I waited eagerly in the old, creaky, factory waiting for the oddly winged humans to appear. Are they not coming? These were people who didn't fully know me, meaning that I had a chance at a new slate.

Alistair appeared first with his wondrously white wings flapping strongly and in his arms was a girl with wavy, beach-like, blonde hair. For some reason, my heart dropped. Is that his girlfriend? I took a breath and shook my head. I didn't care if he had a girlfriend or not. The girl he held in his arms had white wings as well, but they were off-white and didn't have the same gleam as Alistair's. On the tip of her right wing, were feathers that had been burned off. Alex appeared after him with her dark, night-like wings.

"Where's Sara?" I asked. Even though I had only met her once, I could tell that she and Sara were usually joined at the hip.

"She didn't want to come. Where's your sister?" Her voice had a neutral tone to it which I was fine with it. After all, we had just started to get to know each other.

"She's hanging out with some friends of hers."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Who would give up the chance to meet up again with winged humans from other dimensions?"

"I don't know. What's with her?" I tilted my head to the girl who was now standing at Alistair's side while leaning into him.

"My name is Catherine and I'm currently running away from the law enforcement of my world."

My eyebrows scrunched together in concern. Her answer had been more straightforward than I expected. "Are you sure that they didn't follow you?"

She nodded and took a trembling breath. "I'm sorry but I shouldn't stay long. I need to go back and fly to a safehouse." I nodded and watched as Alistair put a comforting hand on her shoulder. My heart tightened. Catherine jumped down and disappeared.

"How are you two?" I did my best to keep my voice light.

Alex shrugged. "As fine as can be when you hate your shitty government." She answered with a venomous and sarcastic tone.

I climbed up to the wide concrete platform that overlooked the rusted and broken machines of the factory. I sat down as they assumed a sitting position as well. "Why do you hate your government so much?" I questioned. I knew governments could be pretty shitty sometimes, but what happened with Alex to elicit so much hate?

She sighed. "Where do I even start? They've banned lgbt and those with multicolored wings which is completely unreasonable. They're all about keeping their hierarchy and they pretend to care about social structure when all they really care about is keeping their power and wealth."

Alistair played with his hands and looked down. "I'm sorry you have to go through that, but there's nothing to be done-" His voice had a soft, melodious flow that seemed to entrance me when I heard it.

Alex gave him a sharp look. "There is something to be done."

I stared at the both of them silently. Ever since I was younger, I had a small knack for observing others. "From the way you both sound, it seems as though you both have an affiliation to one of the topics in some way. What are they?" My voice was steely and filled with confidence. I knew that they had something to do with it.

With Alex, it went deeper than simply hating the government for its rules. Those rules affected those that didn't identify as heterosexual and felt trapped. With Alistair, he had a helplessness to him that was formed by being forced into whatever role he had to play.

Alex grabbed Alistair's arm and twisted it. She shot a pointed look at me. "I know I can trust you because you're not from our world. Alistair on the other hand holds a high position. I can't trust him."

She turned her attention back to Alistair who was sitting next to her and was groaning in pain. "If you tell a single soul about me, I will not hesitate to find you and bury you ten feet under."

He nodded rapidly as she released his arm. He clutched it and rubbed at the redness that had occurred.

"I identify as gender-fluid and biromantic. My current pronouns are they/them."

Alistair cleared his throat, but still softly added, "I am pansexual."

For some reason, my heart leaped in excitement after hearing him say that. Don't get too happy. Catherine might be his girlfriend. I calmed myself down.

Alex's brows raised in surprise. "I honestly would never have guessed."

"I'm gay. And my sister is actually trans."

"Are you sure she's okay with you telling us?" Alistair asked in genuine concern.

"Considering the fact that she helped out me to the entire school, I don't really care." I was still annoyed with Lila for what she did. I had trusted her with it, but she gave it away just to protect her image to the school.

Alex nodded. "That's somewhat reasonable."

"Shouldn't you try to understand things from her point of view?" Alistair asked me. He stared at me with his soft, pink eyes.

I raised a brow at him. "What sister cares about her rep in school rather than the brother she grew up with?"

His face fell, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "I have something to tell you. Alex, please don't be mad at me." He looked at Alex warily and held the arm that had turned red from their python-like grip.

They narrowed their eyes at him, but stayed otherwise calm. "What is it?"

"I gave my father the idea to put a spy within the rebels." His shoulders dropped as he announced the information to us dejectedly.

Alex took a sharp breath. "I really want to believe that you're kidding."

Alistair didn't meet her gaze. "I'm sorry, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. I never said I had joined the rebellion."

"True. But the rules entrap you just as they do to me. Do you truly want to keep living like this or do you at least want to try and make a stand?" Alex's voice was hard but warm. They wanted to make a difference, to take a stand. Alistair wanted to rise above his station, but was too scared of the risks to do so. I stayed quiet. I didn't live in the same world as them. I didn't understand how much pain they went through each and every day trying to hide who they were.

Alistair took a deep breath as I called out, saying, "Wait! You guys are around 14-15, right? Think about what you're doing. From what it seems, your government doesn't exactly sound nice. You're risking everything to change your world."

Alex answered. "I'm willing to risk everything to dream of living in a world where I won't be taken away for what I identify as. And, it's not just me. It's for everyone else living in our world who is suffering." Their voice was full of raw emotion and a need to right the wrong. They were determined and were willing to do what had to be done.

"I want to try and help too. Nothing is fair. I sit in power and I have a way to change it all. I'm scared to do this, because I don't know what will happen to me, but why not try?" Alistair said. His tone was light and shaky, but I could see in his eyes that he really did want to try.

"Hey, I might be from another world, but I'm up for helping."

I was going to help them, because of their situation, but it didn't mean I necessarily trusted them. 

'Author's Note'

(I wasn't going to be able to update tomorrow, so I updated today.)

Who thinks that Mark may or may not like Alistair even if it's just a tiny bit?

Would you take the chance and risk helping if you lived in a world such as this?

Who relates to Mark about keeping his guard up?

I love you all, I want you to be loved, and I hope you are loved! 💕

-DiTrix