Aftermath – Chapter 3

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"I have to go to work. I promise I'll stop by on my lunch break."

I let Dylan go without saying a word to him.

Even since Ari had gotten sick again, he had insisted on going to work, even though I knew his boss would have wanted him to take time off. I tried to understand at first. Having some time away was good, but he wasn't even here when we needed him. It was getting to the point where I wanted to punch him in the face. And the last time I felt that was back when we were trying to save the world.

The doctors didn't know what was wrong with Ari. They never knew what was wrong with him the first time. All of a sudden he just started to get better and they thought he was cured. It was a miracle, they said, and so things went back to normal. Until last week when Ari had a fever that was so high, it put him in a coma.

I sat on the couch in Ari's hospital room, staring at my feet. I could have stared at my feet all day, but then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I managed to say.

Gazzy emerged through the doorway.

"Max, why didn't you call me sooner?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me this is why you and Dylan are fighting?"

I started to stare at my feet again. "I don't know. I didn't want to bother you. You're busy."

That wasn't true. I knew Gazzy would drop everything to help me, to help any of us. Sometimes I wondered if he did it because he knew Angel would. When Ari was sick the first time, he had been around trying to help, distracting us with his stupid jokes. And since Dylan wasn't any comfort, Gazzy seemed like the only other person I had to turn to.

It took a while for Gazzy to speak again. "Look, I got all this free time now. I sold my magazine. If you need me to beat up Dylan, I will."

I shook my head.

"Well, I'm going to talk to him."

"Thanks." I glanced at Ari. "So what're you doing out here anyway?"

"Sold my magazine."

"Where're you staying?"

He didn't answer so I looked up at him.

"With Iggy and Fang."

Fang. I'd been thinking more about him lately, in spite of myself.

"Do you think it would be different if I chose Fang instead?" I questioned.

Gazzy sunk into the couch. "Of course."

"I think about calling Fang sometimes. I mean, I talk to Iggy every now and then. It just seems stupid, but I know Fang won't want to talk to me now. It's too late. Tell me he's not miserable."

"He's not." Gazzy hesitated. "Iggy's softened him, I think."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I guess Iggy's not even hinted the slightest bit about them?"

"What do you mean?"

He let out a breath. "They're gay, Max."

I blinked.

"Iggy won't tell you because Fang's not ready for that." Gazzy shook his head. "I just think that you deserve to know now."

The room began to spin around me.

"Max?" Gazzy put his hand around my arm.

I sucked in a breath.

"Hey, Max, it's ok."

I didn't realize what he meant until he put an arm around me and I shook against him, crying. It seemed like the last time I broke down like this was when Angel died. Now here I was crying for everything that was wrong. Crying because I no longer knew the people who I once considered family, even Dylan. Crying because Ari might never get to know his family.

"Shh, Max, it's going to be ok." Gazzy's voice sounded shaky though.

But nothing seemed ok anymore.

Dylan and I sat speechless in Ari's room. Moments like this used to be rare. Dylan was always telling me how he felt. He was always making sure I was ok. He had changed though.

"Dylan…" I didn't know what to say to him.

"Max," he turned to me and took my hand. "Max, you know I love you. I love you and Ari more than anything in this world."

"I know, Dylan."

He sighed, let go of my hand, and turned away. "I don't know how to cope anymore. I can't sit here like you and watch Ari all day. I'm not that strong, Max. And I don't want to sit around you all day pouring my feelings out because that's not good for you."

"I don't want to fight anymore."

"Neither do I."

Then he slumped against me and began to sob. I ran my fingers through his blonde hair and then put my arms around him. It drove a hole through my heart seeing him like this. I felt stupid for ever being angry at him.

"I'm sorry, Max," he cried. "I'm so sorry."

He shook against me and I pulled him closer.

"I'm sorry too."

Dylan pulled away from me, burying his face in his hands. "I…I'm so pathetic…I told myself…I…wouldn't breakdown like…this…"

I took him by the shoulders and forced him to look at me. "It's ok, Dylan. We're going to get through this together."

He managed a smile through his tears. I put my arms around him next and kissed him. Dylan stiffened, but then he melted against me and for those few seconds, our problems seemed to melt away too.

Sorry I've been slow with updates. I'm working on stuff slowly. Hopefully I'll have a new chapter up soon.

I finished Nevermore tonight. I thought it was a brilliant ending for the series, but I won't go into much detail now. If anyone wants to share thoughts, feel free to message me.

But yeah, the series is over. It's a lot of emotions, but most of them good and some of them bittersweet. I feel that there's still a lot more to be said in the fanfiction universe about this series, so as long as people are still reading, I'll still be writing. New ideas are spinning already.

Until my next update! Thanks for reading!