"Far out Az, a little warning next time?"

"Blah, blah Ella. You alright Max?"

"Jesus, what the Hell was that?" I asked breathlessly, anger flaring through m voice as my body landed butt first on the floor.

"Jesus has nothing to do with it," Azkadelia replied, her docile voice drifting from across the echoing room.

Ella offered me her hand. "Not the most graceful landing, but you'll get used to it. She tends to do spontaneous things whilst pissed off." Yeah, no kidding.

"Hello? I am in the room. No need to speak of me in third person…"

"Sorry. Azkadelia tends to do spontaneous things whilst pissed off. Better?" she asked sarcastically.

"Much," the Queen replied stubbornly. "Honestly, what are you still doing on the floor?" As the question was directed at me, I turned to face Azkadelia to answer—but couldn't. I stared as intense bursts of brilliant fire materialized around her, wrapping around the Queen's body in ribbons of fiery light, the opposite of what I would expect from a Demon. As she moved to sit, the vines rearranged themselves into a solid throne, the colour shining a deep, glittering gold.

Ella heaved me upward, fragile looking arm possessing more strength than I would have guessed.

"Okay Az, why'd you bring us here?" she asked, arms folded across her chest.

"Or more importantly, where are we?" I gazed around, the room's grand decor making it very obvious that this was a ballroom. Two spiralling stairwells curved gracefully from different sides of the room, the two converging to the platform on the second story of the building. People clad in all white milled around the room, journeying in and out as they carried various items. There was one woman holding a clipboard as she gestured at a group of people carrying vases of gorgeous flowers, reels of ribbon and various table settings. It looked like there was going to be a party…

"What's going on here?" I added in a murmur, turning to face a lounging Azkadelia.

She cast her black eyes across the room lazily as if she had just noticed the people around her.

"By the looks of things we're in a palace."

Ella rolled her eyes in annoyance at Azkadelia's mocking tone. "This is the Dragons" Kingdom. It's King Ares" palace." It was weird, hearing him addressed as King Ares.

"This is our palace," the Queen added, stressing the fact that it was her home too.

"It looks like there's some celebration going on here soon," I remarked, voicing my earlier thought.

"A wedding actually," Ella replied, smiling brilliantly, a sly gleam in he usually innocent features.

"Really? I've never been to a wedding before." And, more importantly, I'd never been to one of the awesome after parties either.

"Trust me, you're not really missing much," Azkadelia grumbled, her eyes cast upward in boredom.

"Whose is it?" I didn't know many people, but there was a slim chance that this was someone I had begrudgingly met before.

"Mine," Azkadelia answered flatly, her tone dead. "But the way things are going I'm thinking of ditching the idea."

I gaped in complete shock. "Wait, you're only just getting married?"

"You wouldn't "ditch" the idea," Ella stated easily, eyes rolling as she made mock quotation marks with her hands. "You're too in love with Ares to do that."

"Uh, isn't she already the Queen though?" I asked louder, trying to get a reply out of either of the two girls.

"I hate him," Azkadelia spat, ignoring me. Her eyes darkened, the obsidian growing even more menacing as the sound of rattling plates began to echo across the room. My eyes drifted from the pair toward the group of decorators, their widened gazes fixed on the floating plates as they shook violently.

"Uh, guys…?

"You hate what he did, there's a difference. Don't get me wrong, I want to punch Dylan at the moment too but…"

"Guys…" The plates began to shutter even more violently, the group of people across the room beginning to creep away slowly.

"Are you siding with them now?" Azkadelia asked, moving to sit up, her body tense."

Ella snorted. "God no. I'm glad we're away from them. But I hate to see you like this Az, it's kind of freaky."

"Kind of freaky? And whose fault is that?" she yelled, the levitating plates exploding into shards that rained across the room. The detonation sent people bolting, which finally attracted the girls" attention.

"Crap!" Azkadelia swore, fists clenched. "And where there's an explosion there's always a—"

"Afternoon ladies."

