Disclaimer: I do not own the Maximum Ride series!

Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review. I welcome all reviews that aren't flames. Constructive criticism is happily accepted. I know it's annoying that usually my chapters are kinda short (I'm just so excited to publish them!) so I promise I'll try to make the chapters longer. Thanks so much for reading.

Quickly Fang ran through all his options. Could Fang deny the wristband really didn't mean anything to him? No. Too late. He had already admitted its importance. Fang realized he was tense, his muscles coiled up under the skin. Fang could fight. Fang shook his head. No, all Neko had to do is flip his coin and everyone was doomed. The Flock may be fast but they weren't so fast they could disarm Neko before he flipped his pretty little coin. There was only one option that guaranteed safety for the Flock. For Max. The option that Fang would do. Fang would give Neko the wristband. And Fang would die. But Max would be safe.

Max was yelling at Neko, many of the things she was yelling aren't repeatable. Jeb was trying to negotiate with him. But Fang knew that Neko wouldn't change the deal. Neko was barely even paying attention to Max or Jeb. He even appeared to be bored. But Fang knew that was a pretense. Fang knew if Neko didn't get what he wanted soon he would Turn all of them. Fang gritted his teeth, physically preparing for the pain he would experience shortly. Fang reached for his wristband.

NO! Someone screamed viciously. Fang jumped, looking around. No one else seemed to notice the outburst. Fang shook his head. He was hearing things. Fang reached for his wristband again. You fool! You idiot! You think suicide is going to help at all? This was when Fang realized the voice was in his head. It was a very familiar voice actually. He turned slowly to find Angel glaring daggers at him. This was a surprise. So not only could Angel read minds, but she could send people thoughts. Well, that would have been useful information earlier. Angel continued to yell at Fang in his mind.

Maybe instead of trying to be such a noble martyr, you could actually think of solution. Angel hissed.

"What do you propose then?" Fang thought, knowing Angel was listening to his thoughts.

"He only wants the wristband because you want it. What if you wanted some other material thing more?" Angel replied in his head.

"I can't just change my desires. That's impossible," Fang thought.

"Yes but I can change your desires. Temporarily. I forgot to mention I can well, influence, people. I can make you desire something more than your wristband. But you need to help me. You need to choose an object that you already value, I'll increase it's importance to you and you can give that to Neko instead of your wristband," Angel sent the thought. Fang grinned.

"You're a genius Angel," Fang thought. Fang looked around for a material to use. It has to be something I already slightly want. His shoes. His eyes flickered to Angel and she nodded. He began to think of reasons he loved his shoes. They were probably the only thing(besides his wristband) he was wearing that wasn't part of a disguise. It was something he already owned, a piece from home. Fang felt his mind grow slightly fuzzy as Angel helped him increase his desire for his shoes. The reasons began to flow in faster now, even though they were small and didn't make much sense. They were soft, leather shoes that were already worn and molded to his feet. They were surprisingly durable, Fang thought, although they didn't look like much. They were open-toed, which Fang liked. His mind grew fuzzier. Suddenly, he valued his shoes so much it seemed to be that his shoes were the one thing that Fang couldn't live without. Nothing was more important than Fang's shoes.

Fang didn't know if this was Angel's doing or not, but his view of his wristband started to change as well. He always valued his wristband, because it reminded him that once when he was dying, someone gave him this amazing treasure and saved his life. He wasn't just some worthless servant. He meant something to someone. And maybe that someone was one of his parents. The wristband use to always give him hope. Now, for some reason, Fang despised it. Why shouldn't he despise it? It was such a stupid weakness. It didn't matter if Fang was strong to the point that he was invincible, if somehow got that wristband off of him, he was dead. Instantly. He glared at the wristband in hatred.

"You know what? You can HAVE it!" He yelled at Neko. Everyone(except Angel) stared at Fang in shock. Especially Max, who had never seen him lose his temper so suddenly. Even Neko raised an eyebrow. "I don't even care if I die! Obviously, since this wristband is keeping me alive in the first place, I probably shouldn't be alive now. Maybe now you'll have to deal with this stupid curse!" Fang started to pull at the wristband, but stopped when a sharp pang of pain ran up his arm. He gritted his teeth and was about to try again when Neko interrupted him.

"I don't want it," Neko said plainly.

"No! Take it! Put me out of my misery!" Fang cried, pulling uselessly at his wristband again. Suddenly he couldn't. Someone (maybe Iggy?) surrounded him and pinned his arms behind his back.

"No. I want your shoes," Neko said. A bloodcurdling scream ripped through Fang's body. Nothing mattered more than his shoes. Nothing.

"NO! Kill me! Kill me!" Someone screamed. Fang realized that 'someone' was him. Fang went into hysterics. The entire Flock surrounded Fang and pinned him to the ground. Fang's body was racking and jerking back and forth under the weight weight. Tears ran in streams down his face. He was only vaguely aware of the Flock yelling things. He was only aware of the fact that Angel was carefully removing the shoes after his feet. "No!" Fang kept on screaming. Then he blacked out.

Max's POV

After Neko got Fang's shoes he disappeared with a smirk. Angel explained the plan to the everyone while Jeb was trying to get Fang to regain consciousness. My eyes welled with frustrated tears. I couldn't stop seeing that horrible look of extreme pain on Fang's face. He looked like he was being burned at stake. I was a little bit angry with Angel. Did she have to make him love his shoes so much? Did she have to make him hate his wristband? He nearly killed himself. I knew my anger was unreasonable, that Angel had to do that to convince Neko to take something that wouldn't kill Fang. Angel came up to Max and touched her arm sympathetically.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made the desire or hatred that strong. I suppose I don't know my own strength," She smiled sadly. "When he wakes up he probably won't remember what happened,"

"Why?" I spat. "Did you erase his memory too?" I knew I was being incredibly rude, but I couldn't help it.

"No," Angel sounded hurt. "He was just in so much pain, his brain might have erased the terrible memory itself. Don't worry, I'm not mind-controlling him anymore. I try to avoid doing that, unless I absolutely need to because I feel terrible when I brainwash people. He'll be fine, Max, don't worry," Angel grinned reassuringly. Max nodded and walked to where Fang lay on a blanket. She kneeled down next to his head. Beads of sweat lay on his forehead, which Max wiped away. At least he was breathing.

"He should be fine," Jeb promised. "Just a bit shell-shocked. He's a strong boy, he should wake soon," Max nodded, trying to find comfort in Jeb's words and stared at Fang's face. She stared at him, and willed him to wake up.

Good? Bad? If you have any ideas on what you want to happen next, tell me people! I'm still debating on how long Fang should be unconscious and how long it'll take for him to fully recover.

XOXOXOXO,

Monique