A/N - This is the longest chapter I've ever written, at about 8,500 words. Obviously, it's a very important chapter. I couldn't find a good way to break up the chapter, and I'm certainly not going to. If you have a problem with it or find it annoying, I'm sorry, you could always read part of it today and part tomorrow xD

Thank you to whoever reviews! ^^

I'm Here for You

Chapter 14

Airi POV

"Troops!" I yelled, and glanced at the three young mutants standing in front of me. "Training you has been…well. You all officially suck at working out. But judging from the fact that you've managed to stay alive for this many years, you must be better at beating up an Eraser than you are at a punching bag, God help us." I was still yelling by the end of the rant.

"Therefore, you all are graduating Airi's little training academy. This is your imaginary diploma. Go forth and get ready for this war," I ordered. "Oh, except for you, Gazzy. I need you to go forth to the cafeteria and pick me up a sandwich." He scowled at me as they all filed out.

"Thank God," I collapsed on the floor. I had been up all night with them, which had been an accomplishment. They all had their own strengths, but I couldn't imagine why it was so hard for them to learn how to beat up a punching bag. It was also extremely dangerous for me – the Erasers could get here any time, and if I had gotten zero sleep, then what would happen to the rest of us?

We hoped to find out who was controlling the Erasers. If we could find that person, we would destroy them and our problem would be over. But if we couldn't, that meant that we'd have to keep looking, and there would be more Erasers chasing us. And I remembered something – all the Erasers had been retired earlier this year. So why were they chasing us now?

Someone was re-making the Erasers specifically to chase us. But they weren't the original Erasers. Someone who knew how to make the original Erasers was working hard to create them all in time.

I had to tell Max. Maybe she could draw some conclusions or something.

But I felt my eyes closing. I needed sleep. Maybe I'd talk to Max…tomorrow.

My eyes closed.

Max POV

Something inside told me that it wouldn't be much time. There would be a battle soon, I could feel it. It was too quiet now. But soon, we'd be fighting for our lives. And I didn't care. Because fighting took my mind off the problems, ironically. The problem of choosing between Fang and Iggy, and the problem of not trusting anyone around me anymore…

They would just disappear when I was fighting the Erasers. So I wanted them to get here. Sitting and waiting just wasn't my thing. And in this glass city, I was practically a sitting duck. I was useless as a flock leader, and I couldn't do anything about it. They needed a home, but I wanted things to be the same again.

Sometimes, you just have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen. I guess it's how dogs feel before volcanoes erupt, or how sometimes you can feel someone watching you. I just knew that if we stayed here too long, we'd regret it. Or maybe we wouldn't live to regret it.

Speaking of that delightful thought, the one person I ran into as I rounded the corner just had to be Dr. Harrison. I rolled my eyes. I so did not need to talk to him and his fake cheerfulness right now. I didn't trust him, that was for sure. And I didn't trust him to keep the flock safe.

But today, something was different. His smile was gone, and his eyes were glazed over. His hair was wild and tangled, like he had just gotten up, but from the bags under his eyes, I could tell that he had been up all night. Just like I had.

He looked older, more worn. He was obviously under a lot of stress, but I had learned that despite appearances, things weren't always what they seemed. So I didn't let my guard down. "Max, just the person I was looking for," he glanced out the window quickly. "Can I see you in my office?" I shrugged and gave a nod, which seemed to mildly irritate him.

As I walked down the hall, I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach like I always did when I could see into the rooms around me, seeing people going about their lives. I could see them, and everyone in the city could see me. I felt like I was being watched 24/7, and it wasn't just due to the fact that we were being monitored day and night so they could "study" us.

Occasionally, you would see a bathroom or a room with actual wallpaper, so that you didn't feel like you were being watched somewhere inappropriate. Sometimes, I would lock myself in the bathroom and just enjoy not being watched.

Dr. Harrison's office was one of these. I had been in there, sure, but now that I suspected him of…something…it was really more like a cave. The wallpaper was dark, and there were a few dark green chairs in front of a –wait for it- dark brown desk. I didn't really know what he needed an office for. It wasn't like he was a real doctor. He was a scientist.

"Max, sit down," he ordered, but I defiantly remained standing up. I thought I heard him mutter something like "Dear God not today," but I could have been wrong. When he saw that I really wasn't going to sit down, he continued. "Max…as you may have predicted, the girls that I hired to spy on the School were…captured."

"Duh," I picked something out of my nails. "What do you want me to do about it?"

He looked at me expectantly. When it finally dawned on me, I stamped my foot. "Oh, come on! I told you that they would get captured and you want me to go rescue them? That is so not fair!" he gave me a withering look. "Why do I have to do it?" I complained.

