Note: Okay, to anyone who's reading this, you're TOTALLY AMAZING!!! Because I just started this account and I'm glad you care enough to read some stupid newbie's first fan fic. So PLEASE read and review, and let me know what I can do better. Oh, and FYI, I'm going to be writing a Chapter Two, so any advice will be helpful!!! :)

Chapter One

The wind blew around me, enveloping me in sleet and snow. My hair whipped around my face, hitting me, stinging my exposed face.

You're not for me.

My fingers were beyond cold with the snow and ice falling from the sky. But I couldn't care less about that right now.

I'm sorry.

I was sitting on my knees, with a hole in my chest where my heart should have been. But it wasn't like it was gone. It was like it had been pulled out with a hideous scar in my skin where it should have been beating and keeping me warm.

It just won't work, okay?

I couldn't believe it. After everything we'd been through, he had left me. Gone away. For nothing more than freedom. Hadn't I done a good job? Hadn't I been a good leader? Did I do something wrong? A new gust of wind sent my hair spinning around again. It made my teeth chatter more, made me shiver more. But I didn't care. Couldn't care. Because my heart was gone.

I didn't want to tell you this.

I hadn't done anything. Couldn't do anything. He'd left me, and he'd left the others. Just to be by himself. Just to be selfish. Just to hurt me.

Maybe fire and ice can coexist, okay? But I'm not fire, and you're not ice.

A gentle tap on my shoulder made me wince. Warmth pierced my skin. I wanted to be alone. Wanted to freeze to death and die slowly, and hope that the same happened to him. I hoped he wouldn't come back for years. And when he did, I would be dead and gone, and he would realize what he had done. And he'd regret it, and have to live with it for the rest of his life.

I have to go.

"Max?" Nudge's soft voice lifted me out of my depression slightly, and I turned to look at her, tears still running down my cheeks, still enveloping me in sadness, still freezing after they left me eyes.

Take care of them, okay?

"Max, are you okay?" A stupid question. How could I be okay? How could I possibly be okay? My heart was gone. My life was gone. I was dying, slowly being cut into thousands of irreplaceable pieces. And he was living it up somewhere warm.

Remember me.

"Max, it's cold out. Come inside," Nudge instructed. I couldn't think, couldn't act. She pulled me to my feet, and I followed her inside numbly. The heating blasted me harder than the cold air had, and suddenly my skin was on fire, feeling heat again.

Never forget what I've done. Bye, Max.

Fang. The only person who I could confront with my fears, could tell him what was wrong, could say "I don't know what to do." And he was gone. He'd left on his own accord. And my mind couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

"Max?" Nudge's voice came through to me, and I looked at her through my sopping, unkempt hair.

That had been a week ago.

And since then, I hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, hadn't done anything but mourn. But my flock needed me, and I knew I couldn't leave them yet.

I looked up at my flock, their worried faces peering at me, concern etched into everyone's faces, even Iggy's. I had let them down. I had shown them that I wasn't as tough as they expected me to be, wasn't as unimaginably strong as they needed me to be. And I would show them that I was.

I took a deep breath and prepared to begin the impossible.

Note: Again, and if you didn't read the note at the beginning, you need to know this: please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!! If you don't, I won't be able to write a second chapter, and I know how annoying that is. I HATE one-chapter stories. And, again, thank you for reading this! I don't expect anyone to, anyway. :):):)