A/N - Alright. For the first time in the history of this story (or really, anything I've ever written) I have A PLAN! :D I was up all night, so I wrote out an actual plan for the next few chapters! And guess what! The next chapter is way more interesting than this one! xD Sorry, more of that 'preparation for the better chapter' stuff. Not to say this one's horrible, but, well, you know. ^^;;

Now, on that cheerful note,

My Girl

Chapter 12

Dylan POV

I fell backward onto the cold stone floor, ignoring the cracking noise that my back made and scrambling to my feet just in time to catch Nudge as she was pushed in after me. The door slammed closet, and I cursed silently. The whole damn room was made of concrete.

"Damn it!" Nudge surprised me by yelling. In the year or so that I'd known her, Nudge had turned out to be the most polite of the flock, the one most like a human. And she had always seemed a lot younger than she was because she acted immature. A lot.

"I was just in here, you bastards!" she shrieked, flinging herself at the door and giving it a good hard kick, to which she screamed again and jumped back, clutching at her now-injured foot. I scrambled to her side, but she kicked me away with said injured foot, screaming and falling against the wall.

I panicked. What the hell did she want? I could help her, but something told me she would just hurt herself in the process of trying to kick me again. And I could ignore her, but I wasn't sure if she wanted that, either. Think, Dylan. Think. What do you do when Max is PMS-ing?

I don't think they have a closet to hide in here, I thought back at…my other thought. I cautiously approached her where she sat crying on the floor and holding her foot. "Nudge?" I asked hesitantly. "Please don't kick me again. I'm going to take your shoe off and see if anything's broken."

"No!" she shrieked. "You do that and I'll kick you in the nose!" I was promptly hit in the face with her shoe. I staggered back and hid behind the table in the center of the room. "Stop throwing things at me!" I growled. "I'm trying to help you!"

"This is your fault in the first place!" she yelled, and threw her other shoe in me. I ducked just in time, and I heard it hit the wall behind me. She glanced at her feet, expecting to see another shoe to throw at me. Seeing that there weren't any, she crawled over to one of her shoes and prepared to launch it at me again.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I stopped her. "What do you mean, this is my fault? The last time I checked, we're both in here. You're not the only victim!" Another shoe was thrown. "Will you stop doing that?" She gave an indignant huff.

"Everything's your fault! It's your fault we're in here, because they were looking for you and they found us, and it's your fault because your psychotic creator is helping the Director! But it's especially your fault that you came after me and didn't go with Max and Fang!"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to figure this out. "Wait…you're mad at me because I tried to save you and got myself captured because of you, instead of doing the selfish thing and escaping with Max and Fang? I don't really understand your logic."

She rolled her eyes. "Idiot. Max and Fang escaped. Max and Fang. Now that they're alone, they'll get back together. And it's all your fault for trying to rescue me, and not succeeding, by the way. You just ruined everything!" She shrieked again as she stamped her injured foot.

I'd forgotten. She was right. Max and Fang would get back together now that they would be alone. Hell, it wouldn't be five minutes before she kicked me to the curb and chose him. "I didn't see you helping anything when you were getting carted away into the helicopter."

She bit her lip and slumped against her eyes. She had that look on her face like she was going to cry. I'd seen Max cry plenty of times in the last year, so I knew what to look for. And sure enough, her eyes started to water. "Hey. Hey!" I panicked. "Don't cry! It's going to be okay! Just don't cry!"

"Why, does it bother you?" she asked tearfully. I nodded. "Good!" she shouted, and ripped her bracelet off, throwing it at me. "You jerk! I'm in pain here and it's all your fault! Now get over here and find out what's wrong with my foot before I kill you!"

I decided to resort to the back-up plan – smile and nod and agree with every single thing she said. "Sure," I smiled -and nodded-, and walked over to where she sat. "I seriously don't think anything's broken. You probably just stubbed your toe or twisted your ankle running. You'll be fine."

"Really?" she looked up at me, and my heartbeat quickened in my chest. She had the most gorgeous brown eyes, with long eyelashes. I didn't know why I'd never noticed it before. I gulped and nodded, and she smiled. "Thanks."

