-Scar's POV, 1st-

I walked over to Grian's base. It was a week after the whole incident with Cub, Xisuma, Mumbo, Doc, himself and I, and I wanted to check in on him. "Grian?" I asked, knocking on his door frame; he had never really made himself a door. A small noise resonated from within his base as I walked inside. It had been a while since I'd been in his starter base, almost since the beginning of Season 7. "Grian, you here?" I asked, feeling stupid talking to the air. "S-Scar..?" His voice was quiet and sullen, and I still couldn't find him.

"Grian, are you okay?" All I heard was whimpering. "What happened, Grian?" I was greeted with silence. "Well, you don't have to say, but can you at least tell me where you are so that I can help you?" Brief silence, then: "My r-r-room..." I walked up the stone stairs, and opened the door to his bedroom. I looked around. The big space was scattered with the normal stuff you would see in a bedroom: a bed, a dresser, a desk. But there was also many different exotic plants, some native to the jungle, some not.

"Woah..." I said, peering out of his huge hobit-hole type window at the jungle below. It was a very pretty sight, but I tore my eyes away to look at the smaller man. He was sitting in the fetal position on his bed, and it seemed as if he was crying. "Oh Grian, what happened?" I asked, looking at Grian with pity, and sitting down. "Well... I was... I wanted to do some work on the mega-base, and I was flying around, and..." He didn't continue, but it was obvious that this was hard for him.

"It's okay, I'm here, I'm your friend..." He nodded, and continued. "Well... I- I lost control, and... I broke my arm, but I didn't wanna tell anybody, and it hurts-" he hugged me, sobbing. Normally this would be a little weird for me, but I knew that it must hurt a lot. I mean, breaking bones is no small matter. "Grian, it's okay, let it out, I'm here for you, just let it out..." He cried into my chest. "I'm so sorry Scar, I just... I didn't want to be a burden..." I shushed him. "You have nothing to be sorry for, and you could never ever be a burden, Grian! We all love and care about you, even if some people don't show it..."

"R-really..?" He asked, uncertain. "Really. We care about everyone so much, and you are no exception, we will all love you 'till the day you die, and after!" He chuckled. "Thanks Scar, I needed that.." I nodded. "What are friends for? Now, do you wanna show me the arm?" I asked, and he nodded. He winced slightly as I touched it, but tried not to flinch. "I'm no doctor, but I'd say that this is a pretty bad injury. I think we need Doc or Stress, whoever's here right now," He nodded.

I checked my phone. Stress was here, and Doc was away doing something. We walked over to Stress' base slowly, now standing at her doorstep. "Hey Stress, what's up?" I asked as she walked over to greet us. "Nothing much. Do you need something, loves?" I nodded. "Grian here accidentally broke his arm on a project, and I was wondering if you could help?" She sighed, but nodded. "I'm not busy right now, so come on in!" She stood aside, and we entered, thanking her.

"So, Scar, how long has it been broken, do you know?" I shook my head. "Three days..." Grian said quietly. "Oh, hun, you should've come sooner, I would've been able to fix it while it was clean!" He looked down at his feet. "You can still fix it, can't you?" She nodded. "It'll be painful, and will probably require surgery unless a miracle happens, but I can fix it, rest assured!" We both sighed in relief. "Let me ask him some questions, love, and you wait outside, 'kay?" Stress said, and I nodded, exiting the room.

They stayed in there for about an hour, probably discussing what would need to happen. "So, Scar, you can come back in now, love," Stress' voice sounded from the room. I walked back inside the room, and sat down. "So, what needs to happen?" I asked. Stress gave me the lay down. "Basically, he needs surgery so that I can realign the bones," I stared at her, urging her to continue. "It may take a little bit, and it will probably be painful, but that's to be expected with surgery," I nodded, keeping as cool a face as I could.

"Okay, you do whatever you need to do, as long as it helps him," I said plainly, trying not to let my voice crack, like it was threatening to do. "Well, you have the option to leave, and go back to your base, or you can stay here, and try to sleep while I perform the surgery. It's your choice, Scar," "I'll stay, I want to be here, just in case..." she nodded in understanding. "Very well, if you would please exit the room again, love, and allow me to do my work, that would be great, thanks,"

I nodded, and left the room, walking over to one of the many chairs scattered around her base, closest to the room, and sat down. I don't know what happened, but I apparently fell into a dreamless sleep after that, and awoke to Stress tapping my shoulder. "Oh good, you're awake," She said as I opened my eyes slowly. "What... Oh," I said, adjusting to my surroundings. "So, good news is, I got it fixed. Bad news is, it was pretty bad, and we're lucky he didn't break his neck from the impact. My theory is, that, since he had on so many layers when he fell, something softened the fall, and he didn't get as hurt as he would've otherwise. Something was on his side, or else he might've been much worse right now,"

