A/N: Though I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anymore, I shall post the mush which has been written by yours truly. It's Max's POV. Angel was never taken, Dylan's in the Flock. Enjoy and please let me know what you think.

I love you all.

The trees dripped water; from up high where we were, all we could hear were the taps as the droplets smacked the ground. It was a full sound, like an empty gray sky. The foliage was wet and dark green, the air cold and misty.

Above me, resting way up high in the branches of the pine, was Fang. His black hair was soaked, sticking to his forehead in slicked groups.

I was next in the tree pileup, further down. Resting my legs over a thick branch, I peered up at him. I'd hurt him, I knew. As much as I wanted to be, I wasn't forgiven. What I had done was the unforgivable. His return to the Flock was nothing more than to protect them, my family, from myself. Me. Their leader.

Or…what remained of their leader.

I no longer doubted that I had been tampered with since my escape of the School. I wouldn't be the same. No longer did I sleep – the nightmares would be there for me. Waiting, like they knew the horrendous pain I felt every time I saw Angel's face when I woke up screaming, fists clenches and wings spread, eyes bloodthirsty and ravaged. After that was worse. I'd convulse until my body twisted and ached and throbbed; who knows what I'd do then. The only solution so far was to chain me up…like some animal.

But maybe I was one, after all.

I shivered; my hoodie offered little protection from the rain or cold these days. Nearby, Nudge kept a reasonable distance. Her brown shoulders were draped with a blanket she'd stowed away in her backpack. It was flannel, patched and ratty. I wished I could have given her more.

She cracked a wary eye open. "Want to share?"

I smiled, trying to breath evenly, but the stinging erupted in my cheeks. My smile dropped. I knew she was asking hoping I'd be like I was before I was taken, however. "Not a good idea."

"Oh," she sighed. "right."

I added as an afterthought, "You know I would if I could."

"Yeah, I know," Nudge said, turning her back to me and wrapping her tawny wings around herself. She was trying to forget. We all were.

Even me. Even Fang. Even Dylan. None of them got it, how it was to be trapped inside their own bodies. I couldn't even stand anymore without getting dizzy and static bubbling into my vision. I'd lost weight. Pinprick goose bumps arose on my arms and legs almost constantly.

Worst of all, I was alone.

Most of the time, I was left to think. To try and remember the times when everyone wasn't afraid of me, when I could make Fang smile or Angel giggle. It was heartbreaking. It left me tired and raw on the inside, my mind unable to process what was going on. I'd become more of a weakness to the Flock's survival. But every day, I found more and more of the smiles and memories gone. They simply wouldn't be there. Somehow, I knew that the School had taken that from me, too. They'd found a way to take everything I loved. Some days I felt like fighting it, but I couldn't. At last, I wasn't strong enough. My arms were sticks, jointed to a protruding collarbone, lined hips stretched with thin skin, and sallow depth in my empty stomach.

Wasting away was horrible. It was watching everything which used to make you normal and happy and as close as you could ever get to sane…fade, unstoppably.

Nothing seemed to matter much anymore. I knew I wouldn't be here much longer, I could tell. My fingers shook when I raised them. Managing a smile hurt my body, causing it to protest with waves of rippled stabbing pain. Clutching my stomach didn't make the wrenching burning of hunger hibernate, not even for a little while.

Absently, I wondered if this is what it felt like to have one of those sicknesses where you forgot everything, even the people you loved. For me, they were still there. I knew they shouldn't be, and no one should have to go like this. I was too weak. I didn't want to slow them down, though.

I felt it - There would be no nightmares tonight; only the bittersweet dream. Drooping, my eyelids shut. The pain began to fuzz, my body warming and allowing me a few moments' relief.

I hope I smiled in my sleep that night. It was the last time anyone would see it.