"Do you like me again?" I flashed her a grin, but I was confused. Since when did I use the word 'gorgeous' to describe one of my best friends? 'Gorgeous' is supposed to be a word you reserve for someone like Max. I liked Max. And she was in the hands of the emo maniac.

"I guess," she grumbled, and scooted closer. She put her head on my shoulder and snuggled into my arm. I sighed uncomfortably, noticing that she was almost asleep, and yet she still managed to hug me. He she forgotten about Fang in a matter of two minutes?

Dang, she worked fast.

I stared out the small window at the grey sky, and fell asleep with Nudge as the rain started to pour.

Zera POV

I walked into the Director's office calmly, shutting the door behind me as I always did. The Director loved me, and trusted me, more so than Zander or Zarra. So why would she suspect anything of me? After all, I was the only one carrying out all of her orders without specifically breaking her rules.

…Or so I thought. One look at her face was all it took to make me shudder. She was in one of her moods again. And she got scary when she was in her moods. I winced internally as she spoke. "Have a seat, Zera," she said icily, and I sat down cautiously.

"So, what did you want to see me about?" I asked politely, thinking something much different on the inside, mind you, but on the outside, I was perfect little Zera, someone no one could ever despise. Unless, of course, I was pointing a gun at your head or something like that.

"Oh, I just wanted to have a little chat with you," she put on a cheerful face. That was bad news. It was always the fake cheerfulness that fooled you into thinking that everything was okay right before she bit your head off. And just like I thought she would, she snapped.

In seconds, she had me by the shirt collar, practically choking me, but I didn't dare complain. "Where were you at twenty minutes ago?" she snarled, and my blood ran cold. I had been with Gazzy for the last half hour. "Tell me!" she shrieked, and I flinched.

"I was running a few tests on the blonde boy," I lied through my teeth, and we both knew it wasn't true. "I was wondering if there was something that might give us an advantage in the final battle. You know. Everyday stuff. What've you been up to?" I changed the subject.

"Oh, you're not getting off that easily," she snarled. "While you were running your little tests on your perfect little match, one of my lab rats informed me that you did something particularly interesting to the blood of the Kaiju. Would you care to explain to me what the hell you were thinking?!"

Someone needs a breath mint, I wrinkled my nose. "Um, yeah. Simple. I gave its blood a component that will melt any and all human flesh. Easy. So that if they try to kill it and they get its blood on them, their skin will melt off. What's the big idea?" Hot damn, I'm good.

"Oh, really?" she still wasn't buying it. "You didn't do it so that they could possibly figure out how to use it and turn it against me? You know how crucial it is that no one here knows what I really am? What if they come here and spill some 'monster blood' all over me, and the skin melts off?"

"That would suck," I stifled a laugh. "Relax. Zander, Zarra and I are the only ones besides Dr. Gunther-Hagen know, and we're loyal to you. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise," I smiled welcomingly, manipulating the adorable twelve-year-old part of me like a pro. "You work too hard. You're too paranoid."

She released her death grip on me and shrank back. "You're right. I'm probably blowing this way out of proportion. Thank you, Zera. Do me a favor and round up your brother and sister. Go over the plans for the final battle with them." I nodded angelically, and walked from the room.

"Rot in hell," I muttered, and slammed my fist into the nearest wall. When did "the blonde boy" change my mind about everything I was supposed to work for? When had I become trapped like this?

Max POV

I slumped against the trees, sweaty and exhausted, just wanting to forget the day. I had just let Dylan be captured, but right now, I couldn't bring myself to care. As I was carrying Nudge on my back, I remembered a lot of things. I remembered all the questions that I had after Fang left.

Why had he left me, if he loved me more than anything else in the world? Why did he intentionally break his promise to me, to play hero and save the day? Why would he come back and expect to be forgiven, and more importantly, why did I immediately forgive him?

I didn't want comfort from Fang. For the first time, I didn't want to crawl into his arms and know that everything was okay. I wanted to forget him, once and for all. I wanted to hurt him, wanted to torture him, wanted him to leave me alone. He was the only thing I had in the world at the moment, and I hated him.

