Thunder: Back Through the Rain-Chapter 16

By MyNameIsCAL

---Iggy's POV---

Max gravitated away from me. It was easy to be in denial. I laid awake at night, alone, thinking about Max and everything that had happened over the past few weeks. God, I missed her already. But there was no need for her to tell me we were breaking up. That was clear. In fact, now that I thought about it, we were never really together. She was broken and I helped fix her. That's all she needed, fixing up. But I guess what really counted was that I was able to help her.

Now that we were home, it seemed like everybody was avoiding each other. Fang didn't want to be around any of us, Max didn't want to be around me, and Gazzy spent a lot of time around Fang. Angel and Nudge had each other. Every now and then they'd come check up on me, as if I might fall apart too. But I wouldn't. I was better than that.

Yet I felt alone without Max, like part of me was missing. Did I feel hurt by her? Yeah, I did, a little bit. Eventually, I'd let go.

---Fang's POV---

Let's just say that things were awkward at home. It became quite obvious that whatever Iggy and Max had between them had broken off. Even though it had made me angry that they were together, I still felt guilty that it was my causing.

Like every night, I laid awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering to myself where the hell everything was going. Itex was still out there, Jeb had disappeared, and I would forever be tormented by pain. And then Max came in, interrupting my thoughts, slipping into bed next to me, crying, "Will you take me back, Fang?"

I pulled her against me, letting her cry against my chest, closing my eyes and breathing in that all too familiar scent, and whispered, "I will."

There was no need for speaking after that. The tears we shared were enough for understanding.

---Max's POV---

I realized how stupid emotions could be. We had to control them so they couldn't control us. I had failed to see reason in a time of desperation. I needed someone to lash out at and Fang and been the unfortunately victim. Then I sucked Iggy into my whirlpool out of loneliness. I hoped he would come out undamaged after all of this. But a big part of me knew he would. It was never permanent, our relationship, to him. He knew it and I knew it. There would never be need of discussion. That much was understood.

Jumping back into things with Fang immediately would have been wrong either way, though. Things would get back to good slowly. For now, we would focus on finding Jeb. Fang had already lost hope, but I hadn't.

"I try calling him every day," Mom told me. "But it always goes to voicemail. Sometimes I leave a message. Other times it doesn't seem worth it."

Was Jeb ignoring us? Or had Itex nabbed him? I couldn't say.

---Iggy's POV---

"Do you think we'll find Jeb?" Nudge asked me.

Now I wasn't so sure. Fang had clearly given up. Even I had little hope. Maybe Max was in denial about other things. "No, I honestly don't think we will."

Nudge frowned. "Then what's going to happen?"

"I don't know." It was hard to say. Everything seemed so unpredictable.

"Well I hope we find him," Nudge continued. "Because when we do, we kick him around some so he can feel what Fang's feeling."

"We should." Was I agreeing because I actually agreed or was I just saying that to move along?

"Does Max have a plan?"

"No, she doesn't." But Nudge already knew that much.

---Fang's POV---

Rarely does it rain in the desert, but there was a storm tonight. Thunder crashed and lightening struck. I could almost feel the vibrations from the ground.

I still remembered that very night, the night that started this all, how Max and I stupidly went after Itex by ourselves. It was raining that night too.

It was probably global warming causing the rain. We all sat watching it, fascinated, out the window in the kitchen. No one spoke. The only thing you could hear was the thunder, crashing.

---Max's POV---

Time passed too slowly. The flock expected a plan from me soon and they all knew I had nothing yet. Fang didn't seem to be in a rush to do anything though, and like I said, his hope was gone. I think I had crushed a little of it when I ran off with Iggy. He was struggling. Fang tried so hard to do things on his own, but he couldn't. He refused to use the crutches, but getting down the hall without them drained a lot of his energy. There were nights where he wouldn't even eat dinner because he was so tired.

But he didn't let it keep him down. Not like before. Every now and then he would poke fun at himself. I'd get a half smile every now and then. It was a start, a new beginning.

And as the days dragged on, sluggishly, communication got better. I got the feeling that Iggy didn't want to talk to me, and maybe I didn't want to talk to him either, but he would talk to Nudge and talk to Ella and even Fang. That was better than when we first got here where everyone seemed to be avoiding everyone else. Even though we needed to head out somewhere to find Jeb soon, coming home now seemed like a good idea.

Around the others, Fang was still distant. Some nights we would spend together lying awake in silence, other nights we spent alone. Occasionally, we would talk. But mostly about nothing important. We were all in denial about something. Admitting it was the next step.

Thanks for reading. Updates soon, hopefully.