Legacies || Hermitcraft

Chapter XIV - The Survivor

Timeline: April 2015

Word Count: 4.4k

TW: Blood, death, violence, swearing, overstimulation, post-traumatic stress

For the first time in years, Impulse felt scared.

He didn't know where he was, who had brought him here or what had happened to him, but was too weak to question or protest against any of it. For days on end he was left in the bedroom of a house he didn't recognise, as strangers came and left every now and again to check up on him, and the most he could ever bring himself to do was to sit up and look out of a nearby window. The faces began to become familiar, in particular that of a young Admin with unusual violet eyes, who had introduced himself as Xisuma.

Impulse rarely spoke to anyone outside of the occasional check ups he was given, eager to leave this bizarre place with its bizarre people before anything else could go awry. He had a feeling that they'd already found out about his powers and figured out the way that they worked, as his energy had been recharged against his will and it was no doubt thanks to them. So, not only was Impulse stuck on an unknown server with no sign of when he'd be able to leave again, he was now harbouring a dangerous level of voltage and ran the risk of another deadly discharge.

He repeatedly cut conversations short, refused to engage with any of the others and remained as apathetic as possible in fear of losing his temper... and potentially losing another life. Many of the self proclaimed "Hermits" seemed to catch on quite quickly to the fact that he wanted to be left alone, and most of them did exactly that. Although, Impulse used the words 'most of' for a reason, as one bubbly young man by the name of XB seemed to miss the hint entirely.

The moment Impulse heard the door swinging open and fast paced footsteps coming from behind him, he knew XB was back again. XB was... strange, to say the least, being semi-humanoid, semi-aquatic and all around oblivious to what was going on around him most of the time. Not that he seemed to care, he was just happy to have company, and Impulse often ended up being a part of said 'company' despite asking to be left alone.

"Good morning!" XB called, quite literally bouncing as he walked to Impulse's bedside. Whether his odd manner of walking was due to excitement or a lack of practice, Impulse had yet to figure out. "I hope you're feeling better than you were yesterday, and I even brought more of those plant things to cheer you up!"

The 'plant' in question was nothing more than a fistful of grass, the fourth one Impulse had received from him within the last 24 hours, but to XB it might as well have been a bouquet of fresh roses. Impulse understood that XB only meant well, and likely had yet to develop a proper understanding of how things worked on the surface, but he still hadn't stopped bothering Impulse and it was getting quite annoying.

"Thank you." Impulse replied flatly, taking the grass and leaving it by his bed with the rest XB had given him. He didn't mask the blatant sarcasm and disinterest in his voice, as XB seemingly took no offence at his tone and likely didn't notice it at all. However, his discomfort became far more obvious just seconds later, when XB unexpectedly took Impulse's hand in his own once again. "What... what are you doing?"

"It feels funny when I hold your hand, I like it!" XB laughed. Impulse froze, and as vividly as the day it had happened, memories came back to him of the last time someone had held his hand. It was all too similar; the bright blue eyes filled with joy, the black hair standing on end due to the static and the warm laugh and smile radiating with blissful innocence. For a moment, XB disappeared, and Impulse was back on that cold January night with Skizz by his side.