Running From Me by xXfangsluvr6Xx

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I own only this oneshot, and the poem, Running From Me. So there.

A/N: I wrote the poem Running From Me, so yeah; I decided to write this oneshot to go along with the poem. It's kind of depressing, but I hope you all like it anyway. Please review on the poem and the oneshot, although this may turn into a two or threeshot. Not sure yet.

Running From Me

A calm still night,

Running in the cold fall air,

Overhead the moon shines bright,

It helps her run away from there.

Reality pushed aside,

All worries forgotten for now,

No need for any guide,

Through life to show you how.

Breeze blows across her face,

Revealing cuts and bruises.

She tried to forget that place,

Where hope is what she loses.

I hurt her in unspeakable ways,

Some even she fails to see.

During those countless endless days,

That forced her away from me.

Each passing day, she moves away,

Not knowing I really cared,

Behind my mask; not telling her,

The way I felt; the risk I never dared.

She runs away into the night,

My heart it aches to bleed.

I'm the one who started the fight,

But she's the one I need.

Ari's POV

Max ran away.

And who could blame her after what I did?

I abused Max.

The rest of the flock - dead, I assumed. I let the rest of the Erasers take care of them after I got Max to myself.

They all gave up on Max anyway; but not me; I loved her.

But she did not love me in return.

I cut off her wings, and kept her in the place I planned long ago for us; the place where I would keep her after I captured her.

Even if the flock were alive, they never came looking for Max. And if they even got close, they would die. It was a fruitless attempt.

I thought, that if it were just Max and me, she'd grow to love me right? But she didn't. She just grew to hate me even more, as I soon realized.

In my anger, I hit her. I hurt her physically, verbally, mentally, and emotionally.

All I wanted was her love, and if she wouldn't give me that, then there were consequences.

It had been a year and a half, after I captured her. It was a month before Max's 16th birthday, when she disappeared.

I don't know how she did it, and how I let her go.

We were fighting, and she just burst out of the house, and ran away into the forest. I ran after her, I flew after her, but it was like she dropped off the face of the earth - she was nowhere to be found.

I spent a day looking, but I gave up. If Max didn't want to be found - you couldn't find her. It was as simple as that.

But she'll come back. Who else does she have to go to?

I screamed out in pain as Ari bit down on my arm - hard, with his Eraser fangs. He hit me then, and I fell to the floor, holding my stomach. I was afraid to retch, in fear of Ari. I was afraid of everything - if I did one thing to upset him, he'd hurt me; again and again.

Then one night I had it.

I didn't care anymore.

I just got up and left - I ran out the door and into the trees, and he never found me. I wandered around, but after a while, I recognized where I was. I was near the northern part of Lake Mead.

Memories flashed before my eyes, and I fell to the ground, crying uncontrollably.

Angel; Gazzy; Nudge; Iggy; Fang. My best friend - the man I loved. And I knew I'd never see them again.

It hurt too much to even think about, because the only thing that kept me going, was the hope that the flock would find me.

After a year and a half - they never did. And I gave up hope that night I ran away. I felt there was no point in living anymore, if I didn't have my flock.

They probably were better off without me. No bossy Max, with her brain explosions and chatty Voice; her chip and the mission to save the world.

I wandered around for what seemed like days, before I collapsed at the bottom of a tall cliff, and passed out, just as I felt someone say my name. I knew that voice - and they picked me up, and flew away with me.

It must be Ari, but I was too beaten up to fight back. Besides, what was the point? Without the flock, I wasn't whole. And never would be.

I never gave up on Max.

Ari stole her in the middle of an Eraser fight.

I wasn't able to react or save her; one second, he was there, and the next he and Max were gone.

The flock and I never found her, after a year of searching.

They gave up. I didn't.

They took the papers with the supposed information about their parents and left, leaving me at the northern part of Lake Mead. I knew, that if Max ever got away, she'd go here. I was sure of it.

I stayed in the old cave up on top of the cliff with the raptors for six months by myself, never giving up hope - that Max was still alive.

Then one day in what I thought was September I was flying and I saw a figure stumbling out of the forest below me.

I could tell it was a she, and that she, seemed hurt. I carefully landed a little ways away, and cautiously walked up behind her. What I saw shocked me more than I could say.

"Max?"

My voice sounded raspy, like I hadn't talked in a very long time - which I hadn't. But it sounded older too. I guess I had grown some.

She collapsed on the ground at the bottom of the cliff, and sank into unconsciousness.

I picked her up, and flew back up to the cave - I set her down carefully. She was hurt pretty bad - but there was a problem - there were no wings.

This had to be Max. It looked exactly like her, just a lot older. I carefully lifted up the back of her shirt and saw two big scars on her shoulders where her wings should've been.

Ari had to have cut them off.

I looked at her arm, where the scar was from that day at the beach.

She almost gave me a heart attack.

All that blood...

Just them, Max began to stir, and she sat up, holding her head, and looked around, and when she saw me, she almost fainted. I held her up, but she tried to thrash away from my hold. She was so weak.

"Max! Please!" I said, trying to hold her still so she didn't hurt herself.

She stopped moving at the sound of her name.

"What did you call me?" she whispered.

"You're Max." I replied. "Right?"

She turned around slowly to look at me, and stared me in the eyes with her hard demanding stare.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize me, Max," I said.

She shook her head.

I sighed. "It's me. Fang?"

She gasped so loud, and clapped a hand over her mouth and backed away from me.

"Fang? Omigod. Fang? Is it really you?" she cried.

I nodded.

She got up and thrust herself into my arms, and began to sob into my chest.

"Fang, Omigod, Fang..." she sobbed.

I stroked her hair and held her tight.

"Don't cry Max. You're safe now. You're with me, and I'm never letting you go."