...Does ANYONE know how long they've been out of commission until after the bomb exploded? ? GAWD!

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OCs.

I wasn't sure on what's going on. Am I alive? Or…am I dead?

I can't…tell.

There are coherent moments in which I felt that…there's some sort of substance that are on my body, most of them on my face. It's a cool substance, but I was too out of it to know what it is or what it does. I do know that it felt so good on my face.

Sometimes, I thought I woke up, but I wasn't sure if I was dreaming when I was back to sleep immediately.

During those times, it felt that I was probed with something, like…someone was trying to examine me via autopsy. I was practically numb the whole time it happened, but I was thankful for it – I don't want to know what I was going to see or feel when it happened.

One time that I was coherent, I thought I heard some voices. They were slurred, like they were drugged, and I managed to make out:

"-bomb…gone off…-"

"-we? Are…dead-?"

"-dead! I want…alive…a cowboy…-"

"…man. Tomorrow…you can eat…all that…could…-"

"-not dead…kind of tem… prepare….impact…!-"

Hm…they sound familiar…

Uh…so sleepy…

I let the darkness take me once more.

~o~

…Ugh…

What the fuck happened…?

"…she all right?" Huh? Whozzat?

"How should I know?" A male's voice spoke up.

"She WAS closer to the blast," another voice said. They sound familiar. "I would be surprised that she survived it."

"I'm more surprised that she was still with us," a southern accent said. "I'd figure that she would be blown up along with the present."

"One, that's bullshit. And two, shut up! She's gotta wake up is all." Who the hell are they?

I squinted my eyes and opened them. It was blurry…really blurry, and kind of bright – not too bright that it hurts my eyes but it hurts. A bit. I waited a bit for the blur to go away and slowly, it did. …Though, everything else is still blurry further away. Where are my glasses-?

A head in a blue helmet popped up in my vision. "Erica?"

"FUCKING HELL!" I yelped out, scrambling back before I hit a wall.

"AH!" The head yelped out as well, falling back.

I panted heavily as I stared at the figure. The person has a black undersuit underneath some armor colored blue, a helmet over their head with an orange visor…

…And something in my mind told me that I knew this person.

"She's awake," the male voice spoke up and I looked around for the source. There are other armored people but in different shades of color – red, maroon, orange, teal, pink- wait. Wait minute…

"You okay Erica?" The teal one asked me.

Wait a minute…I know those people.

Suddenly, I remembered and I let out a groan, leaning back against the wall. "Yeah…" I muttered. "God Mikey, you scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry!" Mikey let out.

I looked around. Okay, this place looks familiar. This is…where we were supposed to come to look for that energy signature, right? A freakin' desert…great.

Then I realized something. I looked around on the ground. "Where the hell are my glasses?" I asked, feeling the ground for them.

"Oh, these?" I heard Simmons ask, and I looked over. He held something in his fingers. Those must be my glasses!

"Yeah!" I nodded as I got up to get them.

"Uh… you sure you want them?" There was a…nervous tone in his voice.

I blinked. "Why-?" The question died down in my throat when I got closer.

There is a large crack on the right side of the thick lens. Parts of it have been bended inwards, and the parts the held the glasses to the ears/head are bent in different directions.

In short…it's fucked.

I slowly took the glasses from the man and looked over at them. I let out a sigh – I've had them for two years…and the spare I've got is back home.

Shit.

"What happened to them?" I heard Frankie asked me.

I sighed again. "I guess they were stepped down during my scuffle with O'Malley…" I muttered.

"Man…that must've sucked." No shit.

"Those are pretty thick lens, though," Simmons spoke up. "I never knew they could be like that."

I looked over at him. "I'm nearsighted," I explained. "So I need glasses to see things further away."

"But why are they that thick? That's what I was asking!" Simmons exclaimed.

Oh. I shifted my eyes. "…My eyesight is horrible."

"They can't be THAT bad," Grif shrugged.

Oh, you have NO idea, Grif. "They're pretty bad," I argued.

"How bad?" Frankie asked.

