Aj: April Fools! The chapter that we find out what broke Fang is NOW not next chapter.

Anika: Since Aj loves April Fools Day so much, she has pranked me eleven times today! My hair is pink because of her!

Aj: it's a beautiful day!

Not your fault, Max. We had been walking in the maze again for the past half an hour, trying to find any of the flock that might be in danger. Why is it that I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had loomed on me since I had touched the Ouijii board. An empty pit had loomed over me since I had found out that Dylan had loved me enough to sacrifice himself for me, especially when I treated the dirt on the bottom of my boots better than I treated him. Not only was I overcome with a bunch of mushy emotions that made me feel so damn girly it made me want to puke, but his other message wasn't quite romantic comedy worthy.

Fang isn't gone. Save or Kill. To save Fang, somebody had to die. And since I was just as lucky as a lottery winner, the person that would have to die is yours featherly. If I don't die, than I have to be the one to kill me. For a year I had been told that I would be the one who had to save the world, but any sliver of confidence I had about it was completely blown out of the water. There had to be another way, but that would just be too easy.

Nudge was silent for once, most likely lost in the same scrambled thoughts that I was having. Either that, or I was accidentally hurting her from my uncontrollable screaming emotions that were ripping me apart from the inside one by one, each thought hurting more than the last. It was most likely both. I put an arm around her skinny form and pulled her close to me for comfort. Whether I was comforting her or me was beyond my knowledge. Either way, it worked as she returned the gesture, stopping from our wandering to look me straight in the eye. She had matured so much in just the past month that it made my heart break. Of course, I was way too proud to admit that.

"Max—" She was interrupted by a howling cry coming from less than a mile northeast. Our heads simultaneously snapped forward towards the source of the noise. It resembled something we had heard once before back when we were eight. It was Iggy sounding exactly like he did when he had lost his sight, not knowing back then that he would get it back. I breathed his name so softly I don't think that Nudge heard mebefore we both took off running in his direction. I was going faster than Nudge, but I was trying to keep an eye on her at the same time. Ahead of me, there was an opening that I bolted to…before a cloud of dirt filled the maze as a hedge rose up, blocking my path. Grey wasn't going to make this easy for any of us. Nudge had turned the opposite way and spotted a path Northwest of where I was and dashed with all of her might slightly huffing. She skidded to a halt as a hedge rising as fast as a bullet nearly hit her as it blocked her from getting to Iggy.

"Nueve pomo, kos rebu gormatin wock yaf zurre fiw gepett dryle." I ordered, making sure Grey couldn't understand me using the code we created back at the school. For those of you non-flock members, that means Split up, if we separate one of us will make it. She nodded, fury at Grey lighting up her eyes. She looked scary enough that she could make Chuck Norris pee his pants. I silently counted to three. 1…Knowing the usual flock instinct, Nudge and I bolted in synch, narrowly dodging rising walls because of our handy reflexes that were one of the only things about us that wasn't made by the freakazoid scientists. At one point, my luck of barely missing the hedges ran out and right as I thought I had gotten through, only to feel an eighteen-wheeler crash into my body at the speed of a bullet. Distantly, I heard Nudge scream my name, but I was too busy struggling to breathe as I was pushed into the air, until I began to spiral towards the ground, doing gymnastics worthy flips. Saying I hit the ground with a thud would be a massive understatement.

The world swam in front of my eyes, as I lay frozen, cool grass beneath me. I faintly remembered when Angel had been working with Grey and had flung me into a brick wall. My ribs had been cracked and if I didn't have both a medical bird-boy and super healing my ribs would have punctured my lung. This…this felt much worse. Suck it up, Max, I ordered myself. And yes, it is as pathetic as it sounds. My body felt like it was on fire, but it wouldn't end. I let a small groan pass through my chapped lips and forced my finger to twitch. One movement down, two hundred and five more bones to move.

"Max, are you okay?" Nudge asked panicked, her voice verging on hysterical.

"Just…peachy." I ground out, trying to not let her hear my labored breathing. I was the leader, meaning I had a reputation to protect. She let out a breath of relief and was about to say more until Iggy screamed again, louder than the last time. I was the closest to him. Determination surged through my body as I forced myself to get up, ignoring the pain that came with it.

"Nudge, can you find a way over?" I asked, being paranoid about leaving her all alone.

"No, unless, you know, I want to get shocked and mess up my hair even more. I'll be fine, Max. You taught me well enough to survive on my own." I smiled slightly, despite our situation and before taking off said, "Okay. If you get into trouble, just yell, okay?"

"Okay."

With that I took off, ignoring the aching that my body couldn't just get over. There hadn't been a scream for about five minutes, which made me slightly worried. Iggy was a tough boy though, he wasn't going to scream at every little thing. I went right, then left, then left, then right, then straight. If I said that I had any clue to where I was going, I would be the biggest liar since Hitler. I tried running as fast as I could, but it didn't seem to be helping in the slightest bit. I paused, catching my slightly erratic breath, and turned to try and retrace my steps. Only, the passage I had just walked past was replaced by a looming wall. The maze was rearranging itself and I was separated from both Nudge and Iggy. Okay, Grey, I can play your game, I thought acidly.

"Iggy!" I called, praying that I received an answer. A few seconds passed before I heard a sound. Only, the sound was right behind me. I spun around to come face to face with Ari 2, who I think actually believed he was the real Ari. The last time I had seen him, he had attempted to kill me and had taken my flock and the Kcolf to the tower. And based on Fang's rundown he had given us, Ari had killed the Kcolf, all except for Max 2.

