Felix's PoV

"You...what?" Chase said quietly, and I could barely hear it from where Ash and I were hiding, listening in to Chase and Savannah's conversation. I knew it was wrong, but Ash had somehow convinced me that it was okay. It still felt wrong inside, but I still wanted to know what they were talking about, because I knew Chase and Savannah would never say.

"I'm sorry, Chase." Savannah sounded really sad and soft, kind of like how she talked to me or Ash if she was going to tell us something really, really bad. "I don't understand why." Chase said urgently. I peered cautiously around the stack of barrels I was behind to watch. When Savannah first asked to talk to Chase, they'd gone into a long ally some distance away from where we were camped out for the evening. I was worried about Harlow-she hadn't come back yet-but Savannah said give it a little more time and then we'd start looking for her.

Chase and Savannah were sitting across from each other on old crates, hands together. They both looked sad, and Ash had a hand pressed against her mouth, eyes huge. "Chase, we need to just be friends. It's too hard being in a relationship right now, and we both know that us being together is too distracting." Savannah said. Chase shook his head. "Don't you remember what Ash was saying earlier? She likes us together!" He insisted. "Chase, when I'm with you, all I think about is you. And that's not right for people like us-fighters like us-to be distracted like that, away from our responsibilities."

Chase drew his hands out of Savannah's and raked his hands through his hair with a deep sigh. "I know," was all he said sadly, then stood up, kissed Savannah gently on her mouth, then walked away. Ash and I just stared after him, not moving, not saying anything. In fact, Savannah turned and saw us. "Felix? Ash?" She said quietly, but I could already tell something was different about her. "Savannah!" Ash cried out, jumping up and flinging herself in Savannah's arms. "Did...you guys just break up?" She wailed. Savannah rubbed her back, but her eyes were closed and her jaw trembled a little.

"Savannah?" I said, very very softly. "Please don't cry." I hugged her a little, then backed off, not quite knowing what else to say. "I'm fine. I'm not going to cry, Felix." She whispered. "Ash, I guess we did kind of break up." Then she looked up at me with some emotion I didn't recognize in her eyes. "You were right." She said straight to me. "Chase and I can't be in love."

Now I felt really bad about what I said to Chase on the beach today, about how he should only be friends with Savannah. This was all my fault! "Savannah..." I began, but trailed off, not really wanting to admit anything. Savannah stood up, recomposing herself. "Ash, Felix, I'll be okay. Why don't we drop this whole thing, forget about it?" She suggested with a fake smile. "It's getting late, and in case we have to face bad guys tomorrow, we need to be all rested up."

Ash took one of her hands, and I decided to take the other. Ash would probably say we'd be giving "emotional support". Whatever that was. I saw that in a magazine somewhere.

"Thanks." Savannah whispered, squeezing our hands a little as we walked back towards the woods. We didn't fly because we were in San Diego and of course we couldn't just go off flying. There was a small, small patch of "woods" not too far away, and we'd gone right into the middle of it to sleep.

After walking in complete silence for twenty minutes, we got to our campsite, where Chase and Andrew were. When Ash and I had gone to follow Savannah and Chase, we'd left Andrew by himself, but we he was sleeping and we assumed he wouldn't wake up. He was awake now, playing with some twigs near the campfire we'd risked to build. Even though it was only late September, and though we were in California, it still got cold at night. I sat down, as did the rest of the flock, but it was quiet.

There was something not right. It was too quiet, and neither Savannah nor Chase looked at each other. The silence was so awful I had to break it. "So...has Harlow left the flock?" I asked. All eyes shot to me. "No." Chase said firmly. "It wouldn't be like Harlow to leave the flock over one small matter."

"Then why isn't she home yet?" Ash piped in, but she didn't look at us. Her eyes were on Andrew. "I don't know." Savannah admitted. Again, there was that long, awkward silence. "I'm going to sleep." Chase finally said, and snapped open his wings, jumped into the air, and landed up high in a fork in a tree.

"Well, I am too. Come on, Andrew." Savannah said, standing up and scooping him up in her arms. Andrew must have picked up on the tension, because he didn't resist even though he didn't look very tired. Then she flew up with him to her own tree.

I didn't particularly like sleeping in trees, for some reason I always had the feeling I was going to fall out. So I settled on the ground on my side, opening my wing slightly and curling it around me. There was an unspoken agreement for Ash to take watch, so she sat down and propped up her back against a tree.

In about fifteen more minutes, it was completely dark and the only light was from the flickering fire. I watched it's shadows dance on the trees, unable to sleep. Everyone else but Ash and I were asleep, I could hear their faint breathing was steady. I tried to make myself fall asleep, but nothing worked. My stomach was wound tight and I felt worried.

"Felix?" The soft voice startled me out of my thoughts. I rolled over to face Ash, who was about five feet away. "Can you not sleep?" She asked. I shook my head. "How did you know?" I whispered. Ash shrugged. "You looked all tensed up." She was right. I sat up. "Can I sit by you?" I asked, suddenly feeling the need to be by someone. I was-scared? I don't know.

Ash smiled in relief, nodding. I crawled over and sat next to her, leaning against the tree too, so our heads were touching. "Something is wrong with the flock, and I'm scared." Ash admitted. I nodded. "Yeah. Harlow's gone, Savannah and Chase aren't talking to each other, they might be mad at us."

"Felix, what if the flock splits up?" Ash said in a tiny voice.

I hadn't thought of that, but now it seemed like a big possibility. "We can't!" I said, a little panicky. "What would happen to us?" Ash's breathing sped up. "I don't know." Then she turned towards me. "Felix, let's make a pact. If this flock splits, you and me will stay together, team up." She said. I nodded, relief going through me. "Yeah. No matter what, like even if we are mad at each other." She held out her pinkie. "Pinkie promise?" She asked, and I hooked mine around hers. "Pinkie promise."

