A/N: Here you go: your first bonus chapter! Guess what? It's Total! He's as much a part of the flock as the others, so he gets to have a nightmare too. Lucky him! Since this is Total's fear it obviously can't take place before TAE. Therefore, this one takes place sometime between Saving the World and The Final Warning. The flock is living with Jeb and Dr. Martinez. Also, concerning Iggy, I used the name James instead of Jeff, because James is his "real" name. Thanks to kiki1592 for mentioning Total in your review. That was the inspiration behind this and the next bonus chapter. Yes, the NEXT bonus chapter. You get one more, so stick around, okay? As always, please tell me what you think! -GG17

Disclaimer: I (still) don't own Maximum Ride. But you knew that.

Normal

Total awoke early. Nobody else was awake yet, not even Max. Not that he cared. He stood up slowly, stretched, yawned hugely, and stepped lazily out of his dog basket.

Dog basket?!

What was he doing in a dog basket? He always slept with Angel. Come to think of it, when had they even bought a dog basket? It was probably Dr. Martinez's doing. She still had a few things to learn about Total, that was for sure.

Oh well, no matter. Total trotted down the hall to Angel's bedroom. The door was cracked, as always. She was just waking up, her blue eyes still blinking sleepily. She looked up to see who had entered the room. Her face brightened when she saw Total.

"Hey there, Total. Come here, boy!"

Boy? What was all this 'boy' stuff? More than any of the other flock members, Angel had always treated Total like an equal, not like a dog.

But it was Angel. Total would forgive her for her little slip up. He trotted over, as she patted the bed beside her, indicating for him to jump up. Total did so.

Or, rather, he tried to. Being such a small dog, he only made it part of the way. He fell roughly onto his bottom with a startled, "Arf!"

Angel laughed that, well, angelic laugh of hers. "Aw, silly Total," she cooed. Jumping nimbly off her bed, she reached down and scooped him up in her arms, setting him down beside her.

Normally, Total wouldn't have had a problem with the little jump onto the bed. He could jump ten times higher than that. So what was going on today?

Angel had begun to pet him, ruffling the fur around his ears. It momentarily distracted Total, and he wagged his tail happily. But enough of that! He had to ask Angel what was going on. Before he could get the words out, however, Angel looked up in the direction of her door and sniffed the air curiously.

"I smell breakfast!" she said.

Total sniffed. He smelled it too: waffles. For a blind guy, Iggy rocked, Total thought.

Angel hopped off the bed and hurried to the door. Halfway there she turned and whistled. "Come on, Total," she said, motioning with her hand.

Total had had enough. "Oh come on, you did not seriously just whistle at me," he grouched as he carefully jumped off the bed. But Angel had walked out the door without waiting for him.

As Total stepped into the kitchen, he saw that it wasn't Iggy, but Dr. Martinez, making the waffles. Iggy was seated between Fang and the Gasman at the table. The rest of the flock, still in their pajamas, filed in and took their seats. Jeb came downstairs and gave Dr. Martinez a peck on the cheek before taking his seat at the table as well.

Something was wrong with this picture. Total was sure of it. But it seemed like an entirely normal scene, and he couldn't figure out what was off about it. Carefully he scanned the kids seated around the table one by one.

Nudge wasn't talking. She looked at Dr. Martinez, eagerly awaiting her breakfast, but her mouth remained shut. Strange, but not entirely unheard of.

Fang was smiling, even laughing now, at a joke Total had missed. Now that was really weird, but again, not entirely unheard of.

Iggy was looking at a paper the Gasman held in his hands. The two were quietly discussing a – wait! Iggy was looking?!

Total's eyes shifted to Max, seated with her back to him. She was talking to Angel. But it wasn't what she was doing that caught Total's eye.

She was wearing a halter style pajama shirt. He could clearly see her upper back. Where were Max's wings?!

"Hey, what's going on here guys?" Total demanded.

Angel and Max turned around.

"What's up with your dog, Angel?"

The younger shrugged. "I don't know. Usually he's real good. Hush, Total," she said sternly.

Total was taken completely aback. There were a number of responses he had been expecting, but this wasn't among them. He didn't know what to say. Angel had never, ever treated him like that. Like… a dog.

