Theanimedude: I found Fang!

Nick: Oh geez, what'd you do to him?

Theanimedude: Nothing that bad, the same as last time.

Nick: Man, you are horrible.

Theanimedude: Whatever it takes to keep my men in line. Be glad you've never steered off the path, Nick.

Nick: What path?

Theanimedude: The only path that keeps you from being tickled until you want to die. :3

Nick: Of course.

Theanimedude: Nick is mine. Nothing else is. Except for my shiny quarter.

Nick: Oh, that's shiny. o.o

Theanimedude: One question before I upload the next chapter, is Max too OOC? Please review and answer this question!

Nick the Eraser

I was about to close my jaws when I saw an ant two feet away from Iggy's neck. I chopped my hand down on it instinctively, and it was squished. My vision instantly went back to normal, and I jumped away from Iggy. That had been too close. I'd almost killed him. But he only just started trusting me!

I shook my head, feeling tears pressing at the corners of my eyes. How could I stay with them, knowing I was really a threat to them? The voice had been right. I growled at myself, demorphed, and sat back against the wall. Everything was going to be fine...

I stood back up just as quickly as I had sat and took off. Within seconds, I was in the air, tears streaming across my face. I couldn't stay. I'd kill them if I stayed. The only people I trusted in the whole world- and I would kill them if I got near them.

Hatred towards Ari, love for Max, sadness at leaving her, it all flowed out. I flew straight forward, not noticing my energy slowly declining- that is, until I fainted while going two hundred miles per hour. Crap, again.

The next morning

I woke up groggily, instantly noticing the pain in my head. Ouch! Ouchouchouch! It felt like I was the roadrunner, and Wile E. Coyote had finally dropped an anvil on my head. The next thing I noticed was that I was in a bed. A bed. A BED! I processed this slowly, and then bolted upright, the bed creaking. It wasn't the school, I realized with relief. No, instead I was in a very cozy room, with walls painted blue and a ceiling fan with a light bulb (off) in it. It looked like it was kept tidy, though not used very often.

Where the hack am I? I thought, confused. I heard shuffled footsteps, and a female voice yelling "Mom! He woke up!"

The door opened, and standing in the doorway was a twelve-year-old brunette girl, looking oddly familiar. She smiled at me when I looked up at her.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she said playfully. Her voice sounded familiar, too, but an octave higher than the one I recognized.

"W... Where am I?" I whispered, confused.

The girl walked over to the bed I was sitting on and sat beside me. "My house," she answered.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well," she began. "Last night I was sleeping but then I heard a really loud THUNK. My mom and I went outside to see what had happened, and you were lying on your stomach outside, with a big dent in the wall above you, and your head was bleeding all over the place. My mom said that you must have bounced off the house on your head, and then you wouldn't wake up, so we took you inside, bandaged your head, and brought you in here, and then you were just conked out up until now." She took in a deep breath. "That's about it," she said, her face looking concerned now. I reached up- and yup, my head had been bandaged all over.

I remembered – I'd been flying, but then I passed out midflight. I must have crashed into their house on accident. "Sorry," I murmured guiltily.

"How'd that happen anyway?" she asked. "Were you mugged?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Okay, I'll wait until mom comes. She'll persuade you," the girl said, smiling.

With that, a younger woman, as in not old, but not like, high school grade, walked in, also a brunette, and with a stunning resemblance to both the person I couldn't quite place, and this girl. She handed me a glass of water, which I accepted graciously.

"How do you feel?" she asked worriedly.

"Head hurts," I said. "Fine otherwise."

"What exactly happened?" she asked me. I read her mind, and I didn't see the slightest bit of evil intent in her.

"You wouldn't believe it," I said again. "I'm kind of... unusual."

"Try me," the woman said smiling. "I've seen things that have blown my mind."

I slowly unfurled my wings, pure white, like my hair, and their expressions weren't as amazed as I expected, but they weren't bored, either. We sat in silence, uncomforting.

"Do you know Maximum Ride?" the woman asked me carefully and quietly. I nodded, surprised.

She shook her head. "So I'm guessing you accidentally flew into our house," she murmured. I nodded, embarrassed, ashamed, and guilty.

The girl smiled at me. "We both know Max, you aren't the first winged person to come here," she said cheerfully. It was as though my wings hardly existed now. Could I possibly have already been accepted?

The woman held out her hand, and I took it gently. She helped pull me up, and I stood beside her, dazed.

"You're head wound was pretty bad," she announced. "But if you stay with us a couple days, it should heal up."

I nodded warily, and said thank you quietly. She nodded. "Who are you?" I asked.

"Doctor Martinez," she said, smiling. "And this is my daughter, Ella." Ella grinned, showing pearly white teeth. I self-consciously fingered my gums, and they laughed.

"You should brush your teeth," Ella said. I smile sheepishly, and followed her to the bathroom to learn how.

I had to stay there for a couple days, helping around the house, cleaning, talking to Ella and her mom, and- a real treat- eating chocolate chip cookies. They smelled like what I imagined heaven smelling like, and they tasted amazing. So much better than eraser. And hot dogs, too. While I was staying there, I met their dog, Magnolia. I'd never seen dogs other than wolves, so it was interesting, especially since I wasn't supposed to eat her.

