When the Dawn Breaks [TBAU]

☆ Chapter 10 ☆

TW: descriptions of death and mortality/borderline suicidal thoughts
Not super bad, but figured I'd put this here anyways.
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Impulse stared at the ceiling of his room in Xisuma's lodge, lost in thought. His bedsheets were made neatly underneath him and the fan above was spinning down to a stop slowly.

The get together that Xisuma had told him about was today. It was downstairs, directly below where Impulse was. He didn't know if he should go or not. Xisuma had told him that it would be a great way for him to get to know more of the hermits, but that there was no pressure whatsoever for him to go.

Impulse had told X that he would make an appearance. He didn't want to be a liar.

Except Bdubs might be there, and that could be problematic.

Bdubs was clearly very excited when he found out Impulse was a demon, and the last thing Impulse wanted was for the man to tell that to everyone else. Of course, Bdubs did promise not to, but Impulse didn't trust him. He barely knew Bdubs, how was he supposed to trust him?

But maybe it would be a good thing if Bdubs outed him. Impulse was, in technicality, a danger to the other hermits. His current mission was to collect three souls, and he could do that at any moment. If Bdubs told the others he was a demon, then they could kick him out of the town and they'd be safe.

Impulse would prefer to keep his new friends safe. In fact, it was selfish of him to stay in the first place.

The only problem was that he didn't have anywhere to go. When he'd first been banished, he'd wanted to stay with Skizz, but of course, his communication spell hadn't worked, and still didn't. If the hermits kicked him out, he was all alone in a world that hated him.

Impulse sighed. He could be selfish and keep this secret for a bit longer. His banishment was only three months after all. After that he'd just return to the nether, probably get scolded for not collecting the souls, and he'd be fine.

But for a brief moment, Impulse considered the possibility that he, in fact, would not be fine.

He hadn't really paid much attention to what the superiors had told him before his banishment. He remembered the "collect three souls" thing, but he also remembered them mentioning a consequence.

What was going to happen to him when he went back?

What if he never went back?

No, he would definitely go back. They'd told him three months for a reason, it was a time frame. Once it was up— Impulse gasped. Demon jail!

He groaned inwardly, that would be a nightmare. But then for a second, Impulse's mind wandered to another potential outcome. What if they killed him?

He wanted to laugh at himself for how stupid that sounded, but considering the superiors, how ruthless they were, it really wasn't implausible. It made sense, it did. Impulse didn't kill people, so they would kill him. An eye for an eye, or something like that. At least now he was fairly certain what was happening when he got back—

Oh gods.

It hit him, and he let it sink in.

They were going to kill him.

Impulse laughed in disbelief, in horror, in self-deprecation. He rolled onto his side and hugged his knees to his chest. How didn't he realize sooner?!

"I'm gonna die," he muttered to himself under his breath. "In three months— less than three months— I'm gonna die."