Fire and Ice

A/N: Hey everyone. I just want to let you know that this chapter jumps back and forth between Max and Fang. I've labeled the changes to make them clearer to you, the readers.

Max

Scratched and bruised, after hours of fighting I'd finally managed to break away from the group. The contractions were gruesome. I stumbled through the forest, pausing to catch my breath as each contraction coursed through my body. I'd never felt pain like this before. It hurt worse than the wrist I knew was broken and the deep gouge on my back that had been caused by an Eraser.

I could still hear the battle raging from where I was. Desperately, I tried to find a flat space of land among the crowded trees. I wouldn't be able to walk much farther. Pain cascaded down my spine like huge waterfalls. The contractions were too close together.

I thought of the Flock, fighting in the clearing. Nudge had narrowly escaped getting her jugular vein torn out. Gazzy had been bleeding from behind his ear the last time I'd seen him. Little Angel was dive bombing the Erasers and trying to nurse a broken arm at the same time. Iggy had detonated some king of explosive, killing three Erasers near him. Fang…I hadn't seen Fang since he pulled Ari away from me.

Fear raced through my blood. We'd never had to fight off Erasers this long. And there were at least twenty more still in the clearing. I'd never doubted the Flock before, but my mind began showing me pieces of old nightmares that I'd thought were buried. Nightmares of death and destruction. Of losing the things that I held most dear.

I held in a sob, trying hard not to concentrate on what was happening in the clearing. I heard footsteps coming from behind me and I turned around, expecting to be bombarded by Erasers.

Fang

Where is Max! I whirled around, trying to catch a glimpse of her blonde hair. It was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Ari was in front of me again, jeering. I quickly jumped into the sky, snapping out my wings.

Apparently, I wasn't quick enough. Pain shot through my left wing as an Eraser's claws ripped through the muscle and tissue. I gritted my teeth and tried to fly higher. I shook as I flew, trying to loosen the Eraser's grip. When it did, I heard the Eraser scream as it raced towards the ground.

I tried to keep myself up with one good wing, but it soon became nearly impossible and I headed back towards the ground.

"Where's Max?" I questioned Ari, as I landed in front of him.

"Dead, I suppose," he said, laughing. "And those no good bird kids too."

Anger began to cloud my thoughts and my vision. Max couldn't be dead. We couldn't have spent our last night together, kissed for the last time before going to bed.

I lunged at Ari, throwing punches manically. One struck his snout and a small pop was heard. Blood began to gush out and Ari grabbed it in pain. His eyes began to tear up and I swung around to face an Eraser positioned on my right.

It was a moment of weakness, of thoughtlessness. As soon as I'd turned Ari was on my back and I was falling. My face pressed into the grass. He pulled at feathers and stuck his claws into my shoulders.

"Pay back's a bitch," he snarled into my ear before getting up.

The moment his weight left my back I was scrambling up from the ground. You're weaker when you're down. I noticed Gazzy and Iggy easily defeat the deformed wolf-like creatures they were combating. Angel was a few steps behind Ari, struggling to fight off two Erasers.

We'd injured a good number of them. And a few more were dead. But they just seemed to keep coming. Maybe this was the last wave. I hoped it was. I could tell everyone was exhausted and we were all bleeding somewhere. This battle definitely wasn't going our way.

Max

It had been another hour since I'd escaped the clearing. Nudge had somehow followed me, escaping the bloody battle. She now sat at my feet, hands on my knees.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked. Concern glimmered in her dark eyes. A few twigs were stuck in her hair.

"I believe in you, Nudge," I said, then bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming as another contraction hit. There was an iron taste in my mouth from the blood I'd drawn.

"I don't know if I can do this," she whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek.

I tried not to laugh. She couldn't do it! I didn't think I could do it. After carrying the twins for seven months I wasn't ready to become a mother. I never really had been. But you can't stop time and they were ready to come. And now.

"Max, you've got to push," Nudge said. If her face could have been pale white, it would have been. She looked like she was going to be sick.

Another contraction ripped through my body and I curled myself up, pushing with all of my strength. Sweat beaded on my forehead. Now I realized why women had babies in hospitals and why mothers always told their friends to go with the epidural. This was pure torture.

"Here he comes," Nudge exclaimed. "Push, Max!"

Fang

Ari stood in front of me, breathing heavily. We were both bloody and battered. My left wing lay against my back. It was useless. Ari could barely see through the blood running down his forehead.

Angel was a few feet away, trying to use her mind control on two Erasers. They had blank looks in their eyes and immediately began to turn on one another. Gazzy and Iggy were quickly pulling together a homemade explosive. We needed something that could knock out more than one attacker at a time.

Nudge and Angel were still nowhere to be found and I began to fear the worst. Maybe we had lost members of the Flock. Maybe Max really was dead.

Ari lunged towards me. We slammed into a tree and I heard it crack with the force. We tumbled to the ground, wrestling for control. There was a rock nearby and I reached for it. Any weapon was a good weapon at this point.

Ari managed to roll me onto my back and he punched his hairy fist against my face. I felt my lip bust and begin to bleed.

Suddenly a loud wail reached our ears. It sounded like a young baby. And I felt a rush of adrenaline move through my veins. Max wasn't dead. And I had to get to her.

Grasping the rock in my hand I hit Ari hard. The rock struck his temple and he cried out in pain, rolling away from me and grasping his head. I was off the ground before you could count to three and running towards the forest.

Gazzy threw one last bomb and stepped in next to me. Angel joined us, guiding Iggy through the brush and ducking under low tree limbs. The Erasers didn't try to follow us. I guess Ari had had about enough.

Later that night, the Flock sat around a camp fire. A tiny cry cut the stillness and Fang gently lifted his son from a blanket. Angel looked down into the face of her little niece. Max sat against a tree looking up at the sky.

"So what are you going to name them?" Angel asked curiously. The tiny baby in her arms yawned, blue eyes wide. She had a small tuft of black hair on the top of her head.

Fang walked around the fire to sit next to Max. They both looked down at their son who had a head full of blonde hair. "Fire and ice." Fang said.

"What?" Nudge questioned. She was slightly worried that those were the actual names Max and Fang had decided on. In her opinion, they just wouldn't do.

"Blaise and Crystala," Max said. "They mean fire and ice. That way the twins balance each other out."

She smiled down at her little boy as she took him from Fang's arms. He and his sister sure had chosen an inconvenient time to arrive, but she loved them any way. It had been worth it, even through all of the pain. They'd managed to find perfection. And now there were memories to be made and stories to be told. Strong Blaise and tiny Crystala. They were perfect. And of course they were. They had to be because they were hers. After all, the love of a mother may be the easiest lesson to learn.

The End

A/N: I want to thank everyone who continued to read and support this story. It's been a long process. I also want to thank my fantastic beta and best friend, marauder05. You've been a great help with this and many other stories. I really hope you all enjoyed the ending. It brought me great pleasure to read all of the wonderful reviews and kind critiques that came with each chapter. And now, I'm off to write a HP fic called Silver Windows. If you like HP feel free to move with me to the new adventure. :)