Bound

Chapter 5

It was by chance that Fang saw Max again. It had been months since that fight, that stupid fight, and for all he knew, she was still living it up with Hector. It was almost laughable now that Fang ever thought he could give Max what she needed. He couldn't. Not here. Not now. Had he ever though? It was clearly debatable. When you laid out what he had done for her versus what she had done for him, there's a clear winner and it was not him.

He hadn't heard her tag name in awhile and had assumed her dead. Maybe in the back of his mind he had held out hope, but somewhere deep down, he had just written her off and assumed the worse.

And it wasn't even like he got a good look. It was more of a glimpse. She saw him too though, when he passed her. She called for him. It had been in a hallway. She had a guard dragging her down one hall and he had his own, leading him down another. Still, when he heard her call for him, it was all he could do not to just kill himself right then for ever thinking she didn't care. 'cause it was clear now, right? That she still cared? He felt that she did. Because she did. Right?

His guard stopped any attempt Fang could make at getting to Max. He was so weak these days that he wasn't a match for anyone. His guard quickly subdued him and Fang gave in, knowing he'd never get to her anyways.

Had he known it would be the last time he would ever see her, perhaps he would have tried harder. Who would ever know though? Not Fang. It was just another thought that bothered him at the end.

It made him sick when he found out. It made him violently sick. He wanted to claw his own eyes out. He wanted to rip his flesh off with his bare hands and then have someone force feed it to him as his last meal.

Dead. Dead. Max was dead. It was so weird, thinking something as oppose to knowing it as fact. And man, did he know it for a fact now. It was right in front of him, after all. Not it, really, but her body.

It was weird, really, seeing her corpse. The way it shone slightly in the florescent light. How her hair was a mess, but still perfect in that weird way they never seemed to master on the television or in the cinema. And then there were her wings.

Oh, her wings. They were a mess. With feathers torn off in places, the skin showing through, and in others complete holes. Bullet wounds. That was old though. She hadn't died like that. She hadn't died a valiant, hero's death. Oh no, she hadn't died like that. That would have just been too…ironic. Fitting. This though, this was just…appropriate in another way.

"You killed her."

Fang still just stared at Max's body, hardly hearing the voice of the man that had him brought in there. Dead. Max was dead. No matter how much he thought it or heard it, it would never truly make sense. Dead. Gone. Expired.

"I-I-"

"You killed her," Hector repeated, the venom evident in his voice.

Fang had been in his holding room, where he was never really alone anymore. He kept with tons of different experiments and they changed rapidly. He never spent the time getting to know them. They were all slated to die, the ones that stayed with him. It was part of his torture, he supposed, having to see everyone around him die. Maybe a taunt towards him? As a way of saying, "Hey, at least they get to get out. You? You'll never leave. Ever."

Anyways, Fang was there, rotting away in his room, alone for once. Suddenly though, a guard hard burst in, quickly unchaining the emaciated man and leading him from the room. Fang went, what else would he have done? It felt like ages, that walk to the room he was now in. It was an operating room. On the table? Max's…corpse.

"How?" Even speaking hurt Fang these days, but he had too. This had to be a trick. A clone, maybe? Perhaps Hector was just testing him, trying to torment him. After all, Max couldn't be dead. How could Max be dead? If she was dead, what did that mean for him? Max's shadow?

"You did it," Hector repeated, not answering Fang's question.

The starved man just stood there as the other advanced on him, no line of defense available to him. His guard was standing there, at the entrance of the room, but he couldn't give two fucks about what happened to Fang. Who would, these days? Now that Max was… And anyways, Fang couldn't fight Hector off. Number one, he was chained, but more importantly, he wasn't strong anymore. At all. He was worthless, useless, and unworthy of breath.

Hector struck him in the mouth, Fang easily falling down from that. A slight breeze could probably have taken him down these days, honestly. Fang was nothing anymore. Just bones held together by some threadbare skin. He didn't even like to look at his own reflection anymore. Not because he hated what he saw, but rather because he couldn't recognize it. Not anymore. Probably never again.

