Maya's big smile immediately fell, an anxious look coming over her face. She glanced at Gill, whose smile had also fallen into a frown, the two of them exchanging a glance before looking in Aiden's direction. The celery-green-eyed boy leaned onto the arm of the couch a bit, his expression so blank that it was unreadable.

Onscreen, Aiden hopped down from the ledge he'd been sitting on, the screen panning up to show his face. A nasty smile curled over his face. "Looks a little, ah, sophisticated for you, Jesse," he continued.

"Order of the Losers," Maya sneered, coming up from behind them.

"Yeah, losers," Gill added, grinning at them cruelly as the two of them came up behind Aiden.

Maya's expression turned into an ashamed one as she winced and looked at the group sitting on the floor. "I am so sorry..." Gill didn't say anything, but his facial expression made it abundantly clear that he felt the same way.

"It's alright, guys," Jesse said immediately, giving the two of them a reassuring smile.

"We're not friends in this version of events," Jace finished, the two of them raising their hands and fist-bumping one another without even looking at each other.

Reassured, Maya and Gill relaxed a bit, although Maya still looked a bit worried. "But why are we being such jerks after helping you guys out last episode...?" she mumbled, looking a bit unsettled.

Onscreen, Jesse simply let out a very long sigh. "Are... you here to make trouble? Because... it's past midnight, you're all wearing armor, and you're here in the middle of nowhere and insulting us. I'm honestly not bugged by that, but I would... really like some sleep after my adrenaline rush wears off. Can you please make this quick?"

"You're being very polite," Olivia noted.

Jesse shook her head wryly. "I'm sure I'm just trying to defuse the situation. I bet you guys all twelve iron that it's not going to work, though."

"No one's taking that bet, Jesse."

"Oh, I see," Aiden sneered, "the 'Hybrid Order of the Stone' is so special they can't talk to anybody anymore."

"What are you Ocelots doing here anyway?" Olivia asked, crossing her arms over her chest and saying the name of the group in a mocking tone, avoiding direct eye contact with any of them.

Lukas frowned. "I like Ocelots."

Aiden chuckled. "The Ocelots were Lukas's gang. We ditched that name just like we ditched him."

Lukas's eyes widened, hurt coming over his face as he stared at the screen. Maya's hand flew to her mouth as she glanced at Lukas, tears springing into her eyes. Gill glanced over at Aiden fast enough to see Aiden flinching, a strange expression that nobody could read coming over his face- a mix of regret, sadness, and... maybe shock coming onto his face.

"You guys kick me out."

The sentence that came out of Lukas's mouth was so quiet that almost nobody heard it, and he felt as if someone had just kicked him in the chest. Sure, he and Aiden hadn't exactly been getting along great here, but in this version of events, they hadn't even seen the episodes.

And yet he'd still gotten kicked out.

Jesse looked at him and put her arms around him, giving a tight squeeze. He returned it, still staring at the screen blankly, until Jesse spoke up. "Well, we're not planning on leaving you alone," and she extracted one arm to gesture expansively at Petra and the others, Reuben giving Lukas a grin.

Lukas tore his eyes from the screen to glance at Jesse, who was giving him a hopeful smile. "I'm not planning on leaving you alone," she said, her voice dropping into a lower volume.

Slowly, the blonde managed a small smile.

Onscreen, Jesse's eyes widened, before they narrowed. Her eyes were beginning to glow red in anger.

Jesse knew how her onscreen-counterpart felt.

Maybe she'd had a falling out with Lukas.

But he was still her friend, and there was no way in hell that Jesse was just going to let a flippant comment like that pass without saying something- anything.

"Yeah, we rebranded!" Maya turned around to reveal two Blaze Rods on her jacket (onscreen, Petra scowled a bit), "We're the Blaze Rods now!"

Gill frowned. "I liked Ocelots better."

Onscreen, Gill threw his arms into the air. "Blaze Rods!" he cheered.

Aiden glared at Gill. "Shut up, Gill," he snapped, the bearded man giving Aiden a sheepish look.

Jesse crossed all of her arms, shuddering slightly as all of them did so. "Oh, that's too bad. I thought Ocelots was way cooler," she replied, giving a nonchalant shrug.

"That's what I said!" Gill said, waving his arms a bit as he grinned at Jesse.

Aiden glared at Gill again. "Shut up, Gill!"

Turning back to Jesse, he gave her a sarcastic, almost cruel grin. "Where's Lukas, huh?" he asked, stalking towards Lukas and walking past her a bit, "the minute the Order decided you were cool-"

"For whatever reason-" Maya interjected.

