Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas ceci. Ik bezit dit niet. Ich besitze nicht dieses. Non possiedo questo. Eu não possuo este. No poseo esto.

xxxxx

Max's breath came in short gasps as she dragged her exhausted body up the last few steps. Her once clean school uniform was drenched with rain, sweat and blood that had flowed from the cuts up her wrist. One of her ankles was badly swollen, a result of her mindless, hasty scramble up the stairs.

She flinched as the first drops of rain hit her face, the sudden shock of cold sending chills down her spine, but didn't stop climbing, finally reaching the top of the staircase.

She felt an urge to turn around and look down upon the thousands of steps she'd just climbed, but didn't.

Instead, she turned her face into the wind blowing through the open archway that lead out onto the top of the clock tower.

Absently wiping her bleeding hand off on her already sodden skirt, she dimly registered with surprise that there were a few shards of glass embedded in her palm. She took a step forward onto the top of the clock tower, feeling the glass in her shoes being driven even deeper into her foot.

The wind was like an alien being. It howled at her, ripping with icy fingers at her long blonde hair. The rain that had earlier drenched her was even more vicious this high up off the ground. She let out a slightly startled huff of air, unprepared for the sheer force of the elements.

She cast her gaze around the platform, and then glanced up at the huge clock positioned above her head. She was surprised to see that it was only 7:20 in the evening. She was sure that it was later than that.

The clock must be broken, she decided.

"Just like everything else in my life…"

The sound of her mumbling voice chilled her. It wasn't her voice. She had never heard that current of defeat running through her tone.

Almost without her instructing them to, her battered and bleeding feet carried her across the storm-torn platform. Her blue eyes were vacantly scanning the sky, and a small smile broke out across her hopeless features as she saw a flash of lightning light the otherwise black sky.

Then she was at the edge of the platform. Her hands reached out of their own accord and gripped the cold metal railing tightly, knuckles turning white.

Leaning over, she was amazed at how high up she was. The false memory planted in her mind hadn't done the view justice. How was it possible for this not to be real? Stretching out a hand, she caught some water in her palm.

Not real.

But it's a lie, an illusion.

"You were right, Nick. You always are…" Except for when it really mattered.

In one smooth, fluid movement, which should have been beyond her physical capabilities, she hoisted herself up and over the railings. Her feet slipped slightly, and then found purchase on the outer rim of the platform.

She leaned forward. Now only her hands – her slashed, bleeding hands – were the only things keeping her from falling the hundred or so metres to her death.

In the end, she was alone, with only herself to stop her from falling. She'd always thought of herself to be the strongest link. But now, when there was no one to catch her when she fell, she was unable to hold herself up. Without the chain, the anchor falls.

Max closed her eyes, spread her (imaginary) wings and let go.

…

"Shit!" Doug swore vehemently, spilling his coffee down his chest.

Geoff felt a small twinge of sympathy. Coffee never comes out of white. He watched his friend curse some more.

"Geoff, you fucking idiot! What is she doing?!" The redhead dramatically threw his coffee cup across the room. Geoff flinched as it hit the wall and shattered, coffee spraying everywhere.

Doug leapt across the room, eyes never leaving the computer screen as he furiously began tapping on keys.

"Doug." Geoff stilled his colleague's frantic actions with a hand on his arm. "Leave it."

Doug, features pinched with rage, shoved his hand off. "She's going to fucking jump!" he hissed, gesturing at the large monitor.

"I know," Geoff said gently. "Let her."

"What!?"

"She's been through enough. I don't care if half of her is a bird – the other half is human, like us. She's just a kid. Give her at least the dignity of ending her own life. Or at least the thought that she ended her own life…" he said as an afterthought.

"Our instructions –"

"I know what the God damned instructions were. Leave it."

"I don't like it …" Doug's features were torn with hesitation.

He and Geoff watched in silence as the figure on the screen hoisted her battered body over the railing. The complete lack of expression on her virtual face chilled them both, and they unconsciously huddled closer together.