After a few moments we let go and leaned back against the tree. "Do you think it's good or bad that Savannah and Chase...broke up?" I asked. "I don't know." Ash said, voice sounding a little lighter. "Both, I guess?"

I got what she meant. "Good, because now things can go back to the way they were before. Bad, because things will never be the way they were before." I whispered.

Chase's PoV

When I awoke, I found myself draped across the tree awkwardly and my hand was numb. Groaning, I sat up and jumped to the ground, shaking the circulation back into my hand. Everyone was asleep-Ash was sprawled on the ground next to Felix, who was on his stomach, halfway across a log. I couldn't see how that was comfortable. Andrew and Savannah were up in another tree near mine.

Then I remembered last night. Savannah and I had... broken up, if that was the right word. The same feeling of hurt that I'd felt last night washed over me again. But as soon as that feeling came, I shoved it back down. Feelings like that were not important right now, especially if we got attacked today, which most likely would happen. It always happened. "Wake up, guys!" I shouted, "time to get up!"

Felix was the first to get up, sitting upright and yawning. "Where are we going today?" He asked sleepily. Ash sat up also, stretching out her wings. "Yeah. Can we go shopping?" Of course that was her first statement..."I don't know." I replied. I looked up at Savannah, who was waking up Andrew. In a moment they flew out of the tree, shaking out their wings.

Savannah and I made the mistake of meeting each other's eyes, and I saw hurt laced in hers. She ripped her gaze away. "You know what, Ash, normally I'd disagree with you right away. But when I think about it, we've been wearing the same clothes for, like, months. We all need haircuts, just look at Felix!" She gestured towards Felix's chestnut colored hair which was now longer then it should be. "And I have major split ends!" Ash complained.

Savannah shrugged. "So why don't we go shopping and get our hair cut and stuff? It can be our one day of luxury...I think we deserve it." She said. "After we look for Harlow."

Within moments, our campfire was out and we were in the air, hoping not many people were out at five o'clock in the moring, except people going to work or whatever. But we got out of San Diego only a few minutes after that, so I think we weren't spotted. "Where could she be?" Felix called out. I risked a glance at Savannah, and her expression told me she had no idea. Of course, she didn't tell Felix that. "Probably around here somewhere!" She shouted back optimistically. To me, she murmured, "could be halfway across the country by now."

Once we got to a place where it was only rolling hills and fields and mountains, we flew low and kept our eyes open for Harlow. "How about we split up?" I suggested. "Ash and I, and you, Felix, and Andrew."
"Fine." Savannah said coolly, and I motioned for Ash to break away from the flock with me. "Come on, Ash, we'll go look over yonder." I joked. Ash rolled her eyes in an aggravated, and I was confused. Ash was usually the only one who my humor was not lost on.

"Some bird-kid woke up on the wrong side of the nest!" I tried again, but Ash didn't even crack a smile, instead tilted her wing a little to move away from me a little. "Whoa, what's wrong, Ash?" I asked. Ash gave me a fake smile that she'd probably learned from Savannah. "Nothing!" She said convincingly. Also learned from Savannah. "Yeah, right." I said. But I dropped it, knowing she probably wouldn't tell me what was wrong. That was just a girl thing.

4 Hours Later

"Chase, we've been looking forever. Please, can we be done?" Ash asked wearily a few hours later. I had to admit, I was getting a little tired also. We'd searched all over, in a radius from Northern California to middle of Washington State. Now we were flying back to our designated meeting spot with the rest of the flock over Oregon. It didn't take long to find them, and by the absence of Harlow, I could tell they hadn't found her. "No luck?" Felix asked, tone the same as Ash's. We shook our heads, and Andrew looked close to tears. "Where's Harlow?" He whimpered.

"Andrew, I'm sorry." I told the little four year old who looked close to tears. "What if she's hurt and lost somewhere?" Ash cried suddenly. Savannah glared at her. "She's not." She said firmly. "Harlow's probably fine, just getting some time to herself."

"She's probably sick of of us." I couldn't help but joking, just because I'm like that. "No kidding." Savannah muttered, which I assumed was directed at me. "Well, what should we do now?" Felix asked in a small voice. "How about we go to another major city, but not in California? Maybe she'd be there?" I asked. Savannah the Leader spoke up. "We're going to Chicago, guys."

Mixed responses. Ash cheered, Andrew looked excited at the idea of another zoo, Felix looked dismayed (due to the fact of Savannah's shopping announcement), and my eyebrows rose. "Chicago?" I repeated. Savannah nodded. "Major city, just like you said. Besides, if you ran away from your flock and decided to go back to them, where would you look?"

"Uhm, the place I left 'em?" I snickered, and Savannah groaned. "A major city, stupid. That's why we're going to Chicago." "But how would she guess Chicago?" Ash asked. Savannah smiled. "Remember before how you insisted we go to California? And then right after that Felix said we should go to a different place that's less polluted, like Chicago? Harlow will know to go there, then."

"What a LONG SHOT!" I said, even as we started heading east. "She'll never remember that!" Savannah glared at me. She did that a lot, now. "Chase, Harlow's smarter than the five of us put
together. I'm sure she will."

So, there you go. Kind of a short chapter, but now I'M ON MY HOME TURF! xD I'm from Chicago, so I know all about it, wayyy more than I know about San Diego. Get ready for some flock REBELNESS! :D REVIEW!

Also, wasn't the whole Felix/Ash thing cute? See...they're developing more as friends :)