"Hey, now, Hector. I don't think-"

"Shut up," the man silenced the guard. Then he spit on Fang, breathing heavily. "I should rip your fucking intestines out! You killed her! Look what you did to her. Look! You worthless, useless piece of shit. She loved the fuck out of you. She loved you. And look what you did, you stupid animal. She loved you. All she ever loved was…and now she's…I'll never get her back now!"

With his last yell, Hector lifted his foot, it landing hard on Fang's crotch. It hurt like Hell, but then again, what part of life didn't these days?

It circulated around the School rather quickly. The Maximum Ride, the best thing that ever came from the School, was dead. Gone. Expired. Now what? Now what? They had yet to create something as impressive as her. They had yet to make someone as significant as the Maximum Ride. And now she was gone. At the hand of one of their own scientists.

It wasn't Fang that killed Max. No, of course not. That circulated quickly too, her real cause of death. Who had really killed her. It wasn't a shock to Fang, of course, but it didn't make him feel any better.

Hector. He killed her. Everyone else was so shocked, as this stumped them or something. Not Fang. Did they know, these idiots, that though Hector might have really killed Max, physically killed Max now, he had killed her mentally years ago. Maximum Ride died, many, many years ago now. That ghost they were living with? Good riddance. It was just causing more problems than anything else.

Yes. Good riddance. Why feel sad? Max had died many deaths, many times, but this one? The final one? That wasn't Max. That couldn't be Max. That was…that was something, but that wasn't Maximum Ride. That wasn't the woman that Fang loved. Hell, Fang wasn't even the guy that loved the Maximum Ride! They were both died. Long gone now. Why feel bad for them? Huh? They were in a better place. Maximum Ride, Fang, and Ghost Max were in much better places than this doppelganger that Fang was now.

Fang thought that he should cry. Ghost Max or the Maximum Ride, the woman's death was still something to be greatly mourned by him. Correct? He thought so. Still, every time he tried, he found that he had no tears. That hurt more than anything, the way he felt about her passing. It was just a means to an end. He wanted to get emotional, but found himself unable. Max was dead, sure, but hadn't she always been?

"Max," Fang moaned, shifting slightly on the cold, stone floor they had him on. His back hurt. His back always hurt. Maybe Max could-

No. Max couldn't.

"Max."

The second time he said it, it felt funny on his tongue. That word, that name, that thing had always conjured an imagine in his mind. When they were children, it was just her face, her childlike face, always bossy, never obedient, and always, always in charge. When he hit puberty though, the mere mention of her made him think…dirty thoughts. Thoughts that he had no idea he would seen put into action many years later, not by him and not out of love, but by force. All those things he wanted to do to her were done to her. Just not by him. Maybe a few were, at one time, before they got captured, but not a lot.

"Max."

It didn't matter. She was dead now anyways. He saw her corpse. She was cold now. Maybe even buried. Did they bury dead experiments? He didn't think so. They probably burned them. You know, after they looted their body for what they needed. Unless you're, like Ari and then you're freaking immortal for no real reason other than someone decided to make you that way.

"Max."

Maximum Ride wasn't like that. An expiration date hadn't killed her, a crack to the head hadn't killed her, nothing like that.

Hector killed her. He choked her to death. He crushed his trachea in his hands.

Why? That had gotten twisted and lost somewhere along the way through the School gossip, but everyone was under the consensus that it was because of something she said. She had to have rejected him or something, most people figured. Fang knew different though. He knew exactly what happened.

Max wanted him. She loved him. She loved him with all her heart. There was no room in her heart for Hector, what with Fang filling it up so fully. It drove the other man mad. It was obvious. Of course, Hector was already pretty mad to think that Max, someone he experimented on and caused unimaginable pain to, could ever love him, but that was a pretty moot point now.

Fang killed her. Hector was right. In an indirect way, Fang killed her. He killed Max. If it wasn't for him, she might have been able to fool Hector, pretend she loved him. Would she ever love him? Of course not, but she could have pretended longer, maybe, gotten out, maybe. Instead, she loved him and it got her killed. It was by far the worst mistake Fang had ever made, letting her love him. Why did he do that?

"Max."

But Max was gone now. She wasn't coming back. Fang had come to terms with that some time ago, when she had just left him. Still, somewhere in the back of his little head, he thought that maybe, maybe she would come back. That maybe he would get to be with her again, be it a minute to the rest of eternity he didn't know. Now though, he would never get that chance. She was gone and she wasn't coming back. He had blown any chance he would ever have. It was horrible.

