"S... Soren...?" Jesse asked slowly, eyes wide with shock, "aren't those... the Ender Crystals?" She turned slowly to face the architect, "the real ones?"

Soren was staring at the crystals as well, expression filled with near horror. "No... it can't be... not here. Not after all this time!"

Jesse looked at Soren, concern and desperation playing in her eyes. "Soren, what are the Ender Crystals doing in the Far Lands?" the spider hybrid asked slowly, as if trying to make sense of the whole muddled-up situation.

"Wait- but- how-?" Lukas was gasping, shaking his head almost nonstop in confusion to try to make things clearer. Olivia was shaking her head as well, before hollowly saying-

"This doesn't make any sense."

Em looked totally bewildered, and the gladiators looked as though they were suffering from some sort of extremely acute headache. The three Sky City citizens were gaping soundlessly at the screen. Nell was just looking from the screen to the actual Order, and Cassie was gaping open-mouthed at it. Hadrian and Mevia had both actually straightened up to watch, while Otto's eyes were wide. Harper was glancing from Ivor to the Order in such rapid succession that it was a wonder she wasn't dizzy by now. The YouTubers all had varying reactions, Sparklez looking comically shocked while Stampy's jaw was practically hitting the ground and Dan and Stacy were gawking at the screen. Lizzie just simply looked stunned.

"He kept them." It was almost as though Jesse hadn't asked her question, as Soren took a step closer to the violet crystals, still staring at them. "The fool actually kept them! He looked me in the eye and swore-" He whirled back around to Jesse, looking her dead in the eye, "he swore that he'd destroy them."

"But they were destroyed!" Jesse protested, even as a worried, strange expression came over her face. She stared at Soren, taking one step back, almost as though she weren't sure if the man in front of her was trustworthy anymore. "R... right? Soren, you said these crystals were the key to destroying the Ender Dragon..." She paused, eyes widening as a thought occurred to her. "You... you did kill the Ender Dragon..." A long pause as she stared at Soren and Soren stared back. "... right?"

The last word- barely at the volume of a whisper- hadn't even fully exited the girl's mouth as Soren looked from the spider hybrid to the crystals, panic written clear as day across his face. "Jesse- this- this isn't what it looks like! Our story- our story is mostly- mostly true, I swear it!"

"Mostly?!" Maya exclaimed, whipping around to the Order so fast that her neck nearly cracked. "Mostly?!"

"You guys lied-" Jace sputtered, looking perfectly stunned, "about something other than Ivor?!"

"Yes." Ivor turned his venomous glare from the screen to his former friends, eyes going even colder. "They did."

The Order all exchanged extremely, extremely guilty glances.

Onscreen, Jesse took another step back, a whirlwind of emotions flashing through her eyes and over her face. Anger, worry, sorrow, confusion, betrayal... before it finally settled onto something that looked like a mix of determination... and resignation. "... so what really happened then?" she asked, voice barely audible, "if you didn't destroy the Ender Crystals..."

Soren stuttered slightly. "I- I can't, we swore- we swore never to speak of it-"

"Soren."

Soren's protests faded away at the sight of the sad-eyed girl, standing there, waiting patiently as if she was demanding an explanation.

But in that time- the one they were watching so intently on the screen- she was also the girl whose friends who'd been almost abandoned after the battle. The girl who'd waited and waited and waited for days and weeks and years to see them again, even if she hadn't known she'd been waiting.

The girl who, frankly, out of any person in the whole world, deserved the honest truth from the Order.

"I'm afraid," Soren finally began, turning around and pressing his hands to the tops of the quartz stands, "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." He paused. Jesse waited.

"... 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 turned back to the Ender Crystals, squeezing his eyes shut. "I didn't even try."

"That- that doesn't even make sense!" Aiden spluttered, looking confused.

"Spit it out already!" Petra snapped at Soren.

"So what did you do to it?" Jesse asked with a confused shake of her head.

Soren whirled around, eyes narrowed in a glare and voice rising in volume. "I didn't do anything!" he nearly snapped at her, "we used the Command Block on it!"

Lukas's eyes widened. "You what?! You did what to it?!" he nearly shouted, making Jesse flinch from where he'd accidentally just shouted in her ear.

Onscreen, Jesse's eyes widened as well, arms dropping to her sides in shock. She stood there for a moment or two, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, before shaking her head rigorously for a moment and then exploding, "You used the Command Block to defeat the Ender Dragon?!"

Several members of the audience glanced at Real-Jesse's face to see a similar sort of surprise reflected there- most of them hadn't even been aware that Jesse could even raise her voice at someone in this way.

Soren's angry face melted into an ashamed one. Ashamed and guilty. "I'm afraid so."

He'd barely finished the statement when Jesse was talking again, so fast that she was nearly stumbling over her words. "How could you do this? We- even when we didn't remember you, we looked up to you. You guys were our heroes- you were like our role models and- you've been lying to everyone this whole time?!" Despite the hurt tone in her voice, it had dropped back to a whisper again.

