300th Reviewer: Fiona
MusicalAngel499: I sing it to my baby sister sometimes when she's going to sleep ;)
imeanemo: There's so many chapters to this story...I'm so happy this was part of your first experience to FanFiction! Welcome!
Ahh...306...so lovely...
Anyway, I'm LonelyButLovely presenting you the drabblific and adorable FAX story Beyond the Picket Fence! And I want to apologize for the super short updates. It's kinda hard with my family suddenly deciding to go camping and then have me be constantly busy so there's almost no time to write anymore! And school's coming up soon T^T good-bye sleeping in until twelve and staying up all night...
I guess you guys deserve a slightly long chapter, eh? Just this once I guess.
"This is a test Max," Jeb's voice echoed in the room. "Survive and you pass to the next level."
I knew he was watching me somewhere. All of them were. All from the safety of their padded walls and safety glass. And here I was, a girl with wings standing in the middle of a room to face and survive god-knows-what. Me, Maximum. Could I survive? Well, that all depends on me. And I better survive. People are counting on me. I braced myself as a loud buzzer went off and a hidden door began opening on the opposite side of me.
"Here goes everything," I muttered inhaling deeply.
I heard it first. Loud booms charging at me fast and shaking the ground beneath my feet. I was granted a weapon but left to figure it out myself. They gave me this blue wrist thing a few days ago and said, "Good luck." I am quite shocked at them. I've been trying to figure it out for the past few days but haven't gotten it to do anything. Even my Flock was stumped. Well, I hope I can just beat this thing on my own then with just my quick thinking and brute strength.
And then I saw it. A huge shape looking out from the shadows. It looked like something from my nightmares - not that I have any. Ahem. Well, it was dark, scaly and had a spiky tail swishing in the air about the size of my legs. It wasted no time in opening its' rather large mouth and roaring at me. I got a good look at its teeth, each the size of my forearm. This was a massive beast! And they expected me to beat it how?
I quickly flew up off the ground as it kept charging. It crashed into the wall, creating a large dent but not breaking it. I swallowed. There could've been a pancake Max in that wall. I clenched my hands and took deep breaths while it swerved around to look at me. Its claws quickly came up to bat me down. I dodged them easily, but felt every single gust of wind coming off of them. I tumbled back through the air uncontrollably. I resisted the urge to hurl up my intestines and focused on the creature.
"You can do this," I whispered to myself.
But even I didn't believe it.
"Max!" Angel bolted up from her drawing.
The rest of them quickly turned their heads towards the small girl. Angel's purely terrified face immediately caught their attention. Gazzy dropped the small object he was holding, Nudge quit talking to Iggy as he pretended to listen. Angel looked at them all with fear.
"It's Max...they're making her fight a monster!"
"So?" Gazzy looked at his sister. "Max'll win. She always does."
"No duh," Nudge crossed her arms, sitting on the ground.
"B-but it's scary!" Angel squeezed her eyes shut. "Max says it's really big! It's dark and scary...Max is in trouble. She says...she says..."
"What?" Iggy stood. "What does she say?"
Angel shook her head, sniffling. "She can't do it. Max says she can't do it."
Iggy clenched his fist. "Why? Why can't she do it? What's wrong?"
Angel shook her head, blond curls swishing. "It's dangerous. It's too big. She has nothing to fight it with."
"Tell Max..." Iggy fumbled for words. "Tell her...I-I...what can we do? We have to help her!"
Angel bit her bottom lip. "I don't know what to do."
"Screw it all!" I cursed under my breath, shaking the blue wristlet. "What the f*ck am I supposed to do with this? I'm going to f*cking die if I can't get this little piece of sh*t to work!"
I groaned as it swung its tail again. I rolled through the air and zipped over it, exhaling sharply. I quickly spiraled down feet first at an angel that - I hope to God - wouldn't snap all my leg bones. I clenched my teeth as I hit it on it's hard outer skin (is that what you call it?). It sent a sharp burst of pain through my legs and I quickly pulled back. The creature only turned and roared at me again.
