I don't own MR

Max

When I was just a little girl, lost in my preteens with blood on my hands and Ari as my only friend, everything had fallen apart at the seams. Now I was older, with even more blood on my hands and even more people I cared about. Nothing was falling apart though, for it had already shredded into the darkness. Everything was wrong, but I couldn't fix it anymore. All I could do was hold my breath and hope it all worked itself out. That Ari would do as he promised, that Fang would be happy… eventually, and that my beautiful baby girl would grow up with no problems because of my stupid mistakes.

"There's still time to tell him, you know." Ari told me as I chopped off some of his hair. It had grown too long too fast, and although he normally went to somebody else other than his maniac of a sister for a trim, we needed to talk, so why not multi-task? It was how we always worked. It was comfortable that way.

I sighed deeply, slicing off a chunk that hid his neck and staring at the bare skin that showed. No expiration date. Ari wasn't hiding anything from me. "Why'd you tell Fang you got your expiration date?" I answered smoothly, diverging away from a reply.

"You know why. It was the only way to make the question sound… normal." Normal. What a strange concept through my eyes.

"Yeah well, I just cut your hair so what's your explanation for lying about that?" I pondered, glad the topic had fallen away from me and my own lies as I continued to snip his black hair back down to its usual short length. At one point it had been blonde, but ever since Ari had his own experiments shoved upon him it had changed color. As dark as our hopes and dreams.

"Maybe Iggy wrote it on the back of my neck as a prank?" He offered up. I only shrugged. Any lie was better than the truth. Or maybe it wasn't, but I couldn't even handle it myself so it was only for the better if nobody else had to.

"Okay, fine. The way you panic of course you wouldn't realize it was marker."

"Great. Now back to what I originally suggested," Ari raised an eyebrow in the bathroom mirror towards my reflection and I huffed, making another snip and watching as the dark hair fluttered to the ground like a dead leaf.

"Ari, I… I can't tell him. Not yet, at least. Too soon and he'll try to stop it."

"But too late and he'll never get over it." Silence except for the sound of scissors cutting hair invaded my ears, and I attempted to keep my heartbeat at a normal level. He was right, but I was also right. And two rights did not make one huge right. They made one huge wrong.

"What do I do?" I whispered, setting the scissors down and sitting down on the edge of the tub. I watched the ground with an unfocused gaze, unsure of myself and everything I had ever touched, felt, smelled, seen. It was all one big joke.

"Make everything clear. Don't leave any blurred lines. Be real with him, Max." Ari advised and I nodded once, looking up into his dark eyes that swelled with tears.

"Thanks, Ari, I love you so much and I want you to know-"

"I already do, Baby Sis." He mumbled and I looked at him for what could have been eons before flinging myself onto him in a hug that I never wanted to let go from. "And I'm so proud of you, Max. Everything you've done- even the bad stuff- makes me so happy. I could never ask for a better sister than you. I love you." Ari cooed, and I held him tighter, blinking away tears. I needed to stop. If I was going to go through with this I needed to go back to being Maximum Ride, cool and collected. I could do it. I knew I could- or I hoped I could anyways.

I laid half asleep next to Fang, watching the television languidly as he stared on at the movie, intrigued by every meager movement on the screen. "Fang," I mumbled with a yawn, knowing what tomorrow was. I had been avoiding it all day, but I couldn't anymore. If he woke up and I didn't I couldn't live with myself without telling him a few things first.

"What's up?" He asked, not really listening to me. I sighed, plucking the remote from the nightstand and shutting the TV off. Ari had to pay for this anyways so it was better to turn it off now than have him have to spend a few grand on a hotel room

"Aw! Why'd you do that? It was the good part, Ma… ax, what's wrong?" Fang's voice trailed off into concern as I sat up, attempting to flash him a smile but failing miserably. It was hard to be happy for him when I couldn't even be happy for myself.

"I wanna tell you some stuff, and it's really important to me that I do, so just listen, okay?" I demanded, and he nodded once. Blind loyalty following me to my grave. What I wouldn't give to re-live every moment we've ever had. From the first time he called me Max to the first day I came back after successfully hiding his own child from him. Looking into his dark eyes I couldn't help but hate myself.

It was that moment I realized how wrong I had been. I needed to tell him, to convince him, to make him go to her- but he was just touching twenty, and who was I to take away the life that came with being a young adult? Once I was out of the picture he'd be free to have all the fun he wanted. I knew that wasn't what he'd ever want in a million years, but I also knew it was for the better.