"Nudge."

He blinked suddenly, shocked to find that name came to his lips now so much easier than Max's. But yes, of course. Max was dead and gone. Like she wanted. It was over for them, it was over for her. But not for Nudge. Nudge was still somewhere, still locked away in a School somewhere.

"Nudge."

Yes. Fang sat up then, blinking as his back pain faded in his mind. That was it then. Max was gone. The mourning period, or whatever this had been, was done. Completed. Mission: Save Max and Fang had failed. Horribly. Still, Mission: Rescue Nudge was still possible. That was what he had to do now.

"Nudge."

That's all he had to do. With that, Fang found the only contentment he ever could in such a dark, dank place and laid back down, closing his eyes.

Save Nudge. Yes.

Operation: Rescue Nudge was not a synch like Fang thought it would be.

Of course not. He had only been kidding himself, after all. He would never see Nudge again. She was probably dead already too. He had failed that mission just as badly as he had failed the last one. He was no good at missions, even when they were kids. He always lost his army men causing his army to not look nearly as nice as Max's or Iggy's. He was a horrible soldier and an even worse commander. Why did he ever think he could be anything other than shitty?

The longer the plan sat in his mind though, the more it made sense to Fang. Find Nudge. That's all he really had to do. He could get out of here. Couldn't he? He had to be able to. How could he not? He had gotten Max out, hadn't he?

No. He hadn't.

Blinking, Fang shifted on the ground, sighing slightly. They had long stopped chaining him. He wasn't much of a threat now and Belinda wasn't there to get horny off torturing him. Most of the time around here, Fang just felt dejected. Alone. He wasn't even good enough to torment anymore. He really was shit now.

His room was empty for once. No one else in there with him. Maybe they were going to kill him today. Yes, they were finally going to finish him off for good. He was going to die. That must be what they were going to do.

And what a fitting way for Fang to go. Like a chump. A fool. A weakling. Just like Max. Exactly like Max. He was her shadow after all. How could he go out any other way than that? Huh? What you do, your shadow does. Always. It was Fang's time to die, following his fearless leading into the next world, be it a dark, dark underworld or a blissful afterlife, he did not know. He did know though that he was just pushing his luck, the longer he waited. It was best to just get it over with. Yes.

When the door opened, Fang thought about pushing himself up and just letting the guards have him, making it easier on them. He didn't have the strength. Just like Max didn't have the strength to stop all the things that happened to them all these years. Max's fault, right? She was leader. Not him. Never him.

So why did he always feel so guilty?

"Get in there."

The guard wasn't taking Fang away though. No, as Fang observed, he was making a drop off. Oh. Well then.

Sitting up took much of Fang's strength, but he managed. What he found was now in the room with him was a woman. A young woman. A young black woman. A young black woman that looked exactly like Nudge!

Or not. To anyone sane, it was clearly not Nudge. She looked nothing like the woman in question. In fact, she was actually much lighter than her and had blue eyes as oppose to Nudge's brown. Here though, to the deranged, starved, crazed partner-less shadow that Fang was now, this was Nudge. How could this be anyone, but Nudge? Right when he was giving up on the plan, God was giving him Nudge. Nudge! This had to be the most exciting thing that had happened to Fang in years.

"Nudge," was the most he could muster, out of breath. Hungry. The woman frowned, looking at him. She wasn't an experiment. Not yet. She had been captured, clearly, as she was still dressed in street clothes and could hardly been considered skinny. No, she was well-fed in comparison to the man in front of her.

"Who?" she whispered this as she backed away from him, into the wall as the guard closed and locked the door behind them. Her cheeks were tear stained and she was clearly upset, disturbed. Seeing this bone thin...skin clad skeleton in front of her was not helping anything.

"Nudge," he sighed, falling back once more. Nudge was here. Nudge was safe.

No. Not safe. Not yet. But she would be. Very soon.

Mission: Rescue Nudge was a go.

"Here you go," the woman whispered, holding the bowl to Fang's lips, watching the water slide down into his mouth. "Is that good?"

