YES! I'M BACK!

Scarlet's POV

"Scarlet!" Angel yells, "Get up! I'm not going to wait for your lazy butt all day!"

The teen cringes, hating the tone of her Aunt's voice. She should have been used to it by now, but it wasn't so.

Scarlet stretches, her hands hitting the coffee table from her place on the ground. Leave it to her family to make her sleep on the floor.

"Iggy, are you making breakfast?" Scarlet's Aunt shouts, forgetting her niece altogether.

"Shut up!" Max bellows, coming into the room. Her hair is in disarray, her eyes bloodshot.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? Were you and Fang up all night?"

Max simply glares at the other woman. She roughly sits in the chair, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Fang comes out of Ash's room a few minutes later, much to everyone's surprise. The smug look on his face is priceless.

"You were saying, Angel?"

She gives him a pathetic look before stalking off. Satisfied, the man crouches down next to Max, his head lying on the arm rest.

Scarlet watches with dull interest as Max runs a hand through Fang's hair. She almost expects him to purr like a happy kitten, being stroked like that and all.

She giggles slightly at the thought. Max gives Scarlet a strange look, making the girl laugh harder. She excuses herself, unable to watch any longer.

Turning to say something, Scarlet smiles as Fang kisses the other woman with light intensity. Without a word, she leaves them to be alone. Something about the couple touches her heart.

"Eh," she thinks to herself, "I'm just a hopeless romantic."

In the kitchen, though, things are much less touching. Angel is barking out orders, Iggy is frantically trying to keep up with everything, and God knows what Dylan and The Gasman are busy doing.

It doesn't take Ash long to join the party. His light brown hair resembles his dad's; a long, tangled mess. Scarlet decides that it makes him look cute… not like she'd say that aloud or anything…

"I like your hair like that, Ash!" Too late; it's out before she can slap her hand over her mouth. Her eyes widen in horror. What possessed her to tell him that!

All of the commotion stops at once. Max and Fang even peer into the room, curious as to what Scarlet had said.

At first, Ash looks just as shocked as Scarlet. Then, a slow smile spreads across his face.

"Thank you, Scarlet," He says, his eyes bright.

Just like that, the noise increases back to its normal volume. Max vanishes back into the living room, leaving Fang behind with his son.

The older male squeezes Ash's shoulder, ruffles his hair, and turns out of the room as if nothing happened. Scarlet's face only turns more red as the boy lets a sly smile show.

Her embarrassment quickly melts into anger. How dare Ash be so pig-headed? The girl merely compliments his on his hair (a stupid mistake, mind you), and he takes it as an ego boost! As if his head needs to get any bigger!

And Fang! Ooh, he makes her mad, too! He grabs his son in congratulations! Who does that?

In her anger, Scarlet pushes past Ash. She dodges her families questioning looks, only wishing to get away-far, far away. Somewhere she can be alone.

Grabbing the glass door leading to the balcony, Nudge's daughter slams it shut behind her, nearly shattering the frame.

Her sparrow-like wings unfurl, allowing Scarlet to fly for miles. She soars in the sky until the sun begins to set. Tired at last, she lands on a big tree branch, tears collecting in her eyes.

She doesn't wipe them away as usual, but instead lets them fall down her cheeks. She cries for her mom, who she has never once met. She cries for her family, who hate her more every day. Most of all, though, Scarlet cries because she was just so stupid. Her Uncle Dylan always taught her that love and affection would only lead to heart-break. Why had she not listened?

Her tears gradually stop, leaving the girl hiccupping in the dead of night. Before she is fully recovered, she spots Max flying towards her. Standing, Scarlet unfurls her wings again, prepared to fly away.

Max calls out to her, asking her to stay, but Scarlet is beyond listening. She leaps off the branch before Max can react.

The wind picks up, allowing Scarlet to glide through the open sky without effort. She feels giddy inside for the first time since the morning. Her happiness is short lives, much to her dismay, when Max manages to grab her out of nowhere.

"Put me down!" she demands. Max pays no attention.

Swooping low to the ground, Max lets the girl go. It's only a few feet to fall, but it's enough to scare the young teen.

"Are you crazy? You dropped me!"

Max glares at her. "You disobeyed me."

Shaking her head, Scarlet asks, "How'd you grab me like that?"

"Super-speed comes in handy every-so-often," She says nonchalantly.

"I didn't know you had super-speed."

"It's not common knowledge," Max admits. She hesitantly adds, "You have a… gift?"

"I'm telepathic," She whispers, her cheeks turning red.

Max nods, smiling slightly. "That could be useful…"

"I don't know how to control it just yet."

This makes Max's eyes shine. "We'll just have to fix that, won't we?"

Scarlet's mouth drops. Max; a leader, someone who took care of 6 or so people for 5 years; a girl who's seen death countless times; a woman who has defied all of the odds… she was offering to help Scarlet. It was incredible!

Nudge's daughter is nodding in no time, her tough façade shattered.

"All right, then. That's our next task. But, we kind of have to go home first."

Standing from the grass, Scarlet rolls her shoulders, already preparing for another long flight.

Max shakes her head. "No, no."

"What?"

"We're going to take my way home. Take my hand, and hold on tight. We're gonna fly Air Max; super-speed style."

Scarlet smiles brightly. This is going to be fun.

All right, so this is just one of the chapters that I cooked up for you guys. There is more to come. But first, you have to tell me; was it good? Bad? Ugly?

Thanks,

~Faxisthegreatest123~