Authors Note: You're reading these words because you've already read The Hostile Encounters and want to read more on that particular universe. If you haven't read THE and are still reading these words- WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING CRAZY? Don't go getting ahead of yourself now. Nothing in this will make any sense otherwise, so just go on back and read the first story.

Now that anyone reading to this point is well informed on what this is all about, WELCOME. I missed you terribly during our separation! But your rainbow-ish scent is very familiar, so I'm sure we'll continue to get along just fine.

(I have no idea what I'm saying at this point, haha. I blame being tired.)

Uhm, aaanyway. I don't have much else to say. I'm sure you'll be able to pick up what's going on after the first few chapters, so I won't try to explain everything. Go on ahead and enjoy the first chapter of this much anticipated (mostly on my part) sequel to THE (hehehehe. That still gets me EVERY time!)

Chapter One:

Acceptance

The wind whipped by painfully fast as I ran, flinging my hair into my face with each step that I took. No amount of stinging from the haywire locks could stop me though. I just kept moving, pushing through the overwhelming burning in my chest. Each breath I took lodged in my throat, morphing into lumps that relinquished what felt like no air whatsoever. Despite this I didn't give in to my body's screams for rest. I couldn't afford to even waste a second. Something as seemingly insignificant as a pause could risk everything.

The pavement beneath my feet stretched on in every direction as far as I could see; maybe forever. I had no way of knowing. There was nothing else in my mind but the instinct to run. Towards something? Away? I'd be the wrong person to ask. I felt so small, like a tiny dot under the raging sun that hovered over my head; nothing but a player in someone else's game . . .

But hadn't it always been this way? For as long as I could remember my life had been centered around everybody but myself. I was treated like a pawn, or a matinee doll; just waiting for the puppeteer to make my next move.

Just to be left with nothing in the end. Always nothing.

And just like that I came to a halt, dropping to my knees. Everything inside and out of me burned. I felt like I had been dipped in acid, then left to writhe in agony. My skin blistered and itched, veins spreading across the surface like fragmented cracks in a mirror. Horror struck me as a fire erupted in my chest, forcing me to a fetal position. The scenery around me blurred, sputtering like bad reception of a television. Images raced around me, swirling in a hectic tandem.

Was I dying? Was this what it felt like to die? Was my life really flashing before my eyes?

"Max. Max. Max."

The chant seemed to gurgle just within hearing distance, like a low rumble. It grew louder and louder as the word -my name- progressed.

"Max! Max! Max!"

The sound of it reached its peak, like a wave growing in size just before rolling onto the shore. I only had time to take one gasping breath before the noise crashed all around me, registering like a sonic boom to my sensitive ears.

"Max!"

With a flurry of movement feathers exploded all around me, enveloping me in a warm, comforting cocoon of downy softness. I could feel them attached to me, like an extra limb. The appendages were . . . wings. My wings.

I was just reaching a trembling finger out to touch them when the picture before me splintered, shaking incessantly. My vision blurred, tilting this way and that. A spidery web of cracks seemed to dance into sight, making it hard to discern anythi-

"MAX!"

I gasped, shooting straight up. Not my best move, considering how low the ceiling was in that particular place. My head slammed into the slope of the roof, resounding painfully in my skull. I slumped back into my previously occupied desk chair, cradling my aching head in my hand as I muttered a quick profanity under my breath.

From her stance at my side, Ella burst into a wild fit of giggles, bent over at the waist as soon as she caught sight of my contemptuous glare. Her dark, glossy hair fell like a sheet into her face, hiding the smooth, tan surface of her features. She looked so much like her mother, my Aunt Valencia, it was almost uncanny.

"What do you want?" I grumbled, coming to my feet. I swayed slightly for a moment, a sudden rush flooding my mind. I shook the dizzy feeling away, putting my hands on my hips as I narrowed my eyes at my younger cousin.

"Mom sent me up to make sure you were ready," she explained, managing to swallow her hysterics. She then gestured to my appearance, which was decidedly un-ready. "Obviously, it was within good reason, considering you're not."

"Ready for what?" I asked in confusion. I was still a bit groggy from my nap. Either that or the knock to my head gave me more brain damage than I had anticipated.

"The meeting," Ella prodded, raising a dark eyebrow in surprise at my forgetfulness.

"The meeting . . .?" I grimaced slightly in embarrassment. Obviously this was something I should know.

"With the Children's Services agent that's assigned to Angel and Gazzy."

My mood immediately took a turn for the serious, as I dropped my hands back to my sides. Of course, I murmured to myself. I ticked off the dates mentally, realizing that today was, in fact, the day. The day that could change everything.

For the better or for the worse, I reminded myself. There was no use getting my hopes up, after all. Social Services would either see that we were fit enough to take care of my two younger siblings, or they wouldn't. I was praying for the former.

"You should probably get dressed and everything. Mom said you guys were leaving in twenty minutes. You have to pick up Aunt Rebecca from the center."

'The center' being the rehab facility my mom had to attend for her drug addiction. The addiction that had us in this position in the first place. It was her fault just as much as it was mine. She couldn't cope with her problems so she curled into herself, abandoning us to the harshness of reality. Then me; for not winning that fight and losing them in the first place.

