WARNING: This chapter contains more offensive language than usual. If I say more I will just go on a long paragraph about how sorry I'm not sorry, and it won't get this bad again and blah blah blah. (Plus I could be making a big deal out of nothing)

Max

Lupo was going to kill Nudge. I wasn't sure why, or how long it would take, but I knew she was going in for the kill the moment she landed the first punch to Nudge's nose. It cracked multiple times at once, reverberating throughout the living room as Ari rushed out of the kitchen; a shocked expression on his face. It seemed to all be happening in slow motion as the four of us stood frozen in place, unsure of what to do or how to react while Lupo pummeled Nudge. One punch after the other; screaming profanities that I didn't even know existed. In this state it was a bad idea to be around her; she was thinking too much about herself and not about other people, but at the same time if somebody didn't intervene soon, Nudge would most likely die. For what reason, I wasn't exactly sure.

I watched in horror as the mocha-skinned girl shrieked and desperately yanked at Lupo's hair in a meek attempt to fight back, only making the girl angrier.

"You guys should put on bikinis and finish this off in a tub full of cool whip!" Fang suggested loudly over Lupo's foul language. I turned to glare at my boyfriend only to find him with a whole pie in his hand, eagerly forking it down his throat as if we were watching an entertaining movie. When did he get that?

"Fang! You're such a pig!" I growled, smacking him upside the head.

"What? Two hot chicks fighting- well, one hot chick killing the other would be hot to watch if they were in bikinis… and rolling around in cool whip," he took another bite of his pie to finalize the thought, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Um guys, I think we need to help Nudge," Ari exclaimed urgently and I turned to the scene in front of me. Lupo now had the poor girl pinned to the ground as she shot both fists forward, back and forth, right and left, jab and cross.

"Lupo! Stop!" Iggy shouted suddenly, running over to his girlfriend and slinging his arms around her waist. He attempted in vain to pull her away, but was unable to by himself. She was too angry, too strong, to hellbent on annihilation. Snapping into action, I ran over to the scene with Ari on my heels and Fang still eating his pie.

It took all three of us, and a reluctant Fang before we finally separated them. Nudge immediately shrieked and sprinted up to her room, slamming the door behind her and locking it with a loud click.

"Don't touch me!" Lupo snarled, turning to Iggy. In one fluid motion she slapped him, claws out and all. Her long nails scraped over Iggy's skin, slicing through it like butter and leaving four trails of dripping red behind. Everything was happening so fast I could hardly comprehend what was going on.

"Lupo, what the hell?" Ari snapped. "I mean, I get why you're mad and all but you can't just rampage through the-"

"Shut up, Dogbreath, or you're next!" Lupo interrupted, her voice drowning in venom. My brother, being the ever-so clever man he was, took a step back and threw his hands up in surrender. He obviously knew not to mess with Angry Lupo.

"Lupo, why would you do that?" Iggy asked calmly, his eyes murky with tears. He knew why she would do that, and he knew what was going to happen. As I looked around the living room I realized I was the only one who didn't know what was going on. Fang, Ari, Iggy, Lupo; they all had the same recognition on their face. But me? I was trying to piece everything together.

"Why the hell do you think I would do that?" Lupo sneered, a raging inferno swirling through her golden eyes. She was bloodthirsty and furious; a wonderful combination if you're a hunting dog. Which at this point, she might very well be.

"How did you find out?" Iggy asked quietly, staring down at his shoes.

"That's none of your concern, you Bastard! What the hell ever happened to love? And commitment? Did your little slut make you forget about me? Why the f-"

"Lupo, that's enough." Fang's voice was quiet, yet it held the authority I never knew he had. He stood up straight, an empty pie pan in his free hand while he licked the fork clean. She spun on my boyfriend, and I was honestly terrified she would lunge, but she never did.

"And why do you get to decide that, Fang?" She asked, the raw fury turning her words into a feral growl.

"Because I have more sense than you right now, that's why. You need to calm down before you kill somebody." He turned to her, a challenging look in his dark eyes. They both knew she could rip his throat out right now if he pushed her the wrong way; she could pounce and it'd all be over within a few seconds. But I guess she wasn't feeling as bloodthirsty as I thought, because she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room, calling Iggy a few colorful words as she did so.

"Alright, I'm going to go talk to her, somebody mop up Iggy's face," Fang announced, handing the aluminum pie pan and fork to me before walking towards the stairs.

"And what makes you think you should talk to her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Ari would just get on her nerves, she wouldn't listen to Iggy, and you really don't know what's going on. Ari, catch Max up on the drama in our lives. I'll be back later," Fang turned towards the stairs, then paused and jogged into the kitchen, disappearing out of sight for a few minutes before coming back with a whole tub of ice cream and two spoons.