Her name was Veronica, as she had told Fang multiple times. She was a college student who had filled out a form to do some kind of under the table testing that she was promised to be paid very highly for. Here she was though, rotting. Just like him.

"Nudge," he whispered, his eyes slipping shut as he laid there on the cold ground being cared for by the woman. It had been a few weeks now and Fang was attempting to gain his strength back, knowing that was the only way to save the two of them.

"It's Veronica," she told him softly, knowing it would do no good.

She had been repulsed by him at first, of course. He was boney everywhere, stank of piss and shit as he had long given up on using anything other than his pants. Still, now that she knew she was stuck in with him for the long haul, her normal, womanly instincts took over and she began to care for him. No, not womanly, really, more motherly. She felt bad for him, really. He seemed to her to be a wasted experiment on the last leg of life. If only she knew. If only she knew…

"Nudge," he sighed slightly as she shared some of her rations with him, feeding him a piece of moldy bread. "Nudge."

"I was gonna have a kid once, you know," Veronica told him randomly, stroking his sweaty head. She did that, told Fang random things about her. She was pretty sure she would soon end up like him, dying and so lost from reality that she had no idea how to get back or even if she wanted back. She found it best to tell him things, to get it all out before. You know, before it was all over.

"Nudge."

"I'm here," she sighed, still stroking his head. "I was sixteen. I-I…I couldn't do it. I aborted it."

"Nudge."

"Maybe that's why I'm here? As punishment?" She shut her eyes them, not shocked to find she had no tears left. "I hear people screaming, Fang. And when they took me that time? They…they hurt me."

"Mmm." Fang started to drift off. "Max."

Veronica frowned. "Max?"

"Max."

She had only ever heard him mention that other name, Nudge. Or at least she assumed it was a name, the way he said it, all longingly and with such care. It had to be someone important to him.

"Who's Max?"

"Max," he answered. Max is Max. Max is always Max. Or is she?

"Is he-"

"Max," he sighed. "She."

"Max is a girl?"

"Mmm."

"Was she your daughter?"

"Max."

"Your sister?"

"Max."

"Your…girlfriend?"

His eyes opened then, staring hard at Veronica. Suddenly, the skeleton found the ability to sit up. He stared right at her, locking his dark eyes with her light ones. "Nudge."

"Who-"

"We…We've gotta go." His sudden found strength gave him the ability to stand, something Veronica had yet to see from the man. "Us. Nudge. Me. Now."

With Max, Fang had waited. He had wanted the perfect opportunity, the best chance at escape. Look where it got them. She was dead. He would not lose Nudge too.

"What are you-"

Fang's luck continued as the door opened suddenly, a scientist walking in. They had long stopped using guards when entering Fang's room. It was a waste. Just like him. Until now. Fang had a job. He had to get Nudge out. Mission: Rescue Nudge wasn't only a go, but it was also current. Happening right-

"Now!" Fang got a sudden burst of energy and ran right at the nerdy scientist. It was an old guy, one that was too shocked to do anything as the skeleton ran full force into him. Mind you, Fang's force wasn't much, it was still something. It still brought the man down.

"You're fucking man," Veronica yelled as him as Fang ran over the man and out the door. He looked back at her.

"Go. Now. Come."

She looked around, frowning. What the heck was this? Was he not just laying there, in his own feces, moaning the name of some long passed lover? And now what? He wanted to attempt a prison break?

…Then again, she didn't have a lot to lose at this point.

Taking off after the man, she wasn't shocked that guards were on them in no time. Still, for some reason, luck seemed to be on the man's side at every step. When one guard shot at them, he accidentally hit another guard that was coming from the other way, giving them a clear pass. And even though Fang was nothing more than a literal well-worn sack of bones now, he was out running her, out pacing her step for step. Whatever had awoken in him had given him more power than she could ever hope for.

Fang was more alive in that moment than he ever had been. Nothing could hurt him. How could anything anyways? He was already dead, really. His time was slated, his hours had ticked by. He only had minutes left and in those minutes, in those precious last moments, he had to save Nudge. He had to.

And why, anyways, was it always those precious last seconds? Last moments? Last minutes? What about all the other lost moments, seconds, minutes, hours in life? Why did people always think that the last matter so much more than the middle or was so much better than the beginning? For Fang, the beginning, the middle, and the end of his life sucked. All of it. And he knew that.