"Look, Geoff, maybe we should –"

"No. Shut up."

The blonde girl teetered on the edge of the huge building, face suddenly torn. Her features were shattered with an incomprehensible pain, and Geoff's face twisted in sorrow. He wanted to reach out to her, to tell her to stop. But he didn't.

The two whitecoats watched with bated breath as her ripped hands slowly loosened their hold on the railing.

She let go.

She fell.

Geoff leapt into action, fingers dancing across the keyboard with a grace that seemed too young for his aged body.

Doug's eyes did not waver from the screen. The girl on the screen had never looked more fiercely beautiful to him than she did now. Her face was alight with a radiance he had not seen her show before, in all his weeks of monitoring her.

It was hard to believe she was plunging to her death, drenched sunlight hair streaming behind her.

She looked more like she was flying.

A split second before she hit the ground, that vanished. Her eyes went dull, and lost all life.

Geoff sat back with a relieved sigh.

The girl hit the ground and shattered into millions of tiny pieces, which floated away, swallowed by the rain.

…

Fang looked around at the Flock. Their faces were grey with exhaustion, eyes dull with the knowledge of the hopelessness of their mission. It had taken them only a few hours to make it to Death Valley, Arizona. They were hidden in the trees outside the School, each plagued with their own terrible memories of the building they were about to storm.

"Fang, this is stupid,"

Iggy. Of course.

"What the hell are we doing here? This is going to be, like, five versus five hundred. Do you want to die?"

Yes. "No."

Angel whimpered.

"Well, then what the hell are we doing here?" Iggy gazed out of the trees with his sightless eyes, face taught with worry.

"We're rescuing Max," Gazzy said suddenly. "She needs our help."

Iggy glared at him, and then subsided slightly as his young friend opposed him, but muttered softly, "And who's going to rescue us?"

He was ignored.

"What's the plan, Fang?" Nudge asked, brown eyes gentle.

He had no plan. All he knew was that he had to get to Max. He was willing to run, full sprint, at the building and fight his way in. He would be willing to lose his life in the process. But those of his young friends … those he couldn't risk.

"I'll control one of the guards, and he'll show us where we need to go," Angel piped up.

Fang bit his lip. There were so many things that could go wrong… but they were running out of time… who knew when they were going to dispose of Max?

"I don't think I even need to begin pointing out all the holes in that plan," Iggy said sarcastically. "It's like a wedge of freaking swiss cheese."

Privately, Fang agreed.

"What would Max do?" Nudge asked softly.

"Max wouldn't have got us in this situation in the first place," Iggy snapped.

"Don't you dare blame Fang for this," Nudge snapped right back, temper flaring to life. "He's doing the best he can. He's –"

Fang was sick of the arguing. Max was dying, Max was dead, and all they could do was argue.

"We'll go with Angel's idea," Fang said suddenly. "Let's go."

He dropped gracefully from the branch he was perching on and waited on the ground for the others to follow him. They did with varying levels of disgruntlement.

Quietly, they made their way through the shallow woods, shooting glares at each other when they stepped on twigs. Fang felt as if all threads connected to rational thought had just been torn out of his grasp. He was detached from the situation, mind numb with suppressed horror.

He wondered what Max was doing in her false world. Was she sitting at home, eating dinner with her fake parents in a hideous parody of normality? Or had they already deleted her from existence with a few taps of a keyboard?

"It'll all work out," a soft voice said. "You'll see."

Fang glanced down, distracted. Nudge's face gazed up at him, illuminated by the moonlight. She'd aged so much, in the past month. It was as if for every day she lived she aged a year.

For her sake, he forced a tight smile and nodded stiffly.

"Quiet!" hissed Gazzy from the front. They had reached the gate.

"We're so dead," Iggy muttered.

"It's okay, Iggy," Angel whispered, standing on her tiptoes to pat his shoulder. Then, before anyone could stop her, she stepped out of the cover of the trees, blue eyes steely.

The Flock watched anxiously, unmoving, not wanting to distract her.

