What's up, all you beautiful peepsles? It's Angel with another chapter of The Ones Left Behind! This story still has quite a ways to go, and I'm planning on around 25-30 chapters. Of course, that is very loose and subject to change at this point. Like I've said before, I have wonderful plans for this, including a possible sequel. I think I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Heh heh heh. Anyway, now that I'm feeling better, I have a couple chapters' worth of reviews to answer, so lets get to it!

Queen-of-the-nerds-Geeks: I like my cliffhangers. They're fun to leave, and the reactions are even funnier!

Madiigamer: I'm glad you're writing! I was the same way for a while. This story actually languished in my notes for a few months before Cat finally persuaded me to post what I had written. Let me know when you do post it, and I will read it and give you feedback if you want. Please don't hurt yourself. You are one of my awesome peepsles, and thus you are amazing. Don't you forget it!

Blazethedragonite: That sums it up pretty nicely. And I had a little personal celebration when the petition reached 100,000 signatures.

Blue Power1: Just wait and see. And although it may seem like I'm pairing Seto and Nelly (sorry, couldn't help that), I actually have different plans (i.e. someone else asked for their OC to be paired with Seto, and since you said you didn't really care, the other person gets him. Sorry for any confusion). Nelly might not be paired with anyone in this book. Is that okay? Next book is a possibility, but probably not this book.

ZZefyre: Personally, I'd have to choose Ian, but Ty is a close second.

Turtlelove2: I'm glad you like it so much! To be entirely honest, I only have a loose idea of where this is going, too.

orangebunny30: Your OC. . . I'm not actually certain when she'll show up. Somewhere between chapters 15-17, if I were to guess. Don't worry. And I broke my back either in soccer or volleyball. Believe it or not, I'm not sure which. I had practices in both sports on the same days, and one day my back just kinda started hurting. We didn't get a diagnosis until two months later. Thanks for expressing concern!

TooLazyToSignIn: Ich glaube daß du bist UltimateGeek. Ich spreche Deutsch auch, aber es ist nicht sehr gut. Yeah. My grammar might not be the best (thanks a lot, Rosetta Stone), but I like to speak in German, too :D

GXAtailsmo: It's all good. I don't expect everyone to review for every chapter. And I'm glad you find it so awesome!

Jsward32 with Endyr Serifi and others: Its all good. I fangirl when my OCs are in stories, too.

By the way, sorry if its a bit shorter than my other chapters. I had some writer's block this week, but then I got some inspiration for the next few chapters. Anyhow, enjoy!

~Lost doesn't mean gone. It just means away for a while. Most things will turn up with patience~

Lexia POV

I still couldn't believe it. I was sitting here with my siblings. No one was fighting us, no one was chasing us, no one was mortally wounded. It was peaceful. For the first time in six whole fucking years, I could say that truthfully. Sure, there was still stuff that needed to be done, but I was doing my best not to think about that. I was sitting blissfully, leaning against my elder brother and listening to my twin ramble on about everything that happened while I was in a burn-induced coma. Apparently, I missed a lot. Every so often, Sky would interject with some funny comment or detail. This pattern continued for a couple hours. When the two of them had exhausted their store of stories, we all fell into a comfortable silence. Shadin fell asleep, Seto had been snoring for the past few minutes, and even Sky was starting to yawn. I wasn't really sleepy, considering that I just came out of a coma, but that was fine by me. I was content to sit peacefully for that time, not worrying, not fighting, not running. Just relaxing. For that one moment, everything was perfect.

But, as you may know, nothing perfect in my life lasts forever.

At question came unbidden to my serene mind. I tried to ignore the offending thought, but to no avail. The question needed asking, and soon. Preferably before Sky fell asleep.

"Sky?" He looked up drowsily, blinking. "Where are Mitch and Jerome? Shouldn't they be back by now?"

He mumbled something that sounded like "shit" and stood up, stretching luxuriously. "Yeah. They should. I guess I'm gonna go looking for them."

He started towards the mouth of the cave.

"Wait, are you planning to go alone?" I asked, concerned.

"That was the idea, yes."

"I'm coming with you."

He turned back, one eyebrow raised. "Are you kidding? You can't even walk! You'd only slow me down."

I braced myself against the wall behind me and shakily staggered to my feet. "I'm coming whether you like it or not." I was proud of how my voice didn't waver. Standing like this required most of my energy.

Adam sighed exasperatedly and came back to put an arm around my shoulders. As we started out, I was glad for the support. I nearly stumbled twice before we got fifty feet. "You sure about this?" Adam asked.

I nodded stubbornly. "I'll be fine soon. I just need to use my muscles a bit more."

