Retake

Prologue



After the 'apocalypse', mutants began to crawl out from their hiding places. The only survivors left on the Earth besides The Flock. Adapting to the new world would be hard; life as they knew it was gone and now they had to rely on some bird kid, Maximum Ride to lead them. Most of these mutants were fine with this (although they first presumed Max was a guy. That went down 'well'.) But there are always some who are not fine with set choices. The new world may have been thought to be perfect for the mutants, but after living in labs and fighting to live in the past, the mutants were stubborn. And when such people mix in the wrong way, that's when something like a war can happen. The new world may not be the perfect kingdom for Max after all, even with the Flock by her side.

But someone rather important was missed out of this picture. Left to die in an abandoned lab before the 'end of the world' was a boy of sixteen, or as the lab workers called him 'The new Fang'. Superior to Fang and Dylan, in fact, this boy was created to be one step ahead of both in every sense. Power, intelligence, wit. And to be the new, perfect match and co-world leader for Max. But some plans just don't go accordingly. The plan was never able to leave the lab as the workers had fled for an attempt at safety, and the boy was left alone.

                                                            *************************

I could sense the beginning of a fire. A feel of heat touched and prodded my skin. I'm coming. You're so dead. It was tormenting me and my helplessness. I was trapped inside what seemed like two cages, one of metal, one of fire. Everyone had left me to save their own butts. I had gone from precious experiment to worthless inanimate object in mere seconds. I had just about six minutes to determine my fate. Break out or die, in case you didn't catch on.

I had abilities, there had to be some way I could escape this place. I'm a mutant you see. I look like a normal, good looking (haha) teenage boy, but I can turn into a leopard or raven. All I have to do is think like one, and it triggers a chemical reaction in my body that changes me. I also have gills, extra strength (by quite a considerable amount. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm strong.) Having the strength of a leopard added on to already great human strength is very handy. And then there's the speed and general intelligence. I had to be able to get out of here. I would at least be happier if I died trying.

I took a deep breath in, blocking out the sounds of burning building around me. Pure silence. Complete calm. I clenched my fists, then with all the power I could completely muster up I drew back my arm and punched at the bars. A pain like no other shot up through my wrist, up my arm and powered into my shoulder. Blood began to drip like a broken faucet from my knuckles onto the cage floor. I couldn't do this. No. Shut up, Griffin. You can; you're a mutant kid. You can break out of this stupid cage. I grimaced, bracing myself for the increasing amounts of pain. Each time I thumped at the bars more blood fell to the bottom of the cage. I couldn't feel the pain anymore, my hands were numb. With every punch my vision blurred, but I just had to keep at it. The bars were at breaking point. Just a few more times. Come on. Another blow to the bars and I heard a huge crack.Shit. That wasn't just the bars. I had to ignore it. Escape time.

With one last kick, the bars were bent just enough for me to crawl out and I made a dash for it. Timber fell on top of me; bits of the ceiling fell in. Careering off to the nearest window I grabbed some left over provisions that had been sat on a table. Clothes, shoes, food, anything. I took a run, jump and tumbled out of the window, smashing into it shoulder and side first. I fell into the water that engulfed the city and that was the last I remember. I blacked out. The gills did wonders though.

I woke, blurry eyed to the sound of voices. Children's voices.

"Oh my god, guys! His eyes are oooopen, he's alive! Ooooh. His eyes are gorgeous! Come and look Lily!"

"Um, no, Lily will not 'come and look' at some other guys 'gorgeous eyes', Esther."

"Oh shut up Fynn, don't be so boring. Just because you're going out doesn't mean she can't enjoy others.

"It really does."

"Oh shut it, both of you. Your yacking is probably overwhelming the poor guy."

The last voice was right, it was. And with that, I blacked out again.

                                                           *************************



Chapter One



-2 weeks later.-

A voice from the kitchen bellowed down the hall.
"Fynn! Griffin! Get your tall, sorry arses out of bed and in the kitchen NOW!" Silence. Fynn and I weren't budging. Sleep is a very valuable thing.

Suddenly I heard footsteps that loosely resembled those of an elephant come galumphing down the hall. Objects which I presumed were forks smacked into my door and Fynn's with a 'clang'.
"UP. NOW." She stomped back down the hall. We were...well, in deep shit frankly. I groaned as I dragged myself out of bed, but chuckled. Quite a different life from what I'd had only two weeks ago.