"Alright! Alright! Just shut up already," I blew my hair from my face. "Yeesh, you could sure use a breath mint Jumbo."
Jumbo probably didn't like my comment as it roared louder and swung at me again. I rolled put of the way but it expected this and it me with its claw. I hissed as it scraped across my side through my light armor. I ignored the searing pain and only grunted when I hit the ground and slid a while away. I blinked my eyes a few times to clear the blurry vision and rolled onto my chest, popping up onto my feet. I tried not to look at the skid mark of blood that was smeared on the ground. Jeez, it's like I'm bleeding all over the place. Well, on the other hand, it did need a little color.
"Argh..." I held a hand to my side as it burned.
Jumbo - I have now decided Jumbo is a boy - turned around slowly and looked for me with his dark eyes. My breaths were already gasping and heavy. The blood loss was nothing, just a scratch. Pain is mental. Pain is mental.
He seemed to smell my blood and ran towards me again. I whipped out my wings and flew up, blood dripping behind me. I can't believe this. I'm bleeding all over. Isn't it just a scratch? Why the hell is it bleeding so much? I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds and focused on my breaths. Now's definitely not the time to think. Just do.
"What's happening?" Nudge asked pulling her knees to her chest. "Is Max okay?"
Angel shook her head, deeply troubled. "S-she's not doing so good. She's bleeding. I can hear her. It hurts a lot and she's losing a lot of blood. Max says she's still trying."
"Tell Max we believe in her!" Gazzy insisted. "Tell her we're waiting for her!"
I dropped down slightly again. I shook the dizziness off and pulled up again. My head began throbbing and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. It hammered loud and clear as if it moved from my chest into my head.
'We're waiting for you, Max. You'll be okay.'
I spit blood from my mouth. "I'm fine. Tell everyone I'm fine."
'But Max -!'
"I'm fine!" I snapped. I could do this.
Jumbo reared up and slammed down again. Everything shook causing me to dropped down a long ways. I flapped tiredly, glowering at him. I clenched my hands. I can do this. I'm fine. Suddenly, a blue light was emitted from my wrist. I looked down for a second then realized the blue wristlet they gave me a while back began glowing. It turned warm and suddenly transformed into a glowing blue sword. I widened my eyes on shock. How did I do that - ?
I jumped out of the way as he swung his tail down moments after I moved. I swung the sword at it. It hacked off a spike as if it where a chainsaw through a tree. Jumbo growled and swished his tail. I grunted and brought down the sword hard on the end of his tail. It went about halfway through the think armor. Jumbo howled and began thrashing wildly.
"I-I'm fine," I reassured myself.
The sword became a blade attached to my arm. I sprinted towards Jumbo and began stabbing it wherever possible. I avoided his massive stomping legs and flailing limbs as he tried to swat me away and crush me. I sliced at his underside as I slid underneath. Jumbo roared loudly, trying to get me out. I quickly rolled out from underneath him and dived towards his back. I was almost there when his a spike on his tail caught me and swung me backwards. I clung onto the massive spike, hoping I didn't get motion sickness.
Jumbo's tail fell to the ground afterwards and dragged behind him as he ran. I quickly let go and fell onto the ground. He did a u-turn and stomped his massive leg into the ground before charging at me again. I stood to meet him, my wristlet now a large and exquisitely detailed scythe - one I really adore by the way. I have such a cool imagination! I will some cool chain links on the handle and grinned when they appeared. I braced myself for impact and held my scythe up in both hands.
Fang stood at the fence. The high sun was in the sky, baring down on his back. His dark eyes stared at the same spot as it had for years. This fence, tall and towering and the only thing keeping him and Max apart. It was ironic really; it brought them closer but kept them apart. Wasn't life a cruel thing?
"What're you doing right now?" He whispered to the wind. He stared at the crumpled page in his hand which read a small address on the upper right. He had read it over and over again ever since he got it. Fang inhaled deeply.
This is it.
"Max is getting better now," Angel felt relieved. Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy sat around Angel as she told them what was happening. "Max is fine, she says she's fine."
Iggy could hear the tremble in her voice.
This is it.
"This," Max tightened her grip, "is it."