A/N- Wow, thanks for all of the reviews! Each one of them is all special and purty. (Purty is a word, even if Spell Check doesn't like it.) If you haven't noticed, I've moved the rating up to T for safety. There's nothing in this chapter, but for the later ones I don't want to get bashed for anything. If there's anything really bad (I have yet to figure it all out) there'll be a warning.

I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

Edit: Oops! Uber-thanks to XIII Dragon for informing me about my mistake with Total! I highly appreciate it and changed the scene.

The silence afterwards was the worst part of it all. Neither Fang nor I spoke, physically or mentally. Instead, we just let the past ten seconds sink in.

The shock of Fang intruding on my mind was like a wave; it came out of nowhere, and left me nearly drowning. I sank to the floor, a hand to my forehead. Fang slumped against the wall in the hallway, mouth agape.

I wanted to say something, but the power of language wasn't within my grasp, and apparently it wasn't either for Fang.

Seriously, what would you do if your best friend/crush could hear your thoughts? Drown yourself in ice cream and hope it goes away? Or wish that it would never end?

Everything was crashing on me… this wasn't possible… then again, I'm not supposed to be possible…

"Get in my room," I managed to say quietly, eyes closed. I ran my free hand through my hair. "So the Flock doesn't see."

That was the unspoken number one rule between Fang and me: Flock comes first. Don't let the Flock see you're hurting.

Fang gave a grunt of approval, and practically rolled into my room. When he passed over the threshold from hall to room, I moved away from the door, reached up, and closed it.

I sat cross-legged, and he was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

Awkward moment, much?

"Ugh," I said, noticing that the buzzing sound was coming back again. Or maybe I just hadn't been noticing it?

"You have that same feeling?" Fang asked, deadpan. I nodded, sighing.

I decided to experiment. Searching within my mind, I took a tendril of thought and sent it out. Fang didn't seem to notice. I grunted, and crossed my arms. I had yet to master the art of sending thoughts.

"How do you do that- thing?" I asked. "When you spoke to me."

Fang jerked up into a sitting position. "I think we should ignore this."

"What?" I said, far too loudly. He launched his hand over my mouth, and glared at me.

I nearly melted.

"We should just ignore this whole thing, okay?" he whispered into my ear. "It's just something that was programmed into our genes and will go away sooner or later. It's not safe for minds to be connected, all right? We have separate brains for a reason."

I grabbed his hand and yanked it away. "Fang...so you've been talking to me the entire day, and now you want to stop? How do you do it?"

"It doesn't matter," he muttered, and hunched back to his original position. "Max, we don't know what we've gotten ourselves into, and why. Mental things are strange, Max. We can't control them. I... don't want to get lost."

It suddenly struck me why Fang was so obstinate on this matter- he was scared.

"Lost? What do you mean?"

He gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "There's a fine line between reality and illusion, Max. Let's not cross it."

"But why not?" I whispered, looking at my hands. "This could strengthen the Flock."

"How?" he said, quickly. He looked honestly frightened, for Fang. "I didn't know that was you, Max."

I met his eyes, which pierced and broke my soul a thousand times over. I quickly cleared them away. "But you were saying my name to me. And other things, as well."

Fang's eyes glinted in interest, but he frowned. "No, I didn't. What did I... say?"

I took a breath. "You were all Max… Max…for a long time. Nearly drove me crazy, thank you very much. There was a time when you said Don't doubt yourself as well, which was the longest. Most of the time it was fractured words or emotions."

"What emotions?" Fang snapped. I nearly fell over at the tone of his voice. He took a quick look at me. "Sorry," he added quietly.

"Guilt," I said slowly, still shocked at him. "A lot of guilt. Anger, pain, those were there too."

Fang swore wildly and stood. "I'm going out. Again," he said.

I jumped to my feet. "Fang, no! It's storming out there."

He stalked over to the window and pulled back the curtains. The sky was dark, grey, and threatening to open up and gulp the world up it its massive jaws. The rain was steady and constant.

"I'll be fine," he said, and started for the door.

"No, you're not!" I said, and grabbed his shoulder. What was making Fang this insane? "That's stupid and dangerous! Fang, think of the updrafts! You'd die out there! You can't keep running away!"

"Watch me," he snapped again, and whipped my hand of his shoulder. He nearly broke down the door, and I ran after him.

