More Power More Hope- Book Three In The United Series

Chapter 13

Ivan's POV:

Number Eight comes rushing towards me.

He has Nine's pipe staff in his hands and swings it at the Mog holding me down. The moment I'm free, I jump up, nod my head at Eight, and rush in the direction a Mog dragged Max away.

I run as fast as I can until I see the Mog dragging Max away, accompanied by two others. I go for the Mog holding down Max and punch him in the face, furious.

The Mog on his left kicks my back and I go tumbling to the ground. The Mog on the right leaps for me, hoping to pin me down, but I remember the day Max and I had our little hand-to-hand combat fight in the Anubis and place both my feet on the Mog's chest, flipping him over, a trick I learned from Max.

The Mog I flipped over goes crashing into the Mog behind me. I grab a big rock I see on the ground and smash it onto one of the Mog's heads. He turns to a pile of ash on the ground and a split second before that, I smash the rock on the second Mog's head. He turns to ash, as well.

I turn to where the Mog with Max is and see him trying to drag her away. I rush up there and punch him in the face.

He takes out his pistol and quickly cocks it. I'm ready to dodge a speeding bullet but instead he presses the gun against Max's head. I automatically back up, my hands up in surrender, and the Mog smirks.

"Heard you stole a little something from the ship. Beloved Leader would like it back," the Mog sneers at me, quickly glancing down at my pocket. I know what he's talking about, and I won't give it back. Never.

Max, just like me, learns about the fight we had on the Anubis and knows what to do. She swiftly turns herself so that the Mog's back is facing a tree and smashes his back against it. I lunge at him and snap the gun out of his hand, then punch him in the face hundreds of times.

"Leave- her- ALONE!" I yell, throwing another punch with each word. Soon enough, the Mog lets Max go but I continue to punch him. Then the Mog suddenly unsheathes his sword and thrusts it at me. I quickly side-step it and hear Max gasp from behind me.

No, not her, please not her.

I yank the sword out of the Mog's grip and bring it down right into his chest. He turns into a pile of ash on the ground and I turn around to see the last thing I ever wanted to see- Max is lying on the ground, blood smeared on her side, staining her orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, right where the Mog stabbed her.

"No," I whisper and fall to my knees next to Max. Her breathing is extremely short and I know she doesn't have long. I grab her and pull her close to me, closer than we've ever been before.

Then I cry into her shoulder, her eyes closed and unseeing.

"I'm sorry Max. It-It should've been me," I whisper to her, my tears dripping onto her, but I don't care. I know what I said is true. If I hadn't dodged that Mog's futile attempts to stab me, the blade wouldn't have hit Max. She would be the one comforting me, not the other way around.

I take a shaky breath and softly whisper: "I love you."

That's also true. I was shocked when she spared me in the Anubis when she had the perfect oppurtunity to shoot and kill me, especially after I killed her. It surprised me that anyone could show any type of kindness to someone who hurt them, so I decided to repay her for it. At first, I actually wasn't going to betray the Mogs. I was just planning to get her off the ship as a thank you, but I guess it just went a little out of hand.

Max groans and my closed eyes shoot open. What I see surprises me- the blood staining Max's shirt is still there, but her wound is completely gone, just like the time I splashed water on her two bullet wounds when we finally managed to escape the Anubis.

Max's eyes flutter open and they train on me. After a few moments of staring at each other, Max grins. For what, I'm not exactly sure. She's probably going to crack some stupid joke or something.

"Is that really what all guys say when the girl of their dreams is about to die?" Max asks, smirking. I blush automatically and it's clearly visible against my extremely pale skin.

"Maybe," I reply, shrugging. Max chuckles and I can't help but smile, but I'm also confused.

"But, what happened? How did..." I start to trail off as I examine Max's somehow-healed wound and see water dripping from it. My tears must've healed her.

For all those men who say crying is for wimps, my tears just saved the girl of my dreams, thank you very much.

Wait, did she actually say that?

"Hold on. 'Girl of my dreams'?" I ask Max, furrowing my eyebrows together, although that's another completely true thing. Max is the girl of my dreams, really. But I'm pretty sure she won't fall for me, a Mogadorian who killed her when she was twelve.

Max shrugs her shoulders, smirking. "You said it yourself," she responds and I almost can't help myself. As she's lying on my lap, I almost lean down and plant a kiss on her forehead, but I don't. I know she and John have a thing. Whether they're dating or not, I'm not sure, but it's pretty clear that they like each other. I'm not going to do anything until I know all of the details.

I play around with Max's black hair, which is turning red at the roots, and that honestly kind of scares me. She's slowly turning back to the twelve year-old Maggie Hoyle, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to see that again- curly bright red hair and green eyes. 

Max smiles up at me and I can't help but smile back. It's peaceful around us for once. The battle by the stream must've ended cause I don't hear anything but the soft wind and chirping birds. It's weird- I've only known violence my entire life. This is the first time I've ever actually been in peace. I like it.

Then, as I'm about to take in more of the weird calmness, I hear the crunching of footsteps heading right for us.

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(I will be giving you one fun fact about the series after each chapter for now on. You can request what subject you would like it to be on, but the only fact I will not give you is this: Why Max's eyes turned from green to half-blue, half-black. Enjoy!)

Fun Fact #1: While on the Anubis, if Ivan confessed how he felt for Max, he would've asked her out, Max would've said yes, and they would've had a relationship (Sorry to all those Ivax shippers out there, though I'm pretty sure there are none).