Maximum Ride is property of James Patterson. Kisha Reaper and Deveann are property of Me! Kumali is property of Jwan!

Kisha's POV

"Truth or Dare?" Angel asked Gazzy.

"Dare." He glared into his sister' eyes. In the background Fang and Max were fighting.

"I dare you to-" She whispered to and an evil grin spread across his face. He whispered to Iggy and a similar grin fazed his face before going back to normal.

"Do we even want to know?" Kumali sighed, mostly to herself.

"Probably not." I rolled my eyes.

"Truth or Dare?" Gazzy turned to Kumali.

"Truth." She said with confidence.

"Do you have a crush on Iggy? I mean, it would be one reason you two are attached at the hip." Gazzy rolled his eyes as he spoke. His hatred for Kumali showing more than usual. Kumali mumbled but I couldn't hear her. "Say it louder, I don't think he could hear it." Iggy glared in Gazzy's general direction.

"I heard her perfectly fine, stop pestering her." He ordered.

"Love struck, stupid, teenage-" He mumbled this and words I will not repeat under his breath.

"Gazzy!" Angel and Max cried as one. He flinched but there were no further repercussions.

"Kisha, Truth or Dare?" Kumali asked, regaining self-esteem.

"Take a wild guess." I always chose truth. I wasn't going to do some half-baked, idiotic scheme for the entertainment of others.

"Do you want kids?" It was an odd question but one I could easily answer.

"Yeah. Of course. Abstinence, anyways." I rolled my eyes. "But yeah. Get married, have kids, a daughter probably." I shrugged.

"But what about our wings?" I knew I was answering two questions but didn't mind much.

"Well, the man I'm thinking of doesn't care that I have wings. In fact, from what Angel has told me, he thinks they're beautiful." I stated simply.

"Ooh!" Kumali giggled, blushing. I didn't mind telling everyone that if I lived long enough I had every intention of getting married to Deveann. If he felt the same we would, naturally. Deveann's always wanted a daughter. So I supposed it was settled that we'd have a daughter, as well.

"Truth or Dare?" I asked Fang. Making sure he heard the emphasis I put on truth.

"Truth." He said lazily. He never spoke so I wanted some answers out of him while he was forced to talk.

"Who is your current girlfriend?" I suppressed a malicious grin. I saw what happened in the forest, I knew he loved Max with every fiber of his being, if he would only show it. I also knew that when he kissed Max he was cheating on Terra, his girlfriend. I just wanted to make sure he knew that.

"Crap." He murmured to himself. Max's expression was one of shock and anguish. She'd just figured that out, too.

"I guess you better hope she's cheating on you." I snickered.

"Truth or Dare?" Fang said to Malissa.

"But you never answered Kisha." She muttered.

"She got the reaction she was looking for. Truth or Dare?" He repeated.

"Dare." She said proudly. Freaking dare devil.

"I want you to pretend you like Aaron." He hardly knew Aaron. What was he thinking?

"Lead him on?!" Fang nodded. "Why?"

"So he'll leave Kisha alone for a while." He quickly shot me a glare that said "This is for Deveann." I gave a single nod.

"Okay. Iggy, Truth or Dare?" Iggy flashed a toothy smile.

"Dare." He mumbled. I noticed his voice seemed much more mature than Deveann's. Deveann's voice was still changing and cracked like crazy if he got emotional.

"I dare you... to... blow up-"

"I'll do it."

"I didn't finish."

"I'll do it. Your office at work, right?" A look of pure shock struck Malissa's face.

"Wow."

"I'm not an idiot just cuz I'm blind." He sighed. "Deveann, tag you're it."

"Truth. I'm no wimp." He said quickly so Iggy wouldn't cut him off. "I'm also not fool enough to take any dare you would dish out at me." Iggy chuckled.

"Wise choice. I would've had you... well... I'll tell you later, not in front of the children." Kumali gave him a light sock in the arm. He laughed. "Did you really meet your dad while we were living with Kisha's mom?" I was shocked. I looked at him, bewildered.

"What... are you talking about?" He mumbled.

"Don't play innocent with me. I over heard you and Fang. You should really tell us these things, you know." Iggy was being serious.

"Deveann, when did this happen?" I tugged at his sleeve.

"It's none of your business." He growled, gently removing my hand from his shoulder.

"Yes, it is. I'm entrusted with your life, I deserve to know these things."

"Who entrusted my life to you?"

"You." I spat. He sighed.