"You have to eat something," I heard his voice, but I ignored it and burrowed further into the tree trunk. "Come on, Max. I already made the campfire. I know you're tired, but the least you could do is eat some crackers or a can of baked beans or something. You'll need strength for tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes under my eyelids. "Since when did you become the leader?" I grumbled, but I didn't open my eyes. I could practically feel him getting irritated with me, but I ignored him. He could get as damn irritated as he wanted.

"Since the leader refused to eat anything, and just went through a traumatic day. Look, Max…please? Just eat something. I don't really think you've been eating as much as you need to." I rolled my eyes and sat up.

"Oh, please. Forgive me for not taking the time from saving the freaking world to eat as well as I should have. Now, if you'll excuse me," I glared at him and closed my eyes again, leaning against the tree trunk.

"God, why are you so hateful all of a sudden?"

I sat up and glared at him, murder on my face. "You wanna talk to me about being hateful, Fang? You know what's hateful? Leaving someone you said you loved to wonder what they did wrong. Or how about this? Letting them worry about you every day, and why they couldn't come with you. Oh, wait, I've got a better one. What about sneaking around, lying and taking off to play the hero while you let everyone you love down? How's that for hateful, you jerk?"

I was on my toes screaming, but I didn't stop there. "How could you have left me, Fang? You promised that you'd never leave again! Things were finally going right for us! And you left me to go on your own 'special mission'. God, you're either an ego-maniac or a bigger ass than I thought!"

"I did it to help you," he whispered. "You needed to sort your thoughts out, and everyone knew it. Me being gone gave you a chance to think about what you really want out of your life."

Screw slapping, I always did hit like a dude. My arm snapped out and I punched him, square in the face. Blood erupted from his nose, and I looked away in disgust as he fell against the tree, looking down at me in disbelief.

"The one thing I never wanted out of my life was you, Fang!" I almost shouted. "I never told you to leave. I wanted you to stay there with me. You leaving was really just what the flock told you to do! It was stupid. It killed me."

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Sorry isn't good enough, Fang!" I gave a weary chuckle. "It wasn't good enough when I was actually crying myself to sleep it night. Sorry wasn't freaking good enough when I was wondering if I had done something to make you leave."

We were both sitting on the ground. I gave a dry chuckle. "It's funny. No one's ever asked what I wanted out of my life. I never wanted to save the world, but I'm trying. And no one asked me if I wanted the Voice in my head. I didn't."

I shook my head. "But strangely, even when I told them that all I wanted was you, they started questioning me, and asking if this was what I wanted. You were the only choice I ever made for myself, and I couldn't even have that."

"I know that what I did was wrong," he looked up at me. "I do. But I came back because I love you. I want to be with you." And man, did that sound like a swell idea.

He leaned in to kiss me, and I didn't pull away. Maybe I could convince myself that I could fall in love with him again if he kissed me. And when his lips touched mine, I felt that familiar electricity, the same feeling that I had been missing for over a year. And I never wanted him to leave me again.

"Stop," I mumbled against his lips, pulling away. He looked at me in confusion. But if I didn't tell him the truth now, I never would. "I love Dylan," I looked away. "He took care of me when you were gone. I'm probably…alive because of him."

"You love me more," he stated, and I nodded.

"I shouldn't," I whispered. "He's done everything for me. He gave me his life, and he wasted so much time on me just because of you. He had to give me up for you when you just popped back into our lives. And I hurt him because of you. It isn't fair for me to love you."

"It shouldn't be about what's fair, Max."

I looked up at him. "I'm not who you're supposed to be with. Nudge is your 'perfect other half'. Did you know that? She's yours, just like Dylan's mine. You're not supposed to be with me. You belong with her."

"But I love you." I looked down. "So you choose him?"

I stood up. "I don't know. We have work to do, and I'm not making a choice now." I took off walking, and didn't look back. He didn't follow me.

Nudge POV

"So, let me get this straight," Dylan struggled against my arm, "You're Fang's 'perfect other half', just like I'm Max's?" he asked in disbelief. That split second was all I needed to push a little harder and overpower him. "Damn," he cursed. I grinned.

