SPOILER ALERT! I don't think you wanna read this unless you've finished Nevermore, because it takes place after the 2nd epilogue.
DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU READ ALL OF NEVERMORE!
Fang returned to where Max and Angel were sitting, after looking over the island.
"A lot of people made it. There are a few you should know though, who...didn't." He said. He looked near to tears- and when Fang cries, you know something's wrong.
"Who?" Asked Max. Angel began shaking her head. She'd already read Fang's mind.
"NO! FANG, YOU'RE LYING!" She screamed, tears pouring onto her face. She'd been through a lot and was extremely mature, but she was still an 8-year-old girl, no matter how many dog crates and needles she went through.
"Sorry, Ange." Fang said, a tear slipping onto his cheek.
"Who didn't make it?!" Max asked, with an idea in her head that she didn't want to be true. Fang motioned for them to follow and flew up into the air with Max and Angel right behind him
He lead them to the cave, where part of it had collapsed. A girl who looked about Gazzy's age stepped up, a lizard tail dragging behind her.
"You're friends were very brave," She said, sniffing like she wanted to cry. "They pushed us all out of the way before the roof fell. All of us got out safely, but as for them..." She trailed off, not needing to finish. Max tore past a group of kids and ran over to the rubble.
When she saw the three bodies laying there, motionless, she broke down. It was bad enough almost loosing Angel, but half of her flock?! Nudge was in a battle position, still, ready to take on the Earth and keep everyone out of harm's way. Iggy, who was blind, looked stunned. He must have heard it just before it happened. Poor little Gazzy had his arms off to the side, as if he shoved a kid off of him at the last second, not worrying about himself.
She immediately felt terrible. All of those times she'd been mean to Nudge, especially through that whole thing with Sloan. She would never get to be normal, just like she wanted. All of those bombs Iggy had made, she spent more time teasing him and telling him off then comforting him. She wished she would have spent more time helping him get around, as he was blind, and telling him what a great cook he was, instead of ignoring the fact that he couldn't see and sticking her tongue out at him every time he made a meal that was better than her cooking. All of those times she'd yelled at Gazzy for farting when she knew half of the time he couldn't help it. When she could have hugged him and let him do more, even though he was only 10.
Angel laid her head on her brother's chest and cried. Max's heart broke 10 times over again seeing all of this. Sure, she was thankful and happy that everyone else made it. But he Flock was gone and that's all that was really going on in her head. She began to cry, which was almost as bad as Fang crying. Normally when she cried, Iggy would be there to make her laugh, or Nudge would get her to take her mind off of it, or Gazzy would play a game with her that would make her either laugh or give her slight anger to replacethe hurt. They wouldn't be there this time, though. Even Dylan, who, as much as she hated it, was her rock, was there anymore. She grabbed onto Fang, who she was at least glad to still have as he was the one she romantically loved, and refused to let him go. He held onto her just as tight. Neither of them wanted to loose anyone else.
Max loved her mom and Ella, but she hated Jeb. Even though those 3 were her actual family, the Flock were her real family. Imagine loosing your siblings or parents, imagine watching a little 8-year-old crying over her brother's death. That's what it was, only much worse than that. Max thought that she was going to die in that explosion, and now she wished she had, if it meant that Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy could live. She cried into Fang's shoulder even harder, and where he would normally yell at her for staining his shirt he cried right along with her.
The little girl with the lizard tail took a deep breath and sat down next to Angel. They exchanged glances and cried together in silence. The girl looked a lot like Angel and Gazzy, with beautiful blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Max wondered for a second if she could be related to them, and half-way ruled it out. It was very possible, but yet very unlikely at the same time. Max sat down next to Nudge and Iggy with Fang at her side, and she couldn't even open her eyes to see what had happened to them. She grabbed Nudge's hand. It was ice cold; it felt like stone. Fang put his hand on Iggy's arm. He never knew a person could get so pale. Gazzy still looked to heroic, so ready to take the world onto his shoulders, that it brought a fresh set of tears to each glance. Max still didn't want to open her eyes and see her Flock dead, but she forced them open anyway.
She wished she hadn't looked. Not only did tears come freshly puring down her cheeks, but the sight was so sickly and sad that it had Fang on the ground. Angel was shaking her head in denial. The girl with the lizard tail was silently sobbing over Gazzy's dead body. A few mutants were still outside, but most of them were wandering the island, looking for shelter. Max had no idea what to do next, for the first time in her life. She just wanted to sit there and cry, to mourn over the bodies of her family. It suddenly hit her that Total was dead, too. As annoying as he was, she still loved him. She felt bad that he would never have his wedding or puppies of his own. He would never learn to fly properly like everyone else. Not now that he didn't survive.
The girl with the lizard tail drew a shakey breath and stood up. She slowly made her way to where Max was sitting and knelt down beside her.
The girl took a deep breath and accepted the bare truth that she had to admit. "Max?" she asked.
Max looked up at the girl who looked like an older version of Angel. Max's eyes told her to go on, and so she did.
"My name is Natalie," She said. "My name is Natalie Batchelder. Max, I really want to say sorry, this is all my fault! It's all my fault, everything! I'm the one who-" Natalie stopped suddenly, unable to go on. She broke down into fresh tears, but Max needed her to finish.
Angel came over and and sat next to Natalie. She obviously told Natalie something through her mind, because she finally dried her tears and started to speak again.
"I was supposed to be a clone of Angel, but they messed up. So they cut off my wings and gave me a tail, thinking that I would be much less dangerous that way. But what they didn't know was that they'd given me Angel's brain powers, along with their evil hint. I made the idea of Itex and the 99% project. It wasn't on purpose, though! I was programmed to take over the world, just like Dylan was made to love you. But Angel helped through it and I stopped my work, but it was too late. Everyone was already prepaired for the world to blow up, and I felt like it was all my fault! It...it is all my fault." Natalie drew a shakey breath and began to cry again. Angel hugged her tight, and Max looked at the girl unsure what to think. After all, it wasn't all her fault. She was designed to destroy the world, even if she didn't want to.
"Nobody blames you." Max said at last. This girl was the reason that half of her Flock and almost all of the world was dead, but she felt so calm. Angel let go of Natalie and let Max in, and Max reached in and sqeazed Natalie as tightly as possible without breaking anything. Natalie hugged back, just as hard, glad to feel accepted.
"So, wait, you're...you're my sister?" Max asked suddenly. She nodded.
"Full sister, too. Both Jeb and Dr. M are my parents." She said. Max only held her tighter.
The Flock was dead, and that was sad. Max knew that she would never, ever get over the fact that Iggy would never see, and that Nudge would never be normal, that Total would never have his wedding, and that Gazzy would ever invent something of his own. (Probably an explosive.) But they were gone, and that was it. They were never coming back. That's why Natalie was here. Fang and Max could take them in, and they would be a family.
So that's what happened. And Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Total looked down on them from above, proud to call themselves family with Maximum Ride.