Chapter Ten

Fail practically dragged Iggy along the border between the forest and the pit. He begun to tire again and was dozing as he walked, with Fail leading him to some unknown place. Then he was fully awake when Fail let go of his hand. He heard her begin to climb something. He pushed his hand out to have it collide with solid rock. Fail grabbed the hand that collided with rock

"Are you coming or not?" She asked him, pulling him up as he began to climb up, following her. It went like that for about ten minutes, she would climb up a bit farther then help him up. Eventually she stopped climbing and helped him up one last time. They now stood on a flat surface of rock, high in the air, Iggy could tell by the way sound echoed when Fail began to speak.

"Just a cliff and wall face" she said, shrugging.

"Wouldn't have been easier to fly up, and what time is it?"

"Night" Fail replied, avoiding his question previous to the second as she was looking up to the star filled sky and quarter moon. Iggy also looked up, and imagined what the night looked like now, since he had once seen the night in all its star filled glory, a long, long time ago.

He had begun to be lost in his night sky made of imagination. He imagined thousands of stars, a large, shining moon, and the sky a deep, majestic blue. He heard Fail take a deep breath of the cool night air, looked at Iggy, then laughed. Iggy was broke from his trance when she laughed. He looked in her voice's direction and cocked his head "What?"

"You, you're a mess."

"Well why don't you try hiking through a forest, blind, and fall into that pit back there" he gestured with his thumb over his shoulder, in any general direction, but he doubted that his thumb was pointing towards the forest. Fail let out a sigh, the remaining breath of her laughter.

"I'll try that some time"

"What does the night look like?" Iggy asked, sitting down on the rock to dangle his legs over the edge. He felt Fail sit next to him and lean back to put her palms on the rock behind her and look up.

"Quarter moon" she said "Midnight blue sky, loads of stars, more than I've ever seen" She paused, letting the sound of crickets break the silence as they chirped into the night.

"Oh! Look, a shooting star," Fail said, her voice taking on a somewhat childish tone. Iggy sensed her move her hand to point at the star. He leaned closer to her, to whisper, "Make a wish"

Fail looked at him with a grin then looked up to the sky and let out a deep, long sigh.

"Have you ever made one?" She asked, looking at Iggy once again.

"You know, thrown a penny into a fountain, made a wish upon a star?" Iggy nodded

"Once, when I was younger when the flock and I broke out. I wished on the brightest star that night that I would never have to go back there to be caged again, of course someone had to point out which star was brightest for me" He sighed.

"You had a better life, I've never seen a fountain before, quite a few shooting stars the few times I escaped"

"How many times did you escape?"

"Five, but no matter what, no matter how far I go or where I go, they always find me, and bring me back. Once I survived for two weeks before they caught me but, I was only five then and had been picked off the streets to be taken to an orphanage"

"So you've put up with tests all your life"

"Yup, as far as I can remember"

"Were you born an Eraser"

"Yeah, I don't really consider myself an Eraser cause I'm not as bloodthirsty or what not"

"Odd, usually they have a five year life span"

"Well they only put in 2 percent wolf DNA in them, just like you have 2 percent Avian DNA"

"So, how much do you have?"

"6 percent, thus makes me stronger, faster, sharper, than the other Erasers. Makes me act more like a wolf as well"

"And a wolf personality would be…"

"Loyal, protective, snappy I guess," She shrugged "sometimes shy sometimes outgoing, depending on the situation and... simply misunderstood" she said in a whisper. Iggy had been looking in her direction the whole time, listening to her voice beat into his ears and then fade to silence, the voice that sent his thoughts to a stand still, to purely listen to her voice and hers alone. He broke out of his trance to find that, somehow, he had gotten closer to Fail who was still looking at him. He, unconsciously, leaned forward, closer to Fail, closer to his enemy that was now his ally, closer, to close the gap between.

His lips touched hers, and he felt like the moment could never end, then he felt her tense and he pulled back, realizing what he had just done. He immediately turned away and held his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth.

"I'm… sorry, I shouldn't have, its just-" He broke off when he felt a finger on his lips, a signal to be quiet.

"Silence…" Fail said, removing her finger and leaning into him and pressing her lips against his. Iggy was shocked, completely frozen when he felt her lean into him. For a few split seconds, he just sat on the rock, his shocked expression fading away. His tensed muscles relaxed and he kissed back, now enjoying the moment, instead of being stunned by it. He felt Fail's hand grip his and intertwine her fingers with his, as the kiss grew deeper, more passionate. He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her as she leaned back. He savored every moment of his, and probably her own, first real kiss, until he broke away, breathing heavily, as so was she.

His face was burning now, aflame, and as red as his hair, minus the black spikes. His blind eyes were wide and his palms were sweaty. Fail was just as red, but in comparison with her paler skin, she seemed like a ghost that had just been lit on fire

"I-we…just-" she hesitated, turning away as her once ghost-on-fire red face became more like a ghost in a lava pool. Iggy smirked shyly, and nodded in the direction of her voice. What the heck was wrong with him? The one question that had yet too be answered.

