Coincide by I Luv Captain Terror

Ok, so for those of you who don't know I am the author of three other Maximum Ride fanfics, these fanfics are: Prisoner, Relapse (sequel to Prisoner) and The Sickness. People have asked me to write my version of MR4 and so that is what I intend to do. I am a faxness person so there will be faxness emerging slowly within the story. And I don't own anything, I just write until I get tired of staring at my computer screen. ENJOY!

Coincide- Chapter 1

So you know the whole story, well, most of it at least. And now here we are in the fourth installment where I actually feel somewhat normal. Yes, me… Maximum Ride. Yeah, I still have wings, but now I have a mom and a… um… Jeb.

The flock has been uber-happy lately mostly for being reunited once again, because we all were depressive when we split. My stomach gets uneasy just thinking about it. I'd felt so empty without Fang there to lean on and back me up. Ugh… Fang. Him and I had some talking to do still which would prove most embarrassing, I man the guy kissed me. The silent, unemotional stone cold himself. I love him, but I don't love him, do I?

"Max, I'm glad we're all back together." Angel said beaming with positive energy.

"Me too." I agreed, brushing the tips of her wings with mine on the down strokes. "This is all we need."

"It's getting dark." Fang stated flying up next to me.

"Is that your way of telling me we need to land without actually ordering me to do so?" I questioned furrowing my brow.

He gave a sideward glance and smirked. "Basically."

"Ok." I sighed. "Any ideas where to stay?"

"Trees." He offered with a shrug.

I pondered it for a moment, but with the stress and physical endurance we've suffered at the hands of all the crazies wearing white coats and the stupid superhuman boy, Omega. I hated him. Anyway the point of this 'Nudgian ramble' is that with us still having enough money… I could get a hotel room. Chancy with our sudden popularity, but I'm willing to risk it for a good night of sleep.

"Hotel." I said breaking away from my thoughts.

He nodded seeming to see my point. "Sounds like a plan."

"A very good plan." I smiled with sudden confidence.

"Don't push it." He said dropping back and shaking his head. That was the most normal conversation we'd had since the kiss… well, the second kiss.

Scanning the land below us, I could see we were flying above a small town. It had a strip mall, but it was quite small. A shabby hotel or rather, motel, was sitting a few blocks away lighting up a vacancy sign. Bingo.

"Alright, target the trees behind that motel on your decent." I called to the flock. "I'll head down first."

I managed to touch down right at the edge of the trees without any people turning to me with suspecting eyes. It was quite deserted around here, almost a ghost town, almost.

"Isn't this the hot spot." Fang muttered with dripping sarcasm.

"Sure is." I smiled pretending not to notice.

The rest of the flock flew down just seconds apart, Iggy still sporting a baby carrier on his back holding Total. I wondered for a second if we could actually pass Total off for a baby if we put him in a shirt or something, but the chances weren't likely, at all.

"Ok, Fang stuff the dog in your bag." I ordered walking away from the trees to the motel before us, oozing confidence.

"You're so cold." I heard Total mutter behind me.

"Yeah, yeah." I replied under my breath trying to hide my annoyance.

"May I help you?" The young man at the desk asked looking us over.

I looked at his name tag, Tad, I know I'm not one to criticize, but he'd fit in perfectly with our group with a name like that.

"Yes Tad." I spoke wearing a smile. "We need a room."

"Is that so?" He questioned with a smirk.

"Yes." I said with a nod.

"How old are you?" He questioned raising a blond eyebrow.

"Eighteen." I stated. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen." He supplied with a laugh. "How many rooms you want?"

"Just one." I said taking the time to look around the lobby, nothing suspicious so far.

"Do you have a credit card?" He inquired taking the time to look me over again. He was getting on my nerves very quick. He was letting me rent a room, but yet he still was looking at me like a juvenile who had no business to be here.

"Yes." I replied curtly as I took the card out of my jeans and slid it onto the cold counter. As he typed into his computer and went along with the rest of the business Fang came to stand next to me. I could see he was just as tense as I felt. I turned back and mindlessly watched Tad as I folded my arms onto the desk and rested my chin there.

"Here you go." He said turning and handing me two keys. "Have a nice stay."

"Thanks." I muttered snatching the keys and walking to room nine. If I had to guess, I'd say there weren't even a hundred rooms in this place.

"There." Fang pointed out our room as we all filed down the red hall.

"Cross your fingers." I said sliding in the key setting off two green lights and a tiny clicking sound. When I opened the door, we were met with an overwhelming odor of smoke and the sight of two beds and one roll away folded up against the wall.

"Perfect." Fang said thoughtfully as I nodded along beside him.

"Gazzy and Ig have one bed and Nudge and Angel will take the other." I proclaimed flopping into a chair that sat by the window. Fang took the one on the other side of the table, across from me.

"Angel, take your shower." Fang said meeting my eyes, I could feel the corner of my mouth twitch upward.

I'll admit that I'm not quite completely comfortable with sharing my leadership with Fang, but I am slowly getting used to it. I think we're finally learning to coincide.

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Give a review and I'll love you!

Coincide- Chapter 2

"I'll take first watch." Fang said walking out of the bathroom after taking his shower. He came to sit in front of me in the chair once again, but he stopped short seeing I was preparing to argue.

"No." I shook my head. "I think I'll take first watch."

"Why do you always have to fight with me over everything." He asked tilting his head to the side and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Not everything." I replied rolling my eyes.

"It's pretty much everything." Iggy piped up from the bed where he was inspecting one of his bombs. My eyes widened.

"Put that away." I shrieked jumping up from my chair. "You could blow us all up."

"Max, I'm the bomb guru." He said humorlessly. "I'm not going to accidentally kill us."

"Iggy please." I sighed helplessly.

"Fine." He muttered stashing it away once again. "Paranoid much?"

I ignored him and turned back to Fang who looked about a second away from laughter. I glared at him, but that only made his smirk grow into one of those smiles that lit up the room. I couldn't help but give a small smile of my own.

"Alright, so I've got first watch." Fang said finally plopping down into the chair.

"No, you don't." I argued sitting across from him. "Nice try."

"Alright, we'll flip a coin." He offered with a shrug.

"Fang, that's so juvenile, plus we don't have a coin." I stated. "I'll rock paper scissor you for it."

"Like that's not juvenile." Iggy whispered to himself.

"I heard that." I replied wasting a glare on him.

"Shoot on three." Fang snapped me bag to focus.

We both pumped our fists until the third where we both put out or choice. On the first time we both put out rock much to Gazzy's amusement and Ig's too when Gazzy told him the details. The second try I put out paper expecting Fang to try rock again, but he did scissors. Meaning he won.

"Scissors cut paper." He said with a smirk as he leaned closer pretending to cut my hand.

"I could of swore you'd go for rock again." I said wallowing in my current state of misery. If you haven't learned yet, I hate losing.

"I know, that's why I did scissors." He gloated. "I know you like the back of my hand."

I took a deep breath trying to calm my angered self, but it didn't work and I ended up kicking Fang underneath the table and scurrying over to the rollaway before he could retaliate.

"Sleep time." I said turning the lamps off. "Fang, wake me for second."

He glared at me before giving me a single nod. Once my head hit the pillow, I was out.

A crash woke we from my slumber and I instinctively looked over at the window where Fang had been sitting, except he was being held by three flyboys while more filed into the room. Not nearly enough though, we'd be able to take them.

I ran over to the window and pounced on one of the flyboys coming through the window. We landed outside in the darkness, no witnesses were out of their rooms. That's how I liked it, being discreet.

I kicked one of their knees then turned and kicked their weak spot Jeb had informed us about. For those of you that don't remember, it is the base of their spine. One good punch and their down for the count. Two more came at me, but I handled them easily before climbing into the room. My flock was almost completely done with the flyboys, Fang and Iggy the only ones still at work, probably because they usually took on more.

I went to help Iggy taking out one with a good kick while he got the other, Fang finished his last one right as I turned around.

"Report!" I called sitting on one of the beds.

"Ok." Gazzy.

"Me too." Iggy.

"Great." Nudge.

"Perfect." Angel

"Fang?" I questioned looking him over.

"Fine." He said with a penetrating gaze. "You?"

"Just scraped up." I assured looking myself over. My arms were pretty cut up and I think I had a cut on my cheek. I'm sure I would have bruised knees from landing on the sidewalk, my hands were scraped up. And I think a rock might be stuck in my right palm.

"I'll grab the bandages." Fang said walking over to his bag. And don't worry Total isn't in there anymore, Angel took him out before she took her shower. She wanted to give him a bath in the sink, but I told her no because I didn't want the bathroom smelling like wet dog. Total has been glaring at me ever since.

"I'll grab a wet towel." I announced walking into the bathroom and wetting down two of the medium sized towels and a washcloth.

"Angel, come here." I called taking a seat at the edge of the bed again. "Do you have any cuts?"

"There." She said pointing a pretty big one on her arm. It wasn't deep enough to draw much blood.

"Come with me." I ordered taking her hand and pulling her into the bathroom. I lifted her onto the surface by the sink and made her run the water on her cut to wash out the dirt. No one was going to get an infection on my watch.

"Does anyone else have cuts?" I asked poking my head out of the bathroom as Angel walked out only to be intercepted by Fang so he could bandage her up.

They all shook their heads except for Fang who was too busy with Angel.

I sighed and shut the door, looking into the mirror to see how much of me looked like a complete wreck. There was dots of blood on my clothes, but they weren't very noticeable. I inspected my scraped hands again and confirmed my previous assessment, there is a rock lodges in my right hand. Oh joy. That's sarcasm by the way, I'm not masochistic.

I took the soap and ran it under the water for a few seconds before rubbing it on my stinging palms. The cold water was bliss as it washed the soap and dirt mix from my cuts, but the rock stayed it.

"Are you ok?" Fang asked coming in.

"Don't you knock?" I scolded.

"Sometimes." He said ignoring my anger and turning my cut cheek toward him to he could inspect it closer. I pulled away to dry my hands on a towel, when I turned to leave the bathroom he had a wet towel in hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he dabbed at my cheek.

"I'm helping you clean yourself up." He said humorlessly. "Don't fight me on it, ok?"

"Ok." I muttered as he turned his attention to my arms, cleaning away all signs of blood.

"All done." He said taking a step back to inspect me.

"Not quite." I said holding up my hand. "There's a rock lodged in it."

"There's tweezers in the first aid kit." Fang said walking out of the bathroom. "I'll be right back."

I nodded as I watched him leave.

AN: Thanks for reading! I love you all! And if you review, I'll know you love me too... hint, hint

Coincide- Chapter 3

I slid onto the cold counter waiting for Fang to come back. I took time to study my hand again to see what tactic would work best for fishing the stupid rock out.

"Ok, let me see." Fang said walking back in, shutting the door behind him. He took a seat on the bathroom stool (the toilet) and waited for me to surrender my stinging palm to him. That's not gonna happen.

"Hand over the tweezers." The throbbing hand was held against my stomach while I beckoned for the stupid metal thing with the other.

"You're going to get it out yourself?" He questioned looking at me like I was stupid.

"Yes." I said making a grab for tweezers.

"With your left hand?" He yanked them from my reach.

Ok. I hadn't thought about that part. I could always try it anyway and subject myself to more pain than maybe even necessary or I could secede to Fang's wrath. I'll take option number one, no contest. "Yes."

"Just give me your hand." He shot me a look that said 'I'm not in the mood for this'. I reciprocated with a look that sung out 'Hand over the tweezers or die'.

"Fine, when you're ready to admit you need help, come get me." He growled slamming the metal object onto the surface next to me, making me wince. Fang stormed out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He could have done it harder, but my guess was he didn't want to break the door when we already had a broken window on our hands. We'll have to leave soon.

My trembling hand managed to pick up the tweezers despite my inability to stop my convulsions at the moment. I glared at my hand for a moment to gain some kind of authority over it, but it wasn't very successful. I was still shaking.

I lowered the metal until it hovered over the rock and proceeded with care until I was actually grasping the rock. I tried to tug the rock out, but it only brought searing pain. I know what you're thinking… 'She's had brain explosions, a broken nose and who knows what else and she's struggling with the pain of taking a little rock out of her hand'. Two words for you: It hurts. Let's see you dig something out of yourself.

I let out a breath and tried again, there was no way I was going to ask for Fang's help. If I had to, I'd be in here for hours, heck I could just cut off my hand if worse goes to worst.

