A/N - Wow. Looking back, I have realized that there's been ANGST. Whatever xD Lots of you seem to like it. I also seem to be better at writing it than anything else D: Forgive me for not updating recently, I've just been a bit...discouraged...about my writing recently (you know, 'is it good enough', 'do people hate it', etc.). And then I remembered that I love it! ^_^ The next chapter is for anyone who has been following this story.

Memories of You

Chapter 10

Nudge POV

I waited an eternity for Angel's plan to start working. I panicked even further when she held my hands. This was it. Basically, life or death. What was going to happen to me rested solely in the hands of the one child on earth who could transfer thoughts. I didn't know that she even could transfer memories, and to be honest, she probably didn't know she could either. My whole future was based on some eleven year old winging it, no pun intended.

So there we were. Eight hands plastered all over Angel's head, eight hands belonging to the people I loved and cared about more than anything in the world, who I had been to hell and back with. And then, two much smaller hands grasped firmly in mine. Waiting, always waiting, waiting for a miracle.

And then an amazing sensation hit me. Rushing through my brain, I saw brief glimpses of everything. I saw Ter Borcht, and I saw Doctor Martinez's cookies. I saw leaving Max and mentioning chopping my wings off, and I saw the U-Do place in New York.

I saw many things that I would have truly liked to forget. Years in dog crates, being trapped and almost auctioned off in Europe, the battle between Max and Max II. Fang punching out a flyboy, picking up Total and watching Ari die. Everything I had ever known was here in front of me, and I could see it, and I could remember it. Because the memories were mine, too.

I opened my eyes and smiled at them, and they breathed a sigh of relief. I knew it wasn't over, so I closed my eyes again and kept receiving the memories.

It was all flying past me. I would turn my head to follow it and it would be gone, the memory never in my grasp but rather in the back of my mind, in my memories. I was lost. I was floating on a cloud, I was drowning in the ocean, I was stuck in a rainbow. The last place I thought I would expect to find myself was in a field off the highway.

I closed my eyes and went with it. I didn't know if I would remember this, or how often we would have to transfer memories, but I knew it was working. And this time, I had other memories, precious ones that I had just barely forgotten.

I heard my name being called. I heard Max's voice, commanding and powerful as usual. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have heard the desperate plea hidden underneath it, but I did.

I felt someone grabbing me roughly by the shoulders, but it was as if their hands were feathers. I felt a thousand miles away. Yet, just from the small guesture, I knew immediately that it was Fang.

Someone called for me to come back. I heard anxiety and worry, and most importantly, love. Memories were going by me all the time, but I had forgotten about them for the moment. It was Iggy who was calling me, his voice mixing with Max's.

A hand was prodding my forehead, poking my eye and tapping my face. It was rather annoying, and I tried to push it away. Then I realized that I hadn't moved my head at all, and that I wasn't moving at all. I felt myself rushing through the air, and I felt a light pain in my back as I crashed to the ground.

The hand kept tapping my head, hurting me now. I tried to cry out, and nothing happened. I started to panic and thrash out, but it was only in my brain. In reality, I was as cold as a stone, dead as a doornail for all they knew. I felt it poke my eye again, and I wanted to scream at Gazzy. I was awake, damn it!

But if I knew my family this much, that even without seeing them or knowing who they were, or even having any idea where they were, I knew who they were and what they were doing, then didn't I have memories of them deep inside me, that would never really fade?

Why was it that even a few days ago when I thought I was done for, I could still remember my family, the one thing that I should have forgotten, and in reality, the memories had stayed the longest? Why was it that I hadn't forgotten them, even though, by all rights, I should have? Was it that I refused to let go of them completely?

Slowly, I started to fall under. I grew drowsy and started to feel like just giving up already. I'd certainly done enough. Maybe I could just rest…

Suddenly, a thousand volts of electricity flew through my body, and I was entirely overwhelmed with memories and the feeling that I was going to die. I couldn't feel anything, and yet I could feel everything. Compared to the sensation I had been feeling, this one came quickly and without warning.

