Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Oh man, that was so hard.

I woke up the next morning with yet another headache. I didn't know what was worse, these headaches or the crazy things that had been happening to me.

It was like somebody was shoving bricks in my head.

It was really, really bad this time. I lay in bed clutching my head. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, where are you?

Who were these people? Why did I suddenly know them?

Were they my flock?

The pain finally subsided and I felt a lot better. But now I knew these five other people like I had known them all my life. But I had never been out of Roland City.

After showering and getting dressed with that weighing on my mind, I went downstairs.

Once again, she had breakfast ready for me. This time it was bagels with cream cheese. She passed them to me on a paper plate.

"Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," I said back.

"So, what are you doing today Max?" she asked robotically. I can't believe I haven't noticed it before, but every morning it was the same routine.

After eating, I started to head out, saying, "I'm going to meet the gang."

"Okay," said my mother, "be careful." Same thing as always.

Instead of flying, I decided to walk. My mind was just too warped to concentrate on flying.

I walked through the town, trying to sort out my thoughts. I was just not feeling well, in my head anyway. I don't think I used to feel this bad even when I had that voice in my head.

Oh great, now I thought I had a voice in my head. Does that make me twice as crazy?

Eventually I ended up in a shopping plaza. Lots of people were walking around with bags in their hand or looking through windows.

Then I came across Kevin and Celia. They were holding a couple of bags.

"Hey, look, it's Max," said Celia.

"Hey guys," I said half-heatedly.

"Hi Max," said Kevin, "Celia dragged me along to go shopping with her. All this stuff is hers."

"Oh man," I said.

"Please," said Celia, "I don't have that mu", Celia suddenly stopped talking. She was frozen. Everyone around me was frozen again.

"Oh, no. Not again," I said.

I looked around me looking for Asch. But he wasn't around. Instead, to my surprise, I found a little girl coming up to me. She looked about maybe eight or nine years old. She had blonde hair with green hair. She was wearing a white tank top with a pair of jean shorts.

And here was the strange part. She had wings! Like me! They were tan with brown spots and brown at the ends.

"Hello, Max," she said.

"Uhh, hi," I managed to say. "Uhmm, who are-" She lifted her hand to get me to stop.

"I just wanted to meet you, at least once," the little girl said, "I mean, you disappeared when I was only three years old, so I never really got to know you."

I couldn't come up with anything to say. I know I was starting to remember all these people for some reason, but this girl wasn't coming to mind.

"Well, bye," she said and walked off.

"…much. Stop exaggerating," Celia finished, startling me. The whole plaza was abuzz with action again.

"Wait, did you just see that little girl?" I asked them.

"Huh? What little girl?" Kevin asked.

"The one with the blonde… oh, never mind." There was no point in dragging it on. I knew they didn't see it. Something was going on, and I didn't like it.

"Well, we'll see you later, Max," said Celia, "still got more shopping to do."

"Ugh," said Kevin, and they walked off.

Asch, the man with white hair, and now this little girl. That made three people I didn't know who seemed to know me pretty well.

I walked through the plaza some more when I bumped into somebody.

"Oh, excuse me," I said. I looked up at the person. And to my horror, it was the guy who tried to strangle me the other day. The one who turned into that Eraser thing.

"Well, there you are," he said in his deep creepy voice. "We've been looking for you."

We've, I thought.

I looked behind me to see three more guys in suits and glasses like him. I was surrounded. It looked like I had to fight them.

Just then, some strange rift opened up in the wall near me, and out popped the little girl.

"Come with me, hurry!" she cried. For some reason, going with her seemed better than going up against four brawny goons. So I followed after her.

I ran through the rift as the Erasers tried to come in. But it closed behind me just before they could get through.

"Sorry about that," said the girl, "there was no way you'd have been able to take those four on by yourself. Not in the condition you're in."

"Thanks for getting me out of there," I said, "but who are you? And how did you do that?"

I took a look around the room I was in. The walls were a baby blue and the ceiling was white. All around the room were pictures taped to the walls. They were done in crayon or marker.

"My name is Lily," she said, "I have the power to cross dimensions. That, plus I can fly, like you."

"Do you know what's been happening to me? Why I've been remembering all these people all of a sudden?"

"Yes."

After a moment, I said, "Well, are you going to tell me?"

"I don't know if I should."

"Why not?"

"Because Asch told me you're not ready to know yet."

"Asch!?"

"Oh, no," said Lily, covering her mouth, "I wasn't supposed to say that."

"How do you know Asch?"

"He's my friend. He takes care of me. And he's an avian-human like me. We stick together."

I could understand that. This girl almost reminded me of Angel. I started to look around the room some more at all the drawings.

"Did you do these?" I asked.

"Yeah," she answered, "I like to draw."

Then I came across a picture that startled me. I was a picture of me… and Asch, and we were holding hands!

"What is this?" I asked, almost shouting, even though I didn't mean to.

"It's just a drawing."

"Lily, how does Asch know me? What was he trying to do to me yesterday?"

Lily hesitated for a moment, her feet shuffling against each other. Then she said, "Asch thinks you're being used by the bad people, the whitecoats. He wants to get you away from them so they can't do whatever they want to do."

Suddenly, the term whitecoats rang a bell with me. That's what I called those scientists who made me.

"So he tried to kill me?"

"No, he doesn't want to do that. But he will if he has to. You're his best friend, Max."

"What?!"

"Oh, no. I wasn't supposed to say that either. I'm sorry."

"Lily, I don't mean to sound mean, but how could Asch be my best friend? I've never met him before."

"Lily," a voice cried out. I recognized it. It was Asch. "Lily, I need you for a minute."

"Oh, no," said Lily, "You've got to get outta here."

She opened up a rift in back of me. "You'll understand soon Max," she cried, "I promise."

"Lily, I-" but she cut me off.

"I promise. Now go."

With no choice, I stepped through the rift. When I came out the other side, I was back in front of my house, left with more questions than I had before. I was so frustrated, I wanted to cry.

I wanted to know why I was being put through this hell. I wanted to know who I was.

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Ari stood in the field in the night, the cold breeze nipping at his half snout. He had been waiting for about a half an hour.

Suddenly, a rift appeared a few feet from him and Asch stepped through. "Sorry I'm late. I had trouble getting away. So, what did you want to talk about?"

Ari turned to face Asch, "Doc says that her memories should be fully restored by tomorrow."

"All of them?"

"All of them, even the ones of you and your flock. It'll be like she has two pasts. It will be hard for her, but it just might be useful."

"That's great, but I still don't trust that Doc guy you're working with."

"I know, but I've got no choice but to trust him."

"Trust him? He made you become this-"

"I know. I KNOW! But that was my fault. I did it for her."

"You're right, I'm sorry. But listen to me Ari, if I catch one whiff of Itex, I go down there and I take her out. I don't want to do it, but if I have to, I will."

"I getcha. But don't make the mistake of thinking you're the only one who cares for Max. If you do kill her, the next time we meet, one of us will die."

"The circle of revenge never ends."

"I wish I could convince Doc of that."

"Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings."

"I got one more thing to say to you, Asch."

"What?"

"If you don't have to kill her, don't tell her about me."

"Why not?"

"Just don't. I don't want her to know what happened to me."

"All right. I won't tell her. I promise." With that, Asch put his hand to his ear, pressing his communication mic, "Lily," he spoke into it. A rift opened up behind him and he stepped through, leaving Ari alone, praying Max would be all right.