-Five days later-
Fang's P.O.V.
Nudge and I were in the kitchen sitting silently at the island in the centre, she would glance towards Max's room every few minutes and tears would well in her eyes before she would blink them back and repeat the cycle. It had been a day since Max and I had reached the almost snowed in cabin in the middle of a forest and broken the news of Iggy's death to Nudge. Max had then retreated to her room and hadn't been seen since. Nudge had barely said a word so the entire house was left in an eerie silence.
Nudge gave a sniffle and took a sip of the hot chocolate I'd made us and I sighed.
I couldn't take this any more. I stood up quickly and Nudge's head snapped up but I didn't pay any attention when she called my name. I needed to get out of here even if it was only for a few hours. I threw open the window in my room, the cold air hitting my face like a thousand splinters. I climbed out the window expertly and let my wings come out. I rolled my shoulders and let go of the roof.
Max's P.O.V.
I was in my room, curled up in a ball, the blue folder sitting on my bed sealed shut. I wanted to burn it, to never think about its contents ever again because it had caused all this. If I hadn't known about it then I wouldn't have gone rogue and Iggy would still be alive. We'd probably be discussing improvements for the plan, laughing and having a good time. That just brought on a new round of tears because just thinking about killing Fang made me feel like the murderer I was. The thing was that no matter which way it went at the end of the day someone would end up dead.
The door flew open and Nudge shot in, eyes wide. "Fang's left!" She gasped and my head snapped up.
"WHAT!" I yelled jumping up, the tears instantly halting. My heart started beating erratically. No, no, no! He's such an idiot! I internally screeched. "Where!"
"I don't know, we were sitting in the kitchen and he just got up and left but he's not in his room and the windows open!" Nudge carried on and I pushed passed her to get up the stairs. Sure enough Fang's window was open, letting in the freezing air. I ran over and ignoring my fear of heights looked up. No, he's not on the roof.
"I'm going to kill him." I growled throwing on a jacket and picking up my throwing knives. "Stay here in case he comes back." I ordered and Nudge nodded
Stupid frickin bird-boy, he wanted to die didn't he! Please let him have stayed close. I begged, my eyes scanning the trees as I made my way through the forest. It was totally silent, not even the birds were making a noise so even just the crunch of my boots sounded too loud in the dead still surroundings. I couldn't exactly just start yelling his name and hope no one heard me so I had to rely on my brilliant eyesight to find him.
"Dead boy." I growled under my breath as I trudged through the knee high snow trying to find a retard with wings who just so happened to blend into the frickin surroundings. Fun fun. My fingers were already starting to go numb and it had only been a few minutes.
Fang's P.O.V.
I landed easily on the windowsill a few hours later and almost lost my grip when Nudge screeched at the top of her lungs "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!" suddenly she was in front of me and took a fistful of my shirt yanking me inside and shutting the window.
I ignored her little rant and ruffled my hair to get rid of the snow that had landed in it while I was flying. My wings were freezing! I turned to leave the room and head down to where there was a fire to warm myself up but Nudge wasn't having any of that and pushed me down on the bed. "You are one of the most irresponsible idiots I have ever met in my life." She huffed glaring at me.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." I slid out of the frozen jacket I had worn and spread my wings trying to warm them up.
Nudge didn't seem fazed in the slightest and continued to glare at me in anger. Suddenly that expression dropped and she frowned but more in confusion than anger. "If Max brought you back then where is she?" She asked and I raised an eyebrow.
"What are you on about? Max didn't bring me back I just went for a fly." I stated but my stomach dropped. Where was Max?
Nudges eyes widened and her eyes shot over to the closed window. "Oh no." she breathed and realisation dawned on me.
I had come in because of the serious looking storm that was looming but Max was still out there, still looking for me. Shit.
Nudge didn't stop me when I jumped out the window this time as I flew as fast as I could for the forest.
OoOoOoO
The snow had started to fall and the wind was deadly, it was so strong that I had to walk rather than fly because every few seconds I would be blown into a tree.
