Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated recently, I've just had loads of school stuff and writers block and djisonfudsmkcfvhhhdsijokwpemjnc xkm. I feel really awful because you guys have taken the time to read and review and I haven't really rewarded you. Don't kill me pleaseeeeeeeeee.

Onwards?

Max POV.

We parted, and sat in front of the fire, which we were desperately trying to revive.

It was earlyish morning, I didn't have a clue what time it was, and the flock started slowly waking up.

When everybody was up and ready I started wondering whether we should actually go to this beach.

I turned to Fang to see him already looking at me.

"Do you think we should go to the beach? Might be a trap."

"I don't know." He said. "But why would she have something against us? We tried to help her, and she refused."

I nodded. "So we'll go." I said hesitantly. I had a bad feeling, like there was danger waiting for us on that beach.

He noticed my unwillingness. "We don't have to, Max."

I opened my mouth to reply when Jason came running over. "Max! Emily says that you guys have to get to the beach fast! She says that he spirit is fading or something like that, and we have to get there as soon as we can."

I looked over at Fang, and we made eye contact for two seconds. The look on his face said that it was up to me.

"Lets go then." I said, making a snap decision I had a feeling I'd regret.

I raised my voice. "Hey, guys!" The flock looked over at me. "We're leaving for the beach, now."

They all stood up and got ready, Iggy picking up Jason to carry, and Nudge taking Iggy's rucksack for him.

I began attempting to stand when I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up to see Fang looking down at me. God, he was tall. He shook his head, and leaned past me to pick up his leather jacket where It'd been left on the floor.

While he wasn't looking I decided to stand up anyway, and managed to balance on one foot for literally half a second before I fell, only to be caught by strong hands.

"For god's sake Max, can't you just do what I ask?" I smirked and shrugged with my good shoulder.

"I think I can fly though."

I didn't really think I could fly, but I'd rather struggle than have to be looked after and carried like a child.

"Max, Dr Martinez said you shouldn't even be able to extend your wing for three, maybe two weeks."

I extended my good wing.

He took on a mocking tone. "Well, Max, you're good at flying at all, but I don't think you can fly with one wing."

I laughed and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Sure I can."

Turns out I couldn't.

But one thing that was weird was that my wings were black. Yeah, you heard me. Black. Like Fang's. But there were light brown speckles, so it looked like somebody had got a paintbrush, dipped it in brown paint, and flicked it at my wing so that the paint splattered. The "splats" weren't everywhere, though. They were splattered all over my wing all the way to my shoulder. It was the same on the other wing, and Fang said that from the back it was the same.

My hair was black, too. I picked up a strand and was pleased. I was kind of worried though, had they done something at the school to make this happen?

I shrugged it off as we lifted off, Fang carrying me.

We were flying in front, Fang holding me in his strong arms. Nudge and Iggy were flying behind us with Iggy carrying Jason, and the three of them chatted animatedly about something. Next to and a bit behind them Gazzy and Angel were flying next to each other, talking quietly.

I looked up at Fang.

Flashback.

I was 13, and it was Christmas. The flock had all gone to bed, and had just left me to put up the tree and decorate it and everything.

Grumpily, I sat on the floor and put the tree together. Jeb had bought it for us when he got us out of the school, and it went up every Christmas. It was December the… 13th or 14th. I'd left it quite late this year.

I'd stood up the tree, and I pulled over the big box of decorations we'd collected over the years we'd been here.

I stretched and yawned, annoyed that I had to do this alone.

I pulled out the lights to discover that they were completely tangled. I sighed and fetched the laptop, pulling it over and putting on some music.

After what felt like hours, the lights were untangled and I stood up to put them on the tree.

"Need any help?" A soft voice asked. I whipped my head around to see Fang standing right behind me. I

"Oh my god Fang, please stop walking quietly. Make noise when you move!"

He smirked. "Want any help or not?"

I sighed and nodded. "Hold these for one second." I said, thrusting the lights at him and lying on the floor in front of my laptop so that I could change the song, putting on LRAD by Knife Party A/N: This song is amazing. Knife party are amazing. Amazing.

When that song finished, Fang chose the next song, and it went like that, until the lights were done.

"Now for the actual decorations." I said, looking proudly at how well we'd put the lights up.

It was my turn to change the song, so I put on Bromance, Arena Mix by Avicii. Avicii is the best DJ EVER. EVER. I had heard every song of his, and I knew that he used to write songs under his real name, Tim Berg, and then went by the name Avicii, and that the arena mix of Bromance was Avicii remixing a song he'd written earlier.

So yeah.

We just decorated and had fun, joking and winding each other up. I felt carefree and happy for once. I had no worries, and I'd never been this consciously aware of how happy I was. It was probably the happiest moment of my short, messed up life.

I stepped back, letting down my ponytail and shaking my hair into it's normal position. We were finally done with the tree.

I went to stand next to Fang as we both looked at our tree with pride, and I don't mean to boast, but it was amazingly decorated.

I looked up at him and we high fived, smiling at each other. I didn't know what I was doing, but I suddenly pulled him into a hug. He stiffened for a second unsurprisingly, he wasn't exactly the most cuddly person. But then he relaxed, putting his arms around me as I rested my head on his shoulder, noticing for the first time that he was getting taller than me.

End of flashback.

Fang looked down at me, smiling. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, probably noticing the faraway look in my eyes.

