A.N- I got a beta, yey!

Burnt Marshmallow

"Will you quit that?" I ask Gazzy forcefully.

We had gotten to the place, where we trained with hawks long ago, a day early. I had agreed to meet Fang here; him with his group and me with the flock.

Everyone was getting bored since I said no using the laptop to save the battery it had left and we didn't have any other real form of entertainment. So Gazzy had come up with a little game: see how many times he could throw rocks (compressed sand) over my head, to the cave wall, until I ripped his head off.

My hair was now full of sand, Nudge was drawing things in the sand and seeing if Iggy could guess what they were, Dylan was sitting crossed legged close to the cave entrance looking out, and you know what Gazzy was doing…

Gazzy grabbed another rock so I got up quickly. "Guys listen up!" They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me as I said "ok, I'm going to the nearest store and get some things. You all stay here so I can do it really fast and when I get back we can do something fun."

"Thank you!" Nudge squealed. Iggy looked a little hurt so she looked at him and added "not that this wasn't fun or anything…"

I walked to my backpack and grabbed some money. Then I walked to the entrance and crouched down to Dylan's ear "you're in charge. So please, protect them with your life." I whispered to him so Iggy wouldn't hear and be hurt that I didn't put him in charge.

He nodded and said "get back soon ok?"

"Will do" I say and then start to walk forward, then began to run. When I got closer to the edge I jumped out of the high cave. I fell for a few seconds then spread my wings and caught a great air current that pushed me high above. I flapped a few times to get higher and then looked back. I was about 100 meters away from the cave now and I could see my flock. Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy were in the back, I guess drawing in the cave floor. Dylan was still sitting in front of them all, looking at me now. He lifted his hand and I smiled back before turning forward again and accelerating.

About five minutes (what would have taken like thirty- normal speed) I was almost to the store. I landed by a tree and leaned against it to catch my breath. That was the first time I'd used my power for five minutes straight and I was beat! I was thankful that I used it every once in a while so I wouldn't be out of practice.

After my breathing went back to normal I fixed my hoodie to hide my wing holes, and then my hair so I didn't look like some random hobo.

I was walking along the sidewalk, maybe a block away from the store now. I noticed that there were two guys walking my way. One looking at me (brunet) while the second guy (blond) whispered in his ear; something I didn't quite catch (even with my hearing) because of all the other noises. But I caught some words like "chick", "get", and "alone". With that I could kind of summarize what he said, and they better not be talking about me or they'll get what's coming to them…

"Hey girl" the first guy said when they got close, while checking me out once. "You wanna hang out with us for a while?"

I didn't want to make a scene and just wanted to get back to my flock as soon as possible, so I looked him in the eye and very calmly told him "no thanks" then tried to keep walking.

But they got in my way. The second guy now spoke up, "come on, just for a little while" he mock-begged.

"Yea, come on" the first guy said coming closer and kind of grabbing my left arm while the other guy did the same with my other arm.

I struggled a little but again- I didn't want to attract attention. "Let go. Now" I told them lowly through my teeth.

They wouldn't so I decided, that since we were by an alley and they were taking me in there, that I would beat the snot out of these two idiots when we got there so bad that they would never even look at a girl again.

Five minutes later…

I cracked my knuckles loudly as I walked back out, smiling at the ground. I feel a little bad for those guys. I mean since I hadn't fought erasers or anything in so long, I had a lot of tension built up in me. You could hear low moans of pain behind me, in the alley, and I can assure you that those creeps won't be bugging anyone else for a real long time.

When I finally looked up, you'd never guess who I saw.

It was Star! That skinny little blond girl from Fang's gang! She was looking at me and when she saw that I'd spotted her she ran across the street to me. In less than a second she was beside me the first thing she said to me was- "you stink. When's the last time you took a shower?"

I frowned at her "thanks" I say sarcastically. I'd forgotten what it was like talking to this girl. "-And what about you?" I ask a little harshly, feeling like I needed to regain my superiority "what happened to you? It looks like you fought with a dirty raccoon-" I looked her over. Her (once) nice, rich-girl clothes were now worn, dirty, and looked like every square inch had at least one scratch "-and it won." The only reason that I wasn't in a completely bad mood though was because seeing Star meant that Fang and his gang were close by too! "So where's the rest of your group?" I asked her, trying to not sound too excited. I think I failed at that though.

