Amongst the scorching sensation overwhelming his quivering and heavy body, Grian stares at Sam's emerald eyes softening whilst his lips stretches into a crooked but genuine smile, making him whimper as his grip on the knife wavers.

  The third charged creeper was finally safely contained in the Magical Menagerie as Grian and Scar sealed the opening with glass. They slowly stepped back to observe their hard work, and shortly after they sighed in unison.

  “Wow.” Scar stared in awe.

  “We did it.” Grian smiled and walked around as he internally celebrated.

  “That was so easy. Wow!” Scar huffed from behind as he feigned innocence.

  “'So easy'!” Grian bursted into laughter, wavering his words as he held his stomach with his arms.

  “The Swaggon comes through everytime.” Scar pulled out his horn and blew it as he announced casually.

  Grian can't do it.

  All he see right now is a clumsy Scar, who always managed himself to dove straight to danger yet escaped death in the nick of time, and the most considerate person a friend can have (who Grian doesn't deserve to have for being horrible to him all this time), instead of the manipulative and selfish Sam, who thought of nothing but his own entertainment at the expense of others around him.

  He thrusts the blade towards the wall right beside Scar and leans his free palm to the surface by his left, barely missing Scar’s neck as he corners his trembling friend between his arms.

  "Gri- I- You- Wh-Why?" Scar stammers as he stares like a deer in the headlights. "You- I-It was a- a chance for you to be set free." From me is left unsaid as he whimpers.

  "It's—My years-long suffering in high school is being outweighed by my short time here in Hermitcraft along with you and my friends." Grian assures quietly with a weak smile. "It's not worth destroying all the happy memories we made together. And so I forgive you, Scar." He huffs as tears easily flow to his cold cheeks.

  "But you—"

  "Don't think I didn't notice the obvious taunts earlier, Scar. You're not getting away with that." Grian intercepts lightheartedly, attempting to clear up the tense mood in the air with a chuckle.

  "It- I didn't d-do anything." Scar averts his gaze to the side as he flusters. "Wai- No! That wasn't supposed to happen! You're not supposed to forgive me t-that easily and- and take out your anger on me!" He vigorously shakes his head as he hastily denies.

  "Why should I be angry with you, though? Sure, I was a bit upset that you trapped me in an obsidian box, but that was a prank." Grian feigns ignorance with a tilt of his head. "No harm done." He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

  "That's not what- I meant all the- the horrible things I did to you and Taurtis back in high school!" Scar cries as he brings a hand to his chest.

  "Oh, that." Grian leans back to stand straight as he waves a dismissive hand. "That was Sam, not Scar. We never went to high school together, dude. We only met when I visited your pirate island for the first time."

  "Grian, you don't understand. I threatened you with a knife and said horrible things to hurt you!" Scar brings a quivering hand to his hair and pulls it.

  "Again, Scar. That was Sam." Grian raises a brow with a smirk.

  "I also made you eat that plastic and poisoned bread!"

  "Sam."

  "I forced you to to dress up as Taurtis to satisfy my selfishness even though you hated it so much—"

  "Sam."

  "—plus I made you join the yakuza for a stupid reason, got you involved with a shootout and almost got you killed!"

  "You're pretty persistent."

  "You had to kill people just because I threatened you! You even had to suffer being trapped to a room for three days, and you would've died if Taurtis didn't hear you and—"

  "Scar! Hush." Grian calls out to a rambling Scar, who's on the verge of a panic attack as he places a finger to his friend's lips and makes him snap out of the trance. "Think about it this way, Scar. If our situation has been reversed, would you kill me if I was in your place?" He firmly appeals with a soft smile.

  "Of course not!" Scar exclaims without hesitation, wide eyes staring at Grian's direction in disbelief. "Why would I? It was your past self who did all those terrible things to me and your present self did nothing but be kind to me for the past few years." He rants as he paces around the small space, stopping abruptly with a flinch as he faces Grian. "Oh." He blurts in realisation.

  "Exactly." Grian softly chuckles. "I'm sorry that I even considered you to be like him, Scar. You are nothing like him." He apologises solemnly as he steps forward and places both hands on Scar's shoulders to make them face each other. "You two are a completely different person and it was stupid of me to even think otherwise. I don't want to lose any more people I care about." He presses his lips into a flat line as he averts his gaze for a moment.

