Yaaay it's the beginning of Book 2 of MR3: World's Savior! To everyone who's actually kept up with 35 chapters, I applaud you for having a better attention span than me, lol Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's begin! R&R and enjoy!

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Part 5 – Kissing the World Goodbye

35

Stars. Everywhere I looked, all I saw were stars. Was I dead? Maybe this was heaven. I remembered Max and I talking about heaven once, long ago, back when we lived in our house in Colorado. That was all gone. And maybe I was as well. What had happened?

I tried to remember, thinking as hard as I could manage. For some reason, I found I couldn't move my body, and suddenly felt like my heart was sinking due to an unknown force. Max. I remembered Max. She was gone; her mother took her. I remembered what she said before she flew off into the sky, leaving the flock and I to die in the small cabin. "I'm sorry, Fang," she had said, as she had leaned over and kissed me. Then everything was black and cold. And now I was here.

What the hell was going on? I tried again to move my body, but again my legs and arms all went numb and suddenly I couldn't feel anything. All I could do it seemed was think, inhale, exhale, and lie here staring up into a clear, starry sky. Then I heard a voice from somewhere above me.

"Fang, wake up." Who was it? I couldn't tell, for the voice was just a blur, and it mixed with a few other voices all around me. "Fang, wake up," the voice repeated. Was I dreaming? Was all this just a dream, and if I tried to I would wake up again with Max in my arms? Maybe we could go back to Colorado, back to our home, back to before everything crazy happened and our lives changed. I tried to speak, and words came from my mouth. But the words were garbled, and I heard the voices above me murmuring to one another.

"Fang, can you stand?" Whoever was asking, I could tell it sounded like a girl. And then it hit me. Angel.

"A…nge…l" I panted, finding that I had regained some form of control over my arms. I propped myself up on my elbows and was now staring straight into Angel's tiny face. She was so adorable, and I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask her right then and there.

"It's okay, Fang, just look first," the little girl said, and I realized she had read my thoughts again. I opened my eyes a bit more and turned my head as Angel moved aside to let me see.

It was hell, and whether I had died or not didn't matter anymore. I knew this was hell, and I felt warm tears stream down my cheeks.

Dirt. Rubble. Ash. Fire. Decay. Ruin. And worst of all; bodies. Everywhere I looked, bodies were stacked in burning heaps, and some weren't even recognizable as humans by how badly they had been scorched. What had happened? Had I slept through the apocalypse? What caused this? There were too many questions, and I knew they may or may not be answered in the future. But all I wanted to do now was fall over and sleep again, and maybe when I woke up this time, everything would be as I had hoped. My body and wings told me otherwise, and slowly I stood to embrace the horrible existence that lay ahead of us.

The only thing I cared about now was finding Max. If I was going to live in hell, then I wanted Max by my side the whole way, to the very end.

She was the only one who understood me.