The Key to Life: A Maximum Ride One-shot

"Please Max, can I have that bear?" the little girl pleaded, looking longingly at the bear in the angel dress, on spotlight in the window. "I really want it!"

Max sighed. "Angel, do you really need it?" she asked tiredly.

The girl nodded, her halo of blonde curls bobbing up and down. "I can't live without her!" she said earnestly. "Her name's Celeste!"

"She already has a name?" Max wondered in disbelief. "Angel..." she sighed. The girl looked up at the older one with wide eyes.

"Please Max? I really really need it!"

Max knelt down to Angel's level. "Angel, that bear isn't the key to life. Sure it'll make you happy, but when you're older, and a big girl –"

"Like you?" Angel interrupted.

"Yes, like me. But when you're older, you'll forget all about... Celeste and give it to another little girl to play with." Fang came over to the two girls, and crouched down next to Max, wrapping an arm around Max's shoulder, squeezing it. Max leant her head on his shoulder.

Angel nodded solemnly, giving a smile at Fang. "Max," she began curiously. "What is the key to life?" she questioned.

Max glanced up at Fang smiling, before looking back at Angel's wide, blue eyes.

"Happiness," both young-adults said simultaneously. "Just happiness."

Angel ended up getting the bear either way.

~ l-l /\ P P 1 l\ ~

"This week at school, is career week!" Angel's teacher announced. "Today, the first thing we'll do is find out what you all want to be when you grow up! Tomorrow, Marie's dad will come in. On Tuesday, Andrew's mom'll stop by, Wednesday, Julia's grandfather, Thursday, Peter's father, and Friday, Ariel's foster-mom!" she chirped, and began to walk around, handing four index cards to each pod.

"On these cards, please put your name on one side. On the other side, write what you want to be when you grow up!"

A girl raised her hand. "What if we can't spell it?" she asked shyly.

The teacher smiled. "Then sound it out as best as you can."

Angel grabbed a pencil from the cup in the middle, and wrote, Ariel Walker at the top. Then she flipped it over, and thought about what she wanted to be.

I'd love to be Odette from Swan Lake! she thought, smiling to herself. But after picking up the thoughts of the girls around her, she decided not to. What do I want to be when I grow up? Angel asked herself.

She thought back to the flock, and all they had taught her. Distinctly recalling a certain memory, Angel wrote it down.

Minutes later, their teacher stopped by at each table again, and collected the index cards, as Angel returned the pencil to it's holder.

"Okay!" she cried brightly. "Let's see what you sweeties want to become!" The teacher read the first card on the top of the stack aloud.

"Rachel wants to be a teacher...

"Zach wants to be a doctor...

"Marie wants to be a swimmer...

"Peter wants to be in a band...

"Joshua wants to be a martial arts instructor...

"Ariel wants to be a... a what?" the teacher asked, confused. Angel blink innocently at her teacher.

"Did I spell it wrong?" she wondered, readying a pencil to correct he mistake.

"Ariel, dear, did you mean to put happy? I don't think you understood the assignment," she said gently.

"I don't think you understand life," was her reply.

...

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life."

~John Lennon