Maximum Ride is amazing. I absolutely love the series (and Iggy! Oh yes! Like that girl in Virginia, I'm 5'10 too! Call me!) and figured I had to write a fanfic about this.

The plot is a work in progress...

(Thinking about it: Me: Where am I going with this? AHHHH! It sounds like a crappy start to a lemon or something! AHHH! CRAP! AHH! -headdeskheaddeskheaddesk-)

but someone once said write with your heart, revise with your head. And there are like four sentences in here I HATE with a passion (if you guess them write, you get a hug!) but all-in-all I hope to continue this story.

It's my first attempt at writing, but it turned out well.

I plan to continue this! Enjoy the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated!

We - that is, myself and my little flock of mutant bird-kids- were flying over West Virginia when Nudge spoke up.

"Maaaaaaax," oh no. Here we go. "Can we please land for the night? It's getting really dark and even though we can see, you know, cause we can, I'm really tired and kind of hungry so I think we should land now. Those trees down there a really tall and thick so I think we could land on them and this area is pretty secluded, it is West Virginia- oh look! A bat!- and we could build a nice little fire and-"

"Nudge?" I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder. She was flying besides me, but my wings were blocking her out.

"Huh?"

"Yes. We can land."

"Okay! Just one more thing-"

"Look! Perfect landing spot!" I tucked in my wings and began falling immediately in order to land directly on my desired tree and to avoid Nudge's babbling. My flock followed suit, more slowly, as I took in the wonderful feeling of the wind on my skin and the feathers on my folded wings, shaken by the force of the wind-tunnel that I was going through. Can you hear me now? The air in my ears drowned out any sound and for a few moments I was in pure ecstasy. That was until I saw the ground rushing oh-so-quickly towards my face.

With a fast push on the breaks i.e. WINGS OUT! DON'T DIE!, I managed to land semi-gracefully on two feet, hobbling a few unnecessary steps to catch my balance but ended up tripping on a stupid rock and tumbling forward. I hit the ground with a muffled "oof" and lay there for five seconds or so, feeling a little less confident about being the excellent leader my flock was counting on.

We had just left our new school- no, not the School, but a school that the government had built for us to use as a holding tank for their most prized fish. Us. Basically. At the opening ceremony, that stupid nagging voice in my head decided to tell me I had another mission to take care of. I had only been reunited with my mother and half-sister for a few months at that point, but when duty calls- especially nagging, stuck-in-your-head duty- you have to do something, right? Although I felt guilty about uprooting my little flock once again, I could feel the excitement in the air the day we left.

More missions, another purpose. Good enough for us.

Fang came up behind me then. I was lying on the ground, flipped on my back, looking at the stars between the thickly layered canopy of the trees when he walked up, stared down at me, hands in his pockets, and smiled that amazing smile that brightened even the darkest West Virginia night.

"Nice landing. And yeah, we saw it," he laughed and offered me his hand. I took it, he peeled me from the ground and I dusted off my back while he glanced around us, doing a 360 of the dark-depths of the forest while I checked myself for dirt, bugs, ect.

I could hear the other bird-brains shuffling through the trees about 30 feet above us, getting themselves comfortable for the night. I listened for Iggy and Gazzy's laughter ("Brown!" "It's tree-bark, genius." "Don't pick on the blind kid."), Nudge's chatter ("I'm hungry. Pancakes sound great, don't they? Funny word- pancake."), and the soft humming of 'you are my sunshine' by my darling, Angel. If I looked into the massive spruce they were resting in, I could see her white-as-snow wings like a light blur in the dark branches. My sweetie, Angel. My hoarder of weirdo powers.

I love my family.

"Max?" I barely heard Fang's voice when he spoke to me. He was speaking one level above a whisper and staring off into the blurry black scenery that he mixed so well with. I cocked my head to look at him, studying his face.