"Yes." His simple answer to Iggy's question. No answers to mine. "It's getting late, we should go to bed." He told everyone. We all nodded solemnly. I changed in Malissa's room with the other girls. I was wearing a long blue tank top and some boxers. I had panties on under them, can't be too careful. Max had some elaborate pj's I'd bought for her. Kumali wore a long sleeved, brown shirt and her jeans. Nudge wore a kimono my mom bought her and Angel wore a futuristic outfit she'd gotten on her "birthday." I was the only one there that really knew my birthday. I came back into the living room where we would sleep. I lay down on the couch. An unfamiliar warmth surrounded me. Deveann. No shirt, just his back jeans. I looked away from him.

Whenever I need someone like Ahsik to get my mind on something else, it's never there.

"Warmer?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow, still not looking at him.

"Yeah, why?"

"You had goosebumps." He snickered. "You need a blanket."

"Get a room, you two!" Kumali threw a sleeping bag at us.

"Huh?" Right, Deveann laying on me, no shirt, looks weird. I pushed him off of me and curled up in the sleeping bag.

"Maybe it'd be better if you, Deveann, Kumali, and Iggy slept in a different room, that way we'd have enough room for everyone to sleep... well not on the floor." Malissa suggested.

"Fine, if you want to get rid of us so bad." I murmured, tired and not really meaning it.

"G'night guys." Max waved to us as we trudged into the spare room. one bed, one fold out couch. I figured Kumali and I would sleep on the couch and Deveann and Iggy would share the bed. Kumali led Iggy around the room so he wouldn't run into the wall or something in the morning as he had before in the hotel.

"I call recliner." He relaxed on a leather recliner in the corner of the room.

"There was a recliner?" I said under my breath.

"Kisha, why don't you take the bed?" Kumali snapped me back to reality.

"Oh! No! I couldn't. You need your rest more than I do, being a librarian is stressful." She raised an inquiring eyebrow at me but shrugged and took the bed. Iggy had a stupid grin on his face, for what reason I wasn't sure at the time. Within seconds I heard snoring. I knew they were asleep because they could never fake a snore that loud. I guess they had more stressful jobs than I'd imagined. I sighed and sat on the couch. Deveann sat next to me.

"I wanted to take the recliner." He moaned. I laughed.

"Help me unfold this." I ordered. After much struggling and hissed insults at the couch it was open. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Deveann and I had to sleep on the couch together. I shot him a frightful look. He mimicked my expression without even trying. "Well, then..." I stuttered. "It's no big deal. It's just like sleeping on the ground, we've shared the ground before a billion times."

"Except it's comfier." Deveann pointed out. Yeah... this was awkward. "You first." He gestured at the demon couch.

"No you."

"We're both getting in at one point, you might as well go first." He sighed.

"Liar, you'll insist on taking the floor and you won't get a good night's sleep."

"So will you." We both let out exasperated sighs.

"Fine. I give." I lay down, getting situated under the comforter. "You're getting in, whether you like it or not." I told him, threateningly.

"Whatever." He got in. I was so tired, all I wanted to do was sleep but Deveann was just staring at me and it was getting to be uncomfortable.

"Why don't you go to sleep?"

"Not until you do."

"Why not?"

"I want to make sure you actually get sleep."

"Well, who's to say you wont move onto the floor while I sleep? I'm not going to sleep." He wrapped an arm around me and just like that I was plastered to his perfect build.

"I'm right here, I wont leave if you wont." He cooed softly in my ear. That was his motto.

"I love you, Deveann..." I thought I saw a shocked look on his face but I couldn't be sure because just after that I lost consciousness.

Max's POV

I awoke with a start. Fang had shaken me awake. "What is it?" I moaned. I looked to the digital clock. It was only 6:35 A.M.

"I hadn't noticed it before, we were having so much fun and all..." His voice was panicky and he stopped abruptly.

"Spit it out!" I ordered.

"Lash isn't here." Did you notice that?

"Oh my gosh." I said in a hushed voice. "Wake the others, we have to find her!" I stood and ran into the guest room. I shook Iggy awake and went to wake Kumali but she was already up. She seemed to be staring at something. I followed her eye. Kisha and Deveann. That must have been an awkward night. They looked so peaceful, it was almost a shame to wake them. "Lash is gone." I told the group of groggy human-avian kids.

"It is too early in the morning for this." Iggy groaned. We started to search immediately.

Fang's POV

We'd been searching for 12 hours and I was beginning to wonder if she'd just run off to her house. It was the most logical explanation, anyway. Why did we even care if she was gone? She wasn't even really apart of the team. "Hey! Nick!" I whipped around. Three boys that I vaguely knew and couldn't remember their names. I waved to them, searching every corner of my mind for their names. "We're gonna sneak into a club, wanna come with?" I was stunned.

Uh... no.

