A/N: wow. You are all so good to me! All those reviews, and alerts, and favorites, and PMs! Do not stop. They are my lifeline – I live, breath, and eat them. They are my energy source, they are the Max to my Fang. They are why I exist…. Okay, not really. But close.

ANYWAY. Moving on.

Sad fact: I HAVE NEVER HAD A TOBLERONE. Ever. In my LIFE.

Kill me now, right?

Please read the very important note at the bottom of this chapter. It is very important. Importantly important.

This is a filler chapter… sorry! things will speed up again Ch 5!

Disclaimer: sorry. I am going on strike. If you send me a Toblerone, however, you might save this author from being dragged off to court and never writing again….

Max's POV

Hot. It is so freaking HOT.

Those were my first thoughts as I sprinted toward the burning mansion. And

Bright.

So so bright, it hurt my eyes to even look straight at it.

And then, crap, the girl! I have to save her.

The grass was crunching under my feet, dry from the constant swell of heat coming from the fire. My eyes were glued to the girl – the tiny, glass-like figure framed by the roaring flames.

She reminded me of Angel.

I admit it.

Perhaps of she was a boy, or maybe a bit older, or maybe didn't have such a beautiful face, maybe then I would have stopped to think and realized that there was no way she could be saved.

Maybe…

Maybe…

But… probably not.

Angel, I thought, hoping she could hear me, I need you to go and get someone. Quick. This fire... it's way too big. Like, if its not stopped, its gonna spread huge and all this dry stuff out here will catch like straw. Wouldn't take long for it to reach a town. And… I paused to gather my courage. And Angel, take Iggy and Nudge and Gazzy with you, kay? Tell the police that they were trying to start a fire or something, I don't know. Just… hurry.

I was almost there now, and the roar was deafening. The heat was so intense for a moment it was all I could do not to throw up on the spot.

My head was spinning; I was losing energy fast. But all I could think was the girl… the girl… I had reached the balcony, and was directly underneath it. For a second my vision went dark, but then it was back, with all the brightness, and I was leaping in the air, darn the consequences, its only a few feathers… and I was going up, up to the girl, to the girl, the girl, I'm going to save her…

It was getting harder with every foot to push my wings, but I couldn't stop, not now.

I peered through my blurry eyes, trying to see how much farther I had to go. I could see it, the balcony, and as I angled myself out from under it, thinking can't be much longer now… I saw the girl too, but she wasn't looking at me, she was staring straight ahead, and a glint of gold caught my eye.

A necklace… she was wearing a necklace…

But why was she looking out there, when I was down here? Her mouth opened again and for the first time I heard, actually heard her scream.

It was horrible.

It said, save me.

It said, help me.

It said, I don't want to die.

It said, I am not ready yet.

A splinter of burning wood fell into my hair and sparked but I hardly noticed.

How far was I now? I had to be getting close… it was so bright… and so loud… and I was so tired…

I felt my wings droop.

Almost… there…

Something caught my eye. Little black specs, floating their way across my vision as I fell. Soot? They got darker, and clogged my sight. Move, I thought, with no real energy, I have to get the girl.

They closed over me, and then I fainted.

Fang's POV

Max.

She fell. Her wings flew up around her and soon I couldn't seen anything but fire and feathers.

Max.

I had to get to her, had to save Max, to heck with the girl, we didn't even know her.

I had reached the balcony by now, and Max was directly above me. I slowed and began to descend, trying to lessen the impact when she hit me.

Max.

She was hot, so hot, like she was on fire. Was she on fire? I hastily did a full body scan, but with the flames all around us it was too hard to tell.

Max.

She couldn't die. She couldn't.

She was only unconscious, that was why she was laying in my arms so limply. Any minute now and she would stir and demand to be set down…

I realized that I was just sitting there, hovering in midair, and the balcony behind me had already crashed.

When had that happened?

The heat – I had already started to feel its affects; the tremendous loss of energy.