In a matter of minutes, Angel turned and beckoned to them, face glowing with pride.

There was an audible sigh of relief, and the rest of the Flock joined their youngest member in the open.

Fang glanced at Angel questioningly, and she nodded. "This is Jeremy. He's going to show us to where Max is."

Nudge and Gazzy both gave weary smiles. Iggy showed no reaction except for a slight wrinkling of his nose.

Fang nodded. He motioned for Angel to tell Jeremy to lead on.

The guard's mouth was hanging open, and his hands were twitching slightly.

Fang grimaced. "Angel – why does he look like that?"

Angel bit her lip. Her face looked strained. "I have to completely control his mind, because if I let go for even a second, he'll probably shout out to someone, or something. He's got a pretty strong mind…" she said in a disgruntled manner. "I might be able to stop him drooling," she offered.

Fang almost smiled. "Yeah, that'd be good."

Jeremy jerkily reached up and wiped the string of saliva from his mouth. Then he beckoned clumsily, turned, and then walked towards the main building.

The Flock waited as Jeremy opened the main gate, and then followed him through.

Fang thought it strange that they'd only have one guard posted at the main entrance, but dismissed the idea. There could be many reasons for that. Maybe security guards these days were less willing to be employed by an evil, inhumane scientific organization.

Nudge also noticed, and whispered to Iggy, who shrugged. A small frown creased both their faces, however, and they straightened their shoulders, senses alert for any sign of danger.

The building was strangely silent as the six figures stole through the night. It grated on Fang's nerves. Surely, even at night, there should be some activity. But there was nothing.

Despite his unease, he didn't allow his expression to change, and followed Jeremy in silence, occasionally flashing a tense smile at his friends.

They arrived at what appeared to be the main entrance to the complex. Angel stared intently at Jeremy for a few moments, and then, hesitantly, the guard moved to the numbered pad next to the door. He keyed in a code, and a green light blinked on.

"Too easy!" the Gasman crowed. He was instantly hushed.

Fang agreed with him, though. It was way too easy. Didn't they have security cameras here? Shouldn't multiple carbon copies of Jeremy have come rushing out of some door, guns blazing? What about the Erasers? Surely they'd take any chance they could get to rip into some mutant bird freak flesh.

Fang reached out and pushed open the door, and then waited for Jeremy to go through first.

"Lead the way, Jeremy," Iggy said dryly, feeling his way through the door.

Angel frowned at the guard, concentrating for a second, then smiled as he started off down the corridor.

As soon as they had stepped through the door, and heard it clang shut behind them, the smell of antiseptic almost overwhelmed them. Fang could hear gagging noises from behind him as Nudge and Gazzy clung to each other's arms and coughed. He sympathised, but allowed no sound to come from his mouth.

As they followed Jeremy through the labyrinth of corridors, Fang realized he had never seen this part of the School. This was obviously the 'public' part. There was no sign of anything that would indicate that this building housed the devil-spawned whitecoats.

Fang felt a tap on his shoulder. He inclined his head slightly.

"Fang," Nudge hissed. "Don't'cha reckon it's kinda strange that there's, like, no one here? I mean, this is the School. It should be crawling with whitecoats, or something."

Fang's brows creased. He had no explanation for the younger girl. "I know, Nudge. But there's nothing we can do about it."

"But what if it's, like, a trap?"

Fang shrugged.

"Shut up," Iggy hissed from behind Nudge. "The sound travels really well through here … they've probably all heard you, and now they're waiting to ambush us behind one of those doors."

"Shut up, Iggy," Gazzy and Nudge said together.

Fang rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the front.

Jeremy had reached a closed door which was emblazoned with the words, 'Private. Employees only.'

"Jeremy doesn't have clearance," Angel whispered to him. "He's just a lowly security guard."

Fang frowned. Damn.

"I'll have a go," Nudge said, stepping forward. She reached for the keypad, fingers splaying over the mechanism. Eyes closed in concentration; she tapped in a five-digit code.

She sighed. "Sorry, it didn't …"

Her voice trailed off as the lock in the door clicked open.