"Cute." She said sarcastically. "But I didn't want to wait in a long bus ride with them, so I came here by myself. I think they should be here later, tonight maybe?" she said thoughtfully. It was around noon now.

"Oh well I was going to get some stuff for the flock, if you want to come with me" she looked at me like she was grossed out. "…Unless you want to wait out here for the rest of the day."

"Ok I'll go" she says a little irritated, coming to my side. "So, nice job beating those kids up" she said trying to start a conversation as we walked in the little store.

"Oh, you saw that?" I ask as I grab a basket.

"Yea I thought it was funny" she says smiling, as she grabs one too. "I was actually going to take do it if you didn't. I hate it when guys think girls are weaker and they can do whatever they want to them. Ratchet was like that but he's ok now, I guess. But he's still annoying."

She reminded me of Nudge somehow. I wonder why…

"So what are we getting? I'm starved and I didn't bring my pills" she said as she looked around the isles that we passed by.

"Everything" I said answering her question. It was quiet for a moment then I wondered, "Your pills?" I asked her.

"Oh yea" she said stopping by the cereal aisle and slowly grabbing boxes as she talked "when we went to this doomsday place one time, we found a lab part that developed a bunch of things to help the people they experimented on. To improve their talents, fight the side-effects or whatever. You know? And well anyway we found what we call energy pills, they're for the ones that burn through calories quick, like me. So we took all of 'em" she finished, grabbing the fifth box.

"Cool. Did'ja find any other useful things?" I asked as I dumped a bunch of cereal bar boxes in my basket. We had to get a lot of things that didn't need to be refrigerated so cereal's good for us on the run.

"Yea we can show you all when they come" she said as we walked to the frozen food section.

After getting some food and a cheap radio, we paid for the stuff and walked out. I took longer than I wanted to but it still hadn't been too long since I left the flock.

We decided that I should take three of the bags, and her one. She was built for speed (not strength) and that's all she could really take if she didn't want to be slowed down. So we walked into an area with a bunch of trees, I told her where to go and to look up if she got lost. If she could keep up with me.

Six minutes later- I blame the bags for the delay- I finally got to the cave. I look down to see if Star was there yet but I don't see her so I go for the cave. I slowed down and landed as Dylan moved away to give me room. I looked around as I dropped the bags. They were all there feeuu.

"Max! You're back!" Nudge squealed and came to hug me. She pulled away slightly but still hugging me, to look at my face "what took you so long? We were all getting worried!"

"Some things came up. But hey, I have a surprise! I'll be right back" I tell them all as I run back to the mouth of the cave and dive down. As I shoot down like a bullet I begin to see a speck on the ground. A few seconds later, as I gain speed, I see more details and see Star's outline.

I turn a little so I'm not falling head-first and extend my wings slightly. I was falling so fast that that it would have hurt if I hadn't turned. As I slow down I start to see that Star is sitting on a rock and she looks bored. She hears me and looks up right as I land a few feet away.

"What took you so long? I was waiting for like two minutes out here!"

"Calm down it's not that long and I was putting the bags up" I say gesturing up to the cave. "Ok put the bag in your lap so it doesn't hit me while I take us up" I tell her while she walks to me.

I grab her up bridal-style and she puts the bag on her lap- clutching it with one hand. While her other hand is pulling pretty much all my hair out. "I've never done this before…" she tells me as I'm about to jump up.

"Just hang on" I tell her feeling bad. I always forgot that most people never fly like us and it can be scary for them. I take my wings out, squat, and jump. While I flap my wings I can hear Star's breath catch.

When we're half way up she looks down and says "you know what? This is actually kinda cool!"

I just smile and look up. A few seconds later we get to the cave and everyone starts going crazy. Nudge starts freaking out, Dylan smiles, Gazzy yells "are the others here!" and Iggy starts screaming "Who is that!"

"That's Star, I think" Dylan tells him.

I put Star down and she says "yea, it's Star" she says patting her hair a little and then putting her bag by the others.