I had to get out of there. Before anything happened to Max.

The girl did not cross my mind once as I flew back toward safety.

Iggy's POV

"What is going on?" I cried out. "Tell me, please you guys, I can hear tons of roaring and- and screams!"

Somewhere behind me – maybe 72o counterclockwise – Nudge sniffled.

"Oh Iggy, it's horrible, there's a ginormous fire, that's probably the roar you're hearing, anyway, it's like on a house, someone is IN there Iggy, like they might die-" by now she was sobbing, "and what if they DIED Iggy? It would all be our fault! What should we do?"

Wasn't it obvious?

"Why don't we go down there and help?" I already had my wings angled toward the ground, ready to zip down and help, when Gazzy said, in a tiny voice,

"You know we cant."

"Well, why NOT?" I demanded incredulously. "What, because I'm blind?"

"No," said Angel, in a voice far too clear for the situation, "because Max said so."

I whirled on her. "Oh, of course, Max told us to just stay up here, right? Because, like, we might get hurt?"

"We have to go get the police before this fire gets any bigger, Iggy," her perfect little voice was beginning to annoy me.

How could she be so calm right now?

"I dint care, I can hear that girl screaming Angel! Every little shriek to the heavens, I can hear it!"

"I can hear it too, Iggy," now she sounded sad. "I can hear it too, only a million times worse. I can hear her cries for help, in her head, and she thinks she's going to die Iggy, I can tell. But you want to know something? She is worried about the town. That town. Her town. She's worried the fire will spread, and it will all be her fault, and people will die. And she hopes someone will see and put it out before it kills anyone else."

I was stunned.

That girl… it was hard to tell over the noise, but she sounded to be young, only 9 or 10.

Was she seriously worried about everyone else?

I made a split second decision.

"Max and Fang are down there, we cant forget that. So… okay, we'll go to town. And we'll let them know about the fire, and they'll put it out."

"2 o'clock, Iggy," Gazzy said in a flat tone.

"And the girl will be saved," I turned and started off. I continued, sounding like Nudge, "and the fire will be put out, and everything will be okay."

No one said anything.

We flew silently toward town, knowing in our hearts that "everything will be okay" didn't apply to us.

Fang's POV

Once Max was safely out of the long reach of the fire, I seemed to come back to my senses. I could suddenly feel the searing pain on my wings. I had always known that direct heat was hard on our bodies, but this…

It was like there was a fire running through my veins.

I couldn't imagine how Max felt.

I felt her shift slightly in my arms, and gently lay her in the grass. She moaned.

"The…" she gasped, "the girl…?" her voice was raspy and dry, and I cringed to hear it. But at least she was well enough to talk.

And she was asking about the girl. Typical Max – to think of others first.

And then it hit me – how would I answers Max's question?

The girl, I realized with a sickening feeling, was dead. And I had basically killer her.

My stomach clenched.

The girl. She was dead.

Max couldn't hear this, not when she was in this state. She would probably have a fit and end up hurting herself even more.

And… I killed the girl.

I couldn't seem to stop thinking this.

She died because of me.

It was my fault. I could have saved her.

I thought I was going to throw up, right there, on that dry grass, with the vast fire raging behind me.

I thought I might collapse.

I thought I might scream.

Have you ever killed someone?

It's easy, when it's something that isn't living. When it has a computer for a brain, or when it has a face of a wolf.

But to kill a human being… one that you had heard screaming for help not minutes before…

There aren't any words to describe the horrible I-think-I'm-gonna-spew feeling that invades even your brain.

Max's gasping pulled me back into reality.

"Did… did…" she panted.

"Shh…" I said, "Its okay." I lied. But if it made Max feel better, I would lie a million times and do it all over again if I had to.

She closed her eyes and grimaced. "Ow…"

My teeth clenched. What should I do? There was a huge behind me, the Flock was nowhere to be seen, Max was about to freaking die on me, and I had just killed someone.

