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Max

I had managed to slather on enough cover-up the past couple of days to keep any sign of my bruised cheek away from Ari. I wasn't really sure what he would do- or what he could do for that matter- if he ever found out Fang had hit me, but I was definitely fine with leaving that mystery unsolved.

Fang had become more cautious in the course of forty-eight hours. I noticed whenever he even started to sigh in frustration he would just look at me and get this hurt, puppy dog look on his face. I hated to think this, but part of me knew Fang was, in a way, using my slightly swollen cheek to his advantage. As long as he was reminded of hitting me, his guilt would drown out his anger every time. And, in a way, that angered me. I wanted- no, I needed him to get angry sometimes. I needed him to snap and blow up and yell and tell me I'm an idiot. Although I was positive he wouldn't do that anymore.

So finally, on the third morning after he hit me, I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. That guilty look wasn't flying with me. Fang needed to know it was okay to be angry, and get frustrated, and blow off some steam. He needed to know that it was fine if he yelled, and perfectly normal to throw a fit. Maybe not all the time, but he couldn't hold all his anger back. If he did that he would just eventually explode.

"It's okay to get angry," I told him, noticing those big brown cow eyes looking hurt and defeated. We had been just on the brink of an argument about how long we should stay in this halfway home when Fang realized he was raising his voice.

"No it's not. Not if I'm a risk-factor when I'm angry," Fang unintentionally argued.

"Babe, everyone's a risk-factor when they're angry-" I started, but he cut me off, his voice rising slightly.

"Well I'm Different," The way he spit the words out oddly sent a slight shiver of satisfaction through me. For once he didn't look guilty for snapping.

"About as different as a black sheep in a white herd," I muttered, rolling my eyes. My boyfriend blinked at me and smartly replied by opening and closing his jaw in contemplation. "It's something Ari used to tell me when I first started my life of crime," I explained. "I didn't get it either until he explained it. It basically means black sheep or white sheep you're still a sheep, you still act like a sheep, talk like a sleep, and eat like a sheep. It's all the same." I shrugged as if it was the simplest idea ever, because well, it is.

"But Max, I'm not the sheep, I'm the wolf." Fang insisted calmly. I groaned and slumped down in my chair.

"If you don't get angry how am I supposed to know I'm doing something stupid?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"That's easy. I can just tell you. I don't have to yell."

"What if yelling is the only way to get through to me?" I countered, leaning forward and resting my forearms on the table.

"Then get somebody else to tell you you're being stupid," Fang shrugged my thoughts off, as if it was that easy. But it wasn't.

"Fang, I love you, okay? Don't take that lightly. When I say that I mean it-"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Fang cut me off.

"It has to do with everything, Fang! You act like you're scared now! You hit me, so what? I'm a big girl, I can take it! I've hit you too! Stop acting like you're afraid of your own shadow and grow a pair!" I snapped, jumping to my feet so fast my chair fell backwards. It clattered to the ground, leaving of us in an intense silence where we glared at each other with such ferocity, that if we were average we'd probably flinch away like three years olds in a funhouse. For minutes, or maybe days, we continued our little stare off until finally somebody cleared their throat from behind me.

I tore my gaze away from Fang and spun around to see none other than Iggy standing there. "Um, Bonnie, Clyde, we have an issue." He ground out, a bit of panic reaching into his icy eyes.

"Oh God, what else could go wrong?" I snarled, throwing my hands up in defeat.

"Well, I can't get Lupo to eat. Anything. And she hasn't gotten out of bed, and I- I don't know. I think she's dying or something." Iggy's words began to press together as he spoke, as if he didn't even want to hear himself.

"Alright Iggy, make her favorite food, whatever that may be, and Fang and I will go try and entertain the vegetable," I said a little more rudely than intended. It wasn't that I was angry at Lupo, I just couldn't seem to get over my irritation towards Fang.

"Don't- Don't call Lupo that, Max. If- If she died or something and…" Iggy's voice cracked and he trailed off. I let out a small sigh and nodded once.

"She'll be okay, Igster. She's the strongest girl I know." As I walked past him I patted his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him and walked out of the kitchen, only to find Ari standing there, arms crossed over his chest, and a look of outrage on his face.

123

"You have thirty seconds to explain why I shouldn't rip Fang's head off or I'll do it," He snarled after looking at my bruised cheek for a moment. It was only then that I realized I hadn't put any concealer on yet. My mouth opened, desperate pleas drifting in and out of my mind but nothing concrete. And so I just stood there, waiting for the right words to come out.

However, before they could I watched Fang step into the fire, unarmed and unaware. "Oh, hey, Ari-" He started, but before he could even finish whatever he was about to say he had two hands tightly clamped around his neck. A very un-Max like squeal left my mouth and I immediately went to my boyfriend's defense, hopelessly trying to pry Ari's fingers away from Fang's neck. It was no use though. Once my brother became this way, there was no getting through to him.

