Differently by Nightwingstar

So this is my third year in this fandom! Whoo! I'm kind of sad some of my friends are gone but it seems like we're all at a loss for time nowadays. There are stories that have been deleted that I miss terribly. What was your first MR fanfic? I can't rightly remember mine, I have it written somewhere in my stories, if you can find it, I'll be grateful. I remember one of my friends told me her first story was Belt Loops by H. Moth. It's very good, you guys should read it. Mind you it's Figgy, so if you don't like that, then don't read it.

Did you hear? Myrah's throwing another amazing MR Fanfiction Award ceremony!
I'd vote but I feel kinda out of the loop, I'll probably nominate all the old good ones that people forget, look at me, I'm a dork. So go nominate right now! I'm so excited!

So please enjoy this celebration of my third year in the MR fanfiction :)

Differently

Somehow I thought it'd end up differently. If we were going down fighting, I'd be the one to die, not the flock… not Fang. It seemed like an old B rated horror movie, the funny one goes first and only one lives to tell the tale. The sad part is this is no movie, this is my life.

The Gasman went first, joking around to comfort Nudge and Angel as we trekked through the woods late at night. There were gunmen waiting above in helicopters and a new breed of Erasers on foot… We had no choice. There was no way to win. A snap of a twig and the Gasman joked it was a rabbit but we all know rabbits aren't seven feet tall with wolf-like snouts. He yelled for us to run as soon as the Eraser grabbed his arm and leg. A sickening crunch could be heard and for once, we knew we did not stand a chance.

So we ran, Fang and I clutched Iggy's hands as we ran. We fell down a steep hill, Nudge and Angel jumping down to follow us. But as Nudge jumped a large clawed hand grabbed her and Fang slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my scream as Nudge's desperate cries pierced the night. I reached to grab Angel, already praying there were no Erasers at the bottom, but her body was already cold and lifeless as I grabbed her hand. As we slid I noticed the blood seeping from the back of her beautiful blonde head, leaving a trail of blood behind. Erasers howled from the tops of the hill and I clutched Angel close to me.

Fang was yelling at me, telling me to let go of Angel. I had to let go of her so we could survive, she was literately dead weight now. He pried Angel from my arm just as we thudded down to the bottom of the hill. We took off running in the direction our instincts pointed, not knowing if there would be Erasers waiting ahead. We didn't care anymore. Everyone was dead.

Tears were streaming down my face at the thought. Everyone was dead. The Gasman would never rip one bad enough to make us air out the house for days. He wouldn't build another bomb with Iggy. Nudge was gone, there would never be another moment of Nudge channel. She could no longer make us laugh with her antics. Angel could no longer read our minds, tell us what the enemy's thinking. My baby wasn't going to grow up…

I wiped my tears on my grimy sleeve as we jumped over a log, Iggy panting heavily between Fang and I. There was no safe place to hide. We hadn't had a safe place in years.

A glint of reflected light caught our eyes for a brief moment and we jumped out of the way, afraid it was a gun but soon realized it came in the direction of a quick flowing river. We saw the moonlight glistening on blackened water and dove in, Iggy using one hand to clutch Fang's pant leg. We swam with the current, holding our breaths while attempting to measure the distance we were covering. Every few minutes we came up to gasp for breath in the winter air before going under once more, hopefully throwing off the scent of our hunters.

An hour and a half of swimming in freezing water later we emerged from the river where it became shallow and calmed down to the best of our teenage abilities. We crouched low to the water, our hearts thumping hard to warm up our frozen bodies. We tried to calm our breaths but we breathed in greedily.

And then I screamed.

Omega pulled Iggy up by his chin length hair. Iggy struggled in pain as Omega snapped his neck and tossed him away like a dead fish. Fang pushed me back into the water but two Erasers picked us up, I struggled against their grip but their hands pressed harder and fell limp 'cause any more pressure would break my bones. Fang figured the same only moments later, his eyes finding mine. We would find an escape. We always do.

Yeah… and we'd find that island he's been talking about for years too. We'd stow away and let the world screw itself over if we weren't screwed with it.

"I always had the flair for the dramatics." A female voice said. My teeth clenched, as I screamed a set of obscenities to the woman. My wet hair slapped me in the face as I struggled once more, wanting to murder the woman coming out of the shadows. She nudged Iggy's body with her toe before nodding to one of the many Erasers following her. The Eraser picked Iggy up and threw Iggy over his shoulder like a rag doll and I screamed louder, my throat rubbing raw. "Don't lose your voice just yet, Max." She smiled coldly. "You're going to need it for the grand finale."

"What grand finale?" I roared, my hands outstretched to strangle her. The Eraser struggled to keep me pinned. She just continued to smile.

I found myself still clenched in the Eraser's arms but this time we were in an empty ghost town. The street lamps were mostly burnt out, save a few in our area. She was smiling so eerily. "This." She injected a red liquid into Fang's veins and he winced before crying out in pain. Omega was beside her, ready to do her bidding.

I started screaming, pleading for Omega to stop as he tortured Fang in the grips of the Eraser. She walked over to me just as Omega delivered a final blow. "It's about time to learn you're all alone." She stepped away. With a snap of her fingers the Erasers released Fang and I, one tossing Fang into a crumpled mess underneath the street lamp. In mere moments I could hear nothing but Fang's heavy breathing, we were alone. Fang and I were abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

I tried to right him, wrap up wounds but whatever the woman had injected into Fang was making him worse by the second. The wounds wouldn't stop bleeding, Fang seemed to be falling apart by the seams. My panicked hands flew over him, I couldn't let him die!