The scars from my past were still apparent on my knuckles, but my new life with these guys had made me nearly forget the whole ordeal.

We were already like a fun, but slightly dysfunctional family. There was Addie, the big-sister sort of figure for the younger ones and a girl with a very short fuse. She was just the right height, brown hair with a blue streak in her fringe and apparently never got cold, as she was nearly always wearing shorts. Then there was Lily; a lot like me in the sense that she has the cat DNA, except she only gets this tail and some rather piercing cat eyes. Which are kinda creepy. Fynn doesn't mind, as the two are 'an item'. Fynn was around the same height as me, but his hair was a strange ginger/red colour with dip-dyed black ends and he was a lot slimmer. He's been labelled 'dog-boy' now, as he can change into a dog. He was asking for a nickname really. Unfortunately this has led to him calling me 'Kitty'. No, I do not approve. And of course there's the little-ens. Esther is a bird kid, much like 'The Flock', some kids I'd been told so much about before I'd left the lab. She's incredibly chirpy and has this uncanny knack of saying absolutely anything she thinks. And finally there's Buggs. A nice ginger kid with a bit too much enthusiasm when it comes to electricity, which makes his ability even scarier.

These guys had not only accepted me when I could have easily turned on them (I'll explain that later), but they had saved my damn life. After I'd blacked out in the water, Adelaide had seen me floating past and had dived in to bring me to their hide out. She had personally nursed me back to health. The others probably couldn't care less. The thing was, everything was very different. The whole new world was all ours for the taking. And pretty much every other mutant thought the same. Max had been elected to be the leader of the world before it had been demolished and changed, but no one thought this particularly fair. Word had spread that Max had already been challenged by many mutants, who she had either had to kill, or force to step down and join as one of her 'minions' or whatever the heck they were. And the rather awkward thing was I was made in that lab to be her partner. Her significant other. The 'new Fang'. This meant I had a fucking chip in me which meant I knew exactly where to find her, and also made me want to find her. I'd resisted it for two weeks now, so I presumed I could, but at times it just got stronger. When I felt lonely. Marvellous. I'd only been out in the world for two weeks and I was already 'Mr. Needy.' Wouldn't that make a funny Mr. Men book?

But back to that morning. I trudged out of my room, deciding to take a large book with me in case I needed a shield against the morning rage of Addie. Whatever we'd done, she really didn't like it. Fynn walked out of his bedroom as I passed the door and gave me a look of despair which mainly said: We are so dead. And then I remembered, the night before, Fynn and I had found some berries which had turned out to have been fermented and decidedly alcoholic. In our berry-drunken state, we decided it'd be really funny to eat nearly everything in the storage cupboard. Not good. In the new world, there was surprisingly a lot of food. But you had to look for it. So Addie's anger was quite understandable. I was tempted to try the 'boys will be boys' line and see how many forks she could chuck at me in the space of three seconds but thought better of it.

Fynn and I walked out into the kitchen, heads down, looking like guilty little kids who'd been caught chucking wet tissue on the ceiling. Addie stood there with the kids standing behind her. They were gesturing to us, then pretending to cut at their necks and the die. Charming, aren't they? I couldn't help but grin.

"Oh! So you find it funny do you? You are such a huge, dumb prat! We had maybe a week's worth of food in there, and you stupid animals ate it all. IN ONE FUCKING NIGHT." (Don't worry, the kids were used to swearing by now.)

That's it. That started us off good and proper. We burst into fits of laughter and the kids joined in. Calling Fynn and I 'animals' in this context wasn't a brilliant plan, as that's technically precisely what we were when we wanted to be. Addie let out a massive groan of despair then stormed out of the room.

"I'm going to wake up Lily so there's a little bit of sense in this house this morning. You two! Go and get some food before I beat the crap out of you both at the same time!" She proceeded to throw things at us as she left the room, and there was a brief moment of silence. Then the screams of laughter filled the kitchen once more. Addie had one huge temper, but she wasn't like that all the time. In fact, she was usually very fun, and almost charming. And rather pretty too.

…I didn't say that, ignore me.