Azkadelia sighed. "Dragon. What do you want?" she asked roughly, moving her arms to fold across her chest. My gaze swept across the room to focus on our newest arrival, who had very subtly appeared out of nowhere—no fire, no black ribbons, just a simple phasing in. Deciding it was a nice change, I scanned the man's physique, which couldn't have been any older than twenty-one, before feeling a surge of recognition flare through my mind. With hair as gold as the sun and eyes as bright as the most vibrant of flames, the similarities were too exact to be anything other than Ares" brother. A little smaller, I guessed that he was probably younger than the Dragon King, but definitely no less handsome.

"Nothing much, just checking out what all the racket is. What do you want?" he asked, completely absorbed with the Queen. Does he like her? Now that would be troublesome. From what I'd seen of Ares, he was all fun and games until you got in his way—then he very quickly morphed into the shoot to kill type man; then he turned into Fang. I shuddered just thinking about it; I knew for a fact that Fang would kill someone if they got in his way—and that was using Lissa as an example.

"The truth," she replied simply, her tense body relaxing back into her throne. "But obviously that's out of the question."

The Dragon's head tilted slightly, a concerned frown decorating his face. "What's wrong Az?"

"Nothing, isn't that right Max?" I blinked at the very subtle change of conversation. I have to remember that…

"Uh…" Yes, that was my brilliant reply. Sad thing was I'd had worse.

The Dragon turned to me. "Hmm…she's not very articulate is she?" Azkadelia shrugged in reply. "Well Max, if I may call you so, my name is Erik."

"He's Ares" younger brother," Ella added as she collected the broken plate fragments from the floor.

"Well that's obvious, he's pretty much Ares incarnate except smaller," I stated without realizing. Only once I recited the blunt line did I recognize how blunt it actually was.

Azkadelia burst out in laughter, nearly falling off her throne. "Well you can't argue with that logic Erik."

"So it would seem…Anyhow, back to the main question, despite the very subtle change of conversation might I add, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing's bothering me Erik! Jesus, why would you think that anyway?"

Erik gave the Queen a very distinct Are-you-serious? look. "You're eyes are as black as midnight. That's reason enough to suspect death to the Demon King. So…what's up…?" He drew the question out dramatically.

"How many times do I have to tell you nothing's wrong!" With her maddened words came destruction once more, which was becoming a habit as of lately. The chandelier in the centre of the ballroom snapped from the ceiling, the crystalline lights falling before hitting the ground and smashing into shattered fragments seconds later. Erik didn't bother turning around, but instead stared at Azkadelia with an irritated look. "If dad was here, he'd be pissed. I'm finding Ares." Erik moved toward one of the grand entrances and a panicked look struck the Queen's face, causing her to fall to her feet quickly.

"No, Erik don't!" Eyes wide, Azkadelia outstretched clenched hands, her fingers flaring outward from her palms in a really cliché way. The move caused Erik to freeze, his body stopping dead. You'd think I'd be used to this continual use of magic…

I wasn't.

"I thought you said that you specialised in fire type magic. So why the Hell do you keep using other types of magic so…fluently?

Azkadelia frowned. "Fluently?"

Ella snorted. "She didn't specialize. Her power makes it impossible to do so."

"Okay then, what is her power?" I asked Ella, for Azkadelia was still mulling over my word choice.

"Azkadelia's power is the source of all power—it allows her to do anything."

"Again with the third person," Azkadelia commented as she fell into her chair gracefully. "If you're going to try and explain this to her, you're going to have to start from the beginning," the Queen stated casually, observing the frozen Dragon across from her.

"Right, my bad," Ella said thoughtfully. "Where to start…"

"Uh, from the beginning?" Azkadelia suggested, her tone implying that Ella's question was stupid.

Ella rolled her eyes. "Okay then, the start. Millennia ago, in this realm of magic, one prime source of power existed, one which all magical beings drew their magic from. This source of light was known as the Emblazon, and was entrusted by King Lucifer and Gabriel themselves, before their separation, to the Dragon Monarchs. Each time the bestowed of this power died, it would pass on to its successor, and they would be crowned the new monarch of the kingdom. Now this magic, this light, was the source of all magical beings" power. Hence, without this magic it was impossible to use one's own. For example, if the magic was to somehow burn out, to theoretically die, then all magical beings would lose their power, effectively making them human. Get it so far?"