"Okay guys, Star says that the others won't be here till tonight. So I thought we could, like I said before I left, do something fun" they all cheered. I walked to one of the bags and pulled out the radio and turned it on "let's fly!"

The rest of that afternoon went by way too quickly for us. We all flew around trying out new tricks and a few hawks actually came around and flew with us. I taught Dylan a few things he didn't already know. Iggy went all around with Gazzy trying to look at all of the terrain and probably build a few bombs. Nudge played with a few hawks. And Star stuffed her face in the cave.

I noticed that it was getting dark so I headed in the cave. I figured the others could stay out for a while longer while I made a fire, so I didn't call them yet.

Dylan had been with Nudge for the past two minutes, but once he saw me he flew to me. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asks me.

"Gonna get some sticks for a fire" I say looking around the cave for any sticks. No luck, not even an old nest… "Wanna help?" I ask as I head to the entrance again.

"Yea sure!" he says and hurries to my side. I look back at Star, she was looking at us with her eyebrow raised and about to put a chip in her mouth, "we'll be right back ok? We'll just get some sticks."

"Uhu… Ok you two…" she said with a suspicious look on her face. Well ok?

I tucked in my wings in more and looked over at Dylan "hey when you dive, don't wait too long to spread your wings out ok? Just in case…" he smiles and nods and we both dive down at the same time. We were maybe one hundred meters from the ground so I spread my wings and looked over to make sure Dylan did the same. He did so I let out a thankful breath. We landed and he had to run a few feet to keep from falling. He was almost perfect now; he just needed to work on his landings…

"Ok so sticks…" he said as he looked around. "I don't see any sticks Max…" he says looking back at me.

"I think there were a few trees on top of this mountain" I tell him. He nods and we fly up.

When we get there we actually find a bunch of sticks. "So" he says while picking up some sticks. "Christmas is coming up…" he tells me, looking up.

"Oh yea, it is" I say, having completely forgotten.

"Mhm. So if someone, let's say Nudge, wanted to give you something… What would you want?" he asks, smiling innocently.

"Dylan you should tell 'Nudge' that I already have everything that I need, and all I really care about is having everyone safe. So I don't really want anything" I say smiling and adjusting the sticks in my arms. "I think we have enough, let's go back."

We fly back and drop the sticks in the middle of the cave, a little closer to the entrance. I start the fire (don't ask how. It's just a trick we learned on the run) and we all gathered around it. It had gotten dark out and a pretty chilly. I could already tell that it was going to be cold tonight. I got up from the fire and walked to the grocery bags "anyone who wants s'mores, get a stick" I tell them as I take out some s'more supplies.

A few minutes later we were all roasting marshmallows over our fire as Gazzy was trying to tell a ghost story, even adding special sound effects that he had learned to do.

"…She opened the door and then 'AAAHHHHHH!'" he screamed one of those 'girl getting killed' kind of screams from horror movies which made an unsuspecting Nudge jump and scream and everyone laugh at her reaction.

As I laughed I accidently made my marshmallow fall into the flames "no!" I squealed, which just made everyone laugh even more.

"Here Max" Dylan said kindly as he took his golden marshmallow off his stick.

"Oh, thanks Dylan" I say.

He was sitting beside me and he holds it in front of me, to feed me it, which made Nudge go "awww" and Gazzy fake gag. Iggy laughed at Gazzy and Star looked at us funny again. I've never really been fed anything so I looked at him hesitantly but he just smiled and held it out further. I thought it was kinda sweet so I went ahead and quickly seized it with my mouth.

"Fang!" Nudge screamed excitedly getting up and running to the cave entrance.

I looked up, and sure enough there he was! "Fang!" I say as I get up as quick as lightning. Then I realize what I just did and mentally kick myself in the butt. I'm so stupid! I'm supposed to be mad at him.

"Su- oof" Fang says as Nudge run into him, engulfing him in a hug. He had been looking at me and Dylan by the fire with a pained expression, but now he looked down at Nudge.

A.N Sorry that this one took so long guys, I hope you don't hate me. I had finals all this week and I didn't post last week since I was so busy. But since I'm on winter break I'll try to update more.

Love yall, thanks for sticking with me:)

~L