"Well, I don't' exactly have the time-" They dragged me down the street, trying to convince me to go. "FINE!" I screamed at them, finally. I was going to wait in the line and the minute we got up front I was gonna head for the hills.

Max's POV

"I have to go back to the hotel and meet my mom. I'm sorry guys. She desperatly needs to talk to me." Kisha sighed.

"We'll go with you." The rest of her flock followed her. I watched sorrowfully as they left. It was just me and my flock now. I told them all to get together in the woods where our old camp was and we'd talk about strategies. I told Malissa she should stay home.

We met in the woods at a quarter till 8 P.M. "Alright. The other flock isn't with us but we can still find her. I think Fang was right in saying that she may have just gone home... Wait a sec..." I looked around. Where was Fang? "Guys, where's Fang?"

"Oh, missing your little boyfriend are you?" I turned and saw Ari, backed by Erasers, but worst of all, with a struggling Lash.

"Lash!" We all cried.

"So that's what you've named her, is it?" Ari cackled. The flock and I took a fighting stance but to our surprise none of the Erasers came at us. Ari laughed under his breath and uncovered Lash's mouth. She screamed loud and high pitched. Ari took a firm hold of her face and put his lips to her ear and whispered something to her. Suddenly, as if my magic her eyes turned a sinister red. He let her drop to the ground. She landed on her knees that were bent. Her hair fell in her face and she began to... transform. Her hair turned to fur and a muzzle formed where her mouth and nose used to be. She was slowly but surely becoming an Eraser. Finally she stood fully upright, the flock and I frozen with shock and fear, and her wings grew out of her back and snapped open, slime stuck to them, she was like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. But dang, that was one ugly, dangerous butterfly. Before I could fully grasp what was going on she was coming at me.

"Max!" Angel cried, the warning came to late. A furry, auburn hand slammed into my jaw and I went sailing backwards. I cried in pain when I my back smacked into a tree.

Fang's POV

We were still in line, a half hour after we got in. An ear splitting scream shattered in the crisp night air. Max's scream. C. R. A. P. Oh, crap.

"Dude, what was that?" One of the guys said. I jumped out of the line and ran into the woods where the scream had come from. Branches whipped at me from all directions, I wasn't sure how fast I was going but a part of me told me I wasn't going fast enough. I saw a figure limp in front of me, I sputtered to an abrupt halt. Max. She was all beat up. Her eyes were wide with fear, boring into my own.

"Oh Max..." Was all I could say. Her eyes watered and she ran the other way. I followed. She tripped over a log. She cried out in pain and I tried to help her up. She shook me off. She stood and began to stomp away once more.

"Get away from me!" She hollered at the top of her lungs.

I hated it when she was like this. "Max." I touched her shoulder. She whipped around, red tears ran down her face, blood. It was all my fault. I should have known this would happen. I shouldn't have left her alone. This is what happens. I touched her face and she jumped backwards like it stung.

"Where were you?!"

"Max..." I sighed.

"Don't 'Max' me! I want answers!" She burst into tears, falling to her knees. "Why weren't you there?!" She screamed.

"I was..." I couldn't tell her where I was. "A club?" She'd she'd say. She'd spit the word out, back into my face. I couldn't believe what I'd done. I was supposed to protect her. And I blew it.

"I SAID, 'WHERE WERE YOU'!" Max hollered.

"No where." I hugged her, feeling ashamed. Wallowing in self hatred.

"I told you not to touch me!" She struggled against me but was in such a weak state it hardly seemed worth the effort. I let go of her. She started crying harder. "Why did you leave us alone, Fang? You knew the other flock was already gone!" Beaten and tattered, torn so her beauty hardly showed through the waterfall of blood that masked her face. I took off my jacket and wiped her face off with it. "Why didn't you tell them you wouldn't go?" Her voice was hoarse from screaming. She knew. "Why didn't you tell them you had a girlfriend or something? You were really that interested?" She squeaked. I didn't even take a step inside the place, I wasn't planning to but I was in the never-ending line to go in. Max was right. I had nothing to prove to my "friends" that I'd probably never see again.

"Lay down." I whispered to her. She was beginning to calm down and she did as I said. I placed my bunched up jacket under her head to support it. "You need to rest." I stroked her long, wet hair. She was still bleeding, not nearly as bad now, though. "Who was it?" I murmured. It was a hot day, I removed her jacket and placed it under her head with mine.

"Ari." She whispered. No shocker there. But it didn't feel right. The others were undoubtedly headed towards the hotel. Max was all by herself, headed in the opposite direction.

"What did he do to you?" My voice became tense and I was sure I wanted to kill Ari for whatever it was.

"Get a load of this." She laughed under her breath. "He's got a girlfriend." I didn't understand.