"- he wouldn't stop sniffing around you like a tamed dog. Ironic, since he's an ocelot hybrid," and Aiden sneered at Jesse.

Several people glanced in Aiden's direction.

"I am going to shove my pickaxe up his-" Lukas cut Petra off, laying a calming hand on her wrist.

"Petra, stop. He's not worth it."

"Maybe he isn't," Jace spoke up, as Petra settled back into position reluctantly.

Jesse finished the sentence for him automatically. "But you certainly are." And this was accompanied with a smile.

Lukas blinked at Jesse, before letting out a soft sound and burying his head in her back, making her go "Oh" softly in surprise.

Onscreen, Petra growled a bit, Blaze Rods beginning to form around her. "You take that back!" she snapped.

A barely concealed look of disgust finally made its way over Jesse's face, having reached her last tether, eyes beginning to glow red. "Lukas wanted to leave us to risk his neck and save you guys- for whatever reason," she mimicked Maya angrily, "and this is how you talk about him?!"

There was a moment of silence, before Aiden waved at her arms, the lower ones still keeping ahold of the flint and steel. "You probably think that flint and steel and your 'being a hybrid' and all that makes you so special."

"No, not really."

The flippant comment made several people grin behind their hands, Lukas hiding a smile as he emerged from where he'd been hiding in Jesse's back for the past few minutes.

"Classic Jesse," Aiden sneered.

"Classic- how is that even close to Classic Jesse?!" Petra muttered angrily, making some very sharp gestures. It was pretty clear that she would've rather made a rather obscene gesture, preferably in Aiden's direction.

Onscreen, Aiden stamped his foot, an angry look coming over his face. "You take all the best stuff and never give anyone else a chance. That should've been ours!"

"Does that seem like a very... petty reason to you guys?" Olivia asked quietly, mostly to the group on the floor.

Lukas squinted at the screen a bit, before nodding. "Yeah, Aiden's- he's not that petty. Or that materialistic."

"Maybe he's unhinged or something?"

Everyone glanced at Jesse- well, everyone sitting on the floor, at any rate.

The black-haired girl shrugged a bit. "I mean, think about it. Being stuck in the Witherstorm and getting amnesia, and then watching the people he bullied get to be heroes... I'm not sure anyone's mental state would be okay after that. That combined with his usual... uh, personality," she gestured a bit at real-Aiden, making several of them grin slightly, "might explain why he's acting this way."

Axel reached out to clap Jesse on the back, before remembering and patting her on the head instead, making her pout playfully at him. "You should be a psychologist," he told her with a grin.

"I'll stick to being a wallflower, but thanks," Jesse joked.

"Maybe you should be a pirate," Petra joked, making the grin on Jesse's face widen.

Onscreen, Jesse arched her eyebrow. "The flint and steel? Sure, I'll rewind time and you can go solve a difficult lever puzzle, fight through about a billion mobs, run up a staircase while it's being set on fire and disappearing, avoid lavafalls, climb up a vine-covered wall without plummeting to your death, throw your sword at the tunnel opening while climbing up the wall so you're not trapped for all time in the Temple of Doom, and yank your sword out before it breaks and without smashing your hands. Do you want to do that?"

There was a short pause, before she said, in a gentler, less sarcastic tone, "Aiden, we earned this fair and square."

Aiden leered at that. "Nothing you've done has ever been fair and square, Jesse."

Real-Jesse winced a bit. Real-Aiden winced a little as well but said nothing.

"You forget all the times you beat us at the Endercon Building Competition." A short pause. "And the fact that you tried to destroy our build two months ago by pouring lava everywhere," Jesse pointed out.

This prompted a round of snorts from the audience.

Aiden's fists clenched, nearly trembling with rage, before he drew his sword and levelled it right at her face, glaring at the spider hybrid. Behind him, Maya and Gill also drew their enchanted swords. "Hand over the flint and steel, Jesse. Don't make me ask again."

Jesse blinked at the sword, before raising her head a bit to look at Aiden and arching her eyebrow. "I'm going to have to say no."

The flippant comment made several people grin.

"It's not enough you got to save the world-"

"What?" Jesse interrupted, finally looking fed up with the dark-brown-haired boy, "No. No no no. Excuse me. Saving the world wasn't as fun as you think it sounds. Do you know how downright terrifying it was? I wouldn't be entirely surprised if all of us got diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You think it sounds fun? Fine. Next time a monstrous Wither decides to spawn and it can't be destroyed except with a special weapon, I'll let you go handle it. You can see how fun it is while you're being petrified out of your wits half the time and nearly dying the other half, thanks very much."

