Valedictorian- A Maximum Ride Fanfiction

12th Period

THE STREETS OF Seattle were cold, chilling as the winter months rolled around. Maximum Ride walked along with the crowd, a raincoat-trenchcoat covering her wings. 

She was pissed.

No, she was hurt.

She didn't know where she'd gone wrong, honestly. Angel used to be.. well, an Angel. Her angel. Her sweet, cute, loving little girl. And FANG. Fang used to be her second in command, her backbone, her fail-safe. The one who supported her when no one else would, the one who always had her back. No, her traitorous mind reminded her, that position had shifted onto Nudge.  Her cu-

She paused.

Was that really all she expected of them? To just.. be there for her? Was Angel only a kid that loved her blindly? Was Fang just a fall man? 

Well, yeah, they're supposed to trust me. She grumbled, not liking where this was leading. Iggy hadn't come to her aid either. And Gazzy just sat there, looking stupid, while Max was completely hu-

You don't notice our problems at all and you want to adopt another person in?

That's not it at all, She protested against the memory of Angel's words. But when she paused to think about it, really think about it, she sighed. Iggy had.. Iggy had ditched his parents, the one thing that every flock member secretly longed for. He'd left them because they betrayed every one of his trusts and because their love was empty. He was hurting, and Max hadn't spared two whits of time to think about it. He'd even had that breakdown in D.C., she should have.. She should have noticed. Should have done something.

Angel's accusing look resurfaced in her mind. Max shook her head, ducking into a nearby alley and huddling together near the trash bins. It suited her. She felt like trash right now.

She closed her eyes, and thought about the faces of the flock during her speech. Iggy, passive. Fang, unreadable. Nudge, anticipation. Gazzy, mild curiosity. Angel, dread. Angel knew. Maybe those little remarks about her being the leader weren't just little remarks. Maybe she really thought that way. Maybe she was right. 

She thought back to her earlier mind rant on how they'd each failed her, and she cringed. Gazzy always protected Angel no matter what- he was her older brother- but against Max, he had said nothing. Fang never accused her, just tried to get her to see. And Angel- sweet, sweet Angel who always ended up bringing up her weak points- she'd probably known. She'd read Iggy and heard all of his thoughts, and she'd known. She'd tried to get Max to see, too. But Max hadn't. She'd thrown a fit. Hindsight was always 20/20. 

Max was.. she was a terrible leader. The thought brought tears to her eyes. How many times had she failed them without noticing? How many times that Angel, who loved her to death, felt so torn that she had to bring it up? How many failures-

"Hey." A gruff, metallic voice sounding in front of her, and Max's blood ran cold.

"..Ari." She breathed, sniffling and getting to her feet. She didn't want to fight now, she was too busy wallowing in self-pity. And Ari's... Ari's voice sounded kind? She shifted suspicious eyes towards him, stance immediately shifting from depressed to defensive. Ari held up human hands, wolfish face looking resigned, and Max sighed again. She'd failed Ari too, hadn't she? "Why are you here?"

"I'm here for you." He said, and in any other circumstances those words would have made her 'fight or you die or even worse get taken back to School' instincts take over. She tilted her head, a clear motion of suspicion, and Ari reluctantly lowered his hands. "Let's go somewhere else."

Warning bells went off in her head, no, no, don't trust the Eraser!, but at his slumped and defeated back, Max found her feet trailing after him instead of taking her the other direction. Maybe she could save him. The scar on his neck peeking up past his muscle shirt (didn't he feel cold?) caused waves of guilt to wash through her (she'd nearly killed him) and the next thing she knew they were standing in the middle of a used car lot.  

"I'm.. Sorry." Ari started, scratching his head sheepishly as he turned around. Max leant against one of the cars, for once feeling relatively safe around the kid. That was taller than her. Ugh.

As if I would buy that, Max thought.

"The workers weren't supposed to come back that quickly." There was a loud sound and a dent in the roof of the red ferrari Max was leaning on as her fist made brutal contact with it. Ari winced, looking all the world like a kicked puppy, but that didn't deter the heat burning behind her eyes. 

"You! You're the one who switched the packages!!" She accused, thinking back to Sebastian's utterly confused face and the worker's disgruntled faces as they unloaded from their truck. What had Ari done? 

"I was supposed to distract the workers, but they ended up getting irritated and leaving faster instead.." Her breath stopped short, and she lowered her hand, face darkening. 

"Explain, now."

"I..  I want to save you, Max. I'm putting you first." He started, staring at his hand as he flexed his fingers. "Dad… everything I've done so far was for Dad, and all he's done is.. hurt. Hurt everyone." Max nodded. That sounded about right. "I thought it would be okay, that as soon as he recognizes me and loves me everything would be okay, but.. He's not. It's not going to happen, and he's changed. He's not my dad anymore."

Suddenly, Ari was not the big Eraser in front of her, but a small kid instead. Hurt. Longing. Max couldn't forgive him, but maybe she could trust him. He touched a barcode at the side of his neck, one that she hadn't noticed before, and his face crumpled. Ari looked like he was about to cry, and seeing his big Eraser build shrink like Gazzy's whenever she scolded him brought an odd protective urge from her. She shook her head again. No, she couldn't think like that.

"I have.. I have a death sentence, so before I go I want to make sure that at least you're safe." Max sucked in a breath. He paused, face suddenly turning serious. "You're going to be safe, Max."

Angel's voice sounded in her head again.

He loves you, Max.