I do not own Maximum Ride.

"I couldn't bear listening to her cry. Every. Single. Night. And then each morning she would plaster herself together for us when she was falling apart…. It drove me mad. I HAD to get away. I stayed for a while. Until she was… stable. I readily admit it was selfish. But I could not console her. She only wanted you. I left a few months after you did."

My cut out heart managed to plummet down farther. Then paused, my voice almost squeaked, "Stable?"

Nudges eyes flashed. Angel looked down. Iggy's face scrunched up, "You leaving really tore her up. That first week was Hell. She was still trying to be invincible Max. But that Max's hard exterior had been melted by love. Then burned by love. I guess. She finally allowed herself to feel. And she felt down to the very last feather. Fang, she had finally let herself feel for you, and you ripped the rug right out from underneath her. Afterwards she was just caught in a stupor, completely flattened by you leaving. Broken. Because you didn't just left the flock. You left her."

I sat silently. I hate myself.

"I left with Iggy. He's blind."

Iggy 'looked' at her, "I hardly noticed." Nudge elbowed him.

Gazzy spoke up, looking at me like I was a mirage or a last chance at salvation. I thought his eyes might swallow me whole. "It was just Angel, me, Dylan, and Max then. We went on like that for a few years. After the first year she learned to hide her feelings better. Dylan took your spot."

I bristled.

"As second in command…"

I commanded my body to relax.

"But after Total and Akila's four-year anniversary, things changed. Dylan and Max started fighting. Constantly. I think something was wrong with him. I think he knew it too. Maybe he was getting the effects from all that experimenting Dr. Haagen Daaz did on him… But he was so much bigger and stronger than any of us." He paused. Was it fear I caught in his eyes? "Even Max. I… I did nothing. I just hid and listened as their shouts shook the walls. It was like he had roid rage. At the drop of a pin they were at each other's throats. There was some reason they never shared with us…"

Angel looked up, "She refused him."

Gazzy shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Yeah… maybe… Then one day they fought. Like for real. And… and he knocked her out." My heart skipped a few beats. "Cold. I was in the living room and Angel had left when the fight began. I saw it all. He just… hit her. Right in the face. No holding back. And she went down right in the kitchen." He pointed near the refrigerator was. "He left then. We haven't seen or even heard a rumor of him since. I think he's dead."

I hoped he was dead. I had a reason for my hatred of him now. He had struck Max. My Max. My blood boiled like where the sea meets flowing lava.

Angle's eyes flashed, "I couldn't find his mind at all. I looked when I was calling everyone together when we realized Max was missing. I scoured the whole damn earth for him. I found Iggy, Nudge, and even you, Fang. But not him. The only people I can't find are usually dead…"

I didn't ask about Max. I didn't want to know. But a brick knotted in my gut.

"Max was really really over controlling after Dylan left. She wanted to know where we were at all times. She never wanted us out of her sight. She got panic attacks and was angry if we went anywhere, even the roof, without telling her. I guess that was brought on by everyone voting her out of the flock into exile and then when we were all back together people started abandoning her. She really tried not to worry us. Or come off as psycho, but we couldn't take it. Her fear of losing us was crushing us. I wanted to …. grow. Achieve a little independence. I decided that it would be vest to spread my wings and leave the nest like everyone else. I started my own flock with Gazzy. Every month or so though she would call us or we'd contact her. We stayed in touch with her. We let her know we were alive. You didn't Fang. What exactly did you do in your fleeing for 'our own good'? Did you save the world yet? How about Max?" Angel suddenly broke down. Her justification of leaving was based on my example. I had done this. Strong sobs wracked her body. I stood frozen, a moth in amber. "Are you gonna leave us or help us find Max?"

My throat constricted, "I will find Max. If it's the very last thing I do, I will. I'll save her." I wish I was as confident as I sounded. I still had no idea where to look. I couldn't comfort Angel. Six years had made us stilted acquaintances. My wings itched.

"How about you Fang?" I lifted my head to look at Nudge. "What did you do? And…" She glanced at the two men who flanked me on either side, and in whisper, "who are they again?"

I pointed to the one on my right (body language and location were really important to these guys), "This is Devon" I shrugged towards my left, "and this is Dog. They're my new flock."

"I prefer pack myself." Devon interjected. It was the first time he had spoken. The old paranoia raised its sleepy head as Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel tensed like for a U&A. Slowly they calmed down.

"I got them out of a lab in England. They just decided to stick with me ever since. They're loyal to a fault, they eat more than what we do, they're obnoxious, and" with a pointed glare at them, "REFUSE to eat with silver ware."

Dog chuckled, "I've got hands don't I? What could a fork do that fingers can't? Plus, no dishes to clean."

The flock looked mildly perplexed. I sighed. This was stupid. Of all the things that had ensnared their interest this in no way would be able to help me find Max. But, unless I earned back their shattered trust I wouldn't be able to start looking for her with them. "The 'everything-is-finger-food' is just a pet peeve of mine. Remember when we would have killed for a steak and a fork? Well, anyone who has a fork and refuses to utilize it is committing a crime against nature in my book."

"So, uh, did you guys fly here?" Gasman asked. The question was lilted off his tongue oddly. He didn't want to know how we got here, he wanted to know if Devon or Dog could fly.

Devon got it, "No wings. But I got a great pair of legs." He flashed a grin that would make a womanizer or a coyote proud.

"So, you're uh, human? You look all human… Like 100%," Gasman asked.

I reached out, unnoticed by the others to grab a hold of Dog. Iggy frowned slightly, probably trying to puzzle out why I let a couple of humans tag along for the wild and dangerous days of Fang saving the world. Dog growled. Devon bared his teeth. The answer to the riddle was solved. Almost.

Nudge went pale (or as pale as her complexion would allow her to be), and in a small voice that slightly squeaked she asked, "erasers?"

Devon's eyebrows knotted. I decided to let him explain it. It was his story after all. Dog quieted but he still growled softly. Iggy was probably the only one who could hear it on their side of the room.

"We're not Earasers." He shrugged. And the flock looked more suspicious. "We were born about four years ago. Our mother was kind and wonderful and warm. She always smelled nice. She had a pedigree a mile long. She also was a German shepherd dog." He let that sink in. It was almost absurd. The WhiteCoats had forced so many humans to bear animal DNA that we hardly thought of animal testing with human DNA. "Our Master was a scientist. Instead of being human and grafting animal genetics onto us we were pups with human genetics hodge-podged in. We gained sentience. We learned of sorrow. Of hate. Of humans and their evil." Dog was snarling now on my other side. "We are not humans. We are dogs. We refuse to be human. Humans are evil. The world was revealed to us in shocking horror. The garden of Eden had shattered. WE KNEW. It was painful watching your mother and then your littermates pass away before you. Knowing that we would keep living. Grafting animal DNA onto humans caused a small error, very insignificant if you figure into what a scientific leap grafting on to humans was in genetic engineering. The bleep was this: other past experiments had an expiration date, a shortened life span. They were allowed to die. We lived on, they died young."

Dog nodded.

The Flock seemed to shakily accept the story. Stranger Danger was still near the top of cannon law though.

Fang was so ridiculously tired of the talking. He wanted to go save Max. Except he had no idea where in the hell she was. It tore him up. She was not here. Gone. But there was nothing he could do at the moment. No clues. No notes. No witnesses. And they all needed sleep. He growled to himself while grinding his teeth.

"We need to re-coup. Everyone get some rest and we'll decide where to start in the morning."