Here you have it! The second half of chapter 20 now known as chapter 21! The cliffy on here was the original one I had planned, so of course it'll make you *HJ*(&H&H*.

Well folks this story is nearing its climax. Only two more chapters until everything goes to hell. I might even take that number down to one… Speaking of hell I apologize to the sensitive people out there for the language, but some things just can't be expressed as dramatically through any other means. Several great poets out there would agree with me… Anyways, it brings me great joy and sorrow to be nearing the end. It's been an amazing experience watching Changed grow from being a little fanfic to a tearjerker. But I can reminisce later, it's time for Max to partake in the Flight Experiment.

When the coffin's lid was opened…

Max POV

A hand nudged my own causing me to look up into Night's eyes. "You ready?" he asked softly, a hint of something embedded in his playful tone. He gestured to the room, and then let his hand drop to his side.

"Sure," I grumbled, and before he could lead the way I held my head high and walked through the intimidating yellow doors. I was tired of following people, and something inside me screamed to lead. Svid winked as I walked past.

Without the tinted glass walls the inside of the room was blaringly bright. Strong panels of lights covered the ceiling while the shiny silver metal walls and floor mirrored it all. The only unreflective surface was the one way track to nowhere.

I held up my right hand instinctively to shield my eyes, but that had near to no effect of the luminous overflow. Before I could questions why it was so exasperatingly bright a deafening bang, like the breaking of the sound barrier, echoed throughout the room. In fight or flight mode I spun on my heals to face the cause of the sound, and saw Svid standing in front of the recently closed door.

"Get a grip birdies! Ya'll act like you haven't heard reinforced doors being closed by an impossibly strong being before." He let out a short laugh, like he was responding to some sort of inside joke. I sure felt out of the humor. "Alight you limp chickens find the yellow line with your name on it and stand there like a good parrot." A tanned finger shot out to point at the opposite wall of the tower where the yellow tape was unmistakable. "When you hear the horn get airborne pronto."

So they are grading us on how well we fly. This'll be a piece of cake. I crossed my arms over my chest and let a smile dance on my lips.

"The goal is to stay in the air as long as possible. To encourage this favorable behavior we've super heated the floor and the walls. And when the wind starts you should find that you can fly forward into it. Now you may wonder why the hell I'm being so darn nice. Well I'm telling you these details so that we can have a happy amount of participation. So I wouldn't take my kindness lightly."

What a benevolent man. I rolled my eyes, but at the same time curiosity prickled me. He was treating us like people instead of the usual lab rat thing. Why not indeed just force us to take off when the ground started melting our shoes? And why not see who was flight-smart enough to figure out flying forward? One thing was clear, Svid was different then the other scientists we'd encountered.

A rustle of feathers caught my attention and when I looked over to investigate I saw Melody slowly unfurling her golden brown wings. Night stood beside me, as unnoticeable as ever, with his head bent down and his black hair concealing his eyes. Melody then took a beeline to the yellow line as Night and I sauntered after her. My place was in the middle with Eagle girl to my left and dark boy to my right. The big yellow letters spelling our names made the arrangement impossible to misinterpret.

Svid must have disappeared through some invisible pathway for when we looked back for further instruction there was no sign of him. There were only disturbingly white lighted walls. In fact, even the translucent wall looked solid and reflective from in here.

Not wanting to be caught unready I unfurled my own wings and held them out, in a position for a down stroke. When I glanced to my left I saw that Melody's wings were only halfway folded and poised behind her as if prepared for a running start. If she can't get into the air quick enough the "super heated" floor will grab her plastic shoes and slow her down. She was setting herself up for failure going that way, but was it possible that she didn't know how to do a ground takeoff? Did anyone without my "renegade" training know how?

A thought toppled me over. Night must have wings! So maybe I was a bit slow, get over it. My head whipped around painfully to my right. In shock I watched as Night gripped his black shirt and pulled it over perfectly formed abs riddle with pink scars. Fluidly he tugged it over his head and let it drift to the floor. As it settled I realized it had no slits for wings, explaining the strip show. But the greatest surprise was when two gorgeous black wings, turning dazzling rainbow colors in the intense lights, unfolded from his scarred back.

And then the horn blew.

Years of fleeing for my life must have made it instinct to flee into the air by pushing down with my wings and flapping with powerful strokes. When I was a safe distance up, between the incredibly high ceiling and the now red hot floor, I looked down.

Night was running forward while flapping his wings vigorously to try to gain altitude. As I watched his shoes were tugged off, having melted to the track, and he lost his footing. His fire scarred arm shot out and saved him in the nic of time from face planting. But he was quickly running out of track.

Without hesitation I dove towards the ground feet first. A gagged yelp of pain escaped the boy as the ground dried the sweat from his socks and then set them on fire. I landed heavily behind hind, saving time by not slowing myself in the air, and hurriedly steadied myself.