"Isn't the guy supposed to be better at arm-wrestling than the girl?" I grinned. He glared at me. "Oh, right, not when the girl is a mutant, got it," I laughed. "Yeah, that's pretty much true. I didn't know that. I always thought I was part of the actual flock. I guess I was wrong."

He shrugged. "At least there's not a wall between you and the other members of the flock. They already know you, so you aren't any threat to them, and they feel like they can trust you." He looked down. "It took almost a year for Max to even smile at me."

For some reason, he said it like Max was this goddess or something. He had her up on such a pedestal that it made me sick. I didn't know why I cared, but I did. "Why the heck do you even love her?" I blurted before I could stop myself, then clamped a hand over my mouth.

"It's okay," he sighed. "Nothing you guys haven't heard before. She's smart, pretty, caring, fearless, etcetera. She also let me into the flock, even though she didn't have to."

"That doesn't explain why you love her," I said simply. "Anyone can be pretty or smart or caring or fearless. And we all let you into the flock, even though we should have hated you. What makes you love her?" He frowned.

"Look, it's complicated, alright?" He was getting frustrated. "Alright, how about you? What makes you like Fang so much? As far as I've seen, he's an emo kid with a bad attitude, and that's all there is to it."

I slapped him. "It's not like that. You just don't like him because you two are competing. He's soft on the inside, like a brownie or something. He really cares about all of us. And he only left to help Max. Give him a break."

"That doesn't explain why you love him," he said smugly. "Plus, aren't you a little young to love anyone? You're only fourteen, after all." Another slap.

"Alright, alright! The only reason that I love him is because he's everything I want in a guy, and he's everything I can't have! I could never get someone like him! Max keeps going back and forth like a damn ping-pong ball, and she's using the both of you! She gets all the guys, all the time!"

"Fang is a lousy jerk who doesn't value anything except for his skull-and-crossbones T-shirts! He left Max when she needed him the most, twice! He hasn't done shit for you for a year, and all of a sudden, you welcome him back, when he wants to get rid of me! What is it that makes you freaking worship him?"

"You follow Max around like a little puppy!"

"You keep a picture of Fang in your pocket!"

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"Oh, one time I was doing the laundry, and…hey, wait, that's irrelevant!"

"No, it's not!"

We were face-to-face on our toes, screaming, when the door opened up and one of the whitecoats poked his head inside. "Would you two keep it down? One of the subjects came out of a coma to tell you to shut the hell up!" He slammed the door, and we stood in the center of the room, just blinking.

I bit my lip and stepped closer. "I guess…Fang isn't that great."

He grinned. "And I guess there's nothing that great about Max, either."

Iggy POV

I'm going to tell her tomorrow, Zarra thought at me. I looked down at her questioningly. We were in my jail cell, splitting a pizza, again. I'm going to tell the Director that I won't fight in her war. That I won't fight you.

"Don't, Zarra. You'll only end up getting yourself killed. Nothing's going to change for me if you tell her, except for the fact that you won't be in here to keep me company anymore." I gave her a wry smile.

You think I'm kidding, she mentally snarled at me. I'm not joking, Iggy. If I don't tell her, she's going to make me fight you, and it's sooner than you think. I'd rather die now than deal with that.

"What makes you so sure you'd win the fight?" I asked indignantly.

Hmm, let's see. Blind guy with an ordinary sense of hearing and poor fighting skills versus a tear-your-eyes-out, non-blind, hardcore fighting machine, figuratively. Yeah, sure, you'll do great, honey. She rolled her eyes at me.

"But don't forget that when I'm around you, I can see," I smiled. I loved that about her. Not to say that I didn't love the rest of her, too.

You left out the part about the poor fighting skills, she joked. Iggy, if I don't do this now, it could be bad. I'm not telling you so that I can brag about my superior strength –which I do have-, I'm telling you so you know that I won't fight you.

"Fine," I said reluctantly. "Don't get hurt. That woman is totally vicious. You know that better than anyone." She nodded, and kissed me lightly on the cheek. After that, she was gone, and I was left with my blindness. But more importantly, I got the distinct feeling that I had just seen her for the last time.

Yay! Chapter finished! You may now leave me a review! xD

~Rachel