Hello, all of you! Wow, Rainbows have made their way into the chapter titles twice, now! They're super popular in this story!
I don't know how you all will like this chapter, but I really love it!
I'm so happy with how far this story has come, and I love all of your support! I really appreciate it!
So, thank you sooo much. And as a reward...
I gave you some Fax! ;)
Yay for all of us!
Max POV
By the time I realized what was happening...
I was in a barber shop.
I had a dog collar on with the name tag 'Max' clinking against my throat. Great, the most cliché dog name in the world.
Iggy and Gaz were standing close by with devilish grins, dripping water all over the floor.
Angel was busy looking a little too innocent.
Wake was talking and laughing with two people I knew, but I wasn't sure if I hated them or not. Nudge stood slightly behind Wake, her arm laced around his elbow.
Only one person was missing from this doomed scene.
Fang...
"Here you go." Some lady said, walking up behind me. She spun my chair toward a mirror. Now, I saw that my head was covered in tin foil. "You ready to take a look?"
Was I some kind of alien-hybrid now? "What the-?"
"Flock out." A deeper voice said with quiet authority.
"But we wanna see the look on her face!" Iggy laughed, clutching Gazzy's wrist in anticipation. "I've got my eyes ready!"
The deeper voice cleared it's throat, and I looked toward the sound. "You don't want to be here." Fang replied. His eyes drifted over to me, curious and slightly amused. "I don't have any idea how much of that medication has left her system. She could be ready to use one of your own bombs against you."
Iggy frowned hard.
"I'm out." Ratchet said, and waved his good-bye to me. "I value my life." Holden followed silently after him.
"Go." Fang mouthed. He didn't sound rude, but it was clear he was going to make the rest of the Flock leave, no matter what.
Slowly the others left. Iggy and Gazzy were the last ones to leave.
"Are you ready to have a look?" The lady asked me again. She was 'Patty' according to her name tag.
I deadpanned. "At what?"
She laughed heartily. "You know, I was really concerned when you pointed out the fire-engine red. But don't worry, your boyfriend told me what was going on, so I listened to the color he decided."
"Wait-?"
She slipped off one of the tin foil pieces. A dark scarlet ringlet of hair fell down past my shoulder. It took me a moment to realize what was going on, because my mind was still foggy with the drugs. My mouth dropped open, and I began to tear at my hair like a mad dog.
"What the hell, Fang!" Rip. "What is this!" Tear. "I'm going to kill you!" Middle finger.
"Ma'am," Fang addressed the hair stylist, "I suggest you leave. It might get a little messy."
I got up and shoved him. "Shut up, Fang!"
Patty backed away. "Should I call the police?"
"No." I snapped. "I'll get rid of his dead body."
... okay, probably not the best thing to tell someone who looks like they're going to wet themselves.
Fang turned toward her and gave a smile. "I'll be fine."
"No you won't!" My hands reached toward his neck.
He danced away and let out a laugh. A full-out, bright-eyed laugh. I faltered for a moment. I hadn't heard him laugh like that in... well, a long time.
He took advantage of my hesitation and made a dash for the door.
Damn it.
"FANG!" I said my rage making me chase after him.
In one swift movement, perfected by our years on the run, Fang pulled his sweatshirt off over his head and snapped out his wings. The tips of the black feathers reflected the sunlight one moment and then lifted him off the ground like a dark angel the next.
I was right behind him, grinning as I leapt up into the air. I'd have no problem catching up with him.
Seconds later, after he was high enough, there was a Boom from him breaking the sound barrier.
Uhg. I forgot he developed super speed like me a little while back.
"FANG! YOU'RE A FREAKING A-"
BOOM! And I broke the sound barrier too, letting the curse word be torn from my mouth.
After about five minutes, he suddenly slowed and dropped downward, probably expecting me to have cooled down a little by now.
I landed shortly after him and stomped over to where he was leaning casually against a tree. I poked my finger into his chest, leaning threateningly towards him and squinting my eyes.
"You listen here, bud." I pronounced each word with forced restraint. "I know how you love your red-headed girls. And I get that I'm not one of them. But that doesn't mean you-!"
My breath hitched as he reached out and brushed back a lock of my hair.
I stumbled over my words, quickly trying to cover up my surprise and yell at him. "Doesn't mean... you... I'm not... like Lissa."