After we finally stopped laughing, tears in our eyes, me and Fynn decided we'd better get dressed and find some food before Addie really did kill us. The best way to acquire food was to hunt, or find things people had tried to store away for the end of the world. Stealing from the deceased. I know, dignified, huh? We didn't have much of a choice though.


Setting out to find food, I looked around, over at my surroundings. Things were starting to look up again. Grass and plants were pulling themselves up from the soil, pushing through the ash and mess. It was strangely…beautiful. Colour finally bursting through the dark ground that had been left after the fires and floods that had destroyed Earth as it once was. It was a little weird thinking I could have missed out on this. If Addie and the gang hadn't saved me, I'd never have seen what the new world was like, let alone the outside world in general. I looked over at Fynn. He was staring at me, eyes concerned and tense.


Weird…


He suddenly stepped in front of me, a look of worry on his face. Oh god. Had I done something wrong?


"Griffin. You've been with us, with my family, for two weeks now. They all love you, and trust you. But I want to be sure. Can we…can I, trust you? In this new world you can't trust anyone. They could turn on you any second, take whatever you own, maybe your house. I want to be sure that you will not threaten the safety of this gang, this family."


I was a little shocked. Fynn had never been this serious before and he'd certainly never seemed like the confrontational type. But I swallowed; I had to give him a decent answer he'd actually know was truthful.


"I- I understand what you're saying. Completely. But you have to believe me when I tell you this. I would never hurt, any of those guys, ever. They're the only family I've ever had and the only people who have ever shown me any sort of care. I would never, and could never hurt them. You can trust me Fynn, I swear."


Wow. I didn't know I had that in me. Fynn looked me up and down, then, apparently reading my deeply concerned expression, smiled, then laughed. He slapped his hand on my shoulder quickly.


"Well, that's good. Just checking, of course; I never really doubted you. I know you could never bring yourself to hurt Addie, huh?" He winked at me.


"Yeah, yeah, ahaha. Shut up."


"At least I know you'll never go after Lily."


"I said shut it, Dog-Breath."

                                                            *************************



"Well, that was a damn successful hunt if I do say so myself!"  Fynn said with pride, slinging the rabbits he'd caught over his shoulder next to a string of vegetables we'd found.


"Aha, totally. You're not too bad at hunting for a domestic animal." I smirked at him, knowing this would probably irritate him. I was very skilled at irritation.


"Not too bad yourself, Kitten-Cat." I scowled at him, but he just smiled evilly.

Suddenly, I heard a small yelp as my foot kicked something.
"Ouch…"



A little girl clambered out from under some rubble. She was young, around seven or eight, and had bright blue eyes and blonde hair, which was now slightly light brown due to the dirt and ash. As she stood, a pair of pure white (but still rather dirty) wings spread out, clicking as if they'd been shut for days. She looked up at me and Fynn, looking shocked but relieved.

"Finally someone finds me!" She said with a cute little smile.

Fynn and I looked at each other, mouths open, and eyes wide, completely miffed. Finally Fynn spoke up. I thought it'd be wise to let him do the talking.

"Do-do I know you?"



Wait…what? That's what he was going with? Eurgh.


She looked incredibly confused now.
"Uuuumm..no. At least I hope not. I've kept myself hidden well I thought." She slumped herself back on the ground and sat looking up at us cross legged.

"I was too scared to show myself to anyone. I didn't know there were people like me out there. So I hid. And then the world kinda exploded. I can breathe under water so I was fine. But now I'm even more alone than before." She slapped her face into her hands and sighed. She was strangely mature for a young girl.

I looked at Fynn, slightly panicked. What the heck were we supposed to do with this kid? He looked at me expectantly, then waved his hand and sighed.



"Okay. Okaaaay. Look, sweetie. Do you wanna come with us for a bit? The world is a bit more dangerous now, I don't want you getting hurt."


I stared at him, bewildered, giving him a look that clearly said: Are you a fucking nutter or something? What was it you were saying about trust earlier?


He just shrugged at me then threw the food over my shoulder.


"Take that, I'm gonna carry her back to ours. She looks weak and tired."
The girl didn't protest, she reached out her arms and Fynn lifted her up. "What's your name, sweetie?"


I was not used to him calling anyone that. He didn't even call Lily that. She looked up at him, then at me and smiled.


"My name's Angel."




