Maximum Ride is property of James Patterson. Kisha, Chris, and Deveann are property of me. Kumali is property of Jwan (AKA Fourth in Command Cixalea Jwan).

If you have Read "A Blessing in Disguise" you know who Kisha is and how much she hates Fang. Well, this idea of Fang and Kisha being really close has been bugging me for the past few weeks and I decided to get it out of my head and write it. I don't plan on making this a oneshot but if no one reviews I'll just take it down. There are three main couples Fax, Kevin, and Kimmy. I don't really go too much into any of them until later chapters. Thank you. Please review.

Fang's POV

I stood in front of the mirror for the second hour in a row. My hair was almost perfectly gelled. I pulled a brush through my multi-coloured hair in front of my right eye. I almost yelled "Perfect!" when the sight of my sister having woken up distracted me. She, too, was doing her hair, only her hair was a different kind of multi-coloured than my own. Her long, shiny hair was a jet black with blue streaks found through out. My black hair was always completely perfect, if not, it wouldn't be mine. Browns, tans, and greys dyed the bit of hair hanging over my right eye. Another difference between my sister and me is the fact that my hair is naturally black, not multi-coloured. Kisha, my sister, was born with black and blue hair. Bit of a shocker for Mom.

As I watched my sister pose in front of the mirror I kept my sniggers flocked in my throat. She was thinking of ways to put her hair up as she looked thoughtfully at her underwear clad reflection. I turned back to my own doppelganger, flashing a smile that the girls at the local hang out would die to see.

There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I was sexiest boy in the village. It was neither surprise to me, nor most that knew me, that my twin sister was equally so if not more. Guys flocked around her when she was alone. She doesn't really like guys, though. She's a… um… dominant girl, very independent. She's made it clear that if a boy wants her as their trophy girl, they'd better be ready to be walked all over. And after fourteen long years it seems that she's finally found the perfect doormat.

Too bad I hate him.

Anyway, at this point Kisha came over and kissed me on the cheek, messing up my hair. I frowned but when I looked at it, it looked good. Spiky. "Love you, bro," Kisha said, walking off to get dressed.

"You, too, sis," I waved as I, too, went to dress.

Having lived alone together for all of seven years, we were used to the two of us being alone together and the fact that we wandered around without clothes on in the morning really didn't bother us anymore. In the last two years I have learned that when Kisha is on her period, I might need to do extra laundry and that laundry might be red and sticky, not to mention the prospect of waking up to an angry scream at the bed. I have also learned that after coming out of the shower she's been known to sleep topless, bottomless, or both and it's best to knock before going into her room.

In return, Kisha has learned that I will occasionally have my friends – okay, friend – over and I don't like her to be in my room with us because she is an embarrassing sister and if she keeps coming in, she'll become friends with my friend and then Max wont come over anymore. They'll make plans to go shopping in the next town over and sooner or later Max will just completely forget about me. And I, being the sexiest guy in the village and certainly one of the most intelligent, - though, my logic may be a bit demented - am not willing to give up after having been friends with Max for eight years and having courted her for four years.

I slipped a jacket on and flew down the stairs just as the bell rang. As I knew it would I rechecked my hair in the mirror by the door. I smiled at my reflection. Perfect, as usual. Then I opened the door and leaned in the doorway casually.

Max rolled her eyes at me. "You're an idiot, Fang," She laughed, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the house.

I recognized the path that she took me down. It was the path to school. Well, it used to be a school, anyway. Now it was just the local hang out. There are no adults in our village, you see. It's a village full of runaways and orphans. Mostly orphans, I just had to add runaway for my sister and me. We ran away from home because we didn't like living with our older brother Chris. In fact, we couldn't stand him at all. Mom was great and all... but it was us or Chris, and we could handle ourselves, so... we ran.

On the way there, the girls jumped up and down and waved. Some less shy girls would come straight up to me, batting their eyelashes and trying to make plans to go out sometime. I always had to turn them down. I was always so busy. Well, I mean, I didn't actually know which exact times I would be free or not but I always assumed I would be busy. What if an emergency came up? What if Kisha needed my help? What if I had to repair something? What if Deveann and I got in a fight and one of us was hospitalized? But mostly my reasons were, what if I want to hang out with Max instead? Max was never busy, we could always hang out, no matter what. Why even bother with the other girls with agendas and plans?