  "Would you give me a second chance to make up for what I did to you for the past few months, Scar?" He swallows the lump in his throat and holds his breath as he observes Scar's bewildered expression.

  They stay like this for a few moments, until Scar finally opens his mouth with an inhale.

  "I would if you'd let me make it up to you." Scar cracks a smile. "Otherwise, this deal is off." He crosses his arms with a smirk.

  "Since when did this conversation become a business deal?" Grian huffs, releasing a misty breath and lets go of Scar as he wipes the remaining tears that became frost from the corners of his eyes, wrapping himself with his wings in reflex like a huge blanket.

  "I dunno. You tell me." Scar shrugs and snickers.

  "Fine, I accept the conditions." Grian rolls his eyes fondly before holding out a trembling hand to shake.

  "It's a pleasure doing business with the Swaggon and..." Scar shakes Grian's hand firmly, warming Grian slightly with the hold. "It's good to have you back, G." He smiles softly as he welcomes.

  "Yeah. I could say the same thing to you." Grian smiles in return.

  "Thank you for giving me a second chance."

  "No problem." Grian drops to the floor with a sigh of relief. "Uh, should we go back now?" He slouches without letting go of Scar's hand. "I'm so tired, I wanna sleep for once."

  "Oh! Same here." Scar perks as he squats down in front of Grian with a grin. "I can't wait to go back to Lanbo and snuggle with my precious Jellie."

  "But, uh... How do we get out? We're—" Grian shivers involuntarily as the cold breeze brushes over his arms. "—we're kind of t-trapped here u-until the b-blizzard stops." His voice wavers as his teeth chatter, folding his wing further around himself whilst wrapping the other one to Scar.

  "Oh, no." Scar whispers, hurriedly reaching a hand to his pocket and takes out his communicator before hastily turns it on. "Oh, thank biome." He visibly slumps and sighs in relief. "Apparently, Tango never stopped looking for you—and now me—" Grian snorts. "—so, he tracked my communicator with his admin ability. He and a few people are apparently on their way now to our location through the Nether, so we should wait for them to arrive." He addresses calmly as he places the gadget on the ground beside him.

  "Okay! That's a relief." Grian huffs.

  From the corner of his eye, he spots a familiar green creature silently approaching Scar's direction from behind.

  "Scar!" Grian blurts.

  "What?" Scar furrows his brows in confusion.

  "Scar, no!" Grian pounces to Scar's direction and embraces him, hastily flapping his dishevelled wings as the creeper flashes and explodes, propelling them slightly forward with the force and falling to the ground with a grunt. "Oh, my goodness. That was too close." He sighs in relief as he lets go of Scar to give him space.

  "Oh, my gosh!" Scar drawls in a high-pitched scream. "I almost died! Grian, can we go back now, please?" He hastily stands as he plants both hands to Grian's shoulders in panic. "I don't wanna stay in this dangerous and scary cave anymore." He nervously chuckles as he stares at the creeper hole where they used to be.

  Grian holds a hand to his stomach as he laughs, only turning back when a loud vwooping sound can be heard behind him and catching his attention. He and Scar gasp in unison as they spot the Nether portal standing before them, seeing a slick back blonde hair popping out of it.

  "Scar, Grian! Oh, my gosh! I finally found you guys, we were so worried about you!" Tango exclaims as he runs to Grian and Scar's direction with a grin.

  "Our saviour!" Scar cries and leaves Grian's side as he vigorously shakes Tango by the shoulders, making Grian chuckle at the sight.

  "The rest of Boatem came, by the way. You might want to—" Tango informs with a vibrating voice from the continuous shaking.

  "Grian!" A familiar feminine voice shrieks as Grian is knocked to the side, only to see Pearl crushing him between her herculean embrace.

  "P-Pearl. You're killing me right now." Grian chokes as he softly slaps Pearl's side repeatedly.

  "Scar, Grian! Mumbo, they're here!" Impulse's voice calls from the background as another pair of footsteps approaches Scar, seeing the candy man himself hugging Tango and Scar by their shoulders with a bright smile.