I tried to think. "Uh… 2000 something?"

"What?!" Simmons shouted. "Two thousand!? That's impossible; girls shouldn't have that!"

I gave him a pointed look. "And that goes to show that there are a lot of things girls have," I deadpanned. "They have ailments like men do."

"But-!"

"Wait a second!" Lav suddenly interjected. "Why aren't you freaking out about our new surroundings?"

I was actually thankful for the change in the subject. I looked over at him. "Uh, priorities, dude," I said. "Those glasses were pretty expensive."

"Well, you can forget about finding someone to fix them," Sarge spoke up. "We're probably the last few people still alive!"

I gave him a blank look. "Huh?"

Sarge let out a sigh and put his hands on my shoulders. "Missy, don't freak out now. In fact, you and Tucker should stay calm when I tell you this," he sounded so freakin' serious… too bad that I knew that we were actually moved here – but he continued, "But…we're in the distance future."

Even Lav stared at him. "…you can't be serious," the aqua armored man said.

"I have to agree," I nodded. "How are we in the 'future' exactly?"

"Oh! Oh! Can we do the skit now Sarge?" Skit-? Oh goddammit.

"Uh, no thanks," I shook my head. "I'd rather hear on WHAT happened – not how it happened."

"I have to agree on that," Lav said.

"Hm… yeah, that would be faster," Sarge nodded.

"Aw…" Frankie bowed his head in sadness. I almost felt bad for him – but, I don't want my brain to rot.

Sarge then cleared his throat. "All right – when the bomb in Church went off in combination with Lopez's weather matrix, it created an explosion so large, not only did it cause a temporal rift in time, it also destroyed the present!"

Again, the two of us stared at him. "…Huh?" I let out, a deadpan in my voice.

"Wait, that didn't make sense," Lav let out, rubbing his head. "The future? Aren't we always in the present?"

"Son," Sarge said slowly to that he can understand. "You just aren't listenin'. The present has been destroyed. It no longer exists."

"That's…not exactly right" I piped up. "Yesterday is like the past – tomorrow is like the future – today, this day specifically, is the present. So you can't really say that we're in the future exactly."

Sarge stared at us. Then he looked over at the others. "They're a lost cause," he said. "They're in denial." He shook his head.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever old man." He isn't someone I know exactly, so I don't have respect for him. At all. Exactly how much brain damage does he have?

"So you're telling me that a bomb sent us into the future," even Lav thinks that's bullshit!

"Well, yeah," Simmons nodded. "You see, luckily Church was facing forward when the bomb went off, and we were standing in front of him. So that sent us forward into the future."

Bullshit. "Oh that's bull," I said. "No matter what direction we face, it's always forward." I turned to a direction. "That's forward." I turned to another, opposite. "That's forward." I looked back at them. "So we're always facing forward."

"Well, all right then, smart ass," Sarge crossed his arms. "Then explain why we're in the desert?"

"The desert used to be a part of an ocean floor," I said. "If we're in a snowy field, it would probably be a wasteland of sorts, and burned trees, stumps and rocks all around."

The Sargent and his pet stared at me.

"Wait a second," I looked over at Lav to see him looking around. "Where's Church? What happened to him?"

"Oh…" Simmons let out, as if realizing it. "Uh…"

Sarge scratched the top of his helmet. "Hmm…never really thought about him."

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are the best," I said, sarcastically.

"We are?" Simmons asked.

"No."

Grif and Lav snickered.

"Well, most likely he's dead," Sarge shrugged, uncaringly.

"He could be hurt, and trapped in the present," Lav said.

"That's impossible, son," Sarge shook his head. "The present doesn't exist anymore." Oh dear god, don't they know anything about how time works?!

"You mean the past," I deadpanned. Then I thought about it – I might as well move it right along the plot. "Well, OUR past, anyway. And if we're blown into the future, what do you think happened to him?"

Silence went by as I waited for them to get the implications of what I'm saying.

…Then Lav let out a gasp. "Oh SHIT!"

