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It was quiet that night.
Dogwarts were in one of Comet’s temples, rummaging through the debris and the pillars to find anything they could on the Gods - and that maybe humanity and divinity could work together instead of fighting. Everyone was marveling at the scrolls and the stories - and Martyn was scoffing like he was hearing the world’s most exaggerated tales, like always. Dogwarts had already thought of him as someone who clearly doesn’t believe in God tales, but also kind of do. It was weird - he was weird. They’d established this.
Impulse though, is lingering behind.
He has one hand on the wall, one hand behind his back as he lets Dogwarts go ahead of him. He remembers telling them how his mum was one of Moon’s followers. He remembers withholding the information that he is one of Moon’s followers - that he is someone blessed, but not directly by her. He’d met one of Moon’s blessed mortals one day, a kind fellow named Bdubs, and something that could only be described as soulmate strings tied them together. They were inseparable in every form and every sense of the word; it was clear to the world that they were meant to last with each other.
Until, he disappeared.
Bdubs vanished; one night, he was floating around, doing his thing while Impulse was making food for the journey ahead, already planning of all the stops they were going to sightsee and all the wonders he was sure they were going to fall in love with, when suddenly, Impulse couldn’t find him anymore. It was as if the moonlight had called the blessed mortal to the Moon herself, and Impulse was just left behind. That was what Impulse would’ve believed…
…had he not felt the blessing slam into him instead.
He remembers sprinting out - full force, legs slamming against dirt as he raced to where Bdubs was, only to be forced to slam himself against a tree. Where Bdubs was happily floating now stood four men with their swords out, and Impulse’s blood ran cold just looking at the sight. Scattered moondust was lining the ground, and Bdubs… was nowhere to be seen, his red bandana on the ground being the only signal he was ever there.
Impulse remembered feeling sick to his stomach.
He also remembers joining those four men.
Etho, Skizz, BigB, Ren. His partners now, and the people he’s traveled with since.
A revenge plan can only hurt the same when they feel it from one of their own.
Impulse jolted back to reality when a voice sounded behind him, soft and light like a snowflake on a window.
“Impulse? Why aren’t you joining the others?”
He turned around. There stood Scott, the Stars-blessed mortal that very clearly needs more sleep, and maybe a cane. He’s standing almost upright now, tilting his head to the side in clear curiosity, one that Impulse can’t indulge him on.
Martyn and Scott were the two people they kind of just picked up from the side, and the two people that made all this so complicated - because they’re innocent. They’re two travelers that clearly seem like close friends - Impulse might even be bold enough to consider them lovers with how intimate they act, but they had no history with Dogwarts. They are, in essence, just two people wrapped up in shenanigans they don’t understand. And that’s the dangerous bit, because Impulse can’t bring himself to slay innocent people that had nothing to do with Bdubs, but then again, he knows Martyn’s grown attached to the group, and would likely enact revenge on Impulse if he finds Dogwarts fallen. All he’s been hoping for in the past few days is that Martyn just… leaves one day; maybe he gets bored on the way and just decides it isn’t worth sticking around, or something like that. Then, Impulse can deal with Dogwarts in peace.
A small cough shook him out of his thoughts though, and he realized he still hasn’t answered Scott’s question.
“I’m just kinda, you know, not feeling it tonight.” Impulse shrugged, keeping his voice as casual as possible, “Something about being in Comet’s temple is just tipping me off wrong.”
“Mmm.” Scott nodded, eyes scanning the area, “You don’t have a great history with Gods, right?”
“Hard pass.” Impulse replied, raising his hands up in an X formation just for emphasis, “I do like some of their tales, but I think they’ve grown detached from humanity in recent years. I mean, just look at how much calamity has been brought on the world. You can’t possibly look at that and think the Gods still care about us.”
Some parts of that was true, Impulse did think the Gods had disliked how humanity was turning out, but to say they were turning away was something completely off. He knows the Moon was still watching everything - as a blessed mortal, he knows that like a 6th sense - and he knows that the Gods still had faith in humanity. It was a strange thing to watch; like as if Gods worship humans more than humans worship Gods.
“I see,” Scott hummed, eyes twinkling in what looked like starlight. Guess that’s what Stars’ mortals are capable of, huh? Shining dimly, but if you know where to look, you’d see beauty encapsulated in pure essence. “Are you ever planning to tell them?”
Impulse bobbed his head in curiosity. “Tell who what?”
Scott folded his hands together, polite as ever, and elaborated. “Tell Dogwarts about your plan”
Impulse’s blood ran cold.
“Your plan,” Scott continued, lips curving upwards, “To betray them.”
~<>~
One moment, it was Impulse glancing behind his shoulder.
The next, it was him grabbing a sword and slamming Scott to a ruined wall, dust and small debris falling on both of them as Impulse held his weapon to Scott’s throat, his other hand pining the other to said wall. All of Dogwarts including Martyn had gone ahead of them, so there was no risk of them being caught like this. Plus, he’d known Dogwarts for longer than Scott has, so there’s a higher chance they’d trust his word more.
“What do you mean by that?”
Scott tilted his head curiously, as if his life wasn’t being threatened but… mildly inconvenienced. Still, he repeated.
“Your plan to betray Dogwarts. You want revenge for your soulmate, right?”
“How do you know that?”
“Because,” Scott hummed, angling his head slightly farther from the blade, only for Impulse to move it with him, “you were the only one who wasn’t loyal to Dogwarts.”
“What do you mean by—” Oh. Scott was a mortal blessed by Stars. And Stars, Impulse’s brain unhelpfully supplied, is the God of Love, Sacrifice, and most importantly, Loyalty.
Impulse cursed. Of course. Of course the mortal they ran into was heavily tied to Loyalty. See, Gods’ blessed mortals work a little differently than what many know of. Since they’re all mortals, they usually just carry one of the Gods’ primary virtue - for example, Bdubs was connected to the concept of Rest, which was one of Moon’s rarer known virtues aside from Death and Beauty. Curse Impulse’s luck, Scott must be one connected to Loyalty then, if he sensed the disloyalty so easily.
But why didn’t he call him out with Dogwarts around? It would’ve been a much more sensible choice to make; with Martyn backing him up and clear attachments to Stars, a rather passive God, Dogwarts would back him up too. It just made more sense that way, and Impulse had always gotten the impression that Scott was much smarter than he looked, so why? Was Impulse just wrong? Or was there something else he was missing?
Scott didn’t seem even slightly phased by the sword to his throat, twinkling blue eyes never leaving Impulse’s golden ones. Ever since Impulse ascended to being one of Moon’s blessed mortals, he was aligned with another one of her lesser known traits:
Vengeance.
Revenge against those who wronged her, revenge against those who misjudged her, revenge against those who took what’s hers away from her. And oh doesn’t that hit the jackpot of exactly what Impulse is looking for?
But Scott’s clearly different. A Stars-blessed mortal, clearly following the Loyalty path, must know what Moon’s whole thing is. Every Stars follower knows - Moon representing Revenge was because Stars left her originally, and she went on a murderous rampage trying to get her soulmate back. It was an obsession that was later known as the Season of the Crimson Moon, when the Moon was blood red for more than three months. But after the Fracturing and the establishing of the Crescent Moon, many no longer associated Moon with her mad revenge anymore.
“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t slay you right here.”
Impulse didn’t know why he said that, or why his hand was shaking so badly when he said it, but Scott didn’t relent. His eyes were downcast, like he was… saddened by the threat instead of, you know, being threatened.
“Impulse,” Scott started, and Impulse’s eyes were watering for reasons he couldn’t understand. He doesn’t know Scott. He has no emotional attachments to the guy. What was going on? Why was he getting so emotional and worked up for absolutely nothing? “Hey, look at me. I’m not gonna tell on you, nor am I going to tell you to back off.”
“Then what was the point of all this?” He snapped.
“The point of me confronting you,” Scott sighed, as if he was talking to a misbehaving child instead of a potential backstabber, “is just for a talk. I don’t want you to fall into the same mindset your God did.”
Fall into the same mindset. Not ‘make the same mistake’, not ‘hurt people undeserving of the hurt’; just… falling into the same mindset. Like what Moon did wasn’t betrayal, wasn’t obsession, just… a fragile state of mind; not a mistake.
For some reason, that hurt more than reprimand.
“See, I know someone who… wanted revenge, just like you.” Scott smiled, sincerity lacing his words like honey drizzle, and Impulse almost lowered his sword right then. What was this man? A siren? Or was Impulse just too emotionally vulnerable right now?
“That person was a wonderful man. Courageous, brilliant, bright and shining. Everything you’d want in a guy, honestly. But then, one day, catastrophe struck. His… lover was badly injured, almost fatally, and he’d only managed to save himself from the brink of destruction with a little lesser-known trick he’d learned a while back”
Scott’s voice was wispy, as if describing a small event, even though it clearly sounded like he was the lover here. What happened to him? What was Impulse excluded from knowing?
He continued. “That man, once known for Courage and Strength, broke. He… declared war on all those who dared to harm those he cared for, thus diving into a long, long war that only ended in calamity and destruction.”
Impulse stared. “And what happened after?”
“Well,” Scott smiled, eyes trailing upwards like he’s remembering something unseen by mortal eyes, “He found that War was meaningless and unending without Forgiveness. That it would just harm innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with war. And even if you just target a few selected individual, the domino effect would slam back to you, and an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Impulse was full-on shaking now. His sword had clattered to the ground since who knows when - all he could do was question it all.
“So what am I supposed to do?” He almost shouted, voice thundering in his head but coming out as a mere whisper to the world, “Just let them get away with their crimes? Bdubs would never rest easy if his murderers still walk - if I’m journeying with them.”
“Bdubs would want you to Rest,” Scott smiled, his light glowing with that familiar starlight again, “Bdubs would want you to let him go, for him to rest. You remember one of Moon’s sayings right?”
“That… nothing could truly die unless forgotten, and nothing could truly rest unless…”
“Unless?”
“Unless allowed to rest. Unless it’s let go…”
Scott smiled.
“That’s right”