Okay, not really sure much about when this is. Sometime after The Final Warning, when the Flock is at Dr. M's house. MAX and FANG never happened. Other then that, *shrugs* use your imagination. I am inserting my OC, Tara, a little bit, but this is mostly Max/Fang centric.

This is Angel

This is Voice

This is thoughts

Max POV

I sighed and wiggled around in my bed a bit, trying to get comfortable. The Flock, plus Fang's twin sister Tara who we had met a couple years ago, were crashing at my Mom's for awhile. It was summer, so Ella was off of school and we all could hang out while the Flock decided what to do and where to go next. And I, for some reason, couldn't sleep at all. I had been trying for over four hours, but still was getting nothing. I sighed again and sat up, just as Tara rolled over in her sleep and muttered something about pickled fuffernutteritis, which apparently was going to turn her into a bunny rabbit named J. R. Finklestien. Tara has the weirdest dreams sometimes.

I walked over to the window and tried to figure out why I couldn't sleep. I was getting nothing, when I was interrupted by-you guessed it-the Voice.

Hello Maximum.

Voice. Long time, no annoy. What fortune cookie idiocy do you have for me today?

You need to save the world, Maximum, but you can't do that without a rock to lean on. Find your rock, Maximum. Then save the world.

Jeez, you sound like Yoda or something. And I know that I have to save the world, you know. You've told me over fifty times!

Nothing. I rolled my eyes-typical Voice- and started to think over what it had said. As is usual with what the Voice says to me, it made no sense. A few notes of music played from the room, and I remembered that Tara had to fall asleep to music or she would wake up screaming bloody murder from a nightmare. After the first time, Mom had gone out and bought the whole Flock and Tara ipod touches. Tara used hers every night to get to sleep, and had a bunch of random songs. I went into the room and turned hers on. I looked at the song playing and began to listen. It was one a song by Celtic Women, a group whose music Tara loved. I wasn't sure how many she had on her itouch, but this one was called You Raise Me Up.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

Whenever I felt like life was getting to be too much for me, that I couldn't go on doing this, Fang would always find me, and sit with me, rubbing my back till I had built up my walls again. If I needed to, I could pour out all of my troubles to him. He would listen, sometimes say something that helped me think straight, or find the solution I needed. Usually, he would just listen to me as I ranted against everyone who had forced us to live such a horrible life.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

With Fang beside me, or behind me, I knew that I could take on anything. That he would always have my back. That everything would end up fine. If I felt like I needed a second opinion, Fang was almost always the one I turned to. I could talk with him like I could no one else. It was almost like we could read each others minds, but no one else's. He was one of the only people who I trusted completely and utterly.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

Fang was always there when I needed him. He was the one who helped me get through every day, even if neither of us knew it. Yes, I needed the whole Flock, but Fang most of all. He had been the first one I had met, way back in the School, and the one I flew with for the first time. Our cages had been right next to each other, and when I came back almost crying from a particularly nasty test or experiment, he would reach through the bars and hold my hand till I felt better. Even now, when I needed a bit of extra reassurance, one touch from him and I felt completely sure of myself again.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up: To more than I can be.

It was Fang who I alway leaned on when I needed to lean on someone; Fang who I went to when I needed to rant about stuff; Fang whose praise meant the most to me; Fang who was my rock.

And it was Fang who I loved.

I felt a bit hesitant about saying anything to him, and was thinking of ways to bribe Angel not to tell him, when the Voice showed up again.

No, Max. You have to tell him. If you don't have a rock, you can't save the world. Fang is your rock. You have to tell him to save the world.

I can't tell him. If it doesn't work out, then the Flock will split up and I can't have that happen again. Once was one time too many. Also, if the School found out, who knows what they'd do?

You have to take that risk, Maximum. If you don't, the world will never be saved and you will lose him anyways.

At that I froze.

Explain.

If you don't save the world, Itex will take over and eliminate all possible threats. They won't want to lose you, since you are so valuable. But they can't control you as you are. To break you and gain control of you, they will kill Fang and threaten to kill the others. By this time, they will have figured out ways to block all of your abilities. You will lose everything that is most dear to you, and never get it back.

I turned off Tara's itouch, then crawled back into bed. I made up my mind to tell Fang.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The next morning, I made sure to wake up early enough to 'talk' with Angel.

Ange?

Yes Max? There was a pause as she read what had happened last night. What are you going to do, Max?

I'm going to talk to Fang. Please don't tell him anything, just that I want to talk with him right now. And when Tara wakes up, tell her that I borrowed her itouch. 'Kay sweetie?

'Kay Max. Another pause. Fang will meet you on the roof. He wants to go flying with you. But, your mom just got up and she wants you both to have breakfast. Can you wait till after?

'Kay. Tell Fang we'll talk after breakfast.

I hurried and got dressed, wondering who else was up. I was the second one downstairs, the first being none other then Fang. Wonderful. me and Fang alone in a room. And he knows I want to talk with him. He raised an eyebrow, clearly wanting to know what I wanted to talk about, but I ignored him. It wasn't too long before breakfast was ready, and everyone was downstairs but Tara. Just as I realized this, she came bouncing down into the kitchen. I have no idea how that girl can be related to Fang. She is completely insane, and she does not have muscles, she has springs. She also never seemed to stop grinning, even if she is mad at someone. He grin just morph until she looks like a loon on a murder spree. It is very creepy, especially if it is aimed at you. She plopped down in her chair and looked at everyone.

