"Impulse!" Gem called out, standing at the demon's door. She frowned and gave another knock when he didn't answer. No response. Well, she still wanted to drop off the goodies she brought for him, so she let herself in.

"Stress and I made cupcakes, so I've been bringing some around to everyone!" She called out excitedly, placing her box of treats on his counter. "Impulse?"

His house was silent, eerily empty.

Maybe he was still asleep? It was still a bit early, so she supposed it was reasonable. Gem made her way down the hallway and peeked into his room– no luck, it was empty. Then, she made her way through the door to the small study off his room– also empty.

Gem sighed. She guessed he just wasn't home right now, she'd have to find him later. She could probably leave a note with the cupcakes too, for when he found them. Gem started to leave the study, before noticing a cup of pencils that had been knocked over. She fixed it, righting the cup and collecting the pencils, grabbing one off an open journal.

The leather bound book caught her eye, the page it was open to filled with Impulse's messy handwriting.

With a curious hum, she grabbed the book, studying it. What kind of friend would Gem be if she didn't take this opportunity to snoop? It might have been private, but it didn't say not to look. And Impulse had left it out in the open anyways, she justified to herself, beginning to flip through it.

The notebook was relatively empty, only a few pages having been used. The first few pages had doodles and sketches of small redstone machines. They were all somewhat shaky drawings, but Gem didn't judge, not everyone had the most steady hand- Impulse definitely didn't.

After a few pages of sketches, the notebook got weird. The drawings dropped out entirely, replaced by writing entries. There were only a couple, each addressed to someone named Pearl at the top like a letter.

The first entry talked about a moth and watching and an assignment and souls. There were more names Gem hadn't heard before, Skizz and Grian, and in the letter Impulse was apologizing to them. He was apologizing for leaving them, that he had three months to collect... souls? "What?" Gem couldn't help but mumble a little under her breath in confusion. It ended on a positive note, though it was a little bittersweet. The next page after it had the word 'fuck' written in the center and nothing else.

The other note addressed to this Pearl figure was the one the book had been opened to when Gem discovered it. Impulse's handwriting on this page was scrambled and almost incomprehensible, but she was able to make out several apologies scratched onto the page, as well as sentences that said, 'It didn't work,' and 'I lied,' and 'I'm gonna die.'

Gem shut the book and held it to her chest, trying to process what she'd just read.

A part of Gem's brain tried to convince her not to be surprised by this. Impulse was a demon, of course he had disturbing secrets hidden in this journal about soul collecting assignments. The other part of Gem didn't care about that, only about the morbid implications of the first note and the utter distress in the second. Her heart hammered with concern.

She needed to find Impulse and get him to explain this, right away.

/ / / /

"Joe, I'm gonna need you to slow down, please," Cleo sighed, interrupting the fae's rambling. She moved to clear their cups off of the coffee table while Joe reassembled their thoughts into something more comprehensible.

Joe had been going on about soul magic nonsense for the past few days, and while Cleo barely understood what the fae was talking about, they had a hunch it had to do with a certain resident demon. It was just a theory though, there was a high likelihood that Joe just wanted to acquire a soul for shits and giggles.

"So, you know how there's all those imitation foods, like, I dunno, tofu?" Joe started again, this time speaking more slowly. Cleo hummed her understanding, though they had no idea where this point was going. "Tofu is similar to meat, but actually, it's a healthy alternative. I present to you, tofu souls!" Joe grinned and pushed their glasses up their nose as if anything they had said made sense.

"So like, you want to make someone a prosthetic soul?" Cleo replied, confusion in her eyes. "That doesn't seem particularly safe..." the zombie noted.

"No, moreso I want to fabricate a new soul out of alternative materials. I don't want to take and replace someone else's," Joe corrected.

"Good, because I don't want to have to help you learn necromancy if you accidentally kill someone," The zombie hummed sarcastically. Joe took a moment to laugh at the joke before getting back on topic.

"Anyways, I was thinking I could use a combination of light and illusion magic to make something that resembles a soul, because, well, it would be, uh, cool!" The fae floundered a little bit on their reasoning for their recent magic endeavor. Suspicious, Cleo thought.

The zombie shot a questioning gaze Joe's way. "Cool, huh? You want a new paperweight or something?" It was amusing the way Joe's mouth fell slightly agape. "Does all of this soul stuff have anything to do with Impulse, by chance? Demons like to collect souls I'm pretty sure."

Joe suddenly couldn't seem to meet Cleo's eyes. "Uhhhhm," Their voice went up a pitch as they tried to find an answer. "It maybe has a little bit to do with him. But don't tell him. Because, well, he sorta maybe told me to, stop, doing what I'm doing, but I want to surprise him." They ended with an apologetic smile.

Cleo raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure he'd be okay with it? I mean, if there was a reason he didn't want you to-"

"It's fine, Cleo, trust me," The fae interrupted in their reassuring voice- which was really less reassuring and more pretentious. After Cleo failed to hide an eyeroll, Joe lowered their tone a bit. "Listen, he didn't really tell me to stop, he was just... super dismissive about the whole thing. I just want to give this to him." Joe paused, and picked at the cushion of his armchair. "It's more his story to tell, but Impulse confided in me that he hasn't really collected souls before, and it puts him at a... um... a disadvantage, let's say. I figured that even if this doesn't actually help him, it might make him at least feel better..."

"Oh," Cleo managed to hum. Joe's presence in the room felt warmer, as their words settled in the air. "Then I'm sure he'll appreciate it," the zombie reached over to place a hand on Joe's arm, face relaxing into a gentle smile. Cleo, like the rest of the hermits, knew she had been treating Impulse like he was made of glass as of late. Given the scare Impulse had given some of the others after Keralis got hurt a while ago, Cleo knew he needed the support, and that the gift Joe was planning couldn't hurt.

"You should go talk to him about it," Cleo decided, their eyes excited. "I'm sure he'd love to watch you making one of the souls. He could even make one himself too, he does really pretty light magic, you know."

Joe was probably thinking that Impulse likely wouldn't want to accept it, if Cleo was reading their wary eyes right. However, they were quick to blink back that thought, a grin sneaking onto their face. Joe got up from their chair, as did Cleo.

Cleo chuckled out a tease. "Now get out of my house already, tea time's over!"

The fae laughed, the tease easily rolling off their shoulders. "Okay, okay," Joe smiled, and made their way out, the breeze outside rushing in through the open door to fill the space when they left.

/ / / /

A soft, rhythmic thunking sound filled the air, Etho's tails hitting the coffee shop barstool as they swung around happily. The morning sun on his back and the cup of cocoa in his hands were comfortably warm. The other hermits had been chiding him from time to time about drinking cocoa in the summer, but he couldn't care less. The drink seemed to taste sweeter, as of late.

He knew, of course, that nothing had changed about the chocolatey beverage, but he couldn't help but appreciate it just a little bit more.

This summer had been pretty terrible, but at the same time, wondrous. Mask pushed down to his chin, Etho took a sip of his drink, remembering when Beef had made it for him when he was at his lowest. Etho wasn't sure he had the words to describe how the bull hybrid's kind gesture had made his weeks of stress just... dissipate, if only for a little while. And now, the summer was fading into fall, and he didn't feel nearly as awful anymore.

The kitsune gazed across the open air cafe to where Keralis was leaning over the counter to chat with xB, a couple coffees sitting between them. Etho was happy to see Keralis up and about, after the wide eyed man's injury. He hadn't been there when it had happened, but he knew from the others that it hadn't been pretty.

Keralis didn't seem to be having any trouble bouncing back though, Etho thought, as he overheard the man make a silly, flirting comment that made xB flush bright red.

"Refill?" Bdubs asked Etho from behind the counter, as the other two giggled with each other. The phantom hybrid motioned towards Etho's almost empty cup, and Etho pushed it towards him with a quiet, "Yes, thanks."

"Quiet day, huh?" Etho hummed casually when Bdubs returned with his drink topped off. There were only the four of them there, when there were usually a lot more hermits here in the mornings.

"Yeah," Bdubs pulled over a stool from somewhere behind the counter to sit down for a second, facing Etho. "Impulse isn't here to ask for fifteen shots of espresso!" Bdubs chuckled; Impulse was the coffee shop's most frequent customer at this point, so no wonder it felt quiet without him.

"Yeah, maybe he's finally decided to recover from his caffeine addiction," Etho added, though he doubted he wouldn't see Impulse back at the stand tomorrow morning. Bdubs stifled some more laughs at the comment. "Maybe!"

Now that he was thinking about it, it was kind of weird that Impulse wasn't here this morning. Etho suspected it was probably because the coffee stand had only just re-opened, or maybe because the demon had slept in or had some other commitment this morning. Though, as far as Etho knew, Impulse came to the coffee shop every day, so it was strange he hadn't shown up. Maybe something was wrong–

Etho cut his thoughts off with a deep breath. It wasn't worth getting paranoid about nothing all over again. Sometimes it was hard not to be anxious about the newest hermits, Impulse and Gem, still unfamiliar even though they'd been here for months. But, Impulse not getting coffee one morning surely wasn't anything to worry about, he told himself.