  "Oh, my goodness! Grian, you're okay!" Mumbo's voice exclaims and Grian grunts as he feels another weight crushing him from behind, feeling Mumbo's warm and tight embrace around him, chasing the coldness away.

  ─── ? ??☆: *.? .* :☆?. ───

  It's good to be back.

  Ever since that incident, both Grian and Scar had to stay bedridden for a few weeks to recover. Apparently, staying in a surface cave during a blizzard is a brew for more dehydration for him and hypothermia for the both of them. Particularly Grian himself. One shouldn't wear light and thin clothing when you're in a freezing tundra with the temperature at least negative forty Celsius.

  The good news is, he didn't lose a finger or two.

  He lied. Oops.

  Fortunately for him, the freezing environment helped numb the pain, so almost every Hermit had to take turns in healing his lost appendages with potions and magic. At least, it was funny to see the usually calm yet derpy Xisuma actually agitated when he led the healing team and partake in it himself like a parent constantly trying to avoid their child from swallowing any hazardous objects.

  When Grian and Scar finally got the confirmation to be discharged, the Boatem crew didn't hesitate to hold a sleepover to celebrate their recovery (and secretly assure themselves that no one is in a life-threatening condition anymore). Each member brings snacks, blankets, pillows, and their childish pyjamas to Grian's house. With the first floor being bare, it's the perfect space for them to wreak havoc.

  The moon rises above the starry night sky as the murmured chatter fills the warm room, until it's been cut off by a high-pitched girly yelp from Mumbo. When Grian and the others turn around, they see Scar grinning ear to ear as he carries a pillow with one hand above his head whilst Mumbo's face is being covered with an identical cushion. Scar turns to their direction, throws the other headrest towards Impulse's direction but weaves to the side barely to dodge.

  "Oho! You are so on!" Impulse giggles and stands at his full height, grabbing a pillow from his side and throws it to Scar with a grunt.

  As if a button has been switched on, the room explodes into utter chaos as everyone in the Boatem crew has been throwing each other cushions, splaying them everywhere along with the fallen feathers as their heartily screams and laughter can be heard in the entirety of the Boatem village. It's been a while since Grian's cheeks and stomach hurts from having too much fun, so he really loves it. He thanks his friends that he gets to enjoy this from the bottom of his heart.

  Once the excitement dies, the snores of everyone reverberate the room as they scatter on the floor with their respective mattresses and comfy blankets. Unfortunately, he stops taking the medicine for a while (after a 'heart-to-heart' talk with everyone and definitely not a scolding session of never overdosing himself again), leaving him with nothing to do except listening to his friends snore and tossing and turning as he stares at the ceiling.

  Okay, he's bored.

  Grian leaves the room and goes downstairs with light steps, eventually leaving his house through the secret exit in the Wither painting as swift and silent as he can before landing on the roof. He stares at the twinkling stars in silence, humming in satisfaction as the gentle night breeze ruffles his hair and feathers. A thud can be heard behind, jumps in surprise and turns to see Scar smirking as he sits beside him.

  "Can't sleep?" Scar prods as he faces Grian and tilts his head to the side.

  "Isn't it obvious?" Grian replies sarcastically before resting his chin to his knees with a frown.

  "Okay, what's wrong? You can tell mister Scar everything. I'm not gonna bite or anything." Grian can feel Scar's gaze fixing behind his head as he notes thoughtfully, making Grian sigh and turns to face Scar fully.

  "I still can't help but think why I'm like this." Grian presses his lips into a flat line as he lowers his head in shame.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, you know... It's been ten years, right? Since, uh... since high school." Grian starts as he raises his head to see Scar bobbing his head, coaxing him to continue. "But- but I can't- I can't help but still be scared of what Sam did to me or what he might do if h-he finds me again. I-I'm sorry." He bites back the urge to cry as he buries his face to his knees as he embraces himself.

  "Why do you need to apologise? It's not your fault that you're traumatised." Scar's gentle voice eases a bit of the tension in Grian's constricted chest as his hand rubs soothing circles around his hunched back.