"That's..." Olivia shook her head, turning to the Order.

"Did you even go on any of those adventures?" Maya snapped at the Order, voice icy cold.

"Of course we did!" Soren exclaimed, head snapping around to face the brunette, "you heard what I said about Magnus slipping in the Ice Spikes Biome, and- and about Ellegaard using a spare bucket to grab the Prismarine crystals! We didn't use it all of the time, just... most of the time."

"So..." Real-Jesse spoke up, looking more confused and shocked than anything else, "you... cheated?"

Ellegaard sighed and looked away. "... yeah. We did."

The people in the room who didn't know who the Order was were still shocked, but to the people who did know the Order it was as if their entire world had just been flipped upside down and spun six ways to Saturday.

After a moment, Jesse just shook her head. "How...?" She looked simply dumbstruck, as if she had no idea what to say. She'd only met them recently, but she'd trusted them... maybe even started looking up to them.

Gabriel let out a sigh and shook his head, gesturing at the screen. "I think Soren's about to explain."

"Understand," Soren said quietly, "when I found that blasted block, we were nobodies. But with its help, we became stronger. Faster." The screen went into a closeup on Soren's face. "We could do so much more." It moved away to show that they were back in the End. Just like the previous time, the Order dropped out of nowhere and ran forward, the dragon roaring furiously.

"But the more we used it... the more we came to depend on it." The dragon swooped down and slammed its tail right into Magnus, knocking the King of Boom Town onto his back and slamming right into Ellegaard, bowling them both over. Gabriel rushed over to help, but the dragon spewed fire at him and the warrior dove under the first blast of fire but got hit with the second. He crashed to the ground next to them, grabbing at his burned shoulder with a silent cry of pain. "I knew it was only so long before someone would find out."

Ivor tried to run forward as well, but an Enderman teleported into his way and slammed one of its long, black arms straight into Ivor, making the man flinch as it let out a silent death scream. It hit him again, this time hard enough to make his blue eyes glaze over and for the potionologist to crash to the ground next to Gabriel, looking as though he were in extreme pain.

The dragon swooped around one last time, over Soren's head, as the ginger architect pulled out the Command Block. Wheeling around, the dragon plunged at the four Order members, crouched on the ground. They cringed away-

Just as Soren charged forward, raising the Command Block high into the air. The dragon vanished in a huge puff of smoke, moments before the purple flames pouring from its mouth could kill the group. "So I concocted a plan." The Order slowly turned around to see their leader, Soren standing there with the Command Block in his hands, a sorry look on his face. "I would use the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence..."

The screen changed to show the Order standing in front of a cheering crowd. Gabriel was fist-pumping the air, Magnus was grinning, Ellegaard was smiling and waving, Ivor was slowly clapping his hands while glaring at Soren... and Soren was just standing there, the saddest, most distant look any of the audience members had ever seen fixed on his face. "Securing our status as legends..." The screen faded to Soren standing in front of Jesse, lit by the Ender Crystals, the same expression on his face. "Forever."

Jesse just stared at Soren wordlessly, a hurt sort of look still fixed on her face. But she didn't even look angry.

Just hurt.

"So you finally admit it."

Both of them turned to see Ivor, Lukas, Olivia, and Gabriel coming up behind them, Ivor's arms crossed angrily.

Olivia shook her head onscreen, eyes wide. "Soren... how could you?" she whispered, staring at the architect in shock.

Soren's eyes weren't on Olivia, though. They were fixed in a venomous glare on the man who'd started this whole mess. "Ivor."

"How long have you guys been standing there?" Jesse asked them, tilting her head slightly at them.

Lukas directed a hurt look at his mentor, making the ginger architect wince and shift a bit. "Long enough that we heard the whole thing."

Gabriel was frowning, looking almost... disappointed. "So we're liars?" he asked, slowly. "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 snapped, walking towards Soren, dark blue eyes narrowed in a glare right at him. "The truth hurts, doesn't it?"

Soren blinked once. "But Ivor... why?"

"Is this why you left the Order?" Jesse asked the black-haired man, frowning as she looked between Soren and Ivor. "Because Soren lied?"

"Because they all did!" Ivor near-snarled, making both onscreen-Jesse and real-Jesse flinch back a bit. "Soren, Gabriel, Magnus, Ellegaard- they all agreed to keep this a secret!"

Gabriel's brow furrowed. "How conniving of us," he said, although he mostly seemed to be talking to himself.

"And you!" Soren accused, walking forward so that he was standing in front of Ivor, "you agreed to stay quiet, too! In exchange for all our treasures!"

"Ahhh, there we go," Jace mumbled, snapping his fingers a bit, still looking faintly shocked, "that explains that bit."

Onscreen, Olivia gasped, looking from Soren to Ivor.

