Can you tell which S2 episode is my least favorite?

Midnight: Hey, at least all the 'interesting' stuff you keep talking about happens next episode.

I know right? You're going to hate me.

Midnight: You say that like that's anything new.

"Vos, Nurm, we did it."

The main portion of the Temple was much larger than I remembered. Yet, compared to the entrance hall, it was actually pretty small.

Off to the side, there was a picture on one of the walls. From what I remembered, it wasn't from the game, so there was definitely something important about it for it to be added here. It looked like it was drawn by a little kid, a classic drawing of a family of four. Two parents, two kids. For some reason, looking at it left me with a tightening throat and an awful pang in my chest. On a whim, I scrubbed it out, feeling awful as I did so.

Trying to fix my expression so no one asked what was wrong, I climbed further up the stairs. Old runes told the story of the Admin, how he created the world, and why he left it. Jack, of course, held firm in his belief that the Admin didn't exist, that everything was just a bunch of "superstitious malarky."

At the very top of the staircase were two Structure Blocks. One with a tower behind it, and the other a wall.

"Jesse…"

"What the-?" No one else other than Jesse reacted, and I realized my mistake too late.

"Wait, you can hear it too?"

I had forgotten no one else could hear the whispering, and struggled to come up with an explanation, or even an excuse for what I could've been reacting to.

"Uh, yeah. That was really creepy…"

"You're a terrible actress."

Shut up.

"Huh. I wonder why you can hear it, but no one else can."

A certain pair of eyes decided that was a great time to start burning holes into the side of my skull. That certain someone was much better at keeping secrets than I ever will be. While the others debated which block to choose, I looked to confirm my guess. Sure enough, 'Vos' was staring directly at me. Not quite glaring, but the intent was the same nonetheless.

He saw right through me, just as I saw through him.

I just couldn't tell how much he could see.

Ultimately, since he was going to use it to patch up a hole, Jesse decided to go with the 'Wall of the Builder,' as it was supposedly called.

It would soon prove just how completely useless it was, too, since we were attacked on our way out by some of the smaller statues. Upon placing the Structure Block down, the wall sprung to life right before our eyes, all in the span of about a second. As sturdy as it was, it didn't do much to actually help us get out of that situation, other than giving us a little more time to prepare for the battle ahead.

And then a giant hand came crashing through the wall.

"Why hello."

For being a few minutes away from crushing all of us, he was being surprisingly courteous.

"Uh, hi?"

"Die now."

And that was our cue to run. With water rapidly filling up the temple from the Admin deciding to punch a hole in the ceiling, it was now or never. At one point, Jesse found himself caught between Petra, dangling off a ledge and desperately trying to grab her sword, and Jack, who was trying to protect himself, 'Vos', and Nurm from more of those mini statue soldiers.

Jesse turned to me, but I already had a plan in mind.

"I'll-"

"I've got Jack, you go help Petra!"

Not waiting for an answer, I jumped down just in time to keep one of the statues from taking out Jack's eye. That may have actually been Jesse's plan anyway, thinking back on it, but even I had found myself tired of waiting for him to make decisions and decided to take charge myself for once.

But like always, it barely mattered.

"Make your actions start mattering, then."

There's only about ten minutes left in this episode, what do you want me to do?

"I didn't specify it had to be this episode."

Fair, but…

A momentary distraction was enough for one of them to catch me off guard, and I barely had enough time to block the attack before I was sliced in half. It was just about time to go, anyway, so it didn't take that long before I had jumped into the water with everyone else.

They realized the waterfalls were our ticket out of the Temple, and with the colossus hot on our tails, we swam for dear life, as far and as fast as we could, until even the booming sound of his laughter became nothing but a memory, one we would be grateful to get rid of as soon as possible.

That boy was back, but this time, he wasn't nearly as energetic.

Strange, how time changes a person. Those who would be more than happy to talk your ear off any day of the week could steadily transform into someone you'd barely notice if you walked past them a dozen times every day.

"Oliver?"