"I love you," I began. it was simple and honest. "I didn't love you in the beginning but I love you so much now, Fang. When you had wings you were my angel, and now you're my protector with whatever they put in you. I want- no, I need you to know that everything I've done and everything that happens from here on out, I had planned for months." Fang's eyes shifted in confusion, but he didn't interrupt, so I kept going.

"Seven years from now something special is going to show up on your doorstep. Don't turn her away, okay?"

"Her? Max, what are you-"

"I can't explain it all right now, but I want you to know this. If I hadn't been so stupid a month ago I never would have left. If I would have just stopped and actually let myself think about it I would have realized what a huge mistake I had made. But at the time I thought I was helping you. I wanted you to live your life and I was worried you wouldn't be able to if…"

"Max, you're freaking me out. Just tell me." I sucked in a breath. Two choices. Two truths. Only one of them could be found out at this moment.

"Remember when Ari told you he got his expiration date?" I couldn't believe I was doing this. Ari had already told Fang the Iggy lie and yet here I was correcting it, fixing one of my many mistakes. "And then he said it was a prank pulled on him by Iggy?"

Maybe it was the inflection in my voice, or the way I refused to look him in the eye, but Fang stopped breathing. He literally stopped. There was no more oxygen filling his lungs for a solid minute before he finally sucked in a breath. "No. Don't you dare. Don't. You. Fucking. Dare." He snarled, a feral growl falling out of his throat. It was something deeper than Fang, darker than him.

"Fang I-" A shriek left my mouth as he grabbed me by my hair, yanking me so that my back was facing him and then flinging it out of the way. There was silence. The kind that promised death- but not the kind of death my expiration date called for. Something much more gruesome. Fang didn't say another word, and after five minutes of trying to keep my fear bit down I turned to him, looking into his eyes as black as ink.

"Fang…" I spoke, my voice barely above a whisper. He'd never looked at me like that before. Sure, he'd gone into rage mode and hit me but he'd never made me feel hated like he did now.

"You bitch." He sneered, and he rose his hand up. I flinched, instinctively expecting him to hit me, but he never did. Instead, something much worse happened. He broke down into sobs.

The disgusting kind that echoed throughout a whole room and left snot and drool mixing together until you couldn't tell what was what. "I hate you. I hate you so much! Why would you do this to me? Haven't I suffered enough? God damnit I hate myself. Why did I have to love you of all people?"

"Fang-"

"I spent almost two years of my life being there for you and this is how you repay me? By telling me of your expiration date the day before?"

"Fang please-"

"Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear your lies, or your excuses. I don't want to hear any of the bullshit that comes out of your mouth. I'm done with-"

"You told me you wanted to die next to me." That made him pause. "You told me you'd be happy if you just got to see my face before I died. Fang, I thought I wanted to go out in glory but after you told me that I decided I didn't want to. I just wanted to be next to you." I pleaded, grabbing his hand. He didn't pull away like I expected, but he didn't entangle our fingers together. I was holding his hand. He wasn't holding mine.

He wiped some of his tears away and glared at me, a choked sob falling out of his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me? What if I-"

"I knew you'd play the 'what if' game. Fang, you can't undo an expiration date. But look on the bright side, right? I get to be with you for my last few hours. And then you get to get rid of me and you never have to worry about suffering because of my stupidity again." A humorless chuckle fell out of Fang's mouth. But he squeezed my hand and intertwined our fingers together anyways.

"You just don't get it, do you Max? I love suffering because of you. I love wanting to hate you but not being able to. But what you've just done to me? It's torture. A life time's worth." Fang snarled, and I bit my lip to keep from responding for a moment. I needed to be composed. Calm and collected.

"If I could get rid of it I would have by now, but Fang, can I tell you a secret?" He sighed, nodding his head as he wiped some more tears away with his good hand. He had stopped crying after anger took over his sadness, but that didn't stop the tears from resting on his cheeks and dripping down his nose.

"I'm kinda ready to die."

"Oh my God," Fang breathed out, plopping down on the bed and letting his head fall in his free hand. He wouldn't let go. We had to have some type of connection and if holding hands is what it was supposed to be then so be it.

"It's not like I was ever intentionally suicidal or anything, don't get me wrong, but I've been through a lot, and I feel like I've got to experience a full life even though I'm only… seventeen. Wow, when did my birthday go by?" I breathed out to myself before realizing I still needed to finish this conversation. "Anyways, I'm ready to do this. To stop running."

