I know, I know, people, I'm sooo sorry! I totally lied about when I was updating, and I'm sooo sorry!!!

Stuff came up and I'm taking so many hard classes!!!!

P.S. My explanation is so lame, but I'm pretty sure that I don't care. Also, I make Fang emotional on purpose cuz I want to and it works well for the sake of my emo-roller coaster angsty story!

The ending is shamelessly and proudly mushy and so fantastically sweet, it'll prob'ly rot your molars!!!

Anyway, I present the second to last chapter . . . this story es almost el finite!

ONE MORE CHAPPIE TO GO!!!

MAX POV

"Oooo, yowch," I muttered as I sat up, hands pressed hard to my head. I realized sitting up wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done in my life. "Gah!" I had the mother of all headaches.

My eyes opened and I saw the room I was in was completely black, walls, floor, everything, but there was still light . . . and no door.

Had the Whitecoats gotten their hands on me? "What the hell is this? Where am I, damn it!" I called, staggering to my feet. "Tell me what's going on!"

"Stop yelling. You're going to give me a headache." stated a familiar voice behind me, sounding bored.

I spun quickly and saw Fang sitting on the floor up against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. But . . . wait, Fang's . . . Fang's 24 years old, like me! The Fang in front of me was . . . 14!

He snorted. "You think that's weird. Take a look at yourself."

What . . . ? I looked down and flinched. I was 14 too! What the hell is this? "What in the hell is going on here?!" I yelped, totally confused.

He shook his head, a smirk on his face as he patted the spot on the floor beside him. I sighed and complied, sitting beside him in a similar position. "You wanna tell me where we are and what the hell is going on?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He shook his head again. "Welcome to your head, Maximum," he smirked.

"You sure this is my head?" I asked confused and beginning to think something was a little wonky and/or hinky. "Cuz, y'know, the blackness leads me to believe we're in your head, Fang."

"Oh, hardy har, Max. No, we're in your head. You're in a kind of bird kid, injury-induced healing trance. And I'm not Fang."

"Um . . . what?"

"Alright, listen close. This. Is. Your. Mind." he said, slowly and deliberately.

"I get that part, it's just . . . I'm so confused. And whattaya mean you're not Fang?"

"Exactly that. I'm not Fang. I suppose you could say I'm just a figment of your imagination. Alright, so basically, you whacked your head on a rock in the fight with Omega. As a genetically altered bird kid, your body has a defense/healing mechanism. You breathing and heart slow to a point where they're 99 percent undetectable, you go into your own mind, and your body heals itself. All the Flock has it, just none of them have needed it. Fang almost did twice. On the beach, it wasn't bad enough, and with Ari, it was too severe."

"So, wait, why do I need a thought up, um . . . you . . . telling me this?"

"Well, this is the information Jeb gave you that sort of sank into your consciousness. This is just how your mind chose to present the info to you."

"Wait a sec . . . you said my heart rate and breathing are undetectable! That means they'll think I'm dead! Oh, shit! SHIT! I gotta wake up, NOW!" I cried jumping to my feet.

On the floor, pseudo-Fang shook his head. "Sorry, Maximum. No chance of that quite yet. You gotta let it run its course, so I suggest you get comfortable."

I sighed, completely upset and frustrated, and sat next to him again, this time much tenser, and not at all comfortable.

When I finally, finally, woke up, I registered several things at once.

1) It was raining, and my legs and jeans were soaked.

2) Someone was wrapped tightly around my upper torso, keeping me dry and warm.

3) That someone was crying silently, their warm tears dripping steadily onto my neck.

I tried to open my eyes, say something, do anything, but I couldn't. I heard a sniff, and the person holding me slowly, almost reluctantly, lowered me to the cold wet ground. A pair of soft lips pressed themselves to my forehead.

"I'm sorry, Max, I'm so sorry," whispered the deep, heartbroken voice of my angel. Of course it was Fang, I thought to myself as I struggled to show signs of life. I heard running footsteps that abruptly stopped after a few moments and suddenly I was a lot colder with the rain hitting my face.

Then I felt another pair of arms slide gently around me, one under my shoulders and one under the bend in my knees. I was lifted off the cold ground and carried somewhere with some kind of overhead cover, because I couldn't feel the wet any more.

"Aw, Max, what are we gonna do without you?" I heard a voice whisper in my ear, rough from crying. It was . . . yup, that was Gazzy. I realized how strong he had gotten as he laid me down gently on what felt like a bed of rock.

Damn it, move! What the hell's wrong with me?!

Somewhere to the left, I heard Angel and Nudge sobbing and Iggy quietly 'shh'-ing them.

Angel! I called out mentally. Come on, hear me, baby girl! I'm alive, sweetheart, c'mon!

From across the . . . wherever we were, I heard her gasp.

That's it, Ange, c'mon!

M-Max?, came a tentative voice in my head.

That's my girl! Hey, Angel!

Wh-what . . . but--but Max, I d-don't un-understand!

It's alright, baby, I just need a little mental assistance waking up.

O-ok, one . . . one second.

After a few seconds, I felt a kind of tug at my consciousness, and the next thing I knew, my eyes had flown open, I'd sat straight up, and I was coughing up a storm.

"What the hell?!?!" Gazzy yelped falling off a boulder to the ground of what I could now see was a cave.

"MAX!" Angel ran to me and flung her thin arms around my neck. "Oh, oh, Max!" she sobbed into my shoulder.

I gently rubbed her back. "It's ok, sweetie, it's ok." I kissed the side of her head. "That's my girl," I whispered again. "Thanks for the help."

She pulled back, and it took another 10 minutes to extract myself from the others.

"M-Max, what just happened?" Iggy asked, looking and sounding very confused.

