4Well, hello peeps. Long time no see, eh?
Gazzy: Took you long enough to write anything…
Me: Oh, shut up. You're just sulky since you're not a main character in this one.
Gazzy: Why am I even here?
Me: Ever heard of a disclaimer?
Gazzy: So I got kidnapped to do ANOTHER disclaimer? What is it with you people?
Me: I like writing. That basically certifies me as crazy.
ANYWAY, I'm putting songfics here for Maximum Ride series. I became addicted to it, but stopped reading after MAX. I just feel as if it goes downhill after that, so I'm sticking with my happy ending part.
So I could really use some suggestions for either songs or characters… please? Gazzy, your turn.
Gazzy: *Sigh* She doesn't own anything from Maximum Ride. Can I go home now?
Me: Nah, I think I'll keep you around for a bit. You're great for annoying my brothers.
Enjoy!
Song: Blackbird
Artist: The Beatles
POV: Fang
I leaned against the tree, wondering why my hands were burning.
No, not literally. I'm not Iggy, the pyromaniac.
My hands were curled into fists, hoping that that would stifle the odd burning sensation. This had started happening after Eraser fights, and it was driving me insane. Every time I looked at one of my Flockmates, an extra strong stab would attack my hands and head. At this point I had resorted to staring at a tree that had ended up becoming a bunch of very large splinters during the fight.
"This may hurt a bit, Ange…" Iggy's soft voice reached my sensitive ears. I struggled not to give in and turn to see how she was hurt, but if there was one thing harder than seeing my family hurt, was not being able to go check on them.
I heard Angel stifle a yelp, and my willpower broke. My head turned and I saw Iggy wrapping a hastily made splint (apparently those oversized splinters turned out to be good for something) around part of Angel's wings. Worry flooded me. Nothing, and I mean nothing, hurts more than breaking a wing. Trust me on this.
I wanted to help, what did I know of healing? Anything? Nope, nadda, zilch.
But something urged me forward, and my hands were full of the constant burn. They had burned before, but I don't think that they had ever burned this much. I needed to let the fire out of my hands. Now was the moment. I didn't even realize I was moving when I went over to Angel's side and studied her wing.
She turned towards me, her face full of confusion. "Fang..?" She murmured, probably confused by my disconnected thoughts. What can I say, I have a unique brain.
"Shh." I murmured and, not even knowing what I was doing, I put one of my burning hands onto her injured wing.
My mind was swamped by a rush of heat as a crimson burst of light came from where my hand rested on Angel's wing. She gave a yell of fear and pain and I felt pain lance through my own wing. Both of us stumbled backwards.
The Flock erupted into noise and exclamations. Gazzy was between Angel and me in a heartbeat, looking angry and pained. "What did you do!" He yelled, glaring at me. I blinked. I had no idea what I had done, only that the burning in my hands had gone down and now was only simmering. I opened my mouth, probably to say something really smart, like "Umm…." But I was interrupted. (Such a pity)
"Gazzy, wait." Angel's voice delayed her brother from attacking me. She has an 8 year old trained to be her guard dog when Total's off duty. What a lucky girl.
Gazzy turned to her and I looked over his head towards Angel. Iggy had unwrapped her wing and was running his fingers down where the break in the bone had been. "It was just here. You can't have healed that quickly. What happened?" I could hear the frustration in his voice, and I belatedly realized that he couldn't see the crimson light that had erupted from my hands. Max was studying me like she had examined to Angel so many times when the girl had developed her many powers.
"It's healed?" Nudge asked in a small voice. She looked kinda freaked and was cradling one wrist against her chest. As soon as I noticed this, my hands began to itch and burn again. I stared down at them, frustrated. What was going on?
Iggy nodded and said, "What happened?"
Nudge was rapidly becoming her normal self (goodbye sweet silence) and recovering from the strange light. "It was so weird, Fang just put his hand on Angel's wing and whoosh! This really bright light erupted from it, and it was reddish looking. Not like the really bright, sunset colors, but more of a bloodish color. Ohh, that sounds really morbid, Fang released blood light, I mean, who wouldn't look at you oddly if you just blurted that out in the middle of a store? OMG, can we go shopping again soon? That would be the coolest thing ever, and we could get some new clothes-"
Max put a hand over Nudge's mouth, and said, "Is your wrist hurt, sweetie?"
Nudge nodded and managed to pull her mouth away from Max's hand to say, "It hurt a lot, but it's feeling better now and-" Max replaced her hand and Nudge glared at her.
My hands burned more than ever, and my eyes were fixed on Nudge's wrist. I couldn't look away, and I moved slowly towards her. Her eyes widened as I came nearer, but she didn't back away. I couldn't see Max's expression, but seeing as she didn't stop me, I could only assume (though it's dangerous to do with the very unpredictable Maximum Ride) that she was fine with this.
I reached forward with my hand and very gently touched Nudge's wrist with my long fingers.
The crimson light flared again, but not as bright as it had with Angel's wing. I heard a hiss of pain come from Nudge's mouth that was still covered by Max's hand, and I took a half step back. My head felt awash with heat and my wrist and wing ached now. My hands had almost stopped burning finally.
The Flock was gaping at me, and it took all I had not to collapse against a tree. I was Fang. I didn't give into weakness and, say, collapse against trees. I felt exhausted, but it wasn't from the fight.