Nudge gaped at it. "What? But it wasn't the right code…"

"Whatever," Iggy said. "I don't really care. Can we just keep going, please?"

"Does Jeremy still know where to go?" Fang asked Angel, who nodded.

"He know the blueprints, but he hasn't actually ever been down here."

"God, just go, then." Iggy hissed, shoving at the security guard.

Jeremy stumbled slightly, only saved from face planting into the cold hard tiles by Angel's arm. He righted himself, and then began his trembling walk down the corridor.

The Flock followed in silence. Nudge's brow was still creased with puzzlement, and she glanced back the way they had come at the door frequently.

"This is wrong," she murmured to herself. Fang, not for the first time, agreed with one of the younger flockmates wholeheartedly.

But what else could they do? They'd already come this far…

They took a sharp left, and then later, a right and another left. Fang had completely lost all sense of direction. He had no idea how they planned to get out. If they ever had the chance to escape, that is.

"Here…" Angel whispered. They had reached a door. This one was not alarmed, had no security pad sitting next to it. It simply said 'No Entry'.

Fang had never been one for rules, and so he reached out, grabbed the handle and pushed open the door.

Leaving Jeremy outside the door, they entered the room. It seemed to be more of a connecting room, with two doors coming off it.

Angel glanced back at Jermey, hesitated a second, then nodded. "It's the door on the left," she said, promptly making her way to the said door and opening it.

Fang's whisper of warning died in his throat as an alarm began to wail.

"You freaking idiot!" Iggy yelled, all attempts at being silent discarded. It was too late for that.

"Angel!" wailed Gazzy, wringing his hands in panic. "We're gonna die!"

"Fang, Fang, the alarms are going off! What're we going to do? Should we, like, run now? Oh – wait, we can't because we have to get Max, right? Shit, um, okay, we'll go in and grab her and run, yes? I think that you and –"

"Don't move," a female voice lazily commanded from the door they had just entered.

Fang, who had been opening his mouth to halt Nudge's babble of panicked talk, whipped his head around so fast his neck cricked.

A tall woman, dressed in a suit and a white coat stood in the doorway, a small gun casually held in her right hand. And behind her, a large mass of Erasers leered, faces half morphed into their wolf form.

Shit.

This had gotten out of hand…

"What's happening?" Iggy hissed to Fang, sidling up beside him.

Fang ignored him, dark eyes fixed on the woman up the front. She looked to be in her forties, dark hair pulled tightly back into a severe bun. Her sharp blue eyes glinted with amusement.

"Geoff!" she called loudly.

There was a sound of a cup smashing, followed by a string of curses, and then the other door swung open to reveal a frazzled looking man with coffee stains down his coat.

Behind him, a red headed man appeared, similarly stained with caffeine, peering over his colleague's shoulder.

"Yes, boss?" the dark haired man called Geoff asked.

"Go get the girl," the woman instructed.

Geoff complied immediately, glancing up at the flashing red lights above the door to his right, a product of Angel's hasty attempt to open it, and then entering inside.

"Doug," the woman continued, "I expect that you've deleted her by now?"

"Of course," Doug said. "Just like you ordered."

"Exactly. Now –"

The woman's words were cut off as an Eraser suddenly leapt up behind her and snatched the gun from her hand, raising it and pointing it at her head.

"Don't move," Angel said, mimicking the woman's words from before. "He'll shoot you if you don't let us go,"

Fang almost grinned. That was Max's little Angel, he thought to himself.

The woman, who Fang assumed was the head of the School, didn't look at all concerned. She smirked at the blonde girl.

"I had every intention of letting you go even before you enslaved my employee and had him point a gun at my head."

Fang shared a glance with Nudge. What was going on?

Suddenly, Angel gasped. Fang's head snapped around just in time to see Angel crumple to the floor, a triumphant Doug standing poised above her, a needle brandished in his hand.

"It's just a sedative," he explained as Gazzy and Fang leapt for him. They both froze immediately as two bullets slammed into the wall next to them. The Head Honcho of the School had regained her gun.

