"Well, aren't you the hero, Amalda." Jeb laughed, "you just made your death more inevitable."

"I don't care. At least the rest of the flock will be alive. And if I really do die, I'm taking you down with me."

"Oh really..." Jeb cackled as he took off his lab coat and revealed that he had given himself wings as well. Wings that matched Fang's. Black.

"We're playing fire with fire, huh?" Amalda smirked as she opened her hands and held fireballs in her palms, "literally."

"Careful what you wish for, little girl." Jeb sneered as they threw the fireballs at each other, which only deflected and set the whole shed on fire.

"AMALDA!!" Max shouted from outside as they watched the shed and everything around it burn. But she felt the wave of relief when she saw both figures shoot up in the air, flapping their wings.

"You fly like an amateur." Amalda sneered as she shot streams of flames at him. Jeb continued to only throw fireballs and flew in one place, as he wasn't experienced with flying.

"Give it up!" Jeb shouted.

"Are you insane?" Amalda stated bluntly as the fight lingered on.

"You, child, are a mistake. You know that?"

Amalda stopped.

"You weren't meant to be born. Even if you were, you couldn't even remember those precious moments you had with your parents. You were only an annoyance to them. Don't you see?!" Jeb smirked.

Amalda stopped everything and thought about it all. He's right... I was only the result of an apocalyptic era... My parents never wanted me to find a guy that loves me either... I can't remember what it was even like, living... In that underground... Underground...

______________________

"Where..." Amalda thought to herself as she found herself surrounded by darkness. She gasped when she saw what looked like a light at the end of a tunnel. She only stood as the light came closer and closer, and she recognized eight figures slowly walking towards the light as well. She recognized it and remembered it. It was the moment she first laid eyes on the sun.

"Wow!" Nudge smiled.

"Finally! It's been forever!" Gazzy cheered and Iggy laughed.

"Fresh air. It was hard living in there with you, Gasman..." Total laughed.

"Total." Angel laughed, then turned back, "we made it, Max!"

The flock's leader stood for a while and let the sun envelope her, "We made it!"

"I can't believe it!" Angel ran up to her and hugged her. Then they all turned to look back at the entrance, including Amalda, who stood nearby watching, but wasn't seen by any of them.

Out of the dark underground hideout they stayed in, walked Fang carrying a young about three year-old girl in his arms.

"That's..." Amalda stared at the little girl, "that's me."

"You see that?" Fang said to the little girl, "you know what that is?"

"The sun!" The little girl held her hand out to hold the great orb of light in her fingers, her other hand clinging tightly to her father.

"How is it remotely possible that we survived this?" Total asked, making everyone chuckle, breaking the tension.

"The human spirit. Turns out it's actually hard to kill." Angel shrugged.

"And the canine spirit." Total added.

"Mama, what are we going to do now?" The girl asked Max.

Max smiled and squeezed her hand, "We're going to begin again."

Amalda watched as the scene slowly faded, but was soon replaced with another.

"Take your cues from the wind, watch for smaller birds in your path, and absolutely no dive-bombs without me!" Max laughed as she repeated the instructions for the hundredth time.

"Never, ever." The girl repeated.

"The kid's got invincible DNA, so this should be no biggie. Ooof!" Iggy groaned as Max elbowed him in the ribs.

Amalda turned at the sound of Fang's chuckle.

"Think about using all your senses at once."

"Flap as fast as you can't, little Fifi."

"But don't think about anything! That'll ruin it!"

She was being bombarded with so many things, and she only felt worried. She turned to her mother, "what if I can't remember it all?"

Max smiled, "just do what feels right, sweetie."

"Mom..." Amalda muttered. Then she saw Fang lean down closer to the scared little girl.

"You know I would never let you fall."

"Dad..." Amalda felt tears threatening their escape. Then she saw as her younger self flew through the sky, hands tightly squeezing the hand of her mother and father.

"Look at you go, Phoenix!"

"You did it, little Fifi!"

"Whoop! Way to go, Phoenix!"

"Yeah Phoenix!"

Max and Fang grinned at each other as they watched their daughter fly. They both nodded and slowly let go of her hands, letting her fly free without their help.

"Phoenix!" Max laughed, "you're doing it!"

"I'm doing it!" Phoenix laughed, "I'm flying!"

"I knew you could do it, Phoenix!" Fang called.