"What?" Some of them asked – and it's sad that Lav is (slightly) more intelligent than the others.

"Don't you get it? If Church was facing forward during the explosion, and that blew us into the future, it happened to Church as well!" Lav hastily explained. "As in he was blown backwards into the past! The distant past!"

We looked at the Reds and Mikey, waiting on what they'll say.

"…Damn." Eloquently put, Grif.

"Is that bad?" Simmons asked.

I twitched. Must. Not. Maim.

I put a hand on my visor. "I'm surrounding by morons…" I muttered.

I just want to go through this quickly. I lowered my hand. "In some ways, yes," I said. "But right now, it's not important. What's important is that we're in a desert, and we need to find shelter, or a means to get out of here without dying of dehydration."

Sarge grunted. "As much as I hate to admit, she's right," he said. "Let's split up to find any sort of life, or anything of use!"

Simmons looked over at us. "But…there's seven of us," he pointed out. "We have an odd number."

Silence.

"…That's a good point," I admitted, rubbing my chin.

"In that case, you should come with us, Erica!" Frankie beamed as he grabbed my arm.

"Yeah! It will be like a field trip!" Mikey agreed, grabbing my other arm.

"Uh…" I said.

Sarge shook his head at us. "All right, I'll make sure nothing happens to them," he said then looked over at the three remaining men. "You guys check out the fields, we'll look at the mountains."

"Okay," Grif and Simmons nodded (though it was more of a sigh from Grif).

"Uh, don't I get a say in this-?" I began to ask before I was made to go forward. "Whoa!"

"Let's go!" Mikey and Frankie cheered.

'Dear god, what have I gotten myself into?'

~o~

Brows furrowed in concentration, I gently pulled the part back into its position. I tested it out to make sure that it won't fall off, holding my breath.

It didn't.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Too bad I don't have any tools," I muttered, looking over the sorry state of my glasses.

My eyesight would end up being a hindrance down the road. I need to find a way to either get a new pair of glasses (with the same lens and everything) or maybe some contacts…or a way to make sure I don't lose them in battle all together.

I looked over at my glasses again. I got the two parts that kept the glasses to my head straightened out…now I gotta fix the nose pieces. The nose pads are gone though. And I know from experience on how painful those can be if left there for too long. I sighed again. Great. I can't believe that I didn't have my other pair.

"Hey!" I jumped at Sarge's voice. "Break time's over! Hop to it missy!"

"Okay, okay," I called back before I stood up. I placed my glasses somewhere and I headed to where the three men are. I need to find some tools to continue fixing my glasses later.

I met up with the three men as Sarge had his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently. Frankie and Caboose seemed to be doing…something. I looked over at the man in red, who looked over at me. "About damn time," he lowered his arms. "What were you doing?"

"Trying to fix my glasses," I answered as I pulled them out. "I'll need some tools to fix the nose parts, but I also need some nose pads for them as well."

"Why the hell did you bring glasses?" Sarge asked me. "They would just hinder you." Hmm…that's actually a pretty wise thing he had ever said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I asked. "I don't know if there are any contacts that could fit my big eyeballs." I've been wanting to get some contacts after realizing that I have poor eyesight, but…well, not only does it cost some money to adjust some to the size of my eyeballs, or even the kind that will be good for my eyes; also, we're pretty lazy.

"Hm…well, you're shit out of luck then." Thank you for summing that up, Sarge. Really.

"Yeah…" I grunted.

Sarge then looked over at me…before looking over at the Rookies. "Donut, Caboose, go scout out ahead," he said. "I need to have a word with her."

Huh?

"Okay/Okie-dokey!" The two nodded before they moved further ahead.

I blinked. What does Sarge want to talk to me about?

"Uh… what's up?" I asked, nervously.

He looked over at me. "I want to discuss with you in private about that woman we saw years ago," he said. "The lady that was looking for 'Zero'."

It felt as if my heart just stopped. "…Huh?"

"I didn't think much about it until you explained it to Donut and Tucker," he elaborated. "And I also thought about what she said: that Zero went in along with a maroon soldier. Simmons is the only soldier I know that has the color maroon."