"Max!" I yelled into the wind hoping against hope that she was alright, if she died…
I could barely see ten feet in front of me and I had lost feeling in my fingers but I pushed on. I need to find her.
I wandered through the snow knowing that the only way I'd ever find her in this storm would be if I fell over her, you know the saying miss by a centimetre miss by a mile? That would have to be applied in this situation. Suddenly the wind just stopped, only for a moment but that was all I need. I sucked in a breath when I noticed the form curled into a ball at the base of a tree just a few feet to my left.
"Max." I breathed rushing to her side. The snow had almost buried her already coming up to her waist and I quickly dug her out. Panic took over when she didn't move but I calmed only slightly when I noticed her chest moving slightly through her thick coat. I put my arm under her knees and scooped her up holding her tight. Her arms came around my neck and I knew that she would be ok. "It's ok Max." I reassured her, not even sure if she could hear me. My wings snapped out and with difficulty I managed to get into the air having to be very careful to avoid the gusts of wind that would knock me out the air and with Max in my arms that just wasn't feasible. Once I was clear of the trees it was slightly easier to fly in the right direction but it still took me over an hour to reach the cabin that was almost indistinguishable because of the amount of snowfall. Nudge threw open my bedroom window as soon as she saw us and I carefully manoeuvred my way in without dropping Max. I set her carefully on the bed and asked Nudge to turn up the heating. She nodded and scurried out the room while I carefully took off Max's ice-crusted clothes. When she was left in only her bare essentials I dug in my still packed duffel until I found a shirt and slipped it on her with difficulty, pulling the blankets over her. Once Max was covered I got changed into some dry and warm clothes before sliding under the blankets with her. I pulled her close, rubbing her arm trying to get her to warm up. It was hours before she stopped shivering and somewhere along the line I must have fallen asleep.
Max's P.O.V.
I didn't know how long I slept, didn't really care either but when my eyes opened my breathing stopped. The events that had taken place the day before came crashing down and my eyes widened as I realised that I was using Fang's chest as a pillow. I will admit that he was really comfy but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why we were in the same bed! I would have moved but when I tried to get up his arms which were around my waist held me tighter. Don't ask me why I lay back down because I honestly can't tell you, maybe I was still tired who knows. I rested my ear over his heart and closed my eyes again. He was alive.
We were going to have a big fat chat when he woke up about leaving without a word but we'd get to that later I was still trying to figure out why I hadn't dreamed of Iggy that night. It was still so fresh in my mind that I could make out every single detail when I shut my eyes and that reduced me to tears. I silently cried effectively soaking Fang's shirt but I really couldn't care less. I knew I needed to forget it and move on because wallowing never got anyone anywhere and it was distracting me from what I needed to do – yesterday was the perfect example – but it's easier said than done, he was my best friend.
"Max?" Fang's groggy voice broke me from my thoughts and I glanced up at him to find him staring at me in confusion. "You're crying." He whispered his onyx eyes boring into mine.
"I need to tell you something." I blurted out of nowhere catching both of us off guard.
My eyes widened a fraction and I sat up, his arms dropping from around me. He also sat up against the headboard and waited for me to continue. I sighed and rubbed my eyes internally chastising myself for saying that. What was wrong with me? I swear I was demented.
He was fully awake when I looked up at him again and his hand was in his messy hair that was sticking up in every direction which was pretty cute.
Not the time! I internally yelled at myself. "You didn't give yourself wings." I stated and Fang practically gawked at me in a what-the-hell-have-you-been-smoking kinda way.
I took another breath before starting again, how do you have this kind of conversation? "What did your dad do for a living Fang?" I asked and he seemed to be very confused.
"He was a doctor." He said simply and I nodded.
"Mine was a scientist." I admitted, "Mom was a vet." I added.
Fang opened his mouth to ask what relevance this had to his wings but I held up my hand to silence him. "Just listen, I don't know how to say this and it's gonna come out all wrong I just know it but I have to try." I babbled and Fang settled back still looking at me like I'd grown a second head. "Does the name Jeb Batchelder ring any bells?" I asked and Fang frowned but nodded stiffly.