"Max, I have to use the bathroom." Nudge called outside the door.

"I'll be out in a minute." I tried yanking again with no success.

"You've been in there for forever." She complained.

I rolled my eyes, hopping off the counter and allowing her in while I slipped out. I made sure to stay away from Fang's area of the room even though I could feel his eyes boring holes into my back as I sat on the bed, facing the wall of the bathroom.

Time to try again. I clutched the rock tightly with the tweezers, breaking into my skin to produce a light showing of blood. I hissed as I was met with pain, but not unrewarded because the gray pebble slid out spotted with red.

"Got it." I proclaimed proudly.

"That was sick." Angel said from behind me, looking a bit queasy.

"That was awesome!" Gazzy contradicted with a shout as he looked over the rock in my hand. It only took a self surgery to get the kid excited, that's good to know for future reference. I think I'll stick with buying him food to put a smile on that face.

Tossing the rock outside the window I turned to face the flock. "Everyone use the toilet, we're leaving."

I won't bore you with the order of who did their business first or last or whatever. But I do have to mention that Gazzy thought it'd be funny to write help on the mirror in the bathroom with soap, so I had to rinse that off before we left. The kid has a weird sense of humor.

"Alright, out the window then up and away." I instructed. All obeyed but Fang.

"Where we going?" He said with a tight jaw.

"The forest we saw a little bit back." I debated whether to say more or just leave it at that.

Fang's response came before I could decide. "When we get there, we need to talk."

He took off before I could protest and I scowled at his dark wings. Being alone with an angry Fang was never fun. "Great."

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Next chap should have some fax. Review and maybe it will get up by tomorrow.

And I have to ask that people don't use reviewing my stories as a way to comment on what they think of me as a person. Keep in mind that you don't know much about me, especially if your simply basing it off my profile. I don't mean to offend anyone by putting a short review about the books I've read next to them. That is simply my opinion and if you like a book that I didn't then good for you, I mean that very sincerely. I'm sorry if I offended anyone and I'll take off the reviews so no one thinks I'm being mean anymore. Have a great day guys.

Coincide- Chapter 4

We landed in a clearing circled by many different kinds of trees. The flock were asleep within minutes, exhausted from the fight and all the flying we've done. Fang and Iggy were still awake, talking to each other so I couldn't hear. That bugged me. Fang turned away from a nodding Iggy and came to me, motioning for me to follow him. I obeyed with a scowl, he took us deep into the trees off to the west then turned toward me with a piercing gaze that clearly said 'just listen'.

"We need to talk." He began.

I cut in angrily. "Yeah, you said that already."

After taking a moment to glare at me, he continued. "Max, why did you run off after I kissed you?"

I swallowed as his gaze bore holes into me. It was intimidating, especially since I had no idea what I was going to say. I mean, how was I supposed to respond? 'Gee Fang, I was saving us from the unnecessary after flow of embarrassment.' That's how I felt… no I felt overwhelmed. Fang was always so unemotional and then the guy kisses me out of the blue, a long kiss even. When I had kissed him it was a short peck on the lips in what I thought was his last dying moments.

"Max?" Fang pried me from my thoughts.

"What was I supposed to do?" I asked looking into his eyes. "You and I, we're not like that, Fang. We're best friends, flock members… brother and sister…"

"If I was like a brother to you, you wouldn't have kissed me." He denied with the shake of his head.

"What are you saying?" I interrogated.

"We're growing up, Max." He sighed. "We've grown closer and closer as the time went on, with constantly being on the run to stay alive."

I groaned. "You're starting to sound like Jeb."

"What?" He practically growled.

"When Jeb was talking to me as the voice he kept telling me that we were growing up and realizing our feelings toward each other. It got so annoying and now I have to hear it from you too."

"At least your dad approves of me." He said trying to lighten the mood.

I rolled my eyes. "That doesn't help your case one bit."

We were both silent, neither of us knowing what to say to each other. I didn't know how I felt toward Fang and I questioned the same of him and his feelings toward me.

"Let's go back to camp." I said beginning to walk away.

"You're running away again." He called, making me stop and turn to look at him.

"What do you want from me?" I asked feeling the fury building inside my chest.

"I don't know." He said shaking his head. "I thought I did, but maybe I was wrong."

I didn't even know what he was talking about, but for some reason his words stung me. The tightness of his jaw, the indescribable look clouding his eyes.

"What's that mean?" I asked furrowing my brow.

"You figure it out." He said heading back to camp.

"Why are you being like this?" I yelled stomping after him.

He whirled around with a cold look in his eyes now. I felt myself shiver and take an involuntary step back.

"Because Max." He shouted, gritting his teeth. "I feel like every moment you and I spend alone together, we take a step backwards."

"And that's all my fault?" My mouth hung open. What was Fang trying to say about me.

"Of course not." He denied, shaking off the cold edge to his voice. "But your inability to let me in doesn't help."

"Inability to let you in?" I repeated. "You really have been watching Oprah, haven't you?"

"Stop joking, Max." He scolded.

"Who's joking?"

"Max."

"What?"

"You need to let me help you."

My eyes widened.

"What?" He asked, clearly confused.

"You brought me out here to scold me about not letting you tweeze the rock from my hand?" I asked in disbelief.

"That's only part of it." He replied, shaking his head. "You're missing the bigger message."

"Meaning?"

"I trying to help you, but you keep pushing me away."

"I do not." I denied.

He crossed his arms. "You don't think running away is a way of pushing me away?"

"That depends." I fired back. "Do you call kissing me, helping me?"

He appeared to be at a loss for words. Good. I was tired of arguing with him. I wanted the silent, unemotional Fang back.

"I'm going back to camp." I muttered stalking back to camp.

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are awesome! Keep reviewing...

Coincide- Chapter 5

When I finally broke through the line of trees to our camp, I took a deep breath trying to do away with my anger. Fang had really ticked me off. Okay, deep breaths. After my heart stop racing, I made my way to Iggy.

"Max?" He said probably already knowing it was me.

I laid my hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, I've got watch now."

"Where's Fang?" He asked furrowing his brow.

"Go to sleep, Ig." I dodged.

But he was going to back down so easily. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." My lack of patience at the moment was easy to detect at the moment, especially with someone as insightful as Iggy.

"Fine." He muttered retreating to the sleeping forms of the flock.

I closed my eyes and exhaled. I felt horrible for treating Ig that way, he was just trying to help. But isn't that all Fang was trying to do too. Ugh, I don't know to be mad at anymore. When I opened my eyes again Fang was walking out of the trees. His jaw was tight and he was staring directly at me.

"You can have second watch." I said not expecting any kind of response from him. When he was mad, you felt it through cold silence, words weren't even a necessity.

"We're not done discussing things."

"You mean fighting." I shot coldly.

He rolled his eyes.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow." I said connecting with his brown orbs.

"Tomorrow?" By confirming his question, I was practically making a promise.

I nodded slowly, meeting his eyes. Promise made, practically written in blood. The anger that had been there seemed to ease, not disappearing entirely. I put my fist out like I had done so many times over the years. He set his atop mine with no hesitation, once we tapped each others, he went to sleep. At least something routine happened tonight.

I had a lot of thinking to do tonight. My mind wandered from the fight to Ari's death to my parents and half sister, Ella. So much has happened and Fang springs this conversation on me, expecting me to say what exactly? Did he even know how he felt about it (the kiss).

It was so out of the blue. When I kissed him on the beach, his eyes widened as large as saucers. Nothing in his eyes or on his face made me think what I did was a good thing or even remotely reasonable. And he kissed the red haired wonder, willingly. My stomach clenched just thinking about it.

Now he kisses me to 'change my mind'… What did he mean by that? He was affection in that moment, crossing so many invisible boundaries between us, the ones I thought neither one of us ever planned to break.

Yet, we both had at least once. Mine without thinking, could he say the same? Did he want to say the same?

I was really giving myself a headache. Luckily, it was time for Fang's watch.

I walked back to him, keeping my eyes on his sleeping form. He looked calm and dare I say… peaceful? I wished I didn't have to wake him from a good sleep.

"Fang." I whispered, placing my hand on his shoulder that stuck up in the air. He was lying on his side with his back to me. His eyes flicked open immediately meeting my eyes. "Your watch."

He gave a nod and stood slowly. I decided to lye where he'd been sleeping, too tired to move anymore. I bundled up my sweatshirt, using it as a pillow.

"Goodnight Fang." I said softly.

"Night."

But I never got the time to drift to sleep, not even to close my eyes, because moments later Fang made his way toward me with an alert stance.

"What is it?" I asked sitting up.

"Flyboys." He pointed to the sky. Just behind the tips of the trees a cloud could be seen, a cloud of flyboys that is. And there were a hundred of them at the least.

"Wake the flock, we've got to run." I said darting up to my feet.

Fang woke Iggy and the Gasman while I shook the girls, grabbing Total and shoving him in the baby carrier. I gave it to Iggy and instructed everyone to fly west.

By the time we got in the air, they were hovering in front of us.

"Prepare to be captured." They chanted robotically.

"I was expecting something more like 'prepare to die'." I said glancing over at Fang. Yes, I know the robots can't understand sarcasm, but I'm so used to using it.

That's when I threw my first punch. The flock followed my lead.

AN: YAY! The excitement begins... Hope you enjoyed and please review!

Coincide- Chapter 6

I don't mean to be a downer, but the chances of us making our way out of this flyboy situation alive or 'capture free' are very slim. They've got a hundred flyboys ready to fight us, while we have six kids and a dog… in a baby carrier. If Total ever finds out, he'll be appalled. But we're headstrong, we're gonna fight to the death, hopefully of them. And so far we weren't doing too shabby, thanks to Jeb's little tip on killing the metal dirt bags. I'll have to remember to thank daddy dearest if we get out of this alive.

"Max, watch out!" Nudge yelled from behind me. I whipped around only to see a flyboy rushing at me, so I placed a kick at the throat. Unfortunately, it did little to no damage. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the erasers. They were at least more fun to taunt, more responsive than cold shiny metal. Picking at Ari's jealousy had been some of the highlights of the adventure. Ari. Hearing his name echo in my head brought up memories I wish I could do away with. Seeing his eyes lose the glimmer of life, watching his breathing slow. I had held his body while he died, it was such a poetic end, ironic. We'd spent our whole lives as enemies and then when we do kiss and make up, minus the kissing part, he hits his expiration date.

What am I doing? I'm in the middle of a battle and I'm playing pity party with myself. I shook my head, releasing my mind from the haunting thoughts and memories.

A sickening crack cleared my mind fully, making me frantically look around in hopes it wasn't one of the flock's bones crunching. But it was, or it could be. Gazzy dropped in the air, pressing his left arm to his side. I tried to rush over to him, but I was grabbed from behind by my shiny enemies. I struggled as another latched on, Gazzy being grabbed also.

"Fang!" I yelled feeling the grip of my captors tighten, anymore and I'd swear they'd crack a rib. His heard turned in my direction, earning him a punch in the nose. Ouch. "Fang!" Dependant much?

I saw the flyboy he was fighting drop and he made his way to me while dodging kicks and punches. His eyes held mine the hold time, as if trying to reassure me with the silent connection. But I shook my head.

"Help Gazzy!" I ordered. He followed my eyes to the Gasman and quickly made his way to help free him, but it was short lived. They snatched him up with ease after assigning six flyboys to his defiantness. Another sweep of the battle told me it was over. The girls and Ig were plucked up by the robots. They had already started flying us to wherever our end would occur at. We were goners.

Don't worry, Maximum, we're doing all we can to stop them.

'Jeb?'

Yes.

'What do they want this time?'

I'm not sure, they don't let me in on information anymore.

'Thanks for nothing.'

I'm going to try to help you, Max. Trust that.

'I quit trusting you a long time ago.'

You'll learn to trust me again soon.

'Keep telling yourself that.'

"Marvelous!" I heard someone shout below us. It was a whitecoat, peering up at us below a hand that shielded her eyes from the rising sunlight.

"This way." Another one said as we landed, the flyboys tugged us along obediently.

I kept up a good struggle. "What lame plan do you have for us now?"

"How does termination sound?" My ex-mom shot, walking from a conference room.

I rolled my eyes. "I get it, you wanted to go flying again." I was referring to the last time I'd seen the Director. Nudge and I took her on a flight, very high up and dropped her. I just wanted to scare her, which I succeeded in doing. Now I realize, I should have just let her go splat on the ground, instead of listening to Jeb 'the voice of reason'.

