A/N: Hey people, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for. Sorry it took so long, I had other stories to update, then I was at my cottage, and, yea. But a big shout-out to Vampiric Dragonrider for co-authoring this wih me from here on in.

Disclaimer: We don't own the chcts. Well, we own the new one's. and the plot from here on in.

Max POV

"So, where've you been?" Fang asked. We had both gotten our food, and had eaten it, making polite chitchat. But we both knew what was coming.

"Long story." Like I would tell him now. It had been years. 3 horrible, long years. "What about you? After I didn't hear from you for so long, it leads one to wonder, doesn't it?"

Fang looked down. "Same. Long story. I can't tell you much here though. It was too gruesome."

I nodded. "So, someplace else then?" He nodded back. I watched him stand up, so different, yet so achingly familiar. I stood beside him.

"Can we walk downtown? There's no one of importance there at this time of night." I thought about downtown Kitchener, thinking hard. He had a point.

"Alright. But you have to pay the bus fare." Ha. I had to get him somewhere, remind him of the old Max. The 14 year-old Max. Not grown up 17 year-old Max.

He paid the bus fare, both of us not speaking most of the way, but in a comfortable silence, like the kind we used to have. So he hasn't changed that much, I thought.

We were walking around the downtown area, still fairly silent. "So. spill." I got to the point on that, I must say. I need him to go first... so that I can prepare what to say.

Fang POV

"So. Spill." Max said to me. I sighed as I thought about the harsh training I went through.

"So it's like this," I start.

-flashback-

A fourteen year old boy sped through the rain, pursued by guns and more footsteps. They were after him! The scientists! Now they didn't just want him back, they wanted him dead or alive. The simple answer? Dead. They had already shot him from the sky.

Gunshots ripped through the dead silence. The boy - Fang - felt something pierce his left shoulder, almost too close to his heart. Fang lurched forward and landed on his face. He lay there, pretending to be dead.

He heard the scientists slow and stop around him.

"Is he dead?" A female asked.

"Doesn't hurt to make sure," replied a male. He heard a shotgun cock, and the gunpowder explode. He braced himself for impact, but another body hit the ground.



"STEVE!!" The woman cried.

"Leave the boy alone," a husky, deep voice ordered. The shotgun shot again. This time, though, no one died. "Leave. Now."

Fang heard heavy footsteps hurry away. Someone picked him up. The man had bulging muscles, he could feel.

"Okay, boy," the man said, "I saved you this time, but next time, you're on your own. I'll take you back to my place, where we'll heal you and train you for the next three years."

-End flashback-

"That's what happened," Fang ended. "Mind you, that's highly confidential."

Max POV

Highly confidential. He said "highly confidential." That was personal information, not MI6 info. What has my Fang turned into? What happened to Gazzy and Iggy? I decided to save that for later. I owe him my story.

"Your turn," Fang said. I nodded.

"Well, after the, incident, I just had to get away. Go somewhere, to think, to understand. I sent Angel and Nudge to Mom's. I knew Ella would enjoy the company, and so would they." I paused, waiting for some people to pass by. "I used the MaxRide card to get a plane ticket."

"Where?"

"Germany. I wanted to go back, make sure it really happened. But the flight I got took us to Scotland first, Glasgow. Then to London-Heathrow, then Germany. But the plane crashed. Somewhere over rural Scotland. I was one of four who survived."

-Flashback-

I looked out the plane's window, seeing the ocean slowly dwindle, and land start to appear from the fog. No one had said Scotland would be so foggy. I looked at my seatmate in the British Airways seat beside me. His name was Clinton, though he preferred Clint. He had hair so dark it was almost black, and his eyes, the same. It made an interesting contrast to his pale freckled skin. We had gotten along pretty well the whole 7 hour flight. He had introduced me to his friend Trey and older brother Carter. They had a band they told me, and were looking for a lead singer.

I noticed something wasn't right with the plane, noticing it was becoming more turbulent, to use some plane lingo. When the captain came on the speakers, saying we were having some technical difficulties, and to fasten our seatbelts, I suddenly remembered something Nudge had said, so long ago, when we were going to Germany the first time.

"So, if the plane goes down, we'll be able to like, fly away!"



I looked out the window again, mainly so the Clint couldn't see the tears that had suddenly come to my eyes. The ground looked a lot closer. A panicked co-pilot came on, saying everybody hang on. Then the screaming began.

Feeling the plane fall, watching people say goodbyes to family and friends, hearing the screams of the old and the little kids, wasn't that great.

When the plane hit the ground, I think the engines blew. I just remember feeling a blast of heat, and flying out of my chair.

-End Flashback-

"I don't remember what happened after that, but I stayed in Scotland for 2 and a half years, working on getting enough money to come back home. I joined Clint's band, learned how to play guitar. We played enough gigs that we had enough money to send us all home. Of course, we had crappy seats, but we were on a plane home."

"Wow. That's a lot more eventful than my story." Fang said.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I told him. "I didn't nearly get killed by mad scientists, and I didn't get taken in by some burly dude."

"You have a point," Fang grinned, some of the old him showing through.

"But, what happened to Gazzy and Iggy?" Fang's face suddenly fell.

"I-I don't know... I don't remember much, actually. To tell the truth, I can't remember anything between when we split and when I was being chased by the Scientists. Max, I-I don't know where Gazzy or Iggy are!" I saw with shock that Fang looked ready to cry. His eyes were wide, and he was starting to panic. This was not my Fang. "I don't like not knowing. How can I not be sure they weren't taken to some lab in Egypt, or something?"

I could only look at him with pity. That's a third of our flock, gone. I smiled sympathetically at Fang.

"We'll find them. We'll get Angel and Nudge, and we'll fly to Egypt!" Fang stared at me as it started to rain. Perfect timing, rain, perfect timing.

"I can't."

I gaped at him. "Why?"

"Confidential." That damn word again. Confidential, confidential! When will anything not be confidential!?

I sighed. "If you won't, I will go on my own." I whipped out my wings and took to the skies, closing my eyes against the rain.

"Max!" Fang shouted in surprise. I hovered in midair and looked down at him.

"You coming?" Without looking, I stormed out of there.



Fang POV

And she looked down at me, her wings flapping slowly. She was my angel, and I hoped she still was. If only she knew what I had gone through for those long years, then she would understand why I could not go to Egypt, or anywhere, for that matter.

My angel left me grounded.

She did not know my wings were clipped.

I suppose that this is fate...

A/N: please review!! thank you soo much!!

laddie girl and Vampiric Dragonrider