"Yeah he was my Dad's best friend. Why?" he said cautiously.
"What about Valencia Martinez?" I said ignoring his question.
Disgruntled he answered me, "Yeah."
I nodded, "They were married right?"
He nodded again.
"And had a daughter but you've never met her."
He slowly nodded obviously not making the connection.
After a few more minutes I groaned, "God Fang could you be any slower?" I complained and shook my head. "My real name isn't Maximum Ride its Viviana Forester and my parents were your parents' best friends!" I let out and he just stared at me with wide eyes.
He sucked in a breath and didn't say anything for a few minutes, his shocked expression slowly leaving his face "What are you playing at?" he said glaring at me.
I sighed and shook my head, "I'm not playing at anything Fang." I whispered but he wasn't convinced he stood up abruptly and headed for the door. "I'm not lying, Fang!" I cried, the tears coming back again. I didn't bother to blink them back because I knew it was useless.
He left the room, slamming the door behind him. I stayed on his bed for a few more minutes and got all the tears out determined not to cry anymore. I stood up determinedly and picked up the blue folder from my bed on my way downstairs. Fang was sitting at the island staring off into space while Nudge cooked something. I threw the folder onto the table with a loud smack.
"I'm not lying." I snapped before turning and going back upstairs.
Fang's P.O.V.
I was sick of all the lies! She had no right to mess around with my head like this!
Smack! The noise broke me from my thoughts and I found Max glaring at me and a blue folder in front of me.
"I'm not lying." She snapped leaving the room.
Nudge had stopped humming to herself and watched me warily.
I looked up at her and she said, "She did all of this for you, I think she deserves a little trust." And then she left he kitchen too.
I stared at the folder for a long while before giving in with a sigh. I picked it up and opened it.
Max's P.O.V.
I was in my room again, knees bought up to my chest as I thought everything over. Why couldn't my life be normal? Oh right because my parents decided it would be a good idea to –
Knock knock. I didn't have time to reply before the door slowly opened revealing a sombre looking Fang clutching the blue folder.
"You're telling the truth." He whispered and I nodded, not moving from the bed.
Fang sat on the edge and dropped the stupid file that had caused all our problems onto the bed. "So…test tube babies huh?" he was trying to lighten the atmosphere and I gave him an appreciative smile.
"Yeah." We both stared at the file for a while longer.
"But you don't have wings." He stated and I shook my head.
"Nope." I crossed my legs and prepared to tell him my thoughts. "But I think it's because I haven't been exposed to what you were." I told him and he raised an eyebrow in question. "You said they showed up after an accident with some chemicals right?"
He nodded.
"So maybe I just haven't come into contact with whatever caused the wings to show up."
He contemplated that for a minute, "never thought of it that way. It's possible though."
"I can't believe it." he murmured after another long silence.
"It's a lot to take in, I know."
"Why didn't they tell us?" he asked brokenly.
"To protect us, I guess." I shrugged, "I mean can you blame them? How exactly do you bring that up? 'Oh by the way you're human/avian hybrids and there are people out to get you'. I don't think so. Besides we were a flop remember?" I nudged his side and he chuckled softly.
"Suppose." He whispered dropping his head into his hands. "Maybe if I hadn't–"
I put a hand on his shoulder and he glanced up at me. "You didn't do anything wrong." I said sternly and his eyes softened.
"You know, if we were normal we'd have known each other our entire lives." He said randomly and I chuckled.
"Ugh, putting up with you for two months was bad enough but eighteen years? Don't even get me started." I said with mock disgust.
He rolled his eyes but the smile returned.
"I still don't understand why they kept us apart though. I mean I've known your parents for as long as I can remember but you…"
I shrugged, "I'm not even going to pretend to know the reasoning behind half the things they did… I mean come on, we're two percent bird Fang; they must have been just a little insane."
He nodded and we drifted into our own thoughts once again.
"Is this why you…?" he trailed off suggestively and I nodded sadly.
"Yes." I murmured.
