Max already had a perfect other half. Yet, I was designed to feel for Max. Not just because I was programmed to but I really felt for her, like him. She would never be able to look at me, talk to me or even kiss me with half the mind she used to with Fang. But I still wanted her. Part of me knew that she wasn't going to be ready for another relationship. I respected that. I didn't want to just take his place, I wanted Max to feel for me because she wanted to. I was here to help her and I would do anything for her. But sometimes she needs to know when enough is enough. Yes he's gone, not coming back etc etc so now and then I would give her a gentle nudge. Like right now. But my nudge was kissing. Trying to make her break out of her shell so she can be free to fly again, so to speak.
Running my tongue over her lips made low moans escape my mouth uncontrollably. I knew Max heard them too but she didn't say anything. Didn't do anything. That was a good sign, I hoped.
I pressed her hand even harder onto my parts with my own and ran my hand up her arm and around to her back. I embraced myself around her, still kissing her and giving her a gentle grind with my hips. I didn't realise I would like it this much and grinded harder. She still didn't move, push me away or say anything. Still a good sign. Maybe her voice was getting to her. Or maybe she really was starting to believe we could be good together. I put my hands on her waist, almost pulling her onto me and that's when she put her hands on my chest and pushed away. At least I know my boundaries.
Max POV
"Dylan, what are you doing?" I asked pushing him away from me. His grinding was beginning to hurt.
"I umm..Sorry I was...." He stuttered. Dylan was too perfect to stutter. "Sorry." He whispered hanging his head in shame.
"Your grinding was beginning to hurt." I explained. His head shot up and his face looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry Max. Last thing I wanted to do was hurt you." He trailed off sounding ashamed. He couldn't even look at me. I almost felt sorry for the guy. He looked back at me with hurt on his face and I couldn't help put my arms around him.
"Your so delicate sometimes." I added making him chuckle.
"Only for you Max. Only for you." He smiled.
I heard Iggy down the hallway calling my name and I immediately got up and fled to the door. I saw him in the lounge area sitting in a chair. Standing next to him was the wonderful and great Dr. Gunther Hagen who was slowly pulling off Iggy's bandage. I ran over to him not taking notice of the Dr and put my hand on Ig's shoulder.
"Max! Max! He's taking it off!" Iggy yelled excited. Moment of truth.
Dylan walked up behind me and grabbed a soda from the fridge, watching as the bandages slowly came falling off.
"Now remember what I said. Very very slowly at first. It may be blurry for a while but it will soon clear up." The doctor said instructing Iggy.
Iggy slowly began to open his eyes and already they were weeping. I stood in front of him, hoping he would be able to see me, but no luck.
"It's really really blurry." Iggy said as his eyes opened.
"Don't worry, that will heal up soon." Dr G.H said.
"Does this mean that I can go now. You've had your fun and done your tests now let us go home." I demanded. To my surprise, he nodded.
I held Iggy's hand and helped him to stand up. Dylan gave him a pair of dark sunglasses to wear to protect his eyes from the wind and the sun whilst we were flying home. He thanked the doctor a gazillion times and began jumping around with joy.
"Lets go home! I wanna see the others!" He yelled and thanked the the doctor again. Dylan said goodbye and without hesitation we flew away form the doctors house in Malibu and headed home to the flock.
"Horray they're back! I heard Nudge scream as we landed and everyone except Jeb came over for a big welcome back hug.
"Good to see you again. That was a brave thing you did Max, for Iggy." Jeb said. I nodded. The flock surrounded Iggy wondering if he could see but his eyes were still pretty blurry.
"Come on in Ig, make some pancakes for us. We're starved." Angel said pulling Iggy by the hand. "Jeb makes awful pancakes!" Angel whispered so Jeb wouldn't hear. Iggy laughed and set to work in the kitchen.
"How long till he can see clearly Max?" Nudge asked sitting at the table.
"Not sure could take a day or a few days. Could take up to a week." I said. Nudge frowned.
"I hope it's soon." She said. Gazzy nodded.
We all sat around the table, minus Jeb and I began to inform the flock on what happened while we were away. Except the part where me and Dylan made out on his bed. I shivered. Angel giggled from across the table and I knew she has heard what I said. Bummer!
"It's okay Max, Don't worry. Your secrets safe. You and Dylan make a good couple." She laughed. Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of sweetie.
"Did you guys hear that?" Iggy said turning around ignoring the sizzling coming from the pan. We all froze and put out senses on alert.
"Heard what Iggy?" I said with a sharp edge in my voice. I began looking out the window for signs of erasers or a chopper.
"Crying, I heard...crying." He said with a confused look on his face. The only time he gets a look like that when Gazzy is imitating one of our voices and Iggy doesn't know who's who.
"Crying? I don;t hear no crying? Who woud be crying all the way out here?" I asked the flock, even though I knew they wouldn't know.
"It sounded like a young child. Maybe two I'm not sure." He puzzled. We all shook our shoulders and exchanged confused glances.
"A young child is crying, can't tell if it's a girl or boy and I think there is another child crying with it, but not as loudly." Iggy told us.
"Could this be some sort of new ability?" I asked.
"Maybe." Was all Iggy said before turning his blind gaze back to the frying pan. We all relaxed and I began to ask the flock what they had been up to since me, Dylan and Iggy had gone when Iggy almost dropped the pan on the stove and spun around towards us.
"Dylan, could I borrow your eyes for a minute." Iggy said and we all knew what he meant.
"Sure. What do you need?" Dylan asked standing next to Iggy.
"Do you see anything, like in the future that has two small boys in?" Iggy asked him. Everyone fell silent and all eyes were on Dylan. Dylan closed his eyes and concentrated. He had never tried to see anything before and I didn't think he would find anything when he flashed his eyes open and said 'yes'.
"I do see two small children, the ones that you said you heard crying. They are....unhappy for some reason. Looks like they are missing someone. They are also in a small sog create." Dylan said and Nudge and Angel gasped.
"Then we have to help the poor things." Nudge yelled standing up from her seat.
"No Nudge." Iggy began. "We can't help them yet."
"Why the heck not?" She replied.
"Because they aren't even born yet." Dylan said and every ones mouth dropped open.
"Woah, Ig..." Gazzy said shocked. "Can you hear things....from the future???"