Chapter 23

Fang woke me up from the nightmares. I opened my eyes to the small room, trembling in fear, and sitting up from being woken up so abruptly. I held my chest as if suffering from a heart attack my blood was pumping so fast. Fang sat up and placed a calm, cool hand on my arm. My skin was burning and sweat was forming at my hairline. "Are you all right?" I sucked in the air and nodded my head, trying to relax my breathing so Fang wouldn't get too worried.

The lights were off now but I could still see the door a few feet away and the crack on the floor. I also noticed my brother missing, "Ari?" I managed to croak, my throat dry. Fang stood up and went to the corner of the room in front of me where there was a chair with two backpacks. He reached his hand in as he looked for something.

"I had him moved into another room, your screaming was pretty bad and I don't think he's ready to get up," Fang whispered. Sometimes, it was just so hard to hear him even if the only other sound was my panic breathing. He came back to me with a water bottle in his hand. "He was a heavy sleeper though." I know Fang was scared, he wasn't a mind reader but he knew me well enough to know these nightmares were bad. In fact, the last one was bad, worse than I imagined. I hoped they were disappear by the next night as Brigid had sad but I knew to never fully trust a traitor.

Fang sat at the edge of the bed and handed me the water. "Thanks," I said as I took the bottle in my hand. I began gulping down the liquid to sooth my dry throat. I must've been screaming a lot. When I finished off the bottle I placed the cap back on before tossing it into the corner.I pulled my legs up to my chest and rested my head on my knees. Fang inspected me, watched every line that made me as if to make sure I wasn't hurt. "Ari's not sleeping."

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing else. Fang was immune to surprises, much like me. We had grown to the freakiness of the world. Having discovered that my half-brother had never really died had pretty much killed off the surprise factor that I once had. "He's like Angel but more powerful. He's the Voice and he trapped himself inside his head becuase he is scared of the outside world. What time is it?"

"Early morning, no one is up, the walls are pretty thick. You slept for over a day." I shut my eyes for a moment, just a blink really, only to have the flashes of my nightmares reappear. I shivered."Are you cold?" Fang went to wrap the blanket of the bed (that had been kicked to the floor probably during my screaming) around me. I wasn't cold, I was really warm, but I took it anyways. I wondered why or how, really, Fang could easily move from the shock that Ari, a seven-year-old boy was the Voice to worrying me. He seemed unconcerned with the situation that my brother was trapped within his own mind. I was worried about it. Reading my mind as usual, Fang just answered, "I'm scared about you Max. You worry too much about everything else."

True, I had to save the world, save my brother, and keep my flock safe. I had to admit that was a lot of problems for a fifteen-year-old to handle. But I'm Maximum Ride...blah, blah, blah. I think at one point I'll get sick of saying my own name it's so ridiculous. "I'm great, just fine." But I know he was replaying the words that I had said, the moment when I finally admitted that I was scared. I had to fix that. "What I said before, I'm not scared. I can handle it."

"No you can't," Fang retorted. He glared at me, knowing he was right and that I would have to admit it. "Max," he turned his eyes off of me, "Those nightmares, they ripped you apart." I could feel it, I didn't need him to explain. My throat was throbbing from screaming and I felt the crusts and touch of tears that had passed. "I had to ask Max II to take Ari to another room becuase I couldn't leave you." I took a deep breath.

"Fang, I-" but I gave up on words. Somehow, I knew they would do me no good here. He was just being what I needed him to be; whether I wanted to admit it or not. Fang loved me. I loved him. There was a terrible, wonderful, heart-wrenching price that came along with that. There will always be that extra heart beat of fear that is saved for him when I know he's in danger. The same goes for him. Maybe we were over our heads, moving into such an area that scared me but I didn't want to turn back. Even if I could I wouldn't. His dark eyes said all the same thing that went through my mind. If I was to die, then, there was one thing I needed from Fang. I just needed him.

I felt the blanket slip off me as I went towards him. His lips instantly came to me, tasting sweet. I could feel the cracks of my dry lips before I turned my mind to the softness of Fang's. His arms were gentle as they wrapped around my waist. Eventually, we leaned back to where I had been sitting. He was cool against my skin now, relaxing my aching body from the heat of the nightmare. When I closed my eyes, there was no nightmare now. My entire mind went circuiting around the way his lips kissed my neck. We were laying down now. His body pressed against the top of mine. My fingers were laced together at the back of his neck.

He kissed the corner of my mouth, tempting me and teasing me. I stared up at him to see his smile. He held himself over me, the muscles of his arms flexing just below the hem of his black tee shirt. We were kissing agian and I wondered how many moments we would have left like this. Stop thinking like that Max, I yelled at myself. I was shocked I was thinking at all. My hands went down his sides to find the tee shirt and I began to lift it off. Fang pulled back from my lips, just for a moment, to help me remove his shirt. Excitement rushed through me as my hands felt the scars of old memories along his chest. His tanned skin was cool still but not as much as before. I was finally coming back down to reality as I felt the muscles of his chest and abs. Eventually, I was studying the way his back felt while we kissed.

Fang's hand traced at my skin, running up along my side. The calloused skin of his fingers was still smooth in my mind. His other hand was still holding himself over me but his body was pressed lightly agianst mine. I could feel his heart beat racing in time with mine. My shirt began lifting and I allowed it. There was no point to think anymore when it felt so good. I pressed my lips harder against his as if this were the last time. Maybe it was. His mouth went to my ear, and there was a low rumble to his voice, "Max." As much as I wanted to hear him say my name again, I wanted him to kiss me. Fang could sense the eagerness in me as I ran my hand through the smooth, black strands of his hair. He pulled back and stared at me.

I could feel it, that sense that he didn't know me anymore, but it quickly disappeared. He finally understood when a small tear drop passed down my cheek. He asked me with his eyes Are you sure? "I love you," was the only answer that felt like it made any sense. He leaned back down and kissed the trail of the tear away. He left my skin tingling and exiting. If this was all we had, than I was going to take it. Too much in the way that could prevent this moment from being postponed any longer. If I knew I had him now then I was going to have him.

Fang's hand was still underneath my shirt laying flat at the side of my stomach. He was longing for this, I could tell. Then, he pressed his lips against my ear, his breath pushing strands of my hair in front of my line of sight. Was he going to say he didn't know me so he didn't love me? Sure, I had changed, I had said it to Max II but it was the kind of change that made me ready for this. "I love you," he whispered, his hand slightly pulling my shirt up. He adjusted himself so he was staring right into my eyes, our noses touching. Our lips reaching towards each other. Then I saw it too, the change in him that I had noticed on my birthday. He had been waiting for me to meet him. For someone like me, who was always ahead, I had finally caught up to Fang this time around.

My shirt was finally taken off before the series of kissing and holding began once more, our hands guiding the other. Before I would've said flying was the closest thing to heaven. Now, the way I was able to be with Fang, our mouths never breaking contact, was the only moment of peace I had ever had in a long, long time. Ever...

There was no doubt in my teenage, human-avian heart, Fang was my safety, my heart, my soulmate.