"I'll explain later, just . . . where's Fang?"

"He flew off," Gazzy said quietly. "Went northeast."

"Thanks," I said quietly. "I'll be back soon, ok? Just stay here guys." I kissed each head, then took a running start before leaping into the air, the cold rain hitting my face. I flew in the direction Gaz had indicated.

After a few minutes of flight, I spotted him on slumped on his knees about 10 feet from the edge of a cliff. I landed at the tree line about 25 feet behind him so I wouldn't scare him. Oh, god, he was completely soaked through.

I saw his body shake as he sobbed violently. I was about to approach him when he suddenly launched himself to his feet with a bone-chilling scream.

"It isn't FAIR!" he yelled, the rain hitting his face as it turned up to the sky. "How could you take her away?!?!" His fist collided with a tree trunk, and I winced as his skin split and bled, and a little bone or two cracked audibly.

"How do you JUSTIFY THIS!?!? The Flock's only just found each other again!!! She only just got to see the boys again!!! I didn't have enough TIME!!! I'd only just told her I LOVED HER DAMN IT!!! AND I'D ONLY JUST BEGUN TO TELL HER!!!"

He collapsed against the tree he'd hit, still trembling. "How could she leave?" he all but whispered. "How could I lose her? I LOVED HER, DAMN IT!?" He seemed to implode on himself, crying harder than ever. "It isn't fair!" he cried desperately. "I want her back, damn it! Give her back!"

He collapsed to the ground on to his hands and knees, his breath ragged and uneven. His tears fell thick and fast into the mud beneath him, and I couldn't take it anymore. It was breaking my heart, watching him like this.

It took all I had not to run to him, but I was trying not to make his break down worse. About 10 feet from him, I paused. "Fang?" I called out.

He didn't hear me.

"Fang." I said, but louder, this time.

He gasped, and fell to the side, staring at me with wide, wet, bloodshot eyes. "Wh-what? What is this? What the hell is this?!"

"It's ok, Fang." I whispered taking a few steps closer.

"NO! No, stay away from me!" he yelped, scrambling backwards so that his back was against the tree. "Don't come near me! I won't play in this sick twisted game! I won't let you use her to torture me, or the Flock!"

He launched himself to his feet and off the edge of the cliff, attempting to fly off.

I sighed and followed. I had super speed, therefore making me faster.

I layered on the said speed and went after him. I adjusted the angle then crashed into him, sending us both careening back to earth in a Fang/Max heap. We skidded into the mud and I rolled us so I was basically sitting squarely on his stomach, legs on either side of him, and my hands pinning his to the ground above his head.

"Fang." I said firmly.

His struggles died as I said his name, but this new Fang took my broken heart and shattered it. This wasn't my Fang. This was some defeated, empty person, and I was going to fix that if it was the last thing I ever did.

"I don't care what you say or do." I told him sternly. "I don't care if I have to sit on you, and keep you stuck in the mud for the next week . . . you aren't going anywhere until you realize that I'm here, for real, and that this isn't a trick. I love you Fang, so much, and I can't see you like this." Tears I couldn't fight began to slide down my cheeks.

For the first time, he turned his face up to mine, and frowned, studying my eyes. "I--I can't . . . I can't . . ." he whispered softly, turning his face away again.

"You can't what Fang?" I prodded soothingly, craning my head down to try and catch his eye.

"I . . . I can't believe that--that it's you . . . if it isn't." he finished, turning his face back to look at me one more time.

"Fang . . ."

"Is it? Is it you, Max?" he asked, sounding both determined and desperate.

I met his eyes with a small smile. "It's me, Fang. I swear to god it's me."

He screwed up his face against a fresh wave of tears, nodding to himself, as he wrenched his hands out of my grip and sat up quickly so I slid off his stomach and onto his lap. His arms flew up around my waist and held fast as he buried his face in my shoulder, letting the tears go.

My arms in turn went around his shoulders, and I kissed the side of his head through his soaking wet hair. Come to think of it, we were both completely soaked, but right now, that didn't really matter.

I felt his hands tighten slightly as he pulled away just enough to look me in the eye. "My Max . . ." he whispered. One of his hands slid up my side to caress my cheek and I leaned into his touch. "My Maximum."

He craned his neck up so his lips touched mine in the gentlest, sweetest, softest kiss imaginable.

After several long, agonizingly perfect moments, he pulled away and cradled my face in his hands. "Jesus, Max," he moaned softly. He placed a soft kiss on my nose and I rested my forehead against his. "Promise me, Max."

"Promise you what, love?" I whispered back quietly, running my hands through his dark hair, the water dripping off as my fingers went.

"Promise me you won't do that again. I think that it's been demonstrated that I can't do this without you."

"Oh, Fang . . ."

"Just say it, Max, please . . ."

"I promise you, Fang, I'll never ever leave you."

"Thank you." he breathed, his voice husky. "Thank you."

Suddenly he gave a very violent shudder. "What is it?" I asked him, feeling completely worried and concerned.

He buried his face in my shoulder again. "I lost you. For however brief a time, it felt like an eternity. You weren't . . . you weren't there. I thought you were dead and it almost destroyed me. I don't think I'm getting over that anytime soon.

I pulled back and he looked up at me, his dark eyes questioning. I took his hand in one of mine and held it flat against my chest, my other hand resting on the side of his face. "Do you feel that?" I asked him. "It's still beating, Fang," I said softly him. "I'm still here."

He nodded and brought his hands to mine and pulled them tight against his chest, placing another perfect kiss on my lips. "I love you, Max." he murmured against my mouth. "You know that, right?"

"And I love you too."

And as we held each other tight, the rain stopped falling and the stars peeked out from behind the clouds.