ohmygosh I can't believe I'm doing this to Max! But anyway, this is the chapter 2.

I stood up and got my bouquet of white roses, freshly picked from Angel's garden.

"You're so beautiful, Max."Mom hugged me, her eyes teary. Then, my bridesmaid came in, Ella.

"Hi Max! You ready?"She said, getting behind me to lift my long long long bridal tail or whatever it's called. "Max, are you wearing converse?"She asked, pulling my gown up.

"Hey!"I complained with a snicker.

"Just wait 'til Nudge knows about this."

And great! The odds were in my favor. "Know what?"Nudge came in.

"She's wearing converse, Nudge."

"On a wedding?!"Nudge exclaimed, her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "No way, Max."

I glared at Ella and she gave me a wrinkle-nose smile. "Listen, Nudge, If I want to wear converse in MY wedding, "I emphasized the "my". "I will wear converse in my wedding. All clear?"I looked at her with the I-will-do-what-I-want-cause-I'm-the-leader stare. As much as I hated getting into her "fashion way", I hated wearing heels. As in.

She rolled her eyes and muttered "fine" and fixed my hair, made some fast retouch of the make-up. I hated it when I watched my flock grow, my babies grow, and they suddenly just shot right past my height! Nudge was now taller than me. Add the heels up and she's towering over me. And she's 16! Gazzy's almost my height now at 14.

I you're thinking that 5 years is already enough to move on about what had happened, well, think again, 'cause, up until now, I still woke up screaming, dreaming about erasers chasing us, my flock being kidnapped by the whitecoats, and most painfully, the death of my supposed to be perfect other half. Until now, I blamed myself for it, crying at random times. Even if I was getting married now, I always remembered our kisses, his warmth, his hugs, our flights, and the moments when we were together. But I made the most stupid mistake and got him killed. He died because of me, of my stupidity. It was 5 years ago already but it still felt fresh whenever I remembered him. Every night, cold nostalgia chilled me to the bone, reminding me that he would never come back. Never ever.

"It's okay, Max."Angel smiled at me as she passed to go in line for the entourage. I smiled back sadly, memories still playing, killing me every time. Everyone was telling me that it was okay, that it wasn't my fault, but they didn't know the whole story. They didn't know what the stupid act was. They were evacuating people and were oblivious on what was happening in the fight.

As we got out of the room, I saw the cretinous creature I least expected to see here. The fricking traitor.

He smiled at me, the sides of his eyes wrinkling. "Max, I can't believe to see you actually getting married."

I stared him down."Only because you and your bloody friends all thought I was going to die before I can even imprint on someone."I said through gritted teeth, totally holding back my rage for my wedding's sake. He's totally ruining my already ruined day. "And I noticed you're still alive?"

"Max, I'm sorry. Can we just forget the past and get on with your wedding? I know it's going to be amazing."He smiled again. I see he got a little bit old with the gray hair and wrinkled face.

"Wow."I snickered snidely. "It's a surprise to hear that coming from you given that you actually wanted me to BREED at my teenage years. You almost took my childhood years. Oh, YOU took all my life."I glared at him, not even blinking. "Remember when you risked our lives for the sake of a stupid experiment?!"I snapped, blood rushing to my cheeks from rage. Mom touched my arm. "Mom, why is he even here? And where in the depths of hell did you find him?"Jeb looked hurt, his eyes turning glassy.

"He's still your father, Max."Mom whispered to me. "It would be nice if both of us were by your side during your wedding."

I don't have a father. I thought, but pulled back. It would hurt my mom. She and Jeb both decided to CREATE me. It might be a thorn for her if I push away her partner, right? But what did I care? Jeb was just a jerk of a father.

"Yeah, Max. And I wanna be here for you."Jeb's cursed voice said.

What if I don't? I thought. Is he trying to take over my life again? And I wished Angel were here beside me to tell me if he was telling the truth or if he's blabbering worthless words again. I wanna say floccinaucinihilipilification to his face when he spoke. Look it up, you'll learn something.

"Fine. Do whatever you want except ruining my wedding."I rolled my eyes. I was so confident that everything was already okay and nothing could conquer the world right now. Everything was already in control and if this Jeb was gonna try to take over again, I'd kill him myself.

The wedding planner was already here, barking orders. (hey, at least half of the world's population survived the apocalypse. If not, I wouldn't be having Riley now and my wedding's gonna be a mess.)

"Max, hold daddy's arm now we-"Riley tried to say but I cut her.

"Dude, no!"I protested. I didn't even want him to be here much less touch him. "Are you bonkers? And he's not my dad!"I snapped but suddenly regretted it. Now guilt trips came with silence. "Fine!"I groaned and held Jeb's arm, catching a glance of his hurt my face. Part of me was sorry for him. Part of me was relieved to see him hurt. Now even I didn't know myself anymore.

The music played. It's angelic notes came overwhelming me, putting me in between of my bad memories again.
The memory of my supposed to be perfect other half was still crystal clear. How could it not? I dreamed about it every night, leaving me screaming my wake and be covered in sweat.

*Flashback 5 years ago*

I was there, fighting to death with the kids I was leading, the Gen 77 kids. They were so mad to know about their date, their expiration. They said we were just scaring the hell out of them. So just like that, they wanted a new leader. They wanted to eliminate me. And remember, it was hard to even survive. They were enhanced. We only had wings and a little strength. I was thinking I would never win.
How they got mad, you ask? Well it turned out that their date appeared 3 days before their expiration. Again, another defect.
When a lot of their population were expired, the remaining kids thought that we wanted to eradicate their race and that we were poisoning them. they were no longer believing in me. I was no longer their leader. I was already their enemy.

Their new leader and I fought. And he's damn strong and fast. Yes, faster than me.
I tried to punch every side of him but he either dodged it, or blocked it.

"Is that the best you can do, leader?"He smirked. He was around Nudge's age. He had spiky brown hair and green eyes but he was really buff. It didn't suit his young face.

It was an insult for me. Well, a leader's got to be the strongest, right? But I wasn't. I knew for myself that I couldn't win.

He punched me in my stomach. sending me to release a satisfying "oof". I curled in the sandy ground, wincing in pain. I coughed and blood dripped from my mouth. That really hurt. It was like, someone had a mallet and hit me in my tummy. I was vulnerable. No one was here to help me. It was like, in video games, that you go level by level. After surviving the others, I lost a lot of my energy. This was the last level of my game, and my life line was already low.

I forced myself to stand, knees first. I ducked, hand on my stomach. If this fight were animated, I would have star circling my head. I looked at my opponent, searching for weak points and defects. The fire around us that the boy before him made was the only light we had. I closed one eye, still wincing in pain. I couldn't think of a way to defeat him. He wasn't like wonderboy, the boy that I fought with in front of the itex director, and that couldn't process the fast movements. He wasn't like the fly boys that you just had to kick in the lower back. He was strong like an eraser and fast and agile.

He walked near me, sneer on his face, confident that he could kill me. I tried to kick him in his gut, but I wasn't fast enough to jump when he got a hold of my foot. He turned around, faster and faster, whirling me around. It made me dizzy and my stomach churned. My hair was whipping around me. Then he let go of me, sending me flying without control. I was too dizzy to fly. I opened my wings and it caught the air, pulling me to a stop, making me glide on the sand. I couldn't stand. The world was going in circles. Again, he walked toward me. He held the front of my shirt and threw me to our battlefield.

"Fight!"He shouted in his teenagey voice. I stood up, steadying my stance. I got back on thinking of how to defeat him.

He was about to attack again when a familiar voice called me. "Max!"

Cliff hangers. Guess who it is.