Chapter 23

Thank you all so much for the reviews! This is the....second to last chapter. The last chapter shall be Chapter 24. Basically, this one and 24 trails off, ending the story and all that. It should be great, but I'm warning you, this one is kinda just fluff. But it is important, or you won't know why the stuff in the last chapter is happening. So, read, review, and Enjoy!

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(Max POV)

We decided that Michigan was a strange state. It just seemed to...be there. For no other purpose. At least, I couldn't find one.

We checked into a hotel, with the help of Angel's mind control. Cause, you know, a 5 star hotel would never let a scraggly bunch of teens who looked like they were starved half to death and hadn't taken a bath since who-knows-when in their front door. We still had to carry Fang. He was very weak, and sick. He ate quite a lot though.

Good thing we still had my mom's credit card. I had Nudge call Dr. Martinez again, to tell her to come up and take care of Fang, then raid whatever store she could find. She came back with two cart's full of random food. We ate everything, and then some more.

Next, I took a shower. I felt like singing Hallelujah when the hot water hit me.

There was still no sign of Flyboy's when my mom finally got there. Two days after Nudge called her. Fang had been in intense pain since I got him out of the tank. Due to being buried in a mountain of snow. I was expecting the little buzz of robots to come any day now. Then it was back to running. Which I hated!

My mom fixed Fang's wings, doctored his cuts and bruises, then gave him medicine for the pneumonia he had gotten in the cold air outside. Over the span of 3 weeks, he slowly regained his health. Everything was returning to normal. Or as normal as it could get. Now, it was time for the hard part.

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My face flushed deeply when I saw myself in the mirror. I looked so dumb. This wasn't practical at all. But some how, Fang had talked me into going on a "first date" with him.

And Angel, along with Nudge and Summer, had brainwashed me into wearing this ridiculous mini dress with tights. The one I bought a New York, with the gold design running the length of the dress. I was able to convince them to let me wear some practical shoes....more or less. They wanted me to wear gold ballet flats, but settled on black furry boots, with gold tints.

My hair was up in a ponytail, my locks curled into jumbled spirals. The dress hugged my figure, but was more comfortable than I thought it would be. Even if it was long sleeve. But that isn't the worst part.

They put make-up on me. Please, someone help me. Please!!!!

Black mascara, black eyeliner, gold eye shadow. Sparkly clear lip gloss. I outright refused blush. They said I really didn't need it anyway, my cheeks were already cherry colored. At that point, I tried to run, but that didn't work. Two words. Mind-control.

After extensive pain due to embarrassment and the sharp pins stuck in my hair, I finally walked out of the bathroom.

Fang was....well, Fang. Black pants, white shirt, black jacket. But when he saw me, his eye's grew wide, and his mouth dropped open....just a little. I walked toward him and spread my hands wide.

"Uh...." Nice entrance, Max. Real smooth. My tiny, not Voice-voice was saying, "this is stupid", a million times over.

"You look....amazing. Wow. They really....um......uh........well, they did good. Y-You look amazing," Fang stuttered. I smiled.

"Thanks. It's not at all practical...but...well..." I trailed off.

"Er....I guess we should go. Movie is going to start soon," Fang stated, walking to the door. I started after him, but out of no where, Nudge appeared, and she shoved a black coat at me. I stared at it blandly.

"I am not wearing that," I stated. She grinned.

"It's cold. You will need it!" Nudge countered. I sighed, and took the coat, slipping it on. It really was warm.

I ran after Fang, who was waiting out in the hall way. He took my hand in his, then we started off to the nearest exit of the hotel.

Outside, I took off my coat, and whipped out my wings. Fang relaxed slightly, and did the same. Together, we jumped into the air, and flew toward the movie theater. I also relaxed. We were in the air, our true home. Where we could at least imagine we were free.

The moon was beginning to rise. It was full. I wondered about what movie Fang was taking me to see.

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(Fang POV)

She was so beautiful in the moonlight. Her hair glittered and smelled like raspberries. The dress fit her quite nicely. Perfect, in fact. She just seemed to glow.

Her wings. They completed the look. She looked like an....angel.....goddess....queen. All of those things combined.

Hopefully, she would like the movie I was taking her to. It was supposed to be good. Everyone was talking about it. And it kinda related to our past situation.

Max looked over at me, and smiled. The joy covering her face was the kind of joy that was only brought out by two things. Flight, and me. Oh man, she was beautiful.

I stuck a hand in my pocket to make sure it was still there. It was.

The theater came in sight, and we began to dive.

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We left the theater, full of left-over excitement from the movie. We had seen Taken.

"That was amazing! He can seriously fight!" Max exclaimed, pulling her coat tighter. We started walking toward the nearest McDonalds. So much for fancy.

"Yep. It was really fast paced. And violent. I liked it. Did you?" I asked her, holding open the door for her, then stepping into the fast food restaurant. She nodded vigorously, her spiraled hair bouncing up and down. I smothered a laugh.

