Hey, this is un beta-ed so frogive me any mistakes. Also this is reposted since I wanted to change something. If you're reading this and haven't read MIdnight Eyes I suggest you do or you will be extremely confused.

Oh and remember mysterious tree boy from the Iggy/Vision sad scene? He's back!!!

Here is Ch 1, Enjoy.

Max POV:

Birds were chirping. Yes, birds were freaking chirping cheerily while I was in Hell. I would have thought I was dead if it wasn't for two things. Maximum Ride would not end up in Hell, and hell most certainly does not have cheerily chirping birds.

I warily opened my eyes. I was met by a pair of midnight ones.

"Don't say it," I said, my hoarse. I winced as I tried to sit up. I got roughly shoved back down again. At least he didn't say I told you so.

I took a look at Fang's eyes again. Someone was a little huffy.

"Fang-" I began, and got cut off. I'm telling you the next person who does that is getting a nice kick in the shin.

"Do you have any idea-"

My consolation was that Fang got cut off too.

"Fang, not now." Iggy said sighing. He sounded tired. I looked over at him and noticed bags under his eyes.

"Ig, what's wrong?" I asked.

It was only the three of us in the room. A quick 360 told me it was Fang and mine's. Still sans couch.

Another glance at Iggy showed to hesitant and worried look on his face.

What the Hell was going on? Whatever it was a sinking feeling settled in my stomach.

That's when I remembered what happened.

"How did I come out of that gun shot not hurt?" No one answered.

"Guys?" My head shot back and forth between them.

I took a deep, hopefully calming, breath.

"Tell Me NOW!" Ok, so I failed at the end. Sue me.

"Max," Iggy began, "the bullet got you between the wings. As you can tell, it didn't kill you but…" He faltered.

"But what? Iggy, but what?"

"Your wings. The shot went straight to the center of your wings. You can't fly any more."

Leave it to Fang to break the news. He was blunt. I guess it was easiest. Bluntness requires no emotion.

"Not for a really long time at least, we're not sure how long." Iggy added.

"Can you guys leave for a second?" I choked out. To say Fang' little announcement hit me like a ton of bricks was an understatement. A really big understatement.

Once the door clicked behind them, I felt like hyperventilating.

I even had to remind myself to breathe.

This was, it was -

Oh God. I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something.

And if that failed I wanted to curl up on the couch with a pint of ice cream.

That's when it hit me. No, not the bricks. More of epiphany number two.

I am Maximum freaking Ride. I couldn't let this rule me. Maybe sometimes I could let myself wallow in misery, but only on special occasions.

I was alive. I had my Flock. I could sucker Fang into flying me around. And Iggy said evenutally I could fly again. I was not going to break down over this.

Very commendable feelings. I'm proud of you.

Don't you love it when the annoying voice chimes in? I know I do.

Oh, so now you show up. Thanks for warning me about the gun and Rust and all, by the way. In case you didn't catch it, re read that sentence with heavy sarcasm added in.

I'm sorry Max.

I narrowed my eyes, wishing it could see me.

Sorry doesn't give me my working wings back.

I thought you were going to move on?

Shut up.

I started kneading my aching forehead. I really needed to find some kind of off switch up there. A girl could only deal with so many migraines.

A loud cough came from outside the door.

The boys. Oops.

"Come on in."

"Are you-"

"I'm fine. So no one else better ask me." Man, it felt good to interrupt someone, for a change.

"Good," Iggy said, smirking, "cause you have visitors,"

I swear that was the magic word, since exactly two seconds later, seven kids and one dog came barreling in. Half of them all claimed spots on the bed, while the others stood around me with big grins on their faces.

"Missed me?" I asked, laughing.

It would be hard to live without flying, but I had my family. And they made it all worth it.

Third Person POV:

First love, now family. Another foreign concept to the boy in the tree.

He sighed.

Pushing back all feelings of guilt, the boy pulled out an old battered cell phone from his pocket.

He hit the number one. And waited.

A gruff voice picked up on the other end.

"Rust?" the boy whispered.

"She woke up."

He listened to the voice on the other line.

"Ok."

"Yes, I know what to do."

"Alright, bye."

Sighing again, the boy closed the phone with a snap.

Glancing back once more through the window at all the smiles and happiness, the boy took off from the tree.

Too occupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice the young girl watching him leave. That would be his first mistake.

Rust (third person) POV:

Rust hung up the phone satisfied. The one perk of the grungy apartment he had been staying in was the free cable and phone service he scrounged up. The two Erasers on his team certainly helped with that. If Erasers were good for anything, it was sweet talking, and he just happened to have the two remaining ones alive.

Two angry Erasers, one spiteful jaguar woman, and one loyal bird kid made up his team. The Rouge. Rust thought it had a nice ring to it.

And every single one of them were determined to bring down that high and mighty little Flock. Well, all of them except the other bird kid. Rust wasn't worried though. While some would call the kid a weak link, Rust saw him as an asset. The perfect spy. Loyalty wasn't an issue, he had saved the kid's life. Those kind of acts stick to a person. Rust had made sure of it.

So Rust was confident. Rust was a lot of things, actually. Cocky, obsessive, arrogant, vindictive, some would say psychotic. A nasty combination for anyone. He was sure that this time, his plan would give him a dead Maximum Ride (something he would stop at nothing to achieve). Third time's the charm after all.

Third time's the charm.

Ok, so opinions? Reviews are loved. Any questions just ask. And, yeah that's about it. I realize the wings thing happens in Book 5 but I honestly came up with this idea before the book came out, and I didn't want to change it. Oh go vote in my poll. "Do you think Max should get her wings back?"