Her eyes narrowed. "Quit the sarcasm."

"I don't take orders from turtles." I said crossing my arms.

"You don't take orders. Period. That's why you're being terminated." Her voice sounded triumphant.

I smiled. "Ya know, I'm so flattered that you noticed."

"Haf dey arrived?" A voice asked walking out of the conference room Yep, that's right… my good friend Dr. ter Borcht. This was going to be interesting.

AN: Hope you liked it! Keep reviewing!

Coincide- Chapter 7

"Yes Doctor, they're in the hall with the Director." Someone said from inside the room.

"Good." And then he stepped into view, Dr. ter Borcht himself. I waved as a devious smile crossed my lips, he didn't look to thrilled to see me again.

"Vich vun are ve terminating first?" He asked as the Director passed over a clipboard. After looking over the notes, his face fell into a frown. "No vis von't do."

"And why not?" The Director's voice was exasperated. "We said we would terminate them and that's what we're going to do."

"Yes I haf no problem vis vat." He shook his head handing back the board. "I vant to change ve order of ve process."

"Who do you want to be the first?" She inquired, sickly intrigued. "The little one has the most harmful abilities, she should be the first one dealt with."

I swear I stopped breathing for a moment. They were talking about killing Angel, and what… were they expecting us to let her go without a fight? If so, they had another thing coming. I stepped in front of Angel in a protecting manor. I could barely see Gazzy take her hand in his while Fang stepped up beside me.

"Your not going to touch her." I growled.

"You can't stop us, Max." The she devil said confidently.

"Well then… Red rover, red rover send tortoise lady on over." I yelled. "I can promise you a quick death."

"Vis vun." Dr. ter Borcht shouted pointing at me. "If ve kill ve leader, vey vill not fight after ze is dead."

"You want to kill Max first?" The Director seemed stunned.

"Yes." He said looking into my eyes.

"This is where you're supposed to laugh maniacally." I said shaking my head. "You forgot, now you have to deliver the line all over again."

"Are you sure, Doctor?" Came the turtle woman's reply.

"Yes, vey vill all vatch er die." His eyes never left mine.

"We'll see about that." I denied, crossing my arms. A few whitecoats began walking to me after getting the 'ok' from the Director. I got into the fighting position, as did the rest of the flock. One of them reached out for me, but I grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, tears started to flow down her cheeks. Man, they're weak.

"You're gonna have to do a lot better than this." I said shoving her to the ground.

"Way ahead of you." She said staring behind us. I didn't need to turn around to know what was going to be there, yep, lots and lots of flyboys.

So I turned and marched to stand between my flock and the shiny robotic mob of electronically enhanced erasers, a.k.a. flyboys. Fang sent me a glance relaying one single, simple message: stay alive. I gave a short nod, pulling my eyes away from my second in command to my awaiting battle and possible demise.

"Maximum Ride, you'll be forced to comply with the demand of Doctor ter Borcht." The mass of electronic idiots ordered uselessly.

I cracked a smile and looked over my shoulder, "You guys really need to give them sarcasm or something to spice up their evil banter."

When I turned my head back, I was met with a punch just below my left eye, hard enough to make me stagger back for a few painful seconds. After that I was able shut out the message my nerves were sending to my brain, that's all pain is… just a message.

Fang growled from behind me. I know I've said this before, but if you don't think that sentence is weird, then perhaps you should read it again. He growled.

"You are going to pay for that." I sneered, touching my cheek lightly.

"No more chat, seize vem." Dr. ter Borcht called out.

Robotic arms reached for me, but I kicked out it's shiny metal legs from beneath it. I placed a kick to the head of the robot, then another until another flyboy rushed at me. My leg kicked out, cracking it in the back, just centimeters away from the weak spot. The flyboy crumpled still leaving me another flyboy on each side. I turned and punched one, but the other knocked out my legs from behind. I landed on my back, my breath leaving my lungs in one big whoosh. Turning onto my side, I quickly began trying to suck in air, but it wasn't easy with a flyboy kicking at me stomach. I grabbed it's metal leg and yanked until it fell beside me. Taking a breath of quick air and standing, I did a quick sweep of the room. We were losing…badly.

Something wrapped around my neck, bringing me to the reality of the situation in a cruel way. A flyboy had me in a chokehold, dragging me away from the flock and crushing my neck all at the same time.

"Get your cold, shiny arm off of me!" I yelled fighting furiously.

"Max!" Angel screamed as a flyboy snatched her up.

"Take her to room seven." The Director said to the flyboy holding me.

"I'm gonna kill you for this." I spat at her.

She smiled. "Somehow I doubt that."

"Hold the others in room 8 until her termination is prepped and ready." She continued.

Suddenly I was being towed away, the flock no longer in view, but I could feel their presence behind me. I think I'm a goner.

AN: Hope you liked it! I'm sorry it took me SO long! I've been subbing at a daycare and ended up getting sick. It hasn't been fun. Reviews will help me get better! And if you don't believe that... then PRETEND! lol, thanks for reading...

Coincide- Chapter 8

It turns out that room seven and room eight are nowhere near each other. How faulty is that? Everyone knows that seven comes right before eight, so our rooms should be next to each other. But they're not, in fact, they are in two separate hallways. Some bonehead thought it would be a great idea to designate one corridor for even numbers and another for odds. Hello, this is not a hotel.

So I was in room seven alone, left to stare at these all to familiar white walls. I'd been in this hell hole way too many times and now I'm being lead to believe it will truly be the last time. Sure, I'd love to be free of this place once and for all, but I'm not about to die to make it happen.

My eyes swept around the room for an escape plan, but I wasn't finding any promising routes. There was a bed in the far right corner, a computer in the left corner. No air vents or removable ceiling tiles in sight. Ok, um, the door… looks from the outside and is made of metal… not getting through there.

Walls. I placed a hard punch on one of the walls and instantly regretted it. So, they weren't destructible by human/avian force. I shook my hand a few times, clinching my fingers a few times to see if they still worked. Luckily they did, but the pain was still in working unbearable order also. I brought my hand up closer to my eye level for inspection and didn't like what I saw. My knuckles were scraped up, already swelling, and my hand was shaking from the stinging. I've felt much worse pain than this though, a throbbing hand doesn't quite compare to brain explosions… those made me wish for death. I'm just glad they're gone, knock on wood (No, I'm not superstitious.).

The door to my room opened to reveal Jeb, the man responsible for putting me in this world and not so coincidentally making me part bird. Karma is going to bite him in the butt one day and I hope I have front row seat for the action.

"Are you alright?" He asked as the door shut behind him.

I plopped onto the bed, crossing my legs and sending a glare his way. "Like you care, you're probably the reason I'm back here in the first place."

He shook his head and came to sit beside me. "No Maximum, I had no idea about any of this until they called me about your termination."

"Why would they call you?" I asked doubtingly.

"To warn me to stay away." I threw him a questioning glance. He looked disappointed with my response as he continued. "They think I'll try to stop them. And they're right, I won't let them kill you."

"No, of course not." I said laying on the sarcasm. "Who would save the world?"

"Forget the world." He spat.

I cut in with an overly dramatic gasp.

"I just lost my son." Jeb said sadly. "I'm not about to lose my daughter too."

"Newsflash: I don't claim you as a father. So don't play the daddy dearest card on me." I growled. "You had me transformed into a freak with wings and then turned your son, my brother, into a werewolf wannabe. I'm never going to accept what you've done, much less forgive you for it."

"Maximum, I thought I was introducing you into a beautiful world where science can change your life in ways never imagined by the normal mind."

"You have to be borderline psychotic to fathom the destruction that happens here."

"I was giving you a priceless opportunity."

I stood up and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You handed me over to the devil!"

"I did what we both decided was best."

"Best for who, Jeb?" I yelled, crossing my arms across my chest. "It sure wasn't me."

"I know you're very angry with me, Maximum, but one day I hope you'll see my side in this. Understand, your mother and me's decision. And perhaps even call me 'dad'."

I closed my eyes, trying to swallow my anger, when I opened them again to look into Jeb's pleading eyes, I was able to keep my voice tamed. "Once upon a time, I wished you were my dad more than anything else. I looked up to you, thought you were a hero for freeing me and the others from the clutches of the evil whitecoats. You were our savior, Jeb! You! And then you disappeared… we all thought you had died. And still I held you up on a pedestal, holding onto the memory of you and everything you'd taught me for years! Years, I'd spent thinking you were something you weren't. Years full of lies and deceit. When I saw you again at the school, I've never been so… hurt!"

I was mentally pleading with myself not to cry, not in front of Jeb.

"Maximum…"

"Save it!" I yelled clamping my hands over my ears. "Just leave me alone."

"We're not done." He said sternly as he stood to look down on me. "Not by far."

"Yes we are." I replied, dropping my hands to my sides. "I'd rather not spend my last minutes arguing with you."

"I won't let them harm you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Would you believe me if I said I could keep them." Someone asked stepping in the room I knew that voice. It was Mom.

I turned around and allowed her to pull me into a hug. "Are you ok?"

"Just peachy." I muttered.

"I'm serious, Max, have they harmed you?" She asked looking me over.

"No, but that doesn't mean they haven't threatened it."

"They won't lay a finger on you, I promise."

"What is with all the promising today?" I asked throwing my head back. "If they want to kill me, they'll kill me. You can't stop them. It's all up to me to put up the fight of my life."

"You shouldn't have to." Mom said regretfully.

"It's too late to regret it now." I said shaking my head. "I just want to see my flock."

"I'll arrange for it." Jeb said stepping out. "I still have some pull around here."

"Thanks." I murmured so low I doubt he heard.

"Everything will be alright." Mom reassured. I rolled my eyes.

AN: Hope you liked it... no, loved it! I think this is one of the best chapters I've written. Tell me what you think!

Coincide- Chapter 9

"It's done." Jeb said entering with a proud smile. "They're just outside."

"Alright, so now I need both of you to leave, so I can speak to my flock alone." It was a demand that I wasn't going to accept 'no' on. And considering the mood I'm in, it came out surprisingly nice and calm.

"We'll be talking to the Director." Jeb informed me as he ushered my mother from the room. I still don't fully understand why Mom came here, she has no pull in the place. Heck, Jeb is hanging by a thread. The only thing I could think of is that she was making up for lost time on the whole 'mommy duty' thing. Or perhaps she felt guilty.

"Max!" Angel cried as she ran into the room, flinging her arms around my waist. She was clinging onto me with such a tight hold for such a small body. "I'm so glad you're ok."

"Me too." I said faking a smile. "They didn't hurt any of you, did they?"

"We're fine." Iggy assured waving off my question.

"You're the one we're worried about." Fang added in his classic pose (arms crossed over his chest, back straight). When he stood like that, I swear he aged a few years, he looked so much stronger and mature.

"Me?" I asked sounding surprised. "Are you joking? I'm indestructible."

"I don't know, Max." Nudge said shaking her head. "You're in quite a pickle this time. I mean, I know you've survived some pretty cruddy situations, but they've got us separated this time… well, only you really… I just don't see how you could possibly…"

Fang and I both cut in, "Nudge!"

"Sorry." She apologized, ducking her head sheepishly.

"Look, I'm gonna be ok." I was giving them false reassurance, I just hoped they'd take it. "We always manage to weasel our way out of dangerous situations."

"This is different though." Angel whined looking near tears.

"Sweetie, everything will be fine." I say again. Oh how I wish I actually believed the words pouring mindlessly from my lips. That would make this whole mess easier to deal with.

"I can hear your thoughts, Max!" She yelled, finally giving into the urge to cry. The slid down her pale cheeks, staining them with weaving red lines. "Your mind is saying different things from your mouth!"

I was taken aback. One, because I hadn't even thought to shield my mind from Angel's powers this whole time I was lying through my teeth. And two, Angel had never taken this tone with me, it was obvious she was angry and hurt and confused. I mentally kicked myself for letting myself wallow in my own self pity, the flock deserved better from me.

"You're right." I whispered lowering myself to my knees in front of her, so I can look into her eyes straight on. "I'm not being honest with you or myself and I'm sorry."

"You can't die, Max." She was pleading with me.

"I'm gonna fight harder than I've ever fought before, I promise." I said grabbing her small hands.

"We need you!" She yelled through a sob. "You can't leave us!"

