The first time she who had no name took the blind boy's hand, it was through the bars of a cage, he on the outside, she within the cool metal bars. He'd smiled at her, as none of the doctors or scientists ever smile, a quirky grin that had her blinking, staring blankly. His eyes had been glassy, and she had known instinctively that, though he couldn't see her, his attention was still focused on her completely.

"You'll be ok now," He'd whispered, and then he'd turned to look over his shoulder, shouting in a way that had her shying back a bit.

"Max! Yo, Max, get over here! I found somebody!" He'd turned his attention back to her then, slipping a hand through the bars as though he could see them. Though she would never know why, she cautiously reached out, placing her hand in his. He smiled again, nodding a bit, and his fingers wrapped around hers, hard and warm and real.

There'd been a new face then, a female face, one full of impatience and violence. These emotions she understood, much more than the strange smile on the blind boy's face. But just because she understood them didn't mean she trusted them. Her pulse spiked at the glare in the girl's eyes, and automatically her wings spread, wrapping around her to shield her.

She watched the girl-Max-freeze at this, and those hard eyes went wide with what she who had no name thought might be shock. "She's like us…Iggy, she's like us. She has wings. Open the cage." She almost asked how a blind man was to open a locked cage, but held her tongue, retreating deep into the shadows of the cage.

Who were these people, these strange people who had come to her prison? She feared, and feared deeply, that at any moment the guards, the doctors and scientists would come racing in and stop them from opening the cage. So very, very afraid that they would punish her for this, for this rebellion she had no true part in.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the moment one of the guards' cruel, hard faces came into view, sneering at her, pressing the button that would have the collar around her neck shooting electricity through her body. But instead of that, she heard a faint creaking sound, and footsteps approaching closer than she'd ever heard them.

"Hey now, it's all right. We won't hurt you." It was the blind boy's voice, and she jolted a bit when she felt his hand on her shoulder. But it wasn't a hurtful touch. No, it was…she didn't have a word for it, for it was something she had never felt before in the fifteen years and three months that she had been alive.

"Grab her and let's go!" The girl's rough voice shouted from somewhere else in the room, and she winced, ducking her head a bit at the harsh tone.

"Don't mind Max. She's always yelling about something. Come on now, come with me. I'm not going to hurt you." Once again he held out a hand, and once again she took it, reveling in the feel of warm, strong fingers around her own cool flesh.

"Come on, man, get a move on!" This was from a young boy who ran by, his wings outstretched, and Iggy-for that's what she believed the girl had called him before-smiled again, squeezing her hand.

"Let's blow this joint, huh?" Without giving her a chance to reply-not that she'd planned to disagree with him, he pulled her out of the cage, and she stared in shock at the fallen guards who lay unconscious around the room, and the shattered glass in one of the windows.

When she saw the others-and besides Iggy and Max there were three more young people-leaping out the window, spreading their wings and taking flight, her steps faltered, uncertainty flashing through her eyes. As though understanding, Iggy squeezed her hand again.

"Don't worry. I won't let you fall. Just fly." Swallowing hard, she nodded, and he helped her up onto the window sill. He climbed up beside her, his hand still linked with hers.

"On the count of three," He said, but when they heard a door slam open he laughed, pushed off the window.

"Three!" He shouted, and she had a moment of fear as she felt herself free falling through the air off the top of a ten story building. But then her wings caught the air, and she soared up, with him right below her, flying upside down, his hand still holding hers.

He laughed triumphantly, his blind eyes gleaming bright. "You did it! Good job. Let's keep up now. Max is on a roll." He fell silent then, letting go of her hand and shifting to fly beside her. They picked up speed, and she savored the feeling of wind beneath her wings. So different from the small enclosures where she'd been allowed to fly before, such an improvement from the huge wind tunnels they'd made her fly in to test her speed and stamina.

From time to time Iggy glanced over at her, a slight grin on his face. Had he been able to see her, he would have seen a small, delicately built creature who would've looked fragile but for the rolling muscles in her arms and back, but for the huge wings on her back. She had a heart shaped face dominated by big moss green eyes, and auburn hair that gleamed red in the sun. But just now, in the near-dark of twilight, it was her eyes that gleamed, beacons in the night as she stared at everything around her.

She didn't know how long they were in the air. Only that, when they finally landed, at the base of a mountain where several caves dotted the landscape, her whole body ached and her eyes drooped. And when her feet hit the ground, she might have tripped but for Iggy's steadying hand on her shoulder.

He smiled down at her in the moonlight, wrapping a friendly arm around her. "So tell me, what's your name?"

And she stared up at him for a long moment, before, in a soft voice that wasn't used to being used at all, she whispered, "I don't know."