Over by the stove, Dr. Martinez chuckled. "Oh, he probably wants his breakfast too. Ariel, be a dear and fill his food and water bowls."

Angel nodded and hopped down from her chair. She scurried over to where two bowls sat on the floor next to the dog basket. She scooped a handful of dog food from a zip lock bag on the floor and dumped it into one of the bowls. Then she took the other bowl, skipped over to the sink, filled it with water, and carefully set it back down on the floor before returning to her seat.

Total was still too stunned to say anything.

Then Jeb spoke up. "Valencia, dear, do hurry with those waffles. The kids will be late for school."

"Oh no they won't be. You worry too much, Jeb. Anyway, here they are." Dr. Martinez carried the steaming plate of waffles to the table. "James, Zephyr, what have I told you about bomb plans at the table?"

"Sorry Mom," Iggy and the Gasman said at the same time. The Gasman hurriedly stowed the paper away in his pants pocket.

"Guys! Listen to me! What in the world is going on here?" Total yelled.

Dr. Martinez walked over, frowning. "That's enough, Total. Quiet, or I'll put you outside."

"Put me outside? What are you talking about? Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?" Total abruptly stopped talking. Because suddenly, he realized exactly what was coming out of his mouth, and it wasn't words, per se. He was barking. Just barking. No wonder nobody could understand him!

This revelation led to a new question: why was he barking? Or rather, why wasn't he talking?

And to think, this morning it had seemed like a normal day…

Normal! That was it! That was why everything seemed so weird: because everything was normal. Total had never known a normal day in his life, and neither had the flock. But now they had.

They were normal kids with normal parents, not freaky mutant bird kids, no freaky mutant talking dog. They were normal. Total was normal. Everybody was horrifyingly… normal!

"NOOOOO!" Total screamed, thrashing violently.

"Total, Total, wake up! You're having a nightmare!" Angel said, shaking the dog gently.

Total looked around, gauging his surroundings. "Angel!" he exclaimed. "Thank god! Wait, you can understand me, right?"

Angel laughed. "Of course I can, silly."

The rest of the flock chose that moment to burst into the room – noisily and with lots of bumping and tripping, particularly by a certain blind mutant bird kid.

"Angel, what's going on in here?" Max asked, concerned.

Iggy had slightly less tact. "Yeah, what's with all that yelling? Some of us are trying to sleep you know!"

"Sorry," Angel apologized unnecessarily. "Total had a nightmare."

"Wha's hap'nin?" Nudge asked sleepily.

"Never mind," Fang murmured with a half smile.

"What would give Total nightmares?" asked the Gasman.

"Yeah," Iggy chimed in. "I mean, you're a dog. No offense."

"Yes, I'm a dog, but I'm not a normal dog!" Total exclaimed.

Fang leaned over and whispered to Max, "He's got that right."

Iggy, having heard, stifled a snicker.

"I'm serious! I had this dream where everybody was normal. You guys didn't have wings or anything. You had regular names! Nudge wasn't saying a word, Fang was smiling and laughing! And Iggy could see!"

Iggy laughed out loud this time. "Man, Angel, what have you been putting in his water?"

Fang raised his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief. The fact that Total's dream prompted this much of a reaction from Fang meant that that was about the craziest thing he had ever heard.

"And that's not the worst of it," Total continued.

"What could be worse than Fang laughing?" Iggy asked with a smirk. Then he said, "Ow!" as Fang elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"I couldn't talk at all. At least, you guys couldn't understand me. I was just barking. And you gave me dog food. In a bowl. On the floor. And I slept in a basket."

"Oh, Total, you know we would never do that to you," Angel promised. "Right Max?"

"Right," Max said with a yawn. "Now everybody go back to sleep, okay?"

"Sounds like Nudge already has," Iggy grinned. He was right; Nudge was swaying where she stood, her eyelids drifting closed.

Fang sighed and picked up the smaller girl. He left the room without a word. Iggy and the Gasman followed.

"Night, Angel. Have better dreams, Total," Gazzy called over his shoulder.

"You and Total go back to sleep now," Max said to Angel, tucking her back into bed. She turned and followed the others.

"Don't you worry, Total," Angel said sleepily. "I'll never let you be normal."

"I'll hold you to that," Total replied seriously.