"One question—why would Lucifer and Gabriel just give this power away if it was some Godly magic that was all-powerful?"

Ella smiled. "Because Angels and Demons aren't magical beings. We can use magic, as seen through our specialised gifts, but we aren't actually creatures of magic."

"That doesn't even make sense!" I cried in annoyance.

Azkadelia sighed loudly, gaining our attention. "God Ella you're doing a terrible job at this. This Emblazon, Dragon Flame or Fire, whatever you want to call it, is really, really powerful, so everyone uses it. Think of it like a candle. You have one really big candle, do you waste another match to light the other candles, or do you use the already lit one? You use the big candle that is already burning. So, all the smaller candles use the big candle's fire to light their wicks. That's the basic idea; one power source to fuel them all. Okay, do you get that?" I nodded, though I wasn't appreciating the mocking tone. "Good. Next we move on to the actual History."

"I flunked History," I stated. "I hate it, so if this is boring…"

"Hmm, I wonder why you flunked History. Boring, please?" She snorted in disbelief. Humph. I liked Azkadelia when she wasn't treating me like a retard. "This power, it was last seen in the Dragon Queen Elizabeth the Wise. She was one of the greatest Queens the Dragon world had ever seen—beautiful, powerful, just, wise. A psychic, she also had visions of the future. Beloved by as many that were envious of her, this Queen also had a flaw, one that every monarch that bestowed this great power was also cursed with—insanity. Because this magic was so great, because those who held it were drained when others drew on the Flame's power, it caused random bursts of insanity in those who embraced it. This would often lead to the demise of the monarch before being moved onto the next generation. But not with Queen Elizabeth. Seeing in her future the death and destruction of those she loved and those she would grow to love because of this power, she made the ultimate sacrifice—the Queen imprisoned this power into a new being, into a new domain, and in doing so separating this light from the rightful heirs, the Dragons."

Ella cut in next. "With this separation she left one riddle, one for the entire Realm to hear. "The Dragon Flame will arise again in the form of a new era. It is hidden deep within the heart of the Dragon Kingdom." For centuries after this time magical beings sought to unearth this power, but none succeeded. However, as the Flame had not been destroyed those born of magic could still harness its power, so not all was at a loss. Except of course, the Dragon Kingdom was no longer known as the superpower of the Realm any longer. The race split in two, half following King Lucifer, the other following King Gabriel, their independence crumbling without the Flame to ensure their power. Those who believe the Queen to have deceived their race broke away to follow the Angelic King, while those who stayed faithful, who believed the Queen gave up her power for a reason, followed the Demonic King."

"So then there are two sets of monarchs then? Those who follow Lucifer and those who follow Gabriel?"

"Mm, no. There is one Monarch, which would be Ares now. It's his birthright—he is the most powerful Dragon, he's the King. The power runs in the family."

"What Azkadelia said," Ella stated, waving the Queen off. "So, the Queen died because she gave up her magic, and in doing so she changed the future. How she did it, we have no idea. We also have no idea what future it was she saw, only that it drove her to hide this great power. And so, the following generations lived without the Flame, the whole Kingdom entering an era of despair over their great loss. Until the Flame was rekindled in the form of a new being—a new era."

"I'm just taking a wild guess here, but don't tell me, it was Azkadelia?"

The Dragon Queen slow clapped. "Well done Max!"

"Shut up."

"Queen Elizabeth couldn't put the Flame into her son or his wife, for they were both Dragons, and nothing would change. So, she had to think abstract—she looked into the future, in search for a being that wasn't a Dragon, but was somehow connected to the Dragon realm, ensuring that the Flame would stay with the rightful heirs. And in this future she saw her Great-grandson, the first Immortal Dragon this world would ever see—King Ares."

"You've got to be kidding me," I replied dully. "That had to be the most anti-climatic ending I have ever heard in my life."

Ella ignored the comment. "With him Elizabeth saw the insane one over there, and for some reason the very heart of the Dragon Kingdom through her. And so, she hid the Flame inside Azkadelia, knowing one day that she would be involved with the Dragon Kingdom."

