(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

What you Fear - Chapter 3 (End)

Palette groaned as he sat up slowly.

Where am I? Everything's dark and shadowed, I can barely see my own hand. How did I get here? The last thing I did... stars, the fight! The grizzly bear monster!

Stumbling to his feet, Palette called out to the void, "Goth? Goth, if you're there, answer me!" staggering one way, then changing direction. 

Where do I even begin?! Everything looked the same!

A noise behind him had the skeleton swiveling around to a sight that made his marrow run cold. Goth... standing before the imposing monster, arms spread wide. "Goth, run!" he shouted, scrambling toward the two. 

I'm not making any progress... why can't I get closer?!

"I... I can't," Goth glanced over his shoulder, voice trembling as he met Palette's eye lights with a frightened, but nonetheless determined, expression, "I won't let you-"

He never got to finish his sentence, the bear's knife ripping through the small skeleton with a swift and powerful strike.

"GOTH!" Palette screamed, urging himself forward as his friend's body collapsed in on itself. "No...," he whimpered as the small skeleton's body began to crumble to dust, "NO!"

Lights flared around Palette as he shot up, soul racing and breathing heavily. Frantically, he took in the entirely new surroundings: a pale orange hospital room. 

Was I... was that a dream? No... no, it was definitely a nightmare...

"Goodness me, I heard a shout... is everything alright?"

Palette saw a middle-aged, greying human woman peek into the room. "Oh dear!" she exclaimed, bustling over, "your monitor is going wild, did something happen?" Following her gaze, he noticed a machine blipping excitedly, the tones matching his own soul.

"I... just had a bad dream, I think," he replied, receiving a relieved smile from the woman. He couldn't help but match it.

The calm moment gave way to worry once Palette's thoughts returned to his nightmare, "Goth? Have you seen Goth?"

The woman looked confused for a moment before she perked up, "You mean that little fellow that came in with you?" At his nod, she continued, "He's sleeping right over there, in the next bed."

Leaning to look past a white curtain, Palette could just barely make out the sleeping face of his friend. 

He's asleep? Why is he asleep? Did he get hurt?! Is he-

"Calm yourself, dearie, he will be alright," the nurse gently admonished, easing him back onto the bed he'd unconsciously been trying to climb off of.

Fluffing the sheets so they draped over his legs once more, she gave the smaller skeleton a pitiful look, "Poor thing came in with you, passed out cold with more than two-thirds of his magic drained from him. We had to put him on an IV to stabilize him. 

"The officer on the scene claimed he used it up trying to heal you. I have to say, he must not be very skilled at healing since the amount of magic he spent barely managed to close your wounds..." she paused, thinking aloud, "but it might have been enough to keep you going until you reached the hospital."

Palette traced where the gash had been. He barely felt a thing now. His soul clenched.

He remembered Goth's explanation of his energy drain ability, way back after he'd unwittingly stumbled upon his friend reaping a soul. The ability's very nature made it an antithesis of life and healing.  On top of it, he wasn't able to fully control the power, only slowing it down by feeding his own energy back in. The whole process always left him tired and in need of a nap.

Goth knew, yet he still tried to heal me...

A soft groan caught his attention. He looked up in time to see Goth sluggishly moving his left hand toward his chest, where a line from an IV fed into his ribcage. Lidded sockets scanned the room, eventually falling on Palette.

"Palette?" Goth questioned, still groggy from sleep. Before anyone could blink, Palette was off his bed and across the room pulling the smaller skeleton into a hug.

"Oof... glad to see you're feeling alright," Goth breathed, patting his companion's back gingerly and prompting him to let go, mumbled an abashed 'sorry' in the process.

"Go easy on him, dearie. You are both still recovering. That fight sounded like nasty business," the nurse chuckled, wrinkling her nose at the idea of the fight.

Neither monster could say they disagreed.

After checking both their vitals, the older woman stated that Palette was free to be discharged once he got the remains of the wound on his chest fully healed, stating she would send in a healer as soon as one became available. Goth had to wait for the IV to drain and his magic level to balance itself out, but he was reassured it wouldn't take much longer.

"Thanks for earlier," Goth mumbled, twisting the sheets around his legs, a light blush on his face. Palette cocked his skull to the side in askance. Taking the hint, the smaller elaborated, "When you stepped in between me and that guy... with the knife..."

Starry eye lights shined as he exclaimed, "Of course! I'd never let anyone hurt my best friend!"

The small skeleton withered, chuckling sadly, "Best friend... right." Another quizzical stare was met with silence, the matter silently being dropped with a shrug.

After a minute of awkward silence, a tap was heard on the door. A small Whimsalot hovered in the doorway, "Someone requested a healer?"

Goth patted Palette's back, smiling "Come on, Pal, let's get you healed up."

***

And that marks the end of this story. I hope you guys enjoyed my interpretation of Nekophy and Anger's art chain.

As always, thank you for the votes and messages that come my way... the support means the world to me and encourages me to write and draw more. It's nice to know people enjoy your content, you know?

Until next time, ciao for now~

Word Count: 931