I kind of stole this idea from the 'Twilight' book, just because I thought it was a good scene for Max Ride as well. More action here as well, I think; because Edward didn't really kick the other guys' asses, did he? Well, guess who will in the Max Ride version? …

I was walking through the narrow streets, kicking a can I was following once more. I had left the rest of the flock in the surrounding forest-y bit, and I was just looking around town, thinking of a certain bird-boy. I know what you're thinking: 'Max, why don't you just fly around, why waste that ability?' And it's because you've never tried to think of Fang and fly at the same time; you get distracted very easily, and I was flying dangerously low by the time I finally woke myself up again. *sigh* Fang. I can never seem to get my mind off him nowadays. His eyes were always so hypnotic, so dark yet they shine right through to his soul if he lets them. He always seems to have control over his emotions, never letting anybody see how he feels. He smiles more now, but that's really the only hint of emotion his shows. He never tells us when he's hurt; I knew that much from the incident where he fell out of the sky after assuring us that he was 'fine'. He always seems to think that he needs to be strong for the rest of the flock, and that includes ignoring could-be-fatal wounds that he gets from the Erasers or Flyboys or whatever is chasing us now.

I glanced around absently at the surrounding streets, looking at which route I was taking, and realised that I had no idea where I was. I resisted groaning out loud at my stupidity, and tried to search for the forest. I found it, looming ahead to the west, and thanked my luck – I know, I can't believe I actually have it – when an underpass was just in front of it. There must be a minor country road or something separating the pass from the forest itself. I should then be able to take off from there, and search the forest for our campsite.

I walked towards the underpass, hoping that it was lit in some way; I wasn't good with tight spaces, but dark tight spaces? Terrible.

I saw ahead that it was lit, quite pitifully, with strip lights, all of them dim, and many of them flickering or broken. I rolled my eyes; it was the inner city, what was I expecting, a red carpet? I made my way down the pass, hands in my pockets against the biting cold, and head down, staring at my feet.

I suddenly had a shiver on my back, a creeping chill warning me of something imminent. I glanced up out of pure paranoia and training routine. Oh, God; two guys stood blocking my exit ahead of me, making their way over to me, slowly, leisurely, playfully… I measured my odds against them, and realised they were only human; I could take them down with a few special moves. But then I heard a noise behind me, and whipped my head to the way I'd come. Two more full-grown men were walking towards me, malicious grins visible and somehow eerier in the strip lights. I froze; my only two exits were blocked, and I could no way take down four grown men on my own. Oh, God, help me get out of this one. I tried to keep my expression blank, not letting myself portray how scared I actually was, and I swallowed before any of them could see.

One of the men – blonde, quite tall, with hungry grey eyes and yellow teeth – came in front of the others, obviously being the leader or something. "Hi, there," he said in which I think was meant to be in a seductive way. His eyes raked over me, and I pushed a shudder down before it could expose me.

"Hi," I replied simply, in a tone that said 'Can I help you with something?'

All of the guys laughed, and they all stank of alcohol. I held my breath for a moment, trying to smell as little of them as possible. But the leader stepped closer, putting his hand above my head, which was backed against the cold metal wall. That did it; there was no way I was staying in this situation. I lashed out with my fist, catching him of the side of the jaw, and he stumbled away from me. But his partners tackled me from the sides, and I was pinned against the wall again, the leader's hands pushing my wrists against the wall above my head. I couldn't get out of this; I was well and truly stuck, and lust from the wrong kind of people found its way to me. I didn't even bother hiding my fear now, and the guy smirked to see my wide and pleading eyes, my gasping terrified breaths. He crashed his lips against mine, coaxing them open. I held my mouth firmly closed, but I felt my chest shaking with sobs that were rising up my throat. Hot, furious, pained tears were streaming down my face, but the leader ignored them. I cried out for someone to help me, to get me away from these people, and to get me away from this reality.

I tried to squirm out of the guy's grip, and he pulled away for a second…only to signal to his partners to grab my arms as restraints, then he grabbed my waist, pushing me further against the wall so I couldn't move without twisting my wing. But he didn't know about the wing bit, but God he will soon if this doesn't stop. Please, someone, God, if you're up there, please make this stop. I don't want this. I want him. Then a furious voice echoed down the tunnel, reaching my ears in a venomous whisper.

"Get. The hell. Off her."