  "But you- I need to, though. It's been a decade, Scar. I'm already approaching my thirties but here I am, on the verge of crying like a baby over a stupid memory." Grian can't help it, but a whimper escapes from his throat as his vision begins to blur. "It's unfair for you."

  "Now you're just beating yourself up more than you already are, mister. If Mumbo tells you about crying over and over because he can't help but remember how scary it was when he's stuck inside one of his contraptions or how he flinched whenever he's working on his redstone, thinking they might blow up on his face at any moment, would you want him to suck it up and move on from them?" Scar prompts gently as he scoots closer to Grian's side, slumping Grian's shoulders as he eases from the touch.

  "Well, no, but it's different." Grian retorts.

  "No. It's not different, Grian. What if someone tells Etho to remove his mask since he's overreacting?"

  "I'll hunt that person till the end of the universe and demand them to take it back or I'll beat them until they do." Grian frowns at the image of a socially anxious Etho being insulted that way, wishing he can choke the perpetrator for saying such a thing.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "See? That's what I mean. Trauma isn't that easy to just 'get over', G." Scar insists as he forms his hands into air quotes for emphasis. "People may think it's only in your mind and it's not actually hurting you. But that's exactly it. We may not see it with our naked eye, but our brains are hurting, too." He continues as he moves back and brushes Grian's feathers with gentle fingers.

  "Compared to physical wounds that eventually heals with time, there's a chance psychological wounds will never heal. The scar is etched into your very soul for you to easily forget and move on. No matter how many years it will take—even if it will take you another decade or you'll grow old and grey... No one will blame you for taking that long to heal."

  Grian nods slowly, quite impressing himself about how he’s able to listen to most of Scar’s words as he melts further and further like liquid into the touch, head fuzzy yet clear at the same time.

  "Heck, every Hermit will still support you to the fullest even if you will never recover! Well, I still want you to but that's not the point. Just... do it at your own pace. No need to rush, okay?" He finishes as he straightens the last feather, making Grian feel lighter than before.

  "It's like asking a person whose favourite show ended or lost their limb to move on. Now that's just rude. I could never move on if Star Wars episode ten will never happen." He moves his hands away as he snickers, brightening up the mood whilst Grian silently chuckles.

  "Okay, okay. I get it. I'll try not to beat myself over it next time." Grian shakes his head fondly as he declares with a small smile.

  "That's the spirit!" Scar yells as he pats a hand on Grian's shoulder.

  "Shh! Scar, there are people sleeping." Grian whisper yells as he hastily places a finger on Scar's lips.

  "Oh. Oops. Got a bit excited there." Scar whispers as he huffs, squatting back to his seat earlier beside Grian.

  They stare at the million stars brightening the night sky in awe, enjoying the comfortable silence. Suddenly, a thought comes in Grian's mind, moving his gaze to Scar's direction without moving his head. Scar's gaze suddenly moves to stare at him, whipping his eyes to stare back at the sky like nothing happened.

  "Okay, I know that look." Scar chuckles. "What's bothering you, my good friend Grian?"

  "I-I was just curious. You don't have to answer if you're not comfortable." Scar nods for Grian to continue. He takes a few deep breaths to calm his raging heart. "Okay. I was wondering what happened. You know, how you became Scar and why did you change appearance." He addresses uncertainty.

  "Oh." Scar drawls. "That. You don't have to worry about asking me that. I never meant it to be a secret in the first place." He shrugs nonchalantly. "I mean, Cub knows since he's the one who rescued me in the first place."

  "Wh- Wait, Cub? Hold up, I don't understand. You're moving too forward, Scar. Back up a little bit and start at the beginning." Grian's eyes blow wide in surprise, pushing his hands forward in front of him for emphasis.

  "Sorry." Scar chuckles before clearing his throat.

  It's been so long ever since that day. Scar cracks a smile at the memory before shaking his head to snap out of it. He has a story to tell, after all.

  "Hm. Let's see. Ever since I discovered that you and Taurtis left, I was... Wait, this is kind of weird. Can I prefer my past self as Sam? Are you okay with that?" Scar furrows his brows and presses his lips into a flat line as he confirms, sighing in relief as he sees Grian nod in affirmation. "Okay. Thank the gods."

