"Ah! He's waking up!"

Scar could hear the faint voice of his assistant as his consciousness faded in and out, barely able to find the strength to open his eyes. His head was an aching mess, with the mayor barely able to recall what had happened. Why did he feel so weak? He tried to close his fingers into a fist, but even that took an excruciating amount of effort and energy.

Using every little bit of strength that he could muster, the terraformer managed to crack his eyes open ever-so-slightly. The people standing at the edge of his bed were blurry figures that he struggled to identify, though he knew that one of them had to be Bdubs.

"Good to see you up, Scar." Cub's voice spoke up, "You've been asleep for the whole day."

"Just rest," Xisuma chimed in, "no need to worry about anything. We don't want you pushing yourself, now do we?"

Someone took his hand, their palms icy cold. "I'll be here to care for you, my lovely mayor! Soon you'll be back to your full strength in no time!" Bdubs assured him, his voice soft and comforting.

Scar shut his eyes, unable to keep them open for much longer. He couldn't remember what had happened to leave him bedridden, everything was a blur that the terraformer couldn't make sense of.

"Might want to grab him a regeneration potion, that'll give him a bit of energy to talk. He must be exhausted." The admin spoke up before the sound of a cork popping could be heard. Someone gently opened Scar's mouth, pouring the liquid down his throat.

He swallowed the best he could, the faint aftertaste of a blend of berries resting on his tongue. A jolt of energy shot through the mayor as he did so, just enough to help him keep his eyes open. Scar blinked a few times to clear his vision, the silhouettes of the hermits surrounding him becoming clearer and clearer.

Bdubs was the first thing his attention was drawn to, with his normally-red band tied around his head now a light shade of blue. His eyes shared the same color as they sparkled with excitement, while the wings on his back flapping as fast as his heart beat.

The mayor's eyes slowly trailed down towards his hand, which his assistant was holding with his claw-like fingers intertwined with Scar's. He jumped, instantly pulling away from Bdubs as he almost fell out of bed.

"Y-you're a vex!" He shouted in horror, "Bdubs, what—"

"You did this to me!" The builder said happily with a grin that never faded.

"You used the last bit of your magic to turn me into a loyal subject! I know you probably don't remember much, but you won the war against the resistance using your vex powers! At first I didn't understand, but now I can see how you've improved all of our lives!"

Scar glanced towards Xisuma with his green eyes begging for help, only to find the same light blue color and wings that rested on his back. "Don't worry," the admin said calmly as he opened a floating screen. "I'll change your game code and mix it with the code of a vex, you'll have your powers back in no time."

"N-no! Please!" The mayor begged desperately, with the vex freezing instantly. He closed the screen, giving a slight nod.

"Of course. My apologies." Xisuma said, almost robotically. Cub laughed at the slightly perplexed look that had come across the terraformer's face, the enforcer crossing his arms as his blue eyes glowed.

"You created an army, these vexes of yours listen to any command you give them. You're not a mayor anymore, you're a king!" The pharaoh explained, which made Scar's heart sink. He had turned his friends into mindless servants, even Bdubs!

The mayor shook his head. "N-no, we gotta undo this. Cub, this is wrong!" He said, eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"Oh please," he scoffed. "I knew you were gonna be weak when you turned back, but this? You stopped the mycelium resistance, you won the war! Just enjoy the new world that you created because of it."

"Tell me what I did, tell me everything that I've done!" Scar said, directing the question towards Xisuma knowing that he would answer without hesitation.

The admin nodded. "You first gave HEP vex powers, then you captured the resistance and thew them all into the dungeons to begin re-educating them. After that you banned Grian to prevent his corruption from spreading, as well as Mumbo when he turned against HEP. You started the expansion of Aque town, tearing down all the shops to build the city, and now all of HEP is currently working on rounding up the last few hermits to turn into vexes."

He was stuck in a stunned silence, tears slowly flowing out of the mayor's eyes. He tried to speak, but all that managed to come out was a choked sob. "I-I knew it would be bad, but...Banning? Corruption? Re-education...? I...I really did all that...?"

"Awe," Bdubs cooed, "it was all for the greater good! Now hermitcraft will thrive under your rule, you'll lead us to a brighter future!"

"U-unban them! Bring back Mumbo and Grian!" Scar begged, all while breaking down in shaky sobs. "They didn't deserve it! I didn't mean to ban them! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

Xisuma opened a screen to follow his order, though he froze as Cub placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm alright with you staying like this, fully human, but you aren't going to bring those two back. They'll only cause trouble, even if they're mindless vexes."

"B-but—"

"C'mon, X. We've got a lot of work to do, between finding the rest of the hermits and finishing Aque. Bdubs, stay here and take care of Scar, won't you?"

The builder grinned, "Of course! Anything for my lovely mayor!"

"Good," he sighed, Cub then turning his attention towards the terraformer. "unlike them, I'm not some fool who will follow every order you give. I'm here to keep folks in line, including you. Step up and act like the mayor I know, or I'll make you."

With that, he turned and left the room, Xisuma following close behind the enforcer.

—

Bdubs lay in bed next to Scar, the mayor recovering from the loss of all his magic. He grinned, stroking his claws through the green-eyed hermit's hair. "Don't look so sad," he purred. "I'm here. I'll never leave you."

"You're just saying that because I brainwashed you." The terraformer said harshly while staring up at the ceiling, his eyes still filled with tears from the day before. He was still in disbelief of all that he had done, with no clue on how to fix anything.

"That's not true," he said, leaning in to gently litter kisses onto the mayor's neck. "I love you so much, I'll always be here to care for you."

Putting his hands in his face, Scar let out a groan. "You don't really love me! I bet this is just another twisted thing I did while I was a vex, make you imagine you've been madly in love with me! I'm a twisted and awful person, I know, but the fact that I'm forcing you to feel this way about me hurts more than anything else I've done!"

"Don't say that about yourself," Bdubs said quietly while brushing a bit of hair out of the mayor's face. "You are the greatest man I could have ever fallen in love with. I don't care if you think I'm doing this because you 'brainwashed me', but I really do love you. So, I'm going to stay here with you each day and night until you get better."

Scar couldn't help the fluttering in his heart or the blush across his cheeks, the builder's words sounded so truthful. "Y-you really mean it?" He asked with tear-filled eyes, Bdubs nodding as he wiped away the mayor's tears.

"I do, every single word. GoodtimeswithScar, I have been madly in love with you since the elections for mayor. I've been in love with you before all this started, and even if you tried, nothing could make me ever hate the most wonderful man in the world."

Scar fight back the tears that were undoubtedly crawling out of his eyes, the terraformer throwing his arms around his assistant. He hugged Bdubs between sobbing, the vex holding him while stroking the mayor's hair softly.

Neither spoke, both enjoying the comfort of being close to one another, before they eventually drifted off to sleep.