AN: okay, so i am brand new to the Maximum Ride section of FanFiction, as i just finished reading the third book last thursday and absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the other books! so, anyway, when i was reading about how Max had to fight Omega, and thought, "What would've happened if she'd ha to fight Fang instead?" so here it is! enjoy!

The Ultimate Decision

Summary: During Saving the World: What if Fang had made it to Germany, attempted to break in to the castle, but been caught by the Director? Suddenly, the Director's plan for Max's demise changes, forcing Max to make the ultimate decision: kill her best friend or die at his hands.

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Everyone clapped as the superhuman—Omega—walked off the stage. Clearly, they were impressed. And frankly, so was I.

"And now, to wrap it all up," the Director announced, "we are going to show some of our experiments that turned out…not so well. Be aware that what you are about to see is from the very early stages of our experimenting and research, and, at that time, was a major breakthrough…"

The Director droned on and on, and suddenly, Iggy and the Gasman walked up behind us. I was shocked and surprised to see them, but I couldn't help but wonder where Fang was….

"Max!" Iggy hissed into my ear. "I guess we got here a bit too late. We were sidetracked. And Max, you need to watch out because-"

In that crucial moment, the Director's voice overshadowed Iggy's because I heard her speak my name.

"…And now, the final presentation: a fight to the death between Maximum Ride and Fang, two of our experimental combinations of human and avian DNA!" Everyone clapped, waiting for something to happen. Then, I saw Fang emerge, coming from the same direction as all the other experiments. He did not look too pleased to be where he was.

"Maximum Ride?" the Director called out.

It was then that I realized just what the Director had said. Apparently, the rest of the flock had caught on before me. A fight to the death between Maximum Ride and Fang…

Crap.

Slowly, I made my way up to the cleared area in front, where Fang already was waiting. I was entranced, not wanting to have to fight him, especially to the death. I looked into the eyes of my best friend, searching them for any clue that he might be having the same thoughts as me. He rarely revealed any emotion and today was no exception.

I continued to walk to him, to watch him for any sign that he had a plan, because I didn't know what to do. I didn't stop until I was right in front of him, inches away. I didn't move and neither did he, even when the Director called for us to begin. But, then again, since when did we have any respect for authority?

"You made it," I whispered to him so that no one else would hear.

He nodded, but the move so small that I barely caught it.

"It wasn't a joke."

He nodded again.

"What should we do?" I hoped he would actually speak to me this time. How I had missed hearing his voice…

Whatever I had imagined his response was going to be, I didn't expect what happened next. Faster than lightning, faster than even me, his hand whipped out and caught my neck in a chokehold, my hands instinctively attaching to his wrist. For an instant, I could've sworn regret, or something of the sort, flashed across his eyes.

I guess I knew his plan now.

I locked my eyes onto his, my emotions betraying me, daring to flash across my face. It was the one and only moment where I feared Fang.

"Fang," I whispered, so quiet I wondered if he could hear me. "I get it. I see your plan. Go ahead, Fang. I'm not going to kill my best friend."

His hand loosened slightly, provoked by my stinging words. But they were true. I would not kill him, or even try to. It was just one of those things that were impossible.

He looked me straight in the eye. "I don't want to do it, Max, but I was built to survive, and this is the only way out that I can see."

"Don't worry about it. You're in charge now. The flock is yours. Take care of them." I felt a tear slide down my cheek, down my neck, and onto his hand. Great. Now I was going to start crying.

Isn't there something else you should probably tell him, Max? You two can get out of this alive if you work together.

And, of course, to top it off, the Voice was here to witness my impending death sentence.

What is there to do? What am I supposed to tell him? I thought back.

Tell him how you feel, no lies, no cover-ups; just how you really feel about him.

I closed my eyes, my breathing coming harder with Fang's hand disturbing it. For once, I thought the Voice might be right. And it knew what no one else did, apparently. And so, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to heed it one last time.

"Fang, just- before you do this, I want you to know something."

He looked at me intently, trying to pry it out of my eyes. But I had kept this hidden from him for so long that he wasn't going to see it now.

"Fang, I-" I quickly crossed out this approach to telling him. "You remember when we were living at the beach, right? And the Erasers showed up, and Ari tried to-to kill you?"

He nodded cautiously.

"And you remember what happened after, right? When I was…girly?"

He fought a smile, but then nodded.

"I'm glad I did that. And when we were in the cave? When you…we…?"

