Blink by Kimsa Ki-Lurria

Disclaimer: Here's a revelation that will leave you reeling in shock for the rest of your lives: I don't own Maximum Ride!! :O Shocker!

Brief A/N: This is not slash. I hope it doesn't come across that way; we rarely get to see Fang and Iggy interact with each other, and I wanted to include that.

This takes place during MR4, when the flock was staying in Antarctica.

~Blink~

Blink.

Nothing. Just blackness, everywhere and anywhere he tried to look.

Stupid. What did you expect?

He should have been used to it a long, long time ago. Still, he wondered, how did one get used to missing a part of themselves?

Blink.

It was stupid of him to think that just because he'd been able to see for a short time outside that he would magically regain his sight, even when he wasn't staring at the snow. What was it, anyways, that let him see anything against its background?

Why did he have to be practically blinded all over again to be able to see?

Blink.

Iggy let out an exasperated sigh and sat up in his bed, irritably pushing the suffocating blankets away from his gangly legs. This wasn't getting him anywhere, and it certainly wasn't helping him sleep. Tilting his head just a fraction, he silenced his breathing for a moment and listened. If he concentrated just so, he could hear the flock's steady breathing through the quiet whisper of wind outside.

They would probably wake up if he so much as put a foot on the floor. They were all like that, always on the alert and ready to fight at the twitch of a muscle, even if they were safe. Because they were never safe, he reminded himself. Even here, out in the middle of a frozen nowhere, their enemies were probably watching them.

Iggy gave a mental shudder and hurriedly brushed the thought away. That was exactly the type of thinking he didn't need.

He wriggled his toes in his thick socks as an idea struck him. He turned it around in his head for a bit before deciding it couldn't hurt, and pushed himself off the bed as quietly as he could. His boots were easy to locate once he bumped into them, and he remembered he'd tossed his thickest jacket somewhere on the floor…oh, that's where it was.

Iggy was surprised that he didn't wake anyone up while he was getting dressed. They'd all been cramped into one room with too many beds, and it was close quarters. There was less room for him to make noise in and every zipper he pulled up sounded startlingly loud to him.

But then, everything sounded loud to him. He'd had to rely on sounds to make up for his lack of sight.

When he thought about it, his friends' unresponsiveness made sense. Angel was little and always needed plenty of sleep; Gazzy could have slept through a windstorm powerful enough to make the building shake; and Max had made a point of going to bed early because of some hidden emotional drama that he knew was eating at her insides. When Max was upset about something that she didn't want to talk about, she would normally burrow up inside herself and snap at anyone who tried to help her. It was a habit that was both annoying and dangerous, as it still happened even when she was sleeping, but he was glad for it now.

Fang, though, was bothering him. The older boy should have been up the minute he started shifting around. Fang was creepy like that.

Iggy shrugged his worry away and accepted it as Fang simply getting some much needed sleep. God knew that the guy needed to lighten up a bit, and if taking a long nap was what would help, well then Iggy was all too grateful for the other boy's deep sleep.

Fang must have heard him after all, because Iggy had barely started fumbling for the door handle when he felt a claw-like grip close over his wrist.

He winced and scrunched up his face in what he hoped was a convincing grimace.

"Ow, Fang – you're cutting off my circulation."

Fang's voice was a dark, accusatory murmur coming from somewhere next to him. Judging by its position, the other boy was still lying in bed and had reached over to stop him without getting up.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Iggy scowled in irritation at getting caught and tried to jerk his wrist out of Fang's relentless grip. "Going out," he retorted.

"It's late," Fang pointed out quietly. "You won't be able to see much."

Fang was much too perceptive for his own good. Iggy felt a tremor go down his back and forced his expression to smooth out.

"I know. I just want to look. Come on, Fang, I'll only be a couple of minutes. Let go."

Fang remained silently for a couple of moments, and Iggy waited somewhat impatiently for him to speak. When he did, his words caught Iggy by surprise.

"Fine. But I'll come with you."

Iggy started to protest, but Fang cut him off. "It's dark out there, Iggy. And we might be out in Antarctica, but you can bet there are still people trying to catch us, even all the way out here. I won't bother you. I'll just stand and let you stare around for a while. Alright?"

The grim sincerity in Fang's words persuaded Iggy to nod his head, and he felt the clamp around his wrist loosen and disappear. Fang's argument made sense, no matter how much it frustrated and embarrassed him. He was the blind one, after all. He needed special looking after.

Fang had finished sliding into a coat and his shoes before Iggy could get impatient, and he silently led the way out of the room and through the rest of the guest hut. Iggy trailed him with one finger hooked on the hem of his thick jacket.

He'd known that it was going to be cold outside, but he'd forgotten just how freezing it actually was. His chest shuddered from the chill as they slipped outside, a strong wind whistling through his hair and nearly convincing him to retreat back into the decent warmth of the building. Iggy grit his teeth against the nasty temperature and waited until he heard Fang shut the door behind them.

Just a few minutes, he thought firmly to himself, trying to will his shivering muscles to comply. That's all I need. I just want to look.

Sightless blue eyes flicked upwards, staring hard into the dark expanse before him, and he saw.

Not much, but it was still something, and something was better than nothing. The sun had gone down a while ago, and the previously blinding sight before him was now a mere fuzzy mass of white and black. Mostly black. He could barely see more than a soft white outline against a much larger background of ebony swirled with whirling snow.

