(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Royal Pain - Chapter 3

Goth looked out the large-paned window as he shut the door to Palette's chamber for the night, giving the guards at the door a nod as he passed.

The beginnings of a storm are brewing. Hopefully, it won't be too loud.

Making it to the servant's quarters, Goth stopped by his trunk, then proceeded through the door at the end of the small hallway leading to the servant's bathing area.

Giving himself a quick scrub down and rinse, he dried off and changed into his sleeping gown. He grumbled at the way it made him look like a girl... but everyone wore them, even Palette, so he probably wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Flopping onto his bed, he turned over as the faint sound of rain against stone lulled him to sleep.

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Goth was woken by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. "Goth, wake up!" someone whispered... 

Wait, that voice is...

"Palette...?" opening an eye socket, his vision slowly confirmed it was indeed Palette standing by his bed, clutching a large pillow. The smaller looked around, seeing it was still nighttime by the numerous other servants sleeping in their beds. A dull rumble echoed in the background.

"Sorry for waking you, I...," he looked away, a slight flush to his cheeks, "I had a bad dream, and the storm's really noisy, and the room's so big and empty, and-"

"It's alright. I get it, Palette, I'll come," Goth yawned groggily, crawling out of bed to take Palette's hand and lead him back to his bedchamber.

The same thing had happened in the first week. Palette had been anxious sleeping in the expansive room by himself and needed Goth there to help him fall asleep.

It was a simple matter to resolve since Palette's bed was, like everything else in the castle, big enough for both skeleton's to fit comfortably with room to spare. As long as Goth was still able to perform his duties in the morning and nothing happened between them, there was no problem.

Making their way down the hall, Goth noticed the guards that had been stationed at the door previously were absent, "Hey Palette, was the hall this empty when you came out?"

"Yeah, it's part of why I came to get you... it made me nervous," the taller skeleton confessed, squeezing the pillow in his free arm tighter.

The guard's absences sent up red flags in Goth's mind, but he brushed it off as a change of the guard or something similar. Opening the door, the small skeleton couldn't deny the room did indeed have an ominous feel to it.

It's probably the size of the room and the storm outside... storms can make anything creepy. It's fine...

Pulling his friend over to the bed, he crawled into the sheets and made room for Palette to follow. Once he was settled, Goth set to rubbing along his spine to soothe him.

Even as Palette's breathing evened out and he drifted back to sleep, over an hour had ticked by and Goth still couldn't seem to shake the feeling of foreboding that had wormed its way into his soul.

Why am I getting scared now? Everything's fine... we're inside, we're safe... has that tear in the canopy always been there?

A flash of metal was all the warning Goth received as a dark figure crashed down through the hole in the fabric above. His mind scrambled as he roughly shoved a sleeping Palette off the bed, screeching as the shadow landed on his extended right arm.

Palette yelped as he flopped over the side of the bed, his skull swiveling rapidly to figure out what happened, "Wha...! ... Goth...? What-" 

Starry eye lights took in the shadow and contracted as the figure stood, advancing on him with a knife in their hand.

Blinking away the tears in his eye sockets, Goth launched himself at the intruder, grappling their neck as his momentum slung them over his friend and onto the floor.

He bit down a whine as the figure's movement jostled injured bones, but he held on, knowing it was over if he let go. 

I just have to hold on long enough for a guard to come... hold... on...

Goth cried out when a rough hand grabbed his hurt arm, unhooking him from their neck and slinging him across the room. He landed in a heap, shaking from the pain shooting up his arm. "Goth!" Palette shouted, rushing to his friend. The small skeleton whimpered as he was gingerly lifted into a sitting position.

The small skeleton looked down at his arm. He could barely make out white bone jutting out from the dark-stained fabric of his nightgown sleeve in the dim light. 

Yup, definitely broken... and bleeding... 

He winced as he laid a hand over it, trying to stem the flow of marrow.

The intruder hissed with a raspy voice, "It isn't bad enough that you came back, but now there's another runt I have to kill too!" Palette rose up onto shaky legs, attempting to move away from their attacker while pulling an equally unsteady Goth with him.

Came back...? What do they mean by that?

The figure advanced once more, but this time no one would be able to ward them off. Goth tried to move so he was standing in between the attacker and his friend, but the size difference made him a poor shield.

The figure snorted at the small skeleton's attempt, ignoring him as they prepared to strike.

As Goth braced himself for the attack, the door slammed open, revealing the royal guard brigade. Goth felt he was on the edge of tears as the guards swarmed the room, quickly subduing the attacker and securing the area.

Goth's relief was short-lived as his vision began to cloud around the edges and the room began to sway, the beats of his soul pulsing throughout his body and a churning feeling rising up in his non-existent stomach. 

His legs wobbled and gave out from under him. He absently felt arms catch him... someone yelled for a healer...

Goth groaned weakly, shivering as his head laid on something hard, but warm in contrast to the cold against his back. The churning feeling eased, but his soul continued to hammer in his chest and his vision swam as a white blob... Palette... yelled above him, joined by another higher pitch voice soon after.

That sounds... like......

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Word Count: 1,705