Chapter 2



We burst through the door, as it had begun to rain on our way home. Fynn had made the little girl, Angel cover her head with his jacket, and we'd ran back to stop the food getting wet. Addie and Lily looked at us with complete shock, and Lily pulled Fynn aside, forcing him to practically throw Angel into my arms instead. She grinned at me again. This kid was really starting to creep me out.

Taking my mind off the creepy girl, I tried to listen to what Lily was saying to Fynn.


"Why exactly have you brought a little girl home, Fynn?"


"She needed help."


"We all do! We're the survivors of an apocalypse for goodness sake!"


"It's fine, it's okay. I'll just go out to find food more. We'll be fine. I just…couldn't leave her there."


Lily sighed, then kissed him quickly. I looked over at Addie and rolled my eyes. She snickered loudly enough for me to hear, but not so Fynn or Lily did.


Lily smiled. "You and your stupid caring attitude."


She took Angel out of my arms and hung Fynn's jacket on the coat hooks.


"I'm going to give this one a bath, then get her some fresh clothes and shoes." She looked over at Esther and Buggs.


"You two okay if she borrows some of your clothes?"


Esther shouted "Sure! I have some old stuff that'd look so nice on her!" And she ran off to get them. Buggs wasn't as enthusiastic.


"I'm not sure I want a girl wearing my clothes…I mean…she's a girl, Lily!"


I crouched down next to him. "Aaaaaw, come on Buggs! Don't you remember the stories I told you? The men always give their clothes to a lady when they're cold. It's like, a man law or something."


He didn't look all that convinced, but he still smiled.


"Oh, okay then." And he too, walked off to find something.


As soon as the other's had gone, and Fynn had slumped himself on the sofa, Addie slid next to me.


"You have some explaining to do." She stood looking at me, her arms crossed and a stern expression was stuck to her face. She wanted answers. Although it was hard to take her seriously in her particular outfit. She was wearing her denim shorts (as usual) but because it was kind of cold out, she had knee-high socks on with slipper boots over the top. Fashion was never her forte.


I'd obviously been thinking a bit too long though, as she whacked me in the arm and raised her voice.


"Well?!"


"Nothing really to say. Except it was basically all Fynn's idea."


Lily's voice came from the bathroom. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Apparently, she had very good hearing.


Addie pulled me closer. "Well, don't expect me to be responsible for her. I can deal with Buggs and Esther. But she is really rather creepy looking."


Fynn looked at us suspiciously, which made Addie more annoyed so she dragged me by the wrist into her room and slammed the door shut.


"Look." I began. "I'm really, really creeped out by this kid too. I mean she gave me this weird smile when she said 'My name's Angel.' But I don't think we could have left her there, she probably would have died."


Addie sighed.


"I understand that…it's just...I'm sure I recognise her. I don't know where from. But she looks so familiar…" She laid on her bed and looked up at the ceiling, looking more confused than ever.


"Yeah, that's what Fynn said too."


"Well. I guess there's nothing more we can do now. We'll just see what happens."


"Yeah; I just hope it's nothing bad."


She nodded. "Agreed. Well, I'm beat. Help me put the kids to bed before I actually fall asleep myself?"


"Sure."


                                                            *************************

That night, something weird happened. I laid in my bed, beginning to doze off as I listened to the bustling of Fynn and Lily finishing the washing up in the kitchen. Addie and I had gone to bed early, as had the youngsters. Lily had let Angel sleep in her bed for the time being so she could have a good night's sleep for a change.


Then it started. A voice in my head.


You're clever, Griffin. You know you shouldn't be here. You belong with Max. It's what you were made for. You need to help her. She and Fang can't keep the world under control themselves. That's your only purpose.


I tossed and turned in my bed, now in a cold sweat. No. Fuck off. That's in the past. That's not what I'm here for. Not anymore.


But it is. The scientists knew what they were doing. You need to find Max.


This voice wasn't helping anything, I'd gotten the hang of not wanting to find Max, and now they were breaking my barrier, the wall I'd worked so hard to build. The voice was unfamiliar. I couldn't tell who it was, let alone their age or gender.


Find Max. It's what you need to do.


That was it. I'd had it.


"NO. I AM NOT FINDING HER!"


I'd woken up. My shirt was wet, my hands shook violently. I was a mess. I had new purpose, didn't I? I wasn't who I was before. I had a proper purpose. Or so I thought.


