Okay, so I have to confess something. While the beginning of this chapter is pretty fine, normal in comparison to most, near the end, things start to derail a little. It shouldn't be too bad, but because I was starting to lose the motivation to work today, I struggled to come up with ideas. So if the ending is a bit too silly, I'm sorry but that's why. Without further ado, onto the chapter.

The overall status of our group hadn't improved very much.

Sure, we saved the Petras, but we also lost Harper. As if that wasn't bad enough, Zenna and I both now had one less working arm to use. Her right shoulder had been cut really badly, though she seemed to be left-handed anyway, so it wouldn't have affected her fighting very much.

Speaking of my arm, I couldn't move it. At all. It was definitely broken, though not completely. Still hurt like heck, though. I could only be glad it wasn't my right arm, otherwise it'd be over for me.

While I was starting to zone out, Petra started to talk about the three redstone towers inside PAMA's core, but neither of them could really figure anything else out about them yet.

Of course, the Jesses still had to find Harper's headset, so we started heading towards her hideout.

"We just have to find whatever it is before PAMA chips Harper… and starts downloading her mind." How far did we have to run from Crown Mesa and how long would it honestly take for PAMA to bring Harper back? Because in truth, by the time we finally find her again, she should've already been chipped.

"What's so important about this Harper person?" The other Petra asked, not having heard the entire conversation they had earlier.

"Harper was the one who saved us from getting chipped back there." The other Jesse answered. Oddly, he didn't mention anything about her being an Old Builder, even though that was arguably more important. "Rescuing her is the least we can do to say thanks."

"That's a pretty good reason to rescue somebody."

"We're going to work with her to shut PAMA down, save her people… And that will hopefully free both Lukases too…"

Then, Jesse finally turned around to see what Harper's lab looked like. And proceeded to say nothing about it other than an astonished "Whoa…"

He was more interested in figuring out what he was supposed to do with the poppy Harper had given him. The only clue we had to go on was that he was supposed to give it to someone named 'Harry', and that would help us find the headset.

"Jesse, are you sure Harper hasn't, y'know, completely lost it?" I mean, she has been alone for a while, so it wouldn't surprise me if she had… lost her way a little.

"It does look like she's… lost her way a bit." Well, what do you know, Jesse can read minds apparently.

"And found it again… leading right to Crazy Town."

So she and Soren may have gotten along then, if they were to ever meet.

What is it with you and your hatred of Soren?

It's not that I hate him.

Then what is it?

I ignored her, not having an answer, really.

"Watch your tone - she is a genius and should be treated as such!" Oh Ivor, you make it too easy for me to make fun of you.

"So, you could say-" Before I could get another word out, Ivor turned to me with a glare so heated it could melt packed ice. I wisely decided to shut my mouth before he could think about breaking my other arm.

Well, I've successfully annoyed two teammates in this episode.

Are you going for three?

Absolutely not. I'm not trying to find out whether angering a tall person or angering a short person is more dangerous.

…Jesse's taller than you.

Shut up.

"She may have built this place a little weird, but I guess we shouldn't judge her too harshly."

"Especially when we need her help to save everyone who's been chipped by PAMA."

"Good point."

So we finally had a chance to just sit down for a few moments. We'd get another one that would hopefully last longer next episode, but this would have to do. Everyone else looked completely exhausted, running on energy they didn't have. But we had a job to do, there wasn't much time to rest.

Since Lukas wasn't there to talk with until the story progressed, I'd either have to help Jesse with the puzzle or find someone else to talk to. I saw Zenna talking to her Jesse, so I went with Petra.

"So, random question, Petra."

"Hm?" She saw the smirk on my face and immediately became suspicious. "What did you do this time?"

"What? Nothing, why did you-" I started laughing a little and desperately tried to hide it, to no avail.

"Who'd you annoy?"

"Ivor. Both of them." I said simply. "But that's not what I was going to ask you."

"Okay, then what was it?"

"Is it more dangerous to annoy a tall person or a short person?" Despite what I said earlier, I now had a genuine curiosity that demanded to know the answer.

There was a moment of silence, before Petra herself had a grin on her face.

"Well, for you anyway, it wouldn't be hard finding someone taller. But let me know if you find someone you don't have to look up to see."

I knew full well that the voice in my head was laughing at me now, she made no effort to hide it.

"I- Are you implying that it would be hard to find someone shorter than me?" I put my hand on my chest in a gesture of mock-offense.

Now it was Petra's turn to laugh. "Well, I didn't think anyone could be shorter than Jesse, and then you came along, so I'm not saying it's impossible."

"How dare you."

It was at that moment that Jesse decided to interrupt our banter. Or, considering what he said, maybe not.

"What's this about Midnight being short?"

I would've crossed my arms, but considering that doing so would result in pain that I would not be able to process, I decided not to.

