"So, what now?" Nudge asked.

It would've been a legit question, had she not already asked it a zillion times.

"Working on it," I responded, keeping my voice even. Though it seemed to me that every time Nudge asked me that, I became less and less sure of what exactly we were going to do next.

We had settles back into our hodgepodge little camp, and the whole group, and I mean the whole darn group was still excited about Fang's little speech about home finding.

Yeah, that's right. You heard me. Right after I left off the last time, Fang proposed to all of the wonderful advantages of having a home.

And now that was all that was being discussed.

At least it kept the flock of my back. Mostly. Nudge was so excited, she was asking me what we were going to do next every forty-ish seconds. That's right. I'm counting them.

And we're just about…

"Max, what do you think we should do now?"

There...

At least she mixed it up a little this time.

"I. Don't. Know. Nudge. I'm trying to figure that out."

I'm just sooooo excited about having a home! Aren't you?"

And I had to admit, the idea did have appeal. But we had so much to do. We had to find out who we were, why we were that way, what our purpose was, and maybe even bring down those responsible for all of the above. So much to do before settling down.

"Yeah, maybe a little…" I admitted to her. "But we have stuff to do, first."

"Like?" Nudge asked inquisitively.

I sighed, "I'm working on that, too…"

"Oh…" Nudge trailed off, as she glanced over at Iggy, the Gasman, Angel and Total all playing a rather barbaric round of tag.

It had always amused me that Iggy seemed to consistently be the best at it; his face was just affixed with concentration as he listened to all that was going on around him. It was nice, too. While he was playing tag, he didn't have any opportunity to screw with me.

Nudge watched for a few more moments, and I hoped dearly she would go join in. I needed my thoughts and concentration right now, and Nudge was the walking concentration killer. I mean, I love her to death and all but that girl can really remove all your attention from everything else.

As soon as I wished her away to go play tag, Angel looked over at Nudge and smiled. "C'mon, Nudge!" she said, wavering the girl over. "Come and play!"

And Nudge smiled back. "Okay!" She rocketed in and Iggy looked temporarily distressed at the amount of noise barreling down at him

I owe Angel for that one.

I turned to look at Fang, who was sitting a few yards away, glancing back and forth at the tag players, and the non tag player.

Me.

"What?" I asked irritably as Fang glanced once again at me.

"Nothing… Just wondering what's on your mind."

"You being a mutineer, would just about cover it," I had to work very hard to keep my voice level.

Fang laughed, "I'm sorry you think that way. I wish you would trust me. This is what's best for all of us. We can't keep running around like this, fighting a war we don't even want to be in… We just can't live like this," Fang gestured around our meager little camp to emphasis his point. "We have to stop this, Max."

I was stunned. "Or you just going to forget who we are? What happened to us? What they did to us? You're just going to ignore all that and try to live some happy little life somewhere? Is that it?"

Fang looked a little somber. "Yeah, basically. It may be time we buried the hatchet and leave this all behind. Maybe if they think we've disappeared with the intention to leave them alone, maybe they'll do the same."

I couldn't even comprehend this. "They will never leave us alone, Fang. Not while we're free. We're living testaments to what they've done. They have to silence us, and they know it. We can't just decide to vanish somewhere and have it all end. This is going to continue until we finish it," I ended my little speech, and studied Fang's even face for a reaction.

He didn't answer at first, and it gave me some time to mull some things over. Most of those things having something to do with him. Things had changed; I certainly knew that. Fang was almost someone else entirely. He was my best friend. The person who always had my back no matter what. And now, it seemed he didn't even like anything I tried to do. Maybe he had just lost all respect for me completely.

It was upsetting, to say the least, but I felt as if I was fighting for control of my flock (yes my flock) with Fang, who had always been the best second in command.

And the best friend.

Fang thought for a few more moments. "Anyway, I say you and me should take a quick look around. Maybe we'll find a better place to camp for the duration of our stay,"

And just like that, he was doing it again. Like he was in charge.

But he had a point, and I was so confused at this point over everything involving Fang, that I just went with it.

Plus, the look he gave me following that request was one of those 'We need to talk. Alone.' kind of looks.

So I agreed, and Fang went off to tell the flock that the two of us would be scouting around for a awhile. A couple days at most. And that they should all just chill and be inconspicuous until we got back.

The usual speech.

Except it was usually delivered by me.

And soon after, myself and Fang were off into the Wild Blue Yonder, and with all those thoughts whistling through my head even louder than the wind around me, I wondered if I would ever have a peaceful moment in my life.


Author's Note:

I just really want to thank my small but fanatical fan base for their constant support of this story. Without you people I wouldn't even bother writing this story. I could name you all, and I think I will in the next update..

The title will stay as it is for now, because I had a couple more thoughts about it's relevance to the story, which will begin to be revealed a few chapters from now.

Brium will meet the flock in a few chapters, be patient! I already have two more Brium chapters typed and ready, with another two planned, which means a couple that center on Fang and Max as well.

Just relax. When everyone meets up, the story will really take off.

And yeah, it does say "Romance" for a reason.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get more people to read. I should hire a PR guy or something…

Anyway, I shall continue soon!

Thanks for your continued support!