A/N: Do I have an excuse for a lack of updating? Well, actually, I do, several good ones, but none that you really care about. So I just won't say anything. That's better, right? Anyway.

I'm so excited! You've no idea how much I've missed writing. It's been KILLING me here. But since I'm sure you guys want to kill me anyway for not updating, I'm just going to stop ranting and let you read the chapter.

ENJOY!! --FantasyFan5

It felt amazing to be back in the sky.

Flying by myself just wasn't the same as soaring through the blue surrounded by the five people that I absolutely couldn't bear to live without. Without them, I wasn't Max. I wasn't whole.

The gaping hole in my chest had finally sealed. In its place, though, it'd left a scar. I guessed that that wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

Angel and Gazzy were flying not far away from me, chattering away about some new anime that Fang had let them buy - Naruto, I thought. I personally had no idea who in the heck Naruto was, but whatever. Nudge was uncharacteristically quiet, staring pensively into the clouds as her wings kept up a steady beat. Iggy and Fang were at the front of the formation, conversing quietly. Every so often, Iggy would turn back and glance at me, mistrust clear even from twenty feet away.

Okay, if he kept that up, he was going to kill my 'back with the flock' buzz, dang it.

From what I'd gathered out of Nudge's hurried explanation - her words had all run together into meaningless babble - we were headed out of the country. Fang had decided he wanted to seek out the Chinese Itex before they could seek out us - if the black clothed men in the clearing weren't their doing anyway. It reminded me of another time where he had wanted to flush out the enemies and had ended in us flying out of the Texas pro football stadium.

Not an experience that I wanted to relive.

Anyway, back on topic. I wanted to tell Fang's idiotic head that what he was doing had a pretty good chance of getting us killed. I mean, hello, we had no way of knowing if they had a trap set up for us, what firepower they had...but on the other hand, he wouldn't tell me the whole plan. He knew something that I didn't. That was going to get really old, really quickly.

"Hey, Max!" Gazzy said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. He flew closer to me, tipping one wing to wheel around me constantly as I flew.

I jumped slightly, which is possible in the air, thanks. "Yeah, Gasman?"

"Knock, knock."

I grinned widely, my first real smile in way too long. Oh, Gazzy. Still with the dumb knock-knock jokes. "Who's there?" I indulged him.

"Max, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Nudge warned, a smile tugging at her lips. "It's not a very funny punch line."

"Please, Max?" Gazzy asked, and I glanced at him. Dang it, dang it, dang it! Why did Nudge have to teach both of my little guys the stupid Bambi eyes?

"Fine, Gazzy, go ahead..." I trailed off. Iggy and Fang were paying attention now. Iggy was smirking. Fang was...well, Fang was Fang. Figure it out.

"The KGB."

I raised one eyebrow. "The KGB who?"

Whap!

Gazzy had purposefully clipped me with one wing across the face. "We will ask ze questions!" He barked in a perfect Russian accent.

I spat out feathers from my mouth as the rest of the flock cracked up. Okay, it was kind of funny. Kind of.

"Okay, Nudge, you were right," I admitted. "I didn't want to do that."

"I shouldn't have told you that," she corrected herself in between bouts of laughter. "The look on your face was priceless." She dropped a few feet in the air from laughing so hard, then righted herself, still laughing.

Yeah, ha ha. Let's make fun of Max, because you know, that's so much fun.

"Gazzy, do you even know who the KGB were?" Iggy asked.

The smaller blond shrugged. "People."

Iggy shook his head. "Nice, Gazzy, nice." His eyes flickered to me and then away, and for once that day they didn't make me want to flinch. In that moment, though, the trust was gone. I resisted the urge to sigh. Well, it wasn't going to last. I knew that.

"It will eventually," Angel said. It took me awhile to figure out that she was answering to my thoughts, not to anything I'd said out loud. I was going to have to remember to start blocking my thoughts again.

"No, don't do that," Angel pleaded. "I haven't gotten to hear your thoughts in so long. I missed it."

Well, what was I supposed to say to that?

Out of habit, I glanced at Fang. Surprisingly, he was watching me, his dark eyes unreadable. I glanced away, slightly embarrassed, but I could feel his gaze on me still. Watching.

It was odd how much I missed him still, even when he wasn't far away from me. It was like he wasn't there. I had no idea how much my leaving must have done. It was like he was only half Fang. Half there. I wanted the Fang back that I could talk to, that didn't hate me with every fiber of his being - and for good reason.

It kind of sucked that I couldn't have everything I wanted, but I guess that's life, huh?

