Man, it's been more than a month since I updated these! Sorry. I've been focusing on Dark Side of Antarctica and Becoming You and Me, plus I haven't had much down time at school, which is when these are written. Anyway, I love 88!

86 is in Nudge's POV, if I didn't make that clear enough, and 89 takes place during STWAOES.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

86. Predicament

Angel, I said in my head as my heart dropped like a rock. I thought you said he loved her.

I thought, she replied, sounding confused, he did.

Then why is he leaving us? Leaving Max? My mind was racing, and I felt something burning in my gut, something I usually only felt around Erasers or Flyboys or the School. Complete, insane anger. If Fang was going to treat the person he was in love with this way, then I wanted nothing to do with him.

I put my hand in Max's, letting her know I was on her side, no matter what. "I'm going to stay with Max."

87. Degrading

My jaw tightened as I listened to the two guys beside me talking. It wasn't that they were talking, it was what they were talking about. Which would be their girlfriends. In really awful, and, at the risk of sounding like Max, sexist terms.

Finally, I snapped and looked over there. "Shut the hell up."

They looked at me. One narrowed his eyes. "What's it to you?"

For once, I felt the need to tell someone off. Like, with words. "They have so much more than bodies, man. Girls have souls. If you talked about my girlfriend that way, we would have a problem."

They just stared for a second, and I thought my speech had moved them. Then: "You got a girl?"

Oh, crap. I'd been talking about Max, though she was only my girlfriend in my head. I shook my head and looked down. My moment of speech was over, but I had a new resolution: whether it was me or not, no guy Max dated would be treating her like that.

88. Princess

"He could be," said Nudge, giggling.

"Yep!" said Angel. "Fang, I declare you Prince Fang of Flockdom!"

Max snickered while Fang scowled. "Don't get your royal knickers all in a bunch."

Suddenly, his face changed from irritated to mischievous. He stepped closer and took her hand. "If I'm the prince of Flockdom, does that mean you're my princess?"

Max shrugged, embarrassed. "If you wish…"

"I think I'd like that." And he kissed her.

89. Attack

"Where's Max?" Fang asked calmly. His eyes, though, were looking every which way, hoping she'd appear.

Nudge bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes. "In- in Europe, on the way b-back from G-Germany, s-she had a brain a-attack… you left us, Fang, a-and so no one c-could catch her when s-she fell out of t-the sky. We tried, b-but…"

Fang closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He hadn't been there when she needed him, and now they were both paying the price.

He had the ultimate punishment of living without her, but at least she was in a better place.

90. Protective

"What was that?" demanded Fang. "You almost died, Max."

"Well, if I hadn't, Angel would have," Max snapped back. "Excuse me for wanting to protect my flock!"

"Excuse me for wanting to protect my best friend!" He shook his head in exasperation. "Max, how dense are you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That is supposed to mean that when I saw you jumping in front of that gun, and the bullet almost hitting your chest, I had never been more scared in my life."

Max bit her lip.

No, I didn't accidentally forget to finish that last one. It's open-ended-- you decide how Max responds.

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