"Angel…" I didn't know what to say. The best I could do was promise that I would go down fighting.

"She'll be fine, Angel." Fang proclaimed suddenly.

I gaped at him. He was standing stiff, emotionless, like he was blank. Granted his jaw was tight and his eyes never left mine, but there was nothing behind his brown orbs. A wave of anger washed over me.

"Guys, could you step out for a minute while I talk to Fang?" I didn't want them to hear the argument that was bound to be coming.

Fang stood motionless and strong as the flock filed out of the room. I wondered if he was preparing himself for a screaming match.

"Don't make promises you can't keep!" I growled, staring him down. "Two people have already promised me I will be fine…"

"You will be." He said sternly. "Trust me."

"What makes you so sure?" I questioned, completely puzzled.

He looked into my eyes and gave me an expression that could be read as 'you're not going to like this, but listen anyway'. I stood and crossed my arms, practically mirroring his stance. "I have a plan."

"Which is?" I pried worriedly.

He looked down at the ground then into my eyes, holding the connection as he spoke to me. "I'm going to take your place."

"Like hell you are!" I shouted as my arms dropped to my sides, clenching into fists. "Don't you ever say anything like that ever again."

"You're the leader, Max, they need you." He explained, trying desperately to get me to see where he was coming from. That was never going to happen. "I can't sit back and watch them kill you!"

"Same here, so the answer is no!" I shouted getting up in his face. "You are going to keep the flock safe, lead them in my absence, that is final!"

"I'm doing this." He said shaking his head.

"No!" I screamed feeling my eyes start to betray me as the familiar sting of fresh tears became present. "I'm not going to allow you to trade your life for mine!"

"The flock needs you." He said calmly.

"They need you too."

"Maybe… but they need you more."

"But I need you." I whisper feeling the urge to cry grow stronger.

"Max…" He voice was breathy.

"Just let me handle this." I begged. "Please."

"I can't."

"Yes you can. Let me do this."

"If something happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself."

"The feeling's mutual." I heard myself say through a forced smile. "It seems we're at a stalemate."

He looked into my eyes and pulled me to him, he was embracing me. "You better not let anything happen to yourself."

"I promise to fight with everything I got." I said into his black t-shirt, slightly muffled.

"You better."

I pulled away. "I know you're not going to like this, but I need to say goodbye to the flock."

His eyes narrowed.

"Just in case." I muttered.

He gave a slight nod then walked to the door, opening it slightly and motioning for the flock to reenter the room. He pulled the door farther in, so they could all squeeze through then shut it quickly. When he turned back to me, I could see the uncertainty and inner debate. With much struggle, I was able to pull my eyes from his dark ones.

"I've got something to say… and I want you to hear me out and not interrupt me, ok?" It was an order, possibly the last one I'm able to give to them.

"Ok?" I repeated, louder.

"Alright." Nudge said shortly. Wow.

"Ok." Angel and Gazzy confirmed. Iggy was nodding and Fang sent me a look that said 'continue'.

"Well, I just want to talk to you before… before things start getting ugly." I looked over all of their faces, seeing a mixed reaction and emotions etched into their faces.

"I promise that I will fight with everything I've got to make sure they don't take me away from you, permanently. But if things don't go as planned…" Could I bring myself to say it? "If I die." There, I said it. "I want you to promise me that you'll take any chance you have to escape and I want you to listen to Fang. He's in charge."

"I promise." Angel spoke, taking my hand.

"Me too." Gazzy said grabbing my other.

"Yeah." Iggy agreed.

"I will." Nudge sobbed.

I looked up at Fang. He looked like he was trying to hide the pain, but I could see it written all over his face. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was physical.

"Fang?" I pleaded.

His eyes met mine, holding them. "I promise."

"Thank you." I mouthed, because I couldn't find my voice. I was crying and wasn't even trying to stop it.

"I love you, Max." Angel cried, hugging my waist.

"I love you too, sweetie." I said as I lowered myself to my knees and embraced her. "I love all of you, so much."

"Maximum, it's time." Jeb stated sadly, as he stood in the doorway.

I nodded.

"No!" Angel wailed, clinging to me. I kissed the top of her head and untangled her from me. Gazzy grabbed onto her, comforting her, I kissed his cheek before he guided her out of the room.

"Stay safe, Max." Iggy whispered, flawlessly wrapping his lean arms around me.

"Bye Ig."

"Max…"

I turned to see Nudge's red eyes. I took a hold of her, squeezing her tight.

"Everything is going to be ok." I said, rubbing between her wings then releasing her. She disappeared with Iggy from the room.

Fang was frozen where he stood, refusing to meet my eyes. I walked over to him, slowly, hesitantly. "Fang…"

He looked up into my eyes. I reached out to him slowly, ready to try out a hug on the unbending second in command. But his next move surprised me. His fingers found their way around my extending hand, pulling me to him, enclosing me in his ropy arms.

"Fight Max." His voice was thick. "Fight to come back to us."

"I will." I promised, letting the tears flow again.

When he finally let me go, his eyes looked down into mine. And I made a decision then, one that surprised the two of us. My hands touched his cheeks, my thumbs stroking from his nose to his jaw. And then I was on my toes, my lips pressing against his is a short spark of contact.

When we split, my hands fell, but he caught my right in his left. With one squeeze and one last look, he was out the door.

It was time.

There it is! A nice long chapter with fax and drama. I just saw Prisoner won best drama, thanks for voting for my lovely little creation, it means a lot! Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome. PLEASE REVIEW! Last chap only got like eleven reviews when we've been averaging twenty. PLEASE... click.

Coincide- Chapter 10

Immediately after Fang had left the room, Jeb came in, looking anywhere but my eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked, wiping the tears away.

He looked up at my face, but still stared at my nose, my forehead, my cheeks. He was nervous about something… but what? Shouldn't he be begging my mercy and trying to make up for lost time with the few minutes we had left?

He swallowed. "Maximum, I love you." He grabbed me into his arms. I was an unbending statue, like Fang usually is when someone tries to hug him. "I'm sorry, but this is for your own good."

"Wha…" But before I got it all out, a needle was in my neck, then all went black.

---

FLOCK P.O.V.

The flock, minus their fearless leader, was taken to the room where all the pain and havoc was supposed to take place. Fang's pulse was quick from the constant thoughts of Max's life being put in danger. His memories kept showing him Max's face just after their last kiss, the uncertainty and worry etched into her face. Her eyes, swirling with emotion trying to reassure him, but nothing could ease the tension he felt now.

He looked to his left, looking upon the flock. Angel sat next to him, holding tightly onto Total, who was muttering something about evil grandma whitecoats and cookies. Angel wasn't paying attention to her furry black friend, he noticed, she was staring off at the table in the middle of the room, where a whitecoat stood, needle in hand.

The Gasman was next to her, describing the room to Iggy, swallowing hard as the word's sunk into his own, eight year old mind. Iggy would wince or go motionless as Gazzy described something threatening or disturging (a.k.a. the needle or the table with metal restraints).

Listening to the description made Fang all the more uneasy, he needed to find a way to save Max from this. There was no way she'd escape this alone, even if she is the great Maximum Ride.

Nudge was the last in the line, crying silently as she drunk in the scene of the room, bit by bit. Except for her sobs, she was completely silent. It seemed the Nudge Channel was experiencing technical, scratch that, emotional difficulties.

Jeb and Dr. Martinez entered the room, coming to stand next to the flock. Max's mom rubbed Nudge's back as she cried. Jeb just stood, staring into space. Maybe he'd finally seen what his actions had brought them to. Fang's hands clenched into fists at the sight of Jeb, the man who had betrayed them… the man who was Max's father. How could someone as good as Max come from the evil of Jeb. She must have taken fully after her mother's side.

A whitecoat came in, carrying Max over to the table while The Director and Dr. ter Borcht followed behind, then a few flyboys.

Fang's heart clenched at the site. Max wouldn't be able to put up a fight if she was unconscious. He immediately threw himself against the glass that separated them, banging furiously and yelling out the name of their doomed leader, the girl he had fallen for (sometimes literally).

They strapped Max to the bed with the metal restraints and then the whitecoat with the needle prepared to inject Max.

The Director spoke. "This needle contains a poison… it will kill Max within seconds. We'll have her hooked up to a monitor so you can hear her heart slow and finally quit beating altogether."

"You touch her and I'll kill you!" Fang yelled, once again throwing himself against the glass.

The monitor hummed with Max's heartbeat, music to Fang's ears. She was alive and healthy… for now. But then the needle pricked her skin and the whitecoat emptied the yellow substance into Max's system.

The monitor was unaffected at first, then Max's heart began to slow.

"NO! MAX!" Fang yelled as the flock gasped and cried. Total and Angel were yelling reverently.

Then her heart stopped altogether.

---

MAX P.O.V.

When I came to, a whitecoat entered the room with the Director and Dr. ter Borcht following behind. After them, a small group of flyboys filed in, surrounding me.

"We've come to an agreement." The Director announced.

"Congratulations." I muttered with heavy sarcasm.

Ignoring my comment, she continued. "We've decided not to terminate you."

"What!?" I shrieked. "Did Fang put you up to this? I swear if you lay one finger on him…"

"Max!" She yelled interrupting me. "Fang and the others have no idea, they're watching you be killed at this very moment."

Ok, I'm stumped. "Again, I say 'what'?"

"You're clone vas terminated..." Dr. ter Borcht stated.

"In your place." The tortoise finished.

I felt my breath hitch. Looking over all of their faces, I could see they were completely serious. I just didn't know why they would want the flock to think I was dead when I wasn't. They seemed set on killing me. Why not follow through?

"I don't understand…" I breathed, rattling my head.

"Your flock will be set loose on what they'll think was an escape." The Director explained. "When in reality, we know of their plan and plan on letting them go."

"Why would you let them go?" I asked dumbly.

She smirked, making her look that much more evil. "We have you, that's all we need."

A shiver crawled down my spine. I tried to hide it from them, they couldn't know that the all powerful Maximum was actually freaked out by The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Mother and her pack of evil musketeers.

"What do you want from me?"

AN: Hope you liked it! Don't forget to submit a review to let me know how awesome I am. LOL! I'm just kidding. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Coincide- Chapter 11

"It's time you start taking orders." The Director said crossing her arms in what looked like it was supposed to be an intimidating stance. "You'll cooperate with every instruction we give you, if you don't… you'll be terminated."

"Who cares?" I said bitterly. "My flock already thinks I'm dead."

She narrowed her eyes on me. "You're very lucky that you weren't the one who got the lethal injection. It would have been you if your father had never come to plead your case."

"What exactly did he say to convince you not to kill me?" I asked with sudden intrigue.

"He guaranteed you'd cooperate to keep your life." She stated confidently. "Therefore, surrendering to our demands means helping us purify the world."

"You mean kill a bunch of innocent people." I responded knowingly.

"I hardly think prisoners are innocent. They will be the first to go. All jailed people will be killed in our effort to make the by-half plan succeed. You'll be one of our weapons to destroy them, after going through training, of course."

"And who comes after them?" I questioned feeling a swell of anger inside my chest. "And what kind of training?"

"After the convicts, we eliminate anyone with a criminal record and after that… high school drop outs or anyone who never attended school at all." The Director continued. "As for your training… it will have many phases. Upon the completion of each phase… you earn trust from us. With our trust comes rewards… keeping your life, perhaps even seeing your flock again."

"Or I could just break out of here and go find them myself." I challenged.

She smiled and nodded. "You could try… but everyone in this building has the go ahead to shoot you on the spot if you exhibit any unusual activity."

"You haf no choice… you must cooperate." Dr. ter Borcht chimed in needlessly.

"I'd rather die than help you." I growled.

The Director sighed. "If you don't do what we say, we won't release your flock in the phony escape we have planned. Instead, we'll kill them." She tilted her head to the side. "So choose, Max. Cooperate and your flock goes free… permanently or you all die right here, right now."

"You make both choices sound so tempting." I muttered sarcastically. "What do you want me to do first?"

"Good choice." The evil duo said, clearly proud of themselves.

Flock P.O.V.

They had been placed in a white room after just watching their leader be killed by evil whitecoats with lethal injections. Fang's eyes scanned over the forms of his flock as he tried to fathom the terrible situation they were in. He couldn't believe Max was dead. He'd watched her die and couldn't do anything to stop it, neither could she. Everything was such a mess now. He was the leader, the oldest, and Max had entrusted him with the safety of the flock. They needed to get out of this place.

