Jack flew over the city, scanning the area for others of his kind. He had been sent by his half-brother, James, to investigate sightings of another winged person in the area. He scanned the sky and the building tops with his eyes, flying in large circles and covering as much area as possible. He had been at this all day now, and had found nothing so far. He was beginning to become disappointed. It was just then that he saw something flying above the city, too big to be a bird, and too small, low, and moving in the wrong way to be a plane. He flew over, hoping he had found what, or who, he was looking for.<br/>---<br/>Every honk of a car, the groaning of a machine, people yelling out their cheer or rage, and the music that blared loudly in stores echoed and hummed into her ears. Her leg dangled on the edge of the building while her other was propped up for her to hug closely as she looked down at the city lights that tried to fight off the darkness of the night. The city was alive, just the way Audre liked it.<br/><br/>The wind whipped her long black hair around her, but she didn’t care and part of her barely felt the cold as she muscles hummed along with the city in excitement. She took a steady breathe to control the adrenaline that pulsed through her. Standing up and planting her feet at the very edge, a smile spread across her face. Audre’s hands clenched then relaxed as she shook the tension off, and rolled her shoulders in preparation. Finally with one last breath she leaned forward ever so slightly before nothing was underneath her anymore.<br/><br/>Free falling off the building Audre closed her eyes relishing the feel of nothing holding onto her, nothing to keep her from just falling. Timing it out right her eyes snapped open to the streets below and she released her black wings open. They caught the air and she surged forward with a good amount of space still between her and the cars. Even with so many people out she didn’t care about who saw her, at this time of night she would be nothing but a blur, and if anyone did get a good glimpse of her, they would blame it on the alcohol. She flapped her wings to gain more altitude and allowed her wings to guide her in any direction that felt right to her.<br/><br/>Audre saw that one of the tallest buildings had finished making a sort of platform, probably for any aircraft to use for landing. There was a small opening between the landing and the top of the building. A mischievous grin formed on her face as she forced her wings to add more speed to push her forward.<br/>----<br/>Jack flew after her, wondering what the she was doing. He picked up speed as she did, wings moving almost automatically to do so. "Hey!" He called after her, hoping to get her attention so she would slow down, as the place she seemed to be trying to fly into seemed sort of dangerous. At this point, he couldn't tell much about her, only that her hair and wings were black and her clothes were mostly dark. The rest of the details were lost to the distance and darkness, and curiosity compelled him to fly faster and get closer.<br/>-----<br/>The wind whistled loudly in Audre’s ears and her heart pounded in her chest as she was getting closer to the building. She was only a minute from the landing and she had no clue how long it was nor did she really care. She’ll pass through that space, she was sure of it.<br/><br/>Just a second from the gap, she crossed her arms over her chest, wrapped her wings around her body, and forced her thoughts to remain calm as she relied solely on the speed she gained to shoot her through. Like a bullet she pierced through the space and for a second the wind wasn’t howling in her ears and there was a sudden silence. The wind greeted her on the other side of the building and she spun herself to release her wings.<br/><br/>Audre forced out a shaky breath as she begun to laugh out her relief, the gap was smaller than she thought. Trying to regain some calm she turned and flew to the roof of a lower building in hopes to land and take the time to relax. Her feet landed lightly on the roof and she allowed herself to laugh louder. What she did was beyond reckless. By the time she caught her breath and wondered what she would do next, she heard a familiar sound of wings. But she wasn’t flying. Utterly confused and wondering if she was hearing things she turned towards the sound and looked up.<br/>----<br/>When she went through the small space with so little extra room, Jack realized that there was no way he could do the same. He swerved at the last second, turning and rolling in the air to avoid smashing into part of the building.<br/>Instead, he flew around, resuming following her on the other side, his heart pounding after the near-crash with the building. What was this girl doing? He was still following when she landed on another building's roof, and he circled a few times before landing as well, trying to think of what he should say to her.<br/>----<br/>And she thought that people wouldn’t believe their eyes if they saw her, but there was no way Audre could trust her own eyes at that moment. It was another person with wings. She heard the rumors but she couldn’t, didn’t want to hope, and there he was circling around her like a vulture. Was it one of the fliers who tried to escape with her all those years ago? Or were there really more people like her out there? So many questions buzzed through her mind as she continued to stare at this stranger circling around her.<br/><br/>This had to be a dream, there was just no way! Audre’s mind screamed out. Everything told her to run from him and know that this had to be a dream, a hallucination. Everything told her to go to him and hug him, to see if he was real, to prove that she wasn’t alone anymore. So she remained still and waited. Feigning indifference as she placed a hand on her hip.<br/>----<br/>Jack folded his wings after landing, looking at her curiously as he walked over. "Hello.. Who are you? Are you new around here?" He said, still not exactly sure what to say. He really wouldn't have any idea whether she was or wasn't new around here, as usually he avoided the city and kept to the less populated areas and forests surrounding it.<br/>----<br/>He spoke to her with obvious curiosity in his golden eyes. Audre looked this guy up and down, it was hard to tell but his hair was definitely some shade of brown and so were his wings. He was lean with some toned muscle, since he was a flyer he should at the very least be able to throw a punch. One clear thought rang in her mind, he’s the one everyone was talking about.<br/><br/>She tilted her head still acting indifferent before she said, “You’re the one new around here. What’s your name?”