She now looked slightly irritated. "There really is no need for this. If you weren't such savages, you could have left with the girl, completely unharmed. I'm tempted to just shoot one of you to teach the others some manners…"

Fang's eyes blazed with rage, face tightening.

Geoff chose this moment to re-enter the room. "I've got her, ma'am," he said, eyes confused as he noted the two bullet holes in the wall, and the prone figure of Angel. An uneasy look flitted across his face as he saw how young and innocent the unconscious girl looked.

Fang's eyes were drawn to the figure slumped in his arms.

Max.

But surely … surely that wasn't Max. Max's face was never so pale … all those days they'd spent flying in the sun had tanned her face a healthy bronze. And her hair, which was usually so full of light, was dull and almost colourless. Even though they often did not have much to eat, her body had never gotten so skinny as it was now. She looked like she was dead already … barely breathing.

"Take her,"

Fang glanced up. "What?"

"Take her," the woman repeated, looking slightly bored. "We have no further use for her. She'll be dead soon, anyway. Geoff – give him the body." She redirected her gaze to Fang. "You can leave now. Try not to cause any more trouble on the way out. I think we've been generous enough already…"

The dark haired Geoff shuffled over to Fang, his hands strangely gentle on Max's empty, fragile form. As he passed the lifeless body to Fang, he stumbled, hand shooting out to grab at the boy's shoulder.

Fang resisted the urge to snarl and shove the man's hand off him, and instead gripped the man's arm, helping to support him. After all, if Geoff fell, then Max would too, and she might crack her head open on the cold tiled floor.

Needless to say, he was surprised when he felt Geoff's other arm poke at his waist, Max now safely supported between the two of them. He narrowed his dark eyes as he felt the whitecoat slip something into the pocket of his jeans.

"Don't lose it…" Geoff whispered, so softly Fang wasn't entirely sure if he'd actually said anything. Then the man said, louder, "Sorry! Haven't walked in a while, what with sitting in front of a computer screen all day."

Geoff's eyes were intent on Fang's face. He looked like he was waiting for something. The boy's eyes widened with comprehension.

"Get the fuck off me," he hissed vehemently, holding Max up with one arm while shoving the man away with the other. Geoff nodded slightly at him, one corner of his mouth twitching up.

The Head of the School hadn't seemed to notice anything amiss, as she was busy instructing the Erasers. A majority of the mutant human-wolves nodded at her, and then left.

"The rest of you to the training grounds. We have a few new experiments we'd like you to try out," she said to the remaining Erasers.

They grinned with feral excitement, and followed the rest down the corridor, talking amongst themselves. Only four were left.

"These four will escort you to the exit," the woman informed the Flock. "Please don't kill them, as they will immediately inform me. I don't want to have to kill you – you seem to be fairly attractive kids. It would be a shame to have to feed you to the dogs, so to speak. Doug – you and Geoff will now shut down all systems, and then report to me."

Doug and Geoff returned to the room that they had come from, Geoff nodding to each of the bird kids as he passed them.

Angel smiled back, Nudge ignored him and Gazzy scowled ferociously. Iggy, of course, didn't see him.

"Don't try anything," the Head warned. "I don't want to have to see you again." She turned to leave.

"Wait," Fang said. She paused. "Why did you do all this? If you wanted us to take her, why did you alarm the door? Why not just let us take her and be gone?"

The woman's face stretched into a condescending smile. "I didn't want you to think you'd beaten us," she said. "We never lose."

Then she turned and left, following the path the Erasers had taken a few minutes previously.

"Let's go, kiddies," one of the Erasers spoke with a smooth, velvety voice.

Fang's eye twitched, hands desperate to wrap themselves around the man's throat.
Instead, he turned to Iggy. "Help me carry her?" he asked. Max wasn't heavy at all – she barely weighed anything, but it gave him something to do. He also suspected that Iggy would appreciate the opportunity to feel what had become of his beloved leader.