A loud crack! was heard before I was suddenly released. I fell to the floor, tears still streaming down my face, and curled up in a ball, protecting myself. I was shaking as well, my arms mimicking the movement of my chest as I pushed myself back against the wall, trying to ignore the cries of pain and anger, the sound of skin forcefully meeting skin. I risked a peek out from my safety cage, and one of the drunks tried to reach me again, but a tall dark shadow, darker than the tunnel, leapt up and crashed down on him, repeatedly punching him with some god-like force. I closed my cage again, still shaking with fear and tears pouring out of me.

Finally, it was silent in the tunnel. But this silence frightened me; like the calm before a storm, and I curled up tighter, if that was even possible. Then, I felt a large, warm hand on my shoulder. I was going to scream, to attract attention, but instead I only managed a terrified whimpering cry.

"Shhh, shhh, Max. Max, it's me. It's okay, it's me," a blissfully familiar voice reassured me quietly, softly, sympathetically. Wait, I knew that voice. Strong, ropy arms came around my shoulders, rubbing my tense muscles, trying to get me to release my protection. They then gripped my shoulders, and I saw a grimy, black leather jacket through my fingers. I peeled my hands away from my face slowly, and the face I saw matched the voice.

"Oh, Fang," was all I managed to get coherently out. I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder, and crushing myself to him. His arms wrapped around my waist, holding me and confirming my previous theory that he was my sanctuary, that no harm would come to me if I was with him. He would always be there to protect me, and would never let anything happen to me. He would always catch me if and when I fell.

My sobs still racked through my chest, and Fang whispered sweet nothings, soothing sentences, and 'it's ok's into my ear, rubbing hypnotic circles into my back, just between my wings. I tightened my arms around his neck, clinging to him, but I saw, over his shoulder, the pervs were still lying on the tunnel floor, still unconscious, but I was still frightened and sickened by the sight of them. Fang noticed the direction of my gaze, and understood; he scooped me into his arms, one hand on my back and the other behind my knees, carrying me bridal style out of the tunnel, before taking off into the night sky. I stifled a gasp when I looked up into his eyes, marvelling at how they were darker than the night itself, yet softer, almost velvety. His flawless olive skin was smooth on his face, only puckered by worry lines on his forehead. I shifted my gaze to his wings. His strong, powerful, graceful, beautiful wings, the colour of the blackest night, but far from its personality.

I returned to his face, and saw him looking down at me, too. His eyes were swimming with sadness, worry and anger, but he tried to smile reassuringly at me anyway. He was pretty convincing, and any other of the flock would have been fooled, but Fang and I knew each other inside-out. So I tried to smile back, and I knew that it looked broken, and I wasn't even looking at it. The worry lines deepened slightly, so I tried to act like my usual, strong, stick-it-through self.

"Who's on watch?"

I knew that Fang knew that I knew it could only be Iggy on watch, since Nudge wasn't quite old enough, and we were both here. But he smiled at me, small but genuine, thanking me for my attempt.

"Iggy," he said, humouring me, replying with his usual one-word answers. This left us in silence, with me trying to think of something to say, and with him smirking down at me as he watched me do this. I gave up soon enough, and just contented with the companionable silence. Just enjoying each other's company.

We landed at the campsite soon enough, and everyone except Iggy was still asleep; typical Fang, staying up to some ungodly hour whilst everyone sleeps. Fang told Iggy that we were back, and Iggy got up to come over to us. He looked at me worriedly, and asked if I was alright. I took a breath to try and make my voice steady, and replied.

"I'm fine now, but if Fang hadn't come…" I trailed off, suddenly tense and terrified. Fang rubbed my shoulders, shushing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck again, and he responded similarly, and told Iggy that we wouldn't be far, just away from the others so we could talk. He agreed, taking one last "look" at me, and sighing, before returning to his post.

Fang picked me up again, walking a few hundred metres away, to the edge of the forest on a hill, providing us with a nice view over-looking the town, with the lights of late-night clubs and cinemas. He set me down, back against a tree, so I could look out at this scenery, whilst he sat beside me, back against a different tree. We sat together, in that same companionable silence that we almost always have between us in times like this. Until I decided to pluck the courage up to talk about it.

"You know, I was thinking about you before…that," I began, stumbling already. He turned towards me, curiosity and surprise evident in his eyes, but not on his face. I told myself to be brave, and stared right into those eyes, willing myself not to get lost in them…and failing.

"I was thinking about how you're always there for me, protecting me, and comforting me, and everything," I continued. I smiled slightly. "And then along you come, a knight in shining armour, to prove my point."

