Valedictorian- A Maximum Ride Fanfiction

4th Period

IGGY GRUMBLED AS he followed the sound of the other's wings- the loud gusts that Fang's large wings made when they flapped, the precise small whistle of Max's hawk wings when they sliced against the wind, and the hollow, tarp-like flapping sound that he could only assume was made by that Ren kid's wings. He'd heard the boy introduce himself a couple days ago as a bat hybrid (with that odd, almost feminine voice of his- he also had an accent, one that Gazzy was painstaking attempting to recreate with no luck.) but he hadn't actually believed or thought about it; he was far too preoccupied with that infuriating clicking sound that the boy liked to make with his throat. 

That noise was the bane of his existence.

It cut right through his head. If sounds were like circular waves, that clicking noise was a needle, scattering from the source and bouncing back through until it disappeared. He felt thoroughly violated, and quite honestly he was beginning to have fantasies of choking a certain someone. 

It just.. it just really sucked. This whole endeavor. The flock should know that he was blind, know that the crashing waves was disconcerting if not painful and that the constant goddamn clicking would drive him insane. He'd been reduced to lying around in the deeper parts of the cave with his hands over his ears, no one checking on him except for Ren from time to time and even then it was only to give a click and then walk away. He'd taken any chance to get outside, and now-

Now he was helping the same infuriating kid pick up some stuff.

Iggy really didn't know why they couldn't just up and leave, find some other place. Max- shouldn't Max be wary? What if there was something in the cave water? All that time at the.. at the School, and they'd never once heard of bat hybrids or any other successful humanoid splice aside from the wolf ones that would become Erasers and the avian ones that became the flock. There'd been experiments, of course, but none of them as complete as he could only assume that the other boy was. Where the hell was he from? What if he was tricking them? Attempting to lead them out to a grisly doom? Had people waiting at the port? Why was Max making them stay? Why was he the only ones asking these questions? Why didn't she care?

Why didn't she care?

Iggy clutched his fist.

No, that wasn't it- nobody cared. Nudge had Max, Angel had Max, Gazzy had Angel and Max had Fang. The world would go on without him. He wasn't a child that could just sweep all his insecurities under the rug anymore, and Iggy was alone. Alone in the flock, alone from his parents, alone in a sea of darkness that was all he knew ever since those damn whitecoats at the School sliced his eyes open. And he hated to admit it, but that memory of the Griffiths hurt. He'd loved them, so stupidly, so naively, so easily. When his mom had hugged him, he felt complete for the first time in the world. Mom, dad, and the flock. He'd fantasized about them in the School more than he could care to count, two people with open arms that'd love him unconditionally until the end of the world.

But that hadn't been the case, and he was beginning to wonder if he had a place to belong anywhere.

Max had reassured him time and time again that the flock was his home, would always accept him, would always care about him; but it certainly wasn't feeling like it. He felt displaced in a world of displacements, and just was he was beginning to contemplate stopping in the air and announcing that he couldn't do this anymore, a hand grabbed his wrist.

".. You're straying." The odd voice that belonged to the Ren kid rung out, the grip tightening for just a second before letting go. Iggy sighed, realizing that his course had indeed begun to swing down closer to the water. It was hard to make out with all the white noise, but..

A clear click.

The sound bounced pack precisely from the boy's throat, and Iggy could clearly make out the locations of everything else in the air. He turned his head to where he assumed he was, a small frown on his face.

"I'm not thanking you." He muttered, rising another three feet to be aligned with everyone else. Ren clicked again, hollow flapping getting closer until he was right above him; leaning down to whisper in his ear-

"I don't expect you to."

Iggy swerved, rubbing his ear with a small grumble.

"You have serious personal space issues."