And he—yeah, you guessed it—nodded, again. What was with that?

"I'm really sorry that I just-just flew off like that. I should've explained and I'm really sorry."

"What is the point of this conversation again?"

I sighed. "I was getting there. The point is, I guess, that…I didn't fly off because I…didn't enjoy it, but because I was afraid I guess…"

"Of what? What was there to be afraid of?" I could've sworn that his grip tightened.

"I was afraid to admit that I liked it, loved it, even. To admit that…I loved you, more than anyone else in the flock, anyone else in the world. That I was in love with you, Fang."

I felt his hand loosen, shock crossing his eyes."What?"

"I love you, Fang. And I'm not on Valium, either.

And then, again, he moved so fast that I didn't realize. He released my neck most of the way, but brought me up to him, and pressed his lips to mine. I heard the gasps of shock echoing around the stadium. I had forgotten where we were, but I no longer cared. I enthusiastically kissed him back, aware that everyone was watching: the Director, Jeb, the flock (well, except for Iggy), Ari, and all the other people invited to Itex. Somehow, their presence seemed insignificant, the fact that Fang and I were supposed to be killing each other seemed unimportant, and that we were in a castle in Germany seemed ridiculous. All that was possible, all that mattered, was Fang and me, me and Fang, here, now, seeming to have finally worked it out with each other; that were we here, kissing.

Fang pulled back, wearing the biggest smile I've ever seen on him, bigger than the Eiffel Tower we had only just seen in Paris.

"Wow," he stated plain and simple, pretty much summing up the events of the past few minutes or hours even. "Wow," he said again, his smile growing even wider, "I-I can't believe it, Max. Why didn't you ever say anything? Give me some sort of sign? You don't know how close I was to giving up on the whole thing."

"Because…well, come on, Fang. You know me better than that. I hate to admit to things, ask for help, and such. Could you have honestly seen me doing that?"

I had forgotten about everyone else again. I heard confused murmurs run through the crowd and looked up briefly to see the livid face of the Director. "I think we should wrap this up, Fang. She doesn't look too happy." He followed my eyes and saw her, too.

Then, he grabbed me back in a chokehold. Or, at least, that's what it must have looked like, but in reality, his hand was gentler this time and I realized what he was doing. We were going to blow through it, fake it, only pretend to fight each other. That worked for me.

In a way that I'm sure looked real, I swung around and roundhouse kicked him. I only lightly tapped his arm with my foot, but he got the idea, dropping his chokehold and twisting his face into a pained look.

"So…you gonna answer my question?" I ducked as he threw a fist my way, slowly.

"Yep."

"'Yep' you're gonna answer or 'yep' is you answer?" I gave him a heads up as my fist flew toward his jaw.

"You really think I would answer yes to that question? Of course I couldn't see you doing that. At least I couldn't see you making the first move." He made the motion of a kick, aiming for my stomach. "That's why I made the first move; because I thought that then maybe you'd follow my lead."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But obviously I was mistaken. You're not very good at following." I ducked as he punched again and swung my legs around to knock him off his feet.

"You got that right. And even thought I figured you had some sort of feelings for me, I didn't want to risk the unity of the flock over it." Fang fell through the air with a whoosh and I muttered, "Sorry."

He didn't seem to mind that I had knocked him down. "How'd you figure that?"

"Well, the cave, obviously, the way you seemed to always have my back, how you treated me at Anne's, how you reacted to Sam, and…well, something Angel said…."

"What'd she say?" He rose off the ground dramatically.

"When we were at the football game, she said not to worry, that everyone was having fun, that I would still save the world, and…that you still loved me. But before I could question her, people started recognizing us and we had to pull that up-and-away."

Fang looked genuinely surprised as he spun for a roundhouse kick. "She said that? Damn, I should've been more careful around her."

"So it was true?!" This time, I reached out and caught him in a fake chokehold.

He flushed, and not just from my grip. "Well…yeah. Definitely."

I was shocked. Well, maybe not so much, since I had suspected it for quite some time. But to have it confirmed? That blew my mind away. "Wow. So you're saying…"

"I love you, Maximum Ride." He pried my hands away from his neck in a fast movement. "And I'll never stop." He kissed me again, forgetting our invented routine to please the bystanders. But who cared about them? This pleased me.

AN: awww...adorable! ok, for now, this is going to be a oneshot, unless you guys want me to do otherwise and i can actually think of something else to do with this. please review!!
-eh-