  "Sam was enraged, to say the least. Apart from the pent-up frustration of losing Yuki, he was trashing the apartment. He only went to the old school to 'bother' the people there even after graduation, so he could get this weird feeling out of his chest." Scar starts, forming air quotes from his fingers for emphasis. "So, with the whole money he 'borrowed' from the town, he used it to travel from one public world to another to search for Taurtis and let you pay for it." Grian shudders at the last comment.

  Sam wandered from planet to planet, searching for a brunette person who wore short-sleeved blue sweaters, suspenders, blue and red wristbands, and headphones. Unfortunately, he never found them and even got in trouble with the police a couple of times with his not-so-legal methods. Let's just say he bothered the citizens there like an obnoxious thug.

  It might be weeks or years, but he never stopped. He became a notorious criminal who had a thousand diamond bounty on his head. The value kept on increasing in every crime. He was starting to get banned even on public worlds, but he never stopped. He even got arrested a few times and got locked in with some of their most impenetrable prisons, but nothing could stop him.

  In desperation, he trespassed a couple of private worlds despite having no pass from the admins but still no luck.

  Until Sam encountered someone he shouldn't mess with. In the city, he wandered the barren streets while completely drunk, drinking alcohol from time to time to ease his anger and frustration. He bumped into a person and snapped at them even if it was clearly him who bumped into them. The person apologized, but he never stopped and even pushed them for getting in his way.

  That made the person mad as they glow blue and sprouted translucent branch-like wings, warping Sam to the ground. He screamed in panic, asking for what’s happening but it fell on deaf ears.

  Everything went black until he could see light again, shielding his eyes with an arm in reflex. Just as he was about to regain his bearing, he felt a pull going through his chest, sending a crushing pain in his heart as it beat with his erratic breaths in panic. He felt his strength slowly but surely depleting, then everything came into a standstill and suddenly stopped as if time had frozen in place.

  Scar holds a hand to his chest and wrinkles his shirt in reflex, swallowing the lump in his throat with difficulty as the phantom pain comes back. It shouldn't be phantom anymore since he never lost it in the first place. But how come his brain says otherwise? It hurts it hurts it h—

  "Scar?" Grian's voice snaps Scar out of his spiral, letting go of his shirt as he exhales. "A-Are you—?"

  "Ye- Yeah, everything's fine." Scar replies with a wavering voice and bobs his head hesitantly as he strains a smile.

  "You know... You don't have to continue if you want to. You don't have to hide your pain." Scar's eyes widen like saucers in surprise at the statement, staring at Grian's solemn expression. "Y-You know that, right?" He furrows his brows in concern.

  The wind gently blows, ruffling his hair and eases the pulling sensation in his chest.

  "I'm okay." Scar cracks a genuine smile. "Thank you."

  Before Sam realized, he knelt and fell flat on the ground face first. He tried to breathe but all he felt was coldness from all the numbing sensation running throughout his entire body. The ground pushing against his cheek was starting to turn black here and there, choking on a rusty liquid coming out of his throat as he coughed blood.

  Was he going to die right here, with nothing to show for it? It's kind of frustrating, to be honest. In the end, he never got to see Taurtis and Gree-on again. His heavy eyelids fell and fluttered shut, turning everything black in seconds.

  The putrid smell of something brought him into consciousness, opening his sticky eyelids and seeing his dark and smelly surroundings. Where was he? Why was he here? He didn't know how he got into this alleyway, but he knew that every part of his body hurts, particularly his chest for some reason. He peeked from his collar, only to see no injury but there's a weird bruise that looked like a head with branches on its back. Well, he's not really sure whether it's an actual bruise or not.

  It looked like it at least, with the blue color and its transparency and everything.

  Even if he touched it, he couldn't feel anything with the overwhelming pain like someone crushed his heart to pieces or something. He'd never know.

  A feathery sensation brushes over Scar's skin and wraps around his shoulders comfortably, grounding him as he feels a liquid from his cheeks.

  Since when did he cry?

  Oh, gosh. This is so bizarre for him.

  It's like he's watching a movie, but he gets to sense what the character was feeling, from their emotions up to the inflicted pain whether it's physically or psychologically. It's overwhelming him, to say the least. But Grian's wing that's wrapping around him leaves a reassuring reminder that he's going to be okay—that he will overcome this just like how he reassured Grian earlier.

