A/N: I can tell I'm going to enjoy writing this next one.

Enjoy Ari's secrets.

One: His first real friend was a girl with wings. It didn't matter that she was much older and always locked in a cage. To two year old Ari, she was the best person in the whole world. Besides his dad, she was the first person that he went to in order to share his good news. She was always ready with an encouraging smile, even when she looked so tired she could sleep standing.

He hated it when she was out of her cage for 'improving', like his dad said, but because it meant he couldn't see her for awhile. He wasn't allowed to see her for two days after she was let out of her cage.

Even Jeb, his dad, seemed to share his opinion on the girl. It was obvious when he brought Ari with him to work; Ari could tell. His dad looked at Ari's friend the same way he looked at him, only better.

Two: He was afraid of animals, any kind. It was partly his dad's fault – he shouldn't have let him wander around the School without someone watching. But all the same, it happened. He found out about the experiments.

She was a girl, he thought, staring out from behind a cage door with wide, unblinking eyes. At least, he thought that she was a girl. It was hard to tell – there were no identifying features in the face or on the rest of the body. All else aside, she stunk – the odor of rotting flesh and unwashed body.

He wasn't sure how much human she had in her. She was covered in scales, and her feet and hands were webbed. He looked closer and saw that she had gills – but she was far away from any water.

That explained why she slowly but surely stopped breathing. Just like that.

He hates fish now.

Three: When he was three, his dad left.

It wasn't like for most kids, when their dad leaves and they have a mom to take care of them. When Jeb left, Ari was alone. All alone.

Miss Anne took care of him for awhile. She wouldn't take him home with her, but she gave him a room at the School. It wasn't a bad room. It had a bed and a window, and there was a little dresser where he could keep some of his clothes.

But the walls were bare and concrete, and there was a lock on the outside of his door. Even though for a long time – almost two years, in fact – Miss Anne was nothing but nice to him, Ari missed his dad.

Four: He was never allowed by the avian wing again after his dad died, but Miss Anne would never tell him why. He missed the winged girl almost as much as he missed his dad. She was the only friend he had. He wondered if she was always being improved now, and that was why he couldn't go by the avian wing. Maybe he was never going to see her again.

Or maybe – the thought was almost too horrible – maybe the Erasers got her.

Ari was deathly afraid of the Erasers.

Five: When Ari turned five, Miss Anne wasn't nice anymore.

"Ari," she said one day, her voice dripping with false sweetness, "how would you like to be improved?"

He cocked his head to one side, staring up at her. She was so tall. "Like my friend got improved all the time?"

"Who's your friend, sweetheart?" Miss Anne asked, reaching down to run a hand through Ari's blond hair.

"The girl with wings," he told her. "She has yellow hair."

Anne's eyes narrowed, and her expression turned greedy. "Oh…oh, I know who she is." She composed her face again, making it kind. "Yes, just like her. Only your improvement will be much better."

"Improving means you make things better, right?" Ari said, before he could stop the words. Anne's face looked happier.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means," she replied, extending a hand towards Ari to hold. "Come with me."

He obediently took the proffered hand and followed her down a maze of hallways, into a part of the School he had never been before. The chemical smell that filled the whole building intensified, and Ari used his free hand to cover his nose.

Miss Anne led him to a room with a white table and lots of stuff that Ari guessed was for improving. Jeb refused to give him books on any of the stuff that they used to improve experiments.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, as she picked him up and set him on the table. More people were coming into the room now, all wearing white coats like his dad did.

"Does what hurt, honey?" Miss Anne asked absently, as she bid him to put on a paper gown. "Make sure you ready the formula," she said over her shoulder to one of the men.

"Being improved," Ari clarified.

There was a flash of something behind her eyes. "No. No, it doesn't hurt. You won't feel a thing."

She lied.

Six: New Ari was powerful. New Ari was strong. He loved the feel of his Eraser body, hard, muscular, and tall. Anne didn't look so tall anymore. Now she was the short one.

Oh, he could definitely get used to this. Why was he afraid of Erasers again? Erasers were good, the ones that the whitecoats loved.

He couldn't remember a whole ton from before he was an Eraser. After all he was only five when he was changed, how many memories does he keep from then? But he remembers a few things – like that Jeb left him. He left him all alone in the School, and he only came back when he found out that the scientists had experimented on him – on Ari.

Well, he didn't need Jeb. He could do without him. He wasn't a child anymore on the outside, and he was strong – people would do whatever he wanted if he said the right words and showed the right muscles.

He also found out why Jeb had left him. He'd left him for Max, his winged friend. Neither of them had wanted him, had needed him.

Ari hated them both.

Seven: It was a savage pleasure, the hunt.

He had never known how thrilling it could be, the excitement of the chase. And of course, it was only fitting that his first big assignment be to take down the flock.

The flock – that was what they called themselves, that little band of mutants, a group of six. They just thought they were so cool, didn't they, giving themselves a name? They thought they were so much better than everyone else. Idiots. He'd show them who was really better.

He loved how the adrenaline coursed through his veins as he fought with the bird kids, knocking the blind one unconscious, throwing the black girl against the tree. It was amazing how it made his vision clearer, making every blond curl stand out as he stuffed the youngest one into a sack, threw her in the car. Satisfying, the look on their faces as they recognized him. Exhilarating, how the rage and desperation in Max's eyes fueled his hate as he aimed the rifle right between her eyes.

How he longed to pull that trigger, to permanently erase her.

But it would ruin the pleasure of the hunt.

Eight: When Max had killed him, the old Ari had shown through, just for a second. "I wouldn't hurt you. Not like this." he'd said. Like a moron.

Oh, yes, he most certainly would hurt her that badly. After that, Max had to go. He would be the one watching the life fade from her eyes, listening to her beg for mercy. His revenge would be sweet.

Dying hadn't been all bad. He was pissed that Max had the nerve to try and kill him. Christ. To think that he used to look up to her.

Of course, he hadn't been dead long enough to figure out if there really was an afterlife. He also didn't intend to find out any time very soon.

On the other hand, Max would. And he would relish every moment as she faded away.

Nine: No. He relishes the word as it escapes from the lips of his victims, as pain flares in their eyes as he lands a well placed punch. No, they say, as his body morphs in painful pleasure into the stronger body of a wolf and his claws form into a fist. Their screams are his music, what he thrives on.

Their pleas spur him on rather than making him stop to consider. They are nothing important, worthless. They have to be exterminated. And yelling no will do nothing for them. No is what he was told when he wanted to see Max, when he was a little kid. No is what he heard when he asked if his father loved him more than Max. No is what was said when he asked Max to come away with him, just the two of them. And no is what he hears when he asks the world if there's anyone at all who loves him.

Ari doesn't like being told no.

Ten: When his expiration date kicked in, it was like everything that the whitecoats had instilled in him was kicked out. The old Ari was back, the one that remembered how to love and how to forgive. He just wondered whether it wasn't already too late to make amends.

Like Max. He wanted another chance with her. He doubted that Fang would ever forgive him. He had almost killed him, twice. Ari was disgusted with himself. How could he have been that savage, that ruthless? The scary part is that he can still feel that part of him inside, dormant. He doesn't want to let it back out.

He's not that afraid of his expiration date. If he's going to die, he's going to die.

And besides, he's already died once.

A/N: Hmm. I'm not sure how well I like how this turned out. Seven is definitely my favorite, though. He WAS fun to write, though, so I have extra for you again. Tell me if you want it. =D

You know the drill. ~looks pointedly at green button~ If you don't press that button, I will disguise you as Ari and sic Fang on you. Mark my words.