"Fang, she's not much of a-"

"Okay, every normal freakazoid will eat ice cream when sad or angry. If I can't get her to eat some of this then we're going to have to put her down," Fang joked and winked at me before heading up the stairs. I watched him go until he was out of sight, smiling slightly. Fang had a certain ability, a certain way with words that none of us had. He was a good teammate to have around sometimes, like in these situations.

"Alright, so what's going on?" I asked, setting a hand on my hip as I turned to Ari, who was now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. A glance at Iggy and I found a crying mess laying on the couch, his legs hanging over the armrest, and his head buried in a pillow. The only real evidence of him still being alive was the shake of his shoulders and the loud sobs that could be heard every few seconds.

"Iggy cheated on Lupo with Nudge. Like hardcore." Ari explained in a simple sentence. I blinked. That's honestly what I had been expecting. However, to know it was true, well, it was tough to hear. Iggy had taken a fragile relationship and poked at it with a knife until it was thoroughly scratched up and bleeding out to death. That just wasn't like him. Why would he do something like that? Especially to Lupo?

"Iggy, do you, do you wanna talk?" I asked timidly, walking over to the lump on the couch.

"No. I want to be alone so I can't lose what I have left of my dignity… oh my God, I'm going to be sick. What the hell is wrong with me?" Iggy groaned out, his words muffled from the hiccuping and pillow shoved into his face.

"I wish somebody had the answer to that," Ari shot back at Iggy like a bullet out of a pistol. I turned to glare at my brother. Even though he had a right to rip Iggy apart for all he was worth, he was still human. We all made mistakes. Big mistakes. Huge mistakes. Iggy had just made a huge one.

"Ari, go to your room," I snapped, resting a gentle hand on Iggy's back. He tried to shove me away from him, to get the desperately-needed alone time he craved, but I wouldn't have it. Iggy didn't have any dignity to lose anymore so it didn't matter if I hung around.

"You are not seriously going to defend that man-whore, are you?" Ari's jaw went slack at the question as he talked about our friend like he wasn't even there.

"I'm not defending him, Ari. I'm comforting him. Something you wouldn't know anything about," I spoke firmly, and glared at my brother, daring him to make a wrong move. We stared at each other for a long time, him debating what to do, and me debating what to hit him with if he made another snide remark. Finally, after what felt like ages, Ari sighed, dropping his arms back to his sides and hanging his head down in disapproval as he walked off, muttering under his breath about backstabbing sisters. I waited until I heard his door slam to sit down on the patch of couch Iggy hadn't taken over.

"Igster, they're all gone now. Talk to me," I whispered, resting my hand on his shoulder. He didn't move. Instead he sucked in a deep breath and held it, waiting for me to get up and leave. Waiting for me to give up. "Iggy, please. You have me if no one else, so why not use me?" I offered, rubbing circles into his back like Fang did to me sometimes. It was calming and comforting and everything I needed, and hopefully it would be what Iggy needed too.

It took a good ten minutes of comforting words and patterns rubbed into his shoulders before Iggy finally sat up, his hair a ruffled mess, his face stained with ever-flowing tears, and his lip quivering. It was like I was looking at thirteen year old Iggy all over again. The little boy who had fallen off his bike because he was too busy staring at a pretty girl to turn the wheel.

"Oh Iggy, why'd you do it?" I asked, letting out a breath of air as I brushed his hair back. For once he didn't try to stop me, or make some perverted comment about us being a thing. Instead he just stared over at me, as if trying to think of the right words.

"I love her so much. I really do. I know I do. I just… now I know how she felt the last time something like this happened," Iggy spoke quietly, pulling one knee up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it. "I know what you're thinking 'if you loved her so much then why would you cheat on her' well, here's the thing, I don't know the answer to that question. I just, I don't know. I guess for me a relationship can't just be emotional. I mean, I'm not an addict by any means, but a kiss every now and then, a hug even. Just… something. I guess I… well, I went too long without it.

"I didn't mean to kiss her that first time. She just fell, and I was trying to mend a cut and we just stared at each other and I don't know what came over me, but all I thought of was Lupo. That time anyways."