The shouting downstairs nearly drowned out my voice, even through the solid wooden door separating us from them. We listened, even if we didn't want to, because we needed to know who would be there tomorrow morning to make breakfast, and who we shouldn't expect to see for most of the day.

"Go back to sleep, Mira."

'But I was never asleep to begin with,' I wanted to argue. 'The walls are thin and it's nearly impossible to drown out the noise.'

But I stayed quiet. It was only a matter of time before it stopped, before the sound of the front door slamming shut told us it was over.

…Mira still isn't my name.

And who is Oliver?

The pit had been consistently spitting out charged creepers since it first opened.

Jesse ran through to place the Structure Block down while the rest of us were fighting them off. Surprisingly, 'Vos' turned out to be a fairly capable fighter, despite what the incident earlier with Jack implied.

Once it was in place, all that was left to do was finish off the last of the creepers, and before long, it was finally over.

"Well, whaddya know, Jesse. You really did it!"

"Think that's really the end of it?"

Of course it isn't. But I'll let them believe for a little bit.

It was time to go home, at least for a little while.

The Founding Day celebrations were well underway by the time we finally got back. Meeting us at the entrance were Stampy, Stacy, and of course, Radar, the latter of which was exhausted after being left with all of the last-minute preparations while we were out.

"Well, hey!" I started. "At least everything looks great around here. I'm proud of you, Radar."

The boy looked as though he were about to melt on the spot at the praise. "Really?"

"Really."

If that day wasn't one of the happiest days of his life, I don't know what it would be.

Jesse was all too proud to show off the Structure Block to a crowd of adoring fans, all cheering his name while he at least tried to put the rest of us in the spotlight.

But it's always him.

From the very beginning, it was always him.

"Feeling a bit jealous there, Mir- Midnight?"

I blinked, whatever jealousy that may have been present shifted to confusion. That was the first time she'd ever almost called me by the wrong name.

Why does it matter?

"Just saying, I've got a few ideas for what we can do next time to spice things up a little. Actually, a lot, this would be a pretty major change."

Even though she wasn't visible to me at the moment, I could tell she was grinning at whatever idea she'd come up with.

"Only if you're up for it, of course."

The distance between my friends and I grew ever larger as I slowly faded from their minds. I was becoming nothing more than a passing thought, someone they occasionally talked to or kept in mind. With each passing day, I was pushed further and further to the side, only managing to steal an important moment once or twice before being pushed back into the background.

It was only natural. Not being part of the story made it hard to change it.

But…

Jesse hadn't even spared me a passing glance as he went to go talk to Petra, Jack, and 'Vos.' Everyone walked right past me without a second thought.

I've been pointing it out this entire time, but I was really starting to get sick and tired of being ignored constantly.

What do you have in mind?

Any moment now, there'd be a giant standing right at the town's front gate. Somehow, I knew her idea would involve him in some way. She had told me before not to be too drastic with my actions, so I had no doubt that even a 'major' change like this couldn't completely destroy everything.

And sure enough, he was there before long.

"You thought you could just run away from the Admin?"

If I was going to do this, there'd be no better time.

"You've really got my attention now."

I was going to get my focus back, one way or another.

"Ha, I think you'll like it."

Episode 9 Complete

I hate this episode so much. It shows, I know. I wish I could've skipped it entirely and moved on to Giant Consequences, but here we are, three chapters into season 2 and I'm already on the verge of screaming.

Midnight: How much sleep have you gotten?

Enough. There's nothing physically wrong with me, I'm just tired of writing Hero in Residence.

Midnight: And you think the next episode will be any better?

Anything's better than Hero in Residence. I like season 2, don't get me wrong, but this first episode drags on way too long.

Midnight: And for exposition purposes, you needed pretty much all of it.

Unfortunately. But whatever, it's over now, and I can get on to the part that made me excited to write this season in the first place~

Midnight: Fun...

While I decide how best to torment Midnight next episode, I'd like to remind you all that sleep is important, and mental health even more so. Take care of yourselves, and I'll see you all next time!

-LegendEmpress

Midnight: But seriously, who is Mira?