"Jesse has a point," Ellegaard murmured, "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole lot of them came out of that situation traumatized."

"I'd honestly be surprised if they didn't come out of that situation traumatized," Gabriel spoke up.

"Touché," Soren agreed.

Aiden jabbed his sword at Jesse again, glaring at her. "Give. Me. The flint and steel."

"I'm tired to listening to your jaw flap," Axel hissed, before charging right at Aiden. Aiden spun around and kicked the creeper hybrid in the stomach, knocking him to the floor with a sneer.

"Don't touch me."

"Axel!" Olivia gasped, tightening her grip on the burly boy's arm. Axel winced and rubbed his stomach. That was going to hurt.

Jesse turned to look at Axel with wide eyes. The sound of a sword being drawn made her spin around to see Petra extending her sword in Aiden's direction, flames flickering along the length of the blade. Olivia's arms straightened, and she glared at the Blaze Rods through glowing eyes. Axel clambered back to his feet and began to hiss, eyes dilating again.

"Yeah!" Clutch cheered. "Beat the crap out of those punks!"

"Uh-" Sparklez and Stampy winced, although Sparklez was the only one speaking. "How about we don't do that?"

Jesse looked among her friends, a reluctant look on her face. "Guys, come on, let's just go home," she said placatingly, "these 'Blaze Rods' aren't worth it."

Aiden looked from the hybrids, all of whom were ready to fight- except for Jesse, who simply looked reluctant to fight at all- and then at his own team, wearing minimalistic armor and holding a single enchanted weapon each, before gritting out a single word: "Fine." He sheathed his sword, all of them relaxing and putting away their own weapons at that.

"Some hero you are, Jesse," Aiden smiled nastily, "you couldn't even save your own dumb pig."

Jesse visibly flinched, stumbling back a step and staring at Aiden with a mingled expression of hurt, anger, and sorrow.

Real-Jesse flinched as well, making Lukas's arm gently tighten around her protectively. Real-Aiden looked away a bit, his lips tightening.

Was he really that big of a jerk?

"What hope do we have when 'heroes' like you are throwing your weight around like this?" Aiden continued, "It's not always gonna be this way though." And he grinned, a grin that promised something that none of them could place, pale green eyes glinting. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here."

Maya left the clearing first, followed by Aiden. Gill paused and threw his arms up in the air with a grin. "Blaze Rods!" he cheered, turning around- only to get shoved by Aiden, nearly getting knocked over altogether as Aiden's celery-green eyes flashed with fury.

"I told you to shut up!" he nearly snarled at Gill.

Real-Aiden could feel Gill and Maya's gaze practically burning into him, but he carefully avoided their gazes. He wouldn't look at them.

Couldn't, really.

"Hey, Aiden, one more thing," Jesse spoke up again onscreen in a slightly shaky way, making the brown-haired boy turned to face her with anger written all over his face. The screen switched to show an almost cold look written over Jesse's face. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." And she flicked a finger at him, sending a blur of white flying in his direction.

The web splashed over his mouth, effectively gagging the bully right as he opened his mouth to say something.

Several audience members giggled a bit at this.

He grabbed at the web, getting some of the sticky white silk on his hands before managing to rip it off and shake the web onto the floor. He sent a death glare in Jesse's direction. "Look out, Jesse," he nearly snarled, before stalking after the other Blaze Rods, Gill rubbing his chest where Aiden had just shoved him.

The cold look faded into a concerned one, and Jesse crossed all of her arms and turned to look at her friends. "Okay... I'm officially starting to get a really bad feeling about Aiden," she said, shooting a look in the dark-brown-haired boy's direction. "Threatening people, enchanting his sword... he's different. Scarier, in a way. ... I really hope he doesn't hurt anyone."

Petra nodded, shooting a wary look in Aiden's direction. "Yeah... we need to keep an eye out."

"Man, and all because he wanted that flint and steel thing," Axel spoke up, making Jesse turn to him, "what are you going to do with it?"

"Take it to me, take it to me, take it to me," Ivor chanted under his breath, attracting some very concerned glances from the audience- chiefly those of his old friends.

Jesse shrugged. "I think I'm going to take it to Ivor and see if he knows anything about it. He WAS the one who told us about the temple in the first place."

Ivor threw his arms into the air in excitement. "YES!"

