A/N Last chapter, I should think. And I also think this chapter is WAY awkward, and weird

Chapter 6

"Are you sure?" Max asked. He looked kind of familiar, but she's sure she had never met him before the ball.

"You don't remember?" the prince asked. Then he bared his teeth and flapped his arms madly, just like he did almost seven years ago. Max's eyes widened.

"Fang?" she said softly, then burst out laughing, "It's been seven years and you still act like that!"

The prince, Fang/Nicholas, looked at her expectantly. "I'm sorry, your majesty!" Max said, blushing a little. "I really didn't know it was you. Pardon me for my lousy hospitability in the past. Can I just call you Fang?"

"It's fine with me. I just have one question," Prince Fang said. Mix giggled at the thought. Prince Fang. That sounded weird, but whatever. Fang looked at her with a twisted face and she looked back at him with an apologetic face. He got down on one knee. Max's breath hitched in her throat.

He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and opened it. "Will you marry me?" he asked. Max gasped, even though she knew it was coming. Dreams were nothing compared to reality.

She's only knew him for…seven years? Seeing each other only for three days out of the seven years. But she already knew what she wanted.

She bent down and pulled him up, then planted a kiss on his lips. She felt him grin and she smiled back shyly, still kissing him. She brought her hands to his neck and pulled back, while he put his arms around her waist. She put her lips to his ear and whispered, "Yes."

He smiled and kissed her again, when a voice called out, "Hey! Keep it down, will you? Blind kid with really sensitive ears here!" Uh, oops. Max had forgotten to tell him about Iggy. Fang pulled back and looked confused, then Max said, "That's my brother, Iggy. We all have wings, and Ig's blind."

"Oh." Just then, Nudge, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy decided to burst into the room. "So do we get to make the sisters jealous?" Gazzy asked, before stopping short when he saw Fang's wings.

"You're a mutant too?" Gazzy asked bluntly. Fang nodded, slipping his hand from Max's waist to her hand, grasping it tightly. "Is he really?" Iggy said enthusiastically. "What mix?"

"Just like us," Angel replied shortly. "Max—"

"Hello," a voice said. Everyone spun around. "Hi! I'm Val, Max's fairy godmother." Fang stared from Val to Max, "Mutants have fairy godmothers?" Max shrugged. "Hi Val."

"Now what have I said about a special day for someone, hmm?" Val asked Max most smugly.

Max grinned and looked at her, "You're right." Then Val looked at Fang.

"Treat this young lady well. It's pretty obvious that she needs a change of clothes," she said. "And so does her family," she added as an afterthought as she inspected Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. Then she clapped her hands.

"I've got it!" she cried gaily. "How about I give you guys a change of clothes first you can get to the palace without wearing those–those rags."

The kids all smiled at her, warming up to the idea of having clothes that were more than rags. Max looked at Fang nervously, "You're letting me bring them along, aren't you?"

"Yup, why not?" Fang said. Max smiled at him apologetically, "I hope they're not going to be a handful."

"Nah, it's fine," Fang said, "It gets pretty lonely in the palace after a while."

Val tapped her feet impatiently, "And when you're done with the talk, can I give you a change of clothes now?" Max grinned sheepishly as Val glared at her.

The fairy godmother waved her wand and a blinding flash of light filled the room, when it cleared, Angel was wearing a pink sundress with a matching pink headband over her now neatly combed blond hair. On her feet was a pair of pink ballet flats.

Gazzy was clad in a dark green t-shirt with the words 'Don't mess with this kid' written in white over it. He sported a pair of light brown khaki pants reaching his knees and a pair of lime green sneakers.

Nudge had on a bright orange polo tee from Puma and a pair of darker orange shorts. Her hair was for once uncharacteristically neat. She wore a pair of deep orange sandals.

Iggy sported a pair of dark glasses around his sightless eyes and a black shirt with a picture of a pointing finger and the words 'Stare if you Dare' over it. He wore dark grey three quarter khaki pants and a pair of black converse shoes.