"So that's why you're insane?" I asked obnoxiously.

"I am not insane!"

"Is that all you got out of that?" Ella asked in disdain. "Az's emotions shift. She can usually control them, but when she gets hit with a bombshell like before…she loses it. Her eyes shift colours with her emotions. Black for infuriation, blue for sadness, yellow for joy, pink for childish behaviour, oh and a personal favourite, red for—"

"Yeah okay I think she gets it," Azkadelia growled, teeth clenched.

Ella laughed, shaking her head as she did so. "Oh, this is also kind of out of the blue, but when Ares changed into his Dragon form, you were…amazing. I'm guessing you're going to have a lot of potential."

"Uh…what?" I wasn't sure how being scared shitless was amazing.

"No, no, you don't get it. Dragon's have this weird…fear thing. Whenever they're in their true form people run for the hills, it's just what happens with them. It's not that they're ugly or anything, I mean they're some of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen, but when you first see them, it's like an impression that stops people dead with fear. I think it makes them easier to eat actually."

"Mm, tempting." I think I was going to vomit.

"Anyway, like I was saying, most people when they see Dragons? They faint, run, kill themselves…"

"Man," Azkadelia stated enviously. I laughed.

"What did you do?" I asked, my interest piqued.

"She ran," Ella answered before Azkadelia had the chance to.

"Hey, he was going to eat me! And no I am not joking."

Ella laughed. "I fainted. Shit, it was so freaking horrifying. I don't even know why I was so scared, looking back. Ares has to be one of the most gorgeous Dragons I've ever seen."

"You guys are crazy," I said. "He's so God damned…" I couldn't finish the sentence, it gave me the shudders. "No, but you know what's beautiful?" I asked, gazing around. "This place. It's…wow, I don't even have a word for it. This place is amazing, not like that horrible Demonic Palace."

Azkadelia shook her head, her face becoming solemn once more as she walked out onto the huge…balcony? Considering it was on the first floor I didn't know what to call it. It was definitely too magnificent to be called a porch or patio. Exchanging looks, Ella and I followed, walking outside to meet a very serious looking Queen leaning against the rail. The wind blew the black strands of hair across her unmarred features gently as the setting sun cast golden lights across her face.

"This place is pretty, it is. But Max, this doesn't compare one bit to the Demonic kingdom. That place…it's one of the most beautiful you'll ever see."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked more loudly than intended. "That place is full of death and darkness and despair."

Azkadelia smiled sadly, black eyes gazing into the distance. "How wrong you are Maximum. You see such darkness and despair because you yourself despise the very idea of such an "evil" place." He fingers formed mock quotation marks. "You see darkness because you're fearful of this realm, the kingdom, the people. If you truly open your eyes Max, if you truly notice that Kingdom for what it is? You'll see the true meaning of beauty."

"To do that would be the same as trusting these people, becoming one of them."

Azkadelia's next words froze me solid.

"Oh Max, you already are."

"I—no. I'm not one of these…things, I—"

"Max, I've made the same decision as you, except I made it twenty-seven years ago. I had this same difficult choice laid out before me, a huge puzzle to piece together in order for me to make the right decision. And although you think that these people are soul sucking mother-fuckers, and don't get me wrong a lot of them are, I knew the second I made it that I made the right one."

"But how? Why? What could possibly persuade you to join this side, let alone any?" I knew I sounded incredulous, accusing and a little hysterical all at the same time, but I truly couldn't understand why anyone would join these people. I didn't even know if I could call them people. I wasn't like them—I wouldn't kill someone like Fang had no matter how much I threatened to. These people were emotionless. They were cold, hard killing machines, the only good thing coming out of the whole shenanigan being that they didn't sparkle in the sunlight.

It was because of those thoughts that the next words startled me so completely.

"Because I fell in love."

Ella said the words so softly that the meaning screamed legions, the effect shattering my thought process completely.

"I…what? How could you…" I was unable to finish my question as my broken words drifted off and numbness filled my mind and body. Love? Was that even possible?

You said yourself that you were in love with Fang.

Did not.

Did too, did too, did too!