  It's so good to give and receive support to each other.

  Scar wipes the tears off his face with his collar, steeling his resolve with a deep inhale and exhale before continuing weaving the tale of his past.

  He had been wandering around the city since then, living as a homeless person with his lack of memory about who he was. He knew that his name started with ‘S’ but apart from that, he got nothing. Occasionally, he got this weird sensation about something missing from him.

  Sometimes, when there's a loud noise, his hands would raise above his head in reflex when his ears are beside it. He would also accidentally prick himself with his fangs, confused when he thought he never had them before and instead he had something lacking on his front teeth. There were also these people who chased after him for some reason. He would run as fast as he could, scared of what might happen if they caught him.

  But he couldn't.

  He could never achieve the speed he was hoping for with his limp leg. But his ability to jump higher than he expected helped, barely losing them. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, body trembling not just from the cold as he brought his knees to his chest and embraced them, hoping to create some kind of comfort from this scary experience.

  Why was this happening to him?

  Did he do something wrong that his life turned into like this? He only wanted someone by his side.

  Was it too much to ask?

  The cuts stung when cold tears flowed from his too tired eyes and the freezing wind passed over his body, flinching violently when he felt a heavy hand land on his crouched head. He grunted in pain as the hand grabbed his hair and slowly felt being lifted off the ground, meeting face-to-face with a buff guy with a mohawk as they screamed at him along with their other scary friends. But the words were a slur inside his ears, barely hearing something about him trespassing.

  What does that mean?

  He was just finding a place to sleep. That part was a lie. He never got a good night's sleep when he was plagued with nightmares he couldn't explain. But mainly, they were about messing with other people as a voice whispered in his head. It's not really a voice, more like suggestions his mind conjured but eerily more vivid as his back ached like something would sprout out of it.

  Wait, since when did he fall asleep?

  At first, he was being chased by men in black then people with mohawks and spiky outfits were yelling about trespassing, and the next thing he knew, he was back in the alley—a different one, not the one he frequented for the past few days? weeks? He's not sure.

  What he's sure of, however, was that his body felt icky all over. He looked down and bile rose to his throat instantly, throwing up acid beside him as sobs escaped his dry lips. His body was soaked with blood without him realizing it. He knew it wasn't his since he didn't feel any kind of piercing pain that matched the amount of crimson all over him. He didn't know what happened next but all he could process was that his throat and eyes hurt before everything turned black.

  "I never knew what happened after this, but Cub told me that he was in the area when he felt a vex presence and its magic in the air." Scar brings a hand to his chin as he recalls what Cub had told him before. "Uh... Oh, yeah! He was visiting someone and came running when that happened. And that's when he found me—half-dead, unconscious, bathing in other people's blood..."

  A loud noise that's similar to a roaring lion, a growling bear, and a neighing horse vocalizing at the same time could be heard at the dark and smelly alley.

  Cub's words, not Scar's.

  "...and very hungry, apparently." He huffs in disappointment at the last part, hearing Grian holding back laughter beside him.

  He's awoken by a soft surface beneath him, slowly opening his heavy and sticky eyelids as he could see a ceiling above him. That's weird. Since when did alleys have them? The thought snapped him into full consciousness, jolting upwards and saw he's lying on a warm and bouncy bed.

  Someone cleared their throat, jolted violently in return and whipped his head to the source to see an old man with a bald head and bushy white beard wearing a lab coat, sitting on a chair beside him. The man gave him a steaming soup, blushing at how loud his stomach groaned just by the scrumptious smell. While he was munching like he had never eaten before, the man—Cub, asked him a few questions.

  Unfortunately, he could only grimace and apologize for not being able to provide any answers. He couldn't even give his own name! That's when Cub suggested giving him a nickname until he could remember. With the scars, old and new alike, littering around his pale skin, he was dubbed as 'Scar' from then on.

  Honestly, he loved it.

  He—Scar wouldn't be surprised if he would still use it even after he could finally recall his name.