We kept walking, and my prediction proved true. After a few minutes, I was able to walk on my own, my energy levels back to normal. Every so often, Sky would ask if I was okay, even if he could see that I was doing fine. I nodded every time. After about the millionth time, I was getting fed up. I was preparing a speech when I saw the almost-laughing grin Adam wore. I rolled my eyes and shoved him lightly.

"Is that how it's going to be?" asked Sky, laughing. "Well, two can play at that game." He pushed me and I stumbled to the side, grinning. Sky saw the look on my face and started running. I laughed and ran after him, keenly aware of how hard it was to run in the dress thing the bacca healer had given me.

Soon, my limbs felt leaden and I was puffing. Guess I wasn't all better after all, since my normal stamina was much higher than this. I came to a stop, bent over with my hands on my knees. "Sky!" I wheezed. "Wait up!"

Then I noticed that I couldn't see him anymore. He must've gone over the next hill. Still, he should've been able to hear me, but he didn't come back. "Sky?"

After catching my breath, I climbed up the hill to look for him. Looking down from the top, I saw him laying down halfway up the slope. Confused, I picked my way down to where he lay.

Too late, I saw the dart sticking out of the side of his neck. Too late, I noticed the cave in the ground twenty feet ahead. Too late, I saw the man sticking his head out of the cave. Too late, I saw the dart gun he was holding. Too late, I noticed the dart in my leg.

My last thought was Oh, shit.

Mitch POV

Nelly, Angel, and Zek led us to a long tunnel that spiraled upwards. We must have been underground. All the way, Angel was talking to us. "Don't mind AJ. She's kinda rough in the interrogations and when she's mad, but under that she's a really good leader. I dunno what her story is, but I always get the impression that it was really hard, and that's why she seems so tough. Oh, yeah. We're supposed to be telling you how we work, not gossiping about our leader. Sorry about that." She scratched the back of her head. "Umm, where to start?"

Nelly cut in. "Let's start on duties and the schedule then go from there. We work on the old scheduling. You know, from before the stars fell? We use a twenty-four hour day, just to make things a little simpler. There are two daily patrols: one at eleven hundred hours and one at nineteen hundred hours. That's seven p.m., by the way. Each patrol is three people, and there are three night shifts of sentry duty. One person at a time stands guard in the room at the end of the tunnel, since that's the only way in or out of here. We eat three meals a day, and the patrols gather food as well as look for intruders. Free time is, well, free. Some people have their different hobbies, but a lot of people like to train. Let's see. . . Every so often, our little band is discovered and we have to move to a new locale. Zek, am I missing anything?"

He shook his head. "Not really, at least on that count. I'm gonna explain people's roles in our group. AJ and Jordan are the co-founders of the group, but AJ does more of the leading and Jordan does more organizing stuff. Wolf is our techie. She loves redstone, but don't underestimate her. She's nasty in a fight." He looked like he wanted to say something else about that, but Nelly gave him a small shake of her head. "You haven't met Daybreak yet, but she's our spy. She works in Herobrine's army and feeds us information by sending us messages with her cat, Sunset. Let's see. . . Neo's our healer. She does wonders with herbs, but sometimes Nelly helps her if the injury requires magical help. Endyr is the armorer. Spectral and Raine used to be the ones who would train the new recruits in fighting, but now. . ." Zek trailed off.

Angel picked up the slack. "We're not quite sure how things will work out now. I might take their place, at least until Spectral's feeling up to it. Dagazar will probably help, too. Or I might have nothing to do, depending on how good you guys are. You two and Sky have a pretty good rep."

"I think we're all pretty good," I said, "At least, as far as I know. Shadin—" Zek looked up sharply "—is amazing, and Lexia has personally kicked the poop out of me, so they're pretty good. Something about their dad being a swordsmaster or something. Seto uses magic, but I haven't seen him fight. But I haven't seen what you guys are like, so I can't really compare us to you."

Jerome laughed. "You never told me Lexia kicked your booty!"

I shrugged. "It didn't seem important when we found you, and I just kinda. . . Forgot."

Jerome rolled his eyes. "Sure."

We got to the top of the spiral. At the end of the tunnel was a ladder leading to a small room. We took turns heading up. When I got to the top, I noticed a row of levers on the wall. Zek went over towards the levers and pulled the second, fifth, and seventh ones. The sound of pistons reverberated as the wall in front of me slid down, revealing the outside world. We stepped out into the extreme hills biome.

"This whole place was already here when we found it," said Angel.

Jerome and I exchanged a glance. "The Team Crafted base," we said in unison.

The others looked at us strangely. I quickly explained that we had been looking for a Team Crafted base that had been in the area.

Zek nodded. "That explains why we found a bunch of clothes from you guys in the rooms when we first moved in here a year ago. They're still in a closet somewhere if you guys want them when we get back."