Iggy was confused. He said irritably, "Can someone tell me what's going on?" The Flock was silent for a beat longer until Angel whispered.
"Fang can heal." Her voice was slightly awed.
Iggy blinked and said, "That's useful."
If I was a normal bird-kid (that is an extreme oxymoron), I would have a crazy grin on my face or be jumping up and down. As it was, I was over the moon. I, the only bird-kid without a power, could heal. It may not be as cool as mindreading or superspeed, but it was immensely useful and it was my power. I had a small smile on my face. An actual SMILE. I wish I had a camera to capture the expression on Max's face from seeing my smile (that, or from seeing the blood on my mouth. What can I say, I live up to my name).
Angel had a huge smile and she ran up before jumping into my arms. I caught her on reflex, my mind feeling a million miles away. I was thinking of the prospects of my new power.
I stopped short. I could heal, right? Was there a limit on the age of the wounds that I could heal?
Angel caught where my mind was going. She frowned, "Fang, maybe not now. You just found it, and we're all tired."
But I couldn't lose this idea. When Iggy had lost his eyesight to the whitecoats, I had sworn to someday get his vision back. I wanted to see my brother's expression when he saw the outside world for the first time. I can do this, Ange.
Please be careful, Fang. I don't want you getting hurt if you push it too far.
I'll be careful, promise. I put Angel down carefully and she ran over to Max, taking her hand. Nudge was chattering to Gazzy about how cool my power was (couldn't fight that), and how glad she was that everyone had a power now. She continued to talk about muffins or something. I'm not even going to try to decipher what goes through that girl's mind.
I looked at Iggy and focused on his eyes. Just as before, when I saw an injury, my hands began to burn. It wasn't enough though. Come on... I thought. We need more than that. I took deep meditative breaths, gathering my strength. The fire in my hands felt almost unbearable now, but I was worried it still wasn't enough.
I walked slowly to Iggy, keeping my mind calm so I could keep my hands burning (I never thought I'd be such a masochist). I looked at my brother and said, "Iggy, do you trust me?"
Iggy was looking at me, confused. "Yeah, why?"
"Close your eyes." I ordered. Please just do it, Iggy. I silently pleaded with him. I'd never plead outside my mind, because, except for occasional six year old intruders, my mind's a safe haven.
Iggy's eyes slid shut and I took a deep breath. Now or never.
I put my hands onto Iggy's eyes and closed my own. Heal. I whispered in my mind.
Even with my eyes closed, I could see the flash of crimson light. It lasted longer than it had for Angel's wing, and it was much brighter. I heard Iggy yell with agony and my knees almost buckled with the pain. My hands were on fire and my head was about to explode with the immense and total pain of it all. The seconds dragged on, each feeling like a year of flames and pain.
Then, as the final flash erupted, I fell backwards, my eyes flashing open as I landed on my closed wings. Ow.
I heard a soft thump across from me and I pulled myself back to my feet and stumbled over towards Iggy. The Flock was gathered around him, and he was laying motionless.
I felt numb fear in my gut. He couldn't be dead. I couldn't kill with healing…. Could I?
Then his blue eyes blinked open, and my knees almost buckled again, this time with relief.
He wasn't dead.
And his eyes were the crystallized, sharp blue I remember from among my earliest School memories, not the cloudy blue I was used to.
It worked.
Iggy blinked and looked up at us. He was whispering now, his voice low with awe and disbelief. "I can see." He rubbed his eyes, as if to make sure he wasn't imagining it, before a huge smile broke out on his face.
Iggy could see. Iggy could see.
If I wasn't so tired, I'd be jumping up and down, whooping with joy, to hell with emo bird-boy stereotypes. Nudge and Angel were doing that for me, and tackling Iggy with hugs. Gazzy was yelling with joy, hugging his surrogate brother and cheering.
Max had a huge smile on her face, and was looking at the Flock with an odd contentedness. We barely were ever so happy, and this was definitely one of our high points in the recent months of being hunted, being hunted, and a bit more of being hunted.
Iggy's blue eyes were full of tears of joy, though he'd never admit that. He looked up at me and said, very seriously, "Thank you Fang."
"My pleasure." I murmured, too low for them to hear me. I must have misjudged though, since Max gave me a smile. I smiled back, and gave them a smile. I could feel my exhaustion, but I wanted to see Iggy's face. "Let's fly." I suggested.
The Flock immediately agreed. They were just as excited as I was to see Iggy's expression when he saw the world from the sky for the first time. Yeah, it was still night, but that's the cool thing about being an avian hybrid. We have some wicked awesome vision.
So my Flock rose into the air, and my powerful black wings stroked the air as I rose. I could see Iggy's face illuminated by the moon. It had an expression of such rapture, that I was struck again how hard it had been for Iggy to lose his sight. For him never to be able to see the world as we saw it.
I arched up, above the Flock, flying towards the moon, as if I could touch it. I watched over my family from above, and I heard the rustle of feathers as Max joined me above. The only light in the sky was from the moon. There were no city lights, no street lamps, nothing to indicate any other life. It was as if we were the only living creatures in the night. We watched Iggy and the kids play tag in the light of the moon, and I couldn't keep my Emotionless Rock face up any longer. A smile broke out on my features.
It felt like I had just relearned how to fly.
My Flock, for the first time, was truly free of the School's last curse.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
R&R&Suggest stuff?