Shades was going to kill him once he found out that he hadn't taken the two week break that they had agreed on, but this was much more important.
Not when three of the Skeletons that he knew were missing.
The time with Lotus had been the closest thing that he had to a break, and that had been the third day.
Well, at least he remembered not to overthink things, to take regular breaks and meals, and to sleep. He swore that he had gained another pound or something.
He was currently searching a Fire based AU for the next temple and for both of the Palettes. He had remembered his promise to Lotus and he had been looking for Rurik too.
But seriously, did Fresh have to force him to wear some of his spare, bright neon, clothing? He was so embarrassed about that and he had changed out of them after Fresh had left and no matter how much Blackmail that Fresh had on him, he was not going to run around in a bright, 90s styled T-shirt with shorts and sandals.
And how did Fresh know about the two week break that he and Shades had agreed on?!
He was currently wearing a light, sleeveless hoodie with some shorts and boots suitable for traveling on a volcano. Shades had been right about his Temple possibly having a volcano.
He couldn't explain it, but this place feel like Underdesert, when he had found the Temple in that AU, he had to be on the right track.
It was now the last day of the two week break and Goth knew that if he encountered the Guardian now and Shades was pulled into that not Save Screen place, he was going to be so angry...
He looked down when he heard something crack underneath his foot.
"Oh shit...." He said, once he saw that the path that he was walking on had a crack going through it and it didn't help that the path that he was using was a swallow ledge on the west side of a dead volcano.
But that was all that he had a chance to say before the path underneath his feet crumbled, and he was left hanging there for a few seconds, before he started to slide down the side of the volcano, leaving a trail behind him, as he tried to grab onto something.
He tucked himself into a ball as he rolled down the volcano, being careful to cover his head with his arms.
The scenery flew by in a blur of ground, sky, clouds, ash and bone. He remembered the information that he had found on this AU in the library.
------
Goth looked at the book that he was currently reading, he had looked through all of the Fire based AUs in his Multiverse, but this one AU kept calling to him.
In this AU, Mount Ebbot was a dead Volcano, or that's what the humans thought, but the truth was that Mount Ebbot had been forced into being a dormant Volcano when the Monsters had been sealed underneath it. The Monsters had adapted to surviving a mostly lava based world, but when they were freed, Mount Ebbot erupted, causing a chain reaction that caused other Volcanos to erupt, throwing the world into chaos...
Chaos that was now dying down and life was returning to what could be called normal for that AU, but eyes were kept on the Volcanoes, in case that they did erupt again....
-----
Goth found himself coming to a stop at the bottom of the Volcano, he was exhausted, and he was covered in ash and dust.
He groaned, and he uncurled himself from his ball, letting himself flop on the ground as he got his breath back. He was never going to tell Shades about this, because while the AU did offer equipment that helped to stop this from happening, he didn't take it...
He was not telling Shades about his whoops moment..
----
They had to muffle their laughter.
Now that was hilarious to watch.
And he had it recorded, his Little Light would find it silly.
Hmmm... Hopefully Searcher remembered to bring water to drink during this adventure.
----
Goth slowly sat up, before he took a quick drink from his flask of water, he was never going to let anything or anyone know about that...
Fate giggled, that was so funny.
He stood up, brushing off what he could of the ash and the dust.
He looked back up the way that he had came, there was no way that he was going to be able to get back up there...
He sighed, and he looked in the other direction that he could take, only to freeze when he saw the crumbling, decaying pillars.
"Fuck..."
Shades was going to kill him.
If he went in there, he could be facing something much more dangerous and scarier then a Guardian....
He could lie and say that he got the days mixed up, but in the end, he sighed. He didn't have the time to worry about things like that and he had learned how dangerous overthinking things was to him the hard way....
He slowly walked over to the pillars, looking at all of the carvings on them, he could just have to delay the upcoming battle between him and the Guardian as long as he could....
The pillars were covered in carvings, and he could see scattered masonry around them that also had carvings on them.
He was now in Research Heaven, so many carvings and they all belonged to him! He clapped his hands together and he ran towards the nearest piece of masonry, pulling out the tools that he needed from his inventory.
Well, at least he could tell Shades that he did something fun during these two weeks....
----
He had already seen most of the carvings that he had found, and that took a bit of the fun out of it....
He was lying on top of another piece of masonary, but this one had no carvings. It was warm enough that he just needed to use a blanket and a air mattress for a bed tonight.
He was definitely not stepping beyond the boundary that the pillars and the masonry made, nope.
He had not seen an altar yet, nope....
Oh, who was he trying to fool.... He knew that the altar was waiting for him to find it, but he didn't want to find it, not yet...
Goth stared at the last piece of masonry that he had to look at, before he sighed. He could look at that in the morning. He rolled over in his bed and he tried to get some sleep.
----
He had strange dreams that night, he kept seeing his Dad, struggling against something that was holding him down.
His Dad reached a hand out to him, placing it against his cheek, before he managed to wrap himself around him.
"Don't worry Baby Bones, everything is going to be okay..."
