Authors Note: Last chapter! Wow, it's finally done . . . Awe :(

Chapter Twenty Six

- Dreamers, Dreamers -

I paced across the hotel room with my head bent low and my hands clasped tightly together behind my back. Fang watched me with a hooded expression from the chair in the corner, not saying a word or moving a muscle. I knew he was trying to make himself invisible by the way he would get this frustrated look on his face from time to time. He never mentioned anything though.

With a final sigh he got up and grasped my arm in his strong hand. I glared at him petulantly, waiting for him to unleash his hold on me, but he stayed put, meeting my gaze firmly.

"What?" I demanded crossly, in no mood to play his mind games.

"That's quite enough agitated pacing for one day, don't you think?" he replied, moving me so that we were seated on the plush sofa.

"I'm just sick of this waiting . . . Not knowing is killing me!" I exclaimed, burying my face in my hands with a frustrated grunt.

"Everyone is a little messed up right now, Max. The kids are really worried. It doesn't really help that you're falling apart right in front of them," Fang said softly, using his 'logical' tone.

"Falling apart!" I cried in dismay. "I'm not falling apart!"

Fang just raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips.

"I just . . . I'm not used to these kinds of things yet. It's been three years since I've had to act as leader to the flock. All I need to do is ease back into my position. Then I'll be perfectly fine," I insisted.

"Maybe you should go and talk to them. They're confused right now. You need to present them with their options."

"Options? What other options are there besides 'get your wings back' or 'the retards at the School can't fix you so we're stuck like this forever, you don't get a choice, sorry'?"

"That's the thing Max, you have to give them a fair choice," Fang said in that smooth voice of his, making it hard to argue.

Why had he slipped so easily into our normal transition? He had returned completely to Mr. Rock, while I broke down from the pressure. He was holding strong while I withered. I needed to get a grip on myself, and fast.

With a heaving sigh I said, "I'll go chat with them a bit. See what they want to do."

"Oh, she has a brain after all," Fang said in mock surprise, brushing a strand of hair out of my face.

I punched him in the shoulder before I scooted off the couch. I made my way to the door knowing fully well that Fang was examining me the entire time I walked away . . .

- }{ -

"Hey guys," I said by way of arrival, sliding the door into place with a barely audible click.

The flock was seated in various places around the room. Nudge and Angel were sprawled out on the floor, lying on their stomachs across from each other. They appeared to be playing some sort of card game. Iggy was flipping through the TV channels lazily, listening for anything good. Gazzy was rifling around in his backpack, throwing things out every once in awhile while muttering under his breath.

I had a feeling I didn't want to know what he couldn't find.

"'Sup?" Iggy asked, shutting off the power and tossing the remote across the room. It landed with a clatter next to the bathroom door, its batteries busting out before rolling a few feet away.

Iggy didn't seem to notice.

He did however, recognize the uneasiness in my voice, so he automatically sat up straighter. His bored expression was replaced with a more serious one, and he motioned for Gazzy to approach.

Once everyone was assembled before me, I took a deep breath to gather my bearings.

"Have you heard anything from Jeb?" Iggy asked, a tremor rolling through his tone.

"No, not yet," I admitted sullenly.

"So what's wrong?" the Gasman piped up, his blue eyes shining.

"I just thought I'd come and . . . discuss some things with you guys," I replied, dragging a chair over and taking a seat in it.

"What kinds of things?" Nudge wondered with surprisingly few words.

"Uh . . . options," I stated simply.

They all stared at me in confusion.

"You know that there's a chance Jeb might not be able to get our wings back," I informed them, "and if he can't that can cause potential . . . problems. He's never been faced with a challenge like this before. Not only that, he has to get the proper materials and complete the procedure by himself, in total secrecy. I don't kno-"

"What if we don't want our wings back though," Nudge mumbled so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

"What?" I asked, stunned.

"I mean, I like being a normal kid! I like going out shopping with my friends and finding cute clothes that I don't have to make sure cover my wings! I like having people treat me like I'm not a freak!" Nudge shouted, jumping to her feet.

I started at her wordlessly. It was like we were back at that school all over again, with Nudge insisting she wanted to get her wings cut off. At that time I had adamantly refused . . . but could I do that now, when they were already gone? Would I be able to actually force them on her when she didn't want them at all?

Suddenly, I understood completely what Fang meant by options.

"Nudge, you can't seriously . . ." I trailed off breathlessly.

This was insane.

"Just let me think about it okay? I haven't come to a definite decision yet or anything. I mean, there are a bunch of perks to having wings; like flying for instance. Man, I would sure miss flying. But the downsides are there as well. I think I'll-" she rambled on for a few minutes before getting up and fleeing the room. I didn't follow her. I knew she needed time to think things through.

"What about you guys? Do you have any aversions to getting your wings back?" I asked, trying to stay calm.

"Heck no!" Iggy yelled indignantly, his clear blue eyes flashing with anger.

"I always thought our wings were cool," Gazzy muttered, staring off at the spot Nudge at disappeared towards.

"Our wings give us power," Angel said thoughtfully, and I gave her a funny look. It wasn't exactly the answer you'd be expecting from an eight year old girl.

"Good, good," I said. "And now that that's all settled . . . I guess we wait."

And so we did.

- }{ -

Jeb looked incredibly worn out.

There were dark patches under his eyes, and his limp, graying hair was matted to his forehead; but sticking up in a few places like he had been running his fingers through it relentlessly. His shoulders sagged and he couldn't seem to stop his feet from dragging across the floor. He looked very . . . vulnerable. One little puff of air and he would blow straight over.

"So?" I demanded.

I had allowed him to sit down first, and get a drink of water of course. I mean, I wasn't a total tyrant or anything. And to tell the truth . . . well, he just looked all around bad.

