As the sun made its way over the horizon, we tried bunking down for the second time. Yes, it was another forest clearing. They're good for birdkids, with easy air access, and we always choose ones that are near impossible to get to for those stuck on the ground. Bleary eyed, the younger mob headed fell asleep almost immediately after choosing their branch for the night. Gaz and Angel curled up in an almost indistinguishable heap of golden locks and fair skin. Nudge, after a moment hesitation, collapsed onto one of her own.
It didn't take a mind reader to work out why she'd hesitated. More and more Nudge had been pushing to be counted as one of the flock's older members alongside Fang, Iggy and myself, but that meant accepting more responsibilities, such as keeping watch. While most nights she'd argued that she was ready, and she could sacrifice the sleep, everyone was exhausted today, and she was, for once, deciding just to take advantage of an uninterrupted sleep.
While flying through the night had some advantages, such as better cover, it also tended to have this effect. Making the change permanent, which could alleviate that problem, would also require us to always be able to find somewhere to sleep that wouldn't be exposed under the light of day. When you're travelling over the forest, this isn't such a problem. Anywhere else? You're pretty much screwed.
'So who wants first shift?' I asked, pulling myself away from the actions, or rather non-actions, of the kids.
'I'll take it,' offered Iggy reluctantly, 'At least that way it'll be over and done with.'
'I'm fine with second,' Fang said quickly. I nodded tiredly.
'Right. In that case I'm going to get as much sleep as I can, while I can.' I said with a yawn, before locating a branch to make my bed for the rest of the day.
***
By the time Fang woke me the sun was high in the sky, impatient for the day to begin.
'I can't believe they're all still asleep,' I muttered as I surveyed the unconscious bodies of my flock.
'You were too, until two minutes ago. Plus it's only 10'o'clock,' Fang pointed out.
'True,' I conceded, positioning myself in a more upright position at the base of my sleeping tree, 'You should get some sleep, Fang. You must be exhausted.' He smiled a tired smile.
'In a minute,' he said, closing his eyes. 'Max, have you thought about what we're going to do now?'
'I'm not sure. We still have to save the world, and I suppose we'll keep looking for parents when we can.'
Fang snorted.
'Because that worked out so well for Iggy. Face it, Max, parents aren't really an option. We're all the family we need.'
'Which just leaves saving the world.' I reminded him, not really convinced that parents should be entirely wiped from the agenda but not feeling like having an argument now.
'And if we don't?' He said quietly, after a pause.
'What?' I asked, confused.
'If we don't save the world, then what?'
'The world ends, Fang! It all goes kablooey!' I replied, somewhat hysterically, while trying not to wake everyone.
'Or they'll bring in Max II.'
'If she killed me, she'd get the gig. Since she didn't, they're leaving it up to me.'
'We don't know that. We don't know anything. We don't even know what we're saving the world from. Maybe you don't have to save the world. Remember that island we were going to find? We could still do that. And it'd just be the flock, far away from anything and anyone who wanted to hurt us,' he sat up and opened his eyes, locking them onto mine, 'Wouldn't that be great Max?'
'We can't. We can't just say "Oh, we've had enough, so we hope you enjoy the end of the world while we take our island vacation". God, Fang, do you have any idea how selfish that sounds?'
'You can't tell me you're not all tempted,' he said leaning towards me, 'Just the six of us, the whole island to ourselves. We could do whatever we wanted.' His face was less than an inch from my own, lips almost touching. I would like to say I pushed him away and told him to stop being so self-centred, but quite frankly I was having trouble breathing. 'But,' he said suddenly, pulling away, 'At the moment we've only got this clearing, and we can't really do whatever we want with everyone sleeping just metres away. Speaking of which, I should get some of that sleep.'
And then he was gone. And my heart was beating wildly out of control. And all I could think was how tempting that island sounded right at that moment.
***
He hated this. He'd seen it in Max's eyes, how much she wanted this. But it didn't matter how many times he tried to convince himself he felt the same, he just… didn't.
He loved her, of course, but as a sister, not the way she wanted him to. Not the way he wanted to. But was it so wrong to lead her along for a bit when it might possibly save her life, take her off the self-destructive path Jeb had placed her on? She was never going to save the world. Not by aimlessly flying around, occasionally beating up erasers, and spending intermittent spells at the School. And he was going to end up with her eventually, there was no escaping that fate.
What did it matter if she didn't hold his heart? The person who did was out of the question, and if he couldn't be happy the very least he could do was make sure Max found her happiness. And if that meant pretending to love her back, then so be it. He did care about her.
He let out a muffled yawn, trying not to alert Max, keeping watch below him, to the fact he was still awake. Something he really ought to change, if only his mind would settle for a moment so he could get some sleep.
***
He watched as she landed daintily in front of him, listening to the rhythmic thud-thud-thud as her oversized, brilliant blue wings brought her down in front of him.
'Ari, my dear, 'tis truly wonderful to see you again,' she called out in her melodic accent.
'Juniper. I thought you'd be with the flock already,' Ari replied, trying to sound as professional as possible and ignore his accelerating heart. Something that became impossible when she leaned down and began kissing him rather thoroughly on the lips.
'Hmm… Yes, I'll be joining up with them tomorrow. I'll join them mid-flight, rather than ambushing their campsite again. But Ari, love, I think we should really just make the most of this most magnificent morning together. It might be a while before we see each other again. And then we'll be able to answer once and for all, who's the better fuck – The original or the copy?'
'You know, they have to let you in first.'
'They'll let me in. I'm a fellow mutant, on the run from the big, scary scientists, and I'm desperate for their help. There's no way they'll turn me away. Hell, they'd probably let you in if they thought you'd changed sides,' she said between kisses.
'They'd never let me in. They all hate me.'
'Well, perhaps if you stopped trying to kill them they'd change their minds,' she suggested, as she started undoing the buttons of his shirt.
'You're trying to kill them,' he reminded her, 'And I don't think Fang is going to forgive me anytime soon.'
'But they don't know that, plus I'm not really trying to kill them. And Fang is the only reason I'm not with them this very second. Maybe he has got more brains than we give him credit for,' she replied, beginning to take the shirt off him. Ari grabbed her hands, stopping her suddenly. She looked up, surprised. 'Ari, love?'
'Not here,' he growled. And with her hands clasped firmly in his, he whisked her away to a more private location.