A part of me is surprised that he didn't catch the 'simulation trooper' part, but…I was mostly surprised by his deduction skills. But I'm still kind of questioning on HOW Sarge figured out the meaning behind Simmons' message in Revelation.

"Uh…"

"So I'll ask you a question:" He leaned in to me, and I could see his eyes narrowed through his visor. "What sort of relation do you have with her?"

…How can I answer that? I never knew that woman or anything about her!

"I…" I then sighed. "I don't know."

Sarge gave me a look. "You don't know?" He repeated, skeptic.

"Seriously, I don't know!" I exclaimed. "I'm just as lost as you guys are!"

"You seem very terrified of her though," Sarge pointed out.

"Of course I am!" I said. "I mean, why else would I be terrified of something that normal people would be scared of?"

"I meant the part where you tried to keep us away from the room."

I blinked. …That's a good point. I was…just overcome with fear that I tried to keep the three of them away. But the thing is… I honestly have no idea what caused that fear.

"I…" I mumbled…before I sighed. "I don't know. I just…don't know. Everything's gone screwy for the past few days for me, and it's just…overwhelming." I just feel so tired right now.

The past months that I spent at Blood Gulch, training with Tex actually kept me from brooding too much about what the future holds. But there are also so many things that could go wrong in an instant; even if I managed to fix it, or plan it thoroughly. I'm not smart, I'll admit that; nor am I strong or fast or…well, skillful at anything. I just spent most of my life playing video games and spending so much time on the internet. My life spent around technology, and yet I don't know a thing about them. On how to work with them, repair them, hack them, anything really.

I'm…very lazy, and cocky on a few things that I think I know. Like video games. God how my sister always reprimand me for me being a 'know-it-all'. I just…I was just trying to help them.

Here, I'm literally…no one. When I first started college, it felt kind of…good not being known who I am – it's one thing that you're known as being 'Tyler's sister' at where I live. But I was picked on constantly before they realized who I am. By the time they do… I no longer cared. I ignored every one of them, and only found solace in people that I do trust. The amount that I found are…very few, I'll admit. I really didn't mind the fresh start.

But…it's very different when you're at a place you know, but not only are you not known but you really don't have a place to return to. A place you can call home.

Honestly, I was fine with being alone but…

Mikey is a friendly guy (although he's kind of like a special eds kid), and, though he tries to understand a lot of things, he can't. But he kept trying anyway.

Lavernius is a pervert (still is) but… he's actually a decent guy once you got to know him. A good friend, actually.

I've barely known the Reds…but, I don't know, maybe I'll get to know them better down the road. Eventually, all of us will be allies for things to come in the future – whether they like it or not.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I blinked and looked up at Sarge. "Look, right now it doesn't matter," Sarge spoke up. "We're hundreds of years into the future now. She won't be able to get to us. Right now, we'll just have to stay together for a while until either we get Lopez back or we beat O'Malley. In the meantime, don't worry about the little details."

My eyes blinked up at him. Don't worry? That's easy for him to say… still…he's probably right. I shouldn't worry about that right now.

I sighed. "No promises, but… I'll try."

"Hey Sarge! Look what we found!" Frankie called out further ahead.

"All right, let's see what they found," Sarge said, moving his hand and heading off. Like everything is normal.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay," I said before following him.

After walking for a bit, we saw Frankie waving his arms at us, and Mikey peeked in from…uh, what are they called?

"What do you two find?" Sarge got right to the point and asked.

"We found a vehicle in the gully!" Frankie exclaimed. Oh, so that's what they're called.

We looked inside, and saw…is that a Warthog? How did it get here?

"It's…a vehicle," I stated.

"Excellent work, you two!" Sarge nodded. "I'll go and contact the others." He turned on the radio. "Grif, Simmons, get yer keesters over here!"

Well, time to wait. I looked over at the Warthog and sat in the passenger seat. "Hmm…" I jumped a bit to test out the seat. "Comfy…but not really comfy."