His eyes rested on Angel curled under her older brother's protective arm. She was sleeping and Gazzy had his eyes closed also, but Fang knew better than to assume he was awake. His figers were still moving in a circular pattern on his sister's shoulder, a classic sign he was unable to fall into actual sleep. Nudge was several feet away from Fang or anyone else for that matter. She had her face buried into her knees as tears streaked down her dark face. She was doing her best to muffle her sobs, but Fang's ears could hear them all. And he knew Iggy could too, because moments later the pale, blond boy strode over to her, sliding down next to her and embraced her. Her started whispering something to her, but Fang didn't bother straining his ears to hear.

Everything was too silent for his liking, a constant reminder of the tragedy they'd just experienced. His head was pounding, and his heart pattern was sped up into rapid beats of panic and hurt.

He closed his eyes, willing away reality. He just wanted to slip into his dreams where Max was alive and well, strong and healthy as ever before. The image of her face imprinted itself on the back of his eyelids. It hurt to see her face, preventing him from falling into unconsciousness.

He opened his eyes, releasing an almost inaudible sigh. Sleep definitely wasn't an option. Not after what he'd just been through.

Suddenly a voice boomed from the speakers, "System Failure."

"What?" Iggy piped up, furrowing his brow.

The door popped open, but no one was there.

"What's going on?" Angel asked, awake now.

"I don't know." Fang said trying to take in the situation. "But lets make a run for it."

They filed out the door quickly, beginning their attempt at escaping.

AN: Hope you liked it. Please keep reviewing, it makes me update so much quicker. Promise. I already have the next chap written and depending on the number of reviews I get... it might get posted tomorrow. It's up to you guys. And remember, reviews are love.

Coincide- Chapter 12

Two Months Later

---

It's been two months since my death was faked and my flock fooled into believing the lies demonstrated by Itex and their whitecoats from hell. It has been two months full of training and torture. After I hopped aboard the crazy wagon, I was immediately escorted to an empty room with a chair in the middle, sitting aside a projector that shone on the blank white wall in front of it.

My escort, who happened to be Dr. ter Borcht, flicked off the lights then motioned to the empty chair. I studied his face for a moment then looked at the chair, finally I moved to it, hesitantly. I took one last look at him, seeing his pleased face from over my shoulder as he slid out the door. That's when they proceeded to show me a video about what the by-half plan would entail. It showed innocent people being slaughtered, just because they weren't perfect. I hadn't realized the killings had already begun. I guess I thought they were waiting for me to begin it all. I guessed wrong.

The training I'd endured was painful and more challenging than I had expected. I fought other experiments and numerous gangs of flyboys. In that two month stretch I'd managed to break my nose, two ribs, four fingers and blackout two times from getting hit so hard in the head that I got concussions.

I hadn't lifted a finger to try to tell the flock that I was alive, I was playing the role of 'the good little soldier'. I was keeping my word and I was earning the trust that was promised to me.

But I decided to end it. I couldn't let my flock think I was still dead and that was why I broke into one of the rooms where I knew there were no cameras and no whitecoats waiting to bust me.

I shut the door behind me and scurried over to the computer that lit the dark room. Giving the mouse a shake, the screen flicked back to life, revealing the desktop. I clicked until Fang's blog was on the screen. I looked at the date of the last post, he hadn't updated since the night I was 'killed'.

What I read made my heart constrict:

I know you guys like hearing where I am and how many hot dogs Gazzy stuffed into his at once, but I'm afraid the news I bring tonight isn't one of joy. The flock was captured again and one of us didn't make it out. This is the part where I wish I could tell you it is that stupid annoying dog I always talk about, but that would be a lie. Max, our fearless leader, was killed by the whitecoats by means of lethal injection. They made us watch as they plunged the needle into her unconscious form. I've never felt so helpless in my life.

Now I'm suddenly in charge whilst I mourn the girl that was able to bring emotion from me, the girl that gave me a reason to be strong. She never got to learn how much she means… well, meant… to me. I never told her. I tried, it just never came out.

Part of me still believes she is alive. I know this sounds crazy, but I swear I still feel her. All my dreams are about her, she'll tell me she is alive and that she'll find us again. I miss her so much. It just gets harder with every night that I can't hear her breathing.

Max, if you are out there… reading this… tell me, we'll come get you… wherever you are. I promise.

And if you truly are dead… I hope you know how much we loved you and we'll never forget you. Rest in peace. I'll take good care of them.

I looked around with tear filled eyes, the room was still silent, as was the hall outside. My fingers began typing furiously.

FANG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!

It's me, I'm alive and semi-unharmed. I know you aren't going to believe me, but I'll try my best to persuade you. They didn't kill me, Fang, believe me. They just wanted you to think that was me, but it wasn't. They killed my clone while they held me in that room, explaining what they expected of me so you could all stay alive and safe. Think about it Fang… the escape shouldn't have been that easy… and they haven't sent any fly boys after you in two months. I can't believe I've been separated from you all for two months… I love you all so much. I'm sorry I didn't get to a computer sooner. They're beginning to trust me and I'm using that to my advantage. I'm gonna break out soon. A week, give or take… Thank you for taking care of them and please believe the side of you that tells you I'm among the living, cuz I am. And I can't wait to see you, I've missed you more than words do justice for.

After I read the paragraph over again, I wasn't sure who had written it. Certainly it couldn't be me, the killing creation of Itex. I'd learnt not to feel pain or anything at all… But somehow the love I felt for the flock was still there. Perhaps the old Max was in me somewhere still. She had to be, or Fang would never let me near them.

That was my new mission, one I decided to give myself. Before I go to the flock, I have to bring back the Max they loved. These two months were going to be put to rest.

AN: Hope you all enjoyed this one. Now your mission is to review and let me know what you think. REVIEW!

Coincide- Chapter 13

My index finger hovered over the enter key, allowing myself a moment of silence to hope for the best. If Fang got this message, then there was hope, but he hadn't posted for so long…

"Maximum Ride!" A voice boomed over the speakers, causing me to jump back a bit from the computer. "Head back to your room immediately! The Director will be waiting!" How? Ugh, I'd have to ponder that later. I tapped the enter key and clicked out of the internet page. I took a deep breath and looked around the room to make sure no one had come in and no one had. But when I stepped into the hall, two flyboys were outside waiting to escort me to my sleeping quarters.

The walk wasn't long, but it felt longer with the cold, metallic hands grasping onto my forearms as we headed toward evil in woman form. My ex-mom.

"Inside." A flyboy said pushing me toward the door to my designated room. "The Director awaits you."

"Oh joy." I muttered under my breath. Pulling the door open and stepping inside showed me the face of the turtle woman wearing an angry expression. I stood just in front of the door, staring her down as she stood, crossing her arms to assume a posture that radiated power. But I didn't falter, I wasn't scared of her, I was too used to a life of evil adults trying to get me to swallow my pride and quit resisting their 'authority'. That would never happen, that I was sure of. Killing me was the only way to stop me from continuing my battle for freedom. I'm surprised they hadn't off-ed me yet.

"Maximum, this is disappointing." She spoke like a mother to a child. It made my mind wander to months ago when I'd thought the old hag was my mom, I couldn't stop the shiver from crawling down my spine. That had been one of the worst days of my life. I mean, you try meeting someone who bares a resemblance to yourself and then have her tell you she is your parent. Then, if that isn't a shock enough, she is trying to kill half the world's population and maybe even you. Yeah, it isn't a day I'd like to remember. But, things are ok, because my mother isn't a monster and she makes amazing cookies.

"I thought we were making progress, you'd been doing what you were told… What brought on the disloyalty?" She was speaking as if the disappointment I'd caused was personal and not business. Was it?

"I may be doing your bidding, but I still love my flock and they will always come first." I spoke with authority, crossing my arms to mirror her stance.

"Your flock is fine." She said shaking her head. "But if you try to contact them again… I'll be forced to take them into captivity. Your lucky I haven't already sent for them."

"Lucky?" I scoffed. "I'm lucky that I am here following your orders to keep alive? I'm lucky that I can't contact my flock and let them know that I am actually alive and not the Max you murdered in front of their eyes? You're insane."

"Think what you wish, but my stipulations are set. If you try to contact your flock again, I'll send for them and I will have them killed." Her face was hard as she pushed past me to exit from my room. I clenched my jaw as tight as possible to keep myself from tripping her as she strutted out. That would have been so satisfying.

I took a deep breath after hearing the click of being locked inside. "Wherever you are, Fang, you better be reading my message."

Flock P.O.V.

"Where are we going?" Nudge whined from her spot in the air next to Fang.

He shot her a smirk. "You'll see."

"Are you serious?!" Angel asked him with wide eyed excitement. She had obviously been reading his mind again. He was just surprised she didn't try it sooner, maybe he was finally learning how to block her from his mind. For a month after Max's death Angel had been shooting him heartbreaking glances after hearing his private thoughts. He'd missed Max so much, still did. A part of him held onto her, refusing to believe that he'd watched her take her last breath. It was a trick of the mind or something, his Max couldn't possibly be dead. But she was, wasn't she?

"Where we going?" Nudge asked the little mind reader.

"To see Max's mom!" Angel busted, practically glowing with happiness.

"Yay!" Nudge yelled, clapping her hands together. The Gasman pumped a fist into the open air in front of him and Iggy was smiling slightly. They'd been a pretty down group since Max's death, Fang was glad he'd found a way to bring a smile to their faces. Part of him worried it would bring more pain though. Being at Max's mom and sister's home without her would be hard.

"Land in the backyard, that's it below!" Fang ordered to the group of mutants. One by one they descended, keeping an eye out for onlookers.

Fang was the first to approach the home, nervous Dr. Martinez wouldn't enjoy this surprise visit. He didn't know why this fear bugged him, but it did. He knocked on the glass door.

He looked back at the flock, heard sliding and turned to see a now open door. Dr. Martinez was looking at him in wonder, like she'd seen a ghost and then her arms were around him. He was taken by surprised and even felt kind of awkward, usually he didn't like it when people got so close. She released him quickly, probably registering this thought or feeling him tense.

"Sorry." She apologized, stepping back to let them in. "I thought I'd never see you all again. I hadn't heard from you in months. Where've you been?"

"Here and there." He said stepping in as the flock took turns hugging Max's mom. She gave a nod of understanding.

"Well, are any of you hungry?" All heads nodded, even Total's.

She smiled. "Alright, come with me into the kitchen while I fix you some sandwiches." The flock filed in, minus Fang. Dr. Martinez stopped, seeing him staying in place. "Feel free to use my computer to check your blog, Fang."

He was flabbergasted. "You know about my blog?"

"Jeb told me."

He nodded. "I haven't checked it in awhile. Everyone's probably forgotten about it."

"You've been busy?"

"No, I just didn't feel like it… with Max…"

"I see." She said lowering her eyes. "Perhaps you should check it now, it's as good of time as any. Max would want you to keep it going."

"How do you know?" He whispered, shooting a longing look at the computer.

"Because she knew you loved it and she would hate to find out that you are torturing yourself like this. I can see how much you miss it. You should at least look at your blog."

"The last time I posted… I told them about Max's death." He said shaking his head side to side. "I don't want to read about how sorry they are and how the pain will pass, because they don't know…"

"Don't know what, Fang? Death?" Dr. Martinez seemed confused. "Everyone experiences death, Fang. They know what they are talking about. I know it's hard to hear them say that everything is going to be ok, when you feel like your heart can't take anymore but…"

"No, they don't know what it is like to be defenseless, unable to stop some twisted scientists from killing the person you cared about most in the world."

Her mouth dropped open. "Do you blame yourself, Fang?"

"I know I shouldn't, it's just… I've always protected her. I was the one that made sure she didn't get herself killed and this time, I couldn't stop it…"

"That's right, Fang." She soothed. "You couldn't stop it. There was no way to change it. So stop beating yourself up… Max would hate for you to feel like this over her."

"I don't think she understood how much I was willing to do for her." He said walking over to the computer, bringing it to life.

"I think a part of her knew." Dr. Martinez said confidently as she walked back to the kitchen.

He clicked until he saw his blog on the screen. Numerous messages were posted since his last entry. Some said how sorry they were and others wondered when he was going to be posting again. And then one made his breath catch in his throat.

"Max." He whispered.

AN: Sorry for the wait. You can blame the almost month long downage time of the Maximum Ride board. I wish it would come back. Anyway, review and tell me if it is good or bad or amazing or terrible. Thanks for reading.

