Max- 16 Fang- 16 Nudge- 13 Gazzy- 10 Angel- 8
Dylan's dead.

Dear Max- You looked so beautiful today. I'm going to remember what you looked like forever. And I hope you remember me the same way- clean, ha-ha. I'm glad our last time together was happy.
But I'm leaving tonight, leaving to flock, and this time it's for good. I don't know if i'll ever see any of you again. The thing is, Max, that everyone is a little bit right. Added up all together, it makes this one big right.
Dylan's a little bit right about how my being here might be putting the rest of you in danger. The theat might have just been about Dr. Hans. But we don't know that for sure. Angel is a little bit right about how splitting up the flock will help us all survive. And the rest of the flock is a little bit right about how when you and I are together, we're focused on each other- we can't help it.
The thing is, Maximum, I love you. I can't help but we focused on you when we're together. If you're in the room, I wanna be next to you. If you're gone, I think about you. You're the one I wanna talk to. In a fight, I want you at my back. When we're together, the sun is shining. When we're apart, everything is in shades of gray.
I hope you'll forgive me someday for turning our worlds into shades of gray- at least for a while.
You're not at you're best when you're focused on me. I mean, you're at your best Maxness, but not at your best leaderness. I mostly need Maxness. The flock mostly needs leaderness. And Angel, if you're listening to this, it ain't you sweetie. Not yet.
At least for a couple more years, the flock needs a leader to survive. No matter how capable eveyone thinks he or she is. The truth is that they do need a leader, and the truth is that you are the best leader.
But the more I thought about it, the more sure I got that this is the right thing to do. Maybe not for you, or for me, but for all of us together, our flock.
Please don't try and find me. This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, besides wearing that suit today, and seeing you again will only make it harder. You'd ask me to come back, and I would, because I can't say no to you. But all the same problems would still be there, and i'd end of leaving again, then we'd have to go through this all over again.
Please make us only go through this once.
I love you. I love your smile, your snarl, your grin, your face when you're sleeping. I love your hair streaming out behind you as we fly, with the sunlight making it shine, if it doesn't have to much mud or blood in it. I love seeing your wings spreading out, white and brown and tan and speckled, and the tiny, downy feathers right at the top of your shoulders. I love your eyes, whether they're cold or calculating or suspicious or laughing or warm, like when you look at me.
You're the best warrior I know, the best leader. You're the most comforting mom we've ever had. You're the biggest goofball, the worst driver, and a truly lousy cook. You've kept us safe and provided for us, in good times and bad. You're my best friend, my first and only love, and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, with wings or without.
Tell you what, sweetie: If in twenty years we haven't expired yet, and the world is still more or less in one peice, I'll meet you at the top of the cliff where we first met the hawks and learned to fly with them. You know the one. Twenty years from today, if I'm alive, I'll be there, waiting for you. You can bet on it.
Good-bye, my love.
Fang
P.S. Tell everyone I sure will miss them.

I smiled as I re-read Fang's letter for probably the millionth time. He had poured so much love into it. So much passion. It made me love him even more.

I missed him so much. I missed how he would hold me when I was upset, how caring and loving he was around me. How he let his walls down, just for me.

It hurt my heart to know that those days would never come again.

Ever.

He's closer than you think, Max. I heard Angel say in my head.