A/N Okay I know it ahs been since I have really worked on any of my stories, but all I can say is that I'm sorry. My life has been flipped upside down and taken for a waltz, but I am trying to get back to normal. So at long last here is the last chapter to A Nightmare Lived.

Chapter 22

I narrowed my eyes at the horizon, the faintest tinge of light was creeping into the night sky. That meant I needed to head back. Damn, there just wasn't enough hours in a day. I had been flying for five hours roughly, I needed to be back at the house before the Flock woke up and realised I was taking late night patrols. I pushed up off the pine I was currently resting on and flapped my wing hard. I could get back in two hours if I flew at a steady pace and didn't stop.

I let the cool air wash my face and wake me up. I had been doing this for weeks, months really. It had been over a year now since Jeb had gone missing. Everyone had come to terms that he was more than likely dead, he had gone our for groceries and hadn't come back, we had looked and found nothing, he had truly vanished. I had comforted everyone, wiped away the tears, picked up the role of being the adult, allowing the others to be kids, I didn't want Fang and Iggy to have the responsibility, Iggy was a bit of a joker, and Fang was a bit of tough love, besides they didn't really know how to care for kids. I had watched people love and care, at least I had the guidelines to run by.

But whilst I was caring for everyone, I had no time to grieve myself, I hadn't cried not until four months later. Then I had started thinking, maybe he wasn't dead, maybe they had taken him back. I had looked at maps of the towns and cities near us, picked ones that had quite a few big businesses and had flown around at nights….hoping to see something. I don't know what I was looking for, I just knew I couldn't give up yet. Even that though needed to come to an end. Jeb was lost to us now.

The wind dried the tears that trickled down my cheeks, barely giving them a chance to run past my cheekbones. It just wasn't fair.

I had lost so many close to me. And now Jeb. What ever made this world wasn't watching out for us, I felt so raw and hot, as though my chest had been burnt and ached. I had to swallow the lump past my throat. I needed to get over it. Crying and mourning never solved nothing. If you focused too much on the past you'd end up dead. And if you were the one protecting others and you ended up dead, then you didn't just fail yourself, you failed them as well. If you died, who would protect them?

I set my face into a blank mask, I could get over this. I spent a single moment cherishing the image of Jeb in my head, then I tucked him away in the sealed compartment in my mind. Right next to my memories of Sky and Chase, including the few people I had known in the caves, Azra, Jethro. All of them, they were gone, so I wouldn't keep them around anymore by thinking about them. The dead would be stay dead.

The light grew brighter and the sky was a light blue by the time I landed quietly on the deck. The clouds where painted pink with the sunrise, I tilted my head slightly in silent wonder at the endless cycle of sunrise and sunset. I didn't know what the future held, but I knew the sun would continue to rise and set. That was all the hope I needed.

I padded into the kitchen and poured some cold water into a cup. Gulping the water down to help cool me down from my long flight. My tank top clung to me with sweat, tendrils of hair snaked out around my face and my joggers felt too heavy on my skin. I needed to get changed into baggy clothes before the others saw me, they would surely notice that I had lost some weight. A few hours of sleep and long hauls of flights would do that to a girl. I didn't really want to explain my need to search for Jeb so long when it was obvious what had happened either. It was for the same reason I couldn't talk about my past, something couldn't be explained and I felt like I'd be stabbing my own heart if I did.

I put the cup in the sink and ran some water in my hands so that I could splash it onto my face. It was a slight reprieve from the exercise I had done. I was staring blankly into the stream of running water when I saw a shimmering dark shape move in the waters disoriented reflective surface. Quickly I spun around and threw my fist out. A strong hand clamped on my wrist and tugged me into a bear hug. I glared into deep eyes.

"Next time how about you make a noise, you do breath don't you?" I snapped.

Fang smirked as he let me go. "I do, its just you aren't very perceptive." He was joking but I could see his eyes assessing me. I pretended I didn't notice.

"What are you doing up so early?"

I thought about lying, then decided a half truth was best. "I went flying, exercising really. So if you don't mind I'm going to take a shower." Feeling quite vulnerable I spun around and stormed into the shower. Letting the hot water wash over my muscles and wash away the sweat and tears I had cried. The second I stepped out of the shower I would be a new Max. Stronger and braver, more capable. But for now, I just wanted to have a moment, to cry and be a child in my own company. Then I would go back to being strong for my flock. I just needed one moment for myself.

Fang POV

I just watched. I was good like that. It must've been put into my DNA to be silent and watch others. Iggy and I had noticed Max had been flying off lately, we were worried. Not because we thought she was going to betray us, no we knew how much she hated the labs and everything that came with it, I could hear her scream sometimes when she had nightmares, begging for the sky, wanting freedom I guess. No we were worried because she was so exhausted.

Seeing her this morning just confirmed it even more, over the last few years we had gained more weight, were more normal for birdkids, I guess. But I could see Max's bones poking out slightly, stretching the skin, her top had clung to her, baring each individual rib. It had taken us a while to realise what was wrong with her, she knew if we realised she was losing weight we'd worry, so she worry baggy jumper and a clothing to hide it. We only clocked on when Iggy bumped into her and felt the definition of her bones through her clothing.