Suddenly, my door slammed open, knocking pretty much everything on my walls down.  Addie walked in, closely followed by the others.


"Griffin?! What the heck were you shouting about? You woke everyone up!"
Then she looked at my shaking hands.


"Are- are you okay?"


                                                            *************************


After forcing the others to go back to bed, Addie stood at my door looking worried. Deeply worried.


"Griffin?"


I looked up at her. I was going to sound insane. She'd throw me out. I was sure of it. But still I explained everything.
She looked frightened.


"That was your initial purpose?"


I nodded.


"That girl; Max. She was the one that saved Fynn, Buggs and I from our lab. It was ages ago. I can't remember who the others were, but there were these two guys. One with black hair, one with strawberry blonde. They helped us escape."


She knew who she was. I couldn't believe this.


"You know her? The girl?"


"Yes. She might have saved me, but I didn't particularly trust her. She seemed far too sure of herself. Are you going to…you know…?"


Was I going to find her? That was what she meant. I wasn't even sure myself.


"I- I have no idea. I don't want to. But then again, I want to know why that was my original purpose. What was so special about her? And me."


"Well, I could tell you that. So could Fynn." She laughed quietly.


"Ha. I'm sure you could." I sighed deeply. "I should get back to sleep, I'll be shattered tomorrow otherwise."


"Okay. Come and find me if it starts again?"


"Sure… And Addie?"


She turned back to face me.


"Thanks, the talks really calmed me down. I thought I was going insane." I smiled at her, and she returned it.


"No problem."


                                                            *************************


Two more weeks passed, and the Angel girl was still at our house. She'd fit in really well and Esther loved her. But 'the voice' was still there too. Taunting me every night, saying I should 'find Max' and a new one, that there 'wasn't much time'. Stupid thing.


I'd barely slept in those two weeks, so I had huge bags under my eyes. All my joints ached and I couldn't hunt. Not enough energy to change form. The gang had tried to comfort me, they really had, but there was nothing they could do. The urge to find Max was increased because of the voice and it was becoming harder for the gang to stop.


I sat down on the side of my bed and let out a huge sigh. This was just great. I thought I'd finally escaped all my old problems, my whole stupid past, and then this voice with creepy mind powers turns up and tells me I need to revisit it. To find this 'Max' girl again. I couldn't do that. Not now. I sneered with anger then kicked the table next to my bed. This unquestionably sucked.


Suddenly, someone came up from behind me. "Hey. You okay, Griffin?"


Addie.


I sighed again, and then looked at the ground. I wanted to act stronger for her, but I just couldn't. I was drained of all energy.


"Not really." I began. "My whole life in that fucking lab, I had a purpose. To be with that girl. That was my only purpose; I had nothing else to live for really. When I left, I thought I'd find a new purpose, a proper one, one that counted. But now it's all come back to haunt me. And my only purpose is once again this stupid world leader who I'm meant to love and help." It was weird telling someone my true feelings, but Addie was different somehow.


She sighed, then came and sat next to me. She looked at me, her eyes filled with pity, but mainly sadness. She rested her hand on mine.


"Griffin, don't ever think you have no purpose. You might think your only purpose is that girl, but it's not. It's really not. Not anymore." She paused for a bit, and then swallowed nervously.


"Look, I was scared to say this before, but now's the right time. You have a really important purpose. A purpose here, with me, and the gang. I need you, Griffin. More than I've ever needed anyone and more than you can probably tell. You keep me arguably sane in this ridiculously scary new world." She grinned whilst looking at the ground. "You can be annoying sometimes, but I really don't care."


Wow. Was this happening? Was…was Addie actually saying this? Just, wow. I grinned back at her, and she blushed. She leaned her head in and quickly pecked me on the cheek then walked towards the door with a chirpy bounce in her step.


"You coming to dinner or what, Kitty?" She said smugly, beaming from ear to ear. I guess I could deal with her calling me that.


"Oh! And now you're using the nickname. Brilliant! What should I call you then? Gill Girl?" I apparently had a new burst of energy.


"How's that going to work, you have gills too!"


"Aw, shit. I'll think of something, just you wait. It's going to be perfectly evil."