"So if you hadn't known you'd have killed me?" he enquired gently. I tensed instantly and he took that as my answer. "Thought so."
"Do you hate me?" I asked and he frowned.
"Why would I hate you?" he asked genuinely confused.
I gaped at him, "I was going to kill you."
He just shrugged it off and we dropped the subject. "So, what's the plan?" he asked when we both glanced at the snow that almost came up to the second floor windows.
"Wait it out, I guess." I said simply, "There's not much else we can do with all the snow."
-1 week later-
I think we'd gone through almost every single DVD in this place and trust me most of it consisted with Nudges sappy romance's or gory horrors, now since my life was like one of those horrors I really wasn't in the mood to watch them. Fang seemed to second this so our nights –and half our days- were filled with mindless staring into space. Finally after three days I gave in and joined Nudge on the couch to watch little black book. Cringe. Now I was just about ready to gouge my eyes out with a spoon when Fang came to the rescue with some board games he'd found in the attic.
So after that I would drift into the lounge where Nudge would be watching some really lame DVD and then Fang would come in about twenty minutes later and we'd start to play a board game I haven't so much as touched in years – cause come on, assassins don't sit round playing cards in their spare time – like Monopoly or Uno.
"Cheater!" I gasped eyeing the monopoly board and Fang's car which had just missed jail.
"Did not." He chuckled and I glared at him.
"You rolled four, that's five. To jail you go!" I sang flicking it onto the jail square.
I stuck my tongue out at him and he shook his head.
He copied me and I busted out laughing, there seriously is nothing more hysterical than Fang pulling a tongue.
Nudge looked over at us, obviously not happy that we were being so loud. "Would you two keep quiet?" She hissed turning back to the movie before she could miss anything.
"Dibs watching Harry Potter after this." I said loudly and Nudge glared at me.
OoOoOoO
I gasped as I jolted upright, my eyes quickly scanning the room but coming up empty. I breathed out in relief, wiping the back of my hand across my sweaty forehead. I took a few deep breathes to calm my erratically beating heart and pushed off the covers. Standing on shaky legs I left my room to check on Nudge and Fang. Nudge was safely asleep in her room which calmed me slightly but not much. Nudge could take care of herself, Fang on the other hand… I drifted to Fang's room but just by the tight feeling in my stomach I knew he wouldn't be in there. Even after the incident last week he still insists on flying at least once a day no matter how dangerous it is. Sure enough when I opened the door his bed was still made and the light was on. I shook my head and stuck my head out the open window.
"You plan on getting some sleep any time soon?" I called up and seconds later his head appeared over the edge of the roof.
He flashed me a smile but shook his head. "Can't sleep." He admitted, "Why you up?"
I shrugged and he nodded.
"Nightmare?" He asked offering me a hand when I climbed out to join him.
"Yeah." I said ignoring his hand. I shivered when I sat on the snowy roof and he wrapped a blanket I didn't realise he had around my shoulders.
We sat in comfortable silence for a while before I decided to bring up to subject of getting on the move again.
"They'll send more."
Fang turned to look at me silently telling me to continue.
"They won't stop just because The Hunters they sent are dead. In fact that'll probably only have ticked them off. No one's ever survived The Hunters." I stated and he frowned.
"If they're that good…how did you survive?" he asked and I snorted.
"Anger." I said simply, I didn't want to go into detail about that day.
He didn't press the issue; it was a delicate subject for both of us.
He was too understanding, it got on my nerves. I mean seriously! I was going to frickin murder him but he's ok with that, I've killed basically my entire life and he's ok with that. He saw what I did to those Hunters and he's still ok with it.
"I don't understand you." I admitted out of the blue.
"What?" he said gruffly obviously not expecting that.
"You've accepted it all without judging us. Even the night when we first told you everything you listened and didn't react at all, it's was like you were ok with it all. If I was in your place I would have been out of there in three seconds flat." I said with a shake of my head.
He chuckled then sighed, "I wasn't ok with it, Max. I was actually pretty freaked out." he said nudging my side, "But what good would it have done if I'd tried to run? I mean you're an assassin-"
"Ex-assassin." I corrected.
