Uh oh...

Midnight: What?

I'm falling behind again. A New World has already got to episode six and I haven't even started episode five.

Midnight: Well hurry up and start then! We need to figure this out!

Got it!

Episode 5: Order Up

I still don't know why I forgot so much…

Bits and pieces of the past pop up occasionally, but the question still remains.

How did I forget?

My family, those I was closest with, and I forgot them all. When I hear their names in my flashbacks, they all sound distorted and jumbled, like how I'd imagine corrupted data. When their faces appear, all I see are shadows and blurs, making them unrecognizable.

A few features are clear enough, but nothing definitive. Red hair. Dark eyes I can't quite make out the true color of. Pale skin.

But would they remember me, if I ever saw them again?

After all, I haven't seen any of them in nearly a decade.

Somehow, a lot of the house I built in episode one still stood, even after the wither storm's destruction. Don't get me wrong, it was mostly destroyed, but still recognizable.

Using what was left, I managed to rebuild it, not quite the same, but better than before.

To be fair, I knew full well I wouldn't be seeing much of the house in the coming weeks (months?) due to suddenly being thrown into the portal adventure, but I also didn't want the sorry excuse for a building to just be sitting there, untouched.

I was just about to leave for the Order Hall when I found someone I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Dipper!" I cheered, relieved to have found my friend. He disappeared sometime between episodes three and four, and I haven't seen him since. Unfortunately, I'd have to say goodbye again just as quickly. I had no intention of bringing him with us, not wanting him to get hurt.

The problem was finding someone to watch him.

My first thought was Axel and Olivia, until I remembered that Hadrian and Mevia kidnapped them in episode eight. I didn't really have another choice though.

I just had to hope Dipper would be safe.

I actually managed to get to the Hall before Jesse and Petra, but definitely not Lukas.

He didn't notice me walk in, being too absorbed in staring at the treasures the New Order had gained.

So, like the good friend I am, I waited ever so patiently for him to turn around and notice me standing there.

Just kidding, I snuck up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

His reaction (jumping about a foot into the air and then pretending it was on purpose) was entirely worth being an awful friend.

Was it really?

Yes. Yes it was.

We talked for a bit about nothing in particular really, mainly just passing the time absentmindedly chatting, before Jesse and Petra had to cut it short by walking in.

"Lukas! Midnight! I don't believe it!" Petra yelled. Lukas and I quickly turned around.

"Welcome back, guys." I said with a huge smile. I really meant it, as much as they annoyed me by cutting us off.

"Good to see you guys came back." I knew both of us had been gone for a long time, long enough that Lukas hardly knew what to say.

"Yeah, thought I'd show my face again."

"And I was getting bored just wandering aimlessly." I added.

"Well it's great to see it! Your face I mean!" I had to hold back my laughter. Something about the way Petra said that was just hilarious, though she could still tell I was hiding a smirk.

While I wasn't there for Jesse's and Lukas' confrontations with Aiden, I neglected to mention that I had my own encounter with him a while back.

"Well, look who it is!"

I looked back, immediately recognizing the voice and wondering if anyone else was there too.

Sure enough, Aiden was standing right behind me, with a malicious grin on his face. Maya and Gill were nowhere to be found.

"Aiden. Long time no see." I greeted him as casually as I could, knowing full well he didn't have anything good to say.

"I'd have thought you were with the rest of those losers, but I guess they ditched you too, huh?" I had to roll my eyes at just how idiotic that assumption was.

"Oh no, the person standing all by himself is making fun of someone else for being all by herself, whatever shall I do?" His glare intensified, clearly, he wasn't a fan of my joke.

To be honest, I already knew most of what he was going to say, but I let him have his moment anyway. To sum it up, he basically whined about how I got to be in the New Order with Lukas (Who he mockingly called my boyfriend, the one time I interrupted him to say that was not how I saw Lukas) while he was shoved to the sidelines.

"I haven't seen you in weeks, possibly longer, and this is how you act now? Were Lukas and I really that important to keeping your anger in check?" He seemed surprised for a moment, as though he didn't expect me to respond with yet another sarcastic remark, but then the glare was back.