"In a few hours, I'll wake you up, okay? We'll go flying," he mumbled quietly, still staring but a slight smirk betrayed the lack of excitement on his face. I smiled to myself at his attitude and briefly considered what he was planning, but then felt the sudden swell of panic I got oh-so-often.

Every other time we had gone somewhere alone at night, despite the different circumstances each time, he almost always had ended up kissing me. After his comment at the South Pole- you can't have it both ways, Max- I hadn't given our relationship much thought. Albeit, something was there and we both knew that. I just had no idea what I would do if he tried something again. I mean, geesh. I'm only a kid.

With wings. Who's fought in countless fights to the death and saved her family and-

Ok, a kid with exceptions.

Well, kid or not, something had to be done about this Fang-having-a-crush-on-me-and-me-not-having-the-slightest-clue-as-to-go-about-dealing-with-it-other-than-flying-away-or-freaking-out before someone got seriously hurt.

Like him. Or myself.

So, like it or not (I wasn't totally sure if I liked it or not... well, I knew what part of it I liked its just how I felt about it when it was over that confused me... whatever.), I smiled, slapped him on the back and said "Why sure, F'ang-darlin'."

You know what they say. When in West Virginia...

I woke silently, but very much alert.

Someone's hand was on my shoulder, but I couldn't see whose. It was dark, so I should be able to see whoever it was regardless of the time. But no, no one was there. But the warmth stayed on my shoulder and I knew someone was. Just then, Fang filtered through the darkness, turning visible again, his face 21 inches away from mine.

Having extremely acute senses makes the need for a ruler CRAP.

He had his index finger pressed over his lips which I found funny, considering we'd all been trained to wake silently. I raised an eyebrow at him and mimicked what he was doing. He smiled, stood up, and I rolled my eyes.

I glanced around us at the rest of my flock. Iggy was slung over a tree-branch, out cold with the Gasman propped up against the same branch. Angel and Nudge were sleeping side-by-side, with Angel's head on her shoulder and Nudge's head rested over hers. I smiled to myself. They looked so innocent and cute when they were asleep.

Ironic when you think about everything they can do.

I felt Fang looking at me and turned quickly to meet his dark eyes. He tilted his head towards the sky and I understood exactly what our plan was.

Fly. Fly. Fly.

We took off seconds later, flapping our wings into the night-sky. God, it felt amazing to feel the wind under your wings, doing what you were made for out of your own free-will. For one or two miles, we flew together in silence and for about half of that, I forgot he was there. The entire sensation of flying had me off into another world, one where I could go anywhere, do anything. No strings attached. No clipped wings.

Fang's primary feathers tapped the top of mine and I noticed him flying over me, then next to me, then angling himself to a small lake, a half a mile ahead of us. He brought me back to reality and I went with him, completely aware that he was probably going to try and kiss me some time tonight.

I decided he was going to do this after I felt his stare on me the whole way here. And I decided I didn't mind until it happened if he did or not, I just wanted to skim my wings over the top of that amazingly dark pool of lakey lake-ness below. I'm such a sucker.

He landed by the lake as I caught up with him, stopping briefly to hover over the glassy dark surface and touch my feet to the chilly water. Then I landed besides him. He was sitting down, legs crossed casually, leaning back on his muscular, tan arms and looking up at me with a stare I didn't quite understand. I stood next to him, propped my elbow on his head and put my weight on that arm and sighed.

"Good night for flying," I said.

"Yep," he sighed, turning his head to look out at the darkness of the lake, the sky, the trees surrounding us.

"So," I sighed, matching his last sigh. "What's on your mind, Fang?"

I plopped down next to him on the grass and kept staring out into the pretty darkness. I tossed that question out into the open. May as well just get this thing, whatever, started.

"Uhm..." he mumbled. There was a strangled tone to his voice, like I had tied him down and started beating him for information. Not the best thought since it could happen. "Max... are we... together or what?"

"Uh..." I felt silly, but I was blushing. Thinking about all this was one thing, talking about it was another. I'd rather be punching someone's lights out than deal with my emotions. "I don't..."

