A/N So yes. It is the end. This is the final chapter of 29. (tear)
Thanks to all the readers/reviewers, but mostly smilecuznapoleondirtlovesyou . Always left the bestest reviews, so thanks for that.
Enough credits. I'm thinking of a total editing session, but that won't be happening until summer.
So here it is. Last chapter of 29, my first fic. Never thought it would be 21 chapters. Sorry it took so long to finish, and to get this last chapter out, but I was away and reading the fourth Maximum Ride. Please review, it means the world.
Also, to read my full rant on the fourth MR, it's at the end. Let me tell you, it is not a positive rant.
Enjoy,
Ellie
MAX
As soon as Iggy said he loved her, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. He had been fading away, daily becoming more of a ghost of his former self.
And now, she was back.
And so was he.
For the sake of the younger kids, I silently steered them away from the scene. Kae and Ig were old enough, 17 now. But Nudge (13), Gazzy (11) and Angel (9) did not need to see that. (A/N Sorry if I screwed up the ages. I tried)
Much to my surprise, the kids didn't protest. We walked about 50 feet away, and stood around for a few moments. Nobody said anything, and then I noticed they were all looking over my shoulder, with wry expressions on their faces.
"What?" I asked, annoyed. I had lived a life full of surprises; each one more deadly than the last. I had learned to hate them.
In response, Angel only giggled and Gazzy had a smug expression he only could have learned from Iggy. I spun around, and for the second time that day found myself centimeters away from Mr. Dark-and-Unemotional himself.
My breath caught.
"Is it time yet?" Fang whispered into my hair. I dimly realized that Nudge had led Gazzy and Angel away from us. I said a quick thought of thanks to Angel to pass on to Nudge.
"Yes." I whispered. "It is."
About 10 minutes later (or perhaps several sun downs, my sense of time when I was with Fang was severely distorted), the seven of us reunited by the lake. The sun was setting, and we silently watched the orange orb disappear behind the hills. The younger kids had taken off their shoes and were dangling their feet in the water. Jeb stood looking like a proud father a few feet away. (Which I guess he was)
Kae and Ig were seated about 15 feet from the others, her head on his shoulder. Ig's eyes were closed and Kae's were half-open, and she was murmuring softly, no doubt explaining the scene to Iggy.
Fang quietly guided me to the lakes edge, and we sat down together. We assumed a position similar to Kae and Ig.
I shivered. With the sun setting, the air had gotten distinctly colder.
A normal boyfriend would offer a fleece or jacket. A normal girl would shyly accept it. And, normally, they would go home both bursting with excitement.
My life is not normal.
In my world, Fang snapped open his gleaming midnight-black wings and wrapped them around me. I was surprised at the warmth inside this genetically-enhanced embrace.
I looked up at him, surprised. He had definitely opened up emotionally in the past hour or two, but this was a complete turnaround. He only shrugged.
"It seemed like the right thing to do." He said, a grin tugging at his lips. I rolled my eyes, but nevertheless stayed put.
Here we were. On the shore of a lake in God-knows-where. A complete flock, seven in total. Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge were lying next to each other, wearing their first truly peaceful expressions I had ever seen.
Ig and Kae had flown together to watch the end of the sun set from the tree tops, and were just returning now.
I sat next to Fang, one of his wings still stretched around my shoulders.
My thoughts began whirring.
Where were we headed? To the President, eventually. But would he believe us? Would he dismiss it as a joke? Would the press hound us? Would we be taken for testing? Would we be split up?
As these thoughts ricocheted in my mind, I motioned the Flock around me. We formed a half-circle, the ends standing right by the lake. I stood at the head, with Fang at the left and with his arm snaked reassuringly around my waist. Iggy stood at my right, with Kae next to him. The younger kids formed the edges.
"Listen, guys. Things are really gonna change from now on. We will eventually settle down somewhere, probably go to school, and live like kids were meant to. The chasing is over, the fear is over. But we are still a family. We've been through more than most other families have, anyway. I need you guys to promise me something." I said.
"Anything." Said Nudge.
"Promise me," I began, my warm tears leaving tracks on my cheeks, "promise that we will stay together. I know we aren't going to live together forever,--"
"Why not?" demanded Angel. I sighed.
"You going to grow up, sweetie. Find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with." Fang squeezed me tighter at these words. I saw Kae lift Iggy's fingers to her mouth to show him she was smiling. "But promise you will never move too far? We've just been together too long to lose contact."
