Yo!

I'm sorry to say folks, but this will be the last chapter for a couple of weeks. I'm heading across the water to Fiji of my winter break and on the little island we are staying at there is... wait for it... no internet. Yep, you heard me. There is not one little wireless connection on the tiny island.

I'm utterly devistated. Oh well, I'll be in Fiji. Chilling. Reading books. Actually relaxing.

Thanks guys for your amazing support. I'll be back. Promise. :)

Fly On...

Heart of Diamond

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It Takes Six to Save the World…

Chapter 30: Flight

It wasn't long after that moment did Jeff leave. He gripped my hand tightly and whisper goodnight while I was 'asleep'. He and Fang left the room for a few minutes before Fang returned. He sat down on the mattress at my head.

He loved me.

There is only one word I felt. One incredibly girly and un-max like emotion…

SWOON!

As the mattress shifted under me, I choose to 'wake up'. I shifted slightly, blinking my eyes open. Fang took my hand rubbing his thumb comfortingly on the back of my hand as I looked up at him. His eyes were strangely soft as if the brick wall separating is emotions from the rest of the world was now a thin shed of tissue paper.

I gave him a weak smile. "The cookies didn't taste as good up as they did down."

Fang laughed. A true laugh. So full of happiness. He bent down and kissed my forehead.

"Ah, Max," He whispered onto my forehead. "I would kiss you, but you probably taste of vomit."

Oh, he didn't.

I punched him hard in the leg, causing him to fall off my bed. I sat up slowly, smiling victoriously as Fang groaned on the floor.

"You are evil you know that?" Fang grumbled.

"Purely evil," I agreed, slipping out of bed. My head ached at the sudden movement, but it was bearable.

I was still wearing my jeans and t-shirt, but Fang had taken my shoes off. For some reason… I find that really cute.

Whoa, whoa, CUTE? I'm I turning soft? What has Fang done to me?

"I'm going to brush my teeth," I said, standing up with a yawn. "And then I'm racing you to the Hollywood sign."

Fang was to his feet in an instant, and gripped my arm. Concern flashed across his face. "Max, are you sure? High altitudes can make people pretty sick and I don't think…"

"I'm fine," I sighed holding down the annoyance. Any normal person would be flattered, but I wasn't a normal person. I was Maxine…

No… I was Maximum Ride. Maximum Ride does not get flattered.

Especially when it's someone being over protective of her.

Why is Max speaking in third person?

Fang gave me that look, one that said 'you can't fool me'. This time I rolled my eyes.

"N-Fang, seriously," I corrected, looking straight into Fang's eyes. "I'm fine. For real."

He eyed me carefully, trying to work out whether I was lying or not. Oh! He must have the Strange happening after Wings number 4,749 too! Wait, he would have all the Strange happenings after Wings.

It was so weird now that Fang was like me. There were so many more things I could relate with him about. So much more things I can say. So much more I can do.

Fang gave a sigh and let go of my arm. "No matter what I say, you're not going to listen."

I grinned. "Oh, Fang, you know me very well."

I leapt up onto my balcony rail. I balanced there on the balls of my feet, standing tall as I breathed in the fresh air. My wings shivered in delight, balancing me on the thin rail.

I glanced over my shoulder. Fang stood there, blending into the shadows, his hands in his pockets. He watched me with an expression of pride mixed with awe and happiness. A smile lifted onto his face as he caught my eye.

I bent down slightly, before lifting off the rail with a single beat of my wings. I soared easily into the sky, increasing altitude rapidly. Once I was a fair distance away so Fang could take room to take off.

"Come on, slow coach!" I called out.

Fang chuckled, and shock his head. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and jumped easily onto the rail. He crouched and sprung into the sky, snapping out his jet black wings.

God, thank you for blessing me with this image.

Because it certainly was a spectacular one.

Still to this day, the first time I saw Fang fly was one of the beautiful scenes I had ever seen in my entire life. The way he snapped his wings out on the exact moment. The way he took to the sky with such elegance that you could believe there wasn't such thing as gravity on earth.

He actually reminded me of the latest batman movie. You know how batman just seems to turn invisible. Well, I reckon Fang could just about do that. The way he flew, so silent and smooth, he was like a ghost.

He flew up so he was hovering in front of me. I must've had a very un-max-like expression on my face because a smile lifted onto his lips. A cocky smile. "Speechless?"

Speechless is an understatement.

I opened and closed my mouth. "On-Only about how crocked your wings are when you glide. Gees, Fang, I expected better from you."

Fang snorted. "Says the woman who flies loudly."

Flies loudly? "I do not!"

Fang circled me silently, his wings beating effortlessly. "Fan the tips of your feathers out, like a hawk. That's how the raptors do it. They aren't called silent fliers for nothing."

I frowned, angling my wings so I was flying horizontally. I played with the tips of my feathers watching them expand and close. "Silent fliers?"

He settled into a rhythmical glide beside me as we soared above LA. "Well, you know pigeons, sparrows, seagulls and such? Well, their wings are clumped together. It makes their flying loud, but raptors, you know eagles, hawks, falcons? Their wings fan out at the tips. It makes their flying silent, so prey don't hear them when they are hunting."

I smiled as he talked. He was passionate about his flying that was for sure and it was rare to see Fang talk this much. I guess when I thought about it, Fang had been keeping this a secret as well. Sure Jeb knew, but he didn't understand. He didn't know what it was like to fly, so really, Fang was like me.

Now we had someone to talk to about it.

