This chapter's kind of boring, hence the long update. It's mostly info about the world they're in, and it was a pain to write. But it's finally finished!

Ridley

When I woke up my body was aching all over. I was laying down a something soft, comfy, a bed? Before I moved, I did a recap in my mind. As I recalled what happened in the desert, my senses went on overdrive. I knew it couldn't have been a dream. My life doesn't work like that.

My eyes flashed open, and I was immediately blinded by the bright lights. I shut them and winced.

"Ridley?" A familiar voice called.

I sat up and opened my eyes, carefully this time. "Marissa?" Marissa grinned at me. I looked around our room. It looked high tech, with metal walls, tile floors, and a chrome metal door that had a keypad on the wall next to it. About ten or so beds lined on wall, each with a nightstand next to it. I laid in one, Marissa and Rachel on the one to my left and Shawn and Jamie on the other. I frowned.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked.

Jamie spoke for everyone. "You have a few bruised ribs, Rachel's ankle's sprained, Shawn's arm is broken, but nothing that won't heal in about a week, maybe two."

I nodded. "Where are we?" The others shared glances.

"Um…"

I heard the key pad beep from outside and the door slide open and closed. "I see you're finally awake."

We all turned to look at the man that came in. He was tall, dark, and wearing black armor. He had his arms crossed over his broad chest, and for a moment as I looked at him, I thought I saw a look of relief in his dark eyes. But the emotion was gone quickly, covered by a blank mask. He reminded me of Jamie.

"You saved us," I said abruptly.

The ghost of a smile played on his lips. "I guess I did."

"Who are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in my death glare.

"You sure are forward." He said, sounding amused. "My name's Fang." I frowned in thought. Fang…that sounds so familiar…

Jamie's eyes widened. "Fang, like, Maximum Ride's Fang?"

The shock on Fang's face confirmed it. I glared, Marissa gasped, and Rachel and Shawn gaped. Jamie…well he never really shows any emotion. Instantly Fang had his mask back, shifting his feet-into a defensive stance, I noticed- and uncrossed his arms.

"Yes, that Fang. But how would you know that?"

I crossed my arms and set my chin high. "We know because we're from Earth. You know, that place you abandoned and left to the Doomsday Group."

A look of pain passed through his eyes. "We didn't abandon it. Don't act so high and mighty about something you don't even know."

"Oh, so you ran away?" I scoffed.

"Listen you little-."

Marissa gasped, looking at Fang's clenched fists. "Is that a wedding ring?" She grinned up at him. "Did you marry Maximum?"

Fang's anger subsided, now the look of pain was back. "I have to go." He said and left the room after pressing some keys on the key pad.

Marissa blinked. "What was that about?"

"Don't know," Rachel said. She turned to glare at me. "But thanks to you, you just told of the guy who saved us, and is likely to throw us back out to those monsters."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want help from him. He abandoned the world, remember?"

My brother glared at me. "You don't know what happened, Rid."

I glared back. "And you do?"

Marissa sighed. "Well now we don't get to ask him what's going on."

"Why did he leave when you asked him about Maximum anyways?" Shawn wondered aloud. Before anyone could answer, the door opened again.

In stepped a petite young woman with short, wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. Even though she was much older, I put the pieces together to figure out who she was.

"Sorry about Fang," the woman said. "He's not in a very good mood." She smiled sweetly. "I'm Angel. And you guys have a lot of questions."

~ Scene Change ~

Cameron

Martin, the boy who helped us, led us into a large building deep in the woods, far away from the chaos that was going on in the village. The building, Verum headquarters, as he and the other woman had called it, was nicely hidden. It was dark green and brown colors, and vines and moss had grown all over the walls. The high-tech looking door and two soldiers stationed outside it was the only giveaway that it was still in use.

Martin stepped close to one of guards and muttered in their ear. The guard nodded, looked us over, and pressed some code on the keypad to open the door. We all followed him, the others eyeing the guards warily. I was fine though. I had some gut instinct that told me the Verum were good.

The hallway was chrome and it was slightly chilly inside, but there was décor along the walls that kept the place from having a hospital feel.

Martin didn't really try to start any conversation. He had a content look on his face and didn't seem to mind the silence. I didn't either, but I was used to having Marissa always running her mouth.

Marissa, Ridley, where are they? I hope they're okay. If they were here, we probably would be finding a way back home instead of being…wherever we were.

"Where do you think he's taking us?" Jason whispered in my ear, so low only a mutant could hear. I shrugged. Jason stayed right behind me as we walked. He was so close I could feel his body heat.

A few minutes later Martin stopped at the end of the hall, and instead of going left or right walked up to another door, pressing some numbers on the keypad so it slid open. He turned and smiled at us.

"Get ready to meet my bosses guys. They'll figure out what we can do with you," he said. We followed him into the new room and the door closed silently behind us.

The room was very cozy, with a plush red carpet, beige walls, a few recliners, and a large desk with papers scattered all on top of it along with a computer monitor. There were six adults in the room, one was sitting on the desk, another leaning up against the wall, and the rest sprawled across the chairs. They all turned to us as we walked in. I blinked in surprise. These were Martin's bosses? They seemed pretty laid back to rule an army…

"These are the kids then Martin?" The one on the desk asked, her brown eyes sparkling as she smiled sweetly.

A strawberry blonde man in one of the chairs scoffed. "Who else would they be?" The woman glared at him. The man looked in our general direction, but his blue eyes were glazed over. Was he blind then?

Martin smiled and ignored the blind one. "Yes ma'am."

A woman spoke up from where she sat in another man's lap. She had a maroon streak in her brown hair. "Well introduce us then Martin."

Our escort blinked and looked at us over his shoulder. "Oh, um, well-"

Another man, this one a small brunette, laughed. "You rescued them and didn't even get their names?"

Jason stepped in front of Martin and smiled good naturally. "I'm Jason," he said. "That's Skyler, Derek, and Cameron."

After Jason introduced us, the couple sharing a seat shared a glance, and the blind one frowned. Then the man leaning against the wall spoke up. He had dark red hair, olive toned skin, and dark eyes. "Well, hello Jason. I'm Blake."

The woman on the desk continued the introduction. "I'm Nudge! That's Iggy, Holden, Maya, and Dylan. What happened to you guys? What happened to your parents? How'd y'all get here? Because it looks like you're from-"

"Nudge!" The blind one, Iggy, cut her off. Nudge glared at him again. It was light though, like she wasn't really mad at him. Their names sounded so familiar to me though…

"So where are your guys' parents?" Maya asked.

I shrugged. "We don't know. They disappeared before any of us even got a chance to know them. My sister, Ridley, remembers them a little, but she was only four when they disappeared."

"So who took care of you?" Dylan asked.

"Ridley." Skyler answered immediately. I looked at her sadly. Aunt Ella was still around, but we barely saw her or grandma, and when they were home, they really weren't. When our parents disappeared, it's like they took those two with them.

"Are you guys like, all the leaders or what?" Derek asked.

"Nope. Just the six generals." Nudge answered.

"So who's your leader?" I asked.

"She's away right now. But her name's Maximum Ride."

~ Scene Change ~

Ridley

"Prospera is very different from Earth," Angel explained. "It's much smaller, and is in an entirely different dimension; A dimension that doesn't have different religious beliefs. They have the gods and goddesses that control the land. One for each element: water, earth, fire, air, lightning, ice, light, and darkness. They used to be hidden in their designated temples at the points in the world where their magic was the strongest."

"Used to be?" Marissa asked.

"I'll get to that. Industrially, this world was about as advanced as Earth. At least when we arrived."

I wanted to interrupt with a snarky comment, but I was afraid she'd storm off like Fang did (stupid bastard), so I kept my mouth shut.

"See we arrived in a time ripple. Iggy and my brother were using a machine that would get rid of the start of the Doomsday group we had chased there. But something went wrong, and it messed up something in the time paradox, sending us here."

Was what we went through the same time ripple? I wondered.

Probably, a voice chimed in the back of my mind. I jumped slightly, forgetting for a moment that Angel had telepathic abilities.

"You could imagine what a commotion we caused. Even with magic and having gods and goddesses running their world, they didn't expect a group of mutants to just drop in. But they convinced themselves that we were sent by their gods to protect them. We doubt it, but perhaps it was fate that brought us here. When we arrived their government was unbalanced and their gods' power was weakening. We balanced their world, and adapted to magic and using weapons. For a while everything was peaceful.

"Then the Doomsday Group arrived. We didn't realize it since we didn't recognize any of them. But they snaked their way into the government when our guard was down. We couldn't voice anything because we'd have to explain how we knew them, and reveal to everyone that we were from Earth. It was too late anyways to do anything. Things just got worse from there. Nature went out of control. Freak storms appeared, random heat waves started, tsunamis, and it became way too dangerous to go out to sea. Crops dried up, droughts started, and blizzards were everywhere. It was insane. We all split up and searched the temples where the gods stayed. Only, they were gone. Vanished. Like they were never there.

"After that, the military split into two. Some of them blamed the government for what was happening, calling themselves Verum. They became a rebellion against the government, others remained loyal. They called themselves the Fides. Fang became the leader of Fides, and I'm one of his generals. Thing is, the military is now in a civil war. So while we first split three years ago, the Doomsday Group made these…concentration camps. They take the adults they say are weak and thin blooded, and no one ever sees them again. Sometimes children too. Also, monsters came out of no where and started wrecking havoc all across Prospera."

Anger boiled up inside me. "This world is in despair and you divide yourselves? What the hell is that about? That's the stupidest thing you could do!"

"It was very unwise, but if we didn't we'd destroy the military completely," Angel said evenly.

"But you said they're concentration camps now! Those are terrible! You just let them go on with them while you fight each other?" Marissa said. It was true, if you act up in our school, that's where you go. Angel opened her mouth to answer, but my brother cut her off.

"Just now, you said if we didn't we'd destroy the military completely. Like you were talking about yourself and the others. But during your explanation, you made it sound like it was soldiers that made you divide," said Jamie. "Which is it?"

I was baffled at how observant he was. I hadn't caught that. But we looked at Angel, and for a split second something flashed in her calm blue eyes. She knew she slipped.

"I'm going to send you all some food," she told us quickly. "You're probably starving." I was, but I wasn't about to let her get away.

"That's why Fang didn't want to talk about Maximum," Rachel said. "Because she's the leader of the Verum."

Angel's jaw tightened. She was losing her composure. "Maximum is currently MIA. So I don't think it'd be smart to mention her to Fang-or anyone really." The blond turned on her heel and left the room. It was silent for a few minutes-expect for the small hum of the machines-as we all thought about what Angel had told us. Were we really in a different world? Maximum and the others hadn't abandoned us after all?

No, of course they did. Even if they got here on accident, I'm sure they could've found a way back if they tried hard enough.

I screamed in frustration, causing everyone to turn and stare. I threw my pillow at the wall. "This is insane!"