"Hiya Maxie, let's have some fun." I closed my gaping mouth and ducked as he swiped his meaty claw at my stomach. Flashbacks swarmed me of him dying in my arms as I compared how the eyes of his seven year old persona looked compared to the bloodthirsty killer that was standing in front of me. Without any other options, seeing as the last time Fang went one-on-one with Ari he ended up nearly dying, I ran. It wasn't how I usually acted, but I had to find my flock. I couldn't risk letting Ari kill me. If that happened, the flock would be entirely alone.

Ari 2 had clumsily bolted after my lithe form, attempting to catch me and claw my guts out. It isn't as fun as it sounds. I maneuvered myself through the frequent twists and turns, attempting to get him off of my trail. I hoped that Iggy didn't choose now to respond. Ari 2 might choose to go after him instead and he wasn't as fast as me. Apparently, while bigger than the original Ari, Ari 2 managed to be a bit more graceful. He was still a hulking refrigerator compared to me, but he was gaining on me quickly. I tried to put on another burst of speed, but he just matched it, and possibly went faster. My eyes scanned the area around me and something shined off the corner of my eye.

As a last resort, I turned left at the last second towards the most likely trap waiting for me. A wall came up from behind me, blocking off Ari 2 from catching me.

And blocking off all chances of getting out of here at the last second.

A dark building was in front of me, making me wonder if I had finally found Grey. The only entrance I saw was a dark doorway that was missing the door. Even with my advanced sight letting me see in the dark, I couldn't see what awaited in the closed off building that differed so much from the green hedges I had become accustomed to seeing at every turn. With the knowledge that if I went in, there would be no going back, I made my way into the darkness, disappearing inside from the sunlight as the entry way vanished from existence.

It was cold in the building, but it wasn't cold enough for me to get hypothermia. In the dark, the faint glow emanating from the stopwatch I had woken up with, and hadn't been able to take off, blinked. It read that there was twelve hours left. I didn't know what would happen when it reached zero, but a part of me knew that it could be worse than being killed in here.

I slowly walked past another wall and jumped when I saw my own reflection everywhere I looked. My blond hair was limp and caked with blood. My clothes were dirty, torn, and I hadn't realized until now what shirt I had been wearing. I had thought I had just been wearing a red tank top under my jacket, but I hadn't realized there was a rip in it right where I had been impaled at the explosion. The red all over the tank top was blood, my blood. It was the shirt I had been wearing when I had nearly died. There was a sickening thud in my chest as my face twisted into a look of horror that my hundreds of reflections mimicked.

And then, my face morphed into Eraser Max. Light brown fur was spread all around me, a twisted smile shown on my snout. I spun around, hoping it was just one, but all of the mirrors showed me as an eraser. I gave a small squeak, not able to contain my off the charts panic. Again, I ran, hoping that I would find a way out. I had never been in a hall of mirrors, but now I know that I hate them. Everywhere I looked, I saw eraser me, looking at me evilly.

"I know why Fang broke, Maximum." Grey taunted from an intercom, as I sunk to my knees feeling my skin for any sign of hair. There was none, but the image was still there. All around me.

"Yeah, I know why too. Because I told him he had a deadbeat of a dad!" I screamed, my voice on edge. Eraser me smirked, as if it knew something I didn't.

"You know that that isn't true, Maximum. The reason is you," He began, knowing I was listening full and well.

"For a while now I've been curious as to why I couldn't break you. You were the only one I couldn't break. As a test to see if it was something in your dna, I broke your clone. She was easy—"

"Does this story have a point?" I asked, although my voice cracking ruined the effect.

"Your flock betrayed you, they wanted someone else as leader, your best friend in the world broke his promise and abandoned you, the one you thought of as a father betrayed you and then turned out to be your father. You've been betrayed so many times—"

"Blah, blah, blah, cut the crap." I retorted, seeing my face go back to normal.

"You can smirk and you can joke. You lie to your flock, you lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me! I know you, Maximum!"

"You don't know anything about me!"

"Don't I?" He retaliated smoothly, before saying, "You just keep fighting. Just keep going through the emotions. You only stay alive to keep your flock safe. Fang is broken because of me not being able to break you."

Grey's form replaced my face in the mirrors. With a roar of fury I leapt up and kicked the mirrors around me, letting the glass fall to the ground. My feet were bare, but I just kept kicking, not even wincing as the glass cut into my feet deeply.

"Can't feel it can you? The problem I have with you is like the problem you have with the mirrors. You can keep kicking all you want, but you can't break them anymore. They're already broken."

"What's that supposed to mean? And no more fortune cookie crap. Tell it to me straight for once you sadistic bastard!" I screamed.

"Fang does have something that if it gets destroyed, he'll go back to normal," He went on, ignoring me completely. A sliver of hope rose up in me, until I realized what Dylan had said. To save Fang, I would have to die or I would have to kill him. It all clicked. Angel's lock had been Celeste. Gazzy's had been a watch. Nudge's had been a hairclip. Fang's was me.

"So that's your great plan? I have to choose between my life or Fang's? Well here's a news flash for you chrome dome, I'll always choose—"

"Fang. Yes, I know. You don't care about your life. It was the reason your precious Fang broke in the first place. You're already dead inside. You're already broken."

Aj: Do you guys think this chapter is a prank or not? Real or Fake? Answer in your reviews. If it's a prank chapter we'll post the real one tomorrow. If not, stuff is certainly about to go down.

Anika: She REALLY loves April Fools Day. I was woken up by being sprayed with a watergun!

Aj: Boohoo.-Aj.