"Step on my feet and fold your wings in!" I yelled at him, panic setting in, as I bent down to help him remove his socks. After flinging my arms under his and locking my hands together at his chest I performed several hefty down strokes with my wings. Nothing happened. A burning in my feet reminded me of the dire situation and I quickly tried to solve our problem. "You're too heavy to take off with, jump on the count of three as high as you can! It should provide enough thrust. One, two, three!" His feet forced mine into the ground right before I pressed against it myself while beating my wings. For a moment everything froze as I was caught halfway in my leap by my own stuck shoes, but then I angled my feet and let them slip out. We were free.

Once safely back in the air a half a minute later I realized our problems weren't over. Night was one big kid. "Okay, I'm ganna turn you around. Once your wings are free start flapping intermittingly with me, and I'll let you go as soon as you've got the air under ya." Panic hit me as I wondered if he even could fly. I quickly chased the thought from my mind. I could not leave him to burn to death on the ground, but I would not last long carrying him.

Before I could act, though, he took the initiative and spun around in my grip until his chest was firmly pressed to mine. Then, completely unprovoked, he kissed me. I dropped him.

The shock had almost incapacitated my own wings, but I quickly got a grip and prepared myself to catch him. To my utter surprise I saw Night hovering ahead of me by Melody. Apparently he had used the fall to his advantage. Melody had temporarily discarded her innocence and was glaring at me with utter hatred.

Could she be in love with Night? Before I could be fully distracted by my thoughts someone turned up the wind, and I was thrown back. Bright red metal only feet away from my face caused adrenalin to kick in and a burst of energy was sent to my wings. It didn't take long at all for me to get a handle on things and settle into an easy forward flight as Svid had instructed.

I'd like to defend myself and say the wind, coupled with the glare and the kiss, caught me completely off guard. Besides, I'd like to see you handle that. Oh what? You can't fly? Thought so.

Naturally I fell into the leading flight position, with Night and Melody to my right and left behind me. The wind must have been coming from the floor as well as the walls because an easy updraft was holding me up. It felt good as the air wove through my feathers, whipped my hair, and caressed my skin. In fact, the settings must have been placed just so we could all soar effortlessly. Minutes passed as our flight was observed and recorded. I had let my eyes close and my mind drift, imagining flying over hills, forests, and canyons.

But, alas, everything good must come to an abrupt end. The wind turned cruel. It slowly began to grab my wings as the lovely updrafts were erased. The changed took time, scientists being slow note takers, but before long my eyes were wide open as my wings began to throb.

It was much worse for Night. I watched as he first grew tired flapping while Melody and I were still effortlessly gliding. Then he grew frantic as his wings beat against an ever growing headwind. He was quickly falling behind to the point that if he lost another few feet his burnt feet would be resting on the red hot back wall.

I was not about to let a flock member get hurt. By letting the wind take my wings I slowly slid back past Melody's passive stare. Her indifference caused me to take back my previous thought. There is no way she could feel anything for him, she's just watching as he struggles! Upon reaching Night I took care to place myself directly before him, letting the small eddy I created catch him. It wasn't much but coupled with my encouraging presence it was enough to ease his effort slightly, and as I moved forward he left the lethal wall behind.

"Night!" Melody called out as soon as we where a safe distance from danger. "Good thinking Max! I had no idea what to do. But What if the scientists punish you for helping him?"

"I don't give a rat's ass about what the scientists may or may not do!" I growled back, infuriated that she let the fear of the white coats push her around. Wait, white coats? When did I start calling them that?

"You're so amazing Max! I only wish I had the bravery you do! Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, come in next to me and help create a sort of eddy. Be careful to keep your wings from hitting mine!" Being in command gave me a shot of endorphins and suddenly the fear that the increasing wind had begun to install in me was obliterated. We can make it out of here relatively unscathed; we can stick it back to the white coats.

The wind kept changing from a storm to a fury greater then nature could command. We were blown against so wrathfully that the incarcerating pain of feathers being plucked out attempted to steal my consciousness. The headwind was so unimaginably prevailing that even my super speed only tolerated me lasting not much longer than the others. As my head crashed into the wall behind little red droplets spat at my face.

But the white coats weren't done playing God yet. Before my hair could catch on fire a wind hit us from behind. Like ragdolls we were thrown from the wall. All of a sudden it calmed down and not even a small tailwind worried us. As my gaze swept over the others I noted that Night was starting to understand the concept of soaring. The flight was even easy enough that I found my strength getting replenished as I rested.

Of course the peace did not last long, and after a potty break the scientists where back. A light tailwind was the first sign of danger. I strained my wings, trying to angle their stroke so as to fly backwards, but I'm no humming bird. As the wind increased I watched as Melody, Night, and I were slowly being pushed towards the watch tower. Come on max, think!

An Idea struck me. What if I turn around? In normal situations that would be stupid, because I'd be trying to go forward and the wind would be pushing me to my target, but in this situation going into the wind was much easier then crashing into a tower.

"Night! Mel! Watch me!" I shouted, and when I saw their eyes on me I made a probably illegal U-turn. The relief was immediate. That is, until the white coats caught on.