We continued the banter as we walked down the hall, pushing each other playfully, hand in hand. It was so strangely brilliant. I felt happy, despite my situation. I would have to get revenge for the pathetic peck on the cheek though. Might full-blown kiss her in front of the youngsters. That'll show her.


We stepped out into the kitchen to see Fynn and Lily snuggled up on the sofa, the kids sitting on the floor playing what looked like poker, betting for Smarties and Jelly Babies. Fair enough. Fynn looked up at us, his face blank at first, but then a smile emerged and he poked Lily, making her look up at us. Okay, that was a little odd. Then I realised me and Addie were still holding hands, but I didn't let go, I didn't want to. Lily began to smile too.


"We totally didn't see that happening…"


Addie smiled at me awkwardly.


That night, after putting the kids to bed, Addie sat on her favourite chair, and I sat on the arm. She was reading what looked like possibly Peter Pan, though I couldn't be sure. I tried to read over her shoulder, but then she snapped the book shut and looked up at me.


"About what Lily said earlier…"


"Yeaaaah. I'd like a little explanation of that." I said with a grin.


She blushed slightly and started to pick stuff off of the bottom of her socks.


"Well, basically I haven't shut up about you since you got here… Basically. Which led them think something would happen soon. Which it kinda did."


I chuckled at this. It was all so strange. A month ago I was a nobody. I didn't even feel affection for anyone. Now I cared about someone so much after knowing her for barely any time at all, that I'd risk my life for her.


"What are you thinking about?"


I'd obviously paused too long. Again.


"Oh. Nothing, just how it's not surprising. I mean look at me!"


She then pushed me off the arm of the chair. There was a pause, then we both laughed hysterically. She peered over the arm of the chair at me, her head rested on her hands. I sat up, sitting cross legged like Angel seemed to do so often. It was actually really comfy. But, now was payback time. I leaned up slightly, and kissed her. Properly. And it was perfect. I felt her smiling as she leant forward more over the arm of the chair. When we finally pulled away we looked at each other for a bit and she ruffled my hair.


"I guess that was revenge for the pathetic peck on the cheek earlier, huh?"


"Too right it was." I crossed my arms trying to look serious.


"Best revenge I've ever received."


We burst into laughter again, and it pretty much led to us making out for the rest of the evening whilst watching X-Men First Class on her laptop. Watching X-Men was always rather fun, being mutants and all.
When we finally decided to go to bed, Addie called back to me before I went into my room.


"Hey, be up bright and early tomorrow. I owe you a date."


I crossed my arms and gave her the best 'Oh really?' look I could come up with.


"A date, huh? What kind of date?"


"A hunting one."


"Ah! The best kind. See you bright and early then." I walked up to her door, kissed her again, then walked back down the corridor.


"Night, Kitty."


"Night…Wolverine"


"Wait..WHAT? You're really going with that?"


"Niiiigghtt."


And I quickly slammed by door before she could kill me


                                                            *************************


While I slept, my thoughts happier than ever, the voice crept back in.


Don't get distracted, Griffin. Adelaide's no good for you. You belong beside Max. She needs you more.


Oh no she/he/it /thing (whatever the heck it was), was not saying this. No. The voice was wrong. Max was just part of my past. I didn't want to hear her name again. I'd just had the most amazing evening and now it had been demolished. Crushed. Nearly anyway.


Do the wise thing, Griffin. Or fate will do it for you.


Fate would do it for me? What the fuck did that mean? I was getting angry now, almost at boiling point.


Suddenly, I felt someone shaking my arm.


"Griffin? Wake up!" Adelaide sat on my bed beside me, looking really rather terrified.


"Huh? What? The voice. The- the voice it-"


"Hey, hey. Ssshh." She grabbed my shaking hands to try and stop them.


"What did it say this time?"


"It-it said that you're not good for me. Which is, for one thing, the biggest load of bullshit ever." We both somehow managed a chuckle, despite the situation.


"And that if I didn't do the wise thing, fate would do it for me."


"What does that mean?"


"I have no idea."


"Look, we have to find out who or what this voice is. I can't keep seeing you like this, okay? It's scaring me."


"You and me both, but it'll be fine. I'll be fine."


"Tomorrow we'll go on detective mode."


"Okay, Sherlock and John style. Are you wearing the deerstalker or should I?"


She laughed and hit me lightly with the back of her hand.


"How on Earth can you be so calm after that?"