We came around to the side of the school. "Close your eyes," Max whispered to me. I did as she said to, following her tug on my hand, urging me to keep walking forward. When we turned the corner, as I knew we would, we only walked a few paces before she stopped. "Okay, now, look," She said. I opened my eyes to see the second most beautiful thing in the world.

A truck full of jars of hair gel.

"You won the sweepstakes," I said, in awe.

"I won the sweepstakes," She repeated.
I turned to her, taking it all in. "You won the sweepstakes!"

She nodded eagerly, her smile growing, "I won the sweepstakes!"

"Oh my gosh, Max!" I gave her a hug that would have crushed any of the other girls' bones, lifting her up off the ground. She giggled excitedly, "You won the SWEEPSTAKES!" I set her down and picked up one of the jars, twirling it on my finger like a top. "Do you understand how awesome this is?! This is like, ten thousand jars!"
"One thousand, Fang," She corrected.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. It will last me, like-" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kisha walking with Deveann and Kumali, laughing in Deveann's direction. The jar slipped off my finger with a loud shatter.

"Fang?!" Max looked concerned by my sudden attitude change. I picked another jar from the bunch and chucked it at Deveann.

It smashed just at is feet in front of him. "Missed me!" He shouted. Kisha smacked him in the head, earning a snicker of satisfaction from me.

Kisha shot me a glare, making me shrink back a little. "You're cleaning this up!" I nodded sheepishly until she, Kumali, and Deveann walked off. I really had no intention of doing any such thing.

Max put a hand on my cheek and made me face her. "What were you saying about how long it'll last?"

"Oh yeah!" I cried, completely losing track of my earlier conversation. "It'll last, like, five months!" I motioned at the stacks.

She laughed, making my cheeks heat and my heart flutter, "They're supposed to last a lifetime."

"Well, they don't know me, now do they?" I winked at her and she punched me in the arm. "So, how're we gonna get this to my house?"

Max sighed, "You be thankful to him, okay?" She said.

"Wha-?" As I looked up I saw a disgruntled Deveann walking towards us. "Oh, come on, Max!"

She looked away from me, "He's the only kid in the village that knows how to drive..."

I ran a hand through my hair. "Alright, whatever, it's just a car ride." I went around the passenger side and opened the door for Max to get in before me. Deveann got in on the driver side and, as usual, one of our female relatives was the only person stopping us from ripping each other apart. Max was Deveann's younger cousin. Deveann was one of the oldest people in the village at the age of fifteen. He was one of the ones that knew a fairly good home apart from this one. His mother died giving birth to him, though. So when his father died in a car accident, he came here to live with Max.

Max nudged me, about half way through the car ride, not that the ride was long, only ten or so minutes. "Did you do something with your hair today?" She asked. One thing I liked about Max was that even though I could tell she was just trying to lighten up the atmosphere, she knew just the right subjects to get me talking.

I smirked, "Yeah, Kisha messed it up this morning but I figured it looked good anyway. I mean, it is on me, isn't it?"
Max elbowed me, "You're so full of yourself! But seriously, I like it, it looks good."
"Really?" She nodded. "Well, let's take a picture of it! That way I can recreate it anytime I feel like it, eh?"

"Sounds like a great idea." Max agreed. We got out of the truck when we got to my house and I ran inside finding the camera in it's usual place by my couch where I slept. When I arrived with the camera, Max grabbed one side and I grabbed the other. We smiled like the fools we were, Deveann, still in the truck, was frowning in the picture. I came up with a plan just after the flash and I snaked one arm around Max's waist pulling her side up against my own and kissing her on the cheek just as I took another photo. This time Deveann was rolling his eyes.

Max didn't mind me kissing her on the cheek. We'd been friends forever and had connections. Lines have been drawn and, so far, remain uncrossed.

Those two pictures were the last ones I ever found of Max and me smiling so earnestly. Because after that, everything changed.

Max and I went inside to find something to do. Most of the time we just sat and talked on my couch. "It's so boring, here!" I shouted.

"Yeah..." She murmured, "Let's leave."

