I don't own MR

Max

"F- Fang," I mumbled, curling into him as he held me in his arms. I could feel myself fading in and out of consciousness, and struggled to hold on. I couldn't shut down on my friends when they needed me. It wasn't fair to them.

"Sh, save your breath," he whispered, and I felt something warm and soft press against my forehead. A kiss. I squinted my eyes up at him, noticing the fearful look in his eyes and struggled to turn my head just enough to see what was going on. Ari and Nudge sat back to back, tied up and surrounded by at least twenty men- probably another version of Erasers. We didn't stand a chance. At least, not four against twenty. Maybe three at this point.

"Okay, what's twenty divided by three?" Fang asked warily, and I could feel my mind plugging numbers together against my will, wanting to answer, to tell him I could fight too, but I couldn't. Black dots clouded my vision and soon his voice faded to a distant memory as I fell limp in his arms; an unconscious heap of dead weight.

I tucked my chin down, biting into the arm that was locked around my neck until I tasted blood. It swarmed into my mouth just as he yanked his arm away, giving me less than five seconds to drop to the ground and kick my leg out and trip him up. The man fell fast and hard, causing a dull thud to reverberate throughout the forest. I stood up, turning towards my other attackers only to feel a fist connect with my jaw, splitting my lower lip. I yelped and fell to the ground, just in time for a strong kick to the stomach that left me breathless as I endured yet another kick, this time to my head.

It seemed to rain down on me, each drop of pain, as bones cracked and bruises formed. Every kick and punch was a new light dimming, telling me to give up, but I had to warn the others. They were in just as much danger as me. I couldn't give up.

I blinked my eyes open and was met with the bright fluorescent lights of the kitchen to greet me. "What's going on?" I mumbled, just in time to watch a half-morphed eraser fly over the kitchen island. Somewhere from the living room somebody screamed, blood splattered, shouts of pain could be heard, but I couldn't focus on it. I couldn't focus on anything but the man who laid on the ground, not far from my limp figure that was leaned up against the wall by the door. He was dazed and confused, his breaths coming out labored as if he had just been utterly destroyed by whoever had fought with him. Which, after the way he flew through the kitchen, I expected he had. But he wasn't dead yet.

Groaning in pain, I grabbed onto the counter nearest to me and relied on my arm strength heavily to pull me to my feet before leaning over onto the counter, pressing all my weight against it as I limped closer to the man. "Well, well, well, look who's here to kill me," maybe had I had any energy left to speak I would have replied with some smart remark that would have left him winded, but instead all I could do was force myself to move forward.

Somewhere just ahead of me I reached out for a drawer, barely registering my fingers clenching around a knife before slamming it shut again. I had to kill him before he killed me. I knew he would once he caught his breath, and I'd be a goner in the condition I was in. "It's a shame you're such a monster," he chuckled as I stumbled to my knees and drove the knife down into him, or tried to anyways. Somehow he managed to dodge my attack before slinging a fist out that connected with my eye, slamming me to the ground and causing me to lose my grip on the knife in my hand. It skittered to a halt somewhere by my feet, but I was too busy holding my hand to my bruised eye to notice it.

"Oh, what's this? A sharp knife? Don't mind if I do," the man chuckled as he picked it up, admiring it as it glinted in the sunlight. Come on, you're Maximum Ride, you can't possibly let one guy who's injured beat you.I thought, groaning weakly as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. The man stood to his full height, which equalled a terrifying six four or somewhere around there that left me trembling. Maybe from adrenaline or from the fact that I knew what was coming. If I didn't get a grip soon I'd die.

"Hm, if I was stupid I might give you my life story, but that would give you too much time to recover, so I'll just stab you now and watch the life bleed out of your eyes. Jeb will be so happy when I let him know I did this," the man hovered over me like death hangs over a hospital before dropping down to plunge the knife straight through my chest.

Only, before he could, a feral animal instinct emerged inside of me. Something so wild and crazy it demanded I fight, that I stay alive, and for once I listened. My hand sliced through the air as I grabbed the man's wrist, holding it firmly in place to keep the knife from sinking any lower. Three more inches and it'd pierce skin.

"Can't believe…" I sucked in a deep breath, trying to finish my sentence, to prove to myself I was still strong enough to fight. "You'd kick a girl while she was down,"

"You're not a girl. You're a beast." He snarled and shoved it down that three inches it needed to go. I shrieked in pain as the blade tore through cloth and flesh, digging past my skin and closer to my heart. I desperately threw my other hand out to punch him, but he easily deflected it, and I was left to try and hold the knife at bay, to keep it from diving any deeper until help came. "A pathetic beast," he added.

"I… will not… lose," I snarled, though my vision began to blur and each breath came out shallower than the last. My heart beat a mile a second in a feeble attempt to keep me going while I tried to keep the poor thing from being stabbed.

"Oh, but you already have," the man sneered, pushing the knife even deeper. I gasped in pain, a silent scream on my lips that choked me. I couldn't scream, I was too broken to do anything but hold the knife, to push up, to try and get it out of me.

"You bastard, you get the hell off of her!" A voice shouted, and the anger alone sent me shaking with fear. I was too out of it to know who had said it, Ari, or Fang, or Iggy, but whoever did, they were not someone I would test. If just their voice scared me, I'd hate to think what they could do to the man attempting to kill me.

"After she's dead," he growled out, a triumphant grin on his face as he twisted the blade suddenly, a sharp one-eighty turn that made my hands drop to the ground as I sobbed. The pain was excruciating, it never seemed to end. It was there, and it stayed there. By this point I was ready for him to kill me, to end my suffering. I was pathetic just like he said. All my self-doubt began to rise into my mind, swarming around tauntingly with truthful words that hurt more than the lies.