"Because you're the only one who can," he answered simply. My shoulders sagged and I nodded meekly. "You'll be going alone," he said apologetically. "The others have to stay here in case the Erasers come." I tried not to contain my fury. Not to put a damper on things, but the others couldn't do anything without me.

I opened the door, fully prepared to walk out and pack a small bag of supplies. After all, I didn't expect it to take long. I could fly at two hundred miles an hour if I wanted to, and the actual rescue wouldn't take long at all. After all, we had escaped the School and saved Airi only just recently.

"Max, bring them back quickly," he emphasized. "If you're going to have any hope of winning this war, you need them. They are trained fighters. But Ari is at the School, and he's gotten even stronger than Emi –the leader- and her companions, Ami and Umi.

"Original names much?"

"Just bring them back safely, or your chances are as good as gone," he said, closing the door behind me with a quiet click. The suspicious part of me grew even more wary of him from the way he said "your chances" instead of "our chances".

I snuck through the glass city, avoiding the flock wherever I saw them. I knew that I couldn't hide it from Angel, but the others would be oblivious and not have to either follow me or worry about me, just focus on the battle if it happened to come today. But fate wouldn't nearly be that cruel…I think.

In ten minutes, I had everything I needed, a pack with supplies and a bit of food. Sneaking quietly out of the city, I found that it was surprisingly easy. And the second that I was out the door, I launched myself into the air, going into hyperdrive before anyone could see me.

First of all, I knew that we were in the United States, but I had no idea where. The entire glass city was surrounded by miles and miles of desert, so we had to be somewhere with a desert. I was betting on California. And if we were in California, then getting to the School should be a piece of cake.

So, we bird-kids have an internal compass of sorts, which tells us exactly what direction we're going. Well, it doesn't really work like that. It's just instincts, that sort of thing. The same thing that makes birds fly south for the winter. Sometimes being two percent bird had its advantages. Like never having to shave – birds don't grow hair.

…How exactly did that explain Jeb's monopoly-guy mustache? Or the hair on our heads? I don't know. Maybe the heavens just decided to cut us a break. But really, it never made up for the fact that we had to deal with stuff like what I was dealing with right now. My hair whipped around my face roughly, and I could hardly breathe with how fast I was going.

It didn't really feel uncomfortable on my wings. I cut through the air like a knife, slim enough to go incredibly fast. And because I couldn't forget my way to the School even if I tried, I could get there incredibly fast. The entire way, I tried not to think about Iggy or Fang. But it was a lost cause.

When I saw the faint outline of that building, my heart almost soared as I let Fang and Iggy drift from my brain, and I swooped downward, stopping at the side of the building and hovering, desperately hoping I wouldn't be seen. I scaled the side of the building, my feet slipping on the cracks in between the bricks. I gripped the building harshly.

It was a slow work. But I couldn't just whip out my wings. There were people below me that wouldn't look up – not if I didn't make myself known. So I kept climbing, my fingers finally curling around the brick at the top. I pulled myself over the ledge quickly, lying flat on my back.

There were no guards patrolling the roof, which was unusual. I had the sickening thought that all the security would be placed protecting Emi, Ami and Umi. I quickly shook my head to get rid of the feeling. I crawled over to the center of the roof, which was quite a crawl, as the roof was simply huge.

Once I was there, at the edge of a particularly large skylight, I looked down timidly. There was no one in the large room that it was shining down on. It looked like some kind of lab. My blood boiled as I realized that this was probably the lab that they used for us, the lab where they mixed DNA and created mutants of all shapes and sizes.

The lights were off, and there was no one down there. I quickly calculated the possible outcomes. One, my dropping in could go unnoticed. Unlikely. Two, I would drop in and the alarms would sound, but it would take a while for security to get there. Possible. Three, I would drop in and then be immediately surrounded by security. Bingo.

I made a snap decision, because there was really no other way, and Dr. Harrison had emphasized that I needed to get this done as fast as I could, just in case the Erasers had already left for the glass city. So without further ado, I somersaulted forward and kicked my feet directly into the glass.

It crumbled beneath me, shattering almost instantly and giving in. I landed straight into the hole, dropping feet-first with the glass. I noticed one thing – it was a longer way down than I had originally thought. I tried not to cry out as I slammed into the ground, landing feet-first in a squatting position with my hand not far behind.

My hand came down on the broken glass harshly, the still-upright glass smashing awkwardly into my hand and drawing a jagged line of blood, which was quick to flow. I cursed at myself as the alarms went off, and I wiped the blood off my hand, clenching my fist tightly. I hurled myself across the room and into a huge closet, careful not to trail blood or glass in that direction. I shut the door just as I heard footsteps down the hall.