Iggy ground his teeth in self-disappointment. He should have come up earlier, while the hidden sun was still crouching behind the perpetual clouds in the sky. Then maybe he could have seen more.

But no, he told himself, he'd come now because he didn't want to be disturbed. If it had been day time while everyone was still awake, Gazzy or Nudge would have been bouncing around him, waving their stubby arms and legs and asking him what he thought they looked like.

Kids, he would have answered, and smirked dryly at their possible reaction. Well, at least Fang didn't jump up and down shouting at him.

Iggy actually chuckled at the ridiculous image and moved his gaze to Fang's dark silhouette. Fang had positioned himself just in front of Iggy, so that he could see him as clearly as his muffled eyesight would allow.

The other boy was just a dark shadow against deeper ones, but Iggy could still pick out details here and there. This was a version of the Fang he'd seen before, only different. Darker, more…inhuman, almost.

Iggy blinked and looked away, trying to find something else to latch his newly found eyesight onto. He couldn't exactly see Fang's face, but he knew the other boy was staring at him.

He shivered, feeling the cold begin to seep through his thick clothes and into his bones. His core temperature had long ago plummeted until he felt his middle somewhat resembled a popsicle that'd been in the freezer for one month too many. Sharp little sparks of icy pain jittered up and down his arms and legs, and he did a short dance to restore the fading feeling in them.

Alright, Iggy, he thought shortly, get over yourself, take a look around, and get back inside before you freeze!

"Getting too cold for you?"

Fang's solemn voice broke his self-reprimand, and he aimed a sheepish smile at the shadowy figure. "I can't really feel my hands anymore," he admitted.

His gloved hands, shaking with cold, rose slowly before his face. Even in the near-nonexistent light, he could see them. Quickly, his numb fingers fumbling, he unzipped the flap that kept them closed and slipped one off his hand.

Okay, I'm pathetic. It's a hand, Iggy. Your hand. You know what one looks like, so why…?

So why was he getting this odd, happy feeling surging up through his body?

Because no matter how many times he looked, he told himself, he might never get over the simple joy of being able to see something as familiar as his own hand.

He could see. He was looking now, and even though his vision was blurred with shadows, he could still see.

No matter how disappointed he had felt — still felt — that he could only see when everything was against a white backdrop, he would never get over the initial shock and glee that still pulsed with renewed energy in his veins.

He could see.

Fang's shadow shifted minimally in his vision, and Iggy remembered with a start that he wasn't alone. He felt his numb cheeks flush with sudden heat and clumsily shoved his hand back into its glove.

"Don't look at me like that," he muttered. He couldn't quite see Fang's expression, but he could tell that the other boy was frowning his way. "I know it's stupid, but…you don't know what it's like, Fang. None of you know."

Fang's shadowy figure remained silent. Iggy looked down at his hands again, silently telling himself off for snapping at someone who hadn't even done anything to him.

Fang moved again, his head turning slightly so he was staring Iggy straight in the eyes. "It's not stupid, Iggy. You're excited about being able to see. I get it. I'm not about to make fun of you for that."

The older boy's bluntness startled Iggy into silence again. He stared back at Fang, forcing himself to resist the urge to shudder at the black holes that Fang's eyes were. He could barely see, but it was more than what he was used to; definitely more.

And even if he had been blind, just as he'd been for such a long time, he didn't need to see to be able to tell that Fang was being honest.

Blink.

Iggy broke their gaze and rubbed vigorously at his upper arms, squinting his eyes against the cold. Fang took notice of his friend's discomfort and walked forward, tugging on Iggy's sleeve as he went. "Come on. You can look some more in the morning."

Iggy grinned through chattering teeth and made a big show of shivering. He felt emotionally drained, as if the brief depression he'd experienced had sucked all the vitality out of him. It was not a feeling he was used to, and not something he liked at all.

Toying with an idea he thought would relieve him of his sudden gloom, he dug his feet into the snow and rooted himself firmly to the ground.

"I think I'm frozen here," he said as Fang nearly yanked at his arm in impatience. "We waited too long. You let me freeze! No, no – go on without me. Tell everyone I'm sorry!"

Fang had moved beyond his range of sight, but Iggy didn't need to see him to know he was rolling his eyes. Fang's complaint was more than enough.

"I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy. Now come on! If we stand around here any longer, we really will freeze."

Iggy's grin only grew larger, and he felt his spirits lift. "Hey," he said, a hint of mock seriousness entering his tone, "if the others wake up and ask where we were, you went looking for a penguin to cuddle and dragged me along because it was dark."

Fang's vice-like grip around his wrist relayed just how funny he thought Iggy was, but Iggy couldn't help but laugh.

Blink.

Maybe he was going to be blind permanently, but as he wrapped his fingers firmly around Fang's sleeve, he knew he would make it.

His friends were there to guide him when he couldn't see.

A/N: This was obviously meant to be more of a character study rather than a oneshot where they go and just run around and stuff...hah. I apologize if Iggy was slightly OOC, I just thought I'd explore a side of him that we rarely get to see.

Plus, he needs more stories about him.

He doesn't get much attention otherwise, does he?

If you reviewed, it would really make my day. :)

-Kimsa