A/N: To ColdRootBeer and Eleven3, no piñata, but I managed to sort-of involve your mud wishes in here. ;) And special thanks to Ruby1000 for letting me use the theory about the Voice! Check out her story, Maximum Ride Theories.

"Where are you taking us?" I demanded to Fang, who was leading the way and flying to God-knows-where.

"Just thought we'd all take a bit of a field trip." Was all he said. Was all he'd been saying the whole trip.

"Fang, I swear to God, if you don't tell me where we're going right now—"

"Chill, Max, okay? Where do you think I'm going to take you, a laboratory? Biotech?" He rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Not funny. Biotech is not a funny thing."

We had later found out from Osmond that Biotech had also been the reason for the powers we had gotten that we didn't already have when we escaped the lab, like me flying at super speed, Fang becoming invisible, Nudge attracting metal, Iggy feeling colors and seeing when he's snow blind, and Total growing wings and talking. They had access to all of us, not just me, and could have messed with any of our brains. They had captured Nudge and Gazzy as hostages, hoping that I would kill the whitecoat as an excuse for putting up wanted posters of me and having people report me to them. And they had taken blood from Nudge and Gazzy to see if it would work for the generator they had used on me, since they had the same blood as me.

But they had stopped using the generator on me when Hartley had rewound all the damage he had made, which is why the Voice came back and Angel could read my mind again. Somehow, they had taken the Voice out of my head in order for them to take control of it instead. They had done this, what do you know, on the exact date of my sort-of fifteenth birthday.

Fang landed on a mountain, motioning for us to follow, snapping me out of my thoughts. He held up a blindfold. I just stared at it.

"You have got to be freaking—" I cut myself off when he wrapped it around my eyes. "Am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on?"

"Yup." The flock all chorused at the same time.

I was led a little ways, and then they took off the blindfold.

"Surprise!" The flock yelled.

In front of me was our house. Our E-shaped house. Though it looked pretty old and battered and probably couldn't be lived in anymore, it was one of the best surprises ever.

"Oh, my God," I whispered, stepping closer to it. I blinked fast, tears coming to my eyes.

Angel led the way inside, skipping along. "I haven't seen this house in forever."

I smiled at her, and then remembered that the last time she had been here, she had gotten captured and all of this had started. We hadn't known that that morning would be the last one here.

And that made the tears flow freely.

"I can't believe this," I said in a choked voice.

I went into the kitchen and saw all the dishes were now broken and all over the floor, but the maps still spread out everywhere, and…

I pointed to a tangle of colorful wires strewn on the floor, and turned to Iggy and Gazzy. "Your bomb?" I asked, managing a smile.

They both nodded and high-fived.

Then I walked to my room and opened the door. It was a disaster now, the mattress on the floor; all the dresser drawers opened or even completely pulled out. The Erasers had probably searched our house for clues on where we went after Iggy and Gazzy had left to find us.

I slid my hand across the dresser—causing dust to stir and a lot of it to end up caked on my hand—and looked out the window to the sight I thought I'd never seen again.

I remembered how the last time I had slept here, I had experienced a nightmare about lupine hybrids that now no longer existed.

I sat in my old bed and sobbed.

I obviously can't say this was the first time I'd cried, but I could say this is the first time I cried for the reasons I did—for feeling so overwhelmed and moved and just—almost…happy.

A knock at the door. I mumbled a response, trying to wipe the tears away and hide that I was just bawling, and the door opened.

"You okay?" asked Fang.

I nodded. "Not sad crying."

Fang sat down next to me, and put one arm around my shoulders.

"I never thought I'd see this place again." I said.

"Me neither."

"Thank you for bringing us here."

He smiled. "It was Gazzy's idea. He said the house had been still standing the last he saw it and wanted you to see it. And I knew the way there, so…" He gestured to the room pointedly.

"So many things have changed since we last lived here." I mused.

Fang nodded. "For example," He leaned over and gave me a long kiss. "If I had done that when we still lived here, you would probably turn me inside out." He said after we pulled away.

I grinned, "Probably."

Fang got up and left the room as Angel called out his name.

I sighed. Voice?

Yes?

Can you tell me who—or what you are? I think I deserve it now.

Yes, I suppose you do. I swore I heard it chuckle. Well, Max, I am you.

I blinked. What?

I am nothing but your subconscious. I have simply just been telling you all of the things that you already know but aren't thinking about bringing to your focus. Every one has one, but Jeb had just programmed yours to be more…powerful. Jeb can do the Voice because he was the one who programmed it into your DNA. I was programmed to appear whenever you needed the most help—which happened to be when you left your home and started on your mission of saving the world.

That made sense, I supposed. I was glad the Voice—I mean, me, I guess—had finally told me who it was. Turns out I was the one who had been annoying myself all the time. I laughed out loud.

"Max, come out here!" said Iggy's voice from outside.

I did, and was greeting with a huge splat of something wet and sticky on my face.

"What—?" I stuttered, as the flock burst into laughter.

I wiped off what had been on my face. Mud.

I saw Fang's hand covered in it.

I pretended to be mad. "You'll pay for that," I growled, throwing my own handful. He ducked, and it hit Iggy, who yelped and staggered backwards, not knowing what just happened. This started a whole new round of hysterics from the rest of us.

That's how we stayed for the longest time—just having fun and being kids, which we all felt like we hadn't done in a thousand years.

But I know my mission's far from done. I've only defeated part of what's destroying the world. This was going to be a lifelong project, I knew. Because there was always going to be someone—or something—that needed to be safe.

And there's always room for improvement.

So I'm not going to say goodbye, because it;s not the end yet. We're the Flock, and I'm Maximum Ride. We don't give up that easy.

A/N 2 PLEASE READ, DO NOT IGNORE: So that's the end guys. I hope you enjoyed reading. I know I enjoyed writing it. It's been a great ride, and I appreciate all the people who've read this.

Here's the deal: I got one vote on my poll, and it voted 'no' to the new story idea. So if you want the story to happen, you better let me know somehow! (:

Let me explain more: It's gonna be more like a companion to my other two stories, not a complete sequel. I'm going to make it as un-cliched as possible. If I get at least two reviews or two 'yes' votes, I'll go along with it and post the summary , title, and characters on my profile. I already have the sotry planned out. If I get mostly 'no's, or no reviews about it, you probably won't see much of my writing for a while, 'cause I also have a story idea I wanna put on Fictionpress. So please, if you want the story, make yourself known!

And please review this too. Let me know overall how this story was. Let me know your favourite part, favourite quote, or things you want to see in my future story. Let me know please!

You guys rock! I wouldn't be here without you, you're the reason I write! Thank you for reading, reviewing, voting on polls, and just being aweome!

Fly On and (hopefully) See You Soon,

-mebeemmy, AKA Carly.

P.S.: I started a blog! It's http : / / mebefoxpepper . blogspot . com. Check it out!