Coincide- Chapter 14

Flock P.O.V.

Fang couldn't believe it… Max… alive? Was this seriously Max or some kind of sick joke? If someone thought this was funny, he'd make sure they paid for it. Every moment without Max was torture, he couldn't stand to having to accept her death all over again. The flock would be devastated, her mom and sister too. He'd have to go check this out on his own. Now the only question was how he was going to get away without suspicion as to where he was going. He'd have to leave now, before Angel could do any mind reading. He shut down the computer and scribbled a brief note on the pad of yellow paper.

It read: "I had somewhere to go, I'll explain when I get back. Fang."

Now, it was time to go investigate the truth behind Max's mysterious message.

---

Max P.O.V.

A week! A whole week had passed since I put my neck on the line to let the flock know I was alive. And yet here I am still, sitting with my back against the wall, staring at the door.

Then the speaker in my room turned on. "Maximum Ride, report to the interrogation room."

"Why?" I asked, rubbing my temples. I wasn't in the mood for another movie about the by-half plan and the good it will do for the world.

"You have a visitor."

My heart stopped, well… at least it felt like it. The only time I got visitors was so I could battle them to the death. In the 67 days I'd been held here, I had killed 19 people. I had to choose between me and them 19 times, but in my mind there was no choice. I had to get back to my flock. But now is different, I'm getting back to who I once was. I'm no longer brainwashed.

I pushed myself off the ground and walked out of the room in a very excruciating silence. My stomach was in knots and my heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I couldn't take this. If I had to kill another person… it might break me. Me. The unbreakable Maximum Ride.

My hands felt cold as ice as the I pulled open the door to the interrogation room. It was empty, so far. I sat on the single metal chair in the room and stared at the black walls around me. Any second now I would be faced with some new kind of evil.

The door opened and a person was shoved inside, followed by four flyboys, the Director and Jeb. I jumped to my feet, surprised by the amount of bodies in the room. And then my eyes focused on the person pulling themselves up from the floor.

"Fang?" I asked, feeling like my brain momentarily short circuited from the range of emotions I was feeling. "What…" I stepped toward him, but the glare from the Director stopped me. I felt anger flare inside me, longing to punch the turtle woman in her smug face. "You said you would leave the flock alone if I didn't try to contact them again!"

"You did this, Max." She said gesturing to Fang. My eyes ran over his body, looking for any sign that he'd been hurt. I couldn't find anything wrong, except for a bruised cheek and a slight wince of pain sometimes. "You had to break the rules and let him know you're alive and now look where it has gotten you… well, him. He's here when he could be safe with the rest of your precious flock. You did this, not me."

"Max…" Fang whispered as if registering my presence for the first time. The corner of my mouth lifted, I hoped it looked comforting. "You're really alive?"

"Yeah." I whispered with a nod. He closed his eyes, as if thanking somebody then and there. I turned to the Director. "Just let him go."

"I can't do that." She insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. "He knows your alive and now he won't rest until he's freed you."

"Yes, he will." I argued.

"No, he won't. I know how strong your bond is with him. He wouldn't leave, even if you begged him to." Her sure tone was getting on my last nerve.

"You don't know anything." I denied, shaking my head.

Fang stopped me. "She's right, Max."

"Shut up!" I yelled at him, furiously. He would do what I told him to do. I wasn't going to take no for an answer. If I had to be stuck here, so be it. But I won't let Fang be doomed to what I've experienced.

His dark gaze pierced me. I looked away, but still felt the power of his eyes on me. "I'm not leaving you here."

"You'll do what I tell you to do." I fired back, still refusing eye contact.

"A lovers quarrel?" The Director asked, raising her eyebrows. I shot her the bird.

"Maximum…" Jeb spoke up, winning my attention momentarily.

"What?" I yelled. I was in no mood for lectures.

His eyes were sympathetic, full of emotion. I could never understand my… um… father… That was still so weird to say, no matter how many times I think about it. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Since you are so fired up, I think you need a way to work off the steam. A fight for your life." She said seeming very proud of herself. Jeb seemed to register something I didn't, because his face showed a look of horror.

"Director, please don't do this." He begged. Weird.

"She needs to learn to follow the rules, show her dedication. What shows more dedication than killing someone she loves?" The Director exclaimed, eyeing me for a reaction.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned giving her a funny look.

A smirk played on her lips. "You and Fang are going to fight to the death."

My stomach dropped. I felt like I was going to vomit. "No way."

"Please, this is madness." Jeb tried again. The Director sent him a glare, obviously not liking being called crazy… even if it was fact.

In a moment of rage, I charged her. I tackled her to the ground as hard as I could. I was aware of Fang taking on the flyboys and I decided to help him out while the Director tried to suck air back in her lungs. He already had one finished. I took another one out within a minute. Fang blocked a punch and threw a kick at the midsection. I placed a kick at the base of the spine from behind, finishing him off. Another one came at me, but Fang tripped it and stomped at the head, until it was finished.

The Director climbed back to her feet, but I was there within seconds, slamming her against the wall. I held my arm across her throat while she tried desperately to suck in air.

"Maximum." Jeb said seeming surprised. "Let her go."

I didn't listen. I was hell bent on making her pay. I brought my knee up and contacted her in the stomach. Seeing her wince was so satisfying. I pressed harder against her throat.

"Max." It was Fang this time. He was walking to me. "Don't do this."

"She deserves whatever she gets." I growled.

His hand rested on my shoulder and I looked into those dark brown eyes. I could see I had him concerned for me. He probably though I'd snapped. Had I?

I took my arm away from her throat, making her cough and suck desperately for the air.

"Let's get out of here." I said looking him in the eyes. He gave a slight nod.

AN: WOW, it has been a long time. The problem is that the board is still down and that makes my motivation to write go way down. SO if you guys want the next chapter sooner rather than later... I give you permission to threaten me or yell at me, whatever you want. Hope you liked it! Review...

Coincide- Chapter 15

I kept my eyes straight ahead the whole time we shifted in and out of rooms and long hallways. The only assurance I had that Fang was still with me was the occasional brushing of our hands or the way I could feel the power of his eyes on me as he stared me down.

I knew he was waiting for me to talk to him, tell him what had been going on this whole time I've been gone. I hadn't dared to look at him since we left the interrogation room and Fang would have undoubtedly picked up on the hesitancy from me. I just couldn't look him in the eyes though. If I did that, I would crumble right then and there, spilling the story of the time I spent in this hell hole. I wasn't ready to admit to Fang what I'd done. He may never look at me the same way ever again and if he turned his back on me now… I don't think I could take it. Fang is my rock and my only way to the flock right now… to lose his support means I lose everything.

A hand gabbed my elbow, pulling me back. I turned from the force and came face to face with Fang. We were close, so close our chests touched slightly enough to hear the rustle of fabric. Instinctively, I brought my hands up to his chest, giving a small push to create space between us. But his hands moved to my wrists, gripping them, and pushing me back against the nearby wall of the hallway.

"What the hell, Fang?" I yelled trying to pull myself free, but he didn't budge. He was looking at me intently, as if studying me. After a few moments, I realized that was exactly what he was doing. He didn't believe I was the real Max. "No matter how hard you look at me, I'll still be the Max original, so save yourself the time and let me go."

"I'm not convinced." His voice was harsh as he added a bit more pressure to my hands, the roughness of the wall biting into my skin.

"What do you want me to do? Write it on my forehead in big black letters?" I knew he wouldn't appreciate the sarcasm, but I honestly didn't care one tiny bit. I'd been through some pretty sucky things, the least he could do was acknowledge that I'm not a Maximum Ride wannabe.

"How about you cut the crap and prove it to me." He said lowering his voice as he inched closer, a tactic that would have scared a clone just fine, but not good old original me. "Tell me something only Maximum Ride would know."

"Like the fact that after I've convinced you that I'm the real me, I'm never speaking to you again?" I asked sending him a glare. "Quit being a numb skulled jerk and let me out of your death grip."

"Not until you convince me." He insisted. He was so going to pay for this later.

"Ok… you, Iggy and Gazzy left the flock because you couldn't stand the fact I let Ari stick with us. My mother is Dr. Martinez and my father is Jeb. My half brother Ari died right in my arms, expired right in my arms." The last part was in a whisper. Thinking about Ari's death always brought a wave of pain. I looked up into his eyes, full of anger. "Need more?"

His face stayed impassive, his jaw tight. "What did you tell me when you had the surgery to remove the chip from your arm?"

"What?" I questioned dumbly. I couldn't believe out of all the things he could ask me, that was what he picked. Beware of growing ego.

"You heard me." He said getting a tighter grip on my wrists once again. "What did you tell me?"

I was definitely going to make him pay for this later. My teeth ground together in loathing for what I was about to admit. I looked away from his dark gaze and shut my eyes. "I told you that I loved you…"

"Come again?" He prodded. I could tell he heard me, his hold had loosened.

"You heard me." I said looking back into his eyes. "While I was loopy from sedation, I told you I loved you. The key word in that sentence is loopy. I wasn't in my right state of mind! Now how about we drop it before your head grows so large it explodes!"

"Whatever you say." He said finally letting me go as a smirk crossed his face.

"I really hate you sometimes." I muttered brushing past him.

"Then you must not be Max, because she loves me this much!" Fang teased, opening his arms to full length. I retaliated by shooting him the bird behind my back as I kept walking down the hall.

I knew I should be wondering why there hasn't been anyone coming in or out of the rooms, but with Fang being an idiot, I couldn't really think strategically right now.

A door opened to my right and I pushed Fang into the nearest room on the left. I kept the door cracked to see what was going on, Jeb emerged from the open door and it looked like he was looking for someone. Me?

"Jeb?" I whispered through the crack of the door.

His eyes lit up. "There you are. I saw you headed this way on the cameras, but I thought I might have missed you."

"On the cameras?" I repeated, feeling my heart start to race in panic. "Are they sending flyboys to come after us?"

"Relax sweetie, the coast is clear." He assured.

"How can you be so convinced?" I questioned warily.

He smiled warmly. "I turned off the cameras while I was in surveillance. Once you escape, I'll turn them back on."

"But aren't they on alert that something is up? They can't really believe all the cameras would just shut down like that, can they?" I knew I sounded eager behind my skepticism, but you would be too if you've gone through what I have. It's not like I'm down on my knees worshipping Jeb or anything extreme as such.

"They're a bit busy right now." He said with a smirk that made him look like the personification of evil. Really creepy.

"Busy?" Fang prodded.

"A few of their experiments escaped." Jeb supplied.

"Uh… duh, we're them." I frowned. Fang rolled his eyes. Heck, I could just barely stop myself from doing the same.

"I'm not talking about you two. I let out a dozen other experiments while I shut the cameras down meaning they are just figuring out they are gone. They have no idea how it happened or that their release was a cover-up for your escape… you two are free to stroll out of here." He was clearly very proud of himself. I was just plain surprised that he had the smarts to pull it off. I knew the man was devious, but he really put some brain power in this plan.

Fang wrapped his fingers gently around my upper arm. "You ready to go?"

I eyed his hand and he removed it quickly seeing my frown. "Let's go." I said with a short nod.

Flock, here I come.

AN: Hope you liked it. Sorry about the wait... I was vacationing in Hawaii for the last ten days. Yay for sun and not snow! Anways... REVIEW PLEASE!

Coincide- Chapter 16

There wasn't really a perfect way to describe the way I felt deep inside beyond the excitement and nervousness for seeing the flock soon. The closest words I could find were numb or frozen. I felt like my senses were turned off as I zoned out into a world of bad memories. Fang was there flying next to me the whole time, but not a word was passed between us. I was mad at him, but I think most of my anger came from fear of telling him what I had done for the School to survive. Would he and the flock forgive me? I didn't want to think of what I might do if they didn't.

We landed in my mother's backyard and a feeling of nervousness washes over me. The muscles in my stomach were clenched tight and my vision dulled as I felt closer to passing out every second that drew nearer to me spilling my secrets.

Fang walked toward the glass door, stopping to take a look back at me when he noticed I hadn't made any progress toward the door. "What is it?" His worry made me close my eyes, to shut off the escape route for my tears. I wouldn't cry. "Max?"

"Nothing." I denied, balling my fists at my sides to gain some kind of backbone.