Across the counter from him, Bdubs had started rambling about his beloved horses, and how he was planning to clean out their stables later today. Etho made the effort to give Bdubs more attention than usual, mostly to keep his mind from falling into paranoia like it liked to.

Out of the corner of his eye, Etho saw Joe approaching the coffee stand, their translucent wings bobbing as they walked along the path.

Keralis stepped away from his conversation with xB, giving a wave. "Good morning, Joe! Can I get you anythings?" He asked as the fae slowed to a stop in front of the shop. Joe didn't answer right away, face pulling into a frown for a brief second.

"Not right now, thanks!" Joe's frown disappeared, replaced by a cheery smile. "I was just looking for Impulse, I figured he'd be here. I'll check by his house," they decided, unfazed. "See y'all later!"

Keralis smiled and called out a farewell, returning to his conversation with xB as Joe turned and headed off.

Etho's eyes trailed after the fae as they left. Why wasn't Impulse here? Should he be worried about this? Something uncomfortable squirmed into his breathing. For all Etho knew, Impulse could be the awful person that his unconscious brain kept making him out to be. Maybe, the demon had finally decided he hated them all, and he never wanted to hang out with them again, or something worse.

He knew it was all unreasonable, but there was something unnerving about this that he couldn't shake. Though, at the same time, Etho knew that, deep down, he was making all of this up. That his head was playing tricks on him.

"Hey? Etho?" A hand waved in front of the kitsune's face, snapping him to attention. "You there?"

In front of him, Bdubs frowned in concern, and a bit of mock irritation.

"Yeah, sorry," Etho sighed. "I spaced out."

"Don't apologize, happens to the best of us," Bdubs laughed, and leaned his chin into his hands. He gave Etho about a millisecond of silence before he launched into another tale about his horses, full of way more drama and detail than was necessary.

Meanwhile, Etho took another sip of his cocoa and stilled his breathing. He'd done enough worrying already. He didn't need to do any more. Maybe the fresh autumn breeze meant everything was going to be okay.

/ / / /

As much as Tango longed to stay curled up under his covers forever, he couldn't escape the encroaching day. He sat up in bed and shrugged his blankets off his shoulders, blinking in the late morning light. This might have been the best night's sleep he'd gotten in a while, he thought, stretching his arms above his head.

Though, as he pulled himself from bed and got dressed, his mind dwelled on the night before.

He hazily remembered Impulse taking him home, when he'd inevitably drifted off under the stars. To be honest, Tango had expected to wake up leaned against that wall with a crick in his neck, like he had the last few times he'd gone out there after dark. But instead, he was home, thanks to Impulse, the sweet demon he was.

Tango made himself breakfast and plunked down at his table, pulling over some redstone components to fiddle with while he ate.

He wondered if Impulse was doing alright. The demon had seemed so frazzled last night when he had first shown up. Tango hoped that he'd been able to distract Impulse from whatever had been troubling him. He hoped. He couldn't seem to shake Impulse's image out of his head, his friend's exhausted, bloodshot eyes and shaky stance seemingly glued to the back of his eyelids.

In fact, he also couldn't seem to shake off the feeling that something was different this time. Something had felt wrong, but he couldn't place what it was.

Tango didn't know if he was remembering it clearly or not– he was half asleep after all –but he was sure Impulse had been talking to him right as he drifted off. He cursed his past self for not staying awake long enough to listen well, and tried to recall what he had heard. It was all a bit hazy, if he was being honest.

He cleared his breakfast dishes, leaving them in the sink to wash later.

For a while, he stayed standing in the kitchen, just staring into space. What was it that Impulse had said? Tango racked his brain, trying to find something. "Death," he said aloud to himself all of a sudden. That was it! Impulse had been talking about dying and death and– oh. Oh, shit.

With a deep breath, Tango steadied himself against the kitchen counter, feeling like he couldn't stand on his own. He didn't like the implications of whatever Impulse had told him last night. "Maybe, maybe it's fine," Tango reassured himself, though the squeaking in his voice didn't feel very reassuring at all. "It's probably fine. He was probably just talking about death as in, I don't know, bugs dying, or weeds dying. Or how we all die when we get old and not now."

He could've been talking about how stars die, like in that book Tango had been reading. He could've been talking about how starlight takes billions and billions of years to reach across the universe, so that by the time you saw it those stars were already long dead, and that looking at the night sky is like looking at the world's most beautiful graveyard.

He could've been. But the demon's voice echoed in the back of Tango's head, whispering things he'd said weeks ago, things Tango had tried to forget. 'It would be better if I just didn't exist' and 'I don't really know what the world's still keeping me around for, you know?'

But Impulse was doing better, he was doing better than before, wasn't he? At least, Tango thought he was.

In reality, Tango had probably missed all of the warning signs, and he was only realizing it now, and Impulse's happy demeanor these last few days had been all Tango's imagination, and he'd been completely ignorant when Impulse needed help the most and void above– Of course he had to go and fall asleep at that moment.

Tango wrung out his hands, stress twisting his stomach into a slithering, rumbling, angry knot. A sound came from outside. He didn't have the space in his mind to identify it, going through all of his recent interactions with Impulse three times over. Maybe he was overthinking this, but oh void what if he wasn't overthinking this? The sound came again– a gentle, thudding, knocking noise.

The click and creak of his front door opening in the next room came after. "Tango? You home?" Someone called. The voice unmistakably belonged to Stress.

Tango felt like he was trudging through rotten sludge as he forced himself to move his feet from where they'd been rooted to the spot.

"Gem an' me were doin' some baking earlier, an' now we're bringing ef'ryone cupcakes!" Stress continued from the other room, her voice bright and cheery. Tango stepped out to meet her on shaky legs, mumbling a quiet 'oh' under his breath. The butterfly hybrid held a small box in her arms with an upbeat expression, though her brow dropped almost imperceptibly in concern when she saw Tango.

"Heh–That's nice of you guys," Tango managed, an unsteadiness invading his voice. "I think I'll have to- eh- pass for now." His stomach was still roiling, and he didn't think he'd be able to keep anything down.

"Ah, no worries!" Stress paused for a moment, looking him up and down. "Is ef'ry'fing alright Tango?"

No. No, everything wasn't alright at all. Impulse, Impulse, Impulse. Tango had listened to the demon talking about dying and he hadn't done anything. And he hadn't done anything. And he hadn't done anything. AND HE HADN'T DONE ANYTHING.

And Stress had her lips pursed and her eyes squinted in sweet concern, and Tango felt like his heart was burning a hole through his ribs in panic, and his guts were made of snakes. "I think I messed up. I think I really messed up." Tango choked.

"I have this bad feeling and I- heh- I," He stared a hole into the hybrid in front of him.

"I need to find Impulse."

Stress, the angel that she was, didn't question him. "Okay. ...Gem was just bringing cupcakes over to him an' Zed. We'll go see if they're at his house, yeah?" She offered, her gaze still full of worry.

Tango managed a nod. "I need to find him." He repeated, voice cracking and squeaky.

"Alright love, let's go find him then," The butterfly placed a hand on his shoulder, leading him outside. "Try and take some deep breaths, okay? You got it."

Tango took her advice and worked to slow his panting breaths. She closed his front door and walked him down the front steps. For a moment, Tango squeezed his eyes shut, knowing deep down this was probably all in his head, and that Impulse was just fine. They were going to go to his house and he would be there, chatting happily with Gem about the cupcakes.

He opened his eyes in time to catch Scar hurrying down the path in front of them, his hands cupped to his chest and his hair whipping behind him.

Stress suppressed a giggle. "Someone's in a hurry," she said as Scar disappeared around the corner. "Come on, let's go," she prompted Tango, and they started off down the path, in much less of a hurry themselves.

Maybe it would be just fine. But then again, maybe Impulse was like a star. And maybe Tango was just a couple of lightyears too late.

/ / / /

"And that's why you are the fishiest of all fishes!" Keralis declared with a disgruntled huff, having finished recounting his Princess' latest offense of card game cheating. Across the counter from him, xB hid his head in his hands with a low chuckle.

"I never cheated!" He argued in a whiney pitch when he lifted his head up again. Of course, Keralis knew xB hadn't really cheated, but he could never pass up a chance to mess with the guardian hybrid. The pouty face that xB always made was priceless! "You did too!"

Before xB could retort again, the scuffling of approaching footsteps stole his and Keralis' attention. They both turned to see Scar slowing to a stop from a run, the vex letting out a few wheezing breaths as he did. His hands were held close to his chest.

"Good morning!" Keralis straightened up where he sat, flashing a friendly smile that Scar did not return. Instead, a frown seeped into the vex's features. He didn't respond, gaze sweeping the coffee shop furiously.