Fang carefully passed Iggy Max's shoulders, he himself picking up her feet.

"Let's go," he said, turning to the Flock, taking in their wide, frightened gazes.

"Is Max… is she going to be okay?" Nudge asked, eyes fixed on her friend's face.

Fang sighed. "I'm not sure, Nudge…"

They followed the four Erasers out of the room, Max lying suspended between Fang and Iggy, and Angel, Nudge and Gazzy following along behind.

Fang noticed the tension in Iggy's shoulders as his fingers ghosted over Max's face.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, knowing the answer already, but wanting to ease his friend's pain.

"No." Iggy said shortly. "She … she's dead, isn't she?"

"We knew that already," Fang replied. "At least this way…"

"But she's breathing … why is she still breathing? Maybe we can do something…"

"Iggy, she's gone. You saw what happened. Those tech guys, the whitecoats, they said they deleted her. This is just her empty shell…"

Fang had expected Iggy to lash out, as he often did in these situations. Instead, he stayed silent, a single tear tracking its way down his cheek from his sightless eyes, falling and landing on Max's forehead.

The rest of the twisting, turning walk passed in silence, punctuated only by the soft, reassuring whispers from Nudge to Angel and Gazzy.

"We're here, lovelies," one of the Erasers crooned, opening the main doors for them and giving a mocking bow.

Gazzy flipped him the bird as he walked past.

As soon as the doors were safely closed behind them and they were out of the compound, on the fringe of the woods, Fang spoke, "We'll grab the stuff and head deeper into the woods. Make camp there."

The Flock nodded wearily, eyes carefully looking anywhere but at Max's vacant body. The younger kids picked up the heavy rucksacks without complaint, and Fang and Iggy continued to carry Max's body.

They walked for at least two miles before Fang called a halt. "Here." he said, nodding to Iggy before carefully lowering Max's body onto the leaf-covered ground.

There were thuds as the rucksacks were flung unceremoniously down, and then a soft sob broke the silence.

"I just want Max to be okay…" Angel cried quietly, dropping to her knees beside Max's body. She buried her face in her friend's side, hugging her arm.

Her tears created a chain reaction, and within moments, the rest of the Flock was crying, all huddled around Max's body.

Fang, however, did not cry.

He didn't know what to do. This wasn't what he dealt with. He usually had Max here for this sort of thing. She was good at comforting the younger kids. Fang didn't deal with emotions. He couldn't. It wasn't his way.

He just went numb. It was easier, right? To just shove it all away and not let it hurt.

If he didn't do that, he'd be down there with his friends, bawling his eyes out over something he couldn't change.

Max was dead to him. Gone forever. He couldn't change that, no matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he cried.

Why couldn't you have been stronger? he thought hard at Max's limp body, barely visible through the cluster of mourning bodies.

He didn't realise that he'd spoken aloud until Iggy turned to him. The boy's face was stained with tears, but no more were falling. He reached up and wiped the remaining moisture from his face and said, "She did the best she could, I think. It's because she was so strong that she wasn't able to come back."

There was a quiet rebuke in his voice, as if Fang shouldn't need reminding of the strength of Max's personality.

Fang shrugged and didn't pursue the point. He sat down and leaned his back against a tree. He said nothing more for to his friends, choosing to watch them sob out their grief.

Eventually, Nudge murmured that they should sleep, and dragged the younger kids with her to a softer part of the ground. No one mentioned food because none of them were hungry.

Iggy soon followed the younger ones, joining them quickly into a restless and agonising sleep.

Only once Fang was sure they were all asleep did he move. Quietly, so as not to wake them, he pushed himself up, stepping over to Max's body. The Flock had done the best they could to ensure her comfort, draping one of their few blankets over her form, and positioning one of the rucksacks beneath her head.

Dropping to a crouch, Fang hesitantly reached out a hand. Movements cautious and gentle, he touched her hollow cheek.

He could hardly believe that after he'd done everything he could, given everything he had to bring her back, it was all for nothing.

She would die anyway.