Ugh, I was so not having this argument with myself right now.

"It is not your place to decide whether one is capable of love Max," Azkadelia said softly, her voice as graceful as the wind swirling her hair, as beautiful as the radiating sun itself. Both Ella and I stared at her, whose voice had taken on a calm and gentle demeanour for the first time in over an hour. And then, against all odds, the onyx black faded from her eyes, draining into a brilliant gold once more. Azkadelia blanched, blinking as she clutched the railing furiously. One of her hands raced to her forehead, clutching it as if to rid herself of a painful headache.

"Oh God, I feel terrible. What happened?"

I felt my mouth fell open at the extremely innocent looking Dragon Queen. Sneaking a glance at Ella, I noticed her features resembled that of an anime character after a friend did something stupid. I almost expected her to fall sideways as well. Obviously, we were in the same boat.

"Max didn't do anything, did she?" Azkadelia asked as she eyed my shocked features. This time it was my turn to fall sideways.

"Are you kidding me—?"

"Let it go," Ella said, her eyes wary as she began backing up. Her browns narrowed as she entered the ballroom once more, disappearing from sight. I frowned, about to head into the room after Ella before Azkadelia once again snared my attention.

Through her tormented screams.

I whipped around to face her once more, the sight of the helpless Dragon Queen one I hadn't expected to see this day. After the way she had easily taken down the Demons and Ares, I hadn't thought Azkadelia was someone to scream in pain. Guess I was wrong. The Queen clutched her head frantically, her eyes wide in both pain and panic. It was the most vulnerable I had seen her, almost as vulnerable as when Ares had trapped me in a vortex of fire. As she sunk to the floor, I finally forced my body into action.

"Azkadelia, what's—?"

"People…people are all…using magic…at the same…time…" Azkadelia let loose another cry of pain, falling from her knees to her backside as she collapsed all the way to the floor.

I backed away from her scream unwillingly. Damn, this girl has a set of lungs… "I don't understand, what do you mean they are all using magic at the same time? What does that have to do with your pain?"

"Remember…candles…the biggest flame…lights them all…" Azkadelia choked as the scream tore from her lungs. "Too many…candles…trying to take the…fire…at the same…time…" The Dragon Queen was panting, her body tiring of the pain quickly. Another thing registered—she'd remembered the history lesson she'd given me.

And then, revelation!

Too many people were drawing the Flame's power at once, causing this pain in Azkadelia. She couldn't handle the extreme pressure, which should have been obvious from the beginning. But I knew, I knew that this was no coincidence. Someone was doing this on purpose to Azkadelia…

…someone who thought she was still on a wild rampage. The one Azkadelia had mysteriously forgotten about. But, as I finally figured all this out, someone had already beaten me to the punch-line.

Bright light pulled me from my musings as Ares appeared crouching behind Azkadelia, a murderous look on his face. I had to say, it gave me the creeps. I saw the wild expression from over the Queen's shoulder, her head dropped forward in exhaustion. Her struggling had stopped, and now she just sat there limply, eyes closed as sweat dripped down her body. Ares looped his arm around her back and beneath her legs before scooping her into his chest gently. As her head fell limply into his torso I noticed the way his eyes softened at his Queen's obvious vulnerability. Azkadelia's hand came to rest almost helplessly at the crook of the Dragon's neck, curling into him defensively. Well, that was definitely a change from earlier on. Ares, finally taking his eyes off his fiancé, gazed down at me, the innocent bystander in all of this.

Wow, I never really though those two words would be used to describe me. Ever.

The last of the sun's rays caught the Dragon's blonde hair, turning it an even darker gold as the star drew even closer to dropping behind the horizon completely.

"Seeing as though you were brought here against your will, you probably won't be…tormented too much." The mischievous smirk that crossed his face made my skin crawl.

"What do you mean?" I asked warily, eyes narrowed as I unconsciously backed away.