I wanted to run and hide from everything that had happened. I wasn't the same person they knew. The moment they opened that door, they would expect their leader back and I wasn't her anymore. At least, I didn't think so. I was too numb to be sure of anything.

Fang slid the door open, stepping aside to let me in first. I hesitated, giving him a glare. There went my escape route. Why did I suddenly feel claustrophobic?

"Fang? Is that…" Mom cut off when she saw me standing there. She blinked, probably questioning if I was real. Fang stepped in behind me to ensure the reality of the situation. "You're alive."

I couldn't say anything, the lump in my throat made it impossible. Her eyes shone with emotion as she strode over to me, gathering me into her arms. She kissed my hair and I closed my eyes to savor the comfort she offered. I moved my hands to her back, clenching the fabric of her sweater in my fists. A sob escaped my throat.

"Shh, you are ok now." My Mom whispered into my ear. The words held no promise, none of them knew the intensity of my feelings. They couldn't imagine the self hate and miserable feeling gnawing at my stomach. Every moment that dragged on brought me closer to breaking down. I was on the edge, but which way would I fall?

Another sob shook my body. I was aware of Mom's hand stroking my blond streaked hair as she tried to quiet me and comfort me. I lifted my head up, pulling away from Mom and turning to look at Fang. That's when I noticed someone in the doorway. Iggy.

Fang turned away from me and walked over to the blind mutant. "Hey Ig."

"You're back!" Iggy said with a wide grin. "You had us worried, man. Just running off like that without telling us where you were going or why…"

Fang stopped him. "I know, I'm sorry. I was looking for something."

A look of confusion crossed Iggy's face. "Did you find it? Whatever it was…"

Fang's lips moved into a smile. I almost smiled too.

He turned to throw me a look over his shoulder that clearly said 'announce yourself,' but I didn't think I could speak with the lump that was wedged in my throat.

"Yeah, I found her." Fang said calmly as he turned back to Ig.

His brow furrowed. "Did you just say her?"

"Yep."

"Who?"

I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to speak, hoping my voice came out strong. "I'm back, Ig." I sounded shaky, but much stronger than I truly felt.

"Max?" His voice was a whisper of disbelief. "Is it really you?"

"Yeah, it's me." I finally managed a smile, too bad he couldn't see it. He moved over to me in perfect grace, capturing me in a hug.

"How is this possible?" He asked as his hands gently coasted along the angles of my face, drawing a picture in his mind. His thumbs swept the stream of tears across my cheeks. When he seemed to confirm I was who I said, he backed away.

"Max!" Angel's scream filled the room as she ran to me, throwing her arms around my waist. Her grip was tight like she was afraid I was going to disappear any second.

"Hi sweetie." My voice wavered as I sunk down to my knees in front of her, bringing her into my arms. I kissed her blond head, squeezing her a bit tighter.

Nudge and Gazzy hurried over and threw their arms around me while Angel was still in my arms. When I let her go, I took both of them into my arms, placing kisses on both their cheeks. Tears were on everyone's cheeks, except Fang, but the sparkle was in his eye, like he was close to it.

"I missed you all so much." I stood up, wiping away the streams of tears that escaped my eyes. I felt accepted for the first time since I had to separate with my flock, loved. I just hoped that what I was about to tell them didn't make them regret that I was back.

"We missed you too." Fang spoke up, which really surprised me. He wasn't usually the one to admit feelings, but he has done a lot of changing since the ordeal with Itex and being separated into mini-flocks and all that fun stuff. Sarcasm.

Mom cleared her throat. "How about we all sit done to eat and then we can talk."

I shook my head. "I need to talk to all of you guys now. You need to know what happened while you thought I was dead."

"Are you sure you want to do this now?" Ella asked with a sad look on her normally happy face. I put that frown there. I hated that.

"Yes." I stated firmly.

Fang gave a nod and motioned for me to go into the living room. I followed him into the room, watching as he plopped down on the couch. Angel sat in his lap, Total at their feet. Dr. Martinez and Ella sat down beside them while Nudge and the Gasman each took a chair, Iggy standing in between the two of them.

I breathed out. "Ok, I guess I should start from the beginning." I looked around at all the solemn faces in the room before continuing. "The Max clone was killed in front of you, not me. They told me their plan was to make you believe I was dead and then help you escape, so you would leave and never look back."

"Their plan for me was to brainwash me into doing their bidding. I was supposed to become a member of their team and play by their rules so they would leave all of you alone and keep myself alive."

"I sat through endless numbers of movies that showed terrible things. Humans dying, murdered all for the by-half plan. I went through numerous tests and training to become their super soldier. I was fighting more than I was doing anything else."

I felt the sting of tears come to my eyes as I prepared to tell them the news that I wish I never had to let them know.

"The truth is that I didn't feel like myself anymore. I started to become exactly the person they wanted me to be and I forgot about all of you and what it was like to know the truth about the School and Itex. I forgot who the good side was and gave into the bad side."

I could see sadness and fear mixed on each face.

"I killed innocent people. Nineteen innocent lives were taken by my hands. They stuck me in a room with them and told me to choose between me and them. And I picked me." I started crying then. "It was like I was numb, empty. Brainwashed or not, I killed them and at the time I didn't even feel bad about it. I convinced myself that it was ok, because I had to live. And I hate to admit it, but I told myself it was ok to kill them, because it was for the greater good, for the by-half plan. Yet that whole time I knew it was wrong. I didn't care though, I just wanted to live. I only cared about my life. I was selfish and I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry. I let all of you down and if you don't forgive me, I understand. Because I haven't forgiven myself and I don't think I can. If you want me to leave, all you have to do is say the word and I will go."

There was silence to the point it was excruciating. I looked over all of their faces, no one knew what to say. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Fang. He stood and came over to me, grabbing me by the wrist and towing me toward the door. Great, he was going to shove me right out onto the front porch… it was just what I feared would happen.

But then we passed the door and moved into one of the spare bedrooms, he closed the door behind us before turning to look at me. His jaw was tight, his eyes furious. Great, so he was going to yell at me then shove me out the door.

"Fang…"

He interrupted me. "How could you think that?"

"What"

"How could you ever think that we would ask you to leave?"

Realization hit me. He wanted me to stay. "You want me to stay?"

He rubbed his hand over his face. His voice came out like a groan. "Of course we do, Max. I don't understand why you think any of that stuff would change the way we feel about you. You're our leader, our Max."

"But I killed people Fang, murdered them."

"Do you remember what I told you when you were upset about killing Ari?" He asked, eyes connecting with mine. He was begging me to see his side.

I did remember. "It was me or him."

"And?"

"You were glad I picked me."

He gave a short nod. "It was you or them, Max. And I will never be mad at you for picking yourself over someone else. We need you." He walked to stand in front of me. "Do you understand?"

I shook my head. How could he see past what I'd done. How was that possible?

"Let me help you then." He whispered before leaning in and pressing his lips gently to mine. My heart sped up as his smooth lips caressed mine, sliding in sweet, comforting movements. There was so much emotion in the contact of our lips that I felt needed and loved in those minutes we held onto each other. I understood. He loved me… he had to.

"Now do you understand?" He asked through ragged breaths.

I smiled slightly. "I think I'm getting there." And I pressed my lips back to his.

AN: Hope you liked it. I would have got this up sooner but my uncle passed away and things have been pretty sad. But I am back and I finally let Max and Fang get together. Aren't you so happy? Thanks for reading and review please.

Here I am with another chapter. I want to thank all of you for the kind words, you guys are truly amazing and I enjoy writing for all of you so much.

With that being said I want to run something by all of you. I know that my favorite kind of stories are where Max accidentally ends up pregnant with Fang's baby and both of them have to figure out how to be parents and all that fun stuff. So I was thinking I would try to write a story like this, just my own version of an overdone plot, basically. I would love it if you guys let me know what you think about this. So review and let me know. Please.

p.s. Coincide is set to end on Chapter 20.

Coincide- Chapter 17

When I pulled away from Fang's lips, I was too embarrassed to look up at him. My cheeks were burning and my pulse was irregularly quick. I mean, Fang and I just kissed. Twice in a matter of minutes. And if that is awkward enough, I'm pretty sure we were about to cross the line between innocent kisses and make out sessions.

I was aware of Fang's finger moving under my chin as I did my best to hide my blush. Why did I react this way to him? He lifted my face to look into my eyes, but I was looking out the window on my right. I heard him sigh as he looked at the window and then back at me.

"Max…" He was trying to make eye contact, but I wasn't budging. No way.

His hand moved to my cheek to stroke the tint of red coloring my skin with his thumb. "Max, would you please look at me?"

I debated for a moment before slowly moving my eyes to his.

"I don't want that kiss to be the last between us." He said, totally shocking me.

I'm not sure if it was my mouth dropping open or my eyes growing the size of quarters or the fact that the only word I could get out of my mouth was, "huh," but one or all of the combination made him laugh. I'm sure I was quite the sight to see.

A smile was still on his lips as he said, "I want us to give a relationship between us a shot."

My brow furrowed as I looked him over for any sign of joking. "You're serious?"

"Completely." He said keeping his eyes on mine. I crossed my arms over my chest in uneasiness under the scrutiny of his gaze.

"Like one hundred percent not yanking my chain?" I pressed further.

He rolled his eyes and took a step closer to me. "Geez, Max, how many different times do you want me to say it. How many ways do I have to say it?" He asked as his warm breath fanned over my face. "I am one hundred, no, two hundred percent sure this what I want and think we need. I don't want to have any regrets."

I studied his face intently. Regrets? "What do you mean, regrets?"

He sighed and took one of my hands in his, looking at it for a moment as if he were holding the answer to my question and I wasn't understanding. "I mean that there is something going on between us that we are trying our best to ignore and I'm sick of it. I don't want to think about what could have been and wonder why I never told you what I'm telling you now."

"And what are you telling me? That you want to be my boyfriend?" I asked feeling so awkward saying those words, they just didn't sound right.

"Yes." His face was blank, almost uncaring. But I knew Fang well and could see he was trying his best to keep his patience with me.

"Where is this coming from?" I asked myself more than him.

He answered anyway. "It's been building up for years, Max. We grew up together, but instead of loving each other like a brother and a sister…"

"How do you know I don't love you like a brother?" I argued.

"You don't kiss your brother." He said humorlessly.

My fists clenched at my sides. "I thought you were going to die!"

His jaw clenched as he bit back words that I know he wanted to throw at me, but he managed to get himself under control and look at me with anger and was it disappointment coloring his brown eyes? "Why are you so against starting up a relationship?"

"Because…" I was trying to find the right words to describe my side in all this.

"Because isn't a reason. If you want me to drop the subject then give me a reason I can accept." He ordered, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Because I don't want to ruin us!" I shouted at him before I knew the words had come out of my mouth. I just stared at him, fighting the urge to run away. "You are my best friend, my right hand man. You are the only person I can confide in and you've even saved me from plunging to my death a few times. If we start up a relationship and it goes sour… and we can't go back to the way we were… I don't want that to happen."

"It won't."

"You don't know that. You couldn't possibly know that."

"I'll make you a promise, Max." He said looking at me intently. "No matter what I will always be by your side, available whenever you need me."

"I'll always need you." I said with a small smile. "You just signed your life over to me."

He smirked, making a few butterflies flutter in my stomach. Gosh, I was turning into a girl who falls all over herself for a guy. "So here's the deal…"

"What deal?" I grumbled having an idea of what was going to be said.

He shot me a look that said 'shut up' and let out a breath. "We don't have to hold hands or hug or kiss or even touch if you don't want to. I just want us to be official, not doing any of the stuff I mentioned with other people."

"Like the red haired wonder?" I muttered under my breath, so he couldn't hear. I know it is pathetic, but I'm still not over what happened. Ugh, just thinking about her lips on Fang's made me want to puke.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He seemed to debate whether to question me further, but decided against it. "Look Max, I want it to be me and you in a way that doesn't include others. Sort of a deeper bond between us."

I couldn't help but smile at the wording he used. "A deeper bond, huh?"

He gave a single nod looking me over.

"Ok." I agreed looking into his warm chocolate eyes.

"Ok." He said with a smile as he whispered in my ear. His warm breath on my ear and neck sent a shiver down my spine. Goosebumps forming on my skin. I hated the effect he had on me. I felt so dependent on him, when all the years of my past I've never relied on anyone. Sure, Fang has been there and helped me, but we weren't officially bound in way like this. It scared me, but at the same time it was exciting.

