A/N: SUMMER!
No really. It's summer! Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.
LAST CHAPTER BITCHES!
We make a campfire that night near the water in Staten Island, NY. All of us are licking wounds, but at the same time there's an excited atmosphere in the air that no one can deny.
"Okay, we're all safe, all together." Max takes a deep breath, and I'm sure she's going to go all soapbox on us. But you know what? It doesn't irritate me. Because that's who she is, and it's not going to change. Just one thing that makes Max Max, and I should do well not to forget it.
"We found the Institute and maybe we got exactly what we went there for," she continues. "Guys, I found names, addresses, even pictures of people who might be our parents."
Shock registers on everyone's faces, but it is quickly replaced by excitement.
"What are you waiting on?" Ig asks eagerly. "The envelope, please. Open it, already. Then somebody tell me what it says."
Max's hands are shaking as she pulls the papers out of the envelope. We all gather around her and help press the papers flat - the papers that could contain the answers to basically every question we could have about our pasts.
"Max, what did Jeb mean - you killed your own brother? He didn't mean that Ari was your brother, did he? You guys weren't - I mean, triple yuk -"
Typical of Nudge to be off in her own world at a critical time like this.
"I don't know, Nudge," Max says, holding up a hand and struggling to control her voice. "Let's read these pages. When someone gets something interesting, yell." She passes out the stacks, and Gaz clutches his eagerly.
"Who's your daddy? Who's your mama?" he crows. It should be known that this statement absolutely does not require an explanation.
Angel starts reading slowly. "This doesn't make sense to me," she says after about ten seconds.
I turn my head to my own papers and begin to shuffle through them, ignoring Gaz's excited cry. Tracing my fingers down the page, I let them rest on two snapshots of a man and a woman and then examine the words next to them.
My heart stops beating for a moment, and I bring the papers closer to my face. Can it be...? The woman has black hair, piercings, thick makeup - but under it all I can see the shape of the jaw, nose, high cheekbones. The man is blond, and looks a few years older. He has stubble and almond shaped eyes like me, though his are blue and mine aren't.
"I've got an address too, and some names," I say, looking at the paper and seeing the names as I say it. Her name - Natalya Cass, and he's Jefferson Page. These are my parents...oh god. "And my name. And, oh man, there are pictures..."
"Let us see! Let us see!"
Everyone gathers around. All I can see is those two little pictures, trembling as my hand shakes around them.
"He looks just like you, Fang!" Nudge exclaims, pointing at Jefferson - my dad. "And so does she. They've got to be your mom and dad! No doubt."
Everyone suddenly starts crying for some reason, which is weird because they're my parents and no one else's.
"Maybe, maybe not," I mutter as an answer, studying their faces some more. Natalya Cass - my mother - looks a lot like me, from the structure of the face to eyes and hair. Although Jefferson Page - my father - is blond and blue eyed, his eyes are shaped the same as mine. For some reason I feel like I've seen his face before.
Weird...
"Here they are!" Gaz shouts suddenly, breaking my muse. "My mom and dad! One sixty-seven Cortlandt Lane in Alexandria, Virginia! Angel, look! This is them. It's totally amazing. It's a miracle. They look like me! And you too, Angel!"
There's a quick pause, and then the sounds of Angel sobbing. I want to look up, but I can't tear my eyes away from my mother's face.
Your mom thought you died, like Nudge. She was a teenager. They don't know who your dad was. But your mom thought you died.
That's right. According to Angel, they didn't know who my father was. So maybe they'd found him. But she had only found that out a couple of days ago; was it possible that they'd found him since then? Or was it more realistic to say that maybe Angel's information wasn't completely accurate?
I let my eyes slide to the words printed on the pages.
"There's lots of numbers and nonsense printed all over these pages too," I report to Max.
She glances down at her own pages and frowns. "Why scramble just some of the information? It doesn't make sense."