Max was wearing the very same outfit she wore to the ball minus the mask. Val had also added a small crown tilted to the left of her head. She looked like a genuine princess. Fang sucked in a breath and Max blushed. His hand still hadn't left hers. He whispered into her ear, "You know, seeing you change from a peasant to a princess is more shock than just seeing you in your dress for the whole time?" This made Max's face heat up again, "But honestly, I prefer shorts to dresses." Fang smiled.

"You go on your way first. I'll send your stuff over soon after you arrive," Val said. Max mouthed 'thanks' and got whisked off by Fang down the stairs.

As they descended, Tess and Lissa gaped at Max. Behind the seventeen year old girl, Gazzy was grinning to himself, happy to be able to get back at them for once.

When Max reached the foot of the stairs still holding hands with Fang, the stepsisters glanced once at the couple and started apologizing profusely, "I'm sorry to treat you like that, Max!"

"I'm sorry we were so rude! We shouldn't have!"

But their mother just dragged them away just as Lissa shouted, "Will we become princesses if you marry him?" So that was what all the apologies were about. They just wanted the money and status. Fat hope.

Suddenly, Fang turned to face Max, "Is your name short for something? Maxine, maybe?"

"It is short for something, but not Maxine. Argh, I hate that name. Maximum. My name is Maximum Ride."

"You know what; your name does fit you. You're the maximum I could ever have." Max blushed furiously, hating the fact that it was an open show for the rest of the flock.

Max smiled as they neared the car that belonged to Fang. It looked just like the car she had taken from Iggy. "Say, Max, isn't this that toy car of Ig's?" Gazzy asked, surprised.

"I seriously doubt that, Gaz," Max muttered back. The kids plus Iggy cramped together in the back while Max sat on Fang's lap in the front seat. The chauffer looked at all of them weirdly but just did his job and drove them straight to the palace. After a day of driving, they settled in a hotel and continued their journey the next day.

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"Father, mother, this is my fiancé, Max, short for Maximum. She calls me Fang," Fang said nervously, wondering how they'd react.

"Hello!" the king said happily, then winked at Max, saying in a harsh but quite loud tone, probably intending everyone in that room to hear him, "I hope I'd be able to hold my grandson soon." Then he winked again as Max flushed.

"I'll try," Max replied, trying hard to ignore the snickers of Iggy and the Gasman, and failing horribly. To make up for that, she smacked both of their heads.

The queen chuckled and told the engaged prince, "I like your choice of girls."

Fang just smiled his own mysterious smile.

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Fang squeezed his wife's hand, "They'll be here soon, honey, just hang on a little longer."

Max was in labor already even though it's only been twenty weeks, not the usual gestation period of forty. Maybe that avian DNA was at work, making it shorter. All he hoped was that his wife wasn't going to lay an egg.

"The doctors will be here soon. Just a little longer."

"I can't!" Max shrieked. Max could usually control herself, but if she had started screaming like that, Fang didn't want to think how pain it was.

Suddenly, the doors to the room burst open and a team of doctors (A/N: If anybody knows the name of the doctors who deliver babies, tell me please.) rushed into the room, surrounding the bed Max was on.

Max's forehead was glistening with sweat, and her grip on his hand was so strong that he felt his bones might break. But he didn't let it show. All for Max.

"Max, just push. Push to your maximum ability," Fang said, and the royal couple shared a weak chuckle before one of the doctors called out, "I can see the head"

The head was out. "C'mon, Max, you can do this. I know you can. You've been through much worse in the School before."

Max gave another push and a doctor announced, "Hands coming out!" Fang gave Max an encouraging smile even though his hand felt like shriveling up from under Max's incredibly strong grip.

He kissed her wet cheek. "One more," he whispered into her ear. Max looked at his face, so full of hope, and complied. Finally, after a few more pushes, the baby was out.

Overjoyed, Fang kissed Max right on the lips. "Well done, my love." Max managed a weak smile before falling asleep due to exhaustion. One of the doctors handed over the newborn.