"It's auburn." He said. I expected to see his amused smirk but instead his eyes flickered up to mine and a faint, genuine smile spread across his face. "Your hair is auburn, not red."
I was having a hard time concentrating. Him playing with my hair was reallllly distracting, which suddenly made me mad again. How did the silent guy have the power to make me lose the ability to think correctly?
The renewed anger helped me find my voice again. "Look," I pushed his hand away so I could continue, "I don't care what color it is, the point-"
"Obviously you care what color it is, since you're the one that's mad about it being died."
I gaped, and suddenly the sly grin I had been waiting for made its appearance on Fang's face.
"Just shut up, okay!" I yelled at him. "I am so freaking mad at you, so just listen to me rant!"
"No."
I raised an eyebrow and lowered my voice to a deadly whisper. No one ever tells me 'no.' "Excuse me?" Normally, the air would have felt ten degrees cooler with those few words, but something about Fang's reaction made it feel blown away with a warm breeze.
He reached out fast enough so that I couldn't pull away, and grabbed my wrist. I ended up with my back against the tree. "I said, 'No.'" He sighed in his usual, nonchalant voice. "You may not remember it, but you almost died a few hours ago. And I hate that. I hate knowing that we are always so close to dying. So, you are the one that's going to shut your mouth, because yelling is wasting our time."
"I can yell if I want!" I shouted, just to prove that I could. "Don't tell me -hmmm!"
The last part of my argument was cut short as his lips silenced mine, giving me no choice but to stop speaking. I wanted to be angry at him. I wanted to shove him and show him how mad I was.
But... that all became fuzzy, and I quickly forgot what I was mad about. The only thing I was aware of was me and Fang. Fang and me. Fang kissing me. Me kissing him back. God, I loved him. But I was supposed to be mad at him.
Damn Fang for being able to do this to me so easily.
After several minutes of gentle and some not-so-gentle kisses, he pulled away, and my fingers released his hair hesitantly.
He stepped a few feet back from me and grinned. "Your hair is a mess."
My lips tightened into a thin, frustrated line. "You just had to get that out of your system, didn't you?"
"Yup."
I frowned further. "I'm still super mad at you."
"No you're not." He challenged.
"Yes I am."
He shook his head. "Nope."
"Hate you."
Now, he laughed. "Uh-huh, sure. You're not fooling anyone. You've still got that starry look in your eyes. You love me thiiiiiiis much, and you know it!" He spread his arms as wide as he could to show how much I loved him.
I glared at him while he used his fingers to come his hair back the way it usually was - flopped over the side of his face with a few strands covering his right eye. Sometimes it was annoying how much he talked when he was around me, but never the flock.
He jerked his head to the side. "You ready to head back?"
"Fine." I walked over to him, trying to untangle my hair from flying super-sonic earlier.
Fang held out his hand for me to hold. I stood there and made a big show of deciding whether or not I'd hold it. He rolled his eyes, and I latched onto it, feeling my skin grow warm with content.
Of course, the flight back made everything ten times better.
Nudge squealed when Fang and I returned.
"Max! Your hair!" She was jumping up and down with excitement. "It's sooo pretty and red-"
"Auburn." Fang whispered to her quickly. "She sensitive to the color red."
I punched him in the shoulder.
"Can you tell us what it was like to be loopy!" Nudge continued, barely noticing the glare I exchanged with the grinning Fang. "I've always wondered what it was like to have laughing gas. I mean, like, what would I say, and stuff, ya know?"
I couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. "The weirdest part is I can't remember what was real and what was just me dreaming."
Nudge's eyes grew wide, absorbing everything. "Really?"
I nodded. "Yeah. The strangest memory was of... Iggy. He was laying in a giant mountain of Skittles and making Skittle-angels as if he was laying in snow. Then, he started singing, 'Taste, the rainbow, FEEL the rainbow!' And, of course, he went on to pick up one Skittle at a time and name what color it was."
Nudge clapped happily. "Wow!"
"I want skittles now." Iggy muttered.
Gazzy pulled on his sleeve and looked up at him with big, wondering eyes. "Do skittles actually feel like rainbows?"
Ig took a moment to think, then shook his head. "Skittles don't have the color blue. Plus, rainbows just feel more... magical."
"Magical?" Wake asked, his eyebrows raised. Iggy elbowed him, and all three of the boys laughed.