In a matter of seconds, I saw through the crack in the door the faint outlines of security rushing in, only to find me gone. There were several curses before a tired-looking Ari marched into the room. "Check the cameras, someone. Who was it?" He rubbed his head. "I have a feeling I know who," he muttered wearily, and I almost smiled with satisfaction.

But this was all wrong. Ari didn't have feelings. He was an uncaring, unfeeling Eraser with no regard whatsoever for human life. He didn't think before he acted or spoke, and he was as good as dead to me and the flock. I'd thought he died earlier this year, in Europe, but I was clearly wrong. They had put him back together.

"Great," Ari rolled his eyes as soon as he watched the tape that showed me breaking through the glass. I don't exactly think I looked as graceful as I had felt, plummeting thirty feet only to get my hand cut on the broken glass.

He walked across the room to the spot I'd fallen on. And all of a sudden, the same evil smile I was used to lit up his face. "Fresh blood," he picked up the piece of broken glass that had cut my hand and smelled it just like a dog. "She's here."

He grinned wickedly, looking around the room. "Come out and play, Max," he growled. And without warning, he stepped closer to my little broom closet. I cringed against the back of it, trying to hide myself behind the cleaning supplies. But he threw open the doors, and saw me, wide-eyed and defiant.

Lunging at me, I stepped nimbly to the side so that his face connected with where I'd been standing, smashing awkwardly into the wall. And I was running for my life. I whipped my wings out and jumped into the air, flying straight over the heads of the security guards and running down the hallway, with the sign that conveniently said "prison area". Yeah, that doesn't look illegal at all.

I pulled in my wings and ran on foot, down the long hallway. This was different than when I'd last been in the School. It appeared that they kept their prisoners in cells rather than cages now. They still kept their experiments in cages, however, but four years ago, even their human prisoners who had threatened to expose the School had been in cages.

I quickly looked in all the cells through the small window in the door. I was looking for teenage girls, not sure exactly what they looked like, as they had been wearing masks when I saw them. Originally, there had been four girls, but I assumed that one of them had tried to make a quick escape and been killed.

Where are they? My heart was pounding, and I could hear the clumsy mash of footsteps behind me as I tried to escape. They were chasing me, I was sure. To tell you the truth, I was ready for anything, hell, I was ready for spikes to come out the walls and toxic darts to pierce me in the neck.

But before I had a chance to see anything, any sign of the girls or where they were located, Ari appeared in front of me. And I saw that he had gotten taller, and he looked older, more ferocious, but he was still the same patchy Eraser. No surgery, no operation could ever fix that, no matter how many times they brought him back to life.

I barreled straight into him, but his hand caught my neck easily, his claws enclosing it and drawing the faintest amount of blood. Before I knew it, there were cuffs on my wrists, and I was tossed like a toy into the nearest jail cell. I whirled around. Someone else was in this cell – someone who looked just like an older version of me.

Angel POV

It had been hours. Max still wasn't back yet, and I was worried. No one could find Airi anywhere, and Fang still wasn't out of the hospital, although no one had really expected that. I could feel that the Erasers were coming, I could hear their voices in my head. I couldn't find anyone, and I was scared.

So I concentrated as hard as I ever had, holding my hands to my head. I sent out a message to the flock – the Erasers are coming! Meet on the roof! I prayed that it was heard, even if we only had Iggy, Gazzy and Nudge. This was bad. We were going to lose at this rate.

I ran through the halls of the glass city, looking everywhere. "Airi!" I hollered over and over again, searching the whole place. "Airi, the Erasers are coming!" I screamed. I was scared. I was confused. Why wasn't anything going right? I didn't want to die. "Airi, we need you!"

I knew that I should have been on the roof, giving the flock a pep talk like Max would do, but I just couldn't bring myself to tear myself away from Airi. We needed anyone and everyone. At the end of the hallway, I saw Total jumping up and down. Lately, I had almost forgotten about him., even though he slept at the foot of my bed every night.

Running right past him and ignoring him when he gave an indignant huff, I kept shouting. He ran after me, I could hear the pitter-patter of his feet on the floors. "I know where Airi is!" he barked at me. "Isn't she who you're looking for?" My head snapped around.

"Lead the way, wonder dog," I shook my head as he took the lead and started running. I ran after him, all the way down to Dr. Harrison's training room. I shook my head. I should have known. She had been training Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy all night, so it was only natural that she would be here.

"Over there!" he hollered, and I ran behind the punching bags to the corner of the room where Airi was slumped against the wall. Through the window, I could see the clouds of Erasers start to form, and I started to panic. "Airi!" I started to shake her. "Airi, wake up!"

She didn't budge, she was so exhausted. I saw the bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, and I knew that I had them, too. We'd all somehow known that today would be the day that the Erasers showed up. "Wake up, damn it!" I screamed in her ear.