She was eating, lord oh mighty was she eating, she nearly cleaned off the breakfast table by herself. I was lucky to still have all of my fingers left. And now she was playing with Nudge and Angel, trying to win Cluedo with a mind reader was quite hard. Iggy and Gazzy where stretched out on the sofa with wires sticking out of their pockets. I wasn't even going to think about what they were making this time.

It had been a long time since Jeb had gone missing. I had feeling that was the reason for the change in Max. But as she told Angel off for reading minds whilst playing games, again, I could see she was happy. She flicked her unusual blonde and brown striped hair over her shoulder and laughed with them. She looked as though a weight had been lifted off her were all different, more grown up, but still the same in a way. Max, Iggy and I were thirteen, Nudge was ten even if she was already acting like a teenager, Gazzy was six and damn proud of it. Angel was three and a half and just as sweet as the first day we had met her. She grinned at me.

I got up and followed Max into the kitchen as she went to get Angel and Nudge a drink. Whilst she was reaching in the fridge for the orange squash I laud my elbows on the counter so I could lean on them.

She turned to the cupboards without even glancing at me.

"You know what, you need to take lessons from a bear on how to lumber." She commented filling up the cups.

I quirked an eyebrow. "At least you didn't attack me this time."

"I nearly did." She moved her hand and the knife she had held against her wrist and out of sight clattered to the counter. Sometimes Max shocked me, she had moments when she seemed so battle ready it was scary. As if she expected something to happen anytime anywhere. She had gotten her skills from somewhere, how she sometimes, rarely, caught me silently walking behind her by the slightest shadow on anything reflective. Or it was just engraved in her DNA. We all knew each other since we were kids, in cages, there wasn't nothing we didn't know. We had all shared a spot in hell and it had bound us for life.

"Are you okay Max?" I watched her carefully, so intently that I took in every detail about her. The tiniest tug of her frown, the crinkle of her eyes as she thought then the warmth and life in her eyes and smile as she answered."I'm fine Fang. Everything's fine and it's going to stay that way. That I'll make sure of."

As she turned to head back into the room, I let out a sigh of relief. She was telling the truth. She was okay, whatever was wrong it had passed. She was back to being Max.

Max POV

I watched leaning against the door as Angel and Nudge slept fitfully. A small smile tugging at my lips. The day was like a whole new day, I felt new. I turned and quietly clicked teh door shut, giving Gazzy and Iggy a kiss good night on the cheek as I passed them in the hallway. Instead of going to my room I changed my mind. I turned and headed down the hallway and downstairs. Grabbing a blanket and a few cushions off the sofa I piled them onto the deck and curled up on them. Laying on my back as I watched the stars above twinkle down at me.

The cushions and and blanket sank underneath me as Fang sat down next to me. After a second he laid down next to me, placing his arms behind his head so he coul lay on them. We just sat there, quietly, staring at the never ending night sky. I grinned to myself. They could put us in a cage anytime, but teh second I got the chance to I would fly, into teh sky and be free. The sky never ended.

"So are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" I turned my head to look at Fang.

He chuckled. "SHouldn't I be the one asking that?"

I sghed. "Do you always have to answer a question with another question?"

"Why are you always so angry when I do?"

My laugh trickled out of me at his honsetly confused face. "It's okay if you dont want to tell me."

A frown tgged at his deep dark eyebrows and his equally black wing shifted under him slightly. "I was worried. Me and Iggy were taht is. About you."

I stared at the sky and blinked. "Ah."

He waited, he was always good at doing that. When we played hide and seek he always won. Instead of looking for us he would just sit in one spot and wait for us to get bored and to move out of our hiding spots. An unsual tactic but a useful one.

"Well anything else to add on to that 'ah'?"

I shrugged and stretched my wings a bit, likeing the feel of them rubbing into the cushions. "I was just having a moment."

We both grinned at eachother. He shook his head and i felt like his eyes were another pair of stars in the black night sky.

"So when's your next scheduled moment?" He asked.

"In a few hundred years or so. But you never know, teh appointment might get pushed forward. I swear if Iggy or Gazzy blow one more single thing up I will have their heads on a plate."

Fang thought about something. "That reminds me, I have something to tell you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

As he opened his mouth, an explosion resounded in the house, blowing out the window a few feet over and above us. "That." Fang finished.

I shot to my feet.

"Hey Ig that was awesome, it actually rip the frame of the window out. Max is going to have a cow but it was totally worth it."

"Hey Gazzy why can I hear flapping?" Iggy asked as he cupped a hand over his ear.

Gazzy turned to the hole that had once been a window and sawked at me as i hovered there, flapping my wings with strong beats, my arms folded over my chest and a death glare plastered to my voice.

"Oops." Gazzy squeaked.

"Oh you two, are in so much trouble." I said in a dark voice that made Iggy blanch a little bit.

A/N I'm sorry, this is all I could come up with for an ending to this. To me its sweet and simple, and give hints to what will happen in the future ;) But it's been so long since I have written for this that I've sort of lost the flow. So the best thing to do is to finish this off now and start a new flow for a sequel to A Haunted Past. Coming soon is… LIVING IN DREAMS!