He opened his mouth to reply with a worn sigh when a sharp chirping erupted from his pocket. He gave another tired grunt and pulled a sleek, shiny cellphone out, the screen blinking furiously.

"It's your mother," he said simply, passing it over to me.

Oh crap.

"Uh, hey mom," I greeted her after I clicked the little green button with dread.

"MAXINE MARTINEZ!" she thundered loudly, sounding extremely flustered and worried.

"Ow, jeez Mom! No need to bust my eardrums!" I cried indignantly, holding the phone away from my hear so it couldn't cause any future damage.

"WHERE ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ARE YOU!"

"Mom, don't worry. I'm perfectly okay. I'm . . . I'm at Dad's," I informed her slowly, glancing at Jeb out of my peripheral vision. I didn't miss the way he smiled slightly at the sound of me calling him 'Dad.' I hoped he didn't get used to it, because it wouldn't last longer than this one conversation.

"BUT WHY! AND HOW DARE YOU LEAVE, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WITHOUT TELLING ME! I WAS WORRIED SICK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT MAXINE! WHEN YOU GET BACK YOU ARE GOING TO BE GROUNDED FOR SO LONG SOME PRISON SENTENCES WILL SEEM LESS HARSH!" she screamed inchoherently, going on and on about how much trouble I was in.

I just nodded, even though she couldn't actually see me; muttering, 'yeah' and 'uh-huh' every once in awhile to make it seem like I was really paying attention to what she was saying. The words though, were one big mush in my mind.

"Look, I'll call you later, alright? I have to take care of a few things here . . . then we'll talk more about my vicious, brutal, and totally unnecessary punishment," I said.

Okay, maybe that was overkill . . .

"UNNECESSARY! YOU TOOK OFF WITHOUT ONE WORD TO ME ABOUT IT! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEA-"

"I gotta go Mom!" I shouted hurriedly, before I quickly clicked the 'end call' button, snapping the phone shut. I tossed it into Jeb's waiting hand, making a face the entire time.

"In a bit of trouble are we?" Jeb asked, amused.

"Cut the crap, flapjack! We don't have any more time to chat. You need to tell me what you found out," I insisted, my eyes narrowing dangerously.

The smile drifted from his face, and the light slowly faded from his eyes. He sighed again, slumping deeper into his chair. He refused to meet my gaze, instead choosing to glare at his hands.

Not good.

"Jeb . . . what did you find out?" I said slowly, but tersely. He was getting me wound up tighter than I needed to be.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and every one of my hopes came crashing down around me. My dreams burned, fluttering away like a pile of ashes, each flake inscribed with my never-ending ability to survive.

"Just spit it out," I said bitterly, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

"It's impossible. I've researched and looked everything up . . . but it can't be done."

"Say it straight, Jeb!" I shouted, my fury overtaking my calm.

"You're not getting your wings back."

You're not getting your wings back . . . That one sentence rang through my head like a deathly toll bell. It resounded in my mind, a death sentence lying in the shadows. My life was virtually over.

You're not getting your wings back . . .

Not getting wings back . . .

Wings . . . back . . .

- }{ -

I shot straight up in the air, clutching at my throat and gasping for air. Wind whistled through my lungs, but the oxygen felt like it was suffocating me. Something was restricting my neck and I couldn't breath.

"Max?" Fang's worried voice reached me over the last glowing embers of the fire. Small flames leapt into the air, casting shadows around our campsite. We were somewhere in the Appalachian mountains, I remembered.

Slowly my thoughts caught up to me, and my breathing gradually slowed.

It was a dream . . . all of it . . . only a dream.

"Max, are you okay?" Fang repeated, crouching at my side. His dark eyes brimmed with concern, and his fingers were warm against my cheek.

"Yeah . . . I just . . . had a weird dream is all," I admitted, pulling my knees to my chest as I stared off into the distance, deep in thought. I could faintly hear the flock's deep breathing surrounding me, in various places around the fire.

"What was it about?" he asked after a moment, sliding to the ground beside me. He slung his arm over my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I leant my head on his chest, basking in the warmth he radiated. I hadn't noticed before, but I was shivering.

I told him. Starting from the very beginning right to the last second, recalling every detail with almost perfect clarity.

"What if it actually happens?" I asked shakily, pressing myself even closer to his torso as I stared up into his fathomless dark eyes.

"It's impossible," he said with a laugh, grinning down at me.

"How do you know, though?" I pressed, frowning despite the giddy feeling his smile had given me.

"I could never forget you."

THE END

Authors Note: And you now have the conclusion to the entire story! Awe, I'm kind of sad . . . And please don't kill me because of the end. Originally, that wasn't the way things were supposed to go AT ALL! But somewhere along the lines I got to thinking . . . and it didn't seem probable that Jeb could get them their wings back without surgically replacing them like with the Erasers; and we all know that didn't turn out very well.

So in the end, it would all be a dream of Max's. I really hope it doesn't ruin the entire story . . . okay, now I'm seriously worried. So PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you think!

I'd also like to take the time to thank everyone that has reviewed, favorited, or alerted this story. I appreciate all your feedback, and it just makes me happy to know someone is reading my stories at all. I would love to make a list of every single person that has done one of the latter, but I think that would take way too long, and I really don't have enough patience for that. I'd get to the middle and quit, haha.

There have also been questions about a sequal. I would totally do it if a) I knew what to write a sequal about and b) I had the time with all the projects I've been wanting to get done for quite some time. So maybe, after all that is done I could do a sequal . . . but it would definitely be awhile.

Thanks again, and . . . I guess all I have left to say is I hope you enjoyed my story and goodbye! (For now..)

(Oh, and REVIEW!)