"Alright, what is up with you? You're seriously starting to freak me out here," Magnus told the man, blinking at him a couple times in concern.

Ivor just made a bunch of hushing sounds in his direction.

Onscreen, the Hybrid Order of the Stone turned around and started walking, the screen going up to show the temple glowing behind them, the lava structures on the center wall glowing brightly.

The screen blacked out.

Jesse turned to look at Ivor. "Are you fanboying?" she asked, looking as if she was trying not to laugh.

Lukas 'coughed', hiding a big grin behind his hand. He wasn't the only one to do so- a little 'coughing' epidemic had just gone through the room, and Milo had his head buried in his hands, shaking a bit while he laughed.

Ivor scowled at them, but the pink blush that was spreading over his face did much to offset the scowl.


A/N: Oh-ho-ho I can't wait to write the next chapter xD

RQTC: Favorite non-Order-of-the-Stone character in MCSM?

It's a tie between Isa and Harper. (They're both awesome xD)

The final voting polls go something like this:

Aidassie: 11, Danzie: 9, Stampcy: 8, Misa: 14, Hadrevia: 8, (Bromance!)Maiden (Maya x Aiden): 7, Friendly!Jaiden (Jesse/Jace x Aiden): 9, (Friendly)Jesse/Jace Rose (Jesse/Jace x Cassie): 5, Bromance!Pexel: 7, (Friendly!)Jaclivia: 7, Dancat: 9, Bromance!Axesse: 7, Bromance!Ivoren: 5, Friendly!Soregaard: 4, Friendly!Regisa (Reginald x Isa): 5, Sibling!JessexJace: 8, Reubenedict: 4, Gilya: 2

The final ships that made it into the story are:

Misa (NOTCH-DAMN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR IT xD)
Aidassie (so many people voted for it xD)
Hints of Hadrevia (I don't really know how to write it)
Friendly!Jaiden (because why not?)
Sibling!JessexJace (this one shot up to eight votes in like three days xD)
Platonic!Gilya (I'm already hinting at it so I might as well xD)
Hints of Dancat (It was the most-voted-for ship among the YouTubers, tying with Danzie)

And of course we already have Lukesse, Platonic!IvorxJesse, Axelivia, Magnugaard, Harvor, and Jetra.

I'm not including the other ones that reached 7 votes because THIRTEEN DIFFERENT SHIPS make it way too difficult to keep track of any more, I'd just end up losing track of all of them xD

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) / Yay!

Mewgirl Anna: (laughs) I'm just asking for people's opinion. The voting is to see which ones I'm considering putting in- basically it means that you could've already voted for a ship and gotten it all the way to like, 19 votes or something, but there's a chance I'm not going to keep it in because I don't really like the ship, or am just bad at writing it. x3

NinaNaranja: I wouldn't know, Olivia keeps from making direct eye contact with anyone that isn't a hybrid to avoid that possibility- she doesn't know either xD / I hate Ghasts too xD / (laughs) Yeah, no. Those are- no. xD

LunarStarsMoons: :3 / Well, that's just for the considering stage. But yeah xD / Ahaha, yeah, no xD

Marco: Okey-dokey!

Mari: Agh! Okay! xD

Emily The Avenger: Okay! :3

Beli0304: Haha, sadly not. I changed it up a bit, the original was a bit too choppy for my taste xD

Guest: Okay!

Lilly: Uh, okay! I nearly counted your vote twice by accident xD

AquaK13: (laughs) / Nope, I just like popcorn. (eats some more) / Yep! / I picture her as a little kid as well. Black or gray eyes, wearing a sort of white dress-robe thing, and a little red medal. Also, the crown xD She also has black or red hair, I'm not sure which xD. I don't know why I picture her like that, I just do xD

RapidSammi: Did you know that FFN censored the 'pussy cats' when it sent the email to me? xD / (laughs) / Oh lord, are those votes? I'm assuming those are votes. xD

Chlosky: I think I said that was a ship that you can't vote for... since it's already included in the story...

sailor . mikuchan: x3

RebekahTPE: Yay! / I think I already put your vote down for all of them, but I'm not sure xD / Bow and arrow. Then I'd be a Ranger! xD

Emily The Avenger: (laughs) I might just include it anyway, but I'm not sure.

J.M.M.: I'm honestly surprised nobody else noticed it xD

Guest: Thank you! And okay :3

homework overload: (laughs) / Okay :3

Guest: But why are they in trouble? That reasoning's... not complete. / Ender hybrid, because they're cool :3

x.X. A.L. X.x