I blinked in astonishment, "What?"

She shrugged, "Let's leave... I mean, it's not like we don't have the resources..." My head bobbed along to the plan.

"But... uh..." Max looked hesitantly at me out of the corners of her eyes. I knew it was because of my uncharacteristic stuttering. "J-just you and me... or..."

Her face flushed scarlet, "Uh, no! I... meant your sister and... you know, the whole gang."

"The whole gang?" I questioned.

She punched me in the arm, "Yes, Deveann, too! What is your deal with him?! Kisha likes him fine, why can't you?"

I rubbed my arm, giving her a sour look, "Because... he doesn't... need hair gel..."

She burst into laughter, doubling over on my floor. I turned so she wouldn't see my embarrassed blush. "Look, his hair defies gravity! It's insane, he doesn't brush it, he doesn't put gel in it, he doesn't do anything and it's still the same spiky mess the next day as it had been the day before!"

She patted my on the shoulder with sympathy, "If it's any consolation, I like your hair better," She giggled.

I shrugged her hand off, "Max! This is serious! A man is nothing without his gorgeous hair!"

She sighed, "I know, I know. You've told me before. Your hair's fine, Fang. Now, let's get packing."

"Hm?" I muttered, having lost track of whatever we'd been talking about beforehand.

"We're leaving tomorrow, right? We need to pack."

"Oh! Yeah, let's!" We grabbed a backpack I unburied from the black abyss I used to call a closet and started to put random things in there, not really planning on leaving, just in case we wanted to later on. We packed my camera, a flashlight, some books we wrote in, some books we wrote, some CD's we recorded and nine bottles of soda.

"Hey, Max. Isn't it a little late for you to be here?" Kisha had just arrived home from a day of swimming in the lake with Kumali and Nudge.

Oh, I haven't introduced to the group yet, have I? Well, long before I moved here I was friends with Max. A little while after I moved here, two new kids showed up. They'd been left for dead on the side of the road, they were only infants. One a new born, the other only two years old. Max volunteered to take care of the two. She named them Angel, and Gazzy. As Gazzy grew up he developed an attachment to one of the other kids at the village. A blind solitary boy named Iggy. Iggy lived with his half-sister, Nudge. It was a tradition for Max, the group, and I to hang out together every Friday and Saturday. Every other day it was just the two of us. Either way, I was content.

Max took a look at the clock on the wall. "Oh my gosh! It's eleven!" She cried. "Deveann must be so worried-"

Kisha laughed, ceasing Max's rant. "Don't worry about it! I already told Deveann you were probably here. You can stay the night if you like."

"Really? Thanks, Kisha!" Max let out a relieved sigh. "What's wrong?" She asked me, seeing my glare directed at Kisha.

"You said you were swimming with Kumali and Nudge..." I said through gritted teeth.

Kisha stomped a foot and placed her hands on her hips, looking absolutely murderous, "I can't believe you, Fang! So what if Deveann and a few others join in? Kumali, Nudge, and I don't own the lake!" She cried incredulously.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed."

Kisha smirked triumphantly at me before twisting on her toe and marching into her room. "Don't you mean couch?" My ear twitched as her last words escaped from behind her mahogany door.

I bit my lip to keep from shouting back at her, it wouldn't matter. She always won our fights. Kisha wasn't always easy to get along with and she didn't have a very inviting atmosphere. She may not think of herself as superior like I do, but she frankly points out those she evaluates to be inferior to average. Even so, she was the leader, like Max only a little different. Max was leader because she was loving and motherly. Kisha was leader because she was well-qualified and hey, she was good at it. So, as second to both of the two - I am Kisha's second in command - I had to admit defeat when defeat was earned.

I readjusted my large squishy pillow and grabbed my comforter, looking at Max expectantly. "It's too bad all you want to do is sleep, when you and Kisha fight," Max said solemnly crawling onto the couch next to me. "It really is so early to be going to sleep," She grumbled, shifting about until she was comfortable.

"If you don't want to go to sleep yet, I'll go to sleep and you can go to sleep on the floor whenever you feel like it." She glared at me.

"Boy, I am so in the position to rip you in half starting with the spine, don't mess with me."