Suddenly, he realised his previous thought wasn't true. He hadn't done everything he could. He hadn't given everything he had. He'd given her the surface; he'd given her what he'd always shown her. Friendship. He'd offered a love that one would feel for a sibling.

He'd held himself back, selfishly withholding what he felt in the deepest recess of his soul, where he had never allowed anyone to reach. Regardless of whether he would allow it or not, she'd made herself a part of him without even trying. He loved her with every fibre of his being. Beneath the blank mask, which he knew frustrated and confused her at times, he longed to tell her of what she had instilled within him.

He never had.

Why?

What was he afraid of?

Rejection?

Scorn?

Maybe she'd have been disgusted.

But in those last moments, those last days with her, what did he have to lose? Nothing. Nothing, and everything.

And he had lost.

Only in hindsight did he realise what his stubbornness and fear had prevented him from seeing. That had been his last shot. His last chance to tell her who he was, who she had made him to be, and he'd missed it. He'd been too caught up in the toll that could have come from baring himself so completely, that he hadn't seen what he should have.

Hindsight always came too late.

"Max," he whispered, shaking fingers tracing her beautiful, delicate, fragile, starved, lifeless features.

And he couldn't do it anymore. The tears, the sobs he'd held back came breaking through. Suppressed emotions are always more destructive when they finally break free.

They always break free.

Fang fell backwards from his crouch, and slowly, painfully, laid himself down beside Max. Tears still pouring down his dark cheeks, he carefully wrapped his arms around her still form, pulling himself into her, shuddering at how cold she was. He frowned slightly in irritation as a hard, sharp object pressed into his leg – whatever it was that the whitecoat had given him.

Fang didn't spare it a second thought.

Closing his eyes against the tears still flowing, he took a deep shuddering breath, and listened to Max breathe.

Then, softly, he whispered to her all the words of love he'd been too afraid to say to her before.

What did he have to lose?

xxxxx

A/N – I'm sorry, I'm sorry! (deep breath) Bringing in the numbered bullet points!

1. It took so long! I know … What, like, two weeks? I think… that's a long time. Sorry… but as I probably moaned to more than a few of you in review replies, school was pretty tough for the first two weeks. Dude, my maths teacher is a psycho. You have no idea…

2. This is the last 'chapter'. Next one's an epilogue. Just thought I'd give a heads up…

3. As you could probably have been able to tell, I'm not all that great at writing action. Like, no matter how many times I've gone through this ( 11 pages is a bitch to proofread ) I just don't know how else to do it. So this is the final copy for the chapter I'm afraid, m'dears. No more re-writing for me. I'm allowed one or five crappy chapters in a 15-chapter saga, yes?

4. …sorry for the wait…

I think that just about covers everything… But once again, sorry!! ( I just can't help myself, can I…? )

Reviews –

'Your favourite person ever!' – Notice these : ' ' ? They're very important if you want to get the full meaning of what I thought when I wrote your ridiculous excuse for a penname. About the OCs … having them here was pushing it, wasn't it? But I just needed them… they were important…

Laura – I'm just like you… Only rarely do I actually motivate myself to write something. Otherwise, I just take everything and give nothing back to the community. We're destroying the society of today, we are… I'm glad you enjoy my somewhat mindless ramblings, too. Thanks for reviewing, even though you have a busy workload and all…

MRACR – I could swear I've replied to you somehow. But I mustn't've, because you weren't signed in … It's been so long I can't remember anymore. Anyway, due to lack of explanatory disclaimer, the wing was so they'd think I was also a freak, accept me into their midst as they do ALL the other OCs in some fics, then I could sabotage them FROM THE INSIDE OUT! Cool, yes? Yeah, Max didn't get out in time, did she…? Pity that.

nudge343 – That was what you suggested? Oh, well, I'm glad I managed to incorporate it somehow. Awesome. And, yeah, don't worry about not reviewing, or anything. It's not like you're legally bound to, and I'm going to come and whip you if you don't. :D I'm glad you did last chapter, though. Thanks!

Fin. R&R!