Finished Fang. Cried like crazy. Enough said.
Where do we go from here?
Max let herself ponder the question as the others thought of their own. She more resembled Fang that day, than anyone else, in the respect that she didn't talk.
Not at all.
Angel was barred from her mind.
She wouldn't let Iggy touch her.
She wouldn't talk to Nudge, look at Gazzy.
Wouldn't listen to Total.
Wouldn't do anything that even remotely had to do with Fang.
She felt like her life was in a freeze frame. She was the only one who could move, like pieces on a chess board. Did that make her queen? Who was her king?
Max's head hurt.
Absently, she pondered the Idea.
That was all about Fang.
His hands, his eyes, his mouth.
Rough fingers that make flower petals out of boulders and weapons out of the softest mist, not that they ever would. Eyes that held the world trapped behind dark one way glass. One could see out, never in.
A mouth that could grimace, grin, echo, and create.
That was the main idea of the Idea.
She sighed.
She wondered.
She wandered.
She acted distinctly un-Maklike.
Max thought back on her life, years and years of time, had been gone- taken from her. With a blink, a flick of fingers, a fleeting laugh, a sinking feeling, a deep depression, an awakening. And then it was back, and she couldn't believe who she'd become. Who she'd let herself become. She called out over the cliff's edge, into the mist.
"Hello?" Her voice dropped into the dark abyss beneath where the Flock rested, until it hit the city, plopping onto a small girl's head(no matter what, Max was their leader. Brainwashed or not, they knew to listen to her. If she had them resting in a cave off a cliff, then so be it).
"Hello," She whispered back. Then she ran, back home, to the parents who wanted her dead, and tried to make that happen, each and every day. But still, she ran home, because she was young, and still had much faith in her tormentors. She would learn in time.
The Flock looked at Max like she was insane.
They also knew better than to ask questions.
"Hello? Can anybody hear me?" The first real words Max had really said in quite a while, were spoken into empty air.
Breathing heavy, flopping back down, it's back to Silent Max.
Fang had enough.
"Max."
Nothing.
"Max."
A twitch.
"Max."
A growl.
"Max."
"What!" So much venom dripped from those words, most of the Flock scrambled didn't blink.
"Talk." Max did blink.
"What?" Fang could've laughed at the expression on Max's face.
"Talk, speak, communicate-"
"Fang."
"-Use words-"
"Fang."
"-Phrases-"
"Fang."
"-Sentences-"
"Fang."
"What!" Max raised an eyebrow. She had the sudden urge to smile. Just…smile.
It was impossible to ignore, and she certainly didn't want to anyway.
"Iggy, come here," Max said slowly. He walked over cautiously, treading lightly on now sturdy ground. She grabbed his hand and brought it to her face so that he could feel her smile. That was all he needed. The tense, guarded silence was no more. Angel and Nudge burst into loud chatter.
Max smiled.
Iggy stole Gazzy, off to planning.
Max smiled.
She turned to Fang.
"Thank you," she said quietly. He nodded.
Max smiled.
Later that night, Max took a seashell from her pocket. It glinted in the light, and seemed to have a pulse, a life, of it's own.
The edges were stained a permanently bright red.
And Max smiled.