"Well, don't complain so much. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, so just go to sleep, kay?" Max and I weren't uncomfortable sleeping on the couch like this. When we were about ten, before Deveann moved in, Max used to get nightmares all the time. Everytime she had a nightmare she'd sneak into the house and crawl onto the couch next to me. She still does that sometimes, when the nightmare's really bad. I never blamed her or made fun of her for it, it wasn't as though I hadn't done the same, crawling into Kisha's bed when I was scared. Another thing I loved about Max, there was virtually no situation you could put us in and make us uncomfortable, we didn't mind being close. Especially since I knew her secret.

Her wings.

I had them, too. In fact, we all did. Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, Max, Kisha, Kumali, even Deveann. We had wings. Mine were black that shined purple in the moonlight and were approximately thirteen feet in length. Kisha's were the same only they shone midnight blue in the moonlight and were slightly larger with a wingspan of thirteen feet and eight inches. Max's wings were a mixture of brown and white, starting at brown where "elbow" was and gradually becoming tan and white at the tips. They were almost as large as mine, being twelve feet across. Deveann's were an extremely boring brown. I've described them before as a "children's colouring book tree trunk" brown. Kisha, she's always taking that idiot's side, says that they are a "rich blend of mahogany, ocher, auburn, and russet with flecks of black." How in the world she might know so much about the colour of his wings (or different shades of brown) I will never understand. She has also notified me of his superior wingspan, a whopping (rolls eyes) fourteen feet across. Iggy's wings were like his hair (as it is for most of us but he more than most), buttery yellow on the contour wings with flecks of red littering the tips of the contour feathers, the rest of his feathers were a mixture of off white and beige. Iggy, being the giant that he is, also had fourteen foot wingspan. Kumali's wings were easily pointed out among our group as they were upside down ad backwards. Other than that, they were a beautiful, bright, ochre and twelve feet and nine inches (that was a heck of a pain to measure). Nudge's wings were a tawny orange-y brown. Her wings had a wingspan of eleven feet, not far behind the rest of us. Gazzy and Angel's wings were both a bright, almost blinding white. Gazzy's wings measured out at nine feet and Angel's were six feet. We're expecting the two of them to have a major growth spurt and beat Iggy at his own game.

I stroked Max's soft hair and adjusted a bit so that her head and shoulder were in my hands instead of her back, as her arms were wrapped around my torso, clutching the fabric of my shirt. "Goodnight, Max," I murmured into her ear, mostly as an excuse to feel her skin against my lips.

"Great night, Fang," She said her usual and sighed before we both drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by Max's mumbling in her sleep. "The princess... save the..." She twitched with annoyance. I chuckled softly.

"Wake up, Max," I said, her eyes fluttered open slowly. "You were having a... frustrating dream... about a princess," I informed he.

She nodded, "I hate that one..." She sat up and went to my dresser to find an outfit. Kisha had been kind enough to leave a pair of her underwear on top of my dresser so Max wouldn't have to ask.

"I'll go make breakfast, it should be ready in a few minutes, kay?" I said, as I went downstairs.

"Thanks! Kay!" She replied. I hurried downstairs and saw that Kisha was standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

I opened my mouth to greet her but she cut me off. "I'm going out with Kumali and Deveann, I left out two bowls, cereal, and some milk for you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, not that that narrows it down much. Have fun. Love you," She kissed me on the head and flew out the front door. Not literally, none of us knew how to fly. We were too afraid that if we tried, someone would see us. It was a hassle just to measure our wings. Max was right, the sooner we get out of here the better. We can't make any progress in our lives from this heck hole. I wondered if Kisha, Kumali, and Deveann were thinking the same thing...

I shrugged, walking in the kitchen to make some breakfast. It consisted of coke and Reese's Puffs. Max stumbled downstairs in my grey cargoes, black spiderman tee, and grey jacket. "Ooh! I love this stuff!" She exclaimed, putting down the backpack down on the counter and siting on the stool next to mine. She dug in faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

"Help yourself," I mumbled. She responded with a curt punch in the arm, which (if you haven't already figured this out) she did often.

"So... when do you want to leave?" She asked, her tone became noticeably more serious every time she said it.