"Heck yeah! And he steals a car every 5 minutes! That was hilarious!" she laughed. I started laughing too, thinking back to the multiple car's the main actor stole.

We ordered a bunch of food and drinks. The cashier looked at us like we were nuts.

"We have some friends," I said, jabbing a thumb toward the door. He nodded, then started ogling at Max. Anger flared in my veins.

I put an arm around her waist, then glared at the cashier. He looked surprised.

"Put your eyes on the burgers, not the girl," I growled. He swallowed, then went to go get our order.

We ate the whole 12 burgers, 5 plates of fries, 13 Dr. Pepper's, and 12 Pepsi's in the McDonald's. To the amazement of many.

After the meal, we started walking to the park, where we were going to take flight again. It was located beside Lake Michigan, and we strolled along the shore for a while.

"Fang, this has been great. Thanks," Max said after the long silence. I nodded. But then caught her expression. Sadness.

"What's wrong? Do you not like me anymore?" I asked, my heart beating fast.

"No! No, nothing like that! I still like you, a lot! It's just, I was thinking of something Iggy said to me a couple of weeks ago," Max whispered. I was going to kill Iggy. Only he could ruin a perfect night even when he wasn't there.

"Well, what ever he said, it was probably stupid and he was probably depressed. I would forget about what he said. But maybe this might cheer you up," I murmured, taking a little box from my pocket. Max's eyes opened wide, and she took the box, pulling the lid up.

Inside was a necklace. The chain was silver, and the pendant was a set of wings, flared out, as if in flight. Max gasped, then looked at me incredulously.

"Where did you get the money to buy this?! I know it couldn't have been cheap!" she exclaimed.

"Credit card."

"Geez. Were going to max out my mom's credit card soon!" she moaned, but she fingered the pendant gently. I took the necklace, and put it on her. It reflected a tiny moon back at me.

Being so near her made my heart beat way faster. I looked up, and she was inches away from my face. I started to lean, unaware of what I was doing. I was falling into her eyes. Those wonderful eyes. Her lips met mine, and we shared the kiss of a life time. It seemed to last an eternity.

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(Max POV)

The pendant was amazing. He was going all romantic on me, and I had no idea what to do. Then, he started leaning toward me. Here we go again. His lips met mine, and we shared the kiss of a life time.

They say that no one can describe a kiss, let alone a perfect one. The key is to not use objects to describe it. Use emotions.

It felt like love and hatred. Joy and sorrow. Pain and contentment. Tears and laughter. Excitement and boredom. That's what a kiss is. Emotions, that only some people could truly feel. I guess I was one of those people.

Finally, I realized that my lungs were burning from lack of air, and I pulled away, gasping. Fang pulled me into an embrace, and I laid my head against his shoulder.

This was as free as we were ever going to get. Iggy's comment flashed through my head again. Tears started to pour from my face. Well, my emotions were just all out of whack today.

Fang held me out, and frowned.

"What is it?" he asked quietly. I told him what Iggy had said.

"I can't give that to them...and that's all they really want...normalcy!" I whispered, burying my face in his shirt.

"What they want is normalcy. What they need is freedom. And they have freedom, Max. You just have to open your eye's, and see that," Fang muttered.

"No! They don't have either! Were always on the run, always getting captured! How is that free???!!!" I cried, staring at him. Fang sighed and shook his head.

"Right now, they are fine and happy. For these next couple of days, it's going to be me and you. And tomorrow, I'm taking you dancing. How does that sound?" Fang said. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out two tickets. I stared at them.

"Wha???..." I said stupidly. He chuckled.

"These are two tickets to a masquerade ball. We dress up, eat fancy food, then dance the night away."

"Fang...you know we can't....Flyboy's will come....people will recognize us by the wings sticking out of my dress and your tux. It will be cramped, and full of people. We don't have that kind of freedom!" I whispered despairingly. It would have been nice to go.

"Come on! No one will know who we are, because you wear masks. The clothes are actually provided, we both can just choose something with wings attached to them, tear off the wings, and let our own wings out. No one will suspect that the wings are actually real. This is the kind of freedom we need, Max. Just one night. Free, for one night. Please," Fang seized my shoulders, and stared down at me. I bit my lip and looked down, then looked up at him pleadingly.

"Just one night. You know you can't pass that up, Max."

"Fine! Okay. We can go. Maybe it will be good for my stress level," I joked, trying to lighten the intensity of the moment. Fang hugged me.

"Awesome. How about we go back now? It's freezing out here," Fang stated, snapping out his wings and stroking down hard. I laughed and followed.

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Well. It didn't turn out like I imagined it would. It's definitely not my best. In fact, it might be my worst. It's choppy, not very well written, and VERY ooc. Sorry reviewers for the suckish chapter. But it was also necessary.

Review!!! I will not get angry if you write flames. Still, review!!!!!!!!!!! And I will post the next chapter soon.