"What are…these?" he asked, pointing to the two things at the back of the baby, which were flapping slowly, drying themselves.

Fang looked at them proudly. "They're wings," he told the surprised doctor, who then gave his congratulations and winked at the baby. "A healthy little boy you got there."

Fang smiled back, an action still new to him even though he had been doing it for the past three years since he proposed.

And he was glad Max didn't lay an egg.

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"Jake, you will have to find a bride by your coming birthday!" the thirty-seven year old king told his son, the very same line that his own father and mother had used on him for countless of times when he was sixteen going on seventeen.

"I know, father, but I don't want to marry those tweaks out there! I want to be able to choose who I want!"

The king wiggled his eyebrows, "And do you have anyone in mind?"

Jake flushed unwillingly. Fang winked at the queen, his wife. Max winked back and said, "And do we have the pleasure of inviting her to our castle?"

Muttering, Jake bowed his head to avoid letting his parents see his increasingly red face, "Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, and just who is she?" Max enquired.

"A girl I met in the forest nearby almost seven years ago," Jake muttered, still too embarrassed to lift his head.

Max raised an eyebrow and looked over at her husband. It was uncannily similar to how Fang had met her.

"Can you invite her over for dinner?" Fang asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," came the monotonous reply. "I'm meeting her later."

"Well, then that's settled," Max said happily. "Now cover up your wings before the servants start screaming."

Jake looked at his mother, who instead of scolding him for not picking a rich lady was encouraging him to pick a peasant. "Mother, why—?"

Max smiled warmly at him, "I was a peasant once too, you could say. Ask your father." Jake looked at his parents in disbelieve, then pulled on a sweater to cover his black with white stripes wings.

"Well, I just hope you like her," Jake muttered as he walked out of his room to meet his might-be future wife.

Back in his room, his parents smiled to themselves. Somehow, this time, they didn't need to hold a ball to find the right girl.

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Later that night…

"Father, mother, this is Sam, short for Samantha," Jake told his parents. Max mused at how alike Jake and Fang were, introducing a girl to their parents in the same style. Seeing Sam gaze in awe at the palace and her shock at seeing both the king and queen, Max inferred that her son hadn't told her a thing about his royalty.

Fang looked at Jake, "Huh, so I'm not supposed to expect a new occupant for this gigantic building?" Meaning the absence of 'this is my fiancé'.

Jake flushed again. Then again, Max mused at how unalike father and son were. Fang never blushed before. Well, he had, but only after he had gotten her. Max seriously doubted Jake had told Sam he liked her yet.

Sam looked confused, but Max just said, "I'll leave it to Jake to tell you about it." She winked at her only child, whose face grew to a deeper shade of red until it was almost maroon.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Jake, who, if possible, blushed even redder, then whispered something in her ear, which made them both blush. Which was pretty much impossible for Jake already.

Then she whispered something back to Jake, whose face lit up immediately and kissed her hard on the lips, hugging her like there was no tomorrow in the process, and Sam hugged back. Fang and Max both smiled at each other, glad to have their son find his girl before his birthday, unlike his father.

"So I take we're just upgrading Jake's bed to a king?" Fang said.

The young couple blushed, just when Jake's red face had just receded.

"That's quite alright, I should think," Max chuckled.

Then Sam looked uncomfortable. "I suppose, if we do become family, I'll have to show you these." Slowly, a pair of brown and black spotted wings unfolded themselves from behind her.

She bowed her head, as if expecting the royal family to reject her, but when they didn't gasp in shock or start shouting at her, she looked up. They were all grinning.

"Huh?"

One by one, the blue blooded human avian hybrids spread their wings. Sam gaped at them, and then grinned, "I guess I fit in then."

"I guess you do too," Max smiled kindly, "Meanwhile, I'll get someone to change Jake's bed…"

Jake shot a glare at his mother and they all laughed.


A/N The end. Sniff. I had such a fun time typing this. But anyway, check out my other stories!