"It's obvious that I have a thing for you though," it was more of a question than a statement, but I had no answer. Yes. It was obvious. Could I admit that and possibly risk leading him somewhere I didn't know existed? No. No way. "And, after Antarctica, you like me too."

Now that was a statement. Completely. I knew I did.

You love me thiiiiiis much!

But how was I supposed to admit it? What would happen to the flock? Would they treat me weirdly? I couldn't exactly keep it from them, not like I'd want to, since Angel could read minds. But she even said he loved me! So, if it were as simple as I'd heard people tell me, why couldn't I just make things simple?

I loved him. I knew this. He loved me. I know this, too.

But we were also always in some kind of danger. Could I risk it?

Should I?

"Yes," Oh no. Did I just say that out loud? NO! OH MY GOD- NO! That was meant for ME, just ME to hear! That was supposed to stay inside my head!

Or was it?

Shut up, conscience. You better than the voice, but not now.

I dared to look at Fang. I had never seen those creamy, tan cheeks turn pink before, but there. He was blushing. And smiling. Like a doofus. I really wished I had a camera just then.

"R-really?" he stuttered. Wow. A stutter. That was a first and also very cute. I wanted to hug him just then, too. I was being pulled out into a very strange sea. There was this odd tugging in my stomach, like I had to be closer to him just then or I'd completely fall apart. This giant weight that was keeping me together had just broken with one word.

"Yes."

And just like that, I said it again. The word that had just broken me in a very wonderful way. I was bewildered by this possibility, this feeling, when Fang's hand slipped over to my left cheek, softly and slowly trailing down my face until his hand reached my lips. His thumb slid over my bottom lip and I realized I was smiling.

He was only two inches away from my face now, and I could see the moonlight reflecting off his almost-black eyes. But no, there was the hint of a chocolate warmth there. I found it irresistible. I love chocolate.

It seemed like the best course of action was to kiss him. Well, ok. Sure.

I closed the distance between us within a second, one that felt like eternity, then my lips were on his, or his were on mine, whatever- we were kissing. Electricity went through my body and stung sweetly in my stomach were butterflies were flapping there wings madly. I had no thoughts, no concerns about the results of my actions then. I didn't care. Nothing but him and myself existed at that moment.

His arm wrapped securely around my waist and my arms sloppily (forIwaslikejelly) found their way around his neck. His lips, full and beautiful, were pressed lightly but firmly to mine, moving with me as his strong arm leveled me to on my back from my sitting position. His skin was so rough, worn from our days in the wild and on the run, but to me it felt like velvet.

He was kissing me differently now. There was a different longing in him, every part of him I realized when he positioned himself over me, one leg between mine, one on the other side of me, one hand on my waist, the other resting gently on the side of my face. His thumb was making circles on the crook of my ear. He liked making circles. Delicious, amazing circles.

...changing your mind...

Shhh, Max. Get a hold of yourself.

So I did. I took the lead then. I kissed him with gallons of kissing...ness. And he was more than happy to let me take the lead. I liked being in charge anyway. Fang was like chocolate. Wonderful, delicious chocolate. His tongue was doing something weird- he was obviously new at this, we both were- but I didn't mind. I enjoyed it. We both were enjoying ourselves tremendously.

I was letting go for a little while. I was just happy to get lost in him, the feeling of him, the knowledge that I really loved him and he loved someone as flawed and controlling as me. I knew he was happy to because a smile kept playing on his lips while we kissed.

Eventually, we both pulled away for air and he tucked my head on his shoulder and we sat like that for awhile, in silence. Nothing but our breathing and our warmth.

... I'll never leave again. Not ever...

Then we stood up, side by side, and spread our wings for flight.

But I was already flying.

In case this popped into your head, the italic writing is both Max's conscience and the conscience repeating memories and quotes from the past books.

Hope you figured that out lol

Ok! Thanks for reading! Reviews are like Iggy- I just can't get enough.