"You're barely taller than me."

"Doesn't mean anything."

"See? Even Jesse agrees."

The laughing in my head grew louder with each passing second.

"What did I ever do to you guys?" My question was immediately answered.

"'I dunno Petra, maybe you've just lost a step?'" Petra repeated my exact words from earlier in a mocking tone. "Remember that?"

You really should've seen that one coming.

I closed my mouth, not having a response.

Jesse decided to get going and find the headset while Petra and I continued talking ("I am not that short!").

He did eventually, and the headset was revealed. So, like anyone who found a random headset and had no idea what it was or what it did, he put it on immediately. We all gathered around the area, staying off the glass with lights underneath just in case.

To summarize, this part was really boring without being able to see through Jesse's eyes.

He found out he was controlling one of the chipped mobs, went to try and save Harper and Lukas (both of them), failed because PAMA caught on to him, got excited about technology while looking absolutely ridiculous ("Technology is so awesome!" "And you look even more awesome while using it, really."), Harper showed him PAMA's core, got dragged away again, and then the chipped townspeople forcefully ripped the headset off and almost electrocuted Jesse in the process. You know how this goes.

He threw the smoking headset on the ground moments before it poofed into dust.

"It sounded like you were talking to Harper. And PAMA…?"

"Yeah. PAMA caught up to me. Not good. We need to get back to that door I just saw, and get inside PAMA's core."

For once, on the subject of Harper, I was taking things seriously. "What happened to Harper?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"I think… I think she's already been chipped. But we can still end PAMA."

"Without Harper?" The other Petra asked.

"Remember who we are - The Order of the Stone!" Guess we're getting another inspirational speech today. "We defeated a witherstorm," You did. "Saved Sky City," I did. "And survived Psycho Pumpkin Mansion." Okay, that one I'll let slide.

No one really had a chance to respond, because he kept talking. "Harper showed me the entrance to PAMA's core… And told me that we need something called 'The Redstone Heart'."

"Redstone Heart?"

Conveniently, Petra (both of them) suddenly remembered why the three towers were important. They were definitely connected to the Heart, and thus, we (And by we I mean the leaders) needed to destroy them.

"But how are we supposed to destroy these spires, or whatever we're looking for?" The other Ivor asked.

Jesse (both of them), being the only ones to remember the weakness to water, pointed it out.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Ivor… But PAMA's stuff tends to not react well to water."

Three convenient water buckets later, we got pretty much the best line of the episode.

"Let's go wreck the heck out of PAMA!"

It was a good thing Jesse decided to build a new staircase instead of a tower. It made it a lot easier to sneak back into Crown Mesa.

Of course, it did not help the fact that the entrance to the core was on the other side of several hordes of mobs.

Which meant it was time for another round of 'Empty your pockets and see if you have anything useful to the plot'. Of course, as usual, I did not. But collectively, the things needed were a button, some redstone, and TNT. As well as a potion, two left over from Sky City.

Wait, shouldn't there be three? Those potions belong to my Ivor, don't they?

Of all the plot holes in this episode, that's the one you decide to point out?

Well, this is something that I changed directly, there should be three potions because Jesse never used one to get past Maya and Gill two episodes ago!

Just go with it.

Fine. But I'm going to continue to complain about it.

This time though, the plan actually changed a little. There was a swiftness potion and a leaping potion left, even though there should've been an invisibility one too. The leaders decided to take one each and both take the TNT to blow things up. How exactly they expected that to work was beyond me, but I wasn't about to say anything about it.

Once the explosions had stopped, the rest of us hurried over to the core.

Though, obviously, PAMA heard them as well.

"My friends have almost finished building our new Exit Portal and then I will make all other worlds useful. Yay."

"How's that for clearing a path, huh?" Pretty much everyone had identical grins on their faces.

"Very nice, Jesse. Uh, 'low key.'" And thus, my grin immediately fell.

I know he did not just say that.

"Let's just collectively agree not to teach either of the Ivors any slang terms…" I wasn't even sure if anyone had heard me, really. But seriously, the 'low key' was painful enough.

"Hey, Jesse, nice work." Petra almost interrupted.

"The townspeople are already building the Exit Portal, we've got to shut PAMA down before it can send its chipped forces through it!"

Finally, someone, Zenna, decided to point out a huge plot hole with that. "But they can't activate the portal without the flint and steel, right?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Both of us collectively had let plenty of things slide for the sake of the story, perfectly shown by the obviously dangerous Fire World portal at the beginning of the episode, but this was something that was never addressed whatsoever.

Of course, whenever we do decide to point things out, no one ever pays us any attention, and this time was no different.

Though, one could make the argument that you're still on a time limit because if either of the Jesses get captured, then PAMA can get a flint and steel that way.