I sprinted the hallway, and saw him run out of the door and into the storm. I stomped my foot and repeated Fang's swearing.

"Max, where's Fang going?" Nudge asked, leaning back in her chair.

"That's what I'm about to find out," I muttered. I tore off my sweater, and looked longingly at it as I threw it on my empty chair. I grabbed the handle when a hand grabbed the same one, preventing the opening of the door into the deluge. It was Mom.

"What?" I questioned. "Fang's out there! In the rain!"

"He knows what he's doing," she whispered. "What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing," I said, still trying in vain to open the door. "But I have to go!"

"No you don't," Iggy added, twirling his fork with an eerie sense of precision. "Why risk two when only one is needed?"

"What does that mean?" I asked, exasperated. Mom steered me to my chair and plopped me down. She set a piece of cake in front of me- dang, she knows me too well.

I glared at the cake before digging in, and I took the savoring moment to think over Fang. What had made his so spontaneous recently? Yeah, occasionally he went off flying by himself, but only once a week or so. And that was all for the 'strong and silent' show, I bet. Twice in one day? And in this hurricane-type storm? Fang wasn't that rash; he knew he had the Flock to take care of.

Angel sat petting Total absentmindedly across the table. "Will Fang be alright?" she asked, sad.

I nodded. "Yeah. He's off doing mighty Fang things."

Angel giggled, which was what I hoped for. Someone her age shouldn't have to worry about her life at every corner- instead she should worry about what color her Barbie's outfit was. Her laugh was like the breath of my life.

"So what were you guys talking about before, hmm?" Ella asked, putting spices back in the various shelves that lined the kitchen. "Anything I need to know about, sister dear Anything in the area of roma-"

I went into a fit of coughing before she could continue, hoping dearly that the Flock hadn't heard. Angel was still patting Total, Nudge was thoroughly entertained with her cake, and Gazzy was confused. Iggy, however, just look up with wonder and smiled knowingly at me and gave a low hum of amusement.

"What did I miss?" Gazzy asked Iggy. "What did Ella say?"

"Something I personally had never thought about," Iggy responded, voice full of wonder. I was glad he couldn't see me blush.

"There is nothing in that field of interest, Ella, absolutely nothing," I said, listening to the patter of rain against the windows. Iggy look down-put at my statement, but nonetheless looked happier than normal just right then.

I ran my hands over each other, trying not to feel restless. If Fang got himself hurt, I would never, ever forgive myself. Ever.

Nudge finished her cake and sat back farther in her chair, sighing in content before saying, "You know, I like this." At Gazzy's continued look, she continued, "Being normal. We never got cake on the run."

"Iggy can't cook gourmet in the middle of nowhere," Angel said.

"Yeah, I know. But still."

I really, really wanted to disappear right then and there, for a reason I don't exactly know of. I do know that normal is the last thing Nudge will ever have-it's impossible. She has wings, and that's kind of a siren for not normal. I wished things could be different, different for all of us.

"But Iggy's still a good cook for what he gets," Total yapped.

I shrugged. "Iggy's an amazing cook-"

"Thank you," he drawled.

"But when it comes to the cakes and such, he hasn't had much experience."

Nudge laughed. "Nothing could compare to this cake, though."

I smiled; it felt nice to make Nudge happy; to give her one step closer to normal.

To tell you the truth, Fang had been driven out of my thoughts for a while, and so had the buzzing. But it came back, fast, when I heard Fang's voice in my head:

Help-

I coughed and hacked, still not comfortable with someone's voice in my head.

"You okay?" Iggy asked.

"Yup," I said, then tried to think something to Fang: What?

For the first time, I knew that my thoughts hadn't reached him. It felt as if I had thrown a ball and it had rebounded off of a wall.

Luckily, he said again, Help me!

Fang was in trouble- and if he asked for help, which I didn't even fathom until now- then there was more than just trouble.

I was tempted to bring to the Flock with me, but this was something I knew that they'd be safer behind. I casually stood up.

"I think the rain's letting up," I said slowly, then bolted to the door before anyone could react.

Fang needed help.

I was going after him, and this time, no one could stop me.

A/N- I hope you liked it! Everything, or most of it, shall be explained in the next chappy-ter…please review! Anyone who can tell me what time of the year it was at the end of MR: 3 shall be given cookies and chocolate and candy.