He snorted, "Fine, ex-assassin then. If I'd run you'd have stopped me, if I'd started screaming all over the place you'd probably have tied me to a chair duct-taped my mouth to shut me up."
I laughed.
He flashed a smile before going serious again. "Sometimes you just have to trust that people are trying to help."
Damn him and his stupid logic.
"You have so been practicing that." I stuck out my tongue, pulling the blanket away from him and wrapping it tighter around myself.
He chuckled and shrugged, "What can I say? I have a way with words." Then he winked at me and I shoved him off the roof.
"Hey!" he gasped coming back up with his wings spread. He mock-glared at me and I grinned.
His hand shot out and he grabbed my wrist yanking me towards the edge of the roof.
In a second I was straddling him with my hand at his throat.
His eyes widened and I leaned in. "Don't forget who you're dealing with." I said simply, jumping up.
He stood up and watched me for a second.
"What?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
He shook his head, "nothing, never mind." Be said jumping into the air again. He held out his hand, "Are you coming?"
I hesitated. Flying. Scared of heights. No way in hell. "No." I crossed my arms to emphasise my point and he sighed.
"Max, you're part bird I think it's time you got over your fear of heights."
Oh he did not just talk to me like a child. Anger flared and swallowing my fear I stepped up to the edge of the roof.
Grinning triumphantly he wrapped his arms around me lifting me from the roof.
I squeezed my eyes shut as we got higher and higher, the sinking feeling in my stomach making me get dizzy and a lump to grow in my throat.
"I'm not going to drop you." Fang said matter-of-factly but that didn't make me feel any better. I still refused to open my eyes and Fang grumbled something I couldn't make out. "Please open you eyes Max." be pleaded and I shook my head vigorously. "It's worth it, I swear."
Cracking one eye open I gasped and clutched him tighter when I realised just how high we were.
Shoving back the urge to shut my eyes again I glanced down again and blinked a few times. Once I got past the wave of nausea that made itself known when I looked down I began to appreciate the scenery. "Wow." I breathed taking in the completely white forest as far as I could see.
"Told you." He whispered and when I looked up at him he was smiling at me, his wings beating rapidly behind him and his black hair lying in his eyes.
I moved it out the way and smiled back. "Can we go back down now?" I asked softly and he chuckled.
"Yeah." And then he tucked in his wings and we plummeted towards the ground.
Any normal person would have screamed but as we all know by now I am not a normal person so I gasped and unintentionally dug my nails into his sides. My bad.
He winced and his wings snapped back out causing us to jolt and he brought us in for a smooth landing.
I hit his chest hard when he let me go and shot him a death glare. "Never do that again!" I hissed and he just laughed at me.
I stalked off back to the cabin and forced the door open, slamming it shut behind me.
OoOoOoO
"You can go black!" Nudge gasped a few hours later when we were discussing our 'make-over's as she liked to call them but it really was just a way to make sure no one recognised us.
I rolled my eyes, popping a freshly baked cookie into my mouth. "Fine, I'll go black but what about you?" I asked and she tapped her finger to her chin while she thought.
She gasped loudly and started giggling.
"Please spare my ears." I groaned and she pouted.
"You're mean." She grumbled, "Anyway you'd be surprised what I can do with a wig and some make-up." She said matter-of-factly.
"Ok, and Fang?" Both of us glanced over at Fang who was quietly reading a book he'd found somewhere across the room.
"Just leave that to me." She sang happily and rubbed her hands together evilly.
We should all be very afraid.
I chucked a pillow at Fang's head and he glared at me. "Are you packed?" I asked and he nodded.
"Didn't bother unpacking." He said with a shrug.
Nudge was jumping up and down in her seat with a big fat grin plastered across her features and I knew I was going to be the first victim. "Let's just get this over and done with." I groaned.
Fang's P.O.V.
I had no idea where Max and Nudge had disappeared to, they'd just up and left but by Max's complaints it probably wasn't going to be pleasant. I had long finished the book I'd found and started to get bored but when I got up to go find them I stopped dead in my tracks and I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor.