"Who cares?" Gaz cries happily. "I found my mom and dad! YAA-HOO! I take back being mad at them!" He glances back at his papers, shuffling through. "Iggy! Iggy! Your mom!" he announces, and Ig stiffens. "Oh, aww - says your dad is deceased. Sorry about your dad. But your mom looks neat." He begins to describe her.
Wait a second.
Hadn't Angel said that his mother was the one who was dead?
Yes, she had. I remembered it clearly.
So who was wrong? This information or what the whitecoats were thinking and thusly passed on to Angel?
It didn't make sense!
"So why scramble this other information?" Max asks.
"Maybe it's information that the whitecoats never wanted anyone to find out." My voice is hollow.
"Like - funding," Max thinks aloud. "Or hospitals who gave them babies. Other messed-up scientists who help them. Like the keys to the whole Evil Empire."
"Holy Joe," Ig says, sitting up excitedly. "If we had that stuff, we could blow them wide open! We could send it to a newspaper. That fat guy could make a movie - like Bowling for Colombine or something."
Whatever that meant.
"I don't care about that stuff," Nudge says impatiently. "I just want to find my mom and dad once and for all. Wait, wait! This is me!" She spreads the papers out and glances around at all of them. "Know what? All these addresses are in Virginia and Maryland and Washington, DC. That's all kind of close together, isn't it? Plus, DC is where the government is, right?"
Ig is basically quivering with excitement. "This is the coolest thing ever! First we go meet our parents. Joyful reunion, hugs, kisses. Then we go destroy the School, the Institute, all those sons of b - I mean, all those jerks who messed us up. That would be so great. Like, we could wipe out the Erasers, all of 'em, at once. Way cool!"
Gaz sobers up. "So what are we gonna do? For real?"
"I want to do whatever Max does," Angel declares. "So do Celeste and Total."
Total wriggles, hearing his name, and proceeds to lick everything in the near vicinity. Angel smiled and hugged him.
"We go to DC," Max says finally. "And take baths. And start tracking your parents down. We have all their addresses, right?"
"Whoo-hoo!" Gaz shouts, slapping Ig in the hand. Everyone starts smiling, and in no time we're all laughing again.
**!**
There's really nothing better than flying in the morning at about fifteen thousand feet, say around six AM. Wind blowing through your hair, making your eyes water, ruffling feathers. Below us, we can see New Jersey, winding away as we fly to Washington, DC.
I glance over at Max, and she meets my gaze. Her face is graced with a content smile, and she holds her wings still for a moment, coasting. I can almost feel the anticipation rolling off of her.
Max. I have to do some thinking about her.
Me. I have to do some thinking about me too.
I also have to do some thinking about the information that we had found, and how it didn't match up with Angel's. Who's the liar? The Institute, or Angel? I glance back at her, soaring with Nudge and clutching her bear to her chest. She looks so happy and alive. Maybe it's the School who's the liars, and not Angel.
But you know what? I'm not going to think about lies and liars right now. Because right now I'm flying in the warm air above the ground with my best, best friends. And that's all a bird kid could ask for.
So as you all know, towards the end of this I kind of stopped being into it. But, I made it through and I came out the other end glad for it.
I've been asked a couple times about whether I'll be doing School's Out – Forever. And I don't know. I don't think so right now. But maybe sometime in the future, just not soon.
I'd like to take a moment to thank every single reviewer. Without you all here with me I would never, ever have made it through this story and I am so glad you all were here to support me.
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Wow. I think that's the most reviewers I've ever had for a story, but most of them only reviewed one of two chapters or I'd have like 6,000 reviews on this story. XD
I love every single one of you and thank you soooo much everyone. If I missed anyone, just send me a PM and you can be as insulted as you'd like (anonymous reviewers were not mentioned, although I love you too!). Thanks again everyone and I'll see you soon!
P.S. If you're still reading all this and you like the anime/manga Bleach, go check out my page. I have a bunch of those too~!
Alright, then! See ya!
-TheCatWithTheHat