"I don't know. We'll call it a talent. Though you being here helps."


I kissed her forehead then said "You better get some sleep. I don't want you grumpy for our hunting date tomorrow."


                                                            *************************


The next morning, I was up bright and early, just as asked. Considerably earlier than Addie actually, who I soon found out needed waking up.  After having a shower, and getting myself completely ready, I sneaked into her. Buggs apparently has good hearing though, because he came out of his room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking deeply confused.


"What are you doing, Griffin? It's only 6 o' clock."


My eyes were shifty…how was I going to get away with this without it sounding strange to a nine year old kid?


"Eeeeeer…Addie and I are going out for an early hunt. To…uh…see if we can get some different, more interesting things to eat. We thought rabbit would be boring." I was making myself look really suspicious, as I stood with my legs slightly crossed, elbow rested on the door frame, arm on hip, grinning a lot like a mad-man.


He cocked his head to the side and then shrugged.


"Oh. Okay then. Rabbit was getting really boring. Are you going to get some type of bird instead?" He said, now beaming at the thought of more interesting food.


"Yeah!" That sounded a bit too enthusiastic. It appears I'm not good at lying. "Ahem…er. Yes. Yes, we're going to try and get some sort of bird. Why don't you go back to bed? It's really early, especially for you."


"Okay. Try to avoid rabbits if you can." He replied, rubbing his eyes again as if he'd remembered what time it was again.


"Sure thing."


Phew. That went surprisingly well. I wasn't sure if Addie wanted the kids to know anything about 'us', if there even was an official 'us'. I thought it best to keep it hidden.
I pushed Addie's door back open, sneaked up to her bed, and yanked off the covers so quickly it made a satisfying whoosh sound.


"Oi! What the fu-" She looked up angrily, so I grinned at her, holding her duvet like a bull fighter. (which was actually a funny comparison, because had she not been in such a good mood, it would have ended up like one.)


She smirked at me. "Oh, it's you."


"Up bright and early, huh?"


"I like sleeping. It's relaxing."


"Really? You don't say! I'd never have guessed. 'Cause it's not like your body kinda shuts down or anythi-."


Then a pillow hit my face.


"Okay, okay. I'll stop. Come on, get dressed, I promised Buggs we'd get him some sort of bird to eat."


"Eurgh, fine. Now get out so I can get dressed."


"Aaaaaaaw, but-" I couldn't help but give her a playful smirk.


"We're not that far yet, Mr. Kitten-Cat." She said smiling, then slammed the door in my face.


                                                            *************************


We set out to hunt at around half past seven.  Addie was wearing one of my t-shirts after deciding that none of hers were 'practical' for catching birds. Excuses, was all I thought. Though there was something very attractive about a girl in an Iron Man t-shirt. Unlike both Lily and Esther, Addie was not one to fuss about appearances, hence the knee high socks she constantly threw on for warmth. Why she didn't wear jeans or something was beyond me. But even then, she still looked amazing.


"What're you looking at?" It seems I'd been staring at her the whole time I'd been thinking.


"Oh…er…just admiring the fact you can get ready in less time than I can." I smiled half-heartedly. She wasn't fooled for a second, and crossed her arms as she walked.


"Argh. Okay, okay. I was…just… admiring how nice you looked…" My voice had strangely stopped working, as that part came out as barely more than a squeak.


She seemed unfazed by pathetic voice, and smiled at me.


"Ha…well, thanks. You scrub up nicely too. For a guy."


"Well, I do try. Or I did on this occasion."


"Why? Is this a special occasion?" She was totally teasing now.


"I guess it is, yeah. For me."


She laughed, and I wondered for a moment if she was just mocking, but she was actually blushing; so I guessed not.


"Don't look so scared, it is for me too, okay? First dates can be pretty crucial, huh?"


"So this is an official date then?"


"Of course it is." She drew in close, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I don't just make out with the new guys for fun you know."


I grinned back at her. This was going rather well, actually. "Well, that's good to hear."


She stood on her tip-toes and kissed me, running her fingers through my hair. It was just one of those things that would never get old. I'd always end up beaming like an idiot afterwards. Usually unable to speak properly too. I'm not sure if girls do that. Do girls do that? It's a never ending mystery.


She pulled away, then decided she'd hold my hand instead.


"Come on, those birds won't catch themselves."