"He's not here. Of course he's not here," Scar mumbled under his breath, sounding exhausted and almost angry.

Keralis rose from the stool he'd been sitting on with concern. "Hmm? Everything alright Scar?" He wrinkled his nose a little. Scar smelled like watcher magic.

"Yes? No? Maybe?" Scar was quick to reply, tripping over his words as he spoke. "Was Impulse here earlier at all?" He shifted back and forth on his feet, a deep worry swirling in his emerald eyes. No, Impulse had not been here earlier. Keralis was starting to think the demon's absence this morning may be cause for concern.

"I haven't seen him this morning," Bdubs answered Scar from the other end of the stall. "Joe came by looking for him a little while ago too, they headed over to his house I think." While Bdubs' voice was calm and level, Keralis could see him fidgeting.

"Why was– actually, nevermind, I should just..." Scar trailed from racing words to racing breaths. The vex stared down at his hands, cupped together and shaky. "I'm gonna go find him. And maybe Cub too. I'm gonna go find them and it'll all be fine," he said decidedly, head jerking back up to the others.

"Scar–" Etho peeped from his stool. His eyes were wide enough to rival Bdubs' saucer-like ones.

"Sorry, I'm just gonna go," Scar rushed, interrupting Etho before he could hear his input to any of this. He held his hands back up to his chest and started running off without so much as a goodbye. A jog turned into a sprint, and with that, Mr. Goodtimes had left.

The four at the coffee stand remained quiet for a few moments, processing the interaction. xB was first to break the silence, "That was–"

"He was holding Impulse's moth. He had Fuzzy." Etho blurted out before xB could finish speaking. The other three shared a collective gasp. Keralis realized Etho had been at the right angle to see whatever Scar had been holding in his strangely cupped hands, while he had not been. With a muttering of "that can't be good," from Bdubs, the others started talking about what that could mean, uncertainty and worry in all of their voices.

To Keralis, their discussion droned in the background. Impulse and Fuzzy being apart was definitely cause for worry if Impulse's absence this morning wasn't already. The pet had never left his side since he'd gotten it. Keralis could feel his heart rate increasing with worry. He took a deep breath, reminding himself he could do something about this.

Keralis poked his tongue out. While Scar and Joe were looking for Impulse on foot, he could look for the demon remotely. Impulse's magic tasted like lemonade, particularly sour lemonade if the demon was in a bad mood. Keralis searched for the flavor, doing his best to ignore the overwhelming wave of blueberry that Etho always had surrounding him, as well as xB's salt water taste and Bdubs' earthy scent, which were more heightened than usual. Keralis pushed past them.

He searched the village, making wider and wider sweeps. He used his nose too, trying to pick up any trace of lemonade and roast meat and marshmallow and minerals. Instead, a sudden, awful bitterness made him shake his shoulders in disgust. It made his stomach turn uncomfortably, as it took over every other taste and scent around him.

Despite its terrible flavor, Keralis stuck his tongue out further, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. The bitterness felt more like emotion than magic, he decided, sensing it was on the east side of the village, right near Impulse's house. And while it may have started there, it was spreading like fog now, stretching across everything in sight. It tasted like grief.

And the grief was mixed with sea salt and marigolds– Gem. And there was no trace of lemonade.

Keralis pulled his tongue in and shut his mouth with a click. In an instant, he felt like he was underwater, as if the whole world was fading out of view.

"Keralis?" The sound of Bdubs' voice was distant. Grief? Grief? Keralis hadn't tasted grief in a very, very long time. "Hey, Papa K?" There simply wasn't a place for that kind of sadness in Hermit Village. It was sickening to taste. "K?"

A hand in front of his face brought him somewhat back. Enough to tune in to the others a little more.

"I think we all know something's up at this point," Bdubs decided, addressing the group. Yeah, something was a lot more than 'up'. Impulse was gone. Lemonade replaced by mold.

"Something bad. I don't know what, but... yeah..." Etho added, though he trailed off into indecipherable mumbles. The kitsune tucked his tails under the barstool he sat in.

Bdubs planted both his hands on the counter, putting on a serious expression. "One of us should go look for Impulse too. He's gotta be here somewhere, and with whatever's going on I think we need to find him–"

"I'll go." Keralis interrupted, breaking through the fog in his head enough to speak. Before the others could respond, he'd already taken off the apron he wore at the coffee shop, hanging it on its designated hook.

From where he sat, Etho looked up and gave a small nod, before returning to his hunched position with nothing more than, "okay." Bdubs and xB echoed the sentiment, neither willing to argue with Keralis. Somewhere inside, Keralis could sense none of them wanted to go looking.

"I'll check his house," Keralis left the kitchen area of the coffee stand, looping around to the front.

"He'll be okay," xB declared after a beat of silence, not quite confidently enough. Etho and Bdubs smiled weakly at the statement. Keralis didn't, hurrying down the path without a farewell. He wished he had.

The little coffee shop fell out of view quickly.

He could still feel that tremendous grief in the pit of his stomach. It only got stronger and stronger the closer he got to Impulse's house. The walk gave him a moment to think, at the very least. In Keralis' mind, the distinct lack of lemonade, Impulse's presence in the village, could mean one of two things.

One: Impulse left. The demon had packed up his things and hightailed it, set out for a new destination. Something had spurred him to leave, though what it was, the Hermits would only be able to speculate.

Two: Keralis didn't want to think about the second thing. He didn't want to think about the friendly demon not even being alive right now.

A few more turns had the clean walls and playful yard of Impulse's house appearing around a corner. The first observation Keralis made was that there was a multitude of hermits gathered around the demon's front steps. Stress and Tango stood off to one side, scarily silent, and next to them, Scar and Cub talked with each other, both in different stages of distress. Gem stood on the front steps, Joe feebly attempting to console her while tears welled in her eyes.

Keralis slowed, in both his walking and his thoughts. Impulse couldn't really be gone, could he? His hand brushed over an azalea bush he'd planted with Impy and Bdubs just a few weeks ago. A breath came out as little more than a strangled squeak.

Some of the others turned to Keralis, alerted to his presence. And, oh stars, the others were all staring at him, but he only had eyes for Gem and her broken, glassy expression. Her antlers didn't make her look tall anymore, and her doe eyes didn't sparkle like they usually did. She smelled like mold, and Keralis hated that.

Without thinking, he moved in front of her, an utterance of her name leaving him in a whisper. "Gem?"

Unable to hold back any longer, Gem shuddered, and began to sob.

/ / / /

Living in Hermit Village, Joe had learned to expect the unexpected. Or, more accurately, to be impartial to the unexpected. The hermits were a unique breed of chaotic that led to the strangest of situations on the daily. Joe didn't need to bat an eye at any of it, for the most part.

But some things, they'd come to realize, were somewhere beyond unexpected.

Joe stumbled back, nearly running into Gem on the front steps of Impulse's house. She'd flung the door open just as they were about to knock; it's a miracle she didn't hit them, to be honest. Curiously, Gem's eyes were wide and worried, and she clutched a leatherbound notebook in her arms as if her life depended on it.

Before figuring out what was going on, Joe attempted to give a cheery greeting, "Howdy, Gem–"

"Hey, Joe, Hi, have you seen Impulse?" Gem seemed out of breath. Joe didn't think they'd heard a tone more serious from the deer hybrid either. "I was looking for him, and he's not home, and I found this- void- I found this book and I don't know what it means."

Joe waited for Gem to trail off before answering. "I haven't seen him this morning, but I'm sure he's somewhere." What a coincidence that both of them happened to be looking for the same guy! Joe was looking for Impulse, Gem was looking for Impulse, and Gem was worried and... maybe Joe should be too.

"Wait, I bet he's at the coffee shop, he's always there in the morning," Gem reasoned, her eyes lighting up a bit. Joe winced at her enthusiasm, shaking their head no. "He's not, I was just over there," they noted.

"Um, gosh, okay, it's fine. Weird, but he's still gotta be here somewhere. I gotta find him so he can explain what the hell all of this means," She gestured to the book in her hands. Joe held a hand out, a curious expression silently asking if they could take a look. Gem willingly handed it over, a bit too quickly, as if she really wanted to get it away from her.

Joe opened the book silently, flipping through the pages of drawings and skimming through the entries in Impulse's handwriting.

For a moment, Joe's mind went back to yesterday. They'd talked to Impulse after the town meeting, to let the demon know of their progress on finding a way to collect souls. Impulse had been clear that he wasn't interested in the notion anymore, and, at the time, Joe had wondered if it was because of the significant lack of progress that had been made. "Maybe you should just give it up," he had said. Now, Joe wondered if Impulse had been dismissive simply because it was far too late.

Joe flipped back a couple pages. 'I have to collect three souls, and I've got three months to do it.' They stared at that statement, as if it would fade from the page if they stopped looking. Impulse had to collect three souls. And he had three months to do it.