"What?" Fang asked.

I just shock my head. "Nothing. I'm just… Glad."

"Why?"

I tapped my wing on his. "I have someone who knows the real me. Someone who I don't need to hide secrets from."

A smile lifted onto Fang's face. A brilliant smile. It almost seemed (dare I say) magical with the way the full moon reflected off his hair.

"You're it!" I cried darting forward, towards the city.

I briefly heard Fang's 'Not fair!' cry, but I was diving so fast the wind whipped any sound away from my ears. I zoomed between two buildings, the darkness of the sky hiding me from people below. I could almost sense Fang behind me as I flew.

I darted around buildings in an uncharted pattern. Occasionally, I couldn't help but run sideways along the walls.

It's fun, seriously.

I felt a hand on my foot, pulling me back. Fang flew over top of me. "YOU'RE IT!"

Wow, he was actually pretty good.

FOR A LOSER!

I zoomed forward, my eyes narrowing on the dark figure with the jet black wings. He was flying towards the ocean. As he approached the empty shore, he flew low across the sand.

I dived on him, tackling him into the sand. We rolled several times, our wings wrapping around each other, before I flopped down onto Fang.

Fang groaned underneath me, unfolding his wings from around me. "That's going to hurt in the morning."

I rested on his chest, lifting my wings and shaking the sand off from between my feathers. "Touché."

He chuckled under me. We were both breathing hard. You have to remember that a chasing someone through the air is just as hard as chasing someone on the ground. Flying super-fast through the sky is just like sprinting.

In fact I even think it's harder in the air. With the wind playing against you especially.

I rolled off Fang's stomach to lay on the sand beside him. We both stared at the sky. Of course, you couldn't see many stars in the sky since we were close to the city. But both Fang and I were super human. Despite the lights of the city, we could see every single star in the sky.

"You know," Fang whispered, turning his head to look at me. "Even before I knew you were like me… I really did wish."

I smiled, closing my eyes. "Same. I dreamed that I could tell you everything, but I was afraid of what you would think."

There was silence between us. The sound of waves crashing filled my ears, easing any tension that ever existed in my shoulders. The world around me… us right now was so simple. Just the stars, the sand, the ocean… but it just made me feel like I could withstand anything the world threw at me.

Fang rolled onto his side, facing me. "Why did you lie?"

I frowned slightly. "About what?"

He sighed, looking down at the small patch of sand that separated us. "About that kiss."

I held my breath, biting my lip before I said something I would regret.

Fang opened and closed his mouth a few times before he spoke. "I need to know."

I sighed. I was putting off the inevitable. It was going to have to come out sooner or later. I turned my head, staring Fang straight in the eye.

"I… I didn't want to pull you into my world," I whispered. "I thought that I'd scare you away. That you would think that I was a freak. The closer you were to me, the greater the chance that you would discover the real me. I would've rather… have been a friend to you than a monster."

Fang looked at the stars again, thinking through what I had just said. At each passing second, I found myself getting more and more nervous about his reaction.

"Fang," I breathed hesitantly. "Say something."

Fang sighed sadly, closing his eyes. "What should I say?"

I felt a sort of pang in my heart. Guilt. I looked up at the stars. "I… I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Well… it did alright?" Fang said slight harshness slipping into his voice. "It hurt from the moment you pulled away."

"It hurt me too," I declared frowning slightly as I roll over to face him. We were merely inches apart. "And I wasn't about to give up my pain if it meant that you would never have a normal life again."

Fang groaned loudly, sitting up completely and throwing his head in his hands. "You can't keep doing that."

That sent my confusion levels spiking.

"Doing what?" I retorted, sitting up also.

Fang snapped his hands down, staring me straight in the eye. His dark orbs were ablaze, burning red with emotion. "Being selfless."

I tried to say something, but I was honestly speechless. I expected him to say just about anything, but selfless?

Fang shuffled around on the sand to face me. "Look, Max. One day you are going to face something where someone's life is at stake. You will sacrifice yourself when they don't want you to…"

His voice faded out. Fang's jaw tightened and he stared harshly at the ground. When I didn't say anything, he took in a deep breath and continued. "Promise me something."

I sat up so we our faces were inches apart. I felt his breath tickle my nose. "Anything."

Fang leant forward ever so slightly, brushing his nose on mine. "Promise me…" He paused, licking his lips nervously. His voice dropped to the point where it was barely audible even to my ears. "Promise me that I won't lose you."

The tension that was between dropped tenfold.

"I…" He whispered. He stopped for a second, looking me straight in the eye. "Max, I… I can't lose you."

I pressed my forehead against his, lifting my hand to cup his face. I knew what he was saying. His eyes held truth. They echoed his words. My heart swelled and I couldn't help but close the gap between us.

It wasn't like other kisses. This wasn't the passionate, desperate kiss that we had shared before, this was a promise. A simple seal of promise.

I suspended my lips on his, only breaking off to give him a smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

Fang laid his back onto the sand, pulling me in to his chest with relief. I curled up against him happily, feeling his heart beat with wild joy and his chest rise and fall beneath my head.

We could've stayed like that forever. The world could've exploded and I wouldn't have cared less.

Hell, Lisa could've taken a picture of herself with no make-up and I still wouldn't have cared!

Ok… that was pushing it…

"What did I do to deserve you?" Fang asked me quietly.

I chuckled lightly.

"I was thinking the same thing."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

This is the last Fax fluff chapter :( But, the plot starts up again in the next chapter. Exciting? REVIEW!