Well, yeah, but there are a lot of ways that issue can be solved too. It's not like the Jesses are the only ones here.

The game tends to act like they are.

Exactly.

The staple of the series, being trapped with a ton of mobs, returned once again, except this time they were an actual threat because of the chips.

The leaders were about to go in right as Petra and Ivor tossed their buckets over. Which meant anyone that wasn't named Jesse was fighting monsters.

Well, I may only have one arm I can use, but I guess I better consider myself lucky that it's my right.

"Now go finish this, and save Lukas- both of them!"

Time skip brought to you by the power of being lazy. (Hey, at least I'm honest)

Everyone knows how that part goes anyway, so there wasn't much point in sharing it again.

Anyways, once PAMA was deactivated and all the chips fell off everything, we all ran inside the core to congratulate two of the only people who actually do anything important in this game.

Although, I do have to give them credit for being able to climb back up from where they had fallen while carrying our unconscious blond friends on their backs.

"You did it Jesse!"

"It's over!" Oh yeah, and Harper was also rescued.

However, everyone stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the scene.

"Oh, no… Lukas… is he…?"

Don't you dare.

What? You know he's going to be fine.

Multiple things have already changed so far, so…

…Don't tempt it.

"Lukas you better not be giving up on me right now, because you are way too tough for some computer to take you down."

I think the game's starting to get confused on what's going on, because all this dialogue is acting like there's only one Lukas here.

That or someone's being lazy.

Or that.

"Please."

"Wow. Never knew you cared so much." Well that's a relief. They're still alive.

Yeah, because killing Lukas off would actually change the course of the story to tailor to players' actions. And we can't have that.

I know this is a Telltale game, but some choices matter at least…

"They're okay!"

Not like I doubted it, but it was good to see that this outcome hadn't changed much.

Of course, being the absolute idiots they were, they both tried to apologize for things they had no control over. They were reassured about their importance to the team.

And then the other Jesse pulled out the Redstone Heart.

"It's something else, isn't it?" I wish Harper would've said something about why Hadrian would want the Heart so badly, but I wasn't going to ask just yet.

"What is that?" As though it weren't obvious what it was, Petra.

"This… this is the Redstone Heart."

"Beautiful."

"And dangerous, too, right?"

"I feel like you should ask Harper that question." Everyone directed their attention to her, awaiting her answer.

"Actually, the Heart is just a power source. Nothing inherently evil about it. Now that the Redstone Heart isn't powering PAMA, it can't hurt anyone." Except people would still end up hurt because of it.

"Wonder what we should do with it." Jesse pondered.

"It can help you find your way home."

That got everyone excited again. We all missed home more than I thought we would, and it was about time to get back to our own worlds. Naturally, though, there was another major obstacle we'd have to get through before then.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Good question, actually.

"Heh… if we actually made it through this alive, I thought you'd like a nice surprise."

"I'm ready to leave this core behind." Zenna's Jesse pocketed the Heart again.

Well, we still had to say goodbye to everyone before we left, though I was definitely ready to. So we set off, away from the core for good.

"So, how's your arm?" I was caught off guard by Lukas' question, though I really should've expected it. If there were any other circumstances behind it, I would've gladly ran up to him and hugged him when he woke up, but…

"I'll live."

"Listen, I don't know what happened there and I am so sorry-"

"Lukas, it's fine-"

But he kept talking, insisting on an apology, despite my interruptions. Finally, I lowered my voice such that no one but him and I could hear. Or, at least, I hoped no one else could hear.

"Lukas, do you remember the last time you kept running your mouth when I told you to be quiet? Because I do." It sounded much more threatening than I intended, but it got the point across nonetheless.

Lukas smiled. "You wouldn't do it again in front of everyone, would you?" He asked jokingly.

"Keep talking and you'll find out."

"I might be tempted to, actually."

I was just glad the core had a slight red glow to it.

The sun was just beginning to rise on the town when we exited, which made me wonder just how long we were here.

"We did it."

A zombie died from exposure to the sun a while ago, a sight I was not expecting to be happy about twice in a row.

"Ah… to be in total control of my own brain again! I choose where to go, I choose what to say-"

"Although, maybe that's not always the best thing." Now that there was a break between serious moments, I felt it was the right time to say that.

"Hey, Lukas, you should've heard what we were talking about back in Harper's lab-" Petra started, knowing full well what she was getting into.

"Here's an idea, how about we don't talk about that?"

"Uh, what?" Lukas had no idea what was going on, only that something happened that I was not about to let him know about.

"It's nothing."

"If it was really nothing, you'd tell him about it." The other Jesse butted in.

"Not you, too!"

"Just remember," Harper interrupted our banter, being kind enough to at least let us finish talking apparently. "You were only chipped for a little while. The rest of the townspeople, though-"

Everyone else that had been under PAMA's control were celebrating their newfound freedom, running around, dancing, and the like.