My knees buckled, and I collapsed on the ground next to Max. Somewhere through my hazy thoughts, I managed to laugh at the irony.

Strong, silent, emotionless brick wall Fang, all upset just because he killed one person…

Bile rose to my throat. I closed my eyes in an attempt to push it back.

Far away, a shout broke through the roaring of the fire.

"Max! Fang!"

It was the Flock. Of course, they had left to go get help, hadn't they? A bit too late now…

And then it actually hit me – the Flock!

And there I was, on my knees, about to hurl.

Grimacing, I took a deep breath past my ragged throat and forced myself to my feet. I hastily put my mask back on, and turned to look at the sky for the kids.

The fire made it difficult to see, but I made out the distant shapes of three flying bird kids.

Wait. Three?

I scooped Max up in my arms, ignoring when she groaned, and leapt into the air.

When I reached the Flock, Nudge – predictably – began to babble.

"OMG, you guys are okay! But why are you carrying Max? Is she hurt? Fang, what's wrong with her? her feathers are all funny, and… ew!" she scrunched up her face and leaned closer for a better look. "Is that… a bald spot?"

Looking down, I saw that it was indeed a bald spot. And it wasn't alone, either. Multiple blemishes dotted her wings where feathers had been burned away.

"Oh, ew…" muttered Gazzy, turning his face away. "That's disgusting…"

"And this is from the one who plays with snakes and spiders when he's not making bombs?" Iggy joked weakly at an attempt to sound like his usual self, but he too was cringing at the state of Max's wings.

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I said in a calm voice, "Okay, first things first. Where's Angel?"

Iggy's face hardened as he glanced back in the general direction of the town. "Busy convincing the police that there really is a fire." He made air quotes around convincing. "They didn't believe us about the fire.

"'You kids need to go to bed now,' they said. Idiots."

"How did they not see it?" I demanded incredulously. "its huge!"

"The town is down in a valley," Nudge explained, "You cant even see the smoke from down there."

Fang, the firefighters are on their way. I'm coming, we need to get ready to leave, quickly, so when you see me start flying.

"Hey. Hey! We need to split. The firefighters are almost here." I scanned the sky. "There's Angel – lets go."

Angel was flying pell-mell toward us, her wings beating like a hummingbird.

"Um, Angel?" Nudge asked, once we were back on course. "Why are we in such a hurry? I mean, everyone knows about our wings already, right?"

Angel smiled sweetly, "Well, they weren't coming, and I didn't have time to find all of the firefighters and get into all of their heads, so I kind of "

"Angel," said Iggy, "you are a very scary girl. You know that?"

Angel did a front flip in response.

1 hour later…

"Rest time," I said, and angled myself toward the ground.

Max was lighter than the usual 15 year old girl, but carrying anyone for an hour will wear you out. I was tired, and my arms were sore, and, frankly, I needed some sleep. By the looks of it, so did the rest of the Flock.

As we landed, Nudge stumbled and fell, Gazzy plopped down and shut his eyes, and Angel yawned so widely a bug flew in her mouth.

"Gross!" she cried, spitting it out.

"Quiet," Iggy grumbled, "I'm trying to rest."

Laying Max down gently – one night on the ground couldn't make her much worse – I walked over to the edge of the circle and took first watch.

Thoughts flew in circles in my head, nagging me.

Will Max be okay?

What will I do about the girl?

How will I break it to the Flock?

How will I break it to Max?

Where do we go from here?

And when is Max going to wake up?

Importantly important A/N: this is chapter four, and I said I would go to chapter five, right? So if you all do your math, chapter five IS THE NEXT CHAPTER. So… start thinking! Does this story suck, stink, just kinda lie flat, mildly entertain you, or rock? I need INPUT people, INPUT. Aka reviews and PMs. So, this author is shamelessly begging you: R n R? please? You can do a simple :) or :( if you want…