Ivor only shrugged a bit. "I technically have never spoken a word," he replied simply, "Jesse discovered the truth all on her own."

"So this whole thing," Lukas spoke up, tail twitching everywhere and ears flicking sharply, "the Wither you unleashed- that was just to teach the Order a lesson!?"

"A very poor one," Lukas muttered, so that only Jesse could hear him. She shot him a glance that made him abate.

"To teach the whole world a lesson!" Ivor snapped back at Lukas, "to show you who the Order really are! Liars. Cowards. And now," he turned to stare at Soren with a glare that could've burned a hole through iron, "they know."

Soren's glare turned into a sadder look. "Yes." He let out a long breath. "I suppose they do."

There was a long pause where Olivia, Lukas, and Gabriel were looking from Soren to Ivor back to Soren again as the two former friends practically stared each other down, Ivor near-glowering at Soren while Soren just looked at him.

Jesse broke it up, stepping between them and spreading her arms out. "Okay," she spoke up firmly, stepping between them, "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 let out yet another sigh. "Jesse's right. Destroying the Command Block is the only thing that really matters right now."

A short silence, before Ivor went over to the enchanting book and shut it, cutting off the flow of strange words and characters flitting off the pages of the book, before lifting it off the quartz pedestal. "How ironic that the best thing the Command Block gave us was the very means to destroy it," he mused quietly, the faint glow of the book making his dark blue eyes gleam strangely. "I've had this book for years. Never thought I'd actually have to use it."

"I guess that also explains why you'd keep it way out in the middle of nowhere," Olivia said musingly. "Not just to keep people from stealing it or whatever, but... also just because you didn't really think you needed it."

Ivor shrugged noncommittally when several members of the audience glanced at him.

"C'mon, Jesse," he looked over at the spider hybrid, "I'll show you how to use it."

"It's not that complicated, don't worry, Jesse," Petra said to Jesse reassuringly, reaching over Jace to clap her on the back. This time, Lukas did notice the slight tightening of the muscles in Jesse's face as she barely managed to keep from flinching or visibly wincing. It had been too subtle for him to spot before that. Now he was definitely starting to wonder...

Onscreen, Jesse carefully took the book that he was holding out to her, holding it gingerly, as if it were almost some sort of nuclear bomb that would explode with the first violent movement.

"Ivor," Soren spoke up in a soft voice, eyes fixated on the floor, "I'm... sorry. About everything."

"Yes," Soren said softly, turning to look at Ivor. "I... I really am sorry."

Ivor stared at Soren for a moment, before looking back at the screen, murmuring something that nobody could quite catch. Harper wasn't sure, but she was fairly certain that he'd just said, I'm sorry too.

Onscreen, Ivor just looked at Soren for the longest time, before his eyes softened a bit. "I'm sorry too... but I suppose it doesn't really matter now," the man finally spoke, sounding uncharacteristically gentle for once.

The screen faded to black.


A/N: Holy wow, this got intense to write. I'm getting so darn excited, seriously. I'm getting all tingly inside :3

RQTC: Have you voted on that poll yet (the one I listed in a previous chapter and the one on my profile)? C'mon, I need votes... it's gonna be a while until I get to it but until then I still need votes to see what people want (pleading eyes)

Kaos Ruin: (laughs)

pensuka: Haha, yeah, pretty much.

LunarStarsMoons: (grins) / Uhh, c-calm down 0-0 / Hehehe

Emily The Avenger: Yeah, I thought it sounded way cooler. :3 / (shrugs) I don't know what I would do either. xD

AquaK13: (laughs) Yeah, don't worry- Jesse's probably gonna be found out pretty soon.

RebekahTPE: I am both supremely excited... and also have a knot the size of Kentucky in my stomach. xD / Noo, he'd be more excited about finding evidence of the Old Builders tbh xD

the indecisive bird: (laughs) Well, glad to see ya like how it's goin' so far :3

J.M.M.: Sure, what kind of description?

sailor . mikuchan: (laughs)

Mewgirl Anna: Yeah, but I didn't want to attract too much attention to it, since it's not the most important part of the story (although it is a significant part of it, yes.) And thank you! That's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if I'll actually do it. It's funny, I update super fast because I just really WANT to update, not because people pressure me xD

Darkbeast Dend: Lego. I don't really care much about Transformers, no offense (sweatdrop)

NinaNaranja: Consider it expected xD / Oh don't worry, that happened to me to xD / Thanks, and here you go! (tosses update to you)

SofiatheWriter88: Yep :3 / Haha, yeah. Giving cliffhangers is awesome. Receiving them... eh. / Thank you! I'm glad to see so many people like my stories, even though I'm still learning how to write stories like this and I'm not extremely good at it yet.

RapidSammi: (laughs) Yep. / (pats you on the back, grinning) Good to have ya back, Sammi-kun.

x.X. A.L. X.x