"One Second is All it Takes"

Told by Angel

I scream myself awake. Not two seconds after I start screaming, strong arms wrap around me.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." Fangs soothing voice rushes over me as I breath deeply, practically hyperventilating.

"But it wasn't just a dream. It really happened." My words are cut off by my tears starting to flow.

He realizes what I'm talking about. That day. That terrible day. Sure, it started off good. It became a victory. Then one second... that's all it took... Just one.

The dark tendrils of Fangs mind reach out to me before abruptly cutting off as Fang shields his mind.

I remember everyone's face as Itex went down. The main headquarters. Gone.

Gazzy and Iggy slap high-fives. Nudge is smiling and laughing. Max with the triumphant look on her face. Even Fang cracking a smile.

"Everything will be okay." Fang whispers, a muffled, dim voice barely piercing the memory.

"Come on, guys, let's take this back to the house and celebrate!" Max exclaims in triumph as we all rise on our wings, gracefully up from the still-swirling dust and debris.

"No, it won't. 'Cause it really happened. She- she's-" I stutter through my tears.

Max holds her trophy in the air, high above her head as she flies up, leading us.

"Shh, shh. Everything will work out, Angel. Calm down." Fang whispers.

Then the bullet comes. Out of no where. Everything slows down as we watch the bullet shoot through the air, finding it's target, ramming itself right through Max.

"MAX!" Fang's yell mingles with the echoes of the shot fired.

I still remember the scream ripping through my throat, growing until my throat closed, my lungs collapsing from lack of air. My throat hurts again at the memory, my lungs burn.

Fang catches Max's limp body as the falls ungracefully from the sky. Her whispering her last words as I stand there, frozen. Unable to help. To move. To do anything.

"She's dead." I whisper, echoing the words Fang had said.

My lip quivers at the memory. I will it to stop, to cease it's torture, but it just continues on, in full technicolor.

Fang gently laying Max on the ground before taking off in the direction that the shot was fired from, a streak of black. He never even paused as the rest of us rushed forward to Max.

Nudge crying. Iggy staring, unseeing, into oblivion. Gazzy's eyes flicking back and forth between everyone, avoiding looking upon Max's mangled body. And me. Standing there in shock as a single tear makes it's way down my face.

I remember us taking Max's body back to the place where us and all of our few allies were to meet. Dr. Martinez and Ella crying, mourning at the news and sight of Max's death. Then Fang, in the middle of the cold, rainy night a few days later, banging through the door in blood spattered clothes, silently walking past us as if we weren't even there, stony look on his face.

"Where were you?" Iggy questions in a far off kind of way.

"They're dead." Fang whispers, not even looking toward us.

"What?" Iggy asks, not because he didn't hear, but to reiterate.

That's when Fang finally looks at us, his black gaze piercing, scary.

"They're gone. Dead." he says louder.

He was talking about the shooter, I now know.

"It was all my fault." I choke out.

"No, no, it wasn't your fault, Angel. Don't ever think that." Fang answers, shaking his head.

I remember the fear that shuddered through me as he said those words.

"But it was! I could have saved her! If only I had been paying more attention! If only I had realized..." I put my face on his shoulder, crying.

"They'll never bother us again. They were the last." Fang says before turning and stalking into the hall, toward his room.

"Angel, it wasn't your fault. None of us could have known. For all we know, they made it where you couldn't feel their minds..." Fang whispers comfortingly.

I close my eyes and swallow back tears. "Fang?"

"Yes, Angel?"

"What was it Max said to you? The last thing she said?" I knew it might be harsh to ask, but I had to know.

The next morning, me, walking into Fang's room, seeing him sitting there, in his floor, staring at the walls, shaking his head with the most lost, given up look on his face, murmuring, "Why... Why, Max... why?" over and over.

Fang is silent, still for a few moments, then answers gently, "She told me... She told me to make sure none of you got hurt, and to stay with you guys. To keep us all together. And that she loved us."

I nod. "Thank you, Fang."

He pulls back and looks at me, his eyes asking, "for what?"

I give a small smile. "For comforting me."

I remember how, with that one second, everything changed.

Funny how everything can change, can be turned upside down, with just a single second.

Okay, so that was slightly depressing. Even though I'm not known for being the happiest person. Eh.

It's a one shot, but, if reviewers want me to, i could turn it into a story. A short one, most likely, but a story, nonetheless.

May you keep a strong heart and a steady mind,

-KaiAmazonKnightley