He smiled at me sadly but gratefully. Then I frowned at myself, and looked down at my hand, playing in the grass.

"That's why I'm so stupid," I murmured. "Because you always do that stuff for me, and then you ask for something in return…" I knew he knew I was talking about the kisses, "…and I refuse you that one thing. I'm so selfish and take you for granted, when you could just take off any minute."

I finally finished my rant, fearful that he was going to do just that, and looked back up at him, and he was staring at me, half angry, half incredulous.

"Max, it's your choice," he insisted. "And I do that kind of thing because I want to, not because I want something in return."

"But you deserve so much more than you ever get!"

"You make it sound like you don't," Fang countered. "And me doing that kind of thing is asking for something I don't deserve."

I cut myself short. "What?" I half whispered.

He looked back out to the town limits again, avoiding my eye contact. "You're too perfect, Max. I won't ever do anything to deserve you."

I couldn't think of anything to say to that, so we sat in silence again. I urged myself forward, telling myself that it would make things better, and at my eighth time, I finally decided to go for it.

"Fang," I called to him. He looked at me, expecting me to say something…but not expecting me to lean forward and crash my lips with his. He leaned back slightly and drew breath in sharply through his nose in shock, but quickly regained himself, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I shuffled forward to get closer, never breaking the kiss, and buried my fingers in his thick, silky curls, pulling my head further in to deepen the kiss. This was the kiss that I had been waiting for when those perverts had me pinned. These lips were that I wanted to feel against mine. These were the arms I craved for around me. This was the boy that I was in love with.

Fang's tongue traced a path on my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I exhaled in a sigh to stop myself from moaning, and opened my mouth wider. First, he scraped it across my top teeth, then moulded it to my own tongue. I couldn't hold it in this time: I moaned with pleasure as our tongues collided passionately. He removed his mouth to chuckle at me, and that got me angry.

I pressed my mouth back against his, pushing my tongue through into his mouth before he got a chance to close it. I searched for some kind of weakness, and it was only a few seconds before I found it; the roof of his mouth. I brushed the tip of my tongue against it, and he moaned louder than I did. Pulling out of the kiss – but only slightly – I grinned against his lips.

"I win," I whispered.

"You already did a while back," he admitted, gasping. "Now for God's sake, shut up."

He pulled my face back to his with some sort of desperation I had never seen from him. I hadn't noticed until now that we were lying down, with me on top of Fang. This meant that I had the advantage, and I grinned at the thought. I thought of a few things that would be enjoyable and amusing for me to see his reaction, so I chose the first one on my list.

I took his hands – which were around my waist again – in my own, and pinned them out to his sides, then pushed myself off him slightly, my knees straddling his waist, but I was still kissing him. I then bent down to his ear, biting on his earlobe softly, then carefully stroked my tongue against the sensitive hollow behind his ear. A half strangled sound came from his throat, and his back lifted off the floor slightly.

"Damn, you're cruel," he complained through clenched teeth.

"You haven't seen half of it," I warned.

I let myself fall on him again, returning to his mouth to try and distract him. He gladly took the advantage to place his hands back on my waist, travelling every now and again to my hips. I pulled my hand from his hair, and let it drift down his shirt, pausing at the hem. I heard him gasp in realisation, but he was too late to stop me; I pushed my hand up under his shirt, tracing the muscles on his stomach. God, was this kid ripped! His breathing was coming much too shallow, that's for sure, and it sounded like he was whimpering and, quite amusingly, purring at the same time. It was a new combination to hear from Fang. Something reverberated up his throat again, which I think were meant to be words. What I got from them was: "God kill me before she does."

We stopped eventually, rolling off each other to catch our breath. Eventually, we snuggled back together, revelling in the fact that that act was more or less an indication that we were together now. As if reading my mind, Fang smiled full on, gazing deeply into my eyes. Grinning back, I pulled my wing over both of us, creating a make-shift blanket. He followed suit, hauling his larger midnight-purple wing over my tawny one. We both looked down, smiling at the collision of colours in our wings, contrasting each other hugely. We complimented each other perfectly; opposites attract and all that. Looking back up at him, I realised our differences in personality would help us pull through situations which would no doubt find us both in the near-future and the distant one. And, getting lost in his eyes, I couldn't help but think, Bring it on. I've got my sanctuary.

Okay, so that's it. Hope you guys liked it. I won't sicken you with sentences like "reviews are love!" but just review if you think it merits it. Cheers.

Fly on,

NitnatRide