I sighed, actually thinking it over this time. "This afternoon, two in the afternoon, how's it sound?"

She smirked, "Wonderful, seeing as that's only an hour away." I glanced up at the clock with a defeated whine, she was right. We were such late sleepers. "Come on, we'll meet at Ig's." As always. On the way to Iggy's house we picked up Gazzy and Angel who were playing chicken and kept running into each other. Max laughed, told them to cut it out, picked up Angel, and off we went. It was roughly one thirty by the time we got to Iggy's house, which meant we only had enough time to explain, and get out.

"Okay, guys!" I clapped my hands twice, signaling for them to give Max their undivided attention. I sat as well, trying to seem intrigued, which is harder than one would think.

"We're leaving!" She said proudly, "Today, in a few minutes. Get yer valuables, we are leaving this dump! Forever! There's got to be a better life than this for nine mutants!"

"Nine?" Iggy interrupted.

Nudge nodded, "There are six of us."

Max giggled nervously, "Well, the others are coming with. Deveann, Kisha, and Kumali."

They all looked at me in unison, "Deveann?"

I moaned, "Yes! Yes! Deveann, too!"

They shrugged and focused on Max once more. "Okay, Ig, Nudge, you got ten minutes, get what you need and get back!"

Ten minuted passed and Iggy stood at the door with the rest of us, an MP3 player that he and I fixed up in one hand, a pair of boxers in the other. Nudge ran and nearly bumped into Iggy, holding a backpack that was filled with only goodness knows what. I clapped twice again and we left. But what awaited us on the other side of that door wasn't what we were expecting. Houses on the opposite side of the street were burning. Kids were screaming, everything was absolute anarchy, but what got me, was the nine tall figures standing in the middle of the street. One of them turned around revealing pearly white fangs and shaggy fur everywhere. "Sis! So great to meet you!" And then they all charged at us.

Now you're expecting a fight scene, right? Well, I only wish. You see, at this point in time, we don't know how to fly, we don't really know how to fight, we don't even know who the people coming after us are! Sad, huh? So... we ran. And what happened? Well, they chased us, and to put it frankly, they caught us. All of us.

The leader spoke into a headset, naming us off over and over, nodding and repeating what had happened over and over. I struggled against the furry arms, binding me to my attacker. "I'll kill you!" I screamed but he only laughed.

Another one came up in front of me, "I wouldn't do that kid..." He hissed, in his arms were Kisha, sitting still, completely calm. Until she saw me and the rest of the group. Suddenly her eyes burned an angry, passionate red. "Change in plan guys!" She shouted over her shoulder, no doubt to Kumali and Deveann.

The leader looked at her suspiciously, "Alright! Let's go!" Our attackers unfurled their own wings, preparing to take off. Just then, I saw a flash from Kisha's hand and a loud, low cry made me do a double take. Not only were Kisha's eyes red, now, but so was her whole outfit, drenched in the blood of the man that had been restraining her. He now lay, torn, on the ground at her feet. She clutched a dagger tightly in her fist and slashed at the two behind her, carrying Kumali and Deveann. "GO! GO! GO!" The leader shouted. We began to rise into the air.

As helpless as I felt, I couldn't repel the scream welling up inside me, "Kisha!" I hollered, "Kisha, save me! Please! Help!" Her eyes grew wide with horror the higher I got.

"No!" She cried out.

"Max!" Deveann's voice broke with emotion, it almost made me hate him less. It was then that I realized, Kisha didn't know how to fly either. She couldn't save me, she couldn't save any of us.

All my life, I had relied on Kisha when I was scared and didn't know what to do. Max leaned on me, I never could find a logical reason to come to her for comfort, she needed me more than I could ever ask her to give me. I scanned my rapidly ascending surroundings, Max was being held by the leader, just behind me, I could faintly hear Iggy say something rude to the guy holding him, but other than that, their loud wings made it impossible to know where everyone else was. "Knock 'em out!" The leader called. I barely had enough time to understand the order before I drifted into involuntary unconsciousness.

This is a pretty long chapter for me. In fact, my longest ever at 4528 words. I'd appreciate it if you were to review and no, I'm not usually this formal, just because this is a new fic and the first chapter. Thank you for reading.