NOTE: I DO NOT SUPPORT UNDERAGED SMOKING. ACTUALLY I DON'T SUPPORT IT AT ALL.

Fang

I watched Max with a hardened expression. I can't deal with this. I stood up swiftly and headed towards the door. I'd never leave the flock again- but she left us once and now that she's back she's got us all slipping slowly into a deeper depression? Ugh. I leaned my head back against the wall. At some point in the three years she was gone, I started a habit that I will never forgive myself for. I started smoking. Hey, it's better than doing drugs or cutting. (Self injury was never my thing- I wonder why?) I closed my eyes and lit a cigarette and took a long drag. I shivered. If Max caught me when we were fourteen, she would have killed me. Now she just sat in there with Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy, pretending everything's fine. I clenched my left fist on the lighter there. My hands had quit shaking by now. Good. If any one were to ask my why I did this, I would never have had a better answer than the fact that it calmed me when I was sad or angry. I never let the kids see me. I think Iggy suspected it- he has better ears and a better nose than us- but he never said anything. I hope he won't now. If anything, I don't want Max to be disappointed in me.

I growled and flicked the cigarette away, agitated at myself. At least I wasn't shaking anymore. I kept my head leaned back and my eyes closed. Maybe I'll fall asleep and find myself six foot two again and fourteen years old, waking up to Max right next to me and my clothes not smelling like smoke. Maybe I won't know what it's like to crave nicotine every time I have a bad day. Maybe Max will never leave…Maybe this is all just a bad dream….maybe…maybe….

I was watching her. She looked beautiful. Her blond hair was curled at the bottoms and it reached her waist. Her brown eyes were bright and excited- not dead looking at all. Gazzy ran up behind her, wearing an out fit as peculiar as Max's. He was wearing a white baggy-ish shirt and some cotton white pants. Max was wearing a long white plain dress that had a low neck and long sleeves. Nudge and Iggy followed Gazzy and smiled. They were wearing around the same thing as the Gasman. I was wearing a larger version of Gazzy's out fit, only mine was black. We're all in the clouds, laughing and talking about nothing. Max sits on my lap eventually, eyes tired, but still alive. Everyone suddenly falls to the ground, stiff as a board on their backs. Their faces pale. Max is too still on my chest. The air is suddenly tainted. We're all in cages. Our cotton outfits are now not pure white, but off white and dirty. We're being scraped out of our cages by Erasers the size of Godzilla. Gazzy is dragged out by his foot; Nudge her wing; Iggy his arm; Max screams. Her chest is bleeding. Black smoke erupts from her mouth. The Erasers throw the flock in with me and take Max to The Room. The Room is the room we will never forget from our pasts. She looks at me and mouths something, but I can't see what it is.

"What?!" I yell, trying to come towards her.

"Don't worry about me! We're already dead!" With that her head falls limp and she speaks no more. I turn hesitantly towards the flock. Iggy's neck is bent in an odd angle and he's not breathing. Gazzy's bleeding through his eyes, mouth, and ears. It's grotesque. And Nudge…Nudge was smiling and too pale. Then I see her stomach. It's been lacerated. Blood was spattered all over the walls and I find myself kneeling in a puddle of blood. I look down at myself. I have multiple holes in my chest. I can't breath! I can't move and my legs are paralyzed. I choke and sputter, finally falling on my face in the blood.

"Fang! Fang, wake up you stupid boy!" Max's voice yelled. I sat up quickly, feeling my chest. I took a nice, deep breath. Then I checked her shirt. No blood. "What are you looking at?" She asked, glaring and crossing her arms. Fourteen…

"I just had a nightmare." I said. Her eyes softened. We all knew what it was like to have nightmares. This was the worst one yet.

"What it was it about?" She asked quietly. I patted the ground beside me gently.

"I don't know really. We were all older, and you had been gone for three years. We finally found you after looking for you everywhere. You didn't believe that we were alive. I'd started smoking while you were gone because it was calming. And you thought we were dead…Because you'd been hallucinating. And Angel turned. Total died of food poisoning. Iggy got his ear pierced. I got a tattoo. Nudge stopped talking as much. I didn't eat for days on end. Then I fell asleep in my sleep and we were all in the clouds all happy and talking. Then everyone was dead. After that we were in cages and being dragged out by Erasers. You told me not to worry, cause we were already dead…I'm glad you're not." I said and leaned over to kiss her lips. She kissed me back. Softly, hesitantly. As if she's scared. When we pull back, she looks startled and tries to take off again, but this time I catch her arm and jump to my feet with her.

"Please don't leave me again. Just tell me- don't you love me as much as I love you? You don't have to. You can tell me to leave you alone forever and I will." She wasn't looking at me.

"I…I don't know what to do. This is all so confusing." She said, frowning deeply.

"Can I clear up your confusion?" I asked, not leaning towards her this time. "Why? What are you going to do?" She asked. I smiled. She always figures that I'm going to like jump on her or something.

"I'm going to tell you that I love you and that if you ever leave me I won't let you go. And that I learned from that horrid dream that I never wanted to be away from you- physically and emotionally. Mentally. It was terrible." I said, smiling. She flinched. She was confused still.

"I don't know what to do! I don't want to screw up the flock!" She yelled at me. I kept my cool.

"That's fine. I'll go ask them if they'll mind right now. Note- they've been taking bets for the past two months." I grinned, going towards them.

"Fang you dare go tell them and I will shove my combat up your skinny butt." She growled. I smirked without letting her see.

"Why so violent, Max?" I asked.

I lurched awake, shaking and suddenly on my knees. I threw up a few times. Not that there was much to barf up- it was mostly bile anyways. The rain started. Iggy sat next to me after I leaned back and away from the bile. He sighed.

"She said that she was sorry and that she'd act better now."

"I don't want her to ACT better, I want her to believe me that I want her to know that we're alive! I want her to know that we missed her! I want her to know that I'M sorry, that I should've gone after her. I want her to know that…I love her." I sighed, slamming my fists into the ground.

"She knows. She just doesn't know what to do with that information. You were dreaming again, weren't you?"

"Yeah." I sighed and walked off, reaching into my pocket for another ciggy.