I never had another "kill people" outbreak. My bond with them grew slowly, I was there for a long time, and I felt as if it'd be fine if I lived there, since I had nowhere else to go. They didn't have any problem with it, either.

I'd told Doctor Martinez almost nothing about Max. From what she said about her, we were talking about the same person. I told her we were friends, but that was it. For a few days, I felt safe, almost loved.

One day when I was outside, sitting in the top of a tree, I felt a sudden warmth. It was THAT warmth, I realized. The air felt warmer with Max around.

Sure enough, when I looked down, Fang was behind a tree, and Max was walking towards the house, a huge grin plastered to her face. From what I'd heard from the Martinez's, Max was really close to them in the few days she knew them.

My stomach flipped, and my throat went dry. I couldn't believe it. I felt like running to her, my arms outstretched, but then I felt like running away. I didn't know what to do. I seemed fine, blending with the shadows partly, due to the fact that my clothes were black jeans and a black t-shirt, which Doctor Martinez had bought for me. With luck, I could leave without being noticed. But I felt glued to my spot.

Doctor Martinez opened her front door, and her eyes widened with surprise when she saw Max. The two rushed towards each other and embraced, and Max actually had tears in her eyes. I hugged myself, my arms crossing over my belly, guilt flowing through me. But... if I'd stayed, I'd of killed her. Of course, that was an excuse. But I still felt guilty. Right then, I hoped with all my heart that I wouldn't be noticed.

Max and Doctor Martinez were talking, and then Fang came out from behind the tree. They talked a little bit as well. And still there I hid, hoping that Doctor Martinez wouldn't-

"Nick!" Doctor Martinez yelled. "Max is here!" I froze on the tree limb. Max slowly turned around, with her eyes darting everywhere, looking for me. She still hadn't seen me, but I was as good as caught now, anyway. I felt sunk.

I slowly jumped down from the tree, landing in front of it. Max's eyes widened when she saw me, as did Fang's. I stared at the ground, unwilling to look them in the eye. They were probably really mad. If only I'd at least told them...

Max was walking towards me, seemingly in slow motion. I was praying she'd forgive me. If I just told her... yeah, she'd forgive me. Of course she would.

It didn't take too long for her to be right in front of me. She stood there, and I was afraid to look up to see her eyes. She stared at me before I mustered up the courage to raise my head. I stared at her for a long moment, before saying "Hi, Max." Pretty lame, huh?

"'Hi, Max?'" she said back. She then punched me across the face, and my head jolted to the left. Okay, I deserved that. I looked back to her, not letting pain show on my face. I was once again the emotionless eraser from the school- on the outside. Inside, I wanted to cry until I dehydrated.

She punched me again, and my head went left again. Ouch. She definitely hadn't lost it in those few days. I smiled, and she snarled.

"You don't have anything to smile about!" she shouted angrily. This time when she punched, I ducked under her arm and jumped back up into the tree. She looked up at me, glaring, and she was upset, happy I was safe, but mad I had left like that.

"Why don't you trust me?" she asked suddenly. Shocked, I looked her in the eyes. She was still staring meanly, but her glare was weakening.

"I trust you!" I said, feeling myself tear apart. That would certainly happen if I didn't trust her.

"Then why did you leave?" she asked furiously.

"That's exactly why I left!" I said, a bit vague, but half of the truth.

"You aren't making since, Nick!" she shouted, jumping up to hit me again. I leapt off the tree, narrowly avoiding her fist, and landed on my feet on the ground. Her foot met squarely with my stomach not a second after I landed, however, and I winced. I fell backwards, landing on my back. She stood over me, glaring down at me. Fang had been holding back a very upset Doctor Martinez, telling her we had issues to work out. And boy, did we have issues...

"The truth, Nick," she said, her voice suddenly much softer. "Why did you leave?"

"I..." I began. "I didn't want to..."

"Didn't want to what?" Max asked impatiently.

"I didn't want to kill the only people I trusted," I said finally.

Dead silence. Max stared down at me. "If you mean because the whitecoats are after you, they're after us, too," she said.

"It's not that," I said, slowly standing up. "The whitecoats I could deal with. I'm strong enough-"

"Then you shouldn't have had anything threatening you to lead away from us," she said.

I shook my head sadly and murmured, "Other than myself..."

She stared at me, confused. "But you-" she started.

"I knew what the thing Ari put in me was, okay?" I said. She remained silent. "It was a drug," I began, "that forced an animalistic instinct on me, making me kill anything around me." Max's eyes widened. "And if I stayed," I said, "I'd kill the only people in the world I trusted."

"So you left and took refuge in an innocent person's home?" she said, her eyes growing teary.

"It never came up again!" I defended myself. "Your lives were more important to me!"

"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked angrily.

"Because I knew you couldn't do anything," I responded. "And if I'd of stayed any longer, I'd of risked killing you! I want you to live, Max. You're the most important people to me in this world. If I killed you..." I looked down at the ground. My point was made.

"Even if you wanted me to come with you," I said. "I wouldn't. If I can't live with you without killing you, I won't live with you at all."

Max nodded, holding back tears. "Just..." she said. "Don't stay here. I'm sure you'll find a way to get this out." She then took Fang with her, and flew away, leaving me behind.

"I'll... see you..." I whispered.