Minor editing completed

I'm kind of excited for this chapter. We get to see Fang again! *Squeal!* Sorry, just had a girl moment. Now, read on.

Fang's POV

I stand at the edge of the cliff overlooking Lake Mead. Sometime, someday, I get to see Max again. Max and the flock. Possibly Dylan.

I make a violent puff of cigarette smoke as the thought raids my mind. She could have ended up with Dylan. Oh well, I'll just have more reason to hate him.

My thoughts are disrupted by two figures in the sky. One I can make out perfectly just by shape. Just a little closer and my assumption can be confirmed. Max. The other figure, I don't recognize. It's defiantly another winged mutant. But who? Why are they with Max?

I don't have long to wonder who they are. Abruptly, the person turns their back and descends down to the town not far from here.

I place my burning cigarette on the ground and stomp it out just in time to see two feet approach me. The trajectory of the landing is off and there is no way to execute even a running stop at this point. What is she doing?

Both sneakered feet slam into my chest and the force flings me backwards. I turn to my side to prevent my head from being slammed into the farthest cave wall. I stop sliding merely a few feet before my spine is lodged into the hard rock behind me.

I slowly stand and face the Max I once knew better than myself. Now, I don't recognize the face that haunts my dreams any longer.

Max's face is fixed into a scowl and her eyes are blazing. I've never seen her this angry before.

As she approaches me, I subconsciously get into a fighting stance. I don't plan to do anything but protect myself.

Max does something next that surprises me. She stops a foot or two from me and holds out her arms. Slowly, I place my fists at my side. She smiles and beckons me to embrace her. I take a cautious step forward and we hug awkwardly.

Finally, I whisper in her ear, "I'm so sorry I left,"

"You should be," She replies.

Pulling back, I see that her eyes are shining with tears. Before I can comprehend what the tears mean, she jerks her knee upward… hard. I go to double over and she drives her fist into my stomach. Grasping for breath again, I stagger backwards.

Next, I feel a force hit my cheek, and my mouth tastes of blood. I spit the vial substance out just in time to see Max attack me with a forceful roundhouse kick executed to my side.

I fall to the ground and she kneels down. Her right knee is at my throat and the weight of her body is keeping me down.

"Why are you doing this?" I struggle to croak.

"The pain that you feel now is a freaking paper cut compared to all of the pain I felt after you left me alone." She cries out, "Times this amount of pain by a number higher than you can imagine. That, Fang, is half as much pain as I've felt for the past 20 years!"

"That was the past. I can't change what I did."

"Then why'd you do it in the first place, Fang? You promised that we would never split apart again. What happened to that promise?"

"Max, I was only hurting you guys by being there. You were all in danger. Besides, I promised you I would see you at this very spot in 20 years. Take a look around, Max. It's been 20 years and here we are today."

"We could have dealt with anything together. If you put us in danger, well that's what we would have to overcome… together. Being apart means nothing! Nothing!" I try to disagree, but she growls. "Shut up! I don't want to hear it! 20 years may as well have been 20 lifetimes without you!"

Now, when I don't reply, Max explodes again, "Say something, Fang! Don't make me regret coming here and seeing you again. The flock doesn't even know I'm here. I don't want them to think I'm weak for seeing you again. They'd call me a fool!"

"Since when do you care? Since when do you give a crap what others think! You are a fool for loving me, and I'm a fool for leaving. Don't you get it Max? This is what we've wanted all along."

"You don't know that! I don't even know what gives you the audacity to make a judgment like that on my behalf!"

"Then tell me what you really want, Max! I can't read your mind! I don't know what you want!"

"I don't know what I want either!" She cries out. Tears start to spill down her cheeks. "I don't want to love you! But I do! I don't want to forgive you, but how can I not? You've always been there for me, you've put up with me for the first 15 years of your life! How can I not forgive you for making a decision I would have made myself?"

I feel a large lump of cotton in my throat. This is the Max that I left behind. The Max that I love more than life itself. If I need to, I will die for Max. Seeing her sob tears me apart. I will do anything to put a smile back on her face; anything to stop the tears.

She abruptly rolls from my chest and sits next to me, hugging her knees close to her body and blubbering like a baby. My heart breaks in two at that moment because I know that I have caused each and every one of these tears to spill from her eyes.

I don't hesitate to wrap my arms around Max. I don't even think to protest when she places her head in the crook of my neck and bawls.

My shirt is soaking wet after a while, but I simply hold the girl that I loved tighter in my arms and let a few tears of my own fall for the first time in ages.

Some hours later, as the sun sets beyond the horizon, I see a young man approach the cave's entrance. Max perks up some, and I feel a wave of unwelcome jealously rack my body.

"Who are you?" I bark.

Max and the boy exchanged a quick glance. Finally she proud announces, "Fang, this is your son, Ash."

Instinctively, I reach into my sweatshirt pocket and pull out a lighter as well as fresh pack of cigarettes. This is turning out to be a LONG day.

Yeah! The next chapter is finished! And I'm on a laptop! Whoot! I know you care so much!

Leave me a review telling me what you think! Please! I'm begging you! It'll make me a very happy writer if you do! If you don't, I may just egg your house in the middle of the night, even though I have no clue what state or even country any of you even live in!

(I'm just a little hyper, can't you tell!?)

~Faxisthegreatest123~