I smiled, and scanned the group, counting heads. Two extra people than usual. "Why are Ratchet and Holden here?" I flat out asked, not one for easy greetings.
Holden scratched the back of his head. "We're here to help you guys out." He smiled sheepishly, and added a little wave.
I put my hands on my hips, pursing my lips in thought. "Although my memory is not the most reliable at the moment, something tells me that I wasn't the one to invite you."
Ratchet held up his hands in surrender and looked at Fang. "If it's a problem, and your girlfriend is gonna be hate'n on me and Holden, we're outta here. But if she wants us to stay, then get her to hurry up and say it. She has a naturally strong voice." He adjusted the silencer headphones on his ears more securely.
My jaw clenched in annoyance and I turned to Fang. "You invited him and didn't ask me?"
He shrugged. "What if I did?"
I scowled.
"I invited him!" Nudge burst out. "I confess to everything! It was all me! Don't get mad at Fang!"
I blinked at her, and she looked like she was going to cry. She could never lie or keep secrets for long. She always felt to guilty and would spill eventually (hence her motormouth). I sighed. "I'm not mad. It was a great decision. Fang was just trying to tick me off by not giving me a straight answer." I ruffled her hair, which succeeded in making it frizz even more than usual.
She smiled and her eyes glowed with pride. "Yay!"
"So where's Star and Kate?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.
I could literally feel the sudden tension in the air. Had the two girls died?
"They made a bad decision and were kicked out." Holden said grimly.
"Ha!" Ratchet spit venomously. "Understatement of the year. They were freaking back-stabbers. No-good morons."
"They betrayed us." Fang said, his voice monotone. "Tried to kill us. They actually got Maya killed."
My stomach churned and my heart clenched. There were so many times that I had wished for her to be dead, but I didn't actually want for her die. It was complicated - too much hate towards her and so much sympathy. I remember Fang telling me about her death, and how it made me feel like I was only a second choice, like I was replacing her. I still felt that way sometimes, but I never felt angry at Maya anymore. All she ever did was love Fang, and sacrifice herself for him. How can I be mad at that if that's all I've ever done?
Fang had found someone who would die for him. I'd found Dylan, who would kill someone else to claim me. I can't help being jealous over Fang, although I'd never admit to it outside of my thoughts.
I kept my face calm, and made sure not to clench my fists or let any of the emotions visible. But Fang, somehow always seeming to be able to read my mind, grabbed my hand. I froze. He knew me too well. He leaned over to the side of my face and simply brushed his nose against my ear and held it there for a moment.
It was comforting, but I blushed bright red. He was getting way to comfortable with this kind of thing in front of the Flock.
I cleared my throat to cover up my embarrassment and pulled my head away slightly to silently communicate my discomfort to him.
He sighed, leaned back, and let go of my hand.
I flexed my fingers. Now, they felt too empty, so I played with the strings on my hoodie. "I think we should talk to Jeb." I mumbled. "He worked for the school. So, he might be able to tell us where the headquarters are."
Iggy stepped forward. "You weren't conscious when he talked to all of us, but he made it pretty clear that he worked for both the School and RAWR, and that he wasn't going to tell us anything else. We're going to have to look for them on our own."
Angel raised her hand, and all eyes turned toward her. "The School headquarters is two miles that way." She shuffled her feet a few steps and pointed. "Their thoughts make it obvious, but I can't feel RAWR anywhere within the eight mile radius."
"RAWR was somewhere in this country." Wake added. "I had to fly back to America when I escaped. I'm sorry, but I don't remember where the place is exactly. I was too scared to notice where anything was at. I remember seeing the Eifel Tower somewhere to the North, though."
Angel started thinking hard. "The country is small enough for us to fly around the entire place in about two days. Wake, Ratchet, and I could listen out for it."
I nodded. "Sounds like a good idea, but we'll have to travel in three separate groups."
Fang shook his head. "I don't like it when we split up." He decided. "Something bad always happens."
This was true, but I didn't see another option. "Both places know that my chip is gone, so they know we're planning to do something soon. They can still track all of you guys by your chips. If they see us all traveling in a big group towards them... I don't want them to think we're going to attack and then have them kill our family."
The faces the Flock was wearing, told me the didn't like the idea anymore than Fang did.
"We'll probably be able to locate it in a day if we're in three groups. And add in the fact that the Eifel Tower was to the North of RAWR... we should only have to check the south side of the country. That'll cut back the time to a few hours before we find it."
