A/N: Hey guys! I am so sorry for the long hiatus. A lot has been happening to me outside of my life on the internet and I haven't had a lot of time to work on this story. I finally managed to reread and continue (hence Chapter 7). For my old readers, I have gone back and fixed a few things in the previous chapters. In my rereading, I noticed many grammar errors and random tense changes that were not supposed to be there. So, if you would like, you can reread back at Chapter 1. If not (and to my new readers), I hope you enjoy. I'll try to post more often as I write.

REVIEWS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED ! :D

Chapter 7 - Departure

"This is amazing!" I close my eyes and hold my hands out. This is the best experience I have ever had. All of my fears and problems just melted away as I let the wind numb my face. I stay like that for a few minutes before something tells me to move. I hear a gun shot, and as if it were in slow motion, my eyes snap open and I use as much force as I can to pull Daniel out of the line of fire. I see the small bullet hit the back of his left shoulder and his wings falter for a second, dropping us down. He wobbles a bit, trying to keep his eyes focused.

"Daniel!" I start to panic. I don't know what to do and he is losing blood fast. He looks down at me and says "Just keep going." before his eyes close and we start to drop out of the sky.

"Daniel!" I yell. I won't lie. I'm in complete panic. The ground is coming closer very fast and I know there is no time to call the others.

"Here goes nothing." I think to myself as I quickly unfurl my wings. They catch the air fast, making me gasp at the sharp pain that flowed from my wings. But it quickly left as I heave Daniel and myself up into the sky. I spot the others, who thankfully hadn't stopped. Although I'm a little unstable in the air, I will myself to fly as fast as I can to catch up to the others and hopefully find a way to get rid of that helicopter. I fly straight at them, holding onto Daniel tight.

"Hey guys!" I call as I near them. Suzume turns around and gasps.

"Arya! What happened?!" She asks, flying over and helping me carry Daniel.

"They...have...guns..." I pant out, keeping my death grip on Daniel's arm while trying to keep my wings flapping. "We need to...out fly...them."

"I don't mean to be a pessimist here, Daniel is out cold and you seem to be fairly new at this flying thing." Shida says, looking very worried.

"Well, then we need to strategize." I say, looking around at our landscape. The way we had come is fairly condensed with trees that seem to stop growing east at a certain point. But everywhere else was all flat, plains. There was no where to hide.

"We'll split up." I say. "They're after me, so if I go one way, you guys can get out of here with Daniel."

"We can't just do that!" John exclaims. "Daniel always said we never leave anyone behind. We go together."

"But what other choice do we have!" I counter. Silence falls upon the group. I take a deep breath "Get Daniel out of here. He's badly hurt and is losing blood fast. I'll distract them."

They all stare at me, stun to silence.

"Go!" I yell, shaking them out of their trance. John quickly helps Suzume with Daniel and starts leading the way.

"Where are we meeting up?" Shida asks.

"You guys should start heading north. Stay along the boarder line to the desert, but try to stay hidden. Walk if you have to, just stay safe. I'll try to meet you in a couple hours." I reply. She nods and starts off after Suzume and John. I am suddenly tackled, and for a quick moment forgot I was supposed to fly.

"Promise to come back safe, ok?" The muffled voice of Orlando is heard as he squeezes me tight.

"I promise." I say, wrapping my arms around his tiny figure. He lets go, looking up at me with sad, blue eyes. He grabs my hand and wraps his small pinkie around mine before he speeds off toward the others. I give a small smile before turning toward the helicopter. At this point they were close enough that I ca see the ugly half wolf faces in the front seat through the window. A smirk crawls across my face as I start mocking them, waving my hands around with my tongue sticking out. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Real mature. But it got their attention. Their hairy faces turned into scowls, which was my signal to turn tail and fly as fast as I could, which unfortunately isn't very fast. I don't know how to control the way I move around to catch the air currents, so I might as well have been a balloon running out of air. I try flapping my wings as hard as I could, but all it does is slow me down even more and bring me lower to the ground. I hear the loud sound of the helicopter coming closer and closer, when a really crazy idea forms in my mind. I look behind me, watching the helicopter coming toward me. By the time I do anything, it's right on top of me. At the last second, I quickly close my wings and let myself fall. I feel the wind pass between the claw of the Eraser and my back. I fall like a missile, nosediving right to the ground. And as scary as I thought it would have been, it gives me a completely new sense of thrill. I smile through the cold air, then unfurl and catch the wind, sending me straight up. I pass the helicopter and manage to catch an air current above the clouds. An unknown instinct took hold of me, and I let my wings do all the work. It felt very weird. I've had these wings for about six years, yet I never got the chance to really use them. I can feel the slightest shift in the air, my feathers changing to fit the pattern of the wind as I seem to flow across the clouds. I take a look behind me and see the helicopter propellers just peaking over the cloud line.

"They're pretty serious about this, huh?" I say aloud to myself. Thinking it's time I ditched these guys, I sink down into the clouds to give myself cover. I listen for the sound of the helicopter which thankfully starts to grow fainter. Even when I can't hear it anymore (which certainly took awhile), I continue to stay in the cover of the clouds. Although exhausted from losing the Erasers, I'm determined to find the others even if it takes me all night.

A/N: Follow and review please! Love you all!