The Crossroads

10 | Changes, Both Good And Bad

WC: 2074

Things are changing again--in more ways than one.

-

It'd never been this hard for Etho to start a conversation with Impulse.

"So...what's up?" Impulse had to raise his voice to be heard above the din made by the rest of the Wanderers, even though they were sitting right next to each other.

Etho raised an eyebrow. He was going to stretch this out, huh? Fine. He didn't have things to do now, anyway.

"I wanted to talk about some things with you."

Neither of them were really sure how to take the conversation from there. Etho didn't have to be overly observant to notice the awkwardness between them. It reminded him--again--of how they used to act back in the Keep, after things had gotten sour between them and Tango.

Impulse had always scolded Tango for being too reckless and impulsive. He did his best to prevent him from doing anything too stupid. In a way, they made a good pair: Impulse's personality balanced Tango's out, and vice versa.

After Tango had let the Ravagers get away, Impulse had never really got over it. He told Etho in private how Tango had crossed the line with the risks he was taking, and that all of this was his fault. Etho didn't want to get dragged into their feud, but he ended up in the center of it anyway.

Whenever Etho went to visit the two in the castle, Tango and Impulse would always deteriorate into a heated argument. It didn't help that some other person would constantly come into the throne room, bearing the bad news of something else happening--the wither roses, the power outages, the increasing deaths due to Ravagers...the list went on.

Pretty soon, Etho started staying away from the castle. That's when he met False, and she kind of took over where Impulse and Tango used to be in Etho's friend group. Impulse used to check on him every once in a while, but things just weren't the same between them anymore.

They acted like they did now--like they weren't quite sure what to do with one another.

Then, a little over a month after they started to drift apart, Impulse went into the Forest and didn't come back.

Etho didn't learn about his disappearance until a week later, when he'd decided to check in on Tango again. When he'd walked into the throne room and didn't hear the faint arguing he was used to at that point, he automatically knew something was wrong.

Etho didn't want to think about what happened next. He regretted doing it, but the bad news Tango broke to him moments later was too much for him to handle. He ended up yelling at Tango, blaming him and saying that all of this was his fault--the Ravagers getting loose, the power outages, and now Impulse's disappearance.

Impulse had been right about you all along.

That had been the last time they talked. Etho didn't go back into the castle again.

"Etho?"

Back in the present, Impulse tried for conversation again. Etho glanced over at him, his mind doing a hard reset after the abrupt flashback he'd gotten.

Impulse cocked his head to one side, staring at him with a slight hint of confusion. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Uh, yeah." Etho decided to go for it--they'd be beating around the bush for hours if one of them didn't initiate what was on both of their minds. "Why are you sitting off to the side like this?"

Impulse tried to mimic a loose shrug, but Etho noticed the tension in his shoulders. "I could ask the same to you."

"That doesn't answer my question."