My lips moved with his, sliding and pressing to each other in perfect movements. The feelings from the kiss short circuited my brain, making me unable to form coherent thoughts. All I knew was that Fang was kissing me and I loved every second of it.

My hands found their way to the back of his neck, clasping there and pulling him closer to me. All I wanted to do was keep his lips on mine, but when air started to become unavailable to me and suffocation by way of intoxicating kisses was eminent… I forced myself to let him go. I sucked in breaths, giving the oxygen back to my lungs.

"I'm sorry, I promise I won't kiss you next time unless you agree to it." He said with a smirk, knowing full well what effect he had on me.

I smirked. "You're forgiven."

AN: Hope you liked it! Please don't forget to let me know what you think about the idea for my next story that I had written above. To say it again: I just wanted to do my own spin of a Max accidentally gets pregnant with Fang's baby and has to figure things out, like how to be a teenage mutant mom. I love those kinds of stories for some unexplainable reason. So if you would want to read it, let me know and if not let me know. Reviews are deeply appreciated.

Coincide- Chapter 18

Fang and I headed back to where the flock, Ella and Mom were sitting in the living room. All was silent, the tension thick enough to cut with a very sharp knife. No one had moved from where they were sitting before. Their faces turned anxiously toward Fang and I, looking for some kind of sign that things were ok.

"Fang did you talk some sense into my daughter?" Mom asked standing up and coming to walk over to me. I looked at her, half surprised with how at ease Fang and her seemed to be with each other and the other half, simply shocked that she too was able to forgive me for what I'd told them I did.

Fang looked over at me with a smirk. "We've come to an understanding."

She seemed to catch onto the hidden meaning behind his words. My mom was perceptive, you had to give her that. "You want to elaborate."

I smiled. "Not really."

"Max!" Angel shouted. Oh no, she looked really excited. "Is it true?"

I frowned. "Angel…"

"Yes?" She asked sweetly.

"Did you just read my mind."

"Yes, I did."

I sighed. "Haven't I told you that what goes on in my brain is my business and mine alone?"

She lowered her head and then raised it back up to look at me. "I forgot." I rolled my eyes.

"So… is it true?" She asked anxiously. I couldn't help but smile at the excitement that she held about Fang and I dating now. I knew she loved us both and she'd been telling me for months how much Fang cared about me, now she didn't have to play middle man.

I looked at Fang, noticing the smirk on his face turn into a full smile. "Yes."

She ran over and threw her arms around my waist, squeezing me with the force of the young mutant she was. I dropped a kiss on her blond head as the flock looked on in wonder. They all seemed confused, because they weren't mind readers like my baby.

"What's going on?" Iggy asked finally. I laughed at the tone he used, he was definitely annoyed by being left out of the loop.

"Angel just discovered something in Max's mind that made her very happy." Ella provided for him.

"I know that much, I'm not deaf." He laughed as she blushed a bit. "Am I the only one that is wondering what made Angel so excited?"

"Yeah, Max, what are you keeping from us?" Nudge asked, placing her hands on her hips. Everyone was looking at me expectantly, so I made sure to scowl at Angel for putting me in this situation. "Well…" I said trying to find the right words.

"Max and Fang are dating!" Angel shouted as I smacked my hand over my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the looks on all their faces. I swear they loved embarrassing me, it was like a rare treat to them.

"Finally!" Nudge and Iggy shouted at the same time.

I peeled my fingers from my eyes. "What?" I asked dumbly. What did they mean by finally?

"You guys are so into each other, it's obvious." Ella said with a laugh. I crossed my arms at chanced a look at Fang. He didn't seem bothered by what they were saying, but I didn't really expect him to be. He was the one that was so gung ho about this relationship.

"How are we obvious?" I asked, completely puzzled. I wasn't even sure I had a thing for Fang, so how could they possibly know?

"You fight all the time." Iggy provided.

I shrugged. "He gets on my nerves."

"You kissed him on the beach." Nudge added with a bit of a blush. "Brothers and sisters don't kiss each other. That would just be gross."

"I thought he was dying!" I didn't mean for it to come out as a shout, but it did.

"Ok, how about when you got all jealous looking when I said Fang was cute?" Ella asked, crossing her arms. She thought she had won.

"I wasn't all jealous looking." I denied, not very convincingly. "I was… just…"

"You were jealous." Ella smiled, trying to get me to admit it.

I looked at Fang to see he was enjoying my defeat very much. I shot him a glare that only made him smile more. He really loved it when I was backed into a corner in situations like these. Why did they always gang up on me? Why can't they give Fang the third degree?

I knew that answer, though. I liked to deny, deny, deny…but Fang just stayed silent and let everyone think what they wanted. He was so annoying sometimes.

"A little help?" I asked him, crossing my arms and shooting him a look that said 'help me or die.' The corner of his mouth lifted farther as he came to stand beside me. His presence made my stomach clench in excitement. My body reacted in such weird ways when he was close to me, though I would never admit it out loud. "Ok guys, leave Max alone. She just got back, give her a few days before you start teasing."

"Or they could just stop." I hissed as he smugly grinned.

He lowered his mouth to my ear, whispering, as his breath warmed my neck. "What would be the fun in that?"

My hand shot out, smacking him in the shoulder. He stumbled back a few steps, but I knew I hadn't hurt him. But part of me wanted to, so bad. Just a bruise or a small twinge of pain would have been so satisfying in that moment. "I'm going to go rest."

Silence graced the room once again as I walked toward the bedroom I had stayed in the last time I was here. I felt exhausted, but being brainwashed and killing innocent people will do that to you. I fell onto the bed, burying my face into the white pillow. My eyes shut within seconds, bringing me to the edge between light and deep sleep.

Before I could cross the line into a dreamland, I was aware of the door to the room opening. I heard the rustle of jeans and the vague hint of feet hitting the carpet. The bed dipped as someone sat on the bed beside me and moments later a hand was moving hair from my face.

By that time I knew who it was, Fang. His hands heated my skin as they barely brushed the skin of my cheek. He was probably convinced I was asleep, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

"It's good to have you back, Max." The line came out like he was testing whether I was actually asleep or not. I didn't answer, mostly because I wanted to see where this was going. But in my defense I was half asleep.

"So you are asleep?" I could hear the smile in his voice. "You know, I'm not sure if I believe that or not."

I did my best to keep from smiling, but the corner of my mouth quirked.

He kissed it lightly and gently touched my hair that was captured behind my ear. "Goodnight Max."

AN: YAY. I gave you more Fax! I'm so nice, lol. Sorry for the wait, I had a bit of writer's block after I cranked out those five pages for my new story called, My Secret. I want to thank all of you for your support with that, because I wouldn't have done it without you. Please check it out, I think you'll be at least a bit impressed with how different it is even though the plot has been used over and over. I love you guys, you're awesome. And please be patient with me while I am writing two fanfics and a book that I am going to try to get published (hopefully I will finish it at the end of the year). I've got a lot going on as far as writing goes and the time frame I have to write in is small because I work and go to college. Sorry again. Please review.

Coincide- Chapter 19

I woke up after getting many glorious hours of sleep next to my best friend and now boyfriend, Fang. It was so weird thinking about him as that title, almost like I was doing something wrong. But what could be wrong about acting on my feelings and taking a chance on us.

Did I really just think that, because there were plenty of things wrong with it. The first and most important on that list being a failed relationship that not only took away my boyfriend, but my best friend too. I needed Fang more than anyone else, his absence would be like losing a limb, or worse… my heart. Ugh, I'm going all poetic and touchy feely, which is totally not me.

I looked over at the clock on the nightstand, it was only 1:00 a.m. I'd been asleep for about six to seven hours. Satisfied, I stretched out, careful not to wake my bed mate.

He was sleeping peacefully next to me on his left side. He was turned toward me, with one arm under his head acting as a pillow. He'd made sure I used the only pillow on the bed and refused to share it with me. I think he decided the closeness would be too much for both of us to fall asleep and get long hours. He was probably right.

I turned onto my side and faced him, finding his relaxed posture soothing. I rarely saw him like this, his guard down in such a way. We were always on our toes and he was the first to block himself from getting hurt. His face was a mask that covered any emotion he felt, he rarely returned affection in the form of hugs or smiles.

But lately, he'd been more open to all of it and then some. He smiled more often in than ever before and now we were together in a way I never dreamed would be possible for the two of us. It was amazing.

"See something you like?" I heard him ask with a smirk, his eyes still closed.

"How do you do that?" I asked, propping my head up on my elbow.

"Do what?"

"Manage to be annoying even when you're asleep?"

His eyes opened and a grin spread on his lips when he saw me. "It's a gift."

I snorted. "You're new power… super annoyance."

I could see him fighting a full smile, which made me beam with pride. He really was a lot happier now, and why shouldn't he be? We were dating. The flock was together and staying in my Mom's home. I was out of that hell hole. Things right now were definitely better than they have been for awhile and I wasn't about to waste a second of this happiness and he wouldn't either.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked, sitting up in the bed.

A blush colored my cheeks when I took in the sight of him. His hair was disheveled, his black clothes wrinkled from sleeping in them and his dark eyes still held a bit of weariness. He looked irresistible, something way too good to be true… too good to be in my bed and happen to be my boyfriend. "Six hours of nothing but pleasant dreams." I said with a satisfied grin.

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Good." He yawned and looked around the room, until returning his gaze to me. "So what's the plan?"

I shrugged. "We'll think of one later. Right now I'm just cherishing the fact that I am back with the people I love."

"And we love you too." He said with a nod. "You think the others are up?"

I laughed. "You have no idea what time it is, do you?"

"Not a clue."

"One in the morning."

He smiled. "Guess we better keep our voices down then, huh?"

I leaned against him. "Unless you want to have cranky house mates. Personally, I don't want to put up with a ticked off six year old mind reader or a Nudgian ramble about getting woken up during ungodly hours of the night."

He waved me off. "Iggy would be the first one up."

"Yeah, let's get on the bad side of the bomb guru." I proposed sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Then we can go throw water on Gazzy and have him blast us with his toxic gas farts for a week."

I was surprised to hear him laughing along with me. He moved off the bed and held out his hand for me to take. I gave him a quizzical look, moving to sit on my knees facing him. "Where are you going?"

He nodded toward the window. "I thought we could go for a flight."

I considered for a moment, drawing it out a little longer than need be just to see him sweat. "Let's go."

Fang opened the window, moving aside to let me go out first. I bit my tongue to keep from scolding him about the ladies first remark I heard pass his lips as I exited. Once I was out with a far jump, my wings snapped out with a glorious sound, one of the best sounds in the world.

I heard Fang's wings come open moments later and took a look back at him. He moved to close the window and then moved toward me. "Where to?"

I lifted a shoulder. "I don't know, it was your idea to go flying… Where did you have planned?"

"Nowhere." He said plainly. "Let's just start flying and see where we end up."

I couldn't help but smile. "That's why you are not the leader."

"And don't ever want to be." Came his refusal at the suggested title.

"Why not?"

"Because you would never let me be leader." He explained, flying next to me with perfect grace. I was jealous of how perfect he seemed to fly, but he would never find that out, Angel willing. "And I don't want the position if that means you were gone."

My heart soared at the feeling of being wanted. Fang had the ability to make me feel needed and comfortable with where life has taken me.

But there was a question I needed answered by him. "Would you want to be leader if I was willing to hand over the position?"

His eyes met mine, before turning away to look at the sky ahead. "Honestly?"

"Of course." I stated.

"No." That answer shocked me. "I've seen what you have had to put up with during this whole chase. I want to help you out, but I don't want to be responsible for all of us. You're the best leader we could have asked for, Max."

I was overwhelmed with joy. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I even think I forgot to flap for a moment. A smile passed my lips and I could see the faintest one on his. "Thank you."

"Just being honest." Came his soft reply.

AN: Did you guys miss me? I missed you! So I know I have been completely unfair to all of you about updating the other fic before this one, but I just needed to do it. I posted the rough draft of my first chapter of my book that I have decided to call A FABELED MONSTER, in my profile (there is a link for download). I am proud of it and am about half way done with the second chap. MR 4 comes out tomorrow! YAY! I'm so excited. I'll let all of you know when I finally decide to do a MR 5. It probably won't be for awhile, if I do end up writing one. Reviews are what keeps me going! And don't forget to check out My Secret for updates. CYA!

P.S. Next chap is the last one… so go REVIEW!