It lasted half a second, but the impact was great. I was shocked into a sitting position, I knew, but my eyes were still closed and the world seemed to be getting farther and farther away. I didn't see a bright light or anything.

I couldn't seem to form a coherent thought. It was jumbles of things. A few minutes ago, I had been on the top of the world, rushing through the sky. And now, I was tumbling into pitch-black darkness.

I couldn't think. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream.

That's it, then. After all that, it's over anyway.

Max POV

In a second, what we had been confident about turned into complete and utter chaos. Angel was grasping her hands frantically, trying both to send more memories in and wake her up. "She's giving up!" Angel screamed. "I can hear her thoughts! I don't know what happened, but she's giving up!"

"What do you mean, giving up?" Iggy growled anxiously. "She doesn't want to live anymore, is that what you mean?" Angel nodded briefly, not caring if he was blind. He shook Nudge's shoulders, as if begging her to wake up.

Nudge was lying on the ground, her eyes closed. She had been breathing calmly and contentedly at first, but now her breath was hitching, turning into quick pants and finally gasping for air. She was losing it fast.

"No!" screamed Angel. "I'm going to lose her! She's getting farther away, Max, and she won't wake up! Oh, God, when I said it might not work, I never meant this!" She slapped Nudge across the face, beat on her shoulders and shook her, but Nudge wouldn't wake up. "You're hurting her!" Fang shouted, restraining Angel.

"No, she's dying!" Angel writhed like a possessed child and wriggled out of Fang's grasp. She knelt beside Nudge and put her hands on Nudge's shoulders. She winced as she sent a volt of mental electricity a mile wide to wake Nudge up.

Nudge was immediately thrown into a sitting position, her eyes still closed. When they did open, they rolled back in her head as she collapsed again, this time not breathing at all. I fell to my knees as the others struggled around her. There were tears pouring down the Gasman's face. "Nudge," he pleaded. "Please be okay, Nudge."

Fang's face was hard and unemotional as he sat back and watched, helplessly, just like me. Angel was the only one who could take care of this. She had started it in the first place. Oh, God.

Nudge was really dying. I had pictured this, but always at a later age and out of nowhere, not after a huge struggle we'd fought so hard to prevent. Maybe this is a lesson, I thought bitterly. Maybe we shouldn't have held her back. I was instantly ashamed. She was my family, the only family I had.

She wasn't moving. Her chest wasn't rising and falling, and I felt at her wrist for a pulse. I found none. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from screaming as I felt at her heart. There was nothing, not the faintest heartbeat. "There's no heartbeat," Fang said expressionlessly, taking it all in. "She's…she's really dead."

"No!" Iggy roared helplessly. "She is not gone!" he screamed, tackling Fang into the dirt. Fang lay still and didn't make any move to strike back as Iggy pounded on Fang's stomach. "She-is-not-gone!" he said between every punch.

And yet, there she was on the dirt, in front of us.

Angel POV

I felt the line inside Nudge, the one hanging by a thread between life and death, snap. I saw her chest stop rising and falling. I felt her wrists, and there was no pulse. Every one of the signs told me she was gone, and I still didn't believe it. I didn't really believe my little 'experiment' had gone that horribly wrong.

I watched as Iggy tackled Fang to the ground for even suggesting that she was dead. Fang didn't groan or even blink with every punch that came, didn't wince as Iggy's tears fell on his face. Iggy, in his blind rage, was going insane with the possibility that the only one he had was gone.

Fang was getting angrier. Suddenly his arm snapped out and hit Iggy in the face, sending him flying off. Fang took this opportunity to jump on Iggy and beat the living crap out of him. Iggy fought back feebly.

And it all rested squarely on my shoulders. I was the one who claimed that I could save her, when in reality I was just a kid. Just an eleven year old kid who was stupid for thinking she could even make a difference in life by saving anyone. That had always been Max's job, who was I kidding?