"Whatever. Just watch it; One day you'll regret saying that." One day very, very soon… and I would.

I kept quiet while Lukas explained his meeting with Aiden.

"Aiden's a stupid bully. He doesn't scare me." Was Jesse's response to what Lukas said. And he seemed so confident, too, way more than either of us felt.

"Yeah, that's what I used to say too… But he's been freaking me out. He got super aggressive, demanding to know what treasure you were after next."

"What'd you even find that got Aiden so worked up, anyway?" I quickly changed the subject somewhat.

Jesse pulled out the enchanted flint and steel, a soft cyan glow emitting from it. Of course, Lukas was dumbfounded by it.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to show it to-"

With absolutely zero warning, Ivor suddenly appeared right beside all of us, shouting, "YOU FOUND IT!" At the top of his lungs. Naturally, everyone jumped back with a yell. Immediately following that, Jesse, sounding like he nearly had a heart attack, said…

"Dude! What's wrong with you?!" Ivor proceeded to completely ignore that question, instead hyperfocusing on the flint and steel.

"This… is the greatest find of our time!" He said, with glee evident in his voice.

"Alright… what's this thing do?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"It proves what I've always suspected! That glow… that enchantment is the work of a very old group of builders, a group so old that they existed even before the Order of the Stone!" But besides Ivor and Soren, the Order isn't really that old. Every member is still alive, in part thanks to me, so they can't have been that old anyway.

"So that temple we went to was built by these… old builders?" And that was the very first instance of that name.

"That's my suspicion! But it's what's inside the temple that interests me even more! You see, if these builders truly existed, and if you found their temple… That means we're one step closer to finding 'The Eversource'!" I wondered if Sky City was truly as magnificent as the game made it to be, so there was one thing I was excited for.

"Looks like you guys came back just in time."

"The Ever-what now?"

"The Eversource!" Ivor repeated, much more forcefully.

"Mind explaining any more about that?" I asked.

"The Eversource is said to be an object of incredible power possessed by the old builders." Twice. "It was some sort of treasure, or artifact, that gave them an endless supply of precious materials! Think about it, Jesse! That temple must have been its hiding place!"

While Petra and Lukas seemed somewhat excited about the new adventure, Jesse had a complaint. "Wait. Like, the temple we just got back from? We have to go back there?" I rolled my eyes, I seemed to have been doing that a lot more often.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Jesse. It's daylight outside and it's just walking." He seemed to be fighting the urge to argue, and was winning, thankfully.

"Old Builders," Three times. "'Eversources', ancient mysterious… You know I'm in." However, Petra's attitude would soon die out, as Ivor immediately responded with…

"Excellent! I'll pack my adventuring things immediately!" And ran off before anyone could say anything about it.

"Wow, sounds like you guys have a lot to get to. I guess I'll take off?" Lukas tried to get out of the conversation, only to be stopped by Petra and I.

"Nope, you're coming with us. Petra needs a buffer between her and Ivor and I feel like we need a blondie in this group." I said with a smile. Given that Lukas didn't try to fight it, I'd say I won.

"Let's get moving!"

All four of us took off running after Ivor.

Okay, first part's done.

Midnight: And we haven't even got to the good part.

Hush, I'm going to get this done. We need to start figuring out this crossover.

Midnight: And you didn't think to do this before A New World got to episode six?

When do I ever think ahead that much?

Midnight: Fair enough.

First, we need to start with what episode(s).

Midnight: Well, since we're in the Portal Arc, it would make sense if the portal that goes to the Twin Moons world takes both stories to the same place.

True. And after they get out, they would all be brought to the same Portal Network.

Midnight: Yep. There's the how and kind of the why.

But what about episode eight's ending?

Midnight: Uh...

We'll have to figure that one out later, we've run out of time for this part.

Midnight: Right, wouldn't want the A/N to be super long.

With that out of the way, see you next time!

-LegendEmpress