Her eyes fluttered open, and the noise of the Erasers grew louder.

Airi POV

I woke up to Angel, screaming in my ears, tears of panic gathering in her eyes, and I could tell just from the howls and screams outside the window and echoing throughout the glass city that the Erasers were here. I jumped up, and relief washed through her face. I looked out the window, and hundreds of them were flying straight over our heads, hundreds more on the way.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me. If we didn't have the proper weapons, I knew we were going to lose, and we had to move fast. Reading my mind, she jumped up and followed me down the hall and into my bathroom. I dug through the top shelf of the cabinet and grabbed three cans of hairspray.

She followed me through the glass city, noticing the Erasers above us. Nudge was holding her own, and Iggy was lashing out at everything around him, but Gazzy was going down fast. Finally, we got to where we were going – the staff lounge, where all the smoking adults hung out.

I ran to the drawer at the far end of the room, rummaging through it and finally grabbing three lighters. I grinned to myself as we ran out of the room, and ran up the stairs in the back of the glass city, up to the roof. And it was crazy up there.

Erasers were as thick as pea soup, flying all around. Nudge was taking several down with her agility, but she couldn't keep it up forever. I saw Iggy in the crowd, and he was actually doing fine for being blind. But again, it was Gazzy who was getting clobbered.

"Gazzy!" I hollered, and he looked up. In a second, I was by his side, punching the Eraser straight in the face. Once he spiraled off the roof, I handed him one of the lighters and a can of hairspray. "Homemade flamethrower," I explained. I wondered lightly about giving a flamethrower to an eight year old. "Just make sure you don't hit any people with that. He nodded, grinning.

I got out of the danger zone soon enough, and found myself dodging Erasers right and left. I kicked a few, punched a few, but mostly, I was dodging them, ducking under their punches, and even jumping over a few. I immediately picked Iggy out by his strawberry-blonde hair, and immediately expanded my mental force field to block the Erasers out.

Once we were safely inside it, I pressed a lighter and a can of hairspray into his hand. "I'm sure you know what these are for," I grinned. "But please, please, fly to the outside of the Erasers. I'll tell the others to stay away from you." And I was gone, above the cloud of Erasers.

I knew it wasn't exactly smart to give the blind guy a flamethrower, but it was the best we could go. Everywhere, I could see giant flames as Angel, Iggy and Gazzy used the makeshift flamethrowers on the Erasers. But there were still too many. We needed Max back. I didn't know where she'd gone, but now wasn't the time to be asking questions.

There were more than when we had first fought them here, by hundreds. And as powerful as we were, we couldn't do all this. We needed help, new plans. Just doing a force field took a lot of energy out of me, and I couldn't keep doing that forever and wasting my energy.

If Max didn't come back, we'd be dead meat, I knew that as well as anyone did, but we were trying not to think about that. And I prayed no Erasers would get into the city. I couldn't think about the fact that Fang was in there, and if one of the Erasers got him, he'd be toast.

Below me, the fight raged on. I took a deep breath before diving down on one of the Erasers, grabbing him by the arm and flinging him off the edge of the building where he landed on the ground with a sickening crunch. But once they stuff you into a shoebox and feed you next to nothing, you learn not to care.

But more were advancing on me, and I sure wasn't killing them with my little kicks and punches. They were almost on top of me, suffocating me. I got kneed in the stomach and punched in the face, but that barely hurt when I felt one claw rake down my arm. I screamed, and kicked him off the edge, where he joined the other.

I grabbed a piece of my shirt and ripped it off, tying it around my arm. I gritted my teeth and kept on fighting. I couldn't let my arm stiffen up, so I kept using it, which probably wasn't the best thing to do either.

They were in the sky now. Because these weren't just Erasers, these were the winged Erasers. "Up, Iggy!" I yelled just in time for him to move to the left, sending the Eraser that had dive-bombed him smashing straight into the roof. Luckily, the roof was only the thickest glass. Still, after this, it would look like hell.

I could see a dark red stain forming through the cloth at my arm, and I could feel myself losing too much blood – fast. The world started to spin, and even a force field required the strength that I just didn't have anymore. I was in a haze, and I fell.

But before I blacked out, I remember being caught by two strong arms.

Max POV

I backed against the concrete wall, looking curiously at the girl in front of me. She was probably a few years older, but she looked just as scared and confused as I probably did. But the fact that she wasn't in the same cell as me wasn't what bothered me. It was the fact that she looked just like me.

She had thick blonde hair that waved around her shoulders, just like mine. She stood like a leader, tall and with authority, even though this was the last place in the world that one would have dignity. I almost fell over from shock when I saw the wings, the same tawny color as mine. But it was her eyes that gave me a curious sense of déjà vu.