I nodded. "So, is he awake?" I asked hopefully. "Please say yes, please say yes-" I thought as she responded. "No, I had to give him sleeping meds for the surgery, and he hasn't woken up yet. But on the bright side, the surgery went according to plan!" "darn... At least it worked out, though," I thought, though I didn't show my disappointment. "Well, thank you, for helping him, and... And doing all that you could... I'm glad to hear that the surgery was successful," I said, pushing my sullen mood aside and smiling brightly. "Yeah, and if his neck did break, who knows what would've happpened?" I nodded.

"Well, he's probably gonna be awake in a few hours, anyway, so if you want to wait, you can," Stress said. That reminds me. "How long was I out for?" I asked. "About a day or so, love, why?" "Oh, shi-" I thought, but instead said, "No reason, just curious, that's all," "Okay... Well, feel free to go back to sleep, as he won't be up for a bit," I nodded. "Thanks, again, I'm really grateful about all of this," she hummed in response. "I'll be in there, in case you need me," She said, pointing to the room. "Okay, please tell me when he wakes up... thanks,"

I felt my consciousness fade away into the dreamless world of sleep again. This time, though, there was a dream, but it was more like a faded image, something that I could barely remember. It was grey, in the shape of an orb, and surrounded by an off-white spotlight. I reached out to touch it, and my hands felt a solid, cold surface, but at my touch, it warmed slightly. "What do I do with this?" I thought. Just then, another area of light popped up, this time golden, with an insert in the exact shape of the orb.

I tried many things before realizing: I was supposed to put the white orb in the hole. I placed the grey glass-like orb into the hole quickly after my realization, and a sort of video popped up. I felt drawn to it. I walked closer. "Scar, come play with me!" I knew that voice. "Coming G!" Past me said enthusiasticly. "Guma?" I thought, watching as the dream continued on. "Tag, you're it!" Past Guma yelled, running away from me. "I'm gonna get you!" Past me yelled. What was happening? "Noo!" Past Guma yelled playfully, chuckling. He was slightly older than me, and therefore slightly faster and taller.

"Darn you and your long legs, Guma!" Past me shouted, running after Guma. "Hehehe, the perks of being older are many to one!" Past Guma bragged, flaunting at my past self. I ran, about to tag him, when suddenly- "ahh!" Past me yelled, falling flat on their- my face. "Scar, are you okay?" Guma asked, running over. "Yeah, I think..." Past me said, standing up. "Tag, your it, hahaha!" Past me said, running away with a mischevious smile. "Oh no, you faker!" Past Guma said, chasing after past me.

I awoke, just as the memory ended. "Scar?" Stress asked, looking down at me. "Yeah?" I asked, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. "Grian's awake now, just so you know, love," She said, walking away to go get something in her big kitchen. I knocked on the door, before entering. "Hey, how are you feeling, Gri?" I said, sitting down. "Good, though my arm feels really weird... I haven't broken bones that often before, so this is a new feeling to me," I nodded in understanding. "Well, at least you're doing good, am I right?" It was his turn to nod. "Well, um, what do you wanna talk about?" He asked, breaking the tension.

"Hmm, what about... Yeah, nevermind, I have no ideas, sorry," He chuckled. "Okay, well, what about who you ship other Hermits with?" I thought about it. "Well, Xisuma doesn't like to be shipped, even though he very obviously likes Cub," "Yeah, hmm, what about Keralis and Ren? They're cute together!" "I guess. What about Tango and Bdubs?" We continued talking about it, ships that we shared, and ships that we didn't. We talked for quite some time, until finally, the question got asked.

"What about me, eh? Who do you ship me with?" I asked, earning a slight blush from the shorter man. "Well, promise me you won't laugh?" I nodded in agreement. "I kinda ship myself with you, Scar..." I turned a bright red in embarrassment. "Well, um, promise you won't laugh when I tell you who I ship you with?" He nodded as well. "I ship myself with you, too, Grian." We dually stared at the floor for a long time, both of us fiddling with our hands. Finally, Grian spoke, breaking the silence. "Well, I guess it's okay to do this, then?" He said, walking over and grabbing my face, pushing his lips against mine. "You're my everything, Scar," he said as we pulled apart for air. "You too, Grian..."

(Okay, quick note as I go through this and edit the bad parts: Grian's arm isn't better, he used his okay arm-)