The demon had lived here for almost ninety-two days. Three months. Joe didn't think their fancy light trick was going to help Impulse anymore.

One thing beyond expected was this. This omen that Joe couldn't read as anything but death. They swallowed thickly and shut the book, holding it tightly.

"Gem, I don't think he's here."

/ / / /

The gentle sound of running water filled the room. Scar sighed and took a deep breath of the fresh air let in by the opened window over his sink. He was washing dishes from his late breakfast while, behind him, Jellie played with dustbunnies under the cabinets.

Putting a plate to the side, Scar yawned. He was pretty tired from yesterday, and the feeling didn't seem like it was going to go away. To be fair, he had gardened and gone horse riding with the other hermits, both pretty tiring activities. Not to mention that his horse, Cowuu, had been acting particularly feisty. But yesterday had still been very fun, regardless.

Scar finished washing the dishes and shut off the water. He turned and leaned against the sink, idly watching as Jellie scampered around on the tile floor. The cat wiggled her tail back and forth and batted around. Leaning forward curiously, Scar realized she wasn't chasing a dustbunny anymore, but rather a fluttering insect that had gotten into the house.

Though at first he hadn't thought anything of it, Scar jolted forward when he recognized the patterns on the insect's wings. "Hey!" He grabbed Jellie, an arm under her stomach, and redirected her away. The bug, a big brown moth, remained on the floor.

Scar let out a sigh once he'd gotten Jellie away. He was probably wrong, but, for a split second he'd thought the moth was Impulse's watcher-eye moth, and he didn't know what he'd have done if Jellie had eaten her.

But it couldn't have been Impulse's, since the pet moth never left his side. It wasn't allowed to, technically. Well, Scar reasoned, it was still good that he'd stopped Jellie because she always got sick when she ate bugs, and she did that more often than Scar liked.

Scar turned and cooed at Jellie a little bit before reprimanding her for her totally unacceptable insect eating behavior. The cat gave a disgruntled mew in response.

Behind him, the moth picked itself up off the ground and started fluttering towards the window. Or, at least, Scar thought it was before it flew right into his face. "Aaah!" Scar stumbled back and batted at the air in front of his face. "The window's that way!" He pointed towards the open window as if the moth would understand his direction.

The bug, of course, did not understand or even perceive his direction, flying through the room frantically for a couple more seconds before landing on the counter. There, it proceeded to walk about in tiny, spiraling circles, almost as if it were pacing.

Scar groaned, preparing to catch the stupid moth and bring it outside himself. He snuck up to the counter and grabbed a cup, ready to trap it underneath. The moth stopped circling and seemed to stare directly at him. Scar held his breath.

In their insect vs man staring contest, Scar realized that maybe he was wrong about this moth not being Impulse's.

It had all the right markings and colors, it had the strange eye patterns on each wing, and it even had the same annoying, stubborn attitude that an insect shouldn't be able to have. But if this was Fuzzy, Impulse's moth, then where was Impulse?

"You're little Fuzzy-wuzzy, huh?" Scar asked the moth, getting confirmation via a happy looking spin. He sighed. It was definitely her then. Great. "You know you're not allowed to leave Impulse's side, ma'am," he scolded. The vex deal he'd made ages ago was still in play. And even though it was really only made for Xisuma's comfort, since the mayor hadn't appreciated having a watcher's eye in the village, Scar probably shouldn't let this slide.

"Did you and Impy get separated?" he asked, even though the insect couldn't answer. It might not have been her fault, and maybe Impulse was close by.

Scar took a moment to step towards his open window and poke his head out. He scanned the surrounding area for Impulse, assuming the demon was around. Ah, unlucky, Impulse wasn't nearby, or at least not obviously nearby.

"Let's go find him and get this sorted out," Scar decided. He'd probably just let off Impulse with a warning this time, and as long as he didn't lose Fuzzy again, everything would be dandy. However, before Scar could scoop Fuzzy into his hands, the moth flapped her wings vigorously, seemingly distressed over something.

Scar picked her up anyway. "Is everything okay?" The insect didn't have a response for him, of course. Scar floundered for words for a moment, letting out a few broken syllables before remembering how to speak again. "Wait, wait, um, flap your wings for 'yes' and do a spin for 'no'!" he exclaimed, having found a way for the watcher's eye to answer yes or no questions.

"Now, is everything okay?" he asked again worriedly. The question was answered with a spin, a slow circle in place. That only served to make Scar more worried. "Do you know where Impulse is?" He was a little more hesitant with his question this time. Another circle.

"Well then, looks like we have a task on our hands," Scar remarked. After double checking that he'd finished cleaning up his breakfast dishes, he headed towards the door, ready to go search for the town demon.

Before he could step outside, Jellie let out a long meow and circled around his legs. "Sorry ma'am, you've gotta stay home!" Scar nudged Jellie back inside, much to the cat's complaints. While Jellie was usually allowed to follow him around if she wanted, Scar could tell she really just wanted to eat the moth in his hands. There would be no Fuzzy eating today!

With Jellie and Fuzzy a safe distance apart, Scar could focus solely on finding Impulse. If he was to be honest, concern was starting to seep in about the demon's whereabouts. Snippets from their conversation a couple weeks ago, the one where Impulse had said all those terrible things about himself, were sneaking into the forefront of his mind. There was an uncomfortable feeling in Scar's gut that Impulse might not be easy to find.

But he didn't let that deter him. He was part of the Demon Protection Squad for a reason, after all! The mock club hadn't had a meeting in a while, but it's goal still stood strong.

There was one place where Scar knew Impulse was most likely to be in the mornings, and it only made sense to check there first: the coffee shop.

However, as Scar reached the little stand run by Keralis and Bdubs, he realized his gut feeling might have been right. Impulse wasn't there. The stool where he usually sat drinking something either way too caffeinated or way to sugary was empty. Scar hoped his palms weren't sweating too much for poor Fuzzy, who was sitting there.

Scar didn't stay and chat at the coffee shop.

There was a greater urgency in his step now. Maybe he was being anxious over nothing, but that thought didn't stop him from picking up the pace.

Not only was Scar worried about Impulse, he was also worried about the vex deal he'd made. And it definitely wasn't because he couldn't remember the stipulations. No, not at all. He figured out of everyone, Cub, his fellow vex, would be able to help him sort out the deal, so Scar kept an eye out for him as well as Impulse as he made his way down the streets.

A stressed sigh forced it's way out before Scar could stop it. Everything just seemed to be spinning around in his head like it was never going to stop. Impulse, the deal, Fuzzy, Impulse.

Void, it wasn't like Impulse was halfway across the world. He was probably just at his house and all of this was a misunderstanding. Impulse better be at his house, Scar thought, the words sounding almost threatening in his head. Scar continued heading in the direction of the demon's place. It was a good thing he knew the way, since he was too caught in his mind to pay very much attention to his feet.

So caught up in his swirling thoughts, in fact, that he crashed headfirst into another hermit on the path. Fuzzy fluttered out of his hand to avoid the collision, and landed back on his shoulder when he pulled himself off the ground. Just as Scar was about to start apologizing profusely, he saw which hermit he had just practically fallen on top of.

"Cub!" It wasn't Impulse, but Scar could really use Cub's help. "It's you, perfect! I need your help," Scar blurted before his fellow vex could get in a greeting.

"Oh, okay." Cub brushed dirt off his lab coat, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. "Is everything alright-"

Scar interrupted him, feeling like his thoughts and his words were going a million miles per hour. "I think I messed up a vex deal! I need to find Impulse, because it was with him- well no, it wasn't really with him, it just involved him. It was with Fuzzy, his moth, she's a watcher, and-"

"Woah, slow down there, Scar." Cub's hands hovered at Scar's shoulders, but didn't take them. The ravenette glanced curiously at Fuzzy for a second, but was quick to redirect his attention back to Scar. Staring into Cub's gentle eyes, Scar took a few deep breaths, calming himself down.

"I'm sure I can help you sort out the deal," Cub smiled. "It'll be easy to call off. Let's focus on finding Impulse right now, huh?" He held out a hand and beckoned Fuzzy over to him. The moth glided over willingly and landed in his open palm.

Scar couldn't tell if Cub's collected expression was making him less anxious or more.

After studying Fuzzy for a moment, Cub continued. "It's not like Impulse is on the moon, he's probably close by. I bet you know where he is, Fuzzy. He's here, somewhere in the village, and we'll find him. Isn't that right?"

In response, the moth maneuvered in a tight circle, tiny feet whisking across Cub's hand. "Aww, I bet that's a yes," Cub's eyes lit up as he spoke, but Scar's got dimmer. The weight in his chest seemed solid and firm.

"Flap your wings for 'yes' and do a spin for 'no!'"

"Cub..." Scar's voice wavered. But before he could speak, Cub had already turned on his heel and was waving for Scar to follow him. His fellow vex didn't wait for him, taking off on his own search for Impulse.

Scar, of course, ran after him, dread gnawing through every inch of his intestines. Impulse was not here. The demon was not even in the village. He was almost out of breath by the mtime he dragged Cub to a stop. The two ended up across the street from Impulse's house.

"Cub," panic swelled in Scar's voice like a dam had broken. "Fuzzy did a spin. A spin means no."

/ / / /

Zedaph pulled his curtains shut, a spike of pain traveling through his head. Having a headache in the morning was always the exact opposite of fun. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes; the darkness provided by shutting the curtains had given them a little bit of relief, at least.

It was probably because he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. By the wrong side, he meant the right side. Because the right side of his bed was the wrong side, and the left side of his bed was the right side. Of course, it had been ages since Zed had done that silly little experiment –where he'd painted one wall red and the other green and tracked which side he got out of in the morning– but he still remembered the designations. (And he remembered how Tango could not differentiate his left and his right if his life depended on it.)

Speaking of paint, Zed thought while carefully laying down on his couch, maybe he should repaint his room soon, as he hadn't done a great job last time he painted it over pink. He propped his feet up on the arm of the couch and set his half-lidded gaze on the ceiling.

If this damned migraine would go away he could do something about his paint related ideas, at the very least pick up a pencil and write them down without his eyes screaming at him, but alas.

He knew it would go away eventually, of course. Waiting it out was always the hardest part, it seemed.

It wasn't long before Zed could feel himself nodding off. Though headaches usually made it hard to sleep, he was pretty tired. If he had the energy to laugh at it he would have. Waking up just to go to sleep again, how funny.

Unfortunately for him, the world didn't want to let him take a morning nap. What had been previously a soundless room was soon infiltrated with the faint voices of hermits outside. Zed grumbled, face pinched in annoyance. Curse his thin walls. A new project to add to the list, he thought, was fixing the walls of his windmill house.

Though the walls and chattering were annoying, he couldn't help but wonder what the hermits were doing. There wasn't much at this end of the village, Zed lived pretty much on the outskirts. So it was curious that there was a gaggle outside his windows.

Much to his achey brain's dismay, Zed sat back up. Curiosity seemed to be overtaking his migraine at the moment. Plus, he had the opportunity to go all crotchety-old-man on some of the others. He could tell them to get off his lawn! They ought to take their party elsewhere, if they were having a party, which he wouldn't be surprised by.

He wobbled towards the door on clumsy feet, wondering if he could haggle a health potion off of one of the hermits outside to help his headache. He didn't have any on him and couldn't be bothered to go all the way down to the infirmary, honestly.

Opening his front door, Zed was hit with a blast of light and sound, making him flatten his ears back and squint his eyes. The windmill spinning on his house overhead was dizzying to see in his peripheral. The first voices he made out were Scar's and Gem's, which made sense, since they both tended to talk a bit louder. The sound came from the left, and, oh, there were a bunch of people at Impulse's house. Zed blamed the migraine for making him forget they were neighbors.

He would have to chew out the demon for having a bunch of hermits over while he was clearly suffering from a terrible, horrible headache. But later. He wasn't much in the mood for confrontation right now.

Zed started walking over, and, maybe it was because of his headache-induced semi-presenceness, but something about this gathering made it seem like the opposite of the party. And, was Gem crying?

"No, no, he can't be– he can't, it's..." Gem was arguing through hiccups, her voice high and grating. Zed rubbed at his eyes, trying to take in the scene better despite the blinding sunlight.

Both Keralis and Joe were attempting to console Gem, the former having wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. Then, there was Scar, pacing and talking to himself with a wound-up look in his eyes. Alongside him was Cub, trapped in thought. Last, at the back closet to the house, Tango and Stress watched everything unfolding, while shrinking in on themselves. There weren't a lot of people, but they sure were causing a racket. Tango was even trampling the flowers! Well, Zed would have another person to criticize now. Tango for killing the wonderfully planted wildlife, and Impulse for probably organizing this ordeal in the first place.

Except, Tango was present, but Impulse didn't seem to be here.

Before Zed could question that, his presence was noticed by the others.

Stress had looked over, her eyes widening briefly before she made her way over. Zedaph headed her direction as well, meeting in the middle. "Wot's going on?" was all he managed, slightly slurred but entirely concerned. Stress didn't have an answer, gaping like a fish, her eyes pained. She took a moment to collect herself, staring at the ground.

"I don't know," Stress admitted, voice wavering. "Something- something happened to Impulse. He's..."

"He's gone," Joe interrupted when Stress trailed off, turning to face them. The expression they wore was unreadable. Their comment didn't make sense either. Impulse was gone? How? What kind of gone? Was he just not home, or was it something worse? Judging by the states the surrounding hermits were in, Zedaph could only assume the latter. His heart started to hurt alongside his head.

Confusion swam through his thoughts. "Whaddaya mean, gone?" He mumbled out, sounding meek as he asked for clarification. A hush fell over the others, Scar even slowing in his pacing.

Joe's face locked into a haunting grimace, and they took on the burden of explanation. When they spoke it was barely above a whisper. "We're- we're mostly sure Impulse is... he's... He's dead."

Those last two words felt like a sucker punch to the gut. What?

Zedaph stumbled backwards, shaking his head no. Impulse? This had to be all some nightmare he needed to wake up from. The words 'Impulse is dead' didn't feel real. And what did Joe mean by mostly sure?! Impy could be lost, missing somewhere and these hermits had only assumed the worst! Or he was really dead, a noose hanging somewhere in the rafters of his neighbor's house waiting to be found. That last thought made Zed feel like fainting, or throwing up. Maybe both.

He pressed a hand to the side of his head, headache still pounding away. What a way to spend the morning; head throbbing and heart shattering.

Zed looked up to Joe with watery eyes. "I'm sorry," the fae murmured. They had faint tear tracks of their own behind their glasses. "He isn't here. He's dead." Joe repeated, as if the words would make them all feel better. They didn't help anyone, definitely not Gem.

"No!" The deer hybrid pushed out of Keralis' arms frantically, storming up to Joe. "He's not dead, he's not dead, you're lying! We don't know, we don't okay? Impy is fine."

Keralis ran after Gem, reaching out for her to come back. He sniffled, opening his mouth as if he were going to say something. Joe beat him to it "Gem, please," their voice was strained.

Zed didn't know how much longer he could take this, especially not when Gem turned her focus on him, ignoring Joe. "Zed, listen, he can't be gone! He can't, he can't be, he can't..." She hiccuped, losing her words. He wanted to believe her so badly. He wanted this all just to be some misunderstanding.

Shouldering past Gem and throwing her a weary glance, Joe took out a small notebook and pushed it into Zed's hands. It was already flipped open to a page, full of what looked like Impulse's handwriting.

"Here, just look for yourself," Joe pointed to a specific section of the page, drawing Zedaph's eye.

He squinted to make out the writing, eyes not wanting to focus through his headache. When his eyes did focus, he almost wished they hadn't. Impulse had written about a demon mission to collect souls, three of them, under a time limit of three months. Zed pulled the book away from Joe, scanning the rest of the page frantically. The whole entry had an undertone that kept switching from hopeful to hopeless, with the implication that if Impulse didn't complete the aforementioned mission, he was not going to be okay.

And, hadn't the demon already lived here for around three months?

With that, it was like a switch had flipped. Zed was suddenly seeing every moment he'd shared with Impulse– every awkward glance, each saddened, despondent gaze, and all the times Impulse had just seemed lost– in the back of his head. This whole time. This whole time, there'd been a time limit on Impulse's life, and none of them had known.

Zed choked out his next breath, unable to look away from the page. "He, he is really gone," he practically whined.

Gem seemed to fume in response, face teary, defiant, and angry. She snatched the book from his hands, pointing to the bottom of the page they'd opened it to. "No, look, he wrote here that he found a workaround with insects! He's not dead! He's not–"

"If that solution had worked he would still be here, Gem!" Tango shouted all of a sudden from across the yard, the first Zed had heard him speak. His hair flared a vibrant yellow, almost white, until he forced its temperature back down. "Just face it. He's gone." Tango's eyes seemed devoid of emotion, his face slack in a way that was almost terrifying.

Something akin to a growl wormed out of Gem's throat, but she didn't disagree with Tango. She threw the journal to the ground roughly and let out another sob. "No... no," she whispered.

Zed had never considered himself to be much of a crier, but Gem was breaking in front of his eyes, and he felt tears of his own starting to stream. They were both losing hope.

Silence befell the crowd again, as Zed began to quietly cry. Cub approached Joe and Keralis, and the three talked in hushed tones. Gem crumpled to the ground, and now Stress was attempting to calm her, rubbing slow circles against her back. Tango stayed in his solemn position far from the others, and Scar continued pacing.

"He was supposed to show me how to make soup," Gem blubbered weakly. She was almost too quiet for Zed to hear. "There- there has to be a chance he's okay, right?"

