A/N : YAY! First Story! I've been browsing around Fan Fiction for ages, yet I can't seem to find any stories that deal with the past - and I mean the ancient past - of Maximum Ride. So, I made one of my own. Just remember, that evil depends on your point of view. Hitler didn't go out and think "I've got to be evil, make everyone hate me, mwa ha ha ha!" - he thought that he was doing the right thing. Anyway, onto the story!

Disclaimer: No matter what you or anyone else thinks, I owneth not the characters used in this story (if you can guess who they are!). James Patterson does.

PROLOGUE: DREAM OF PEACE

Peace. Such a small little word. Such colossal implications.

She stood silently atop the rocks, swaying smoothly in the breeze. The cold, autumn wind flowed softly across the mountain tops, whooshing through the valleys and caressing her gentle, loving young face. Sunlight breaking through the clouds alighted upon her, dancing in her hair, seemingly spun of gold. The peace of the moment was wonderful. To whoever looked on, it would seem as if there truly was nothing to worry about, nothing to plague the mind with doubts – which made this scene all the more amazing.

Like a mask, her face encouraged this myth. Be she be in public or on her own, it was the only thing that anyone ever saw of her, as she strove to lose the sense of loss. Her eyes, steel-grey and hard as agates, gazed out of her skull, a fury burning inside of them. She gazed out across the pure mountains, her refuge from the horror that had descended upon her, gazed out towards the fields of battle, over the rising smoke, so distant that it barely made an impression on the horizon. Though she could not see them, she knew the armies of the dead that waited, crying out in despair.

A single tear trickled down her face, a droplet of water shattering her impeccable façade. Filled with grief overwhelming, with a sadness so deep and heart wrenching, the dam could not take any more; finally, it burst. Only here, in her secret refuge, hidden away from the world, could she acknowledge the pain. Her face twisted with anger and despair, warped by her loss. The mask that she could not remove was cracked by the torrent.

The cold wind grew stronger, threatening to tear her off of the precipice upon which she stood and hurl her down upon the stone daggers that waited below. Oh, how she wished for that, wished that she could make that escape, and leave this life of cold, hard bitterness behind. How she longed for an end to this pain, this complete and utter desolation.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, her wracking sobs subsided. Wrapping herself in her arms, she blocked out the pain, shut it away within the vaults of her mind. She repaired the mask, healed until the crack was barely noticeable. Once again, she covered her face with it, finally feeling the false sense of peace once more.

Peace. There was none of it left in this world. War gripped the nations, as the young battled for elderly Governments, seeking naught but control. Countless thousands died every day. It was a War that nobody could win. How she wished she could stop it.

But she was only one young girl, lost in the midst of a world at war. Peace was something that couldn't be accomplished by the greatest minds in the world – surely she couldn't do anything. Only in her wildest dreams did she even consider that maybe, somehow she would be able to stop it. But she knew that they were only dreams, dreams that would never, could never happen.

She glanced over the edge, to the drop below. Below her, floating on their feathers, a family of hawks soared effortlessly on the wind. The amazing birds did not fight one another, didn't war. They didn't attempt to kill their comrades simply because of disagreements. They were everything that humans were not.

It filled her with a sense of longing, as she wished that she could be with them. Horrid humanity, she felt, had no place for her. Full of wars, death and injustice, she yearned to simply escape. To join herself with these better beings, who did not suffer from the cravings and desires of humanity.

She sighed. Nothing here could she take for granted. But she could still dream. Dream for a better time, a better place, when humanity was more like these wondrous birds. Dream that there would one day be peace.

Stepping away from the edge, she carefully began her trek back. Veiled with a mask of hope, and carrying the seed of a dream, she calmly turned and began the descent to the aftermath in the broken and scarred town of Lendeheim, where her dead awaited her.

A/N : And that is the end of that! Hope you enjoyed it - hopefully it can only get better. Don't forget to review! Yes, it is based (loosely) on Maximum Ride