Which is why he was so willing to give it up, to save someone. Not Max, not anymore. Max was gone and she wasn't coming back. He had accepted that some time ago now. At the moment though, he had a chance to save Nudge. A chance to right his final, deadly wrong. A life for a life. And boy was it worth it.

Guards tried to stop them. Of course they did. Nothing could stop them though. The dynamic duo, Nudge and Fang, back together again for one last hurrah, Fang's finest hour, if only in his own mind.

"Quick," he yelled now, hoarse as he got to a window. He put all his strength into shattering it, which he thankfully did. For such a new building, you'd think they wouldn't use regular, shattering glass, but they did. "Nudge, you have to fly."

"What?"

He broke away all of the shattered edges, looking down the hallway, not shocked to find guards coming for them. It was now or never. He had gotten this far. Just a little further and he could die in peace. Not happy, really, but peacefully. What more could a person ask for?

"Fly, Nudge," he yelled at her.

"I-I can't. What the hell are you-"

Growling, Fang opened his own wings, glad for once that he had no shirt to protect him fro the elements as it let his wings free without having to worry about slits. Then, none to gently, he heaved Nudge over his shoulder and jumped out the window.

Flying. Fang hadn't flown in years. No really, years. Not walking for years and suddenly doing it? Impossible. Not riding a bike and then trying after awhile? Possible. Or so they say. Fang considered his ability to fly somewhere between that. Not to mention he had a squirming, wiggly girl in his arms.

"Would you keep still?" he yelled at Nudge as he flew over the gate, bullets flying past them. "I am trying to-"

"Put me down!"

"Not yet, Nudge!"

"I'm not Nudge! My name is Veronica!"

Still, he wasn't lucid enough for that to mean anything to him as he continued to fly away. Mission: Save Max and Fang? Failure. Mission: Rescue Nudge? Success. Complete and utter success.

When Fang finally landed, it was about as graceful as his flying. In other words, not at all. They hit the ground more than landed on it, but all the same, they were both okay. Or, well, Veronica was.

Shoving away from the man, she crawled back away from him slightly, staring at him. "What-"

"Run," he got out, his energy gone now. He had done what he was meant to do. He had righted his wrong. His slate was clean. He could go now. He could go on now. "Go, Nudge."

"I'm not-"

"Go." He had been laying flat on his stomach, but just then he lifted up his head, staring at her. Their eyes locked for a second time that day, for the last time, really, as Fang repeated, "Go."

"What about you? You just saved me. I can't-"

"It's over," he whispered, shutting his eyes as he laid his head back down. "Go. They'll get you. Go. Run. Run away. Don't look back. Don't come back. Save yourself, Nudge."

She nodded then, numbly, as she stood. She was somewhat cut up from the glass that she had been scrapped again when Fang forced her through the window, but otherwise, she was unharmed. Okay.

Not saying another word to him, the woman turned and ran. True to her silent word, she never looked back. It was just as well. Who ever looks back at a ghost?

Groaning now, Fang forced himself on his side to look around. He had managed to get them to a cliff. A cliff. Perfect. Operation: Rescue Nudge had been completed. Finished. Everything was done now. Over.

Including Fang.

It was painful for him now, his adrenaline drained as he pulled himself along the grass over to the edge of the cliff. Pulling his wings in, he looked over the side of it for a few minutes, staring down at the jagged rocks below.

Maximum Ride. Max. Max.

She was gone. She was finished. He hadn't been able to save her. He had never been able to save her. He had only ruined her. All he ever done was ruin her.

"Max," he gasped out his last word, using the last of his strength to pull himself over the edge, easily falling off and down to his death.

And never before had an ending tasted so sweet.

And it's over. After moths of reconstruction, reorganizing, deleting, re-adding, I am done. This might have been the hardest thing I've ever written, if only because I just didn't want to. When you know something ends like this, when something's really going to be over once it's, well, over, you really don't have the energy to write it.

Whatever though. It's done. And I like it. I finally got my sad ending, eh?

Also, what the heck is up with the pairing function? Trying a little too hard to compete with the other sites are we, Fanfic? Sigh. More shit that will just mess it up more, I suppose.