Void below, Zedaph wanted to spend all the hope he had left on that chance. Out of the group, it seemed Cub was willing too. "Maybe," was all the vex muttered, but he only seemed half sure.

Maybe.

They all needed to cling to that maybe.

Gem looked up, eyes wide and shoulders low. "Zed, what are we gonna do?"

He didn't know. A strange, wilting sound escaped the sheep hybrid. Void, his head hurt.

\ \ \ \

Carefully, Skizz ran his hands through his wings, straightening each off white feather to his liking. Pearl's couch wasn't necessarily the most comfortable place to be preening his wings, but he was waiting for her and Grian, and they needed it, to be honest. His wings had spent far too long in that silly splint, not getting properly cleaned.

But now that they weren't in it, he could clean them again, and that wasn't the only good news. The other good news was that Impulse's latest assignment, according to info he'd gotten from Pearl, should be about complete. They could see each other again, finally!

Skizz was going to give Impulse the biggest talking to for not telling him about what was going on, but he was also going to give him the biggest hug. It always felt like he and Impulse were cursed to be apart, and like they never had long together. This unannounced disappearance of Impulse's most recently had just felt like the universe trying to rub it in.

He looked up to the lofty study that G' and Pearly were spending their time in, thinking they sure were taking a while.

The two watcher siblings always took forever. Skizz grumbled to himself a little bit. They had invited him over. They were being really excellent hosts right now. Except, Skizz didn't really have anything to do at the moment, so they weren't inconveniencing him and it wasn't worth getting grumpy about, honestly. He sighed and put on a cheerful face again.

As if the world heard his polite reasoning, Pearl and Grian chose that moment to head down from the study. Skizz jumped up from the couch when he saw them and gave an enthusiastic wave.

"Skizzely!" Pearl greeted, hopping down the stairs with a chipper smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, don't sweat it Pearly pop! I only just got here." Skizz waved it off. He glanced between her and Grian, who followed behind her slowly. He stayed on the bottom step of the stairs when Pearl came up to Skizz to give him a welcome hug. Grian was usually unreadable, but today, he wasn't hiding his gloomy expression.

Skizz's eyes narrowed in concern. Pearl released the embrace, stepping back. Neither of the siblings were wearing their strange watcher's masks at the moment, meaning Skizz could clearly see the shifty eyes both of them had.

"G'? Pearl? Is everything okay?" Skizz managed to ask. The two didn't respond right away, glancing between each other and the floor.

"You might wanna sit down for this," Pearl finally said, trying not to drop her cheerful tone. With a frown, Skizz lowered himself back onto the couch, while Pearl and Grian both sat on the ottoman across from him. Although Skizz didn't want to push the siblings to talk, he was bothered by the long silence they gave him before speaking again.

Pearl sighed, and, with a reassuring glance from Grian, she began. "You remember that note that I told you Impulse wrote for me, a while back? The one where he told us about his assignment and his workaround and stuff?" Skizz nodded. "He wrote another one to me last night when I was watching, and it was- it wasn't good. His idea for collecting souls didn't work, and he didn't get the three that he needed to. And then I saw- I-" The moth-winged watcher cut herself off, choking up.

She took a deep breath through her nose, and Grian placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"He's back in the nether. I saw him get taken back. This portal opened up under him, and he looked so scared Skizz, I didn't know what to do." With watery eyes, Pearl looked up at him almost guiltily.

Skizz's usual response would've been to comfort Pearl, because she looked so sad, and this wasn't her fault. But instead, his breath hitched in his chest and he squished himself into the back of the couch with his knees pulled up. All he could see in the back of his head was Impulse, back in the nether all alone, having to deal with the consequences of failing another assignment.

Impy had never been cut out for the demon life, and Skizz could tell that each incomplete mission had broken him more than the last. And, especially with the strange circumstances that had surrounded this mission, Skizz wouldn't be surprised if the severity of Impulse's consequences had increased. Oh Void, he hoped Impulse was okay.

"That's- that's not good... He's failed so many missions already, I don't think he's gonna be able to get away with it again," Skizz forced out, voice wobbly.

Pearl looked down to the floor and then up again. "But, he's Impulse. Impy can get through this, he always does. We've just got to have hope, right?" Neither Skizz nor Grian agreed, and Pearl didn't even seem to agree with herself either.

"No, we've gotta help him." Skizz sat up straight, his eyes stern. "I don't wanna sit by and make him deal with this all by himself again."

Grian's wings ruffled behind him. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, Skizz, but we don't really have any idea how to help him."

In response, Skizz gave a huff. There goes Grian, being a downer again. "Come on," Skizz rose from the couch and put a hand on each of the watcher's shoulders. "If we put our heads together, I'm sure we can come up with something!" His exclamation was a bit desperate, but he hoped it was encouraging all the same.

Grian and Pearl ruminated over his words for a moment, before nodding to one another and getting to their feet. "Alright," Grian said while Pearl grabbed Skizz's hand. "Let's go up to the study, we'll figure something out."

The two whisked around, pulling Skizz along with them and up the stairs to their study. Skizz had, of course, been in the study before, but the domed, observatory-esque room was always breathtaking to him. Strangely shaped bookshelves lined the walls up to the ceiling, most inaccessible without flying. The ceiling was painted like the night sky, with a few skylight windows sitting in between galaxies and stars. On the floor, a carpet that mimicked the ceiling color was laying over a dark hardwood floor, and a big, round wooden table took up most of the space in the room.

The trio each took a seat at the round table, and Pearl pushed aside a stack of books and papers that was slightly in their way.

"So," Grian started. "We've got to find some way to help Impulse, and preferably get him out of the nether. We don't know where in the nether he is, though that wouldn't necessarily help us, since Pearl and I can't go anywhere without a contract, and since Skizz, you really shouldn't be flying again just yet."

"Also, the nether and I don't really mix well," Skizz added on to the end, getting a nod from Grian.

"So, go to the nether without going to the nether," Pearl groaned. It seemed like an impossible goal, helping Impy. With the three of them combined, there ought to be something they could do though, right? Skizz sat quietly for a minute, racking his brain for any good ideas.

A realization did end up coming to him. "Do you think we could get the people down in Hermit Village to help us? They were friends with Impulse, right?" Skizz asked, looking at the other two. Grian pursed his lips in thought, while Pearl perked up, nodding her head yes.

"They were, yeah! Maybe we could get something to work with them." She noted, her voice curious and hopeful. "I can try and communicate with them, with my eye that's down there!" She suggested enthusiastically.

"That, that might work..." Grian hummed. "We could get them to go to the nether instead of us, since we can't. Maybe it could work." He smiled, his eyes getting that far off look they got when he was scheming, except this time Skizz knew he was coming up with a clever plan.

And whatever the plan was, Skizz knew they would make it work. "Let's get started then, huh?" Pearl and Grian agreed, and the three of them got to business.

Skizz wasn't sure when that day, spent pouring over books and doing spells in the study, switched to the next, it sort of just, did. And with the next day came expected bickering from the watcher siblings.

"They want me to sign contracts, and my moths don't have thumbs, Grian!" Pearl whined, in the middle of watching one of the townsfolk.

"You'll figure it out!" Grian snapped back, returning to throwing books off of a shelf, searching for something. Skizz honestly had no idea what was going on, but, sue him, it was slightly entertaining.

Well, he did understand some of what the two were doing. Grian was working on pinpointing exactly where Impulse's was in the nether, while Pearl was doing her best to communicate with Impulse's friends down in Hermit Village. Skizz didn't envy either of their difficult jobs, but he did wish he could help more. His only job right now was to make tea and coffee, and pick up the books that Grian kept making a mess of.

"Aha!" Grian threw a book onto the middle table with a massive thunk before flying down from the high shelf he'd been perched on. Pearl jumped when the book landed next to her and shot Grian a glare before returning to her watching.

The parrot-winged watcher paid no mind to his sister, sitting down and beginning to flip through the book methodically. The cover had said the book was on demon architecture and famous buildings. Skizz didn't know how it would be useful, but it was clearly helpful to Grian. The watcher studied the pages intently, putting his chin in his hands each time he stopped to read more thoroughly.

At some point, Skizz left to refill tea mugs, and when he returned, Grian had reached an epiphany with the architecture book.

"I found him, I found him, I found him!" Grian was exclaiming, making happy, chittering bird noises. Bouncing on his feet, he turned his book towards Pearl, pointing to a drawing of a castle-like structure that took up a whole page. "I saw this when I was trying to watch him earlier. He's here."

Skizz smiled warmly, relief flooding his system. They were one step closer to helping Impulse. He wasn't letting his best friend do this alone. Not anymore.

\ \ \ \

Bdubs twiddled his thumbs in his lap, feeling small sitting at the wide meeting table. The room was silent with apprehension, save for the soft muttering of hermits here and there. They were all waiting for Xisuma to come back from the other room, to tell them why they were all gathered here.

Except, the hermits already knew why this impromptu meeting was taking place. One of their own was missing. Or, from the rumours Bdubs had been hearing, worse.

To put it simply, yesterday, Keralis had returned to the group at the coffee shop bearing the bad news that Impulse, the topic of today's discussions, was either missing or gone for good. Their friend had vanished without a trace. Bdubs had not taken that news lightly, immediately insisting on an extensive search.

He didn't want to stop looking until he could be face to face with Impulse and his soft brown eyes again.

By evening, practically the whole town had been recruited into the search party. The group sweeped the town, high and low, anywhere they thought the demon might be. And each time another place turned up empty, their heartbeats got faster and their hopes lessened.

Some, like Zed and Tango, had dipped out of the search part way through, too lost in their minds to search with their eyes. Though for Zed it was more literal than figurative, as he was continuously complaining of a skull splitting headache that none of them wanted to force him to suffer through. But the amount of people in the search didn't matter, since it had been futile after all.

Impulse wasn't anywhere in town and it didn't matter how much they looked.

Bdubs bit back the tears that were trying to get out from behind his eyes, reminding himself that he had to keep some semblance of hope, for Impulse. He stared lazily over the cover of the book he'd brought with him, the old tome on demons from Joe's library. He'd borrowed it back from Joe yesterday, having a feeling it might be helpful.

Helpful for what, he didn't know.

Across the table, Bdubs couldn't help but notice Gem and Doc pushing two chairs together. They sat down, Doc allowing Gem to huddle up close next to him. The deer hybrid looked terribly small shoved into Doc's side, and her expression was just as scared as it had been the day prior.

Beyond them, Tango was as stoic and spacey as he had been yesterday. Zedaph and Etho sat on either side of him, trying to ground him back to reality with comforting words and touches. It was almost disturbing to meet Tango's glossed over, clouded eyes with his own. Bdubs didn't keep eye contact for long.

The rest of the hermits weren't much better. Keralis was bouncing his leg, so much so that he started to shake, Ren had his ears pinned flat against his head, and Mumbo looked like he'd been crying, face flushed pink. Impulse's disappearance had affected them all for the worse, hadn't it?

Bdubs had to admit it, the demon had wormed his way into all of their hearts in the short time he'd lived here. Maybe his heart most of all. Void below. They needed to find him.

After what felt like forever, Xisuma finally entered, slinking into the room on tired feet, with a rolled up paper in his hands. Both Cub and Scar followed behind him. Ah, Bdubs had wondered why the two vex were absent from the meeting room.

Bdubs shared a quick glance with Scar, trying to gauge his emotions. He seemed apprehensive and maybe a bit scared, but with a glint of confidence shining through. Bdubs didn't have long to study Scar, as Xisuma got straight to business. Silence absorbed the room as he stepped to the front.

Bdubs didn't think there'd been a town meeting where the hermits had gotten this quiet in a long time.

The mayor hesitantly cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have to say why we're having this meeting since I'm sure you all know, but- I don't- well- Impulse is missing." From the scratch in Xisuma's voice and the trouble he had spitting his words out, Bdubs guessed he had been up late, or not slept at all.

"The first thing I want you to know is that I am going to do everything in my power to try and find him," the voidwalker continued, "And, this is nobody's fault, okay? Nobody's."

Bdubs thought he saw Xisuma flash a pointed glance towards Tango behind his visor. The netherborn shrunk in his chair a little and stared at the ground, whether he noticed or not.

"And, I may have some good news." The hermits suddenly perked up at Xisuma's statement. The voidwalker sighed and gestured towards Cub and Scar. "Cub, would you explain?"

"Gladly," the ravenette smiled and stepped forward. He held out a hand, and if Bdubs squinted a bit he could see Fuzzy, Impulse's moth, perched on Cub's index finger. "I've got Miss Fuzzy here," Cub started, "Wherever Impulse is, she stayed behind. I think she can help us, as long as everyone gets cool with some weird things real quick."

There seemed to be a collective nod from the crowd, and Cub gave a tiny sigh of relief. Bdubs thought he might have an idea of where this was going. Maybe.

"Fuzzy is a watcher's eye, a remote extension of a watcher used to observe and collect information." Cub paused, presumably to wait for murmurs of disbelief, but everyone stayed quiet and intently focused. "A little while ago, Scar made a vex deal with Fuzzy, or, to be clear, the watcher she's connected to. Sparing some details, the deal was that Fuzzy had to stay by Impulse's side at all times, and that she could watch over him and only him if she wished. That deal is no longer being upheld, obviously."

Cub shifted Fuzzy to his other hand. "Scar didn't set up a specific repercussion for if the deal was broken, so I'm going with the usual IOU-deal route typical for the vex. Fuzzy and her watcher now owe us a favor. And we're going to cash that in now."

On cue, Xisuma stepped forward, placing his rolled paper onto the meeting table. With the help of a few hermits, he unfurled it, revealing a map of the general area. Small stars on the map represented Hermit Village and other nearby towns.

Cub stepped up to the table and placed Fuzzy in the middle of the unfurled map. "I've asked her to show us where Impulse is."

The group collectively leaned in, and Bdubs felt a wave of excitement as the moth began to putter around the map curiously. She took her time looking through all the locations, but the hermits were willing to be patient.

Except, she was taking a bit too long. Cub and Scar's faces lost some of their previously mustered confidence.

Bdubs' excitement quickly became confusion when Fuzzy walked off the map entirely and onto the meeting table. The moth scrabbled at the edge of the map for a moment, eventually finding an air gap between the paper and the table. She shoved herself into it, crawling underneath the map.

As Fuzzy stopped, Cub and Scar exchanged a couple of hushed whispers, eyes narrowed in confusion.

Bdubs pulled his legs closer together underneath the table, hands holding his knees. What did underneath the map even mean? The first haunting thought that invaded Bdubs mind was that Fuzzy's action was a confirmation that Impulse was dead, like many of them had suspected. Except, he realized, if Impy was dead, his body would still have to be somewhere in the world. But it seemingly wasn't. And Fuzzy was below the map...

Bdubs gasped sharply, turning eyes towards him.

It had been a good idea to bring the book about demons afterall. He opened it quickly, pushing a chunk of the pages to the side with a loud thud. Near the back of the book, the author had inserted a map of the Nether's rings that folded out to about twice the size of the book.

He took it out and shut the book again, before laying the map down next to the other one.

"He's in the Nether. Impy's in the Nether."

Bdubs lifted the edge of the Overworld map so Fuzzy could get out more easily. As helpful as Fuzzy was being right now, Bdubs still found her kind of gross with her beady little eyes, and he did not want to pick her up. Luckily for him, Etho leaned across the table to pick up the moth and place her onto the new map.

The hermits seemed more jittery as Fuzzy made her way across the Nether map. She winded her way towards the bottom of it, the section that detailed the third ring of the Nether. If Bdubs remembered correctly that was the section of hell specifically for demons.

After a minute, the watcher's eye parked herself on top of a small illustration of some kind of structure. Though it was tiny and hand drawn, the structure's tall, spiked shape in jet black ink looked ominous. Bdubs swallowed thickly, pointing towards the map. "That's where he is."

The response from the hermits was one of both relief and worry. Because sure, now they knew where Impulse was, but how were they supposed to get to him?

Chatter rose amongst them, and after a few minutes of talking, Xisuma spoke above the crowd. "He's not in the regular part of the nether, so we can't just make a nether portal. If we wan't to find him, we need to figure out a way into the demon realm."

Everyone looked around for a moment, waiting for someone else to come up with something smart. Bdubs stared down at his book, full of demon related facts and spells and sorcery.

"I think," Bdubs rose from his seat, lifting his eyes to the rest, "I have an idea."

Impulse saved his life once, now it was time to save the demon in return.

/ / / /

"Changed your mind about him, huh?"

False grumbled at Wels' voice behind her, and continued shuffling through her swords. She found the sturdiest in her collection and examined it slowly, checking for chips. It could be sharpened a bit, but was otherwise fine, so she placed it to the side and turned to face Wels.

"You can't blame me for not trusting him," She decided on answering. Wels knew exactly why she'd been standoffish about Impulse for so long. He wasn't one to talk.

"No, but that doesn't answer my question." The blonde folded his arms, giving False an annoyed look that she was quick to return.

Sometimes, False found it in her best interests to appease her younger brother. "Ugh, fine. Yes. ...You were right ...I was wrong." She conceded, waving one hand in the air lazily.

"Hah! I'm writing that one in the scorebooks," Wels cheered while False wandered across her workshop to the table she'd left her diamond chestplate on after buffing out the dents earlier. Wels followed, leaning over the table on his elbows and giving her a goofy, shit-eating grin.

False held back a laugh, examining where one of the chestplate's straps had snapped off from overuse. She twisted the woven fabric between her fingers, letting out a quiet sigh.