"Max," said a voice to my left. I glanced up with some surprise. Iggy had dropped back next to me. His sightless eyes were staring straight ahead, but he had said my name, hadn't he? Was he finally going to break his vow of "Thou Shalt Not Speak To Max"?

"Uh, yeah?" I asked. Wow, Max. Really eloquent.

"Those people...in the clearing." He seemed reluctant to say the words - they were forced out of his mouth like something that tasted bad. "Had you seen them before?"

I blinked. "No. Uh, should I have?"

Iggy shrugged. "Not necessarily. We have. But they don't normally come in numbers like that."

I frowned. "But...they were human. What the heck are they doing attacking us? What happened to the Animins and Flyboys?"

Iggy looked at me, his expression confused, though it looked like he was trying hard not to let it show. "The Animins disappeared months ago."

I snorted. "Uh, no, they didn't. They've been following me around the place."

It was Iggy's turn to frown. "But why would they-" he cut himself off, apparently deciding not to finish the sentence. "Anyway, those people from today are human. They're not experiments in any way. They're just Itex enthusiasts, some of them. Others are just people who have figured out what all the wars are about and want to be on the winning side."

"And they haven't figured out yet that they can't win against the genetically enhanced experiments?" I asked incredulously. "I mean, I thought that we were made to be better than humans, kind of."

Iggy just shrugged, or tried to, anyway. It's a little difficult to do when most of your shoulder muscles are working to keep you from splatting on the ground. "We don't know. We wanted to know if...maybe you knew."

I shook my head. "Sorry."

"Okay." I waited for him to leave, but it looked like he wanted to say more. Sure enough, after a pause, he said, "Look, Max, there's something I have to say."

Instantly, I was on my guard. "What?"

He lowered his voice until I could hardly hear it. "I might be blind, but I'm not stupid. Ever since you've come back, it's like the little kids have healed. It used to always be tense at camp, and now they're talking like nothing ever happened. They might easily forgive, but I don't. And Fang doesn't either. But you already knew that."

"Yeah," I muttered. "I figured that out awhile ago, thanks."

He didn't appreciate the sarcasm.

"My point is," he continued. "If you do anything again to hurt them and mess this up, I'll kill you. Maybe eventually I can forgive you, but not yet. Okay?"

I didn't answer right away. "Iggy, did Fang tell you why I left?"

He shook his head twice, his expression back to being tight and closed off.

"Why not?"

Iggy exhaled sharply, obviously getting impatient. "Because...he said it was your story to tell. But I'm not sure there's much that justifies what you did."

A tiny flicker of anger flared up inside my chest. Okay, I knew I was wrong, but I had a reason. And I was sick of listening to them just dish crap out on me.

"If you're trying to make me feel worse," I said acidly, "it's working. I know it hurt you guys. You don't think it hurt me, too? You think that I just wanted to suddenly take off without warning and fly off into the sunset? It hasn't exactly been a cakewalk this last year for me, either. Just keep that in mind, why don't you." This whole time, I kept my voice pitched so that sounds of our argument wouldn't reach the younger ones. Like Iggy had said, they didn't need any more pain.

Iggy looked slightly taken aback, but not angry, surprisingly. He looked like he'd been expecting that, actually. "Still," he said again, after a pause. "Just remember what I said."

"And you remember what I said. And remember that I still have the ability to kick your skinny white ass into next week." I was pushing it, I knew. Way pushing it. But to my surprise, a ghost of a smile went past Iggy's lips, before it was gone. I knew he'd remembered the day when I'd said those words back on a street corner. Before everythinghad gone wrong.

This was one of those times when I really wished for one of those Harry Potter Time Turners.

"Did you know that you might be able to get one of those soon?" Angel said - listening to my thoughts again. It was a little annoying, but I guess I couldn't blame her. Patience. I have lots of patience.

"What do you mean, I might be able to get one?" I asked.

"Well..." Angel hesitated. This obviously wasn't something she was supposed to know, or probably tell me.

"Awhile ago, I heard one of the whitecoats thinking about time. And I was really curious, so I listened. And he was thinking about how time is like a wheel, and some other stuff that I didn't really get. But then he was thinking about how Itex might be able to control time later, and go back to fix all of their mistakes. You know, perfect their plan?"

Silence. The rest of the flock had stopped and were staring at Angel with open mouths.

"Are you saying," said Nudge finally, "that Itex might be able to control time?"

Angel nodded. "They can't yet. They're working on it."

I noticed Iggy and Fang exchange glances. Itex controlling time.

Now that was freaky.