I had seen her before, but I hadn't seen her face. It was the eyes I remembered. "You're that ninja girl!" I pointed at her. Her face had been covered at the time, with only her eyes showing. I remembered that I didn't really like her. "You must be Emi." She nodded slowly.

"I…I feel like I know you from somewhere," she said curiously, rubbing her forehead.

"You do!" I repeated. "You were the one on the rooftop that had the fake wings. And those look very, very real! Dang, they must have found a way to make popsicle sticks and glitter more realistic." She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Not just that. I feel like I know you from…nevermind," she shook her head, then looked me in the eye. "Why did you come?" she asked angrily. "They need your help with all of the Erasers. They're not from here, you know. Someone else is making them."

"I know," I answered. "I came to rescue you girls. We don't have enough people to fight all those Erasers. We need your help to fight them." I shook my head. "But enough about that. I need answers. Like, I thought you didn't have real wings. So what the hell are those?"

She was silent for a moment. "What do you know about Dr. Harrison, Max?" I didn't bother to ask why she knew my name. I was sure her precious Dr. Harrison had told her.

"Not much," I answered. "I know he takes care of us and that he's pretty much the overlord of that stupid glass city."

She took a deep breath. "Max, there's something you need to know. Dr. Harrison lied to us about our wings. He gave us a vitamin every night to keep us from remembering, saying that it was for our health. He's a liar, using all of us. He's evil."

As much as I wanted to tell her that it was true, I just couldn't. Airi was right – I didn't trust people. I was still having trouble trusting Airi, and I absolutely didn't trust Emi, and they weren't the evil ones. So instead I said, "He's probably just doing it so you won't get hurt. He probably cares about you too much to tell you something so life-changing."

She gave me an exasperated look. "Fine, have it your way. But all I know is that if we don't get back to the glass city left, your friends will die. We have to get out of here. But we also have to get Ami and Umi. They're in the cells next to and across from me."

I nodded, about to reply that I was sure I could handle it, but the door flew open. In walked a man, about twenty years old. I had to pause to make sure I wasn't drooling. He was tall, dark and handsome, with thick brown hair, deep eyes and perfect skin. He was beautiful.

"Go away, Ari," Emi glared at the man. My mouth dropped open as I looked from him to her.

"Ari?" I asked, wide-eyed. He turned his attention to me. But it wasn't possible! This Ari was all human, although he had the same eyes and slightly pointed features. The Ari I knew was a crazed lunatic beast, not a gorgeous supermodel-ish type human.

"He likes to come in here in his human form to make things 'easier' for me. I'll tell you something easier, you bastard," she glared at him. "Let us out of here!" He rolled his eyes.

"You know I'm not the one ordering this."

"But you can fix it!"

"Not unless I want to die!" And he walked out as quickly as he came in.

My eyes lingered on the door for a moment when it slammed behind him. "What was that all about?" I asked, irritated.

"Oh, that was just to 'check on me'," she gave an indignant huff, not unlike how I usually did. "He usually does that ever few minutes now. He thinks I'll escape somehow, and he's probably right, the sick bastard," she growled, but moisture pooled in her eyes.

"Is there something going on with you two?" I asked suspiciously.

"No!" she answered too quickly, and turned around to pound her head against the wall. "Yes," she sighed when she turned back around. "Look, long story short, I was here last year to do a spying job –solo- for Dr. Harrison. Ari caught me but didn't turn me in. I saw him every day, fell in love and all that crap, and then I never saw him again. End of story."

"You…fell in love…with Ari?" I almost gagged. "I mean, um, I'm sure a nice normal person could…fall in love...with an Eraser…" I trailed off, grimacing slightly. She buried her head in her hands.

"I know, I know!" she exclaimed. "But you have to understand, he wasn't an Eraser. He was a human. You see, when you become an Eraser, you immediately turn into a twenty-year old gorgeous man –well, at least if you're a guy. And so I know Ari is really only seven years old, but now he's twenty years old."

"I don't understand."

"He's part real Eraser, so it's in his blood naturally. Seven was just the age that it all kicked in, and he turned into a twenty-year old man-Eraser. His human form is perfect, because both of his parents were mostly human –his mom was half Eraser- but his Eraser form is always patchy because of all the human in him."

"I get it. Like, when he was seven, he was just a walking time bomb that went off."

"…You could look at it that way. Anyway, when I met him, by all respects, he was four years older than me. And eventually, Erasers do age, just, you know, not for a few years. But anyway, it just didn't work out. I just met him again, and obviously he's the same jerk that he is to everyone else. So, no biggie."

"You still love him, don't you?" I asked skeptically.

"Yes," she sobbed, and promptly fell over and sobbed into my shoulder. When had I gotten so close…?