I didn't ask for this! I was silently screaming to the sky, my hands fumbling as I tried to make Fang as comfortable as possible. I never asked for this! I didn't ask to be some freak! I didn't ask to be the one who had to save the world! I didn't ask to lose my family! I didn't ask to be alone!

Tears were streaming down my face as Fang's eyes began to fade. No! I can't lose Fang! What am I supposed to do? My hands shook as they cupped Fang's face. I kissed him blindly and repeatedly, hoping desperately it would end up being the kiss of life. But I already knew they wouldn't be.

I never thought it would happen this way, Fang dying before me. I always thought it would turn out differently… I always thought there would have been time. Time for me to tell him I loved him, time for me to learn how to say goodbye. Time to actually save the world. I was expecting to die during or after I saved the world because that was the purpose for my creation, right? But the world is in the eye of the beholder, sort of. My whole world has been destroyed, Fang is the last of it and I'm losing him too. There's no way to save my world, so why should I save the rest of it?

My hands shook not only with fear but with cold now, hypothermia at its best. Fang began coughing blood, his face so eerily pale. I smiled at him in an attempt to convince him everything was fine but he knew it wasn't. His eyes were losing its luster, my heart was thudding faster as his was slowing. If my heart could save his life I'd give it to him in a second!

By now I was begging Fang to live but we both knew we could do nothing. I can't believe it… I had always thought it would turn out so different…

It was terrifying, watching Fang's eyes fade into a glaze, as if I was losing him to a place I could never reach. Which is true; I can never reach death, not now… It's not like he was going to the School again and I could fight for him back. He was going somewhere I could never reach him…

With a sharp painful breath, Fang's body arched and fell with a haunting thud, and his eyes closed forever. I screamed into his lifeless body, I had lost everything. I begged him to be playing a cruel joke, I told him I loved him, I told him I was scared, lonely, and terrified. I told him I didn't want to be seventeen without him but all this fell on deaf ears.

What could I do? I stood up, looking for a place to die or bury Fang, I wasn't sure. My eyes fell on a broken mirror feet away and I looked at it, oddly wondering if the shards could finish me off but saw myself in it instead. My eyes were crazed, my hair still sopping wet from the river, and my whole body was defeated. I had experienced so much in this seventeen-year-old body and I was just so tired physically and mentally. I just wanted it to end…

A sharp pain in my head made me stop reaching out for the mirror, an unrecognizable voice tsking in my thoughts. Have you forgotten, Max? The Voice asked. It's all just a game.

I sat up crying, loud sobs escaping my throat. Lights turned on in my room and a twelve year old Fang came running up to my bed. I threw my arms around him, thankful Fang was alive. Iggy came stumbling in next and I yelled out his name in such joy I terrified both boys. I hugged both of them tightly, tears still streaming down my face, but I didn't care. My brothers are alive. A four-year-old Angel ran in, jumping in-between Fang and Iggy, hugging my waist before Nudge came cantering in with so many questions. When she saw the hug fest she joined in, attempting to wrap small nine-year-old arms around Iggy and I. Gasman was the last one to tumble in, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Angel jumped away from me for only a moment to fit the Gasman in my lap with her.

They didn't question why I was sobbing like I had lost all hope or why I was hugging them as if they were the biggest treasures in the world. Well, except maybe Nudge. But they hugged me back regardless, attempting to comfort me.

I curled into myself when all but Fang had left to go back to bed. He sat on the bed beside me, knowing I wouldn't be going back to sleep tonight. So we sat up not saying anything. I thought about my dream, how vividly real it was, and how we were all so much older. Fang, Iggy, and I were seventeen in that dream. That's five years from now… What if the dream comes true? I shivered at the thought and Fang glanced at me with worry. I shook my head and just curled into myself tighter. That's five years from now, two years ago we were still locked in crates! A lot can happen in five years, I theorized, but not that, I convinced myself.

We were in a safe warm loving home, Jeb teaching us how to survive, with food in our bellies, and no experimenting. It would last like this forever. There would be no 'saving the world', no island to escape to, no Voice that hurt my head, no Omega fellow, and most of all, no B-rated horror movie.

My family isn't going to be murdered and leave me all alone to save the world when I turn seventeen. We'll be in this awesome E-shaped house forever.

But even if the dream did come true… "I still think it should have turned out differently." I mumbled, catching Fang's attention. I tried to shake it off with a smile but found my body shivering like crazy as if I had been swimming in that cold winter river. Fang wrapped my blanket around me and sat closer waiting for me to talk. But I wasn't going to talk, I was just going to forget about this nightmare and live a free life with Jeb and the flock.

Little did I know, we would lose Jeb tomorrow and set all the wheels in motion.

.

Weird, right? If you think about it, The Max, Fang, and Iggy are 18. They were 14 in 2005 ergo they're really 18 now. We don't know what the future holds and I suppose that's why this story bothers me so much. How can anyone be sure their lives don't turn into a B-rated horror movie?

Don't forget to nominate at the Maximum Ride Fanfiction Awards! I have a feeling it's going to be good this year!

Reviews are loved.

Adieu
Nightwing