"What if I want to stop running with you?" Fang asked quietly. I only shook my head.

"You can't."

"And why not?" I took a deep breath, unsure of how to tell him without speaking of our beautiful child. It took a long time of leaning on each other before an answer finally clawed its way out of the depths of my thoughts.

"Fang, you said I'll always be in your heart, right, no matter what?" I asked and he didn't even hesitate. Just one simple nod.

"Then live for both of us. I'll be with you. Don't think I'm going to allow you to get another girlfriend anytime soon." I joked, attempting to make light of death. A near impossible task, but Fang still let a dry chuckle fall out of his mouth.

"Oh trust me, I couldn't even deal with you, Maximum Ride, there is no way I'm going after anybody else." He looked up at me, a sparkle in his eye. It wasn't a happy one, but rather an agonizing sorrow.

"Fang, I don't expect you to ever forgive me-"

"I won't. I can't. Not for this."

"And that's fine. What I've done to you is not worth it. You should have never tagged along with me but… I can't help being glad that you did. Pretty selfish, huh?" I muttered.

"I only tagged along to get away from my own family. So I was being kinda selfish too." Fang admitted, resting his forehead against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, letting our noses press against one another's.

"Can we do one more crazy thing together?" I pondered quietly.

"And what would that be my corpse bride?" Fang smiled at me. A watery smile that told me he was trying as hard as he could to be okay even though he wasn't. I wondered if it had everything to do with me or if something else was persuading him to give in to temptation.

"Let's get tattoos."

The next day Fang awoke to an unbreathing figure huddled closely to him. He didn't breathe. He couldn't. Not with her dead body laying next to his live one. He always thought he'd be the one to go out first, and yet there she laid. A beautiful corpse bride just as he had called her last night. They still had unfinished business, but he had a feeling one day, in some strange twist of fate, he'd talk to Maximum Ride again, and she would talk back, but for now he'd just lay her there and hold her cooling body.

You said I'll always be in your heart, right? His mother had told him those same words on her deathbed, back when he was too young to understand death itself. he had nodded then, and when she had told him she was ready to die he hadn't figured it out until she was already gone.

Now he knew, sometimes it was better to let the peaceful spirits die, to let them live on in something stronger than their own bodies.

True, he would never forgive Maximum Ride for what she had neglected to tell him. He would hate her everyday for the dull ache in his heart where she once belonged. But he also wouldn't forget to love her everyday of his life because she was the only person who'd ever loved him as passionately as he had loved her. They were two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly. Only one of them had been chipped and broken beyond repair, while the other was thrown away. Fang wasn't sure which one he was yet, but either way it was a new day, and although he'd never see Max as he had last night ever again, he had no intentions of lingering where he laid.

"See you in whatever comes after life, Max." He mumbled, pressing a tender kiss to her cold lips before standing to his feet and pulling on some clothes. He left with no warning, no note, and no sound. But that was okay. Fang would meet Ari again one day, and Lupo and Iggy. And when that day came he hoped they'd be ready, because he knew he wouldn't be.

Fang, these tattoos are something special. They'll never go away. Just like our love, and our problems, and everything else that holds us together. I know you'll never be able to smile at me again, but I hope you can smile at the tattoo at least.

Somewhere in the outskirts of Las Vegas Fang pulled up his shirt sleeve, looking at the black cage that portrayed the silhouette of a girl jumping out of it, her wings unfurling in full flight. It was permanent. Just like Max. Even though she wasn't here physically she'd never leave him.

I'm smiling at you, Max, right now, because I love you and you're an idiot who I'm going to hate for a really long time but I love you. And this may be the last thing we do together, but it's not goodbye. It's never goodbye. Goodbye means forgetting, and I'll never forget you, Maximum Ride.

There's still an epilogue to answer questions you guys still may have so don't freak out.

Important: I understand that a lot of people are going to dislike what I chose to do with the ending of Fugitives and I also understand that this could make a lot of people hate the story, but this is still my fanfiction, and this felt... right. I wanted it to end like this because I wanted Max to get to be at peace and I wanted Fang to have a long life and to be honest, from day one they weren't meant to have a happy ending. I just really hope you guys can respect my artistic decisions.

Anyways, this has been a long rollercoaster ride and It's a bittersweet moment for me to post this chapter, but it'll be even worse when posting the epilogue because that's the official ending.

Review because this is Max's last POV for Fugitives.

Soar on

VR

P.S- Happy 4th of July to the USA! Whoop!