"Stop staring, it's rude." That familiar voice snapped and I blinked a few times to clear my thoughts.
"Max?" I asked sceptically and she nodded.
"Who else?" she shook her head, her long black wavy hair following the movement.
"What happened?" I asked and she instantly glared. Backtracking instantly I stammered out, "I mean, you don't look like yourself."
"You seriously think someone's not going to recognise us? It's called a disguise Fang." She rolled her sparkling aqua eyes and put her hand on her hip, "And you're next, Nudge is waiting in her room." She waved me off with a manicured hand and I dumbly nodded.
"Wait- what?" I said after a minute as she sat down and crossed her skinny-jean clad legs.
"They're also looking for you if you will remember."
OoOoOoO
Max's P.O.V.
I really hated it when Nudge did this, she always went overboard. I was debating on checking on how Fang was doing and finally after an hour of crossing and uncrossing my legs my curiosity finally got the better of me and I opened Nudges door. now I swear you would not have even given him a second look if you were looking for the tall dark and – lets face it – handsome boy that was Fang Martin. Not that he wasn't extremely gorgeous now – I mean drop dead gorgeous, male model worthy here – but he was the polar opposite now with his usually black mop died a honey colour and his olive toned skin looked like he'd spent a month at the beach. i swear if I hadn't seen Nudge pop in the last ocean blue contact over his onyx eyes I wouldn't have thought it was him.
"Nice." I admired giving Nudge a well-done smile.
She beamed and pretended to swoon.
Fang didn't appreciate this and huffed. "This sucks." He complained.
Nudge hit his arm, "I will not have you complaining about my brilliant work thank you very much!"
"It's only temporary don't worry." I assured tying hard not to stare at him.
"You two need names." Nudge said taking a baby book out of her bag.
What? We can't have changed our appearances and just go round calling each other by our real names.
She started flipping through it and paused to read over something. "No, I refuse. You are not picking my name this time I don't care how temporary it is." I said sternly snatching the book.
"Aw but Max!" She whined but I held up a hand to silence her.
I scanned the pages and settled on one before trying to find one to fit Fang's new look.
"Dylan." I declared and he frowned.
"Dylan?"
"Perfect!" Nudge gasped.
"What about you?" Fang – I mean Dylan asked.
"Cam." I said with a shrug.
"You've used Cam before." Nudge noted and I raised an eyebrow not remembering using it before.
"remember, three years ago? Sasha?"
"Ooh." I nodded and went back to trying to find a name.
"How about Skye?" Nudge said and I considered it.
"What do you think?" I turned to Fang and his eyes scanned over me before he nodded.
"Ok, Skye and Dylan. Nudge you better get going on yourself."
Right, crap chappie sorry. At least it's nine pages! My longest chappie EVER and I'm serious the most I've ever updated before was six pages feel special. I actually don't know why I've put it all in one considering I could have split it into three chappies… you guys think I could get a little luv for writing nine pages? I actually didn't know how to explain the blue folder so I kinda just sucked that out my thumb and I hope its ok. Tell me if it makes sense, if not I'll have to change it. I'm also trying to re-write chappie 1 which is really hard… there will be a more in-depth look into the folder and stuffs later, I have an idea for that! Sorry for all those that thought I'd somehow save Iggy but you never know…maybe he miraculously survived! Teehee.
Anyway, I didn't feel like bringing Dylan into this. Admittedly he was going to be one of the Hunters later on coming to get Max but then I decided against that. I thought it would be pretty funny to have Fang be Dylan even though I do hate Dylan's guts. Tell me your thoughts on that. It's like what I do with Angel. I really really don't like wat JP's done with her so I make my own cute nice Angel that everyone luvs.
Oh and just so you guys know, Max and Fang have only just started to even like each other so everything that happened in this chapter was just cute obliviousness kay? So I'm not going to have anyone like declaring their undying love for at least another four chappies lol.
Hope you enjoyed my one-of-a-kind long chappie (I'm serious I don't think I'll ever do this again…)
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