  Cub started to provide him a few stories instead. About how Scar had been turned into a vex, thus losing his memories in the process. When vexes were using too much of their magic, they would start to yearn for other people's own regardless of the race. They would feed on the magic until nothing's left, draining the victim of their life force.

  There were two outcomes after a vex ate their target's magic—either they would lose their life permanently or convert into a vex with the vex magic residue remaining in their body, acting as substitute and reborn. If it's the latter, their memories get lost in the process of how the body was in too much shock and trauma during the process.

  To say Scar was surprised was an understatement. He could only stare with wide eyes and gaping mouth as he continued to listen, soup long forgotten. Cub laughed at this, promising that he would look after him until he recovered. A warm sensation tickled Scar's chest, stretching a small smile as he expressed his gratitude to the kind man. That's when Cub offered to join Kingdomcraft, sharing stories about building and having fun with his friends.

  He could only listen in awe as Cub lively narrated different moments with a happy face, showing him a few photos using his 'communicator'. When Scar asked if he could get one, Cub reassured him that—yes, he could since it's also apparently used as a 'pass' apart from just communicating with other people across the universe, so he won't be treated as a foreign entity and possibly get kicked out or banned (or worse, death).

  Soon after, he joined Kingdomcraft and got a warm welcome from Welsknight, Iskall, Rendog, and Stressmonster. They cracked jokes as Scar listened earnestly while creating a path towards other members’ homes. Apparently, he had a good eye on things when talking about different elements on how to improve a build or terraforming, blushing at the compliment.

  One day, he received a message from 'Xisuma', apparently he was invited along with his new friends to a world called Hermitcraft and the admin himself sent a pass to his communicator, so he shouldn't have any issue.

  "And I joined Hermitcraft. That's it." Scar claps his hands as he smiles. "Sooo, what do you think? Do you have any questions that you would like to share in class?" He prods as he faces Grian.

  "Hm." Grian places his chin on a palm as he ponders. "If you don't mind, would you care to explain how your voice is so different compared to before and why you changed your hair and eyes?"

  "I think my night terrors slowly diminished when I became a vex, so there's less screaming for me." Scar shrugs nonchalantly. "But the latter one... Ooh, I, uh..." He stammers.

  "It's okay if you don’t want to! Sorry if it's a touchy subject." Grian wavers as he waves his hands ahead of him repeatedly.

  "What? No! It's not that." Scar yelps as he places his hands on Grian's shoulders for reassurance. "Whenever I look at the mirror..." He starts and sighs, letting go of Grian as he wrings his hands. "...I always thought about cutting my hair bald. I hate how dark it looks and I couldn't help but shy away when I saw my raven eyes." He bites the inside of his cheek. "I always loved how emerald looks whenever I trade with villagers, and I fell in love at first sight at Impulse's hair that I..." He twists his wrist for emphasis. "...yeah, you get the gist." He slumps his shoulders.

  Scar and Grian jolt in unison when they hear a loud thud and a few whispers from familiar voices inside the house. He closes his eyes in reflex as something bright flashes, squinting to see that the sky has risen on the horizon.

  "It looks like our slumber party is done for today. Are you ready to go, Scar?" Grian stands and stretches both of his wings and arms, sighing before lending a helping hand with a smile.

  "Yeah." Scar grins as he takes it, easily stands on his feet with a pull. "I can't wait to add another wagon for my base. Ooh! How about custom hats for each Boatem member? How does that sound?" He walks down and lands safely with the help of his vex magic as he beams.

  "That would be great! I imagine mine will be a conductor's hat." Grian exclaims as he flaps his wings and glides to the ground. "You know? To match with the aesthetics of my G-train."

  Their laughter fills the cool air of Boatem, warming up the friendship more between them as they enter the house with bright smiles on their faces.

  ─── ? ??☆: *.? .* :☆?. ───

  Scar keeps on grinning as he leaves the Lanbo and sprints towards his favorite neighbor, Grian. People give things to their favorite neighbors, right? He's not sure but he's using this opportunity to give his feathery friend his specially made pork chop. He snickers as he spots the red sweater coming out of the door and clears his throat to collect himself, keeping a calm face as he approaches.

