(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Cold Reception - Chapter 4

After a few agonizing minutes of Palette whispering encouragements, crying silent tears, and listening to Goth's faint breaths, Reaper appeared at the top of the hill next to the tree. Within seconds of spotting them, he was beside the pair, placing something into his robe pocket. 

The parent let out a curse, quickly scooping his son into his arms and motioning with his head for Palette to grab onto his cloak. Palette scrubbed at his face, ignoring the crude language and scrambling to his feet, latching onto the black cloth in preparation for a teleport.

Palette felt the world press in around him as the older skeleton took them from the bottom of the cold hill into the softly lit lobby of a nearby hospital, the temperature changing considerably. 

Palette briefly wondered if he would ever be able to teleport in the future before his attention returned to Reaper, already halfway across the lobby moving towards a receptionist.

After a brief scare at the god's appearance, the woman noticed Goth and was able to call for a gurney and some nurses to lead him further into the hospital for emergency treatment. Reaper and Palette weren't allowed to follow, being directed to the waiting area of the lobby instead. The pair sat down reluctantly.

Reaper filled out paperwork for Goth and called Geno to let him know they found him while Palette called his mom to give him an update. 

A minute later, Geno appeared in the lobby. He rushed into Reaper's arms upon spotting him, burying his head into his husband's cloak while trying to stifle his sobs. The cloaked skeleton hugged back fiercely, nuzzling his face into the scarf around Geno's shoulders and muttering words only his husband could hear.

Dream appeared behind Palette, walking up to place a hand on his shoulder and give his son a tentative smile. That smile broke what remained of the starry-eyed skeleton's composure and the teen launched himself at his mom, sobbing out his own fears. 

Dream held his son, rubbing along his spine while murmuring encouragements of his own, much like Palette did for Goth earlier. Once the younger skeleton was able to calm down, they sat in two of the lobby chairs and he told his mom everything that had happened up to that point. 

Dream's expression began to fall as he listened. "It certainly sounds like a pretty bad situation from what you told me," he replied carefully as he rubbed his thumb over Palette's bare hand. The energetic skeleton was in such a rush earlier, he hadn't bothered to put on his fingerless gloves before leaving the house. The adult raised his gaze and met his son's eye lights, "but Goth's stubborn, so I have a feeling he'll be alright." Palette gave a half-hearted snort. 

Goth is pretty stubborn. 

Just the other day, he'd continuously challenged Palette to a racing game, even after losing twelve rounds. By the thirteenth try, though, he managed to catch his friend on a turn and ended up winning the race. The memory of the triumphant whooping from the smaller skeleton put a small smile on his face.

Dream smiled as well and wrapped an arm around his son, pulling him close and repeating, "He'll be alright."

Peering over at Goth's parents, Geno was staring at the clock as if in a trance, leaning on Reaper... who was looking at a page inside a small black book, eye lights completely absent. As though whatever he was staring at had personally offended him. Palette fought to suppress a shudder.

He looks kind of scary like that. 

After half an hour of simply staring at the same spot, Reaper finally closed the book and stowed it away in his pocket with an exhale of breath, an exhausted smile creeping onto his face as he settled back in his seat and closed his eyes.

---

"Is there a Mister Reaper present?"

After what felt like hours of waiting, a small brown-haired woman in a nurse outfit holding a clipboard walked through the double doors. Geno was over in an instant, desperate for news on his son. Reaper, Dream, and Palette weren't far behind. 

"You're the parents of Mister Goth Afterdeath?" she asked, looking towards the pair of adult skeletons in front of her. 

Geno nodded his head while clutching the scarf around his neck, "Yes, How's my baby? Is he okay?" The nurse smiled slightly at the concern Geno radiated.

"The situation was dicey for quite a while, but he's in stable condition at the moment," She replied, glancing at her clipboard.  The four skeletons let out a collective sigh of relief as she continued speaking.

"It seems your son was suffering from an extreme case of hypothermia as well as some head...," she paused for a moment as she caught her wording, "skull trauma when he was brought in. It took some effort, but we were able to get his body temperature stabilized and a healer was able to repair most of the damage near his eye socket as well as the minor scrapes and cuts along his bones. We have him hooked up to an IV and breathing mask to ensure his magical and physical stability.

"We'll need to keep him for another day or two after he wakes up to make sure there are no complications and to allow the crack on his skull to fully heal, but he should be able to make a full recovery within three, possibly four days at most."

Hope swelled in Palette's chest. Goth would be okay.

"Can we see him?" Pallete asked the nurse. 

She smiled and turned towards a hallway on the right, "This way, please."

The skeletons followed her through a series of hallways, eventually passing a sign labeled 'Recovery Ward' posted by a set of double doors, passing various rooms holding human and monster patients alike. 

Eventually, the nurse stopped in front of a non-descript closed door and turned to the group, "He's still sleeping at the moment, so please try to be quiet while you're here so he can rest." As everyone nodded, she opened the door and the group was led into the room.

Goth lay on a white bed, a white pillow propping up his bandaged skull with light blue blankets covering him. A breathing mask covering his mouth and nose while a bag of pale purple liquid on an IV stand fed a tube into the inside of his ribcage, being covered by a mint green hospital gown. A soft beeping sound was heard throughout the room from a soul monitor set against the wall on the right side of Goth's bed.

The nurse pointed out a red call button located above the bed's headboard that could be used in an emergency or to call the nurse's station if they needed anything before exiting the room. 

Geno gently grasped his son's right hand as Reaper pulled up a set of chairs for them to sit in. Palette went around to the sleeping skeleton's other side and pulled up a chair of his own, reaching out to Goth's left hand while laying his head upon on his right arm.

"Palette, I'm going to head home. Let me know if you need anything," Dream called out softly to his son. At Palette's tired nod, Dream left and Palette's attention returned to the unconscious skeleton before him.

"Palette," The skeleton glanced up once more to see Geno smiling at him, tears warring on the edges of his sockets, "thank you for finding Goth. Thank you for bringing my boy back safely." 

Palette returned the gratitude with a smile of his own and quietly replied, "of course," then laid his head back down on his arm to watch over his sleeping friend, his left thumb idly rubbing circles around the hole in the smaller skeleton's hand. The combination of patient silence, warm atmosphere, and soft beeping from the soul monitor eventually lulled the mentally worn young skeleton into a peaceful sleep of his own.

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Word count: 1,335