Just as Melody hollered "Nice thinking Max!" the wind switched and was behind us again. I angled my wings and turned again to face it, and again it switched. I was in a slow downward spiral, getting terrifyingly close to the ground, when a hasty gust of air drove me up. The scientists must have been infuriated by our refusal to be squashed against the tower like insects for out of nowhere a descending draft came. The random flurry of air was impossible to follow and before long I was being tossed in the air like Raggedy Ann. My wings became utterly useless and my hair restricted my vision. Then I heard the first scream.

After clawing my hair out of my face I looked what must have been down, it was impossible to tell, and saw a line of red ending in a black figure. I realized then that the lights had dimmed besides alternating flickers imitating a lightning storm of unreal proportions. Night's terrified eyes where suddenly lit up by a flash of light. Like a candle, flickering enough to give anyone a headache.

Fang.

Something inside me snapped.

I had to get to him. I had to make it through the storm. He was on the cliff, he was stepping off. I had to stop him. I had to. The school, he was there. They had him, they were cutting off his wings. I had to get to him. Wait for me Fang, wait! I'm coming! Just hold on a little longer!

Something bright inches from my eyes woke me up. My face was being pressed against a light, the glass surface distorting the skin. Slowly, cautiously, I sat up. The experiment must have ended for the room was once again fully lit and the metal was no longer red with heat. On my hands I could clearly see blood and blisters. They hadn't turned the burn off in time to save us pain.

Not far off to my right a trail of blood led to Night. He was crumpled in a corner with his back sideways to the wall and his head resting on the floor. How could those shitheads have done this to him? They shouldn't have flung a newbie flyer in with Mel and I. They only wanted to see him suffer.

Before I could look for Melody her legs blocked my line of sight. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" Her voice had lost all signs of the innocence it once held, and a shiver ran up my spine. An unscathed hand gripped me by my shirt front and pulled me onto my feet. I held her furious gaze calmly.

"Last I checked I was doing the same exact thing you where, battling the wind those scientists were using to toy with us."

She slammed me into the wall creating the cascade of broken glass that rained onto the metal floor. Something began to sting my back where the glass had broken.

Wake up Max! Kira's voice screamed in my head. Snap out of it! You need your wits back!

"Don't you play dumb with me. I saw everything." Melody's face was inches from mine, and her hot breath itched my skin. "Don't you dare bring him into this. You have no ****** right to even say his name!" A crippling pain erupted from my stomach as her fist lobbed into me reiterating her point.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about" I choked out, as the lights began to flicker on in my head. "Is it Night? Do you love him? You do a crappy job showing it-" Her grip released and I fell onto the floor, slivers of glass digging into my flesh.

"You really don't know? What the hell is wrong with you Max? I thought the insane part was only an act. I had no clue it was legit." While she talked I attempted to sit up, but when I put weight on my hands the imbedded glass stung like hell.

"I thought the entire world already knew I was a nut job" I groaned as my strength ebbed, and the floor came crashing back onto my face.

Be more diplomatic Max. Come on talk your way out of this. A burst of energy surged through my body and my eyes snapped back open. I can't give you much more; I'm not in the best of shape either. You're going to have to get through this on your own -unless the scientists save you.

Yeah right, I thought.

"I really don't have any idea what's going on Mel. Trust me. My head is as frozen as the white is on the walls." I attempted a chuckle, but it came out wrong.

Right as I had managed to drag myself up on one elbow a hand grasped my shoulder and forced me back down. "Listen carefully Max. I've got a few things to say to you and it would be just dreadful if you forget them." He voice was full of mock youthful innocence. "Fang is mine. He loved me first, and he'll always love me more then he could ever have fooled himself into loving you."

Black tendrils crept along Melody's face. I struggled against them as they wove into my hair and filled my ears. One stroked my cheek as if telling me it was going to be okay, conveying in the gesture that they only wanted to take away the pain that threatened to kill me.

No. I was tired of them hiding my memories, and taking away what little sensibility I had. The blackness was destroying Max, chunk by chunk. It was time I faced reality and learned to deal with the pain of the past. As I fought them, using the only weapon I had (my mind), they began to recede. Soon Melody's malicious voice broke through.

"Don't you dare escape from this! Whether you want to or not you're learning the truth!" Her brown eyes bore into mine as her hair swept over my face again. "Max, Jeb didn't just have one daughter. He wasn't dumb enough to have an experiment without a control group, even though he is corrupt enough to experiment on the control. That daughter didn't die either when Fang murdered her long ago." Her blond hair started to convert into the black tentacles again, caressing my face where they fell and drawing me into blackness. "I'm your sister Max."

The End.

AhhAha… I joke I joke. The next chapter will hopefully be up by next Friday. The more reviews I get the sooner it will arrive!

In the next part to this action packed story the ultimate test will take place. Max is finally beginning to fight the strange force that clouds her memory. What or who is the cause of the blackness? Can Max win the struggle? Can she face her memories? As always more questions will arise as old ones are finally answered. Stay tuned for more folks :3