A/N: This is set ten years after Max was kicked out. Everything will be explained later on, but basically, Fang is now the leader of the Flock.

Chapter 1

Nudge's P.O.V.

"We have been flying for hours! Can we please take a break! I am starving!" I whined, giving Fang my best Bambi eyes.

"Fine, it's going to be dark soon anyways. Why don't we land in that clearing over there?" He answered after seeing my face. Fang nodded his head towards what looked like a small

clearing, but it was had to tell because of all the branches shielding it from view. The rest of the flock sighed in relief, and together we leaned forward into a slow dive.

I nearly collapsed as soon as my feet touched the soft grass that covered the clearing like a blanket. My wings ached and my legs were wobbly from not being used for the past, was

eight hours? The only thing that kept me conscious was the prospect of food. Finding a nice spot to settle down for the night, I set my pack down and searched it for any food that might

be hiding in its' depths. Finding nothing I looked around at the rest of the flock, praying that they had come up with something. Seeing that they hadn't, I fixed a pair of accusing eyes on

Fang.

"What?" He exclaimed, seeing me staring at him.

"What do you mean "what"?" I sneered, "We don't have any food, Fang. Whose fault is that?"

"Nudge I may be the leader, but it is not my responsibility to do everything." Fang retorted, clearly unhappy with my tone.

"Yes it is. Max would never have let us starve! She always made sure we were fed." Angel said, smirking at the way Fang winced at the mention of our former leader. Angel is

my best friend and little sister, but sometimes even I find her a little bit terrifying. Now is one of those times.

"Well, in that case, maybe you shouldn't have kicked her out of the Flock." Fang replied sourly.

"Hey! Everyone calm down!" Gazzy yelled. We all looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Let's just focus on the problem at hand; none of us can change what we did ten years ago." Iggy stood up from where he had been lounging on the grass. I sighed, knowing he was

right.

"Yeah, Iggy's right, our main focus right now it to find food." Angel consented, shooting one last glare at Fang.

"I didn't see any towns around here; the only place that has a restaurant is a few miles away." Gazzy pointed out sullenly. Everyone groaned at the prospect of having to fly even

more. "I did see a house only half a mile east though. I was like a mansion! We could maybe break in and take some food and go. I doubt the owners would really care, as long as we

didn't do any damage." Gazzy continued timidly. I saw Iggy and Angel nod their heads, agreeing with this plan. I even caught myself giving a slight nod, even though I'm usually appalled

at the idea of stealing anything. Curse my tired aching body!

"Fine, we can do that, but the must be absolutely NO damage done to the house and the only thing we'll take is food." Fang decided. We left our packs in the clearing, and took to the

air.

"There it is!" Total exclaimed, pointing a paw in the direction of the most beautiful house I had ever laid eyes on. I wasn't too big, but still big enough to be considered a mansion in my

book. It was white with black shutters, there was a porch coming off the back, it was two stories but I bet there was also a basement. There was a dirt driveway that became paved

halfway to the house leading up to double garage doors. The lawn that surrounded the house was manicured and there was a swing set in the back and a basketball hoop in the

driveway.

We landed silently in the front yard after doing a quick check to make sure that all the lights were off. It was probably somewhere around midnight by now, so everyone was most likely

sound asleep in bed; something I wished I was doing.

"Okay, let's make this quick, and be a silent as possible." Fang said, looking pointedly at me.

"When am I ever not quiet?" I questioned, smiling sweetly up at him. I may be six feet now, but Fang still beat me by at least seven inches. Iggy walked up the steps to the front

door, took out his lock picking kit and set to work. Don't ask me how he knows where everything is, he just does. It took him eighteen seconds to open the door and reveal three choices

on which way to go. To our left was the dinning room, to our right was a small den and straight in front of us was a short hallway. I couldn't tell where the hallway led because it was too

dark, even for my wonderful vision.

We silently decided to see if the dinning room led to anywhere, and were rewarded when it opened up into the kitchen. Glancing around I saw that this was where the hallway lead,

along with a giant living room with what must've been a twenty foot Christmas tree. I glanced at the flock and realized that all of our faces wore looks of awe. I looked around some more

and saw a door leading to the porch and, past the tree, stairs leading upstairs. Looking up I saw a railing that ran along what must be one side of a hallway. Just as it was outside all the

walls were white. Looking around the kitchen itself I saw a state of the art stove along with wooded cabinets and granite countertops. The fridge itself was massive (ooh, big word) it

looked like it could hold enough food for the whole flock for a week!

Fang motioned towards the fridge, showing that we needed to get a move on. I sullenly agreed, wishing that we could stay here forever. I swiftly moved to the fridge and had my

hand on the handle before I noticed something that rooted me to the spot. I was unable to move until Fang came over to see what was wrong. Then I slowly removed a picture from the

fridge, the picture that had made me freeze. The rest of the flock came over to see what I was looking at.

In my hands I held a very old, very beat up picture of the flock. It was a picture that Jeb had taken of us years ago, when we first escaped from the school.

Everyone gasped. We all knew that there had only been one copy of this picture. We all knew who had it. Looking at it I couldn't help but remember our first real leader, our best

leader. The person who had taken care of all of us, the person who had been there for us through thick and thin; the only person who could (in my mind at least) possibly have this

picture and the leader we kicked out ten years ago. Looking at this picture I couldn't help but remember Max.

A/N: I know the Christmas tree is kinda random, but I've been listening to a lot of Christmas songs lately so...I hope you liked it! R&R.