"Iggy, I-"

"I'm not finished," he interrupted me calmly, staring over at our pathetic attempt at a Christmas tree. "and then after that, all I thought of was how much I missed Lupo's touch. I missed it so much and I figured Nudge could be that smile, that hug, that hand squeeze, just until Lupo got better, but then that wasn't enough for her. It wasn't me who wanted to do more than kiss her. I tried to stop it, but then I started feeling pity… I started feeling bad because she was telling me all about her failed relationship with Ari. And then out of pity I agreed. Not love, not even lust, just pity." Iggy emphasized his last sentence. He wanted me to understand that any feelings Nudge had for him were not returned. However, he had led her on, and that wasn't going to be an easy fix. When Nudge got into something, it was all or nothing. There was no one foot in and one foot out.

"What you're trying to tell me is your whole relationship is based off of pity and your selfish needs?" I summed up, and wiping some fresh tears away at that slap in the face, Iggy nodded slowly. Honestly, I had no idea what to say to that. I didn't know how to mend this wound. I didn't know what to do. I, Maximum Ride, had no clue. How had I let this relationship slip past me? How had I not known what was happening inside my own home? How had I let it get this far?

We sat in silence for a long time. The seconds turning into minutes. The minutes dragging on until finally Iggy said something. Three words that got lost in the warm breeze coming in from the heater. "What?" I asked, leaning forward as Iggy spoke the words once more, hardly any louder than before.

"I hate myself,"

"Oh no," I growled. "You are not allowed to do this to me, Iggy! You don't get to rant about how you hate yourself when you have it the best out of all of us!" I snapped. "You have something to go home to! You have a restaurant, a house, parents! Don't you dare start that whiny crap with me."

"I'm going to kill myself," Iggy continued, not listening to me. It was like I wasn't even here anymore. "I'm going to go find a gun and shoot myself and then I won't have to worry about losing my dignity because I'll be dead."

"You've lost it. You've freaking lost it," I exclaimed, shaking my head in disbelief as Iggy stood up, turning towards the kitchen. Before he could take even one step forward however, I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him violently. "Iggy! Snap out of it!" I yelled in his face, causing him to wince.

"No Max, I'm not snapping out of it. Let me die, God dammit, it's what I want!" Iggy shoved me out of the way and I tumbled to the ground as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh hell no. I'm not allowing you to go in there with all the knives and lighters. You're going straight to your room and-"

"It's Lupo's room. If I go in there she'll kill me. In fact you are probably the only person in this house who won't kill me-"

"Igford Griffiths I swear to freaking God if you even attempt suicide I am locking you in a room tied up to a chair with the whole first season of Teletubbies on repeat!" I threatened, pushing myself to my feet and jogging over to him, grabbing his arm.

"Well you see Max, I'm not going to attempt suicide, I'm going to succeed in suicide so-"

"Would you fucking shut the hell up and listen to me for a second?" I yelled, causing Iggy to pause in his tracks. Maybe it was because nobody had ever heard that kind of language come out of my mouth before. Or maybe it was the ferocity in my tone. Either way he stopped, and he was listening to me. Finally.

"Iggy," I began, clearing my throat and creating a much more inviting atmosphere. I didn't want to yell and shout at him when he was in such a vulnerable state unless I had to. "Iggy, I love you. You're my brother without the same blood type. You are the best Chef I've ever met, and you have the kindest heart, and gentlest touch. What you did was wrong, and you know? We're all mad at you for it. But let me tell you something, none of us, and I mean none of us, can live without you. You are one of the valuable people I need in my life, Lupo needs in her life, even Ari needs in his life. If you kill yourself you're never going to get the chance to get married to Lupo, or to bug Ari, or to bake me those chocolate chip cookies, or to have water gun wars with Fang. That's not the important stuff though. The important stuff is you're not just killing yourself, you're killing a piece of all of us. You're hurting all of us. Iggy, please, don't even think thoughts like that. Everything will blow over eventually, everything will go back to normal soon. But it can't without you,"

Iggy stared at me for a long time, soaking in each and every word I spoke, memorizing them forwards and backwards, evaluating the cracks in my voice, and the pleading look in my eyes before finally letting out a reluctant sigh and wrapping his long arms around my waist, pulling me into a gentle, warm hug. "You're my sunshine, Maxie, you know that?" Iggy whispered in my ear, and I grinned a little, squeezing his neck weakly as I curled up to him.

"And you're mine, Iggy." We just stood there, two broken pieces of glass shoved together, trying to fit right even though we were too shattered to ever be pieced back together. Our friendship had been through so much. Fights, death, pain, sorrow, betrayal. Yet somehow we always managed to come out on top. We were the Golden Pair, the Broken Couple, the Lopsided Friends. There was never a beginning, nor an end to us. We just were there.

And just being there was enough.

Alright, I hope you all liked this chapter a lot XD

Okay so I really want to shoot for 10 reviews on this chapter! So please give me 10 reviews for the emotional mess everyone is going through XD

Soar on

VR