"I mean, you're next." With those haunting words he turned from me, cradling Azkadelia as he literally walked into a rectangle of fire. In my opinion, I'd seen too much fire over the last week. Was it even a week? I didn't know. I was losing track of the days, as if time didn't matter, or worse, didn't exist. Oh Lord, I was so unstable. I needed to get out of here…this place was making me insane—

I hadn't realized I was still backing up until I slammed into something solid. Blinking, I tried to figure out why I would have rammed into a wall. There shouldn't have been any close to me…The thoughts lasted about one second before my mind registered what was happening, which had to have been faster than simply looking behind me.

I jumped from that space of time to the next, eyes wide. "Oh God." As quickly as I could I dropped to the floor, my jeans scraping on the rough ground. This may have been a palace, but no matter what extensive materials they used to build it out of, the floor still hurt. As soon as I hit the ground I rolled, spinning toward the ballroom entrance. When I was sure I was too far out of range for my "predator" to snare my body I rushed to my feet, my arms scratched from the rolling. I blinked in confusion once more when I realized there was no-one in sight.

"What the…?"

"You're fast on your feet, I'll give you that," he whispered, his breath giving me the shudders as it crept across my neck. It was at that point that my sluggish mind caught up with my instinctive body, arm flying backward in search of a target. When it hit nothing and sent my body swirling with its force, I found myself facing him.

"Evening," he said, his voice not exactly casual, but nowhere near as intense as usual.

I frowned, not in anger, but annoyance. I felt a spark of my usual self flare through my body. I was tired, I was confused, and I really wanted to punch something. Fang gave me that exact opportunity.

"The sun's still up," I shot, shoving Fang backwards and away from me with as much force as I could. Clearly not expecting my actions, he stumbled backward. I stood firmly in place, arms folded across my chest in my Don't-mess-with-me stance.

After regaining his balance, Fang copied my posture. He just happened to stand a lot taller than I did.

"Looking for a fight are we?" he asked, a light smile just beginning to surface.

"When am I not?" I asked. Ever since entering this stupid Plain I'd been weak, powerless and extremely fragile. Not anymore. I. Was. Over. It.

I didn't know what set him off, whether it was my words, thoughts or the look on my face. All I knew was that in the next instant he jumped me, the predatory grin sliced into his face as his eyes flared a bright, vibrant red. Not expecting the sudden movement, the best I could do was dodge sideways. The move was barely fast enough to miss his attack, and as I spun to face my opponent he had once more disappeared again.

"Damn it! That's not fair!" The best I could do was back myself up against the wall, keeping eyes open to my surroundings.

"Life's not fair," he shot back as he materialised right in front of me. Eyes wide, I moved toward the right, but was too slow. As I began sideways Fang's arm slammed into the wall, effectively blocking my way. He leaned in toward me, causing me to lose even more of my personal space.

"I win," he whispered, a mischievous smile crossing his face.

"No, you don't," I near growled, face close to his in irritation. And then my body acted before my mind had even thought it through.

I kissed him.

I threw my entire body into that small action, forcing him away from the wall. Shocked, Fang stumbled backward, mouth opening to mine willingly. My hands latched onto the blackness of his hair, forcing him onto me fiercely. Not that he needed any encouragement. As he began pushing back at me just as violently, I took my opportunity. Without breaking apart, I mustered as much strength as I could into my arm.

And punched him.

I can tell you know, it was like punching a brick wall.

"Fuck!" I yelled as I shook my hand, trying desperately to make the pain drain away. Of course, it didn't. It just managed to make it bleed even more. My eyes sought Fang's body, which was currently coming to a stand. The blow had forced him to the ground, caught off guard, and now he looked, well…absorbed. Interested. He looked like he was about to have some fun. Eyes narrowed, I refused to back away. It was time to bring back the real Max. Time to bring back Maximum Ride.

Fang stood to his true height, a line of deep red blood running down his face. Wiping the stream away, he observed the crimson colouring his fingertips, an astonished look crossing his face. That gaze then morphed into a predatory gleam.

"You truly shouldn't have done that," he said deeply, voice intimidating as he moved to stand over me. My head snapped upward at his sight, refusing to back down. He rested his index finger under my chin, forcing it even further upward to meet his eyes squarely. The blow to his cheek had already healed, red blood drying to his face. Heart racing, his next words caused a new wariness to set in.

"I have something to show you."