  "Top of the morning to you, Grian." Scar greets with a wave of a hand as he cracks a casual smile. "How are you on this fine morning?" He adds while planting his hands to his hips. “Hear that? I sounded like a British person for a second there.” He wiggles his eyebrows repeatedly with a smirk.

  "Pfft! Uh, fine. I slept properly without relying on meds for once, and I dreamt about something that gave me inspiration on what I will do next to my Midnight Alley." Grian perks as he muses, rummaging through his chest monster to find his golden carrot stocks.

  When Grian was searching in the house, all he could find were melons. Where on earth are those carrots? Should he go to the villager hall and get some?

  "Uh, G? What have you been searching for? You've been going back and forth in your chest monster." Scar raises a brow in question.

  "I need to, uh, find my golden carrots." Grian stands into full height and plants his fists to his hips with an exasperated sigh. "Guess I'm going to the hall early, then. Might as well restock the G-train while I'm at it."

  "No, no, no. No." Scar wraps an arm around Grian's shoulder, making Grian flinch but it goes unnoticed or ignored. "You shouldn't eat those unhealthy foods. It's bad for your body! What you should eat is a nutritious food filled with protein and other minerals to help you stay healthy and super strong. Luckily for you, I have just the thing," he rambles enthusiastically whilst Grian huffs at the sight.

  Scar is definitely up to something whenever he starts like this. Since Grian is such a good and caring friend, he shall go along and see what happens.

  "I give you my specially made pork chop!" Scar pulls out a steaming pork chop with plastic from his Inventory Bag. "Ta-da!" He lets go and stands at full height in front of Grian as he beams, waving the food ahead of him like a weird commercial.

  "Ooh. What is this special pork chop of yours, Scar?" Grian prods innocently, trying to keep his grin and upcoming laughter at bay to keep the facade as he places his hands behind him.

  "I heard that spice helps with the blood flow, so I whipped up a new recipe to test that theory out if it works! Since you're my very first customer, I will give you this sample for free!"

  "Nice. I love free stuff." Grian accepts the offer and takes a bite out of it, ignoring how Scar's grin is growing from the corner of his eye as he snickers.

  Hm, based on Scar's reactions... This is definitely spicy to say the least.

  "Wow! This is delicious, Scar. How can you come up with this?" Grian's brows shoot up and nods in satisfaction as he munches.

  "Uh..." Scar furrows his brows in confusion, making Grian's lips twitch as he's on the verge of bursting into laughter. "...wha- why, it's a secret." He smirks and places a finger to his lips as he seems to have regained his bearing.

  "Honestly, it's the most delicious thing I've ever tasted."

  "I—It's not... spicy or anything?" Scar's facade finally falls into a grimace.

  "Not really. Here, why don't you try it? It's really good, Scar." Grian hands the food to Scar. "Kudos to you, man. This will definitely attract customers and get them to shop at Boatem."

  Scar hesitates at first, but finally gives in when he takes it out of Grian's grasp, slowly but surely bringing said pork chop to his mouth and takes a small bite. In an instant, his lips and face turn red as Grian's jumper, yelping on top of his lungs as he hastily grabs something in his Inventory Bag. Grian, who's watching, wheezes and topples at the sight as he brings his hands to his knees, bursting into a fitful laughing session.

  "Oh! Oh, jeez. It burns!" Scar chugs a bottle of milk before visibly deflating in relief as his face turns back to a normal colour. "What the—Grian!" He yells. "How come you never freaked out? Did you know this whole time that it was super spicy?" He questions in a high-pitched tone.

  "Oh, my goodness." Grian huffs as he wipes a tear from his eye, calming himself and stands back straight. "Your reaction was a dead giveaway that you spiked it. And do you know what?"

  "What?" Scar frowns in bewilderment.

  "Spicy things don't work on avians." Grian grins ear to ear as he breaks the news, staring at a gaping Scar and chuckles.

  "No." Scar exhales. "You pranked me with my own trap!"

  "Sorry, Scar. I can't help it." Grian giggles.

  "Now I have to find a way to get back at you. Again!" Scar groans as he buries his face to his palms.

  "Good luck with that." Grian smirks as he crosses his arms.

  "Oh! You—!" Scar exclaims.

  …Love, love will truly live