This story is basically me uprooting a bunch of characters from other fandoms and shoving them into Innocence while laughing manically at their misery.

Admittedly, there were a lot of other stories that inspired this one, but I forget most of them really. One was a Bleach/Harry Potter crossover, I think? Like, Harry Potter as Karin's Zanpakto? Just, imagine all of the characters like Zanpakto. Only the wielders can communicate with them and that depends on their synchronization rate.

I don't own D. Gray Man or Maximum Ride.


Maximum Ride was not a happy bird-kid.

For one, she was dead, which was never a good thing.

For another, her flock was nowhere to be found.

She had been plucked from the endless void of what she assumed was purgatory and gifted to a little girl, around Angel's age, in the form of a pair of boots.

(Max wanted to point out that she was a good person, usually. How did beating up bad guys and striving to save the world translate to spending The-Voice-Knows-How-Long in Purgatory and a lifetime of babysitting?)

Of course, Max, being a genetically alternated bird-kid that enjoyed her freedom thank you very much, convinced her 'wielder' to escape the facility like a sensible child.

She had experience with scientists that liked to play with the lives of children in the past. Like H-E-double hockey sticks was she going to allow herself to be dictated by their whims ever again.

Having her adolescent wielder strapped to a bed after her latest escape attempt and subsequent mental break down only succeeded in pissing off the former experiment.

"Just fly away," Max gritted out, perched on the end of the bed, watching as her wielder thrashed desperately for even a hint of freedom. "You have your wings. So why can't you just fly away?"

"I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't," her wielder shrieked, slamming her head against her thin pillow with each word.

"Get up and fly away!" Max screeched. Her wings flared out behind her angrily, feathers falling as they slipped free. She hated her wings now more than ever before. They were patchy and she could see angry red wrinkly skin peeking out from between the remaining feathers.

They looked old, disused, as if she were a pet, locked away in a cage without a chance of freedom.

There was no way she could fly, not now. What use were wings if not to fly away?

She wasn't weak, not anymore. She hadn't been weak in a long time. She wasn't that little girl anymore, stuck in a dog crate and dreaming of the open sky. So, why was she trapped again, after all she's done for others far more fortunate than her?

She wasn't that little girl, but here she was, chained to the ground once more.

Max spent all of her extra time screaming at her wielder, practically begging the girl to get free, to take to the skies. She needed to find her flock, her family. She needed to feel the wind caress her as she embraced her freedom.

She was trapped like a rat in a maze – after everything, why again?

Max watched with dead eyes as nurses flooded the cold, white, empty room, trying to calm her wielder. She was not anyone's obedient toy. They were not anyone's obedient toy.

She felt a deep, burning hatred consume her as a nurse injected her wielder, forcing the hybrid to watch her only form of communication fall unconscious. They carefully released her hands from their bindings, taking the time to wrap her wrists in gauze.

No one could see her, no one could hear her. They went about their business as if she wasn't even there.

Did she truly exist?

As Max ruminated on her new 'life', a man entered the room while the nurses politely filling out.

"Leave us alone!" she roared, catching sight of the stranger. "You damn whitecoat! I hate you all!" She felt like a petulant child, banging angrily at the bars of her cage as the scientists dragged each member of her precious, too-small family away for lots of painful experiments. She hated it.

The man faltered, his eyes hovering around her form uncertainly. Max's breathe hitched in alarm. She watched him with wide-eyes as he scanned the bed, his eyes softening on her wielder.

Hesitantly, Max reached out as the man stepped closer to the little girl. Her fingers gently brushed his skin before sinking into his flesh just like any other human she tried to touch since waking up.

It wasn't much, but it was more than she felt from anyone other than her wielder.

The man obviously felt it too. He froze, staring down at his hand in awe. His eyes slowly lifted and arched up perfectly to land on her form. His stare was a little low, but Max forgave him.

She had been tall for her age when she died.

"Innocence?" the man asked, addressing her invisible form. "Are you…her Innocence?"

Max, still very angry with her new life, beat her malformed wings. A light breeze rustled the man's long hair and an apologetic smile formed on his lips.

"I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, Innocence," the man began, stepping closer to her wielder. She observed him warily, then decided not to stop him. Not that she could, annoyingly enough. Max hated being defenseless. "Can you protect my precious little sister? I would beg God to spare her his war, but he has denied me. Please, Innocence, she's all I have left."

The man rested his fingers on the back of her wielder's hand reverently, as if afraid she would disappear. The child shifted, edging closer to the man even in her sleep. He smiled down at her, a hand reaching out to caress her hair.

His smile was brittle and full of fear. Fear for the child who was now a soldier of God.

Max sighed, painfully aware of how broken her wings were. She was grounded because of this child.

She was going soft, she just knew it. If Fang were here, he would talk sense to her. Say something about how she can't save everyone.

"Big Brother," her wielder exhaled, her eyes cracking open. Her voice was rough from sleep and all of her screaming. Her eyes latched onto the man, disbelief and heartbreaking hope cutting through her usually dead stare.

"I'm home," he greeted. "From now on, this will be my home." He lowered himself to sit beside her bed, close enough so that the child could grab his sleeve. Max understood her desperation. She needed proof that he was real, that it wasn't a twisted dream come to haunt her at her weakest.

"Big Brother!" her wielder sobbed, her knuckles white around the sleeve. She didn't try to hide her tear-streaked face, overjoyed at the presence of her brother.

"I'm home," he repeated calmly.

And, for the first time, Max saw her wielder as someone to protect rather than the iron chains holding her down.


Max never gave the God she never believed in for binding her to an earth-bound creature who would never understand true flight.

She never forgave God for taking away her family, the only people she loved in the world.

But, she forgave the girl. She forgave and strived to protect her, like she had protected her own family.

She would make sure her wielder survived to see the brother that loved her so much. She would make sure one family, just this one, stayed together.

For returning her wings to her, healthy and full, Max would be their Guardian Angel.

At least, until she could finally rest with her Flock once more.

In the meantime, the Exorcists and scientist would be her family.

And no one, no one, was allowed to hurt her family. Ever.


This story has been bouncing around my head for a while. And, since it won the random Which-Idea-Do-I Write-This-Month lottery, I decided to choose it over my multitude of other story ideas. It's not like I already have half a dozen stories going on already or anything.

I need to stop this. It's starting to become a problem…oh well.

I haven't really been a part of the Maximum Ride fandom for a while now. So, this will only take the first three books into consideration and ignore the rest with a vengeful rage.

Lenalee's synchronization isn't the highest at the moment, so she can only hear Max, not actually see her. Komui can't see or hear her, but due to the theory of genetics, he is aware of her presence. Which is more than most people.

Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't be pissed off if you were taken from your family and given to a child, reduced to practically no strength and forced to communicate through the same child. Max has never relied on anyone (except maybe Jeb and Fang, but she knows them), and now her entire existence lies in the hands of a child. It's kinda fucked up.

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for other Innocence feel free to suggest them. I have some ideas myself, but second opinions are always welcome.

I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter.