"I thought you said he was okay physically?" Xisuma said as he arrived at the mansion. Ren and Iskall had taken the liberty of carrying Grian to the main room to make themselves easier to find.

"He was," Iskall said.

"Yeah, he just fainted." Ren agreed, glancing at the hermit they'd sat against the wall.

"When?" X asked, bending down to check Grian's pulse (which had calmed down considerably) and then his forehead.

"Like, 5 minutes ago." Ren replied.

"Ok, I'm going to take him back to my base. Can you go to town hall and wait for Etho, Doc and False to get back, and if they didn't find any danger you can tell everyone to go and get back to whatever they were doing before all this?" They both nodded and flew off, leaving a trail of smoke from their rockets. Xisuma picked up the light hermit and took off in the opposite direction. He would've taken the nether but wasn't sure if the sudden temperature change would have a bad effect on Grian.

He flew into the homeliest building of his jungle base and set up a small bed area in a spare room, planning on leaving the door open so that he would be able to see the sleeping gremlin from his seating area. He placed Grian in the bed just before his communicator vibrated.

<Iskall85> no dangers, everyone's left now

<Xisuma> great

He allowed himself a small sigh of relief.

He glanced down at the somewhat peaceful hermit before carefully taking his armour, elytra and inventory off him and putting it all in a chest to make for a more comfortable sleep. Now that he could see him in more detail, he looked quite tired.

Xisuma walked as quietly as he could out the room before sitting down and checking the main coding page to double check for any changes. Nothing. It looked as though all threats were definitely gone.

Now, there was nothing to do except wait for Grian to wake up.

***

Cub watched as the others took off after being allowed to leave. He went over to Iskall and Ren, who had told them briefly what had happened.

"Where's Xisuma now?" He asked.

"Uh, I think he took Grian back to his base." Ren said.

"Yeah, he did." Iskall confirmed.

"Do you think he'd mind if I stopped by?" Cub asked. They both shrugged.

"Probably not, as long as you don't get in the way of him doing stuff." Iskall said. Cub nodded before stepping into the town hall nether portal.

When he arrived, he searched a couple of buildings before finding the admin, sat on a yellow sofa that curved around in four sixths of a honeycomb hexagon. He was staring down at his communicator, but not seeming to do anything.

"Hello," he said, and the admin looked up. Sometimes it was difficult to tell whether there was a welcoming smile under his helmet or an annoyed frown. It always became clear when he spoke though.

"Hi Cub," it was a welcoming smile, "what can I do for you?"

"Nothing, actually I was wondering if there was anything I can do to help?" He said.

"I don't think there's anything to do. Grian's unconscious now and I'm waiting for him to wake up." Xisuma said, glancing to the open door through which he could just about see the said hermit laying down on a bed.

"What about Scar and Mumbo?" He asked.

"They should respawn tomorrow morning."

"Won't they spawn in the place, uh, Sam, took them?" It was a good point.

"No, I set their spawn back to default, so they'll arrive on spawn island. I'll tell you all when they're expected." Xisuma said.

"Oh, okay. Will they be okay?" All he could think of was what if Xisuma hadn't fixed everything. What if he never saw Scar again? Of course, he cared just as much for Mumbo, but he really didn't know what he'd do without the mayor.

"I don't know," he didn't like that answer, "they'll be fine physically, but, I mean, they were killed repeatedly before being killed what they probably thought to be permanently. No time will have passed for them since last dying since right now they are technically dead, so they won't have any memory, but still. We won't know how they'll be mentally until we see them."

Cub's heart broke slightly at the thought of Mumbo and Scar, tortured and scared. If Grian hadn't have already killed Sam, he would've. He nodded slightly, unable to find his words.

***

The next few hours passed in a haze of the occasional exchange of words and overall concern as they waited for Grian to wake up. A few people came by, Bdubs, Stress, Keralis (who told Xisuma to make sure he got some sleep that night, knowing the admin's habit of failing to take care of himself when other things came up) and Iskall, who'd decided to stay for a while.

The sun was beginning to set when they finally heard some shuffling in the next room.

"Thank god." Xisuma muttered. He'd been starting to worry after the first hour that Grian might take longer to wake up than anticipated. There were some light footsteps, signalling he was out of the bed, and a chest was opened. Xisuma stood up, and as he passed Iskall a hand touched his wrist asking for his attention.

"Talk quietly and be gentle with him, he was terrified earlier." The Swedish hermit said in a hushed voice. The admin nodded before resuming his walk.

"Grian?" He asked. Grian closed the chest and spun around, a sword in a shaky hand. "We're not going to hurt you," he started, "please put that down?" He said it in as softer voice as possible. Grian stared blankly at him. He wasn't going to let his guard down that easily.

"I promise I'll leave, please just let me get my stuff, I won't cause any more trouble, I'm sorry."

"Why are you leaving?" Xisuma asked.

"I... Mumbo and Scar, they're gone, and I let them die and I-" Grian looked like he wouldn't be able to continue for much longer anyway so X couldn't feel too guilty for interrupting him.

"They're not dead." He said, and his heart shattered at the disbelief and sorrow in Grian's face.

"But they are, I buried them and everything, they were stone cold, and it was my fault. I'm so sorry I let it happen to them." By this point tears were streaming down his cheeks. His heart shattered a million more times. He'd buried their bodies? Seeing that the sword had dropped my his side, Xisuma stepped forward and hugged him.

"Whatever happened, it was not your fault." He whispered to the smaller person in his arms.

"It was though, Sam warned me not to tell anyone about him and I did. I was so stupid." Grian cried.

They spent the next few minutes like that; Grian mumbling things into his chest while he started stroking through his hair.

"-- I'm- I'm sorry I let this happen. I don't even know why you're still here, I thought you'd hate me." Xisuma pulled away slightly and held Grian's shoulders, looking him in the eye.

"I will never hate you, and I'm certain I speak for everyone on the server when I say that no one here will ever, ever hate you." He spoke gently but with unquestionable certainty. Grian nodded slightly before the admin pulled him back into the hug.

After the small rambling session mixed in with a lot of tears and even more heart-shattering, Xisuma had a slightly better idea of what had happened and guilt was building up in him. He didn't realise quite how bad it had got while they'd all been locked away in a pretty, clean, safe, warm room. He wished he'd tried harder to let Grian know he was helping from behind the scenes.

After a while, Grian had calmed down and his breathing had evened out. He seemed a lot more welcoming to other words.

"Mumbo and Scar aren't dead." He said for the second time, hoping that Grian might believe him this time.

"Haven't you been listening? At all?" There was sudden anger in his voice and he was trying to pull away from the hug. "Sam stabbed Mumbo in the chest, then Scar in the stomach and cut about four inches up, and while he was bleeding to death he stabbed Mumbo again. They were on hardcore, I don't know if you fucking noticed," before he could say anything else and get more angry, Xisuma pulled him back into the hug.

"They're not dead, I switched them back to survival before they died." He said.

"Then where the fuck are they? How come their bodies didn't disappear while I was burying them?" He was starting to get angry again.

"I set them to respawn one day after dying, so that Sam wouldn't know I did anything." Grian looked up at him silently for a moment.

"I'm sorry for getting angry." He eventually said, resting his head back on his chest.

"You've been through a lot, don't apologise. I should've tried harder to let you know." Xisuma said, tightening his grip around the smaller hermit.

"They're really okay?" Grian asked.

"Yes, really." The admin smiled as he sensed immeasurable amounts of joy and relief flood the air.