Authors Note: I don't own Maximum Ride.

A Way Without Words:

The Start of a Comfort Bond between the Speechless and the Talkative

Nudge's POV

I curled up in little ball and wrapped my arms around my knees. Carmel-colored curls got in my eyes and I blew them out the way, irritated.

I was worried. About half an hour ago, a whitecoat had come to get Fang for a test. He had refused, and the crate doors had started opening and closing randomly without anyone touching them. For some reason, inanimate objects at weird around Fang when he's upset. The whitecoat had hit Fang, which caused the stuff to stop acting weird, and then dragged him out, muttering something about 'settling this once and for all.' Two minutes later, another one had come to get Max. I could barely hear Gazzy mutters and Iggy hushed replies, as I was too into my memories.

I was startled from my memories, when the same whitecoat dragged an unconscious Max in. Gazzy and Iggy rushed urgently to her limp side as she was dumped on the hard, smooth floor. I, however, didn't move a muscle, waiting for Fang to come back. He left before Max and it would only make sense that he would come back at the same time or even before her. I began to become worry as a minute became fifteen minutes and there was still no sign of Fang's return; Iggy and Gazzy didn't seem notice, they were focused on waking up Max. We all sat in the harsh silence.

We were all surprised, yet relieved as she groan and began to open her eyes. Gazzy and Iggy shared a quick look and helped her sit up. Even though she looked dazed, pained and tired (not the best time for confrontation), I walked over to where she now sat and my big mouth got the better of me.

"Max, where is Fang? Is he okay? Where did they take you? Are you okay? Oh my god, this is terrible! I just don't know what to think or, well I always know what to say, but that is not the point!" I was about to continue my rambling when a sharp slap covered my mouth. It was Gazzy, who decided to shut me up more roughly then usual. Iggy gave me a stern glare and was about to speak, when Max's fragile voice cut into the conversation.

"Wait, Fang is not back?" I was about to answer her, when Iggy cut in.

"I am sure Fang can take care of himself. Our first priority right now is you." He brushed a stray, blonde curl off us Max's slightly bruised nose, an uncharacteristic look of worry on his face. Gazzy released my mouth and gave a gentle squeeze to our leader's hand. Max looked like she wanted to protest, but It seemed like she didn't have the energy to do so. So I took her place. Or I would have if they had given me the chance to speak my mind.

"But shouldn't we check-" That was as far as I had gotten when Iggy gave me a fierce, piercing glare. "We don't care Nudge! Just shut up!" He shouted in a scathing tone, effectively waking up Angel. The three year old wailed with cries and Gazzy now joined Iggy in the glaring contest. Max clutched her head, as if she was getting a headache. Gazzy rushed to calm his baby sister but not before saying, "How about you leave us alone on this one. You'll just make a bigger mess."

Wow, that was hurtful. No one had ever talked to me like that before. No one has ever told me to shut up before. My lips were suddenly glued together and I was so shocked that I barely notice Fang be guided to the corner on the opposite side of the room. I looked up for reactions, however I seem I was the only one to notice, and I surely wasn't going to be the one to speak up. Iggy was too busy comforting a sleeping Max and Gazzy was still with Angel. So, I began to quietly and wordlessly walk towards Fang to get a better look at him.

And, god did he look awful. While Max only looked tired, bruised and worn out, Fang looked like he was almost ripped to shreds. He had bandages wrapped around his stomach, chest and back that already looked a soaking, bloodstained red. His shirt was nothing more than strands of cotton on loose string. His arms were already scarring and his hands were covered in so much blood that I could barely see the skin. His feet looked crushed and his calms looked like they had bite marks in them. I swear I could see a tooth in his right calve. But the worst was his face. He had long claw marks that outlined his face and a broken nose. However it was his eyes that got me.

They were so full of emotion and pain. So, un – Fang like that I stumbled back once seeing them for the first time. He just sat there, staring of into space, shivering as his lip quivered. I could see tears threatening to fall in his eyes, and he was trying to keep them in as if ashamed to show any type of emotion. It was only as I sat down next to him, that he recognized that I was there.

He looked at me expectantly, like I was going to burst out with questions on how he got like this, where he went, or how hurt he felt. But Iggy's words rammed in my head and I fell silent. I lifted a small hand, and Fang flinched slightly which startled me. What did they do to him, that did not only affect him greatly physically, but also mentally? Taking a deep breath, I put a soft, supporting hand on his wounded shoulder.

I stared at him, and he stared back. I never communicated like this before, but I didn't know how else to get to him I felt that doing his foreign "Fang- language" would make him relax. And sure enough, it did. I didn't know who was more shocked: him or me.

I gave him a small empathetic smile and encouraging nod. Suddenly the tough, eight year old collapsed in my arms, weeping. I didn't act shocked, or any of those expected emotions. I just ran my hands through his hair, like he did to Max or any of us when we got scared. I didn't matter that it was the supposedly, closed up, emotionless Fang that was crying. I let him cry because he deserved to be able to cry.

I didn't know how long we sat like that, but it felt like an eternity. And the only thing that got us out of this trance was when we heard Gazzy call of triumph. "Yes! She is finally asleep!" Of coarse that was followed by Angel's yelping cries at being woken up yet again. "Aww, man." I rolled my eyes at Gazzy and felt Fang rise up from his head from its spot in my lap. He wiped away the rest of his tears. And I clutched his hand for support. He gave me a smile and I asked no questions. Because it doesn't matter what happened, only how we can make it better.

"Thanks, Nudge." His hoarse voice whispered as he kissed my head in a brotherly fashion. But he didn't make any notice of getting up. We sat for a moment when Gazzy entered the room with a sleeping 3-year old Angel, and placed it in Max's lap. I saw a smile grow in her sleep as if she knew Angel was sitting there and Max started to pet her hair as Iggy and Gazzy shared a grin.

'They are the perfect older-younger sibling mix." I thought. But looking at Fang, I realized something. If Max and Angel were the Leader and the Baby and Gazzy and Iggy, were the pyro-best friends then me and Fang were the talkative and the speechless. However in comfort it was Fang who had his way with words, and me who didn't need to have any words to say.

Fin.

Exclusive material:

What happened to Fang and Max- The whitecoat who had come to get Fang had had enough of the strange things that happened around this experiment. He was sure that it was causing it, and decided to teach it a lesson. He took it to the arena, where a bunch of erasers were (this was the first time any of the flock ever came in close, fighting contact with the erasers). Fang was ordered to fight. As an afterthought, another whitecoat was sent to collect Subject 1 (Maximum) so she could observe it. The erasers were brutal on the 8-year-old. Max was struggling enough that they had to sedate her. That was when the whitecoat took her back to the flock's room. After 5 minutes longer, Fang passed out from blood loss. The whitecoats pried the erasers off of him, and spent a little while making sure he was alive and patching up the worst of his injuries. After that they took him back to the room as well…and we all know what happened next.

Authors Note

I wrote this with my best friend, Erin. We have been having this idea in our head for a while and we wanted to put in on paper. This is the first thing we ever wrote TOGETHER and we want the publics honest opinion on the plot and the writing style of this one shot. Please review! It would really help us a lot! Anyway thanks for reading and please reviewJ!