"What the hell are you doing?" Grian stopped what he was doing as a familiar voice spoke up behind him.

"What does it look like?" Grian snapped.

Scar walked closer. "It looks like you're replacing our diamonds with mycelium- again." He glared at the shorter hermit. "It's getting old, will you stop it?"

The red sweatered hermit rolled his eyes. "Why d'you care? It'll get returned to you sooner or later. All you do with these diamonds is sit on them and waste your days away! Get a life."

Scar laughed with a lack of humor. "As if you're any better! All you do is spew bullshit about a 'principle' and ruin peoples' days," he retorted. "At least I'm trying to help people. You just keep screwing things up and thinking you can get away with it!"

Grian became overwhelmed with anger and threw a block of diamond at Scar, which he narrowly dodged. "Will you shut the fuck up? You and your money, that's all you care about!" He shouted, voice raising with every word. "You think you're helping, but you're not! And you never do!"

Scar froze for a second before shaking his head and picking up the diamond block Grian had thrown. "You're just off living in your own world, thinking everything is about you! Some people don't appreciate your stupid shenanigans."

Grian let out a frustrated yell. "As if they'd appreciate yours either! I sure don't, I doubt anyone else does!"

Scar winced, unable to mask the destructive power that Grian's words carried. Grian never lied when he attacked, words biting at Scar like sharp swords. Maybe that was the problem.

Grian wasn't a liar. He was so, brutally honest. And it hurt.

Scar was hated by many of the hermits, whether they voted against him or with him in the beginning. Grian probably regretted scribbling his name on the ballot more than anyone else, right now... in the midst of another great war between them.

"Scar?" After much more than a comfortable beat of silence between the two, Grian paused. He waved a sweatered arm in front of the mayor's face, as if Scar had fallen asleep standing.

Scar swiped away his hand angrily. He caught Grian's glance for a moment, expecting to see a smug look on the other boy's face. He'd rendered the mayor speechless, with just words. Who needed fancy weapons?

Grian wasn't triumphant. But Scar wasn't interested in hearing him out, either. So he turned and left the town hall before Grian could utter a word, shoes clacking against the marble floors.

He'd let the resistance have their victories, before squandering it later. "Guess being friends was just a nice thought." he mumbled.

Footsteps echoed behind him, and just before Scar opened his elytra, he felt a tugging at his arm.

"What do you mean?" Grian's voice was strangled and raw. "I thought... you don't seriously think we're not friends anymore, right?"

"I don't know, Grian, are we? Have we ever been?" Grian was taken aback by the words, hesitant, speechless.

"This is the second time, second time we've been on different sides!" Scar exclaimed, then getting quieter, as he added, "I thought it could be different this season, maybe, just maybe, we could actually be friends, but no, I guess not. I guess- I guess we- we can't be." His voice failed him, and a thick, heavy, uncomfortable silence settled over the two.

"M-maybe it can be." Grian whispered after a moment. "Can we start over? It doesn't have to be like this."

Scar stared, the smallest hint of a smile on his face. "I'd like that." Grian seemed hopeful, before speaking.

"...Hi, I'm Grian."

Scar almost wanted to laugh at how silly this was, but instead he found himself on the brink of tears.

"Hi, I'm Scar."

Finally, a bittersweet smile spread over Grian's face.

"I hope we can be friends."

---

"Hey remember the time when we fought?" Grian asked the taller. "Like the time where we 'restarted'" He continued not wanting the other to misunderstand.

"Yeah, what about it?" Scar asked frowning. The topic still bothered him, even if it's already been months since it'd happened but the frown couldn't go unnoticed as he received a slap on his back.

"Don't be sad! I just wanted to say.." Grian looked up and met the other's eyes. "I'm glad we're still friends even after that!" 

"..same!"

Score: 9.5