"Good morning, Dr. M, Ella, Max and her merry band of mutants plus Fang."

Almost everyone started laughing. Fang just raised an eyebrow, and my mom covered her mouth with her hand. Everyone else, including me, was laughing. Iggy was the first to be able to speak.

"'Max and her merry band of mutants plus Fang?' What is up with that?"

"Well, to be in the merry band of mutants, you have to be merry. Fang isn't very merry, but he is still part of a group with the merry band of mutants lead by Max. Thus, Max and her merry band of mutants plus Fang. See?" We all started laughing again, now because her head and hands had been bouncing all over the place as she explained.

Once we had finished breakfast, I told my mom that me and Fang were going flying. I also told Tara that I had to borrow her itouch. Once that was all done, we took off. We flew to a nearby cave, and landed inside. Fang looked at me, raising an eyebrow again. I didn't say anything, just began to play the song for him.

Fang POV

You raise me up: To more then I can be.

The last line faded into silence. I wondered why Max had wanted to show it to me, and why she couldn't just do so back at the house. I didn't like being alone with her. It made it harder for me to accept that she didn't love me back. At the same time, I couldn't count the number of times that I had wished the rest of the Flock would leave me and Max alone for a few hours. I looked back at her, wondering what the heck was going on. She wasn't looking at me, but at the horizon. She took a breath and I listened more closely; never a hard thing to do when it was Max speaking.

"I heard from the Voice last night. It told me what would happen if I didn't save the world, and that to save the world I needed a rock to lean on. It said that if I didn't save the world, Itex would take it over, and try to stop me from overthrowing them or something. But they wouldn't kill me, because I am so powerful. Instead, they would kill y-one of the Flock, and use the others to keep me in line. They would have found a way to suppress our powers, so we wouldn't be able to stop them. And it said that I would lose what was most dear to me and never get it back." She seemed to be trying to keep back tears, so without thinking, I put an arm around her shoulders. I expected her to push me away, but instead she leaned into me. I hid my shock and kept listening.

"Right before it told me this, I had heard this song playing. Tara had fallen asleep to it. I couldn't do the same, so I listened to it. And it made me think."

She took another deep breath and looked at me.

"Out of everyone I know, there is only one person who has supported me through pretty much everything. Only one person who has helped me make it through everything I needed to make it through. Only one person who has raised me up to meet every challenge. And without that one person, I would be nothing. I would have failed long ago and we would all be back in the School. The song helped me figure out who my rock is, who i can turn to when I need to break down. You." I blinked, thinking that I must still be a bit tired, becasue I could have sworn Max say that I was her rock. She looked straight in my eyes and my breath caught as I realized that I hadn't heard wrong. She continued when I didn't say anything.

"You are the only person I know who has seen me completely collapse, who has seen me at my weakest. The only person who can make me feel like I can save the world, that I can give the others a good life, a safer one." her voice quieted, and I got the feeling that I wasn't supposed to hear this bit. But, given my enhanced hearing, I did. "The only one I love."

I froze. He must have realized that I had heard her, because she froze too. I stared into her eyes for I don't know how long, trying to see if she had meant it. And I found the answer.

Max POV

Me and Fang landed back at the house to find everyone standing outside, waiting for us. I was confused until I saw Angel smiling. I glared at her.

You only said for me not to tell Fang. You never said anything about everyone else. She giggled as Nudge started up.

"ZOMG, Max, is what Angel said true? Is that why you wanted to go and talk to Fang? Did you tell him? ZOMG, are you two together now? Are--" I sighed in gratitude as Iggy covered Nudges mouth, successfully getting her to be quiet. Until he looked over at us.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer Nudge's question?" He was grinning evilly. I glared at him, then realized that he couldn't see it.

"I'm glaring at you Iggy." Nothing.

I looked at all off the Flock, my mom, Ella and Tara. They all stared at me expectantly. I slowly nodded my head once and winced as I waited for the inevitable eruption.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" My hands flew to my ears, as did everyone else's. Tara even yelped, which isn't surprising considering she is three percent cat as well as two percent bird, so her ears are as sensitive as Iggy's. Before Nudge could start ranting, Tara covered her mouth and looked at me and Fang.

"Well, congratulations and all. I would say a bit more, but I need to get Nudge out of here before she starts making ears bleed. I think that the hall closet will work. See ya later."

And she dragged Nudge off, with the latter trying to get her mouth free. It wasn't working. The rest of the Flock came up to us and said there congratulations, then Mom and Ella. I was glad that no one made to much of a fuss about it, and that life began to go on as usual. We all laughed when we found out that Tara really had locked Nudge in the hallway closet. Nothing else really happened that day, except Fang kept hugging me and smiling his half-smile at me. That night, right before I crawled into bed to try and fall asleep to Tara's mutters of penguin cornucopias eating peanut butter sausages and the repeating melody of 'Mr. Bojangles' (I swear that girl has the weirdest taste in music.), I looked out the window at the night sky and smiled to myself, singing softly.

You raise me up: To more then I can be.

Well, I think I may have made Max and Fang a bit OOC, but I will leave that up to you all. Bye!