"Are you sure, we could do an experiment. We stay here, and see if they do catch themselves in our nets."


"Oh, come on!" She chuckled loudly, then yanked me forward into a light jog.




A range of bird species hopped about on the ground, pecking at it in desperation, in the hope of finding something even vaguely edible. Gathering food was hard for any species, humans were just lucky they could manage to digest most things, a lot of animals couldn’t.


Addie and I were crouched behind a bush, a few leaves brushed into new places so we had a perfect view of what would hopefully end up on our plates at some point today. A bird which looked much like a large, fat pigeon started to edge closer to our hiding place, pecking at the berries that had fallen from it. Addie nudged my arm softly with her elbow, and our plan was in motion. We had planned our hunting techniques almost perfectly. Maybe not the most romantic of first dates, granted; but I think watching each other be all badass with the hunting is just as fun as any movie date.


I clenched my eyes shut, relaxed my breathing. I thought of the sensation of being a leopard, a magnificent creature, powerful, a true hunter. Suddenly my sense of everything around me changed. I could hear everything. Addie’s gentle breathing next to me, though it jerked at one point. She’s not exactly used to her friends turning into big cats. Opening my eyes, everything seemed a little different, as it always did. I looked up at Addie, who admittedly, was looking a little scared. I began to open my mouth to talk (which I actually can do as leopard, weirdly enough. Mutants, eh?) But Addie put her hand around my muzzle, then put her finger on her other hand to her lips, stopping me in my tracks. She was right of course, hunt first, talk later. We nodded at each other, then I slinked off, round the back of the bushes and making my way silently forward. I needed to make sure it didn’t go wrong. Hunting with Addie, I felt a little more eager to impress (obviously.) No mistakes, no tripping and no accidentally turning back into human form mid-pounce. It has happened. Swiftly, I made my around behind the group of birds, making sure they could almost hear me, but were unable to make out exactly what I was. Just as planned, they began to make their way towards the bush Addie was hidden behind. Picking up the pace, I began a quick jog (or whatever it’d be called for a leopard) causing the birds to run faster away. As they ran like headless chickens towards the bush, I slumped into a laying position on the side of the circle of bushes we seemed to be in, ears flat to my head, claws out making slight dents in the ground and putting dust on my paws. Just to clarify, the birds were actually chickens it seems, not pigeons. Whoops. And not headless ones either. Addie leaped out from the bush, moving elegantly and with a quick wave of her net, pretty much all the birds had been caught. She had used her wrist in a way that twisted the net into the perfect positions to catch nearly all the chicken-things. Is it creepy to call a person hot when you’re in leopard form? Geez, this mutant thing can get complicated. But, as planned, any birds that weren’t caught, I had to catch so I took my eyes of Addie and pounced into action, which meant luckily only catching the one escaped bird. When I caught up to Addie (who had thankfully broke the rest of the birds’ necks before I got there; I may have been in predator mode, but I’m not good with killing stuff really) she looked at me and smiled, taking the last bird out of my mouth.


“And what are you grinning at?”


“You wiggle your butt before you pounce, Kitty.”


I unintentionally let out a nervous chuckle. “Well, er. That’s a little embarrassing. Cat instincts I guess? Not always beautiful in motion, huh?”


“I guess so. And no, I wouldn’t say butt wiggling was exactly a beautiful motion, but it is pretty cute.” She smiled at me mockingly with one raised eyebrow as she tied a knot in the net to keep it from opening, looking almost like an evil genius. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was one in her spare time.


“Eh, cute. I can settle with cute, I guess. But you’d better not tell Finn and Lily about this.”


“Oooooh, you don’t want them to know, huh?” I did not like how she sniggered after saying that.


“Wh-”


Before I could finish she was starting to run (albeit very slowly) towards home. “Stop me if you can run fast enough Cat Face!”


I laughed, poor ignorant Addie. I shouted back: “You don’t wanna race a leopard, Addie LongStockings.”


“Bring it! And for the record, these socks are fashionable.”


And with that little mocking match of many mocking matches finished, Addie raced off, with me on her tail. Kind of an ironic phrase seeing as I was the one with the tail, but we’ll go with it. Of course, we had absolutely no idea what was waiting for us when we arrived home, but I guess when you’re on a date you forget about any potential dangers or problems.