Before you read: Team ZIT is purely a platonic-partner relationship. Thank you!
TW: Self-Harm, Injury, Pain, and Referencing Gore.

The group had come back and gone their separate ways a few days ago.

Maybe it started with a cut. Or a burn. Or skipping a few meals.

But it wasn't the same now.

Healing potion bottles lay shattered at his feet.

A ragged breath interrupted the silence. He tried to move but his limbs could barely move. He could at least smile though. He no longer felt the numbness that had once claimed him.

But then that spark came back. The spark that told him to get up. To live.

And he listened.

Tango hadn't expected a light knock on the door to his decked out base.

Nor had he excepted to see one of his platonic partners at his door, with tears in his eyes.

"Impy?" The blaze hybrid asked. He knew this wasn't right. Well, something with Impulse wasn't right. His face had sweat trickling down it and looked pale. Almost as pale as the snow that lined the inside of the icy area in Decked Out.

When Impulse didn't reply he ushered him in and propped him against the stone wall while furiously typing to Zed.

When Zedaph received a panic stricken message from Tango, he shot into the sky without a thought. His friends needed him.

Zedaph arrived at Decked Out a few minutes later. By the time he arrived, he could hear faint crying from inside. Entering the icy building, a chill ran down his spine. Not just because of the temperature, but because Impulse was curled into a ball with a worried Tango beside him.

"Impy, hey, Zed is here now," Tango tried to comfort his partner.

Zedaph rushed over and knelt beside Impulse. "I'm here now...you're ok." He continued to reassure and whisper sweet nothings to the trembling dwarf. "I- she- hand- hurts," Impulse squeaked out between his labored breaths. Tango and Zedaph shared a look. They didn't know what went down when Impulse, Cleo, and Pearl left, only that something had happened. Zedaph checked Impulse's hand and wrist and a thin pale scar had imprinted itself on his skin. Tango could only let his imagination run wild to the worst scenarios and Zedaph reassuringly squeezed his hand.

'Nothing is wrong physically with his hand... but he says it hurts? Phantom pains? I've heard of that if something is amputated.' Zedaph's thoughts raced and he sucked in a sharp breath as one potential conclusion stood out to him.

Impulse's breathing had slowed down as Tango held him, his blaze traits giving a slight warmth to the hermit. Zedaph didn't want to press Impulse so he settled for cuddling into Impulse's other side.

The stone wasn't that comfortable but none of the three males cared. They just basked in Tango's warmth as Impulse eventually fell asleep. Zedaph soon joined him, goat ears twitching. Tango internally cooed at the two before nestling into Impulse as a wave of protectiveness for the two flowed through him.

No one would hurt Zed and no one would hurt Impulse again. Not if he could stop it.

A/N: I now want to see fanart for the cuddles-! Anyways, this chapter has changed drastically from the original.
To clear up everything: Doc is alive, Impulse has new trauma, and Team ZIT is adorable <3.