I shuddered at the cruel memory of it; their faces as they were ripped away from me, from the only mother figure they had ever known. From the one who broke her promise to always keep them safe . . . Sometimes I felt so sick with myself I couldn't even look in a mirror without turning away in disgust. It seemed like a disease -a poison- to be stuck in this skin, so laden with scars inside and out.

I lived with what I had though, on a day to day basis. That's the kind of world I had learned to toughen through.

My life had changed a lot though; so much it was astounding. In some pretty bad ways, if you were blinded by only my separation from Angel and Gazzy. It had also taken a turn for the better as well.

After Ella left and I was hurrying around to get ready, I thought of all the things I could be thankful for now . . .

One: I had twenty thousand dollars at my disposal (If you're furrowing your brows in confusion at this, please go back and read the previous installment. That should clear up any questions.), and with that money we were able to move out of the, to put it quite blatantly, shit hole that was our 'home'.

Now we lived in a much . . . friendlier area, in a nice brownstone that wasn't the size of a tin can (which is an improvement any day). It was a bit of a tight squeeze, what with Aunt Valencia and Ella living with us, but I was okay with that. They were a major help, which brings me to . . .

Two: My aunt Valencia and her daughter, Ella, had flown from Arizona to help out. I had never met either of them before that, so them being around took some getting used to. I wasn't exactly the most trusting person, but I was able to loosen my guard as soon as I took a bite of one of Aunt Valencia's chocolate chip cookies. If a heaven existed, it was those cookies. Trust me. It also helped that she was an all around cool person as it was, and Ella was only a few years younger than me, so we got along pretty well.

Three: Mom was getting the help she desperately needed. I didn't know how long it would take me to fully accept her back into my life. Maybe not ever. But she was trying, that much I could see. She was really, really making an effort to pick up the pieces of her fragmented life. I just wasn't sure if that was good enough or not. After everything she put me through . . . Well, let's just say some things can never be mended.

Four: . . . Okay, so maybe -possibly- a certain tall, dark, brooding, incredibly handsome (let's not kid ourselves), silent boy had something to do with it as well. But let's not go into that just now.

With that being said, I twisted the last piece of my hair into place, smoothing it out as I gazed into the mirror. The girl staring back at me didn't look like your average seventeen, soon to be eighteen, year old. Her chocolate brown eyes were dark and reflective, a shield concealing the true turmoil she had experienced in her short lifetime.

I knew I would always be this way. No matter how much better off things were. Nothing could erase the past. Nothing could make me forget what I had gone through; the measures I had gone to to ensure my siblings safety and well-being.

The blows that colored my life were shades of black and blue. They would never go away. I had the scars to prove my existence was once not so peaceful, and would likely not stay this way at all.

I would always be a little more grown up than the others my age. I would always seem a little more subdued. I would always appear a little more passionate and a little more solemn. I would always feel like the weight of the world had settled on my shoulders and mine alone. I would always have gone through a little more than most people I know.

Acceptance of that is easier said than done.

- }{ -

Aunt Valencia was in the kitchen when I made my way down the stairs. In the other room I could hear the television blasting MTV, and I knew it was occupied by Ella, and most likely Nudge. They had become inseparable as soon as Ella moved here. They had latched onto one another immediately, and there was no stopping them after that.

"All set?" Aunt Valencia inquired upon my entrance. She shuffled the papers she had been glancing at into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. I nodded, giving her a tight smile. I could tell by the way she approached, gripping my shoulder in a comforting gesture, that she sensed how nervous I was. It felt like a million individual butterflies were floating around in the pit of my stomach.

This meeting could change everything.

"You're looking awfully professional," she remarked as we stepped onto the landing outside the front door. A slow wind whispered past, raising a tendril of dark blond hair that had escaped from its hold.

"You too," I replied lamely, not in the mood to make jokes. Instead I hooked a quivering finger around the edge of my shirt (or blouse, if you wanted to get technical), and hopped down the steps.

When we were situated inside Aunt Valencia's car she turned to me before starting the engine, placing her hand over mine. My teeth tugged at my bottom lip as I faced her, my expression languid and calm; the exact opposite of how I was feeling inside.

"It's going to be okay, Max. You know that right? Every thing's going to be okay," she insisted, giving my palm another pat before she swiveled back around to face the road. As the tires slid out onto the smooth pavement, I had one last fleeting thought.

I wish I believed you.

Authors Note: BOOM. How about that for a relatively boring first chapter? Hopefully you didn't find it too repulsive. Because that's really all I care about. YOU. Yeah, yoooou. Right there. Looking at the computer. It's you! I want YOUR opinion. Just you, you, you, you, you.

So you should, you know, review. Please? (:

P.S. Have you ever liked an FF author so much (for any fandom) that you kind of feel special when they reply to your reviews? Because I've never really had that feeling, and it seems as if maybe I should at least at one point. But maybe that only makes sense to me. Most likely.

Alright. So don't forget to REVIEW review ReViEw rEvIeW ! Deal? (: