The building they were led to was the only thing clean in the whole place. It was a pearly, crystal white and it hurt Thomas's' neck as he looked up. This was the sort of thing he'd expect from an alternate dimension. But, still, like the rest of the world around him, there were no plants. Nothing green grew here, not even grass. It was just dirt.

Thomas glanced at Logan and saw his brother messaging away on his brick-phone. How could he not have noticed this? It was a detail he's supposed to pick up on. Maybe it was because he was so shocked that his invention had worked. Honestly, Thomas should be shocked too. He probably wasn't because he was still convinced he'd wake up. But it wasn't a dream. Fan-fucking-tastic.

The guards led them inside the white building and it was just as clean on the inside. The air felt different too. Outside, it was cold and chemically. In here, it felt natural. Odd. Logan seemed to notice the change of atmosphere too and he grabbed Thomas's' wrist. At least he was finally noticing something was wrong...

The pair of brothers were walked over to an elevator that didn't look much like an elevator. Like everything else in this place, it had large wheels in view of the public, it had gears poised, ready to start working at a moments' notice. A guard pressed a fat button and the doors opened, sending the gears and wheels into a flurry. They ushered Thomas and Logan in.

"Who is Prime Morria?" Logan asked suspiciously, tightening his hold on Thomas protectively as the guards filed in after them, pressing another fat button on a selection board.

"She is our most esteemed ruler." Scoffed a guard. "Prime Morria will decide if you are crazy or not. And, judging by your clothes," he glanced to Thomas, "it won't favour you."

Thomas pouted and looked down at himself. "What's wrong with my shirt?" He mumbled, more to himself than anyone around him. No one answered and Logan pulled him closer.

The elevator was torturous. The air was so thin and warm in there, and it was cramped. The vent seemed to pump out the same mist that had covered the streets outside and it stung Thomas's' eyes. Everything in here was so cluttered and the teen was beginning to wonder if this was what claustrophobia felt like.

After an eternity, the doors opened and the mist rushed out, allowing Thomas to rub his irritated eyes in relief. Everyone had the same reaction and Logan's' eyes looked bloodshot as if he'd been crying. Whatever that mist was had not been healthy.

A guard cleared his throat. "You are now in the presence of Prime Morria."

Prime Morria was an unusual type of beauty. A beauty that not even those popular girls at school had. It was not the beauty of someone pure, or the beauty of someone kind and merciful. It was the beauty you'd see in an ice statue. Cold, freezing, sharp, dangerous, untouchable. Every edge of her angular form spoke power and ruthlessness. The beauty you'd expect from a seemingly ageless woman, perched on an elaborate, glass throne with a huge, spotless window behind her that filled the room with the star-filled sky outside.

Her hair was platinum blonde and it was shaved to no more than stubble along the sides, giving the long, floaty ponytail her wavy hair was bound in behind her head an ethereal, alien, celestial feel. Her skin was heavily tanned but it didn't make her seem ugly, like it could do to others. It blended with the sharp, uncaring curve of her body that was wrapped in a very tight, metal bodice, white fabric trailing from beneath it to make an elegant skirt. Her eyes were bright pink. That was the craziest part. They practically glistened. They shone like diamonds, just with the wrong colour.

She blinked as they approached and her voice chimed like bells as she asked, "Who are they?"

"We found them trying to get into an oxygen pump with a hammer." A guard said firmly. "They remained stubborn and we brought them in. The smallest is obviously crazy."

"I'm not crazy!" Gasped Thomas. "I just like Steven Universe!"

Prime Morria smiled beautifully. "My dear soldier, it sounds like he isn't crazy. Just gay. You know we don't accept homophobia in America-"

"I know, Prime Morria, but this is different." The guard shot a glare back to Thomas. "He says that Steven Universe is something called a 'TV show'. He's clearly barking."

Logan stood protectively in front of Thomas. "We are not from around here. Please, Prime Morria, my brother is not crazy. We have never been here before. You said this was America?"

"Of course, it's America." She laughed and it rang gently around the room. "You sound American yet you seemed stunned that this is what you find. Please explain yourselves-"

"Is that a tree?" Thomas asked.

The whole room froze as they stared at where Thomas was pointing. There, bound in a gentle stone circle, was a classic, twisting oak. It looked young and it spread out across the room, its' root thick and strong. The entire atmosphere had changed and now all were staring at him.

Prime Morria narrowed her pink eyes, her voice suddenly guarded. "How do you know what it is?"

"We've got loads back home," Thomas insisted. "I was- I was just surprised, I hadn't seen any since we got through the portal."

Logans' grip tightened. "Thomas," He said warningly.

"A portal?" Echoed Prime Morria, not standing from her glass throne.

"Yeah, Logan built one," Thomas explained, speaking more slowly now as he pressed fearfully against his older brother. "It's how we got here..."

Prime Morria smiled again, eyes narrowing further. "Well, that is an incredible feat. We knew the possibility existed but we haven't been successful in any of our tests." She stood from the glass throne, taking a step down from the podium it perched on. "You say there are trees where you come from?"

Logan moved his hands to rest on his brother's' shoulders. "Yes. But they're getting cut down-"

The room gasped loudly, eyes widening. A guard spoke shakily. "Y-You're cutting down your trees?" He asked.

Thomas nodded reluctantly. "No one's happy about it. There's a huge amount of controversy-"

"You shouldn't cut them down!" Insisted Prime Morria suddenly. "It's how we got into this mess."

"If you don't mind me asking, Prime Morria," Logan inquired dryly, "What is 'this mess'?"

She narrows her eyes again. "We struggled with an overflowing population. People were overfarming, overproducing and forcing life out of the planet. At first, it was the flowers that were gone, then the grass, then the trees. The crops nearly followed the same path but we managed to save them from that fate." She took a step back up the podium, sitting back on her throne. "The worlds' scientists were working endlessly until we finally found an element that would react with all the smoke in the air and create oxygen. That is why the streets are filled with mist. The tree you see before you has only recently grown but it grew so quickly." In Prime Morria's' eyes, there was something you could almost mistake for the pride of a mother. As if she loved and nurtured this tree. But it wasn't the gaze of a loving parent. It was the prideful glare of a confident ruler. "It's the only one in the world."

"Do the people know?" Asked Logan and Thomas knew he must've been thinking about Pathos.

"Of course they- do." Her correction of whatever error she was about to make was barely there. But Thomas and Logan both heard it. They tightened their grip on each other. Prime Morria stared at them evenly. "We have told them about it on the radio a few months ago. You probably won't hear much about it though. People think it's a hoax."

Logan's' brick-phone began to vibrate in his pocket, symbolising a text. Logan instinctively pulled it out and looked at the message. He swallowed. "I'm glad to know you try to be honest with your people, Prime Morria. It's better than our governors."

"What are you governors like?" She asked.

Thomas quickly responded. "Stupid."

"Really?" She asked, raising both eyebrows without a single crease appearing her forehead.

"Really."

Her smile was gentle. "It sounds like your leaders need genuine help. Maybe you could show us the portal, we can help."

Logan smiled back, with the same emptiness. "Could we at least be shown around this place? We can discuss politics later. Besides, it's incredibly offensive for us to discuss politics without knowing our hosts' home." He lied. Thomas sighed silently. At least he was finally starting to notice the danger.

Prime Morria saw through the lie. It was obvious by the way her eyes changed from confidence to steeliness. She didn't mention it at all. "Of course. Follow me." And she left her glass throne again, walking down the podium and leading them past the tree.

Thomas and Logan filed after her, guards following in her wake.

"What did Pathos say?" Asked Thomas quietly.

Logan glanced at him. "Pathos told me he was in the city we're in. And he told us not to trust Prime Morria. She's keeping his friend hostage."

And that's when the story finally began.