AN: OH. MY. FLIPPING. ZEUS! You guys did it! This fic has officially reached 400 reviews! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really went crazy about that. If you don't believe me, go look at my profile page. Pronto.

Also, I wanna comment on one of the reviews. As usual, I can't remember who sent it in, but the reviewer said that they wished Max and Fang had actually had sex. I'm gonna admit that, originally, that's what happened. But then this review that I got for one of my other fics said something along the lines of how the person [the reviewer] was quite upset that all the fanfics nowadays have sex in them. So, I wanted this one to be above that, hence Max and Fang not having sex...which seemed to pay off, as another reviewer commented that they were glad Max and Fang didn't have sex. I hope you guys can kinda understand that.

Now, go read.

WARNING: Potentially teary chapter. I swear, I nearly cried writing it. It's also really long. Like, 3000+ words long (kinda making up for last chapter being really short). And, it might get a bit confusing, 'cause I include a really long flashback that just might enlighten you guys as to what happened when the world was saved, and why Nudge is so bitter. Enjoy! And have the Kleenexes ready...

Maximum Ride: The After Years

Summary: The world was saved and the flock parted ways. Ten years later, where is everyone? What will happen when the flock reunites? Old flames will be rekindled, old memories revisited, and old passions relit. Gotta be FAX!

Chapter Fourteen: Remind Me Again Why

Gazzy, Angel, and Total's Hotel Room

The Gasman

As I woke up, I really, really hoped that Fang didn't have anything planned that required a lot of energy. I was freaking tired. Like, more tired than I had been when first semester finals had come around and I stayed up for 48 hours straight, cramming. The moment that finals were over with and I had made it back home, I crashed for the whole weekend.

After Disney World, and walking around all yesterday, my feet were sore and I was suddenly grateful that we had wings and hadn't had to walk throughout all our past adventures.

When Iggy and I had finally made it back to Max's car yesterday, Nudge was fuming and Angel had no fingernails left. Total was asleep and Fang and Max were conversing quietly, sitting on the hood of the car. I asked what happened and Nudge just kinda roared and stomped into the car, everyone else following suit. Angel thought at me that she'd explain later.

I was horrified when Angel and Total told me of their afternoon with Miss Hollywood. I was also pretty mad; I mean, this is my little sister we're talking about here, and the dog that's been around more than half my life. I couldn't understand why Iggy liked her so much…

Yeah, you read right: Iggy had a crush on dear old, stuck up Nudge. Unless he was lying to me when he said so, but I didn't think that was the case.

He ended up telling me because we had been discussing the concept of Max and Fang. Like, Max with Fang. Weird, I know, but it was too obvious that they're in love with each other. Way too obvious. Then Iggy had said that they weren't the only ones in the flock with romantic feelings, or something like that.

Dang. Our flock was like one big love fest. Besides me and Angel, of course. Yuck…

Fang's Hotel Room

Fang

Today was a chill day, a sit-back-relax-and-don't-kill-Fang day. At least, I hoped it was.

We were all crowded in my room, each of us in our own individual spot that we had taken over, like miners staking claims in the Gold Rush. Max and I were sitting on my bed, Angel was sprawled out on the floor, Total at her side, Gazzy was under the window, Iggy was next to the door, and Nudge was curled up in the chair in the corner.

It was silent.

And then Angel cleared her throat, looking at Max and me meaningfully, like she expected us to say something. Max then turned to face me, her eyes asking permission. I nodded stiffly. Here went nothing.

I cleared my throat first. Then I uttered the words that would lift me to the heavens, or damn me for all time. "Uh, guys, well, um, you see, Max and I kind of…well, we—"

Iggy let out a loud sigh. "Took you guys long enough!"

Gazzy looked me pointedly in the eye. "Yeah. You guys are trying to say that you finally caught on and got together, right?"

Max blushed. "How did you know?"

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously asking that question? We've practically been counting the minutes it would take you guys from the moment we left the School with Jeb!"

Here, Angel blushed a bit. "Actually, I have been keeping track." She paused, her eyes finding the clock. "It has taken you guys…seven million, eight hundred eighty-eight thousand, three hundred seventy-three, er, four, minutes to figure yourselves out, from when we left our cages to last night." She smiled smugly, obviously quite proud of her time-keeping skills.

I stared at her, disbelievingly, along with everyone else.

Then Nudge spoke. "Did you guys make looove?" she asked in a sing-song-y voice.

Max went pale. What was with her?

I scratched my head, letting Nudge's question sink in. "Uh, um, it depends how you classify that…"

Nudge and Angel's eyes went wide. Gazzy's face twisted up. Iggy pursed his lips. Total let out a sound that sounded vaguely like a chuckle. Then Max jumped in.

"What Fang means is that if you're asking if we had sex, the answer is no. If you're asking if we slept with each other, the answer is yes. Fang and I both stayed in my room for the night and shared the bed."

