Chapter 27

I've been so busy lately, sorry if you all hate me so. I have three more chapters after this one, and I promise I'll be committed. I graduated two days ago and now I just have a lot of free time, so ta da!

How have you all been? Excited for the summer? Well, I just had so much drama in my life. Shout out to my haters; are you mad you couldn't faze me? I've gotten so much braver this year, it's not even funny. So my goal now is to stop procrastinating.

Who thinks I'm not going to achieve that goal? Again, sorry if you hate me for being late and not updating as much as I used to.

Fang

I open my eyes groggily. A healing angel from 30 is hovering over me. Her flowing white-blonde hair trails behind her.

She sees me waking up, "Nicholas, you're awake," she seems relieved, "I'm Kailen, from 30. How do you feel?"

My head is pounding and a cold sweat coats my skin. Kailen seems to read this in my eyes because she nods. Her head bobs up and down and she takes my hand suddenly. There's a warmth that suddenly fills me but Kailen looks drained. My headache disappears.

"We all tried to heal you," Kailen says tiredly, "And we did, for the most part. You have no fatal wounds anymore, but you won't be able to fly properly for some time. We tried so hard, for the commander's sake. She's been a wreck lately and we still haven't had word from the Throne or the other districts yet. Of course, with all the fighting going on, we haven't had a proper messenger."

The commander? Was she talking about Max? I sit up and stretch. My shoulder blades and wings are sore. One little twitch of my feathers makes my wings ache.

"Someone's here to see you," Kailen says, her gray eyes snapping towards the door. I realized I was in an infirmary. Ointments and bandages litter the dusty room. There's nothing much but a small table and the make-shift bed I lay on. They must have set this place up during the War. I wonder how long I've been out.

Kailen glides out of the room and there's a silence as another blonde-haired angel with russet wings steps in. Max, it feels like forever.

"Hi," she says, a little hesitantly. She looks tired. Her usually messy brown-blonde hair was even more so, if that was physically possible. Her armor looks worn and a dirty bandage was wrapped around her right arm.

"How long was I unconscious?" I ask, trying to shake out my wings.

"Two days," she says haltingly, "You were shot by a black fire arrow."

I nod, "I remember."

And I did remember. I remembered the arrow, slitting through the air, and the crackling sound of the fire at its head. I remembered moving myself to protect Max.

Her brown eyes flash, "Then why? Why would you do that? Why would you put yourself in more danger? If you just ducked and dropped me, you would be fine! Why, Fang?"

I look at her. How doesn't she realize this? "Max," I say, feeling weak and helpless in the sickbed, "I'm a guardian angel. I'm supposed to protect the people I love."

I could see her working to say something and her mouth open and closes like a fish. I never thought I'd see Max speechless. Her eyes soften but she says instead, "Of course you love me, how could you not?"

I roll my eyes, "Max, you're ruining the moment."

I slide over a little on my bed and patted the space next to me. "Come here, Max."

She walks a little too tentatively and scooted next to me on the bed, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," I assured her, even though everything in me was screaming out in pain. The healers' spell was wearing off. Slowly, Max rests her head on my shoulder. She's tense, I can feel it.

She murmurs something as she drifts off to sleep. Max looks so peaceful. She sinks into the pillow and the worry lines on her forehead disappear. She used to look like this, back before the first War, back before she had to care about anything. If only I could just pull both of us back to simplicity.

Max

I woke up in Fang's arms. His warm breath tickled the back of my neck but he seemed better. I felt the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled evenly. Once in a while he murmured something and I could just barely hear my name. I smiled a little and tried to push myself off the bed. I was pulled back down again.

"Fang?" I nudge him. "Fang, wake up, I have to go."

Nudge and Angel appear in the doorway. They giggle as they see me and Fang. "I can't get up!" I tell them, trying to rise. Fang's arms tighten around me.

"Oh, come on!" I struggle harder.

Fang opens one sleepy eye. "I just had the best dream, why did you wake me up?"

"Was it about me?" I smirk, "Because then it was the best dream ever."

He smirks back, "Maybe not."

Something in me sinks a little even though I know he's joking. Did I really expect him to say that the dream was about me?

"Get up, lovebirds," Iggy enters the room, too. It's beginning to get crowded, "The army's been waiting for Max for hours."

Fang lets me go and I roll away from him.

"Did we get word from the other districts yet?" I ask, stretching myself out. Fang just watches me from his lazy position on the bed.

The healer Kailen steps in as well at that moment and I begin to feel a little claustrophobic. Behind her, Gazzy trails along too, looking as smitten as a puppy. She shoos us out of the room saying that "Fang needs his rest". I completely agreed with her but something tugged at my heart. Call it foreboding, or just unreasonable worry, or maybe something else all together, but I just felt wrong leaving him.

Another thing, the Voice hasn't come back since I found out her identity. I still couldn't believe I had a mother. They also made me commander of the army, by Saunders's nomination and the Watchers' agreement.

I straighten my armor and run a finger to smooth out my feathers. A guardian could afford to look messy but I needed to be respected. Nudge and Angel were happy that I was finally doing something about my personal hygiene.

My generals, the Flock and a messenger were standing in the Meeting Room before I got there. They all looked at me; their faces were full of hope, but a tentative hope, as if not daring to let themselves be happy.

"What?" I ask, because their mouths were all open, but smiling.

"All of Heaven's Army has joined us," Saunders says.

So, Fang is not dead! Yay, whoopee! Sorry if I scared you. I decided to switch it up and have Fang's POV first, if you didn't all notice. The POVs are longer, finally, and I'm back on my figurative saddle. What do you all think? Ačiū (Lithuanian)