Ugh. This was totally painful. Somebody told me that if I wanted to get more reviews, I should just "wait". WELL I TRIED WAITING. But hey, 15 reviews aren't bad, but it only leaves me hungry for more. So people, REVIEW! Well, I'm gonna be a jerk and ask for FIVE more reviews before I start the next chapter!! So once again, REVIEW!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Max Ride. (Have I ever before? Uh, NO!)

Max's POV

I opened my eyes a crack. Ugh it was so bright. I took my first breath only to start coughing violently. Ugh I feel like crap. I looked at my hand. Blood. Was I coughing out blood? Guess so.

I tried to sit up, but then I felt an immense pain in my shoulder, and Fang pushed me back down. "You should lay down. You need some rest." His face looked totally relieved. I don't think I've ever seen his face like that, except for when I first got my headaches. "Ok." I croaked back.

I looked around the room. Nudge and Angel were crying. Total was in a pile in the corner of my bed, crying. Gazzy was trying to hold him self-together. Iggy's face was as white as a ghost, Ella stood next to him, holding his hand, and mom was breathed a sigh of relief and held her hand over her heart. Fang was watching me intensely, like I was going to keel over and die. Oh wait. I just did.

"How long was I out?" I asked weakly. Mom looked at me with pain. "Honey, you blacked out. Your temperature rose extremely, and then you were gone."

"Gone?" I asked confusedly. Fang looked at me. He had some expression on his face, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe agony. I don't know. "Your heart stopped beating and it didn't start up for a couple minutes."

"Like your whole system just shut down." Mom explained. I turned my head to the side. This happened before. Damn isolation tank. But I did that willingly. What the hell happened this time? My systems just decided to shut down?

"Ok…um why is everybody against the wall?" I asked. "Oh. I had them lean against the wall while I was doing CPR on you." Mom said. "You guys can come now." Everybody practically jumped over to me. Nudge turned on.

"Oh my god Max you totally scared us! One moment we were landing in front of Ella's house, and then the next minute you blacked out! Then Fang was rushing into the house and took you up the stairs! Dr. M was working on you and bandaging up your shoulder and I was afraid you were gonna die and—" Somebody covered her mouth. But that was a reminder for me. My shoulder was bleeding. I turned to look at it and gasped when I saw the blood on the sheets.

"I was bleeding THAT much?!" I screeched. "How bad is the bullet wound?" I asked, panicked.

"I haven't checked on your injury yet. I'm going to wait until you feel a little better." Then mom turned around and said, "Ok guys! Let's give Max some time to recover. Let's all head downstairs for now and I'll make dinner." And with that, everybody left. Well almost everybody. Fang was still here.

"I was afraid I lost you there, for a minute." He said quietly, when everybody was gone.

I smirked at him. "Me? Gone? Do you know who your talking to?" I said to him teasingly. He grinned a little, making my whole world feel better. He looked serious for a moment and said, "How do you feel?"

I tried to look as best as I could and gave him the expression that said, I'm been better. "Fine." I responded. "My shoulder still feels a little achy, and I don't feel dizzy anymore, so I think I'm fine. But I'm still tired." I yawned for extra effect.

"What did you see when you were unconscious?" He questioned me. His voice was barely above a whisper. I gave him a pained look. He looked concerned, but then quickly hid it from his face. I looked towards the door, then I motioned for him to come closer. He leaned in close to my face. "How far did I go?" I whispered.

He looked at me solemnly. "You were gone." He murmured. Oh. My. God. I practically died. I felt a few tears spring to my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away. Fang looked alarmed.

"Fang, I don't know where to start. When we landed, I was fine, but then I felt a scorching pain in my arm and wing. Then I remember blacking out. Suddenly I was falling into a pit of fire. I felt like I was on fire. There was so much pain.

Then this big creature, pitch black with blood red eyes was staring at me. Its hands suddenly clamped down on me, and I was falling into utter darkness. But the pain was gone, so I felt better. Maybe that was when my heart stopped--?" I asked. He shrugged, looking at me gravely. I continued on.

"Then in the midst of the darkness, I saw a light. The end of the tunnel sort-of-thing. It felt so lonely in there. Next to the light, there was a figure. It was a girl. I think she was an angel. She was wearing a white robe and she had white wings, just like Angel's."

A few tears sprang to my eyes, but I ignored them.

"The whole time, something in my head was arguing with me. It wasn't my Voice though. One was telling me to go to the light. It told me to forget about the flock, and to think about myself. It told me death was waiting, and I should take it. Another voice was arguing about not going into the light. Like how I had my responsibilities and everything. Well, in the end, I decided not to go into the light. The angel hugged me, and told me to fly to the bottom of the pit. So I did, and eventually I came back to my body."

I didn't look at Fang. I put my hands over my face. "I was gone, and I had the option of death, but I didn't choose it. I was so close." When I took my hands away, Fang was looking to the ground, his face white as a ghost. It was silent for a moment, then he looked up at me and took my hand. He put his face closely to mine and growled softly. "Don't you ever go into the light, Max. Keep your heart beating, and I'll be there fighting." (AN: Ok! I admit it! I got this from one of the Twilight books. LoL)

Then Fang leaned in closely, and kissed softly on the lips. "Get well soon." He said softly, and he walked out the room, closely the door softly. HiHi