"Max II?" I muttered. She shook her head, the insane smile growing.

"Lash." She shook her head again, almost as though in denial. "Amazing, two people in one body. Bipolar or somethin'." She shrugged.

"You're losing your mind." I told her.

"Yeah..." She laughed. "They're trying so hard to replace me. Man, it really sucks. I wish they'd settle on someone so I can get on with my life."

"You're the only Max. They'll have to face it sooner or later. Ya just can't top that kind of perfection." She looked me straight in the eye for the first time since I'd found her. She seemed to be saying, "Do you really mean that?" (Jwan, stop reading right now!) I touched her cheek. Her skin was warm, very soft, her creamy pale skin matched perfectly with her deep chocolate eyes. She reminded me a little bit of cheese cake with a dark chocolate drizzle. Yum. I placed my cold lips onto her warm, delicate ones. Her lips were soft and fragile like flower petals. I felt them curl into an almost innocent smile. I stalled for a moment, sampling a taste of her sweet, misty breath, until her arms came up onto my shoulders and pulled me down. My nose was flooded with her scent. Cherries maybe? I felt something wet on my lip and at first I thought I was drooling, then I realized it was her tongue. For a moment I was drowning in Max. One blissful, disgusting, wonderful moment. She groaned and I began to pull away, thinking I might have hurt her. She had a death grip on my shoulders and wouldn't let me move if I paid her. She giggled breathlessly.

"I'm fine." She mumbled. (sorry, I'm a girl and saying this from a guy's point of view is getting weird.)

Max's POV

Our lips met once more and I was happier than anything that the flock wasn't here and wouldn't be coming. Fang and I could stay out here for hours. If anyone was coming it was Kisha and Deveann but they wouldn't interrupt, they probably wouldn't think it safe to leave my flock with Kumali while Lash's gone crazy. I rolled on my side, bringing Fang down with me. His hands outlined my body and I moaned again, not meaning to, and brought my hands up to his head, bringing him closer. "Fang." I whispered between two kisses. He grunted in response. "Angel can read minds..." Another kiss. "What if..." He got the gist of it.

"It doesn't matter." He was clawing at my belt now. His lips migrated to my neck.

"Yes it does." I struggled to keep on the same train of thought. "I know the position is dwindling fast but I'm still her role model, right?" He lifted himself from me and gave me a look.

"What are you talking about? Of course you are!"

"Well, think of it this way, I don't want her to see this and then go do this!" I cried.

"Then I'll have a talk with her." He growled furiously. He kissed me again, rather harshly, not that I wasn't used to it. My tank top strap fell off my shoulder but he still seemed preoccupied with the sequins on my jeans. Gradually his hands slid upward and found my tank top. It was bunched up so that my stomach showed. Fang's hands were cold as ice and I shivered as his fingers traced my spine. He tasted sort of like... oh, I want to say he was all manly or something but the taste wasn't manly, it was like... strawberries and... something else, I don't know what else... something subtle. Ah, vanilla, definitely vanilla. How? I dunno. He tugged on the bottom of my tank top 'till it came down and was in its regular condition. My tank top against his ultra tight T-shirt left not much fabric between us. His leather pants squeaked when our legs rubbed against each other. He broke the kiss and we were both out of breath, being fairly new to this. He rested his head under my chin. "I didn't go inside the club, I was just in line. I was gonna run for it. Then I heard you scream, I was so scared. I'm so happy you're alive, Max." I wasn't sure what had brought on such a sudden confession.

"I must be a wreck..." I thought aloud. He chuckled, gently tracing my spine with his index finger.

"If you are, so am I. I've been drenched in your blood, too." He was right, but he still looked as handsome as ever.

You should be getting back. The sun will set soon. I sighed. "The voice is right." I told him. "It's getting dark. The flock will wonder where we are and I don't know these woods." He nodded.

"But, wait. Sit up. I never did get to see what kind of damage your wings took." He ordered. I sat up and let my wings fling out like Kisha did when we first met Lash. He looked them over carefully then touched something. I felt no pain. "They seem fine but we should probably walk, just in case. Kumali's the doctor around here." I agreed. We walked home in complete silence. When we came in the roof of the Hotel I heard everyone crying. We peered into the living room. In Kisha's arms lay a marred Lash. Her eyes were closed and I felt a horrible thought creep into my mind. What if she's dead?

You don't even want to know how long that took me. Forever, that's how long. If I don't get like, 4 or 5 reviews on this chapter I'm not updating and that's final. I went through frickin' heck to get this chapter posted and I expect appreciation! Sorry, I'm just tired. But really, please review, it makes me happy! KISSES!