Nudge smirked. Angel grinned. Gazzy looked like he was choking. Total had his paws over his ears. Iggy looked as if he hadn't heard anything.

Max blushed again. "Um, so, how 'bout them apples?"

We all proceeded to look at her as if she were a crazy lady escaped from an asylum. A very random way to change the subject…

But surprisingly, it worked.

"I like apples," Angel smiled, making us all laugh lightly.

Again, it was silent for a moment.

"Max, why exactly did we split up?" Angel's words once again broke the silence. My first thought was, whether Angel was listening or not, That's a very good question.

Max looked puzzled, her brow furrowing. Angel was obviously still waiting for an answer, and everyone else, even Total and Iggy, seemed to be looking at Max and listening intently for their leader's answer.

Then, she began. "Well…"

~Ten Years Ago~

Max

Ruins. Fire. Destruction. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see. This was how the saving of the world happened: chaos before rebirth.

I stumbled through the wreckage, resulting from Iggy and Gazzy's biggest bomb yet. I coughed, feeling dust in my lungs and between my feathers. My throat was dry and scratchy.

"Report!" I yelled. "Repor-" My lungs couldn't take the volume, and I coughed again. There was no answer. I felt tears beginning to fall down my cheeks, washing away the dirt and leaving behind clean streaks in the grime.

I tried again. "REPORT!" The sound, though loud, was scratchy and sounded nothing like my own voice.

Itex was gone. We had uprooted the last of its kind. But Iggy and the Gasman had underestimated the power of their own bomb and we hadn't gotten far enough away to avoid the explosion. One of my wings had been hit by something and wiggled feebly and painfully. I could feel its dampness, from blood.

I coughed again, doubling over. I felt like I was going to lose anything that had managed to stay in my stomach from the past week. At the last cough of the round, I swear a cloud of dust exited my mouth. I stood up as straight as I could manage, suddenly realizing that there was a sharp pain in my left leg. I looked down and saw the torn material, red around the edges, soaked in blood.

REEEPOOORTTT!" I screeched at the top of my lungs, thinking they might explode at the pressure.

Then, in a flutter of hope, I heard a muffled cough to my right, one that was not my own. "Gazzy," I whispered, limping over to him. His blond hair was dusted brown, one of his eyes shut and coated in filth. He had a cut from his eyebrow to his jaw line that didn't look too deep, but was gushing blood.

"I'm okay," he coughed out, struggling to his feet. I grabbed his arm in attempt to help, but he didn't need it. "Where're the others?"

"…" I couldn't speak, too much debris in my throat. I shook my head and shrugged.

Gazzy coughed again. Then he called out, "Report!" I looked at him gratefully, mouthing my thanks.

A movement to my left. Another member of the flock, emerging from the waste. I cleared my throat, pounding my fist against my chest, trying to loosen some dust.

Gazzy jogged over towards the moving pile. I limped behind him weakly. "Iggy," I whispered, my voice gradually finding its way out.

He was in a similar state, coughing and dusty. "Who's there?" he choked out.

"It's me, Max. And Gazzy's here, too." Iggy sighed in relief.

"My arm…" He coughed. I looked and saw a sharp-looking piece of wood, penetrating his skin, opposite his elbow, and poking out. It was drowning in a river of blood that was flowing out of the main artery there. He was keeping pressure on the wound, doing his best to stop the bleeding. He would be fine. Eventually.

"Max, I'm sorry. I should've known that the blast would be that strong. I should've warned you. This is all my fault."

"No, Ig. It's no one's fault," I whispered before proceeding to cough up my guts.

I felt a reassuring hand on my back, but couldn't see the owner. At the end of my coughing fit, I stood straight, still feeling the hand on my back. But Iggy and Gazzy both had their hands where I could see them.

I spun around, immediately wary. All the whitecoats should've died in the explosion.

Fang. It was Fang. Fang, Fang, Fang. Leave it to him to scare the crap out of me, after we'd nearly died. But he was alive. Before I could stop myself, I threw my arms around him, letting the tears spring from my eyes. "You're alive," I whispered into his ear.

I felt him nod, his arms slowly encircling me. My hand ran through his hair, but I soon pulled it away. I looked at my hand and saw that it was covered in blood. I stepped back from Fang and showed him my hand. "You…took a hit to the head."

"I'm fine," was the reply of Mr. Wordy.

"Angel," I whispered, "We have to find her."

He nodded. "Report!"

I turned back to Iggy and Gazzy, smiling slightly. "Thank God you guys are alive."

I heard a flutter of wings behind me. I turned around and angled my head up. There was Angel, barely three feet off the ground, flying toward us. "Angel!" I tried to yell, tears of joy finding their way down my face. My baby was okay.

I limped toward her, catching her in my arms and hugging her to my chest. "Oh, Angel…"

"Don't worry, Max. Everything will be okay." She smiled down on me in her innocent six-year-old way.

I turned to the guys. "Is that everyone?"

"Where's Nudge?" came Iggy's voice.

Of course. It was still strangely quiet.

