Prompt: Trust (Fluff Prompt)

"Zed!" A voice called out from behind Zedaph, and he turned around to find Impulse waving at him. 

"Hey!" He replied enthusiastically. He hadn't seen his friend in a while, because of the whole war thing.

"We haven't talked in a while! You've been all busy with the war and-"

Impulse cut him off. "Uhh, yeah about that- I actually came to ask you if you....wanted to join Team Star-?" 

Zedaph froze. "What?"

Impulse fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. "We need more people and...I figured I'd ask you."

Zed took a moment to process Impulse's request.

Eh, why not?

"Sure."

Impulse's face brightened. "Really? Awesome! I'll see ya in a bit- gotta tell the others!"

This wouldn't be too bad, would it?

~+~ 

"So this is the base, huh.." Zedaph muttered, in awe of the turtle-like stone base. "Yep! Let me show you around!" Impulse said brightly, pulling Zedaph in, the other snickering but still in awe.

While the G-Team base was very pretty, the Team Star base was very practical, and Zedaph had to admit he was impressed.

"Wow... you built all this?" He gasped. Impulse nodded, proud. "You're amazing, Impulse."

Impulse beamed. 

And then the alarms sounded. G-Team was attacking.

Zedaph lost Impulse in the chaos, everything was loud and everything was going wrong. But as he ran outside, one thought entered his mind.

No-

Zedaph couldn't be seeing this right, it couldn't actually be happening, this was just one big nightmare, it had to be, this couldn't be real. Yet it wouldn't go away, and there was no way to wake up.

"I-Impulse! Tango! What- what are you doing?" Zedaph yelled out, both freezing as the war raged around them.

"I- Zedaph-" Impulse started, but Zedaph interrupted, words desperate. "Stop- stop fighting.. why are you fighting? Don't- please-" Thoughts were racing through his head, a million miles a minute.

"Zedaph--?" Tango asked turning his head over to see Zedaph standing there frozen. "This isn't what it looks like-" Tango muttered out before being cut off. "We were fighting because-- because we're.. on different teams" Impulse blurted out.

Zedaph stared at them both with wide eyes of shock and disbelief. "Don't worry though, we're just bickering a little!" Impulse added, noticing his friend's reaction. "You know how this server gets sometimes..."

Zed didn't like war. But there were some things that outweighed anything else, when it came to conflicts. And one of those things were his friends.

He didn't care about silly disagreements, it was all fun and games. All throughout Zedaph's life, he was told he had wisdom beyond his years, with how well he understood the world.

It was all fun and games... until someone got hurt.

So he made a promise, and he held them to it. 

"Tango, you trust me, right?"

"Of course." came the blond's reply. Zedaph caught his eyes, and saw nothing but genuine warmth in the redness.

"And you trust Impulse too?"

One beat of hesitation. Ripples echoed from the battlefield, the sounds of taut bowstrings and swords clashing against eachother blocked out the small group's conversation for just a moment. Impulse looked around nervously, making sure nobody would creep up on them.

"Yeah." Tango finally answered, but he wouldn't meet Zedaph's gaze. Impulse looked at the ground knowingly- of course war had an immense power, able to drive wedges through even the strongest of bonds...

So why did they inherently assume they would be the only exception?

"Good enough answer." murmured Zedaph. He had to get a move on, lest they'd be found and outed as traitors. If that happened, both sides would be furious. "Tango. Don't let them hurt Impulse, you hear me? Keep G-Team busy, fight with them, I don't care- but don't let anyone on this server get hurt. Especially one of you two..."

"We have to leave, I know Doc won't be happy if he sees me here." Impulse cut in.

For a moment, Tango eyed a platform high up in his team's base. He opened his mouth, like he was going to say something, then decided against it. Zed squinted up there, but in the afternoon light, the glare was too bright to make out a single vague shape.

If only he had seen the control panels, or the guilt written all over Tango's features as he stared up there, knowing full well what they would cause...

If only he knew that with the click of a button, the battlefields would be ripped to shreds- that they were rigged beforehand. That all was fair in war.

"Stay safe."

Zed looked back, and both of his friends had disappeared. The only two he trusted... 

Split apart.

Score: 11 (Spectator Favourite)