(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

My Gift to You - Chapter 1

Goth groaned as the sunlight peeked through the window, shining onto his face and forcing him to wake up. Rolling over, he cracked open his sockets now that the light wouldn't blind him. He yawned as he reached for his phone to check the time.

8:37 am, Saturday morning.

A notice popped up, reminding him of his outing with Palette today. They were heading to the mall for lunch and a movie they both had been looking forward to seeing. After that, they would figure out the rest of their day as they went along.

Goth really didn't care what they did as long as he got the spend time with his 'friend'.

Shaking off the melancholy that came with the word, the skeleton pushed himself off the bed and trudged toward the bathroom to get ready. After a quick shower and a wardrobe change into his usual day clothes, he hopped down the stairs and plodded into the kitchen for breakfast.

He found his dad, Reaper, was in the kitchen but not his mom, Geno. Shrugging it off, he pulled a box and a bowl from the cabinets and began to make himself some cereal.

"Goth?" His dad called out, setting down the cup of coffee he'd been drinking, "Come sit down for a minute, we need to talk."

Goth cocked his skull in confusion, though he shoved the box back into the cabinet and snatched a spoon from the drawer on the way to the table, forgoing the milk to comply with the request, "What's up dad?"

Releasing a heavy sigh, Reaper pulled an object from his pocket. Goth was immediately able to identify the little black book as his dad's soul collection list, "I was going through this today, and I found an entry ya may wanna see."

Opening the booklet and handing it over to Goth, the small skeleton browsed through the page. Nothing jumped out at him until he got two-thirds of the way down the list of names.

"What...? No... that can't be right," Goth shook his skull in denial, his sockets scrunching up as he read and re-read the entry over and over again, hoping he was imagining things, "Why is Palette's name on your list?!"

"Sorry kiddo, afraid it is. As for why... it's his time," Reaper answered in a somber tone, "I don't make the list, I only follow it.

"You're supposed to be hanging out with him today, right? No matter what, ya can't tell him what ya know. As reapers, we have to maintain the balance of life and death. Averting his death would come with severe consequences and would only delay the inevitable."

"No...," The scarved skeleton sniffled, his sockets watering, "That's not fair!" Shoving the book away, he buried his skull into his arms to hide his face.

Reaper stood from the table, coming around to put a comforting hand on Goth's back in sympathy, "Life's not always fair, no matter how much we don't like it. Rules are rules, and a soul must be collected at the specified time. The most I can do is save ya the pain of having to collect him yourself... so make his last day count, 'kay?"

Goth sobbed as he launched himself from his chair, grasping around his dad's waist in a tight hug. The parent kneeled down, pulling his son into his arms, patting his back and rubbing along his spine as he bawled into the black cloak.

"Goth?" Geno called, walking through the kitchen doorway and catching sight of the pair, "Reaper, what's going on?"

"Bad news, I'll tell ya later," the god replied simply with a slow shake of his skull.

Once the small skeleton was able to calm down, he trudged upstairs so he could wash his face off before he headed out, no longer having an appetite for his abandoned cereal. A gasp from downstairs told him that Geno now knew what was going to happen today.

The thought nearly brought him to tears once more, but he willed them away. He had to make today the best day ever, and Palette would only fuss and worry if the smaller showed up crying. Taking a deep breath, he descended the stairs to find his mom waiting for him.

Geno picked the small monster up, pulling him into a tight hug and planting a kiss on his forehead, "I'm so sorry sweetie. I wish there was something we could do, I know how much Palette means to you. Your dad already headed out, but I'll be here when you get home if you want to talk... or if you just need some company. "

"Thanks, mom," Goth croaked, wrapping his arms around their neck to return the hug. Once he was placed back on the ground, he waved to his mom and headed out the door toward Palette's house.

---

Reaching his destination less than an hour later, he crawled up the steps and rang the doorbell. There was hurried thumping coming from inside before the door was thrown open with an excited exclamation, "Goth, you're he-! Hey, are you okay? Your sockets look all red."

"Yeah," Goth chuckled half-heartedly, rubbing his face, "The wind blew some dirt in my face on the way here."

Palette blinked, opening the door a bit more, "Oh. You want to come inside and wash it out before we go?"

"It's fine, I've already gotten most of it out," Goth lied, "let's head out. We still need to get lunch before the movie, unless you want to pay for overpriced popcorn."

Palette made a sour face before stepping outside and shutting the door, "True, let's go then!"

"Don't you need to tell your mom you're leaving?" The smaller inquired with a frown. He hated the idea of Dream not getting to at least say goodbye to his son.

Palette latched onto his hand, pulling him out to the sidewalk, "Nah, mom got called in to handle something today. I already told him I had plans and when I was coming back before he left."

"Oh, alright...," Goth murmured, letting himself be pulled along.

***

Word Count: 1,023