"Okay, okay," I said in my most compassionate voice while at the same time trying to push her off of me. I wiped the tears off her face with my thumbs and looked out the window in the door. No one was in the hallway, but of course, the door was locked from the outside.

"We need to get out of here!" I shook her shoulders. "Alright, I, being Maximum Ride, have a plan! The next time Ari comes through that door, you cover his mouth and I'll knock him unconscious! Then we grab his keys and run out of here like there's no tomorrow!" I probably had a crazed look in my eye.

"You're insane."

"What, a girl can't have a catch phrase?"

And we waited silently for him to come in. She looked like she was really in pain, both being back at the School and being back with Ari, even though I knew zero percent of what went on between them other than what she'd told me. I just couldn't see Ari loving anyone. I remember when he loved me –not like that-, but it was a long time ago.

What seemed like hours upon hours was really only a few minutes. Before long, the door burst open, and I grinned as I saw Ari in his vulnerable human form. "Now!" I yelled before he could register a thought, and leapt at him, with Emi in tow. She clamped her hands over his mouth tightly and pinched his nose as I punched him in the stomach. Hard.

We didn't have any time to spare. Emi knew exactly where his keys were, having watched him for all the time he came in and out of her cell. She grabbed them expertly off his belt loop, and we had all of three seconds before we ran out the door and slammed it behind us, locking it harshly. The weak punch that I had given him hadn't knocked him out, and he pounded against the glass of the door.

"Emi!" he roared, but he couldn't hurt us. The concrete door stayed firmly in place, but she flinched all the same. I was already going across the hall to the room across from hers, where I saw a girl with red hair slumped against the wall, sleeping. But before I went inside, I saw a tear slip down Emi's cheek. "I'm sorry," she kept mouthing over and over as Ari pounded against the door.

I opened the door to the room and ran inside. The redhead heard my footsteps and woke up, her eyes blinking rapidly as she looked up at me. "Ami, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "We're getting you out of here. I have Emi, but do you know where…uh…"

"Umi?" she cut in.

"Yeah, her. Do you know what room she's in?" She nodded and grabbed my hand wordlessly, leading me to the room to the left of Emi's. Ari was still pounding on the door, and Emi was really crying now. Ami didn't say anything as I unlocked the door, met face-to-face with a dark-haired tall girl. "Umi," I clarified. She nodded, too.

And when I looked back at Ari and Emi, his fists were pounding at the door, and a long crack broke out on the front of the door. Ari was going to break it down, cement and all. "Run!" I shouted, and grabbed Emi's hand, practically dragging her along. Ami and Umi were right behind me, running as fast as we could. No guards were in the hallway, but it was only a matter of time before Ari called them.

We broke out of the long hallway and into the main hallway of the School – but we were on the balcony of the second floor. The first floor was right below us, but the thing was, the guards had already been called. And there were about a hundred of them cornering us against the railing.

I grabbed Emi's hand and squeezed tightly. "On three," I whispered, hoping she could take a hint. I took a deep breath. "One," I said, and flung myself off the railing, yanking Ami off with me. The others followed suit, and bullets flew past us, not hitting us. I zigzagged to the right, to the left, up and down, trying to avoid them. The doors were twenty feet…ten feet…

One of the bullets actually flew past us and hit the handicapped button that opened the door, and they flew open for us. In five seconds, we were outside, in the open air and speeding away from the School. "Thank you," Emi whispered. I didn't know if she was lying or telling the truth.

"We need to go back to the glass city," I said. "The Erasers are already there."

"Who are you?" Ami poked me curiously. "You look just like Emi.

"That's Max," Emi said in a bored tone of voice.

"Nice to meet you," Ami said, practically hugging me in midair. Umi didn't say anything, flying next to me but far away at the same time. I hadn't heard her talk once.

Was it just me, or did they resemble my own flock?

Airi POV

My brain was a haze. I wanted to lift my head and open my eyes, but the pain in my arm was too much. I remembered losing a lot of blood before I blacked out, and now it was stiff. I then decided that it was my arm that was scratched, not my eyelids, so I opened one eye to see Fang holding me.

But he wasn't just holding me. He was holding me while punching out Erasers and trying not to fall over from the pain in his side. And he was still managing to kick serious Eraser ass. Without warning, I sprang out of his arms and onto the roof, and he gave me a small smile of gratitude.

I left him, he appeared to be holding his own for a while. I made my way over to Nudge, who was fighting the crowd as best she could. Max had now been gone for about two hours. We had already killed or fatally wounded hundreds, but hundreds more were swarming us. The flamethrowers had worn off long ago.