Love, that's whats wrong with ya! A voice inside his head retorted, obviously not amused. He scowled at this, then thought, his mind wandering back to the others. What would the flock think? Gazzy probably hated him right now, for punching him into unconsciousness. He shuddered at the thought, and regretted what he had done, but he knew, they wouldn't let him go if he had told them, if he had told them straight out and forward, they'd hold him back, if he had told them that he didn't believe Fail was like other Erasers, told them that he thought her as a friend, loyal and true, or that he considered her more than a friend, now at least.

They'd hold him back, stop him, even if they had to harm him, just to keep him away from the 'bloodthirsty, no good, run down, murderer of an Eraser'. Maybe they'd have to borrow some equipment from Itex to keep him at bay, but now they had probably still thought that he was on his walk, when in truth he was far from camp, with many wounds from the unforgiving forest, and he, covered in dirt and grime from the pit he had nearly died in.

His thoughts brought his smile to a scowl, how could he possibly harm one of the flock? What had he done? But then all the thoughts about the flock, about Itex, about Ari and Jeb, Anne, all of them, had gone, and all he thought about, was his imagination of what Fail looked like based on Gazzy's words. She had leaned in against him again, her lips against his once more. She pulled him closer to her, and he wrapped his wings around her. Fail broke away but her face was still close to his. She rested her forehead on his and smiled

"Never thought this would happen one day." Fail said.

Iggy laughed "Same here"He said, embracing her, just to feel his enemy in his arms and to know, this one wasn't going to hurt him. He spread one of his wings in front of him and plucked a feather from it, wincing slightly from the small sting. He handed it to Fail who looked at it, then at him as if he were a stranger handing her a bottle with the word 'Poison' printed on it. But she just grinned, and took the feather, to tie it into her hair, before leaning against him.

"Thanks" she said in a faint whisper.

He tilted his head a bit, with a grin displayed on his face,before he felt her lips on his again. The kiss was brief, yes, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it. She broke away quickly with a grin on her face as well. Iggy smiled, before leaning towards her to whisper:

"Hold on" He spread his now dry wings and pushed off from the rock below and beat hard with his wings. He was now airborne, with Fail in his arms, he flew straight up, then turned just as he felt like he had broken through the atmosphere.

Fail, was laughing as Iggy flew through the cloudless night sky, her eyes now practically glowing a golden-yellow.

She looked at Iggy, and all her thoughts were swept away, as she imagined what it was like to fly, with wings, wings of the flock, not wings of the pack. Then she saw his stern face and laughed again before placing her hand on his jaw bone and reached up to kiss him deeply, as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders and around his neck.

Shock overwhelmed him again, he hadn't expected a kiss during flight, and in result, his wings faltered, causing him to spin so he was flying on his back with her on top of him. Iggy eventually got the hang of flying on his back, though not without dropping altitude rather quickly. He came back up to his previous altitude and he kissed Fail back, hugging her tighter against him. An idea came to mind, and he drew back with a smile,

He whispered somethingto her that was drowned out by the wind, but he felt her grip him tighter, just when he angled his wings that made him spin around so that he was once again flying the correct way, then he twisted again, so he was back in his previous state. He did this again, and again, faster each time, and repeating the move many times whilst Fail was laughing. He enjoyed the sound of her voice, her laughter, her words, her, he enjoyed being with her, her aura, more than making bombs, he realized, more than making bombs. He twisted back to the correct way of flying to hear Fail was breathing heavily from lack of air from her laughter and from the rush of wind. But then he heard her breath get caught in her throat. He sensed her look away from him and look below, then she reached up to him and whispered in his ear.

"Drop me" she said.

"What?... why" Iggy asked, puzzlement disturbing his features as well as something near to fear.

"Just do it" she said, her voice once warm with laughter now cold with command. He scowled, but then heard wings beating, other than his own. He nodded and released her.

Fail twisted her body in the air, and landed heavily on the furry back of an eraser twenty feet below Iggy. The Eraser grunted in surprise, then twisted his head to see what was on his back. He was met with a punch in the jaw and a snarl

"Nice to see you again Merc" Fail snarled.

"Likewise" The Eraser replied, suddenly folding his large wings and plummeting to earth.

"Oh crud, you better not be trying that!" Fail shouted over the rush of wind. Merc was falling towards the forest, and once he was a few yards from it, he spread his wings and quickly twisted on his side,thus making Fail fall to the tree tops from the force of the abrupt halt.

"You see!" Merc called after her as she crashed through the treetops "We've learned some new tricks!"

Something rammed into her, grabbing her by the waist, knocking the breath out of her. Once again she was up in the air, with claws digging into her skin. She heard a voice whisper in her ear

"Too bad I can't kill you here" Then she felt Merc drop her and she begun her free fall again. She didn't even reach the canopy before she felt something grab her again. She looked down to discover that Iggy was looking up at her with his pale blue eyes.

"How'd you do that?" She asked, taking note of his blind eyes.

"Hearing wind currents simply" he replied with a grin. Fail shook her head, then saw Merc's blazing eyes of anger.

