Angel was the first to march down the aisle of the chapel that I was to be married in. It seemed a little ridiculous to me when I had given her the position, seeing as how she is fourteen and the job is usually given to much younger children. She was the youngest that I could trust. As I watched her dance down the aisle though I knew it had been a good choice to choose her. With her long ringlet golden curls falling so flawlessly down her back and the pink silken dress then poofed out in a typical eighteenth century style princess gown, she could have been a real Angel. Beside her, with his arm linked around hers, was sixteen year old Gasman. He adorned a well fitted black pinstriped suit , much like the groomsmen. But he had on a powder pink tie to match his younger sister, as opposed to the deep blue of the other men. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of them as they gracefully pranced to the front of the room and took their proper positions by the alter. Behind them walked my bridesmaids. Thorn, Carlie, Cammie, and Nudge each wearing simple black gowns and carrying white roses down the aisle ahead of me.

You can do this, I told myself as I took my first step through the chapel doors as the wedding march began to play through the loud speaker. I can do this I continued trying to talk myself down but my attempts where feeble. I knew that I couldn't do this. Something was missing and I had a feeling, deep down in my cracked and aching heart, that I knew what it was. I refused to even admit too myself what it might be. For the past three months, since Sam had popped the question, I had been looking forward to this day, and dreading it at the same time. Because as much as I loved Same, I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to him for the rest of my life. As I took each step forward, my entire body resisted. My brain tried to tell it to walk forward, but my heart wanted nothing more than to turn and run out taking to the air the moment the fresh air reached my face. I pushed against those feelings though and forced myself to take each small step closer to the alter.

After what seemed like ages I reached the alter where my waiting groom and the preacher stood in silence watching me. It made me uncomfortable to have so many eyes trained solely on my. My dress had an open back and fit tightly to my body. To know that so many people where gathered here and could clearly see my wings, made me tense. I stood silently and pretended to listen to my fiance exchange his part of the vows after Jeb, my father, gave me away to my soon to be husband. I so badly longed to run from that suffocating enclosure. I was beginning to have flash backs of the school.

"Do you, Samuel Alexander Johns, take this women to be your lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold in sickness and n health?" The bald older man asked him.

"I do" He nodded and smiled widely at was the same smile that I had fallen in love with when we met. But it still wasn't right. My heart didn't feel the way I thought it should have felt. My head was screaming in panic at the room. I was trapped.

While the Pastor repeated the same vows to me that he had just said to Sam my mind wandered. Being part bird I could only concentrate on one thing for so long before I got distracted. As well as my mind was searching the room for any and every possible escape. I did not like the feeling that was surrounding me. I gazed around at the crowd and saw a few familiar faces, Dylan, some of the people from the Antarctica mission we went on, scientists, each and every one of them.

"Max? Honey? Are you there? Answer the man. Don't you want to marry me?" I snapped my head back to Same and blinked a few times trying o get my barring. Then I remembered I was at the wedding. I just stood there for a moment staring at Sam's light complexion. His blue eyes and silvery blond hair.

Then it clicked. In the past, when I had dreamt of getting married, when I had planned my wedding, it wasn't silver hair and blue eyes that I saw staring back at me. No what I saw standing on the other side of that alter was something and someone very different from this man. And it was the exact thing that I had been missing since the day he left. Since the day he walked out on us, on the flock, I had felt bottomless. My heart constantly ached and I realized that the one person I had vowed to myself and to him and to everyone else, that I NEVER wanted to see again, was the one person, that I needed most in the world. "I d-" I couldn't finish the word.

"You what Max?"

I shook my head from side to side and realized I wasn't breathing. I quickly gasped for breath and through the veil off my head. I didn't answer Sam. Instead I reached down, threw off the ridiculous high heels that I was wearing, and took off running out of the chapel. I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks as I pushed through the doors and out into the fresh air. I took every breath I could. Huge deep breaths, and unfurled my wings leaping into the warm afternoon sky. You have to find him Max, you just have too. Even if he won't speak to you, you have to see him, one more time.

THORNS P.O.V.

The church was a complete wreck. Angel looked severely ticked off and yet very very please. Gazzy looked, well Gassy. Nudge comforted Ella while all the other guests ran around in a panic. Sam looked like he was about to have a nervous break down. Dr. Martinez ran over to me and immediately sent me after Maximum Ride. At her orders I took off after her, because I knew exactly where she was headed.

Max P.O.V.

The sky felt amazing. The way it tugged at my hair slowly removing all the bobby pins and hair spray that my mother had used to delicately style it for my wedding. I hated it. I didn't like being clean. With jewelry and make up and fine dressed. I would much rather stick to my t-shirt and jeans. I spun through the trees and danced through the sky. I had no idea where I was headed. I just hoped that my pure instinct would lead me to find this man. The air felt wonderful. It was the perfect temperature and the wind was with me the whole time. Until I flew straight through a giant storm cloud. As I emerged after what felt like ages, I was drenched and freezing cold.

Flying so high I felt that I would catch hypothermia, plus the area of tense forest would be a good place to stay for the night and it was getting dark. I touched down slowly, but the sun was still high in the sky. I tried to run but I tripped over my long dress more times then I thought necessary. Picking up a sharp rock, I sat down and cut the dress to my knees. That gave me much needed leg room and I took off full speed ahead through the forest. I wasn't sure where I was going but I ran anyway. It felt good to exercise and get so much fresh air. It felt good to be searching for something.

I thought I heard something behind me so I slowed and began to jog lightly backwards, until I ran into something solid, but not solid enough to be a tree.