Everyone still looked nervous about splitting up.
"Come on!" I gave a nervous laugh. "Don't look so doom and gloom. It's only a few hours! Like we're going shopping - think of it that way. We separate when we go shopping all the time."
Ratchet was the first to speak up. "You people are kind of indecisive." He pulled his hood more over his head to the point where his dark sunglasses disappeared beneath the black shadowy folds. "I'm going with Fang. He adopted me like a bro, and he only makes noise when it's necessary. The Quiet is my friend."
I rubbed my temple and nodded. "Each group should have three people. Each one with a listener." Angel grabbed my hand. "Nudge will go in Fang's group."
Fang's face told me he was sure that I was making a mistake by putting a motormouth-Nudge with silence-lover-Ratchet.
"Ig and Gaz will be the bomb squad in Wake's group."
Gazzy fist-pumped while Iggy high-fived both of the other boys. "You are now a part of team FISH." Wake said smiling.
"And we're team BBQ!" Nudge giggled, catching on to Wake's joke while everyone else looked at them oddly.
Wake and Nudge looked at me expectantly, but I shook my head. I was not going to call my group-
"Team DAISY!" Angel exclaimed laughing.
Sometimes your mind reading is really inconvenient for me. I thought.
Angel shrugged. I try my best to annoy you. "Max, Holden, and I are Team DAISY!" She said again for clarification.
I felt a finger tap my shoulder. "Mind if Team Kazin joins?"
I turned to see the bright blue eyes of Kazin, and her hair that was even wilder than Nudge's. Behind her stood two other familiar faces.
"S-Star?" Ratchet practically stuttered. He pulled back the hood of his jacket slightly, as if he didn't believe his super-eyes. It was the most I'd ever seen of his face.
"Hey, sunglasses. Ya miss me?" Star said, then moved so quickly that I wasn't sure she'd moved. The sudden cursing from Ratchet, and his missing sunglasses confirmed my thoughts that she had, in fact, traveled.
"Give them back!" He hissed, shielding his overly-sensitive eyes from the ordinary light.
She laughed. "Nope, I hid them."
Now, that Ratchet couldn't see her face, a longing entered her eyes, and she smiled faintly.
"Hello, Holden." Kate said with a wave.
Holden seemed to blush, and nodded his greeting.
Well, this was unexpected...
"Kazin?" Nudge asked, because Wake seemed to surprised to ask. "I thought you left to go live with your friends."
She smiled and threw an arm around her. "And who told you that?"
Nudge just simply looked to Wake.
Kazin's laugh was loud and chiding. "Boys!" She exclaimed as if that answered everything. "I just wrote on the note that I was going back to my hideout to look for my friends. I don't know how he interpreted that, but I was just going to go grab Star and Kate. I met them a few months ago. I couldn't just disappear on them! I figured I'd convince them to come meet you all, but by the time we got back to the hotel, you guys were gone." She sighed. "I didn't know ya'll would pay 100 dollars worth of rooms, and then not even use them! I literally came back three hours after I left."
Star quickly put the sunglasses back on Ratchet's nose. "So, anyway, Team Kazin is officially joining the search party. No complaints, because we're helping wether you like it or not."
The entire flock looked at me for approval, all except Fang.
I set my eyes on him and suddenly felt the weight of the betrayal he had felt months ago. I could see the stiffness in his shoulders, the tension in his jaw, and the whiteness of his clenched knuckles as his eyes blazed at a random spot in the asphalt. He was refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
Fang. I thought.
And then I stepped towards him and brought his forehead down towards mind until our heads were pressed together. His eyes were forced to look at mine, then. I blushed, but this time I pushed through my screaming subconscious. "This isn't my decision to make." I whispered to him. "This is yours."
His fingers dug into the extra cloth bunched at my ribs, and again, through that, I could feel the pain he felt when he faced the two new girls.
"You decide." I mouthed, and I lifted my face to kiss his nose.
Awwwe! I don't know wether I'm happy or sad! Max and Fang are so cute, but I feel the pain of Fang! Oh, the drama! :P
And Fang's Gang is officially back! I just felt bad that they were abandoned at one point. I'm sorry if you don't like them. I'll try to make their characters even more like-able!
Feel free to leave a review, or follow, or even favorite if you haven't!
Love you all!