"Duck!" She shouted when Merc charged towards her, his claws glinting in the moon light and his muzzle parted, revealing sharp teeth. Iggy ducked below her, letting her go as Merc rammed into her once again, but this time she was ready. Her claws grew longer and dug into the Eraser's back as she refused to let go. Her body altered as it was covered in a dark and light gray pelt. Her claws became curved, like talons of a hawk, and her face became that of a wolf's. Fail bit into Merc's shoulder, her muzzle soon soaked with blood. She kicked him in the stomach with her bowed legs, causing him to grunt in pain. Then she felt him dig his teeth into her arm. His wings faltered as Fail battled back, lashing out with both jaw and claw but steering clear of his large and lumbering wings, for fear of hitting a nerve causing them to snap into his body thus resulting in another free fall with no hope of stopping either of them from dying from the fall.

When she raised her fur covered and clawed hand to swipe at him, he lifted his head to let out a piercing howl that was cut short by her claws raking down the side of his muzzle. She bared her teeth at him and raised her hand once again, but now curled in a fist, just to land a punch, but something else wrapped around her wrist. The newcomer yanked Fail off of Merc and held her in the air by her wrist, his wings obviously struggling to keep in the air.

"Now now, Fail, we don't want one of our leaders to die by your claws, that'd be just an insult to the pack" Fail looked up to see an Eraser simply known as 'Claw'.

Fail growled at him once she recognized his face "You want to die? Fine, I'll make it quick and painless" She lunged up at him, dug her claws in to his shoulder and closed her jaw around his neck "An insult to the pack eh'?" She said through clenched teeth and blood "To the weaklings, none of you are a match for me" Claw started to struggle against her hold on his neck, even as she bit harder, to attempt to puncture his jugular, when something stopped her.

She heard a familiar voice reach her ears, in a yelp, then she heard the click of a gun. She immediately let go of Claw and looked towards the sound. She saw Merc, now in human form again, with his wings spread out and flapping, making him hover. He had his arm around Iggy's neck and the barrel of a gun, a Caliber, pressed against his head.

"Now, we'll just be leaving with what we came for" he said, threatening to pull the trigger. Fail snarled at him

"You don't have the guts to-" Merc broke her off

"Oh, don't I? Remember when I put a bullet in your head, Fail? I've got plenty of gut to kill this bird boy and I wouldn't loose an ounce of rest." He gestured with a cock of his head to six other Erasers behind him.

"Our orders were to capture one of the flock, we didn't expect you to be here. Jeb didn't say anything about you, so I don't see why we can't kill you now" He grinned "Attack!" his voice barked the command and the other six Erasers followed his orders. The six Erasers flew forward and tackled Fail, clawing at her, and tearing into her flesh. She yelped as they tackled her off of Claw to fall back towards earth. They followed, and attacked her while she fell; it was only till she crashed through the canopy did they separate from her to fly away from the forest. When she finally felt the ground beneath her, she groaned. Blood swelled from the wounds all over her. It stained her fur, but she didn't care, she ignored the pain that shot through her body as she quickly stood up at her full seven foot height to let out a roar of rage. She stormed through the forest, having to run on all fours since she couldn't run with her bowed legs on two. She tore through the branches, and once they ceased to snag her fur, she leaped over the pit, to land on the other side. She saw the small pack of Erasers in the Air. Merc had put the gun away and now had Iggy's hands behind his back and still had his arm wrapped around his neck to prevent him from struggling. His wings were pinned to his back as the small group of eight Erasers, and one flock member, flew back towards Florida, back to Itex, where who knows what would happen to Iggy.

Fail watched for a moment, before snarling at herself and charging after them, over the vast land, with such fury built up inside her not even a bog could stop her, but apparently it actually could. She leaped over a hill, and felt wet and soggy ground beneath her. The pack was still in her sight but was getting farther and farther away. She ran a few feet before she felt her hind paw sink into the earth, and then the other.

"Oh crud" she said as she saw her hind legs be engulfed in the mud and weeds. She struggled under the bog's grip, but of course, that did her no good. The mud was knee height now and she was cursing viciously under her breath. Of course struggling wouldn't work! The more you struggle the more deeper you sink, right? Well apparently so. She groaned and looked up, to see that the pack was long gone. Now she was furious, and she tried to jump out of the bog but that only got her to waist height in the mud. She growled, obviously frustrated, furious, and sad, which was an interesting combination when seen on an Eraser's face. She stopped the fight against the bog, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked around for a possible way to pull herself out. Her luck, she discovered, was good enough to find an old rope, already tied to a tree, to pull herself out of, which she did. She figured a lot of people had been lost in that bog and more were probably pulled out of it what with leaving a rope behind. But now she couldn't care less about everything but Iggy, what were they planning to do to him? She shuddered, then remembered the family he lived with all his life.

She turned towards the clearing where the flock had broke camp, knowing she'd have to face them and even though they may refuse to help her, they knew that they themselves needed help to get Iggy back, they needed her she needed them, whether they trusted her or not.