Nudge was dead because of me. I had destroyed Iggy's perfect other half because I said I could fix her. I hadn't fixed anything; I'd ended a life and destroyed a family that was already falling apart.

Gazzy was silent as he sank to his knees and sobbed. I wanted to put my arm around him and tell him it would be alright, but it wouldn't, and it was my fault. Max was sitting with her head in her hands, tears pouring from the cracks in between her fingers.

I gasped. After all of that, I had forgotten Iggy's last request – to put in the night in the cornfield. I had saved it to be the best for last, but Nudge hadn't even gotten that far. And she had died without that memory. Slowly, I extended my hand to touch Nudge's. No one noticed me, with the fight that was now raging between Fang and Iggy.

I felt that familiar rush of energy as I sent the memory, which was not mine, into Nudge. I put all the love I'm sure Iggy was feeling into the memory, which I immediately put into her. It was the last memory I would ever give to my sister, my best friend.

Nudge POV

The next thing I knew, I was feeling another memory. Incredibly weak and pissed as hell, I let it come through all the same. A flood of warmth came through me as I received it and smiled internally at the memory. Suddenly, I was feeling something. The will to live.

Where there had been darkness, there was light now. Where there had been death, there was only life now. I wanted to live, and hell, I was going to. My eyelids fluttered briefly before my eyes opened a second time.

Angel POV

With one last sharp prick of energy, the memory slid into Nudge's skin and out of mine. I felt a strange emptiness, like because the memory was gone, she was gone too. The wind blew around us slightly, but the last thing I felt was peace. My family was sobbing, fighting and broken apart. I had never realized how much Nudge meant to us.

I had thought it was over, and almost accepted that she wasn't coming back. It was an odd, empty feeling, but what was I supposed to do? My sister, my best friend, who I always wanted to be, was dead in front of me. Or, she was supposed to be. But then I saw her stir quietly, her eyes still quiet.

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. It had to be a dream, or a mirage. A hallucination. Whatever it was, I was positive that it wasn't really her. Had losing her made me this desperately insane? She still didn't have a pulse.

In one swift motion, she proved me wrong. She gasped, eyes still closed, as she started breathing again. It was irregular and far too quiet. It was very weak, but it slowly grew stronger. I turned toward the flock in a mix of panic and joy.

Max was sprawled on her side with her head in her hands, a very un-leader like position. It almost looked like she wanted to join Nudge in giving up. But she hadn't remembered that Nudge had never been that kind of person. Nudge would give up when hell froze over.

Gazzy was in the middle of Fang and Iggy, trying to save them from beating each other to bloody pulps. Fang paid him no attention as he swept Gazzy aside with his hand and continued punching Iggy. Iggy groaned in response, to tired and sick with regret and grief to care.

This wasn't how it was supposed to end. If a flock member ever died, it was supposed to bring us together in our pain, at least to know that we all cared about each other. This was far worse than I could have ever foreseen.

I inched forward in the grass until I was squatting near her head. I saw her struggling between life and death, a world of tension behind her eyelids. A weak pulse was growing with her breathing, and I almost died myself when I picked up the first thoughts from her.

I can't die now.

Max POV

I rolled over on my side, burying my face further into my hands. I heard Fang and Iggy next to me, turning against each other even though I felt like ripping them off of each other and knocking some sense into them. I just couldn't find the strength to do anything anymore. After all we'd been through to keep her alive and get her back, it was going to end like this. On a highway, with people staring at us through their car windows.

"Stop it," I sobbed as they continued. I heard a fist smashing with a thud into a stomach, and I heard Gazzy crawling through the grass. He didn't want his brothers fighting, and I was too weak to do anything. A thirteen year old boy was doing my work for me.

I had no more tears. I couldn't cry anymore. I had cried a thousand tears throughout this whole affair when everyone's back was turned, and now that a flock member was dead, I had no more tears. I was cried out for my entire life.

