Grian was one of the more popular hermits on the server. His first episode being the most watched Hermitcraft video in existence. So, people liked him more. The hermits understood that. But why was he so successful? They understood he had popularity before Hermitcraft, but he grew while others didn't.

Mumbo had this thought on his mind for a while now. He hated to admit it but, he was a bit jealous. How had Grian been so successful, while he had hardly grown in popularity? He felt a strange cold in his chest. He didn't like it's sudden appearance, but he didn't want it gone.

"Mumbo!" A swedish voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Said man landed next to him with a slightly annoyed face. "Sahara isn't working. I think I know who's done it too."

"Who- wait. Has Grian been to Sahara lately?" That cold was slowly being replaced by a fiery anger.

"Cameras say he was there less than an hour ago."

"Why can't he leave the redstone alone for once! Is it too much to ask?" He was already equipping his elytra, glancing around d for his redstone box.

"I already have our materials to fix it there. We need to be fast 'cause X is hosting the next server meeting there."

"Oh no, that's right!" They gave each other a look and both were off with a bang of a rocket.

-
*time skip sponsored by my inability to understand redstone*

Everyone was casually chatting with each other. Grian and a few G-Team members were at the head of the table, Wels, Jevin and False were talking by the window next to them. Iskall, Doc, Mumbo and X were chatting on the opposite end of the table. Ren, Impulse, Zed, and Python were catching up in the far corner, and a few other pairs mingled about.

Doc decided to complain, quite loudly, about losing the war, "I still think G-Team cheated! There's no way we could have lost."

"You're just a sore loser, Doc. Get over it," Iskall retorted.

"Bet ya it was Grian. He's always pulling crap like that to get his way," Doc glared across the table to the red clad hermit. He had caught said hermits attention with his second statment.

"What did I do?"

"Cheated in the war," Doc crossed his arms as Grian hopped off the table where he was sitting.

"Oh yeah, I cheated. Even though there is no possible way I could have with Concorp monitoring everyone. But I somehow managed to cheat in the war." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice. Everyone turning to listen to the two's conversation.

"So how'd you do it? How'd you win the war so fast?"

"It was my undying resilience that got me past."

"Don't forget about your team, kid. They helped, I guess. Don't take the glory for yourself."

"I don't mean to. Have I ever offended any of you?" He turned back to his teammates, who all shook their head. "See. You're the one trying to steal glory. We won fair and square."

"I highly doubt that."

"Right then, how would I have cheated?" Doc just rolled his eyes and turned back to his small group he was talking with, Gri doing the same.

Doc was talking on a much quieter level now, "he's quite annoying when you call him out."

"Doc don't say that. He didn't cheat!" X scolded.

"Grian can get to be a bit much though," As much as Mumbo hated to admit it, it was true. He was still mad at the sweater wearing hermit for this morning's actions.

"Not just a bit," Iskall grumbled.

"Why did he even have to start a war?" Doc agreed.

"Are you still on about the war?" Grian had a slightly more annoyed face then before.

"No, now we're on about how annoying you are." Hurt flashed in Grian's eyes, but his annoyed visage remained.

"And why is that!"

"You've gone and ruined my latest project, for starters," of course he was referencing his military base, Area 77.

"You took my time machine!" He retorted. "And I haven't ruined it. I've got my own base outside of your territory."

"Do we want to talk about your constant pranks?" Cub butted in. "Those are so annoying to deal with."

"Yeah! The chickens everywhere are so hard to deal with!" Cleo mentioned.

"You aren't even creative. The stupid tag game. The hot potato. All waists of time," Ren chipped in.

"You constantly break everyone's redstone!" Iskall pointed out. X was looking quite uncomfortable. He didn't like the way everyone was targeting the newest hermit, but they were right. Grian did all those things without much remorse. "We had to fix Sahara this morning in time for our meeting today! This is the third time this week! Three separate times in less than 7 days Grian!"

"And that pointlessly destructive war," False added. "All that did was add conflict to the server."

"You took away my friends and turned them against eachother in that stupid war!" Python shouted, making some jump since he was usually quiet.

"Yeah, you turned Impulse and Tango against each other and I was caught in the middle!" Zedaph agreed.

"I-I thought the war was fun. It wasn't meant to-"

"Oh save it," Mumbo was glaring. "You started that war because you wanted to be the center of attention. You needed content, so you decided to ruin lives."

"Content? Mumbo..." he had tears in his eyes.

"Now look, you're going to cry," Doc laughed bitterly.

"You're such an attention seeker," Mumbo grumbled.

"I can clearly see I'm not liked. I'll just go," he tried to hide his tears as he equipped his elytra and made his way to the door.

"Grian, dear, wait!" Stress called out to him, she was stopped by Cleo.

"He's mercilessly pranked you too. Why do you want to protect him?"

"I-um," she was cut off  yet again, by Cleo.

"Exactly, no reason. Let him go." There was the bang of a firework, signaling Grian's departure.

"No! He's our friend you guys! What's wrong with you?"

X took another look at his server mates. They never acted like this. An almost unnoticeable mark had appeared around his friend's faces. Lining under their eyes, looking like a half mask almost. The lines faded to look almost like scars on their face. There was a strange symbol on their forehead. Two L's one flipped, with a dot in between the corners.

"These aren't our friends," X realised with shock.

"What do you mean?" Jevin asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean, Eggsuma?" Mumbo also questioned, acting as if everything was fine.

<unidentified joined the game>

"Who's that?" Stress asked with a glance at her phone.

"Everyone to spawn island, now."

I LIVE! I'm sure you all missed me. I've worked through most of the issues in my life, so I can hopefully go back to a faster schedule.

This chapter feels a bit forced to me, does it seem forced to you guys? I'm also experimenting with a multi-part oneshot. Hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day/night and know you are loved <3

Edited January 5th, 2021
1205 words