Max sighed deeply watching the sun set while letting her rugged, dirty blue converse hang over the edge of the dusty cliff which rimmed the mouth of a cave the flock had decided to stop at. It happened to be the same cave Nudge and Fang had waited at while Max had stayed with Dr. Martinez and Ella while her gun shot wound healed. For old times sake, y'know? The entire flock felt rejuvenated after spending a night at the Martinez's estate, all of them having taken refreshing, hot showers, and stuffing themselves to bursting with delicious Mexican food.
The avian leader already missed her long lost mother and sister, but inside she knew that a suburban life in Arizona was not meant for her. No, her place was with the only others who were like her; the flock. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel. And Ari.
Max's throat tightened when she thought about the epic battle that had taken place at that castle in Germany. Taking down one Flyboy after the other, Ari had expired right on the spot. His death had nearly cost Max her life, or at least she would have been hurt very badly. She had held his upper body when he died, his blank, dark eyes staring off into space for eternity, and almost had her head ripped off by a Flyboy. The flock had won in the end, with the help of kids from around the world (thank goodness for Fang's popularity on the internet).
Fang. Max had been so angry with him, she had wanted to kill him. Well, not really, but close to it. After he had left for the night, she had been furious, but then he had decided to leave for good. Even worse, Iggy and the Gasman had left with him, severing the flock in two. Max, Nudge, Angel and Ari had left for Europe while the boys headed for the United States West Coast. After the battle in Germany, the Flock rejoined each other, hard feelings forgotten in the midst of saving the world. Max had saved the world with the help of Fang sending out a message in his blog. She hadn't given up. She hadn't changed her mind.
"What are you doing...?"
"Helping you change your mind..."
Max blushed when she remembered Fang's unexpected mind-changing tactic. He had kissed her (how un-Fang-like can you get?). And this was a long kiss. They were both a little short of breath (they were built for that kind of thing, with high altitudes). The aftermath had left Max confused, happy and a bit scared. In the end she had decided to ignore it, even if Fang had attempted to talk with her about it.
"Hey Max."
Speak of the devil.
"Hey Fang." The two bird kids stayed silent for a few moments before Fang decided to speak again.
"Can I sit with you?"
"Yeah, sure." answered Max. More silence.
"I'm sorry for leaving, Max." stated Fang. Max did a small double take. Fang was apologizing? Had reality just ended? "I meant what I said before. I'll never leave again. Not ever."
"I'm glad to hear that." said Max with a little more sentiment than she had intended.
"It was hard...to keep everything from falling apart. I never realized how hard it is to be the leader." admitted Fang, referring to the period of time when he had gone to the west coast with Iggy and Gazzy. "It was hard without you." Max smiled at Fang appreciatively.
"Thanks, Fang. It wasn't that easy without you either." Fang let a ghost of a smile appear on his face, and stayed silent. Max studied his features. It seemed that he had a lot more to say that he wasn't saying.
"We still need to talk," he said finally, after appearing to have given himself a short pep talk in his head "About what happened that night that I..." he trailed off. Max felt her face heat up. "...kissed you." the most awkward silence Max had ever felt in her life followed that statement.
"Well..." she started "you did it to change my mind..."
"I did it because I didn't want you to run off and save the world...and die in the process." said Fang. "I also did it...because..." he breathed in deeply.
"Don't worry." said Angel "It'll all be okay. Fang still loves you."
That football game they had gone to. That's what Angel had told Max.
"Max...I think I love you." Fang nearly choked saying those words. Max's eyes widened so far apart, she was surprised her eyes hadn't popped out and rolled away. Fang looked down, a blush that Max had never seen before invading his face. Max suddenly felt determined (although shock still remained). Fang kissing her, her Valium-induced love confession...she wanted to end all the dodging around the question of "Do I love Fang?" once and for all. Max reached over to him hesitantly, and smoothed his hair the way he had done unto her before he kissed her. She brushed the soft, dark locks away from his eyes, and positioned herself closer to Fang. She looked into his unblinking, brown eyes. Max ended the tension by closing her matching ones, and pressing her lips softly against his. He didn't move at first, but half a second later, she felt him reciprocating, and smoothing her hair the way she had smoothed his. They broke apart, both gaping at each other stupidly. Max came to her senses a few seconds later, and gained her composure.
"I daresay I love you too, Fang."
The black winged boy could apparently not control himself, and broke into a full-blown smile, teeth and all. He cupped Max's face, and kissed her lightly and quickly, just in time for Nudge to come out whooping and clapping, followed by a smiling Angel, and a pair of grins on the pyro duo of Iggy and Gazzy.
"I knew it!" Nudge said enthusiastically. "I knew it, I knew it, I kneeeeeew it!"
"Woah." said the Gasman "Fang is smiling. What did you do to him Max?"
"Smiling??!" exclaimed Iggy, running up to Fang and feeling his face "Good God! He is smiling! THE WORLD IS ENDING!"
Angel came up to Max and hugged her "What did I tell ya', Max? Can I have a reward?" Max smiled.
"Eh, alright. Why not? Saving the world goes pretty high on the "need a reward" list. Let's go find a Pizza Hut." said Max. A round of cheers erupted from every flock member, and the group took off into the fading sunlight.