I heard a soft groan come from a few feet away, and I knew I was losing it. Now I was hearing things, great, just great. It was driving us all insane, just perfect. Way to be a leader, Max.

Footsteps coming through the grass. They stopped right in front of me and I knew someone was squatting quietly. If it was Angel, I wasn't talking to her. I knew I shouldn't be angry at her, that she hadn't meant to, but she had ultimately killed Nudge. I could never look at her the same way again.

"Max," the voice said softly, and I peeked through my hands. There, in a sort of weak, pathetic glory, was Nudge.

I didn't know whether to throw my arms around her, scream and run away or stare at her in horror. I gaped at her for more than a few minutes, but she just smiled at me as the chaos of the fighting boys raged around us, completely oblivious to her.

"I'm back, Max," she smiled with tears in her eyes. Just when I thought that I would never cry again in my life, a fresh spurt of tears came from my eyes as I pulled myself into a sitting position and hugged my sister, my sister who I had almost lost.

"I remember everything," Nudge rushed on, and I couldn't tell whose tears, hers or mine, were falling down my neck. "Max, I have all of the memories inside of me now. Just when I wanted to die and give up, Angel gave me…that memory, and, well, here I am."

I pulled back and smiled wryly. "Who would have thought that Iggy and his perverseness would someday save us?" I joked. I looked over to the boy in question, who was currently covered with bruises and sporting a particularly large black eye. "Go," I said softly. "Maybe then they can see what idiots they're being." I gave a shaky laugh.

I looked across the field at Angel, and gave her a half-smile, a guilty smile. We had really been through a lot through the years. Not to mention her acting like a traitor for a couple. But how could I not love her and trust her as much as anything? "Get over here," I whispered, and she was in my arms.

Tears streaked her golden blond hair as I gave her a real hug for what felt like the first time in ages. And just like that, she was my baby Angel again, my precious baby girl that she would always be, no matter what. Just like it was before, in the E shaped house. Just like it would be from now on.

"I'm so sorry, Max," she said, but I didn't have to. That's the great thing about a mind reader.

Nudge POV

I smiled to myself as I walked away from Max and toward the boys, those nitwits. They were so wrapped up in fighting that they didn't even notice as I crept up. I noticed Iggy's face, and I was immediately angry at Fang. But then I noticed Fang's bloody nose, cuts and bruises and I felt ashamed of Iggy. And I was pissed as hell at both of them for hurting Gazzy.

I got there just in time to see Fang ready to punch Iggy. I drew in a breath, ran a few feet and summoned the best kick flip I could manage, ending up with a roundhouse kick to Fang's chest, sending him flying a few feet. Not my best, but oh well.

Iggy looked up angrily. "Max, don't get between us," he growled. "My girlfriend that I loved more than anything in the world just died and this bastard thinks he can fight me, he's got another thing coming!" I was startled. He thought I was Max? Well, it was only natural.

Fang was out cold. Maybe I hadn't done such bad work on him after all.

I heard footsteps behind me as I whirled to see Max with a smirk on her face. Oh, no. She was about to play 'let's-torture-the-blind-guy'.

"I understand," she said in a voice that made my skin crawl. It was supposed to come off as sympathetic, and it probably would have to anyone who didn't know exactly what she was doing.

"Max, you don't have a damn clue," he said furiously. "I had a whole life pictured for me and her. Do you know what I was going to do later tonight?" he asked in a tortured voice. "I was going to ask her to marry me, Max, and now she's gone. How am I supposed to feel? So you can ask me to stop fighting all you want. Go to hell, all of you."

I had never seen Iggy like this, so broken up over everything, even in the last few weeks. He was struggling not to cry, and he gave one more shuddering breath before looking straight at me. "You don't know what it's like," he finished. "You have Fang, for the rest of your life, whether your sister's dead or not. I have no one."

I smiled and rolled my eyes as I squatted next to him. Max, knowing now that I wasn't dead, was probably enjoying this more than anything. I reached out to cup his cheek with my hand. I had a smaller hand than Max, and it wasn't as rough, and boy did he know it.