He started to cry, even as his Dad wrapped his wings around them, it had been so long since he had been held by his Dad like this.
-----
Dream sighed. Palette had been missing for nearly two weeks now. He had never shown up in the Doodlesphere to check in with him and Ink, just like he had promised.
Ink had completely stopped creating AUs or copies and he had thrown himself into looking for Palette.
Goth, Reaper and now, Palette... Something was wrong here... Something that had been happening behind the scenes had spilled over into their lives, causing them to spiral out of control.
Dream wasn't as stupid as he looked.
He already knew that Nightmare was not involved in this. Dream knew his brother well, he had a soft spot for his nephew, and by now, they would have known if Nightmare had taken Palette....
Nightmare would only take Palette if he knew that something was going to happen that would hurt Palette, and Nightmare would have left evidence behind that proved that he was the one to take Palette, which meant that someone else had taken Palette, because Palette would have found a way to contract them by now if he was lost...
Dream also found it worrying that Error had been silent for so long..
"Dream..."
He turned around to see his brother standing there. "Nightmare?"
"Yes?" Nightmare moved so that he was standing in front of his brother. "What is it Dream?"
He had to ask.
"Have you seen Palette?"
"No, and most of my Boys haven't seen him too, we have been looking for him since he went missing."
"How did you know about that?"
"I have a source that told me about his disappearance." He couldn't get the look on Goth's face out of his head. "Dream, I know that you are not an idiot, you know that something has been going on behind the scenes, something older then me and you, older then Ink and Error's war..."
"I'm not the only one to realise that?" Dream asked.
"My source was the one to fill in the blanks, Dream, this is bigger then me and you, we need to work together to fix this."
Dream nodded his head, it had taken him a long time, but he had realised that part of what had happened all those years ago had, between him and his brother had partially been his fault, that the villagers had been toxic and that most of the blame could be laid on their shoulders. Nightmare wasn't free from the blame however, he had played a role in that mess too.
Positivity and Negatively could manage themselves, with some input from the brothers, but their main duty was to prevent outside influences from messing with their balance.
It had taken a lot for Dream to let go of the idea that he had to 'cure' his brother. Nightmare was happy with his current form and abilities.
"So, where should we start Brother? Should we ask Error some questions? He has been quiet for over two years.."
"Error is in the middle of finding his Happy Ending." Nightmare told Dream. "He remembered who he was about two years ago, and which AU that he came from, his family is still alive and he is working up the courage to contract them."
"Oh, that is wonderful news Brother!" Dream said. "And it does explain why he has been silent for over two years..."
Nightmare smiled. Oh, if only Dream knew who Error was....
"My source is already working on a plan to deal with the current problem. The last time that I heard from my source was that they had a lead that they were following. They may be found a way to end this. I also have Killer and Cross keeping an eye on Reaper's family."
"Why?"
"My source has told me that there is a chance that whoever, or whatever took Reaper, has something to do with what is currently going on behind the scene, and if it is powerful and skilled enough, to take out Reaper, then we need to be careful. There is a chance that Palette was taken by them as well..."
"But why? Why did it take my son?"
"I don't know and I can't explain the whole story without my source, but I can tell you what I do know... This story starts a long time ago, with a Deity named Fate...."
-----
Goth woke up, he could still feel the hug from his Dad, but was it more then just a dream?
But when he sat down, he couldn't see anything, maybe it was just a dream...
He rolled up his blanket, placing it in his inventory as he slid off of the air mattress that he had been using. He had one last piece of masonry to check, before he could even think of going near the altar...
He packed the rest of his bed away, before he headed for the masonry.
And with every step that he took, the more uneasy he felt, as if he was on the verge of finding knowledge that should never be told to anyone.....
He sat down near the masonry, running his fingers over it, the carvings on this piece of masonry were in better condition then the rest of the carvings that he had seen in this Temple.
The first carving was of a Temple with a barrier around it. It didn't look like any of the Temples that he had been to.
The second carving was of Ink being sick near the Temple, that might explain why Ink had never found these Temples, he couldn't go near them without being sick.
The third carving had the symbols of Fate all over it, along with something that actually looked like dried marrow, hitting the Barrier around the Temple.
The final carving was of the Temple again, without the Barrier.
Wait.... He looked at the third carving again. It seemed that Fate, or rather those who carried her blood/marrow, could open the last Temple.
Ink couldn't go near them without being sick, so he couldn't open them...
But Pally, he was technically Fate's Grandson, he didn't have the protection that Ink had that prevented him from going near the Temples...
Goth felt like he was going to be sick. His breathing sped up.... Pally, no....
He remembered what Palette had called himself. Seeker...
And he was Searcher...
Searcher and Seeker, Search and Seek, Hide and Seek.... Pally had always been the one to find him when he was hiding, as a game, or when he was feeling worried and even now, he still found him and he never gave up looking for him...
He could feel the Magic coming from his eyelight.... That's right, Seeker never gave up, he kept on searching for him.
It was time to repay him for that. He wasn't going to give up! He looked towards where the altar had to be, it was time for him to fight back.
He started walking towards the altar.