"Ari please, let him go!" I begged, feeling tears in my eyes as my boyfriend coughed and sputtered for life. What was worse was I knew this was all my fault, but everyone was taking it out on Fang. "It's my fault! Don't take it out on him. Ari stop!" Maybe it was the cracking in my voice, or the fact Ari was still weak, but he stopped- if only for the moment.

Fang dropped to his knees and sucked in air, coughing weakly before crawling over to the couch and climbing onto it, lying down and continuing to give life to his lungs. "Let me explain," I started and Ari listened to my whole story, never interjecting as I told him the full and honest version, leaving nothing out. When I was finished Ari took one look at Fang and cracked his knuckles.

"I'm going to kill you now. I'm going to kill you so hard your ghost is going to die." Ari went to lunge but I hopped on top of Fang to keep Ari from strangling him.

"Dont you dare! I've hit him plenty of times before! At any rate we're not even close to even and-"

"Two wrongs don't make a right, Max!" Ari growled and Fang cowered behind me. Honestly, I wished I could cower away from my own brother too. He was one scary chunk of muscle when he was angry.

"Yeah well, you always said everyone deserves a second chance!" I growled, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance.

"No, you always said that. I was the one who dragged you away from everybody who hurt you the first time!" Ari corrected, and I shook my head.

"Either way it's true. Ari, come on, Fang loves me. He didn't mean to," I insisted but my brother wouldn't stand for it.

"You can't accidentally give somebody a bruise like that," He persisted, walking over to me and picking me up, moving me aside as I fought him.

"No! I'm not going to let you hurt him-"

"Max," Fang spoke up finally, after sitting on the couch catching his breath for the last couple of minutes. He looked me dead in the eye and even Ari paused to see what he had to say. "I can fight my own battles, okay Sweetheart? Just, go to our room or something and-"

"Did you lose all the oxygen in your brain? No! Ari step away from my man right now!" I shouted, pushing my brother so hard he stumbled to the ground with a groan; all of his injuries not helping the situation.

My brother struggled to stand back up, but eventually gave in, defeated. Instead of attempting to put himself through that kind of agony he just sat there, looking up at me with a broken look in his eyes.

"You know what? I don't even care anymore, Max. Please, by all means, let Fang kill you- no, better yet, have some more babies. I'm sure they'll all die soon anyways with your career- what is it again? Fugitive?" Ari's words were calm, but there was an edge in his voice that made me feel horrible. Neither Fang nor I spoke another word. We were both too shocked by the words that my brother had just slammed into us.

I walked over and reached out a hand to help him up, the guilt beginning to eat at me for being so horrible to my brother, but Ari brushed my help- no, me- aside, finally getting to his feet with his teeth clenched from the pain. "I'll be in my room if you'd like to tell me about more secrets you've been keeping from me." He growled viciously, and I watched as my brother limped off to his room, not sure how to apologize or how to say anything, actually.

My own brother had walked away from me. He had given up and left. Ari had decided I wasn't worth the fight anymore and that hurt more than anything. Would he still think of me as a sister tomorrow when we had breakfast? Would he still even talk to me? I looked down at the wooden planks in the floor, trying to think of how I could apologize for being such a bad sister. After all, his only crime was caring about me.

However, by the time I looked up to say something- anything- to get him to love me again, he had disappeared into his room. Leaving me utterly shocked, unsure of what had just happened. All I really knew was this;

I had just let my only family member walk away.

GUISE I AM FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW! I HAVE EXACTLY 500 REVIEWS THANKS TO YOU LOYAL, AMAZING, WONDERFUL, PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL FANS OF MINE!

Alright so since I am now at the halfway mark to one thousand I have decided that I'm going to set a goal that may or may not happen, but I will update anyways. Ten reviews per chapter... please, maybe? I don't know. Just, if you like my chapters please review. I am also promising that if I get to 10 reviews on a chapter before the planned update date I will update within twenty four hours of me finding out I have those reviews.

Okay, moving on to something IMPORTANT!: Anybody know MPHknows? I'd say raise your hand but I can't see you and will probably be sleeping when you see this update so yeah. Anyways without her this story wouldn't be nearly as awesome as it is. M is so amazing and is CRAZY helpful to me all the time with this story. She gives me fabulous ideas and steers me clear of horribly-written chapters.

She is also an AMAZING, FANTABULOUS writer and one of my personal favorite stories by her is: He's Not From Here I recommend it to all Maximum Ride fans and also all her other MR stories. So be sure to check MPHknows out and read and review her stories because they are addictingly good.

And M, thanks for all you do. You're so awesome. Without you and Random this story would never be where it's at now, and I will never be able to thank you enough for continuously pushing me.

Soar on

VR