I do not own Maximum Ride. It is rightfully owned by James Patterson.

xX Sorry/Love Xx

Fang opened his laptop and was greeted with a message that read, "You have 189 new comments on: Fang's Blog." He just skimmed through the comments. They were the normal: "I wish I was a bird-kid" "You and Max were stupid for splitting up" "You can come live with me Fang." All the crap like that.

He stopped when he saw one that caught the eye. The user name was: umm47. The comment read: "I'm sorry. OK. I was stupid for not choosing you over Ari. There I said it! He was seven, Fang! How could you possibly expect me to just let them kill him? I understand now that I really need you Fang. And yeah, your probably thinking, 'Oh, Max's is so self-centered since she just realized that,' but I'm not Fang. I knew it from the beginning that I would always need you. You're my right-hand man, my best friend, the one who always, always had my back. You'd die to save me, and I'd throw myself in front of a train for you without a second's thought. I grew up with you. You've seen me in my worst. You're the only one that I would ever show my emotional side to because if I showed the younger kids, they wouldn't think I was as strong. So I'm sorry, and I really want you and Gazzy and Iggy to come back."

Fang stared at the computer screen with an awed mouth. If he'd been flying, he could have caught some big bugs in there. He never would have thought that Max would be the one to apologize. Never. She was to strong. Yeah, Fang had seen her through some of her very worst. Who do you think held her when she cried? Even though she rarely cried. He was always there. Even when she didn't know it, he was always secretly looking out for her. She was the leader, the one to bandage all the wounds. He could never do that because deep down, he wasn't as strong as her. He could have never been able to stay as calm as she did when she had to make drastic decisions, like the one with Ari. Even though he always looked calm, he was still just as hurt as she would have been. If he had to make those decisions, he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he lost his life, or worse, lost one of the Flocks lives. Max made these decisions every day. Most of the time it was a split reaction, and sometimes she had to think about it. But her decision was always thinking of the Flock. Now most of her decisions were centered around her "Mission" to save the world.

xX A Few Hours Before Fang Got the Email Xx

Iggy came in the room with the phone in his hand, saying that there was someone on the phone requesting to speak with him. Fang had no idea as of how anyone knew the number. He hadn't even told it to Max before he left. Reluctantly, he took the phone from the blind boy.

"Hello" he said into the receiver. He quickly had to pull the phone away when the voice on the other end of the receiver started screaming at him. He tried to calm them down, but they wouldn't stop. He could tell by the way the voice was screaming that there was no danger.

"Fang? Are you there?" Angel's soft voice spoke through the receiver.

Fang was relieved that there was no more screaming.

"Yeah, I'm here Angel. What was with all the yelling?" Fang asked

"Because I just found out that the people in France think in French. You know how hard it is to read minds in a language that you don't even know?" Angel was yelling again.

"Wait, Angel. Why are you in France? Is Max with you?" Fang was worried that Angel might have been kidnaped again, and this time taken to Europe, the reason they would let her use a phone was out if his mind.

"Of course Max is with me silly. She's the one that let us get on a plane and fly to Europe. Nudge said it was Redu . . . Redan."

"Redundant?" Fang chimed in.

"Yeah, redundant, to ride in a plane and fly to Europe when we can fly."

"Well, I can see why she said that. With those tapped on wings of his, I don't see how Ari could have made it all the way across the Atlantic." Fang said that a little too harshly. He could tell that he had hurt Angel, because he heard her suck a fast breath in. "Oh no, I don't like this!" Angel's voice was almost a whisper.

"What's wrong Angel?" Fang was a little freaked with the way she had sounded.

"It's Ari. He's dying. And he knows it. The number tattooed on his neck is today's date. His mind is so scared right now, all he's thinking is that if he dies then he won't be able to protect his sister. I don't even know what that means, but he's acting so calm on the outside. He and Max are looking at a map of Europe and Ari's face is just as calm as it was yesterday, and the day before. I don't know wether I should tell Max or not!"

Fang could tell by Angel's tone of voice that she really was scared. Not knowing himself what to tell her, he just said "Leave them as they are. You once said that he loved Max, so it's only right for him to die with her, and since I'm not there I don't really care about what happens to him." Fang was secretly worried about how Max would be affected by the death of Ari.

Angel hung up the phone. She never was much for good byes.

xX After two taxi's. A bus. And two planes. Xx

"Wow, were finally in Europe! Why did we come here again?" Gazzy asked, as he, Fang, and Iggy got off the plane.

"Because I have a feeling that we might find some valuable information here." Fang lied. He really wanted to just see Max. See how she was holding up. He'd finally got what Angel had meant about Ari wanting to protect his sister. He remembered back when they were in New York's sewer system, and Max was fighting with Ari. At the end Max had thought that she had killed him, and Jeb had yelled "You killed your own brother!" He never really thought about it. Since Jeb was Ari's dad, then, if he was right, that meant that Max was also Jeb's daughter. They were related by blood, just like The Gasman and Angel.

Fang never really considered Max as a sister. She was to aggressive and they were to close to be brother and sister. He loved her more than a sister, but he didn't know if she loved him that way. He always, secretly, wondered that if he were to tell her, how would she react? Would she accept him, or would she just storm off like she did when he had kissed her? She had said that she loved him, but she was also drugged up at the same time. So that didn't even have the same effect.