<br/>---<br/>Jack looked almost amused at that, "I'm not new, unless you just mean to the city. I've been in this area for the past four years. Anyway, my name's Jack. What's yours?" He said, looking at her more closely now. She was shorter than him, thin enough -fliers were pretty much never anywhere near overweight-, and had dark blue eyes as well as her black hair and wings. He actually found her to be pretty attractive, although he made no comment on that. after all, he wasn't here to "pick up" a girl, as a normal person would say, nor were such things really his style. He also noticed the gun holster on her leg, and silently wondered if she had noticed his sword yet, and what she'd think of that.<br/>----<br/>Audre’s smile slipped away upon hearing that he’s been around for four years. If what he says is true, why haven’t they met when she got out? Why wasn’t he there to help their kind to get out of the lab? She shoved those thoughts aside and tried to regain her composure as she answered, “Audre. And sorry I just assumed you weren’t from around here seeing the antique you have at your waist.” The easy smile returned as she quirked an eyebrow at him in amusement.<br/>---<br/>He nodded a bit. "It's a gift from my brother." He said when she called the sword an antique. "And you're alone?" He asked, verifying the rumors. They had always referred to just one other flyer, travelling alone over and around the city.<br/>---<br/>Brother? So there were more of them, of people like her. Why didn’t she find anyone before? The thought of being alone for two years infuriated her. But, is that the reason to why he was here? It wasn’t a stretch to believe that word about her reached him too.<br/><br/>Jack’s question caused her heart to tighten with remorse. She tried to sound fine with it but her voice cracked when she said, “Yes I’m alone.”<br/>---<br/>Jack looked concerned, and frowned when she looked upset by his question. Perhaps she hadn't been alone before, but something had happened to her companions, he thought. That thought upset him further, reminding him of his own lost companion, Rosy. He put the thought out of his mind and focused on the situation at hand instead. "Would you like to remain alone, or join us?" He asked.<br/>---<br/>She did her best to not show too much hope, and tried to believe that this was not a dream. Holding her hand out to Jack for a handshake and she answered, “Sure I’ll join you. The city is getting a little boring anyways.”<br/>---<br/>Jack shook her hand, "Follow me, then." He said, unfolding his wings to take off. "You don't mind meeting many new people, right?"<br/>----<br/>He was real, and she was going to meet more people. She felt a tear trickle down her face and she did her best to wipe it away before Jack saw it. Clearing her throat and taking her hand back she smiled and said, “I don’t mind at all.”<br/>---<br/>Jack was watching her, and saw the tear. "You alright?" He asked, concerned, as he took off to lead her back to his home. He decided to introduce her to the ones that lived with him first, before his brother's group. The group he lived with was smaller, and also less threatening, being mostly children.<br/>---<br/>Audre followed suit flying behind him. She looked to the side embarrassed, she never really realized how much she wished for others like her. This was really starting to feel like a dream to her. She did her best to answer quickly said, “Of course I’m fine, I just had something in my eye. What I did a few minutes ago wasn’t easy I hope you know.”<br/><br/>Bring her eyes to look at Jack she started to wonder about the people she was about to meet. What they were like. Her mind was so muddled and confused she was having a hard time imagining, so she’ll allow Jack to take the lead for now.<br/>---<br/>Jack looked back, and nodded to her. "I know. I almost crashed, trying to follow you. That was pretty dangerous." He commented to her. His home was maybe half an hour's flight from the building they had landed on, so he figured they had time to talk before they got there.<br/>---<br/>Audre laughed at Jack and his comment of nearly crashing. “Please, you came out just fine.” She said, before she paused. A question was starting to form on the tip of her tongue, one that came to her the second she saw him flying around her. She would save that question for later, they may be the same but they were still strangers. Instead she went after a simpler question, “How far is your home?”<br/>---<br/>"Yeah, I only almost crashed." He said, nearly pouting. "My home is about half an hour away from here. Any more questions?" He asked as they flew towards his home. He had at least a few of his own questions for her, but he figured those could wait.<br/>---<br/>Where was she going to start? It was obvious that she would have questions, but so should he. Then again Jack was probably used to this. “Let me just take this one step at a time.” Audre answered, she had to admit to herself at the very least that this whole situation was a bit overwhelming.<br/>---<br/>Jack nodded to her, "And that first step is getting there and meeting the others?" He asked, curious as to how this would go. "Have you met others of our kind before?"<br/>---<br/>This time she chose to stay quiet, the regret of leaving everyone back there, in that place. The pain of it lessens every day, but she hasn’t told anyone about it nor was she going to. She still remembered the metal doors sliding down and locking trapping those behind her. There were moments she feared that she wouldn’t make it, that she would end up on the other side unable to get out.<br/>---<br/>Jack looked back at her again, concerned when she didn't answer. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, if something bad happened." He said, assuming that that was the case. He was quiet for the rest of the trip, and began to land near a house on the very edge of the populated area around the city, on the border between that and a large forest. "We're here. Would you like to wait a few minutes, or just go in now?"<br/>---<br/>Audre looked around the place. She was cold, tired, and a bit lost. Even though the city was nearby the noise was muffled less familiar. Taking out her jacket from her bag she placed it on to feel warm, and a habit when she entered buildings with people inside. “It’s alright, I’ll come inside.” She said trying to act calm, but she was nervous.<br/>---<br/>Jack nodded to her, leading her up to the house and holding the door open for her. The inside of the house was fairly normal, as the door led into the living room, which was attached to the kitchen and contained stairs leading up to the upper level of the house where everyone's bedrooms were. The room was empty at the moment except for three small children, who appeared to be around eight, sitting on the couch and watching cartoons. Two were obviously closely related, with the same pale hair and eyes, as well as bat wings and what appeared to be cat ears. The third child, who looked almost shockingly different from the other two with her dark red hair and black wings, jumped down from the couch and ran to greet Jack. That being done, she looked up at Audre curiously, "Hi. Who are you?"