I scanned the land below me with mild interest. Cows ambled lazily across stretches of dying grass. They mooed their discontent at the fact that their food was dying out as fall settled in. I couldn't help a slight grin as I caught the younger animals' confusion. They had never seen this happen before, seeing as this was their first autumn.

I swooped higher, shaking off the random almost-emotions that didn't compare to human emotions. But it sure had me convinced that they must have some sort of souls.

I flapped harder and dove off to my left as a farmer emerged onto the field. I was high enough that if he could see me at all, he would only have seen a dot, but I wasn't taking chances here. My dark green jacket flapped in the wind as I surged forward, narrowing my eyes against the wind and pushing harder.

"Haha! Blue, I'm faster than you!" She taunted me, a delighted grin breaking across her pretty face. A face that was covered in an angry rainbow of bruises that sent a wave of pain throughout me. Her orange-blonde hair flew out behind her, matted and unhealthy, but her clear blue eyes were alight with a genuine happiness for the first time in a long time.

I grimaced and scowled at her back. She wasn't even at full speed, and I couldn't catch up with my wings pounding so hard they ached. She made it look so easy.

"Ditto!" I yelled, and she slowed slightly to hear me better over the roar of the wind in our ears. With a malicious grin, I took this opportunity to sweep past her and turn. With a cry of surprise, Ditto hit my chest head-on. The breath was knocked from me, and my wings snapped to my sides.

We both fell like rocks, and we screamed the whole thirty feet down. I twisted in the air so that she was above me, and as we hurtled into the ground, there was a sickening crack. It took a second before the pain exploded in my chest. I screeched in pain, and Ditto scrambled off of me, wide-eyed and shaken, but otherwise okay. I curled into a fetal position, biting my lip and moaning. My eyes were blurry, but I hadn't spilt any tears yet, which was good. Even then, lying there in the dirt with one or more broken ribs, all I could think about was how terrible Ditto must feel. No- I wasn't imagining it, I was feeling it. Her overpowering anguish, guilt and rage, coupled with my own array of emotions would have been enough to crumple me on the floor even without one or more ribs being shattered.

Rough hands jerked me to my feet suddenly, and there were garbled words that I didn't care to make out. The white-coat who had me dragged me away from my sister, spitting venomous words into my ear and at other white-coats. I whimpered as I tripped over my feet several times, in too much pain to care that he was probably taking me to the center.

The center was an angular cream-colored building behind a three-foot-thick wall of glass and chicken wire. It sat in the corner of the huge yard, almost blending into the main building that was the school.

I shut my eyes tight, knowing full well that the sight of the building and the huge glass and electric wire dome that kept us from flying away would only settle me into a depression that I didn't need right then.

The last thing I heard as I was dragged through the gate toward the center was a piercing cry of despair. And then my world was black.

I gasped as the memory rushed suddenly into my head all at once. With an agonized cry, my wings convulsed and then snapped like magnets to my spine. My head spun as I dropped, and I gripped my skull. I heard a high-pitched cry, and with a sudden terror, realized it was mine.

My streaming eyes assessed the scene in front of me dimly. The ground was zooming towards me; I probably had half a dozen seconds before we collided and a new form of splatter art was introduced to the browning field.

With monumental effort, I snapped my wings open and felt myself slow and zoom forward as well as down. I hissed in pain as the powerful air currents threatened to snap them from my back.

I did end up hitting the ground some time after, and I rolled to a stop with my arms wrapped around my head and neck, and my knees tucked to my chin. I must have looked like I was inside of some invisible egg. Heh, that would actually be quite fitting, wouldn't it?

My labored breathing eased as I lay there on my side, with my wings sprawled behind me. As my head cleared, I was able to think soundly, and I found myself replaying the memory in my head. Over and over, my sister and I crashed to the ground, and over and over again, I was dragged away from her.

Soon enough, I was able to lift myself onto my elbows and rest my wings. The stiff grass stabbed me painlessly though my pale blue shirt and jeans. I laid my chin on my crossed arms and closed my eyes.

I grinned at the memory. We had been ten, and best friends. No matter what the white-coats did to us, they knew that if they separated us, we would just shut down. It was our own little rebellion, a very effective defense mechanism. Once, I had even gone so far as to sit in a tight ball in my cage as they brought hot wire down on my back again and again. To their furious disappointment, I was willing to let them end me if I wasn't able to see my sister.

Then her pained, tear-streaked face came to my mind. Hot scarlet blood blossomed all over her face from various new cuts, and one eye was shut. It had been the most awful thing I had ever seen. My sister, my best friend, my only thing- to be that agonized, and all because of some stupid little stunt I did.

And it was the last face she ever made.