"S... Soren? Aren't those... the Ender Crystals? The real ones?" Jesse asked, eyes wide as she slowly turned to the architect.
Soren was staring at the Crystals as well, his expression filled with horror. "No... it can't be. Not here. After all this time!"
Jesse looked at Soren, concern in her eyes. "Soren, what are the Ender Crystals doing in the Far Lands?"
"He kept them," it was as though Jesse hadn't even asked her question, as Soren stepped closer to the violet crystals, "The fool actually kept them! He looked me in the eye and swore-" he turned back to Jesse, "he swore that he'd destroy them."
"But they were destroyed!" Jesse cried out, but she felt a cold, worried, creeping feeling in her stomach, and she turned a bit. "R... right? Soren, you said these crystals were the key to destroying the Ender Dragon..." She shook her head. "You... you did kill the Ender Dragon... right?"
Soren looked from the spider hybrid back to the crystals, panic written clear as day on his face, "Jesse, this- this isn't what it looks like! Our- our story is mostly- mostly true, I swear it!"
Jesse stepped back, eyes filled with a mix of emotions. Anger, worry, sorrow, betrayal. "... so what really happened, then?" Her voice had dropped to a whisper, "if you didn't destroy the Ender crystals..."
"I-I can't," Soren stuttered, "We swore- we swore never to speak of it-"
"Soren."
Soren's voice faded to nothing at the sight of the hard-eyed girl, standing there, waiting as if demanding an explanation.
The girl whose friends had been abandoned after the battle, the girl who'd waited and waited and waited for days and weeks and years to see them again.
The girl who, frankly, out of anybody in the world, deserved an honest explanation from them.
"I'm afraid," he finally began, turning around and pressing his hands to the quartz stands, back facing Jesse. "I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you. We... we did defeat the Ender Dragon. But it wasn't exactly as I said. We got rid of it. But we... we didn't kill it, per se." He looked over his shoulder at Jesse. "We didn't even fight it." He closed his eyes. "I didn't even try."
"So then what did you do to it?" Jesse asked, curiously.
"We didn't do anything!" Soren turned around, "We used the Command Block on it!"
Jesse's eyes widened, her arms dropping to her sides. She stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, before exploding, "You used the Command Block to defeat the Ender Dragon?!"
Soren's face turned into a shamefaced one. Ashamed and guilty. "I'm afraid so."
"How could you do this?" Jesse stared at him. "We- even when we didn't remember you, we looked up to you. You were our heroes. You were our role models. And... you've been lying to everyone this whole time?!" Her voice was quiet, hurt, almost.
"Understand," Soren said, softly, "when I found that blasted block, we were nobodies. But with its help... we became stronger. Faster. We could do so much more. The others had no idea what I was doing. But the more we used it... the more we came to depend on it. I knew it was only so long before someone would find out. The others were going to die, we- we had no idea what to do. Against an enemy that powerful... I concocted a plan. I would use the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence... securing our status as legends... forever."
Jesse stared at Soren, who looked at Jesse pleadingly. "We told the world we'd slayed a dragon... and you know what happened after that."
Jesse probably should've been furious. Having been lied to, having been lied to so many times, for so long. The Order abandoning them in the lab to probably become the scientist's mindless experiments had their escape attempt not succeeded.
But she couldn't get angry.
Not at someone who had given her the honest truth when she'd asked for it.
"So, you finally admit it."
Both of them turned to see Olivia, Lukas, Gabriel, even Ivor coming towards them, Ivor's arms crossed.
"Soren... how could you?" Olivia asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Soren's eyes weren't on her, though. They were fixed in a glare at the man who'd started this whole mess. "Ivor."
"How long have you guys been standing there?" Jesse asked, blinking at her friends.
"Long enough that we heard the whole thing," Lukas said, a hurt look fixed right at his mentor. The ginger shifted.
"So we're liars?" Gabriel asked, looking disappointed, "all of us?"
"Yeah," Lukas said softly, "I think you are."
"You didn't think you could keep it a secret forever, did you?" Ivor glared at his former friend, "the truth hurts, doesn't it?"
"But... Ivor, why?"
Jesse looked from her mentor to the architect, her brow creasing. "Is this why you left the Order?" she asked him, frowning, "because Soren lied?"
Ivor glared at Soren. "Because they all did! Soren, Gabriel, Magnus, Ellegaard... they all agreed to keep this a secret!" he let out an angry growl of anger.
Gabriel's brow furrowed. "How conniving of us," he said, softly.
"And you!" Soren accused, "you agreed to stay quiet, too! In exchange for all of our treasures!"
Olivia gasped, hands going to her mouth.
"I technically have never spoken a word," Ivor replied, "Jesse discovered the truth all on her own."
"So, this whole thing, the Wither you unleashed," Lukas spoke up, "that was just to teach the Order a lesson?!"
"To teach the whole world a lesson!" Ivor snapped back, whipping back around to face the blonde ocelot hybrid, "to show you who the Order really are! Liars. Cowards. And now, they all know."
"Yes, I suppose they do," Soren sighed.
Jesse shook her head firmly, crossing all eight of her arms. "Okay, look, it doesn't matter how this started- or who started it. We just have to finish it! We need to destroy that Command Block. Like, now."
Soren sighed again. "Jesse's right. Destroying the Command Block is the only thing that matters anymore."
A short silence, before Ivor went over to the book, shutting it and cutting off the glowing purple runes, "How ironic that the best thing that the Command Block gave us was the very means to destroy it. I've had this book for years. Never thought I'd actually have to use it. Come on, Jesse, I'll show you how to use it."
Jesse took the book in her hands, as Soren spoke up, softly, eyes fixed on the floor. "Ivor... I'm sorry. About everything."
Ivor looked at Soren for the longest time, his eyes softening. "I am sorry too. ... it doesn't matter now," he said, his voice uncommonly soft.
A/N: Wow. Just... wow. That got pretty intense, for some reason. It's not even an intense scene!
rebekahtpe: I'd punch Aiden, and then apologize because I'm way too nice xD And holy crap, Hybrid Con is getting crowded.
angelwings: Uhh, nope. No one that I can think of.
RapidSammi: Jesse's not a slapping-people person. Now, Petra is, and maybe Olivia, but not Jesse. xD
x.X. A.L. X.x.