Fang had gotten a text from Angel telling him where he could find her. She was surprised when he had asked for it. They were in Germany, so that would be about an hour flight, if you were a bird kid. Fang informed the other two boys about the Itex building he had "randomly" found on the internet. The boys thought it weird that they would just openly post something like that on the Internet, where billions of people go every day. Fang felt bad about having to lie to The Gasman and Iggy, but it was for their own good. If they new that Fang had come all this way just to save Max, then they would know that he loved her too. He just wasn't ready for the flock to know that, at least, not until he knew what Max thought to.

It didn't really take Fang that long to figure out where they were holding Max. It was really obvious really. There were guards everywere, and they were all directed to one place, and it kinda looked like a gym with a sunroof. Fang thought it was really stupid to have a sunroof in a place that was holding kinds with wings. They could just fly right out, but when Fang flew over top, he noticed the thin electric wires that would shock anything that flew to close. That was more like it. With his razor sharp eyes, he could see Max fighting someone, but he didn't know who. He feared the worse, even though he'd know Max for so long, this battle didn't look so good. Max was losing. She was fighting against some genetically-altered being, just like them selves, but he was stronger, faster, and clearly had the better advantage on his side. Max had never lost a battle with all the others she had fought. Fang could see Ari, he looked scared, but for max or his own life, Fang just didn't know.

Angel had apparently seen him, or heard his thoughts, cause she started informing him about Max new opponent.

"His name is Omega. The Director said that he is that 'He key to the hyperevolved human of tomorrow. He's immune to virtually every disease known and has superacute reflexes and greatly increased strength. He tests off the charts of every intelligence scale devised. He has superior memory retention and reaction time. He's truly Superman' The director said that he and Max have to fight to the death! I read his mind, and he really wants to kill Max!"

Fang watched the fight go on. He saw Omega kick Max in the stomach, he knew that had to hurt. Max had taken her hand and smacked it against Omega's ear, but Omega got her again, this time on the back of her neck. Max kicked him in the back, but he just staggered back and then straightened back up. Max got him in the back again, and he flew forward. He was knocked to the ground. Max had jumped on him and hopefully dislocated his shoulder, but he just through her off and went back at her. The Director began talking, and suddenly, all hell broke lose. Mutants began to fight each other. The Director called on her robots, and Max, Nudge, Angel, Total, and even Ari began to fight them so they could get out.

Ari was taking some quite bad blows, and Fang could see that he was getting slower. His time was near. Max saw that Ari was struggling, and was trying to get to him, but she was to late. Ari fell flat on his back, even from where Fang was, he could still see the color fade from the seven year-olds eyes. Fang figured it would be really sad, if cared about Ari, but truthfully, he didn't give a two-cent flying monkey's butt. Though he knew Max did, and he would never tell her how he felt about her little brother. It would just hurt her even more.

xX After Itex is Defeated Xx

Fang had ended up following the girl back the hotel they were staying at. He wasn't ready to face Max yet. But when he saw a tear roll down her face, he just couldn't take it. He knocked quietly on the door, knowing they would hear. Angel opened the door and just pointed to Max's door. The Gasman and Iggy had been silent even since they had found Max, they both knew, now, that Fang hadn't just found this place by coincidence, but by fate, they still didn't know about Angel's help.

Fang didn't bother knocking, knowing that she would sense his presence. He saw her sitting on the floor, in a ball shape. He had never seen her so emotional. She was always so strong. She flinched when she could sense him, but other wise didn't move. Fang bent down behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, and Max just let lose, let all the tears she had been holding back spill over. Fang held her tighter, not saying a word.

Max could feel Fang's presence, and it shocked her because she had also felt it when she was fighting Omega. She thought she was losing it, feeling things that weren't really there because she wanted them to be. But this was different then before, she could almost hear his soft breath, and his slow, but steady heart beat. Then she felt his strong arms around her, and she knew that he really was there with her, it wasn't just her imagination. She let her emotions take her over, but not just over Ari, but over the fact that Fang was really here, and had accepted her apology. She was so happy, but so sad at the same time. She didn't want to have to face this by her self, and she would never let the kids see her this way. Fang was the only one that could be with her at these times. The only other that could feel the pain she felt. At the very second, Max realized something. She loved Fang.

Fang could feel Max turn herself around, and he let her. Max was looking into his eyes. She slowly began to lean her head closer to his, and he met her half way. This time Max didn't try to flee, instead she had kissed him, so it had a totally different meaning. Max slowly pulled away, and lowered her head. Though her words were very soft, barley audible, Fang still heard every word. "Fang? Do you love me as more than a sister?" Fang was slightly shocked by the question, but it didn't show. "Honestly? I've never loved you as a sister." Max gasped. She though the worst, but Fang went on. "I've always loved you as more." Max blushed and again quietly asked "Are you in love with me?" The word "LOVE" was more of a breath, but Fang still caught it. "Yes" was all he said, Max looked up at him, and said even quieter, if possible "I'm in love with you, to"