I nodded.

Nelly turned to me. "If Zek takes you back to where he found you guys, can you find your way back to where your friends are?"

Jerome answered for me. "Mitch probably can't, but as a bacca, I can trace our path by scent."

"What are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's go!"

Shadin POV after a short time skip

Someone was shaking me awake and calling my name softly. I recognized the voice. Mitch.

"Mmmmmfh. . . Five more minutes, Mitch."

The shaking persisted. "C'mon, Shadin. You've gotta wake up now. Please."

My eyes fluttered open. "What do you want?" I mumbled sleepily.

"We have to go."

I looked up at that face that I loved. My sleep muddled mind was a little slow, and I just then realized that Mitch had come back. "When did you get back?"

He looked around. "I'll tell you later, but we've gotta go now. It's your sister. She and Sky have disappeared."

I sat bolt upright, accidentally banging my forehead against Mitch's. "What!?"

He sighed. "I take it you don't know where they went?"

I shook my head. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and pulled myself to my feet. Looking around, I noticed we weren't alone. The girl from the prison– Nelly, I think– was talking with Jerome, while a girl with a wolf's ears and tail spoke quietly with Seto. I froze when I saw the last person in the cave. His crimson eyes studied me closely, and his black hair was slicked to the right side, covering most of his eye. I thought I would never see him again.

I laughed at one of my thoughts, and everyone stared at me. "I seem to be making the mistake of thinking I would never see certain people again a lot lately. I really should have learned in these past few days."

Mitch followed my line of sight. "Is Zek another long-lost sibling?"

"Nope. Just an old friend. Who I thought was dead. Wait, did you say Zek?" Mitch nodded. I raised my eyebrows. "You really need to work on your pseudonyms, Jon."

Jon shrugged. "Personally, I thought it was kinda clever."

An awkward silence ensued. I put my hands on my hips. "Well? Are you just going to stand there, Jon?"

He broke out into a grin and strode forward to embrace me.

I put my arms around him and it was not awkward whatsoever. My sister and I had been really close to Jon as children, even though we were four years older than him. He was like a little brother to both of us. There was many a night when Lexia, Jon, Calvin–another of our best friends– and I had gone into the forest to mess around and fallen asleep there, all four of us huddled up. The four of us had done almost everything together, from hunting to swordplay to pulling pranks on the adults.

I was surprised to find that he was a couple inches taller than me. I guess that's what happens when you don't see a person for six years. They change.

The others were still staring, confused. Jon was still hugging me. "Uh, Jon? You can let go now."

He tightened his grip around me in response.

"No," he said playfully.

I sighed and relaxed all my muscles, letting myself go limp. Jon staggered with my deadweight. Finally, he said, "Fine, if that's how you're going to be." He released me. I caught myself and righted my stance.

"That trick works every time with you."

He huffed, but I started talking over his mumbled response.

"I knew Jon before the whole Herobrine thing happened. We were living in the same village. He was the annoying little brother I never had, and I thought that he, like all the others, was dead. Third person in as many days who's proved me wrong."

Jerome shook his head. "And I'm still stuck on the fact that his name is Jon," he said with a grin.

Nelly spoke up. "It's a nice reunion and all, but we still need to find the other two, don't we?"

We all nodded.

"Then lets go!" Jerome shouted.

Ty POV

A girl's voice cut through the silence. "Who are you?"

No one.

My body was ramrod straight, and a voice that sounded like mine responded, "Enderlox."

"What are you?"

A monster. A beast. An inhuman creature.

"The humblest servant of His Majesty the Enderdragon."

"Why are you here, Enderlox, humblest servant of his Majesty the Enderdragon?"

Because some demented author put me here.(A/N: TY QUIT BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!) Just kidding. Because the world hates me.

"To serve."

Her voice was filled with anger, and the words were harsh. "Wrong answer."

My small portion of me that still was ME cringed as the girl stepped out of the shadows. Her black cloak was billowing about her shoulders as she strode forward, purple and silver bracelet jingling lightly. Her shirt was midnight blue with silver flecks, and yoga pants stretched down to her sneakers. A silver dagger glinted in her pale hand. My eyes moved to her face. Her jaw was set in a hard line, but there was a glimmer of remorse in her violet eyes as she raised the dagger.

And there you have it! Yet another double cliffie! I hope you like it. *grins* Inspiration is inspirational. Also, while I was writing this I had Ships In The Night by Mat Kearney stuck in my head, so if you haven't heard it, then you should listen to it. It's an amazing song, especially if you're feeling down. Yeah. Go listen to it. Now. Just kidding, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Anyhow, I'll see you guys next weekend with another chapter! Angel out!