"When we decorated the tree last Christmas." I said, and his eyes lit up with the happy memory.

He opened his mouth to say something else when the most intense pain I'd ever felt, and that was saying something, knifed into my skull, making me scream and grab my head, scrunching my eyes shut.

I bucked violently and kicked Fang until he dropped me. I wanted to go splat. Make it stop make it stop make it stop. Was the thought pulsing through my head like the beat of a drum. Go splat, make it be over soon.

I screamed as the pain intensified even more, and felt strong arms grab me, and my falling ceased.

"Let me fall!" I yelled, still clutching my head. I opened my eyes and say Fang above, looking down at me. But it didn't look like a person, just a blurry balloon. My eyes were completely unfocused and I just saw shaped, blurry dots smeared across a canvas.

"LET ME FALL!" I screamed when it didn't end.

"Max." Fang's voice floated through the darkness and pain. "Max just hold on. You'll be fine, just hold on."

"Just let me go Fang, please!" I sobbed, tears falling down my cheeks. I was in too much pain to even care that I was crying in front of everyone.

"Max!" My ears dimly registered his voice. "I'm not letting you go."

My eyes focused for one second and I saw Fang above me, his face a mixture of extreme pain, horror and pure worry.

A hot pulse of even stronger pain stabbed through my head, and I had enough time to let out a piercing scream before my vision faded from the edges inwards, so the last thing I saw was Fang's face hovering above me before I passed out.

Fang's POV.

We were flying quietly, not talking. I had her in my arms.

I looked down at her to see a faraway, dreamy look in her eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, smiling.

"When we decorated the tree last Christmas." She said, and I smiled broadly at the memory. It had been the happiest time of my life. I was calm and relaxed, all my worries gone, and I remember noticing it doing good for Max too.

I remember most clearly when we were standing back, inspecting our beautiful tree when she pulled me into a warm hug.

I opened my mouth to say something about how well we decorated the tree when she suddenly screamed, lifting her hands to cover her head.

Oh god, it's one of her brain attacks. I thought they'd finally stopped!

I was looking for a good place to land when she bucked violently and kicked me, hard, making me unintentionally drop her.

She fell fast, cutting through the air like an arrow. I could barely breath for worry as I knifed into a sharp dive, pulling in my wings. My heart was hammering in overdrive as I panicked.

I grabbed her and opened my wings sharply, wincing slightly as we jerked upwards.

"Let me fall!" she yelled, her words cutting fear deep inside me. I don't think I'd ever been this scared, and considering what I'd been through, that really said something. She opened her eyes, and they were completely unfocused, her pupils like pinpricks.

"LET ME FALL!" She screamed as loud as she could, her words cutting deep.

"Max." I said, trying to keep my words calm, hoping she could hear me. "It's okay, just hold on, you'll be fine, just hold on."

"Just let me go Fang, please!" She sobbed, tears pouring down her face, her words ripping my heart open.

"Max!" I said, panic now showing vividly in my voice. "I'm not letting you go!" Maybe I said it a little too harshly. But I just didn't care.

Her pupils suddenly grew and her eyes focused, and we made eye contact for a precious few seconds before she screamed, the scream slicing my heart open like a knife.

Then she passed out.

I panicked completely and landed quickly, the rest of the flock landing behind me.

I quickly lowered Max to the ground and checked her pulse. It was pounding away way to fast, but it was there. I checked she was breathing which she was.

Iggy stepped forward, crouching beside me.

I moved aside so that he could maybe find out what had happened. He ran his fingers all over her head and face, and leaned back after a while, shaking his head.

"I can't feel anything."

"Is Max okay?"

I turned around to see an Angel with tears in her eyes, looking scared out of her mind.

"I think so." I said. "I think it was just one of her brain attacks, just a little worse than usual."

She shook her head, tears starting to pour down her cheeks. "I read her mind, Fang. I read her mind. All she wanted was for you to drop her, or kill her or whatever. She wanted it to stop, and she didn't care how." Angel said, sobbing.

Iggy's POV. We haven't done him in a while.

Fang and I sat by the campfire later. The rest of the flock had fallen asleep, and Max still hadn't woken up.

"Was it really just one of her brain attacks?" I said, wondering aloud to Fang.

"I don't know, man. I asked her about her brain attacks and she didn't say that they were that bad. Angel has never reacted like that either."

I nodded. "Do you think it's linked to her being at the school recently?" I said quietly, not wanting to wake up the flock.

"I think so." He said, pure dread showing in his voice.

I heard footsteps all of a sudden, and tensed up, but then a familiar soft voice came floating out of the darkness.

"Fang, Iggy?" Jason said, standing somewhere directly in front of us, close. We were in a wood again, and I could sort of make a map of my surroundings based on how and where his voice echoed.

"Uh-huh?" Fang said, his voice patient. I waited for the "I can't sleep." Or "I'm hungry", but instead, he said something a lot worse.

"When Emily was helping me out of the school, I had a pain like Max's, in my head. I don't think it was as bad though. I screamed and fell to my knees, and when it faded I could see Emily." He said, and then I heard his footsteps retreating.

"I think Max has developed one or more new powers." I said.

"We're thinking the same thing." Fang said, a slight anomaly in his voice.

That was a looong chapter.

********IMPORTANT********* Do you guys want Nudge and Iggy to get together, or maybe Iggy and Ella?