"In war, there's no room for comfort, Lady Blue," Sarge told me.

I withheld a sigh. "Sarge…maybe it'll be easier if I just told you my name."

"That seems dumb," Sarge said. "Why would you give your enemy your name?"

"Hey, at the moment, we're allies," I pointed out to him. "So you might as well learn my name, instead of calling me Lady Blue, Blue Lady, etc."

Sarge grunted. "Right. At the moment, we're allies."

I merely nodded. "Okay, so, my name's Erica. Erica Helms."

"Uh huh."

Ah, that's the best I could get.

I got out of the jeep, just in time to see Grif, Simmons and Lav coming up to us.

"Look what I found!" Mikey called out.

"I found it!" Frankie exclaimed.

Mikey bowed his head. "Look at what I took credit for finding."

I slowly shook my head at the two as Sarge said, "A-making that these two actually accomplished something."

"Tell me about it," I muttered in agreement.

Grif looked over at it. "It looks like some kind of an alien transport mechanism that could be used to-."

"Or, it's a jeep," Simmons cut in.

Grif stared at him. "…You have no imagination."

That bit is true – it's because of imagination that we have the things we have today. Still… I joined Sarge in looking over the Warthog. "Well… whatever it is, we can probably use it to get out of here." I nodded. "Good work guys."

Sarge opened the hood of the vehicle. "Hm… it isn't too badly damaged, but it'll take a couple of days to get it to working order."

"How are you going to fix it?" Simmons asked. "There's no parts and what're you gonna use for fuel?"

This time, Sarge stared at him. "Grif was right, Simmons," he admitted. "You don't have any imagination."

"Thank you sir," Grif nodded.

"Shut up, scumbag," Sarge retorted. "We're not having a moment. Now help me get the jeep out of there!"

"Ugh, fine!" Grif complained, before heading over to help (reluctantly).

As the Reds pushed the Warthog out, Lav called out," Hey! We still need to find Church."

"He's dead, son," Sarge grunted. "Why haven't you given up hope yet and just move on?"

"It's only been a couple of hours!" It was? Wow, time certainly flies.

It wasn't long until the Reds managed to get it out of the gully. As the two men in orange and maroon armor panted, Sarge looked over at Lav. "Well, this should make you feel better. When his body got blasted into smithereens, at least he took all of our enemies with him."

I shook my head. "There's no way we're that lucky," I reminded him.

"Stop being a pessimist, Helms," Sarge said- wait, huh?

Lav looked over at him. "You called her by her last name?"

"Why not?" Sarge asked. "It makes more sense to call her by that."

Me, Lav, Mikey and Frankie exchanged looks. "But… we called her by her first name," Frankie said. "It just sounds right."

Sarge grunted. I looked between them. "Look, let's not worry about that, okay?" I asked. "It doesn't matter what you guys call me, okay? I'm fine with whatever."

"So you would say that you would like to be called 'Babe'?" I can hear the smirk in Lav's voice.

At first, I thought about flat out saying 'No', but I thought about it. "…We're not exactly going out," I reminded him.

"Aw, c'mon!"

I sighed. "I'm going for a bit of a walk. If you need me, you can find me by my indigo armor." I then walked towards a direction.

"What's her problem?" I heard Grif asked.

"Ah, she's weird like that," Lav replied.

I walked a bit further away before I found a spot, and sat down on a rock. I let out a sigh. 'The next couple of days are going to be hectic…' I thought.

Because, even if Sarge told me not to worry… I still worry.

Hm… rather short, but, oh well. Better to get a chapter out than never. As for what's up in the Red vs Blue episodes coming out, not only did Tucker do something, the sword came into play again. Ugh, I won't enjoy it if it'll be a PSA episode next week! Sometimes, I just hate it when there are cliffhangers (even if I do that to the people reading this as well – does that make me a hypocrite?)

Anyways, the next chapter would have Erica interacting with the Reds more…then the action would come back. Maybe.

(Or Tucker is more observant than he looks and Erica is like SHIT at times.)

Leave a review until then, please!