"Yeah, it must be a strange feeling, to suddenly be awake and aware after such a long time under PAMA's thrall."

Because everyone they knew except Harper had been chipped, they immediately knew who their saviors were when they saw us.

"It's you! You're the one who saved us!" Harry approached. "Who are you?"

"Well, I'm Jesse," Good thing they both didn't introduce themselves, "And we're the Order of the Stone. Boom!" We all struck a pose, though I realized too late that I looked ridiculous because I didn't technically have fingers to make a sign like I wanted to.

"We walk the worlds, seeking adventure and doing good deeds."

"Wow! Well, thank you. We owe you everything."

"You're right! Jesse and the Order really are heroes. We couldn't have done any of this without them." Harper decided to face the crowd, and was immediately met with disdain.

"Harper? Is that… you?"

"Um… yes. Hi Harry." Though she seemed to want to be anywhere but in front of the scornful eyes of the citizens.

"You didn't do this to us, did you?" When Harper didn't answer, they gathered their own conclusion from her expression.

"You did…"

"You don't understand, Harper helped defeat PAMA too." Jesse cut in before anything could get too heated. "We couldn't have done it without her."

"So, what? We're just supposed to forgive her now?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Harper stripped this place bare! How are we supposed to rebuild?"

"Well, whatever you decide to do, Harper will make things right and help you clean it all up."

"I… I will?" Harper, he's trying to help you out there.

"Yeah, she will?"

"Yeah. Right Harper?" She finally got the hint and spoke up again.

"Yes. Yes I will. After I help these travelers find their way home, I'll come back, help you all find new resources, and we'll make this world great again." That seemed to get them back on her side, at least for the time being.

"Well, I think that's our cue to set out for home. Again." I had to wonder how many times he'd said it, and how it wasn't even true yet. We'd get home eventually.

"Thank you for being so understanding, Jesse. I just hope these people can do the same when I come back again." Well, as long as you stick to your promise, I don't see why they wouldn't be.

"You helped free them. I'm sure they'll come around."

"I hope so."

The good part about the portal already being built was that we didn't have to spend time finishing it, all Jesse had to do was pull out his flint and steel and light it.

Finally, it was time to return to the Portal Hallway.

Once everyone was back, it was time to find the entrance to the Old Builders' realm.

"Is it weird that I'm happy to see this place again?" You'll say the same after the next episode, so no.

"This hallway is still pretty creepy, but I'm just glad we're going home."

"I know, right? I've been loving adventuring and learning things… but it would be nice to do it in our own worlds for a while." I found it interesting how he said 'worlds' rather than 'world', until I remembered there were two different worlds our combined group had to get back to.

"Now when we built this place, we also made something that sorta acts like a compass/map/navigator… We called it 'The Atlas'. It helps chart routes between the worlds." Harper explained.

"And… you have this Atlas, right?" Petra, you know full well it's not going to be that simple.

"Uhh… no. No I don't. But! But I know who does!"

Annoyed at the fact that we still didn't have the full story, the other Jesse spoke up, "You're not keeping secrets from us again, are you Harper?"

"No, no, no, I promise. I just didn't think to mention it before. Don't you worry! We'll just go right in, ask for the Atlas, and then you'll be home. No muss, no fuss… easy." Uh, no, and you know that, Harper.

"Funny. Whenever someone says that, my instincts start screaming 'danger'."

"In order to find the Atlas… we need to track down the rest of the 'Old Builders'." There was a small pause, before, "Still don't like that name."

"How do we find them? Which portal do we go through?"

We found and stopped at the secret entrance. "Oh, you don't have to go through another portal. What you're looking for has been right here the whole time."

Harper broke a block, revealing some redstone behind it. All it needed was something to activate it.

Which was the Heart, but it took them a second to figure that out. Maybe they really did need some rest.

The Heart was placed in the recess, activating the redstone. The portal to the right slid down, revealing a very, very long staircase, reminiscent of Soren's staircase in the End.

"The answers you're seeking… the Old Builder's Atlas… your way home… They're all right up those stairs."

As we looked up to where they lead, Ivor said a single word.

"...Adventure?"

Episode Seven Complete.

Midnight: When you said, 'things get derailed at the end', I didn't think that's what you meant.

Yeah, well, at least it's over.

Midnight: You know you could've just worked on this another day, right?

If I tried, I don't think it would've worked out anyway. Oh, well...

Midnight: So you've been talking all about how excited you've been for episode 8, now you finally get to share your idea.

As soon as I figure out if my ideas will even work.

Midnight: Well, whatever you decide to do, just make sure Zenna and I don't get completely blindsided, please.

...

Midnight: Legend?

Well, hope you guys enjoyed this mess and I'll see you all next time!

Midnight: Are you kidding me?!