{[)(]}

Nudge

Blackness swirled around me, consuming me, eating me alive. There was a heavy weight upon me, shielding me from the outside world.

Before the dark, there had been blinding light and scalding heat. I could barely remember it. And then I heard the muffled voices and remembered.

"Angel. We have to find her."

Then a different voice. "Report!" Something in my mind knew that I was supposed to respond in some way to this. But I lay there limp anyway, unresponsive.

"Thank God you guys are alive."

Then there was a different kind of noise, almost foreign to my ears. "Angel!" yelled the voice. Then quieter. "Oh, Angel…"

Angel, Angel, Angel. Such familiarity. Weren't they the ones that came for you when you died? Were they here for me?

"Don't worry, Max. Everything will be okay."

Max, Max, Max. Again, it rang a bell.

"Is that everyone?"

"Where's Nudge?"

Nudge. Nudge, Nudge, Nudge. Nudge! That was me! But…they had nearly forgotten about me…

"Nudge!" someone called out. I should have responded, I knew. I should have showed them that I was there and that I heard. I should have presented myself in some way.

"Nudge." This time, it was a whisper, closer.

Some of the dark disappeared. "I found her."

And then the light invaded.

{[)(]}

Max

This was it. This was the end of our time together, the story of Maximum Ride and her loyal flock. Fang, Iggy, Angel, the Gasman, and Nudge. Our story was over.

My mission was accomplished. Itex was destroyed, the world was saved, and we were all alive and well. And now, it was time for us to disappear.

I had discussed it in-depth with myself. Right now, it would be best for us to vanish. And today was that day.

So, just a little fill-in: Jeb had disappeared, as well as the Voice. I didn't expect either of them to pop up again. Total and Akila were with Mom, who had come from Arizona after the bloodiest interim of the battle. Ella was back in Arizona, staying with her aunt. Brigid Dwyer had been exposed as a spy for Itex and killed in that last explosion, along with Anne Walker and many others.

We were in Australia, just getting ready to leave. At the airport, I would tell the flock my decision. I wasn't looking forward to it.

When I finally got up the courage to utter the words, the tears spilled over, as I knew they would. No one argued. We all knew this was best. It had to be done. And I would hate myself for it.

Angel reacted first, stepping up to me and hugging me tightly, as if she would never let go. My baby…I would never get to see her grow up. I kissed her hair in a motherly way, missing her already. She finally let go, her eyes leaking.

Gazzy hugged me next. "Don't worry, Max. I'll take good care of Angel."

I kissed the top of his head. "Thank you."

I walked up to Iggy, watching the tears creep out of his sightless eyes. I wrapped my arms around him in a sisterly way. "Stay strong, Ig. You'll make it." He nodded.

I then went to Nudge, my little diva. "Remember who you are, Nudge. Don't ever forget." I kissed her forehead.

Fang. This was the good-bye that would no doubt hurt the most. It would eat away at my heart and I knew that I would still miss him ten years from now.

I hugged him without restraint, squeezing my eyes shut and letting the tears flow out more. "I'll never forget you, Fang. Never."

He pulled back and looked me in the eye. He was the only one that wasn't crying. "No. Max, I promised that I would never leave you again. I'm not about to break that promise," he said firmly, his jaw set.

I shook my head defiantly. "This is different. I'm leaving you." And Fang cracked. I saw the tears, at first just reflecting in his eyes, then slowly but surely crawling down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," I croaked. He nodded, then, in front of the entire flock, he leaned over and pressed his lips to my tear-stained cheek.

{[)(]}

I cleared my throat and my mind, trying to push back the dreadful memories.

They really wanted an explanation. Not just Angel, who had asked the question, but now all five, no six, of them were, staring at me, expecting an answer.

"Well…" I began. "I made the decision that was best at the moment. The world didn't need us anymore. We didn't want to be freaks. It was necessary."

"But it might not have been the best decision for everyone, especially for so long." Iggy's voice was quiet.

Suddenly, Nudge stood up from her chair in the corner. "Well you know what?" She began sharply, her words practically cutting into my skin. "I'm glad I left. You hear? Glad. I was glad to be able to start over, glad that I could be someone new. I was glad that I didn't have to be with you guys anymore, with people that would forget me in an instant! I could have died in that explosion! I almost did! And you guys totally forgot about me!"

Her words struck a dangerously unstable cord, cutting deep into my soul, searing through my vitals. Her words were more venomous than those of a deadly snake. They could kill, as could her menacing face.

"And then you had to come along and ruin me!" She jabbed her finger through the air, at me. "You ruined it all! I was living my dreams! I was somebody in the world, somebody that wasn't Nudge, the human/bird freak! You took away my new life and dropped me back down to your level, the one infested with outcasts. And I hate you for it. I hate you all."

Without another word, Nudge bolted from the room, slamming the door behind her.

AN: Not that there's really much I can say after that, but I'm gonna try anyway...

REVIEW! No specific goal this time, just send in the REVIEWS!