"I wasn't fair to him," False admitted, not looking into Wels eyes as she threaded the broken strap back into the chestplate. She tied it in place, making sure the knot was snug. "I hope he's okay."

"Me too," Wels murmured after a moment, his silly expression fading a little.

False picked up her armor piece and started putting it on over her clothes. The newly fixed strap was secure, and the diamond looked shiny and strong. It would need to be, if the hermits were going to pull off their mission to the nether. They were doing whatever it took to help their friend.

False rapped her fist on the chestplate, giving a light smile. Maybe helping Impulse would make up for her cold attitude before. Maybe it would make up for the way she was raised. Maybe it would make up for the hardened features she shared with her brother. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, hoping the words said what she needed them to.

"It's okay." Wels wormed his arms around False without missing a beat, smiling into the embrace despite how uncomfortable her chestplate probably was. "I understand."

/ / / /

"Deep breaths, in and out."

Gem kept eye contact with Scar, inhaling and exhaling slowly along with the vex. She shifted her sword between sweaty palms as the two of them walked each other through calming breathing exercises.

They both felt ramped up to one-hundred, restless with anticipation and nervousness. Scar kept double checking to make sure his bow and quiver were slung over his back, and Gem kept hopping from hoof to hoof in the dewy grass. To be fair, they had good reason to be on edge.

Nearly all of the hermits were gathered in a small field on the outskirts of Hermit Village, ready to enact the plan they'd made to get to the Nether, find Impulse, and get him back home.

- Several days prior -

"This," Bdubs pointed to a page of his book, which he'd turned towards the crowd, "is a demon transportation spell. And these are transport glyphs." Along the edge of the page were a series of almost alien-like symbols, but Gem recognized them as magic shorthand.

"Demons use these to get between the nether and the overworld. It's how Impulse got here, and probably how he left too. They're carved into stone tablets for the strongest effect." The phantom hybrid explained. It made sense to Gem, but she didn't know how it was supposed to help them. None of them were demons, so she didn't think any of them could do the spell. Gem definitely couldn't, she didn't even practice magic.

It seemed Scar shared her concern as well. "Bdubs, how do you know we can even do that kind of spell?" The vex asked, peering at the book closely.

Bdubs made a small hum noise, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Well, I don't know for sure if we can do it. But if everyone who's a magic user cast it at the same time, I think we could reach the amount of power a demon has. We can make a stone tablet-y thingy too!"

A few hermits nodded, smiles on their faces as they agreed with the notion. Doc didn't seem too convinced, taking the book from Bdubs' hands and setting his scrutinizing gaze on the spell page. "I don't know," he said after a moment, leaning back to show the book to Bdubs again.

"If we need a lot of us to do the spell one time, we'd need a lot more of us to keep whatever portal we make open long enough to get in and back out again. Plus, we'd have to make a really big stone tablet to handle a portal that size. I don't think all of us could do it." Doc summarized, a sadness to the usual aloof tone he had when explaining things.

"But we could try, right?" Mumbo said quickly as Doc finished. "I mean, considering all the magic users here... it's worth giving a shot? There's me, there's Xisuma, Scar, Cub, Joe, Hypno, and Etho! That's gotta be enough, right?"

Gem personally agreed with Mumbo's enthusiasm. That was a lot of hermits he had listed, surely it had to be enough to perform the spell.

"It wouldn't be," Xisuma squeaked out, breaking the news. "We just wouldn't be strong enough to–" X cut himself off as Keralis put a hand on his shoulder with a quiet murmur of "Shashwammy."

Keralis stepped forward from behind Xisuma, taking a deep breath. "I can help too."

Doc tried to shoot him down, shaking his head right away. "Keralis, you're human, you can't use magic..."

The wide eyed man didn't respond for a second, looking from side to side nervously. "I can help, I swear. Just... promise me something. I just need nobodies to ask any questions, and I'll help cast the spell. With all of us it'll be enough." He was determined as he spoke, entirely sure that his assistance would be the boost they needed.

Somewhat surprisingly, Xisuma was the first to change his mind, now believing they could pull this off. "I promise, Keralis." He then looked to the rest of the hermits. "We all promise we won't ask, right?"

Xisuma got a chorus of nods and 'yes's in response. Whatever Keralis had going on was fine by Gem. As long as they could get Impulse back, it would be okay.

"Alright," Ren leaned forward, "We know we can do the spell. What's our action plan? Probably carving the tablet first, practicing the spell, and getting together a team to go into the nether once the portal's cracked open," he suggested.

"Yeah, those sound like great ideas," Xisuma concurred. Gem imagined he was grinning behind his mask like she was. "Let's get started!"

- Present -

"You guys ready?" Xisuma asked Gem's team, a confident glint in the mayor's eyes. Gem returned that confidence as best she could. Her team would be entering the portal, if all went to plan. Alongside her were False, Tango, Ren, Cleo, and Scar, who'd switched off from the spell casting team. Scar had thought he'd be more useful on Gem's team, since he had little vex magic compared to the others.

"More than ready," Gem smiled, holding her sword at the ready. The other five fell into line beside her. False's armour and weapons glinted in the sun, Cleo held onto their massive axe with pride, Tango and Ren shifted their stances forward, tails whipping behind them, and Scar brandished his bow, ready to fire.

Before them, a tall, scraggly stone sat, flattening the grass. It was nearly twice Gem's height, covered with intricate glyphs that the hermits had spent the last several days carving. The glyphs would send their portal to the specific location that Fuzzy had indicated.

Gem fought back a shiver, remembering the strange drawings on the nether map, and the particularly ominous one that Fuzzy had told them Impulse was at. But she knew she could handle this, regardless of how creepy or dangerous this was going to be.

The seven hermits who would be casting the transportation spell gathered around the glyph covered stone. They took their places around it, holding hands to close the circle. Keralis and Xisuma, standing next to each other, shared a glance before looking to the others.

"Let's crack open a portal to hell, shall we?" Keralis asked rhetorically, expression excited. He got a cheer in return, from the other casters, from Gem's team, and from the hermits who'd gathered on the sidelines.

With a couple murmured commands from Xisuma, the magically gifted hermits all began to utter their spell in unison. Gem knew they were just reading out the glyphs, but she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine at the strange words and inflections.

The spell began to border on a chant, and all the casters closed their eyes to focus, except for Keralis. The man's wide eyes were wider than before, and flooded with an inky black that started to stream from his tear ducts. No questions asked, Gem reminded herself. She instead focused on the stone, which had started giving off little purple sparks, almost like it was on fire.

As soon as this portal opened, they were going to get their friend back. Gem was going to give Impulse the biggest hug and make sure it never ended. And then, Impulse was going to try the cupcakes she made, and after that, he could teach her how to make soup. And after that, well, she supposed she'd have to wait and see.

The wind started to pick up, changing directions, and changing directions again. Gem planted her hooves into the ground, the wind threatening to blow her away. It got faster and faster, and as it did, so did the casters' chant.

It came to a point where Gem didn't think she could hear the casters anymore over the howling gale. The stone was glowing vividly. It grew brighter, and everything came to a tumultuous conclusion.

With a crack of thunder overhead, the portal sprung to life in front of the stone and the wind came to a stop almost instantly.

The portal was a writhing mass of purple, like a pond with so many fish that they all swam on top of each other, or like a nest full of young snakes, unfamiliar with how they should move. Gem stared at it breathlessly, rooted to the spot. She'd never seen a nether portal before, much less one to the demon realm.

"Is it stable?" False asked after everyone had gotten over their shocked silence.

"Yes, it should be," Xisuma answered her, still focused on using his magic to keep it open. After X spoke, Mumbo and Cub released each other's hands, allowing the circle of casters to widen into a semi-circle around the portal so that the entry team could get through.

Gem took the first step towards it, letting out her anxiety in a final, deep exhale. She didn't know what they were going to find, she didn't know if Impulse was in danger, or hurt, or something much worse. The only thing she did know was that she would be able to face any situation that the nether threw at them. Geminitay could face anything–

Before the team could approach, a wild, thrashing blur of pink and black and yellow shot out of the portal, tumbling to a halt at Gem's feet.

The hermits all let out what Gem could only describe as a collective scream. 

~ end finale part 1 ~

A/N: Hey, I hope this chapter was worth the wait! I know I've been taking ages with things lately, sorry! But, in my defense, I was getting a little burnt out, so I took a break, and this chapter is the beefiest chapter in the entire book, its nearly 15k words, AAH! After this chapter there's going to be four more finale parts and an epilogue. We're in the home stretch now boys...

Also, I had an art piece that I was going to put in this chapter that was a little spoiler illustration for the next part of the finale, but it would not upload for some reason. Wattpad does not like it idk. I think maybe the file's too big or something. However, I am going to post it to my  tumblr  later, which is @/cedar-scented-soap

See you guys in the next one!!!