Nudge shook her head. "Max, you don't get it. Without you, we could never have made it anywhere. Before you took charge, we were wallowing in self-pity inside those dog crates. And you got us out."
"We'd be completely alone without you." Gazzy asserted.
"Especially me." Added Kae.
"Max, " Angel continued, "you've done more for us than we could have asked. It'd be pretty ungrateful of us to ever let you forget it." She said with a smile.
After a brief, albeit awkward group hug, we all laid back down on our backs, and closed our eyes.
All of my worries miraculously vanished. Sure, a helluva lot of things could, and most like would, go wrong. But right here, right now, with everyone I've ever truly cared about so near, I realized that if I had them, we could take on whatever life may throw at us.
And there it is.
Now, before I beg you to review, let's discuss the fourth MR, "The Final Warning". Now, James Patterson is my favorite author, and I've read all but 7 of his books. So, with all those including the first three Maximum Ride, it's fair to say I had extremely high expectations. And even if it was the best yet, I would still be let down, if only by the ending. But this fourth book...Okay, to start with, my copy was about 240 pages. Call be dellusional, but long books always make me happier when I start. I'm not saying that short books can't be good or powerful; go read Night by Elie Weisel. What I am saying is that MR is, in my mind, an action book. So unless they were engaged in a war from page one, there certainly wasn't going to be nearly as much action. And, as I finished, I found this to be completely true; almost none. No Erasers, no Flyboys. (I know they were destroyed along with Itex, but I still missed something constantly attacking them; the flock seemed dull and too-human to me to me) The thing that was attacking them--SKIP TO THE END OF THIS RANT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET--was some weird scientisit-robot-human thing. While it was..interesting (as was his good friend/henchmen the Hulk guy called Gorzon), it was not explained in the least, and the Flock seemed too accepting of what he was doing. As if they knew the plan all along. And I don't think this is some foreshadow, my friends. And that doesn't even go into the Flock gaining their powers.
Okay, fine. We've all been wondering when Nudge/Iggy/Fang will get some sort of a power. Nudge, making metal things come to her. Okay, fine. Interesting, and should prove useful in special situations in the future. Iggy, kind of can see and feel colors. Okay, this I liked. While I hate the 'Yay Iggy can magically see things' in fanfics, Patterson really did that well. I guess that's why he's one of the greatest authors of our time. But then we come to Fang. (big sigh here) Look, what is the most obvious, cliche, logical yet so logical it's boring, power for a dark, silent, and unemotional person? INVISIBILITY! Oh, I'm sorry--he can only blend into his surrondings when he's not moving. My bad. Ahhh when I read that I cringed at the clicheness--if that's a word. Again, another example as to why the book felt HOLLOW.
Anyway, I COULD truly go on forever. So I only have one more point (though this rant is for my own purposes, not really for my readers so I don't know who I'm talking to.)
The characters. New and old. Completely hollow in my opinion. The Flock had some substance, but thats only due to the fact that they had three previous books that we could go off. All the new scientists on the boat seemed so boring--not to mention the Brigid/Fang thing. It was so obvious, why did he (Patterson) do that?
But now, the good parts. In my mind, I have two. (1)The overall message. I consider myself very active against global warming, and I really appreciate James Patterson making this his basis. It's a huge problem, staring us in the eye and waving at us, yet too many people take the easy road of walking away. By simply advertising this to the many readers Patterson has, he certainly helped out. (2) Max's poem--absolutele hilarious. A few minutes after I put this chapter up, you can read it in my profile. That, and other moments, really had me laughing out loud. Sadly, they didn't puncutate the story like they used to--only sort of keep it alive.
Well, anyway, the point of that whole rant (that actually might be longer that the chap itself--just kidding) was to say read the book, of course. You'll understand all the new fanfics out there. But DON'T buy it. At least not in hardcover. Get it at a library, or split the cost with a few friends. It's the first James Patterson book I've read that was not worth every cent I paid for the new, hardcover edition.
Back to why you're actually here. My story.
So, epilogue? No? Leave a review with your thoughts.
Definitely no sequel though. I have ZERO ideas for one. If you have any, do share.
And so, for the last time, leave a review for either the last chap, or overall story, or my rant (if you bothered to read it.I just re-read it--it's a lot more negative than I meant to write it. Oh well, the words kind of wrote themselves.)
Thanks to those of you who stuck with it. As any FanFiction author knows, reviews mean the world. Even if you haven't been reviewing, please do me the favor of reviwing this last chapter.
Ellie