An animalistic growl echoed through the kitchen right before a streak of darkness pounced on the man, sending them both flying into the wall that was a good twenty feet away. "I said get off of her!" My saviour shouted in the man's face before he turned into the animal I was afraid he would turn into. I watched in both horror and fascination as Fang literally ripped the man apart.

His hands wrapped around the man's neck as he slammed him into the ground, snarling and growling as he dug his nails into his neck and scraped them down. The man was screaming in pain already and Fang hadn't even started yet. His fist flew like lightning, each jab connecting to a new area. His face, his chest, his neck. There was so much power behind each blow I wasn't sure if the man was even still alive anymore, but Fang wasn't done. Not even close. My boyfriend still had a lot more anger to get out, and he was using the man laying on the ground, limp, as the perfect punching bag.

"Fang, he's dead," I whispered when he was covered in more blood than the dead guy. He had literally torn the man apart, ripped bones out of place, tore flesh up, cut him open. It was terrifying, and I didn't like it. I didn't like Fang like this. He kept going though, completely unaware of my voice.

"Fang!" I coughed, slightly louder than before. He didn't even glance my way as he snapped the man's neck with ease, effectively ripping flesh away as well.

"Fang stop!" I exclaimed, and finally he turned over to me. He blinked his eyes back to normal, and looked to the man before him who had been dead two minutes into his little fist fight before turning back to me.

"You're hurt," he spoke quietly, getting up and walking towards me.

"No!" I snapped, pushing myself back, trying to stay away from him. "Fang, don't come any closer to me." I growled, using my elbows to push myself up into a sitting position.

"What? Why?" He asked, an undertone of anger threatening to spill over his words as I leaned against a cabinet.

"Because you're an unstable monster right now, okay? I really don't want you close to me because I don't have the strength to fight you back." It was harsh, even as I said it I knew I had gone overboard, but I was too scared to bluntly tell Fang I was horrified with him. So instead I brushed around it in hopes he would understand and leave me alone, but of course he didn't.

"I thought you said I wasn't a monster," Fang whispered, and I blinked. Did I really just say that? Had I really just called Fang a monster? I didn't even remember the word falling out of my mouth.

"You're not. I… I didn't say that," I mumbled, staring at his shoes. They were red with blood.

"Yes you did," Fang scowled, clenching his hands into fists. I tried not to wince when he stepped towards me, instead I kept my eyes to the ground. He wouldn't hurt me. Not badly anyways. At least, I hoped he wouldn't.

"I didn't mean that Fang, I, I can't think straight right now."

"You mean you can't hide the truth right now," his glare was enough to dig my grave and push me into it. "That's fine. I get it. I'm a vicious beast and you're just a poor victim. Well why don't I show you how monstrous I can be?"

"Fang… what are you- Fang!" I yelled as he grabbed my arm, roughly yanking me to my feet and shoving me against the wall. I yelped and crumpled to the ground, the pain of everything that had happened to me creeping through me slowly, making sure to make the feeling last everywhere it touched.

"Stand up." He hissed, but I couldn't. My leg was hurt too bad for me to stand on it. Although I tried. I was too afraid to not try. So I leaned heavily against the wall, struggling to push myself up with my hands and my good leg, whimpering when a fist landed right next to my face. "I said stand up." Fang's menacing whisper reached my ears, and I felt tears in my eyes as I pushed myself up off of the wall and stumbled back to the ground.

"I can't, Fang. I can't. Please stop." I begged, wrapping my arms around myself for comfort. False comfort that did no good.

"Stop? Stop what? I'm only being who you think I am," Fang snickered darkly and I looked up at him, hoping somewhere inside of the thing that had taken my precious boyfriend over he was fighting.

"Fang, you're scaring me." I told him, not bothering to wipe away the tears that fell down my face. He needed to understand what he was doing if he was ever going to get control of it. I watched him intently, waiting for him to slap me, or kick me, or anything of the sort.

His eyes flickered as he watched me cry because of him, and he sighed, letting out a deep breath of air before sitting down across from me, holding his arms out for me to crawl into. I hesitated, not sure what to do. I wanted to hug him, but I didn't think it was safe yet. "Come on," he said, gesturing for me to come towards him. Finally, after much debate I decided to. Even though he was soaked in somebody else's blood and he had almost hit me, he was still Fang, and he still loved me, and I couldn't pretend I didn't love him.

"I'm sorry," he told me after wrapping his strong arms around me, holding me close to him. I felt the cool blood of our enemy smear onto my skin, but I didn't mind because I had Fang back in a stable condition. For now at least.

"I know you are, but that doesn't make it okay, Fang." I told him and he looked down at me, his eyes swarming with hurt as I laid the truth on the line. "This isn't normal. This isn't right, and I don't deserve it. If you don't figure out what's going on with you I'm going to have to…" my voice cracked and I refused to clear my throat and finish the sentence. Fang could read between the lines though. He knew what I was going to say.

"Max, are we even still together? Emotionally?" Fang asked me quietly and I instinctively went to nod my head, but paused.

"You know what? I don't know anymore. I want to be, but… but this is hard." I mumbled, resting my head on his chest.

"You know we're going to have to talk about it, right? Like we can't avoid it anymore. Ever since we found out about… about losing our child we haven't really talked." Fang pointed out and I nodded.

"Yeah, we need to have a long discussion, but not right now. Maybe when we get to another safe place we'll sit down and talk," I promised, looking into his dark eyes that sparkled like obsidian at the moment, from the fluorescent lights or the tears he was undeniably hiding I wasn't sure.

Well, while Max and Fang talked about talking about their relationship, Nudge, Ari, Iggy, and Lupo are all fighting. They're very considerate people, huh?

Anyways, 10 reviews please and I shall update quicker

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