I still wasn't strong enough to use my force field. It was useless if I couldn't fight, so I fought on my own like the rest did. So I stood back-to-back with Nudge, kicking and punching and swinging her around against the Erasers until my arm felt like it was going to break off, and even then, I kept fighting.

Several times, I wanted to give up, thinking that it wasn't worth it anymore. I'd thought that this would be the end. I had fought so hard in my life, and I knew that I'd be as pathetic as one of the Erasers, or worse, to be killed now, but I was tired, and all alone. Fang was losing badly, Gazzy wasn't strong enough, and all Iggy's blind rage was tiring him out.

Nudge and I were the only ones holding our own, but her ankle had been hurt badly, and there was the matter of my arm. We were totally helpless, fighting for our lives, when they could kill us any time they wanted to. Not to say that they weren't trying, of course.

At that point, what I was thinking was, God, what I wouldn't give for a baseball bat.

A while ago, Total had gotten in the mix, snapping at Erasers' ankles and causing them to trip, falling off the edge of the building. He probably hadn't killed a single one, but at least he was helping to thin out the crowd.

Suddenly, a clawed fist snapped out, lashing across my face. I fell back into Nudge and crashed down on the roof, but he picked me back up by my shirt and threw me over the edge of the building. It was lucky I had landed on a pile of Erasers, but I was far from alright. The pain in my body overwhelmed me, and I groaned.

Tears streaked my cheeks and blurred my vision as I hid against the side of the building, behind some other Erasers, and I noticed the same Eraser looking around for me. He looked down, and grinned when he saw me, and it killed me that I wasn't helping the flock, but sitting in a pile of Erasers, ready to die.

That is, until something slammed into the Eraser. But it wasn't a something – it was a someone. Max was back.

Angel POV

I saw Max fly through the air, flanked by three other girls, all older than she was and all with murderous glares on their faces as they slammed into the Erasers, smashing heads and punching furry faces. In seconds, Erasers were flying through the air. And when I say flying, I mean being hurled by super-strong ninja girls with real wings.

Expertly landing on the Eraser that had been attacking Airi, Max hurled him off the side of the glass city as the other girls sliced through the air, picking out the weaklings and tossing them off.

A redhead landed behind me, sending me a grin before she kicked an Eraser away from me. We stood back to back, even though she was easily two feet taller. I saw a tall, dark-haired girl come to Fang's side, quickly killing the Eraser that he'd been battling with. She had the same hair, the same dark wings. He looked at her in wonder.

Max and the older blonde girl looked at each other and nodded, and Max took a running start –it was a miracle that she could, with the roof so full of Erasers- and threw her hands up on the blonde girl's back, doing a perfect flip over her, arching and finally bringing her feet down on an Eraser, punching him until he was unconscious.

Once again, I kept having the feeling that someone else was involved with this, that someone was controlling the Erasers. I kept hearing jumbled thoughts, different from the Erasers. Horrible, maniacal thoughts. Kill the flock and all that jazz. I made my way over to Max, and looked up at her in the middle of the 'battlefield'.

I know someone is controlling the Erasers, I thought hard at her. I have to find out who it is.

Angel, it's too dangerous!

Max, I have to. I've been so horrible to you. I can at least do this, I thought sadly, and with that, I was off. I felt so guilty about breaking up her and Iggy's love, but I couldn't do anything about it now. Instead, I'd find out just who was running this show.

I swooped down, looking both ways before opening and shutting the front doors quickly. As soon as I got inside, I heard that same maniacal voice in my head, the one that kept whispering those crazy, deranged things. I got closer to it as I made my way down to the basement of the glass city, where it was dark.

And suddenly, I was afraid, and it was just me, alone with all those deranged thoughts. And I wanted Max to come and save me, wishing I'd taken her advice, but I was all alone now. Suddenly, two arms shot around me and held me in a choke hold. I pounded my fists furiously against whoever it was. "Let me go!"

The lights were flicked on, and I looked up to see Dr. Harrison, and all the thoughts were coming from him. He released me, and I fell back with him towering over me. "Dr. Harrison?" I asked, trying not to sound as afraid as I felt. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because," he sneered. "I'm not from the School – I'm your real enemy. I lured you into the glass city through a colleague of Max's mother's, and now you're doomed to die. But I can't just let you get away unscathed, you know. You might go tell Max, and we don't want that," he grinned a blood-chilling grin.

He grabbed me by my shirt collar and hoisted me up. "Listen. If you tell Max about any of this, your wings disappear. That machine over there," he pointed behind him, "will take your wings away." And to prove his point, he snapped his fingers, and my wings disappeared. Before I could protest, he snapped again, and they were back.

"But if you don't tell, you'll die. Think about it. Live without wings forever, or live without the flock forever? Remember, you'll just die anyway," he laughed. "I have an entire army of Erasers at my command. Now, I'll let you think about it. Go. Shoo." He laughed one last laugh, and then disappeared.