I smirked as I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. I had technically just died, after all, because my heart had stopped beating. And dying makes you think about things, let me tell you.

I grasped the side of his face with both hands and kissed him with everything I had. Smiling even more as he held me back, I found myself practically sitting in his lap with my legs wrapped around his waist. Let the people in the cars stare. Let the flock stare. We were in California, after all.

I kissed him like I would never let him go. He was the only one for me always, and I think he'd made it pretty clear that I was the only one for him. We were as good for each other as Max and Fang, even better in my opinion.

"Nudge," he whispered in front of everyone as we continued to kiss.

"Glad to hear you didn't think I was Max," I raised an eyebrow.

"You have distinctly smaller hands," he mused.

"Now what was this marriage thing?" I smirked as his eyes widened and he pulled away.

"Max!" he roared at her. "I hate it when you do that! I thought she'd just died and all you can think about is pranking me!"

"Hey," I said irritably as I turned his head back towards me. "Is that a real offer?"

"Do you want it to be?" he asked, bewildered.

I gulped. "Y-yeah," I whispered.

Fang sat up in the grass from where I'd kicked him and rubbed his head groggily.
"Not that I don't love this sweet and touching love fest," he complained, "but can you guys do this in the back of the minivan?"

"Wait," I said, getting up. We have something to take care of first."

I caught the flock's questioning stares. "I'll fill you in after we get in the car."

Max POV

"And lastly, you will never, ever, sent any more of your little troops to find us, wherever we're going," I finished. Looking down, I came to wonder how we got in this position, holding Nudge's agent's stepfather upside down over the edge of a forty story building. Not to say I hadn't resorted to this before, but I'd just hoped it was something I'd never have to do again.

I forgot how much I loved it.

I personally thought my speech was very good.

"This is illegal!" he protested. "I won't let you do this! Damn, where are security when you need them…"

"I'm done!" Nudge hollered. It was about time, too. She came flying over with a draft of our 'contract' to said man dangling from the tip-top of the building.

"This," she panted, "states that you're to leave us alone and keep all details out of the press. We will be moving away from our current home, but should you happen to find us again, you legally have to refrain from sending your dogs after us, or we can sue you."

"You need my signature," he pointed out irritably.

"Oh, I have ways of making that happen," I said, loosening my hold on his ankle the tiniest bit. It was enough for him to become two inches closer to a man-in-suit sandwich, much to Gazzy and Angel's glee. Fang was snapping pictures for the scrapbooks all the while.

"Never!" he screamed.

"I think the word you're looking for is splat," Iggy said smugly.

"Alright, alright!" he shouted as I released three of my fingers from his ankle, holding him with my thumb and forefinger. "Give me the damn pen, I'll sign it!"

Turns out, signing a document and reading it thoroughly while hanging upside down is quite the challenge. The first pen fell out of his grasp. "Tick, tock," Gazzy said in a singsong voice.

He just barely had time to pull the pen out of his coat pocket and sign it before he dropped to the ground. We gave him three seconds of sheer torture before Nudge swooped down and got him.

"I'll give you a call next time we're in Hollywood!" I shouted as I stuffed the document into my pocket. Gazzy cackled and gave the guy the finger before following me. Angel just gave her signature sunny smile.

Hand and hand, Nudge and Iggy just gave one sorry glance back at the poor, lonely man. My own hand was grasped by the love of my life.

Was this happily ever after?

There I was with my family. If anything proved that we would always be together, it was this whole ordeal. Now that we were nearing the end of it,

I launched myself off the building and into the air, my flock close behind me.

This is not the end, sorry xD It was a little rushed -why do I always write before I go to sleep?- so I'll make a nice LONG one next time lol. Reviews are loved. I repeat, reviews are loved. I'll update this as soon as I can, but I have like five other stories that need updating. T__T

~Rachel