Amalda felt tears fall down her cheek, "those bastards..." She watched as the moment vanished. She felt her shoulders shaking as she cried, "those bastard Whitecoats... Why would they take me away from this?! Lead me away from memories like this?! I never knew I had parents like this... A family like this... Until not too long ago, when they sent me to kill my own parents!!" She sobbed and fell on her knees as she remembered her parents letting go of her hand, and her flying away. Then the image of her father getting shot flashed in her mind.

"I knew you could do it, Phoenix..." His voice echoed in her mind.

"Dad..." she cried, "Jeb said you guys never loved me... He was damn wrong."

She wiped her tears and stood up, breaking through the darkness...

______________________

"She's dead." Jeb muttered. He chuckled to himself as he watched Amalda free falling out of the sky and onto the weathered rubble. More rubble fell on top of her, only making him laugh, "it's over! That's what happens when you let your feelings get the best of you!" Jeb cackled as he flew above where she landed.

"Amalda!!" Max shouted, then turned to Iggy, "take care of Fang." Then she was off.

"Wait, Max--"

A hand grabbed Iggy's arm before he could say anything else, "go..."

They all turned and looked down at Fang.

"Go..." Fang repeated with a weak voice, "save Amalda... Leave me... I've lived my--"

"No! Fang!" Angel screamed, "we're not leaving you!! We've..." She hunched over and tears fell on Fang's face, "we've made that mistake too many times before... We're not letting you die... Again..."

Everyone only stared at her, then at Fang, who only shut his eyes.

"Guys. We need to bring him to the nearest hospital." Nudge finally continued.

"Yeah." Iggy nodded, "let's go." He turned to the twins, "you two come with us, too."

"What about mo--"

"Your dad needs you more." Angel smiled.

The two nodded, and they all helped to carry and fly Fang to the hospital.

"Amalda!!" Max shouted as she ran towards the pile. She suddenly stopped when she saw a red glow coming from the pile, "Amal... da..." She muttered as the rubble was pushed aside. In its place stood her daughter, red waves radiating off of her.

She turned around, "Mom..."

"Amalda, what happened to--"

"I'm not Amalda..." She muttered as she looked down at her hands. She looked back at Fang, then back up at the astonished Jeb. She opened her 12-foot wingspan of black feathers, covered in flames, then smiled, "remember Mom? Didn't you name me Phoenix?"

Max was just amazed. She'd never seen anything like her before. She truly knew that there was something special about her daughter, all the way down to her DNA. Because it was Fang's DNA.

"Phoenix..." Max smiled, "go finish the job. Once and for all. We believe in you, Phoenix!"

Amalda.. Phoenix felt her energy flowing off of her in the form of fire. She nodded and darted up to where Jeb was. She was faster than she was before. She had inherited Max's speed.

"Amalda! You insolent child! Ruining everything! Just like Max always did! You pest! Pests like you have to be exterminated!" Jeb shouted as he continued throwing fireballs.

"It's about time you were put down for good." Phoenix said as her eyes were filled with flames, fire rising everywhere around her, "if my dad dies... I'll never forgive you."

Jeb watched in horror as she sent a large wave of fire swallow him and burn his skin to a lovely ashy color.

"Phoenix!" Max flew up to join her. She smiled at her mom as she took her hand, "you did it."

"He's not over with yet." The fire and energy surrounding Phoenix vanished, and her wings and features were back to normal. She and Max flew down to Jeb, who was laying on the ground, suffering and groaning with the endless array of third-degree burns all over his body.

"Go..." Jeb wheezed, "die in hell..."

Phoenix smirked, "heh. Compared to you? I'm not going anywhere." She cracked her knuckles, then threw a hard punch at the remains of his face, knocking him out.

"You're not going to kill him?" Max asked as Phoenix only turned to walk away.

"Dad's not dead yet..." She stopped and looked at the ground, "besides. Like I said. Eraser or no Eraser... It's still wrong to kill... In my books..." She turned to look at her mom, smiled, then ran up to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

"Mom..." She let all her tears fall. Her tears of sadness, for Fang, and her tears of happiness, that they were finally free. Free of Jeb.

"Phoenix... We're proud of you." Max smiled as she hugged her back, "Fang, me, everyone in the flock..."

"Thanks Mom..." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, "for loving me. And for always being there for me."