Up above, I heard a loud thump. All the Erasers had been deactivated.

Max POV

The Erasers were too many, even with Ami, Emi and Umi to help us. I was glad that they had tried to come to our rescue, but it looked like this would be the end for us. And I didn't want to die. I'd fight until the end, but even I knew when enough was enough, and we were definitely in deep shit.

But when I looked across the 'battlefield' and saw an Eraser push Iggy off the edge of the glass city, I screamed. In that moment, I realized that I had to let Fang go, because I loved Iggy. It would always be him, and I'd never let him go again. I'd made an incredible mistake.

I now saw that Iggy was the one for me, he had always been the one for me. Fang and I hadn't been right together, but I loved Iggy more than anything, now and forever. I lunged off the side of the building just in time to catch him in midair. "Max?" he asked, breathless.

I nodded. I lifted his hand to my head so he knew. And I pressed my mouth against his.

Emi POV

There we were, fighting for our lives, and I thought it would be the last one I ever fought. This would be the last thing I ever did. And strangely, I didn't care. Because nothing mattered more in the world to me than destroying every single one of those furry pests that looked like and reminded me of Ari.

But they weren't him. They just weren't him, yet I was seeing his face on every one. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape speeding toward us, but I ignored it. It was probably just another Eraser, late for the party. But it wasn't. I snapped around, and I saw Ari, landing on the roof behind me.

He immediately began punching, kicking and clawing every Eraser he could get his hands on. And before I knew it, he was fighting alongside me. I knew what was coming, but I didn't want to talk to him. I never wanted to see him again, yet here he was, and for some reason, I was almost happy.

"I need to talk to you," he growled between punches, morphing back into his human form. "You are the most stubborn, obnoxious, bossy, bratty human I've ever met!" he said angrily.

"Gee, thanks, I feel the love," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I kneed the Eraser in front of me, hard.

"But I love you," he grabbed my hand, and it was like we were invisible to the rest of the world. "I'm sorry I acted horribly to you, Emi. I just thought that if I made you hate me, you'd forget me. But I don't want you to." And I wanted horribly to give in.

"No," I replied instead. "I can't…I don't want…I don't want this." And I broke free of his hand, intent on making myself forget him even more by killing a few Erasers. But at that exact moment, all of them, ever single on, dropped to the ground where they were standing, deactivated.

Airi POV

The damage was great after that. Angel looked like she'd been through hell, and the others were all going to need medical help. The glass city would need a new layer of glass and a whole lot of construction, and all the Erasers would have to be burned as soon as possible.

Dr. Harrison congratulated us and reassured us that everything was going to be fine. But for some reason, when his eyes lingered on Angel, she looked at her toes uncomfortably, guiltily.

It was decided that the new girls would stay, and live in the glass city with us. Dr. Harrison predicted that the Erasers would undoubtedly not be back, but even I doubted that. I knew that they would always be back, unless we killed whoever was controlling them.

I almost growled when Ari stood up and announced that he loved Emi, and that he would be staying. Fang mirrored my look of hate, his eyes lingering to his side, and Ari's eyes met his. "The past is in the past," he said, "But I'm sorry for anything that I did. To all of you. I don't expect you to forgive me now. One day you will."

"I will never forgive you, you heartless bastard-" Fang and Emi both said at the same time, then looked down.

"He's staying," Max surprised us by saying, grabbing his hand, with Iggy's in her other. "He helped us, and he proved that he wasn't a traitor." She looked at Emi when she said this. "I know he's done terrible things to all of us, and there's a time to forgive and forget. It doesn't have to be now, but he's staying."

She looked at all of us. "You will treat him well."

Surprisingly, Ari looked like he had actually grown up. He was older than any of us, old enough to make Fang look like a child and certainly old enough to be wise. He was trying, he really was. I didn't want to forgive him for starving me, beating me and imprisoning me, but he had actually joined us.

"In that case, I'm afraid I have one more thing to say," he grinned, his fangs glinting. "I hate to put a damper on things, but there's something that I have to tell you." He jumped up onto the long table that we'd been sitting in front of, faced the front, and looked straight at Dr. Harrison.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this man is a lying son of a bitch!" he shouted, and a look of pure and unbridled rage crossed Dr. Harrison's face, but Ari didn't seem to mind. "He's lied to you all and endangered your lives, not to mention sending all the Erasers after you. He's a lying bastard, a fraud!"

Did you make it out alive? xD Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a review! I'll have pics of Emi, Ami and Umi on my profile -along with one of Ari in his human form-. This took me, like, days to write D:

Thank youu~~!

~Rachel