(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Misery Loves Company - Chapter 2 (End)

I always love reading the comments people make on each chapter, it's hilarious and sometimes amazing to see other people's perspectives.

Chapter Warnings: Depression

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Overcoming the shock of the normally calm and collected Reaper shouting at him, Palette squeaked out, "Y... Yeah, he's here. He showed up about ten minutes ago looking really upset saying he didn't want to be alone. We're about to eat and play some video games."

The young skeleton could hear the tension drain from the adult's voice as he breathed, "Thank the stars... I swear that kid's gonna be the death of me."

Palette noticed the older skeleton wasn't laughing at their own joke. Turning to make sure he was still alone first, he asked quietly, "... If you don't mind me asking, did something happen?"

There was a pause on Reaper's end before he said, "Has Goth told ya what he does for a living?"

"Yeah... he said he collects souls from people that have passed away and guides them to the afterlife," the young skeleton stated in a wary tone.

"Yup," the parent confirmed only to release a heavy sigh as he continued, "Unfortunately, some cases are more... difficult to handle than others. Those are usually assigned to more senior reapers or I do them myself if I have time.

"Goth was acting like his normal self when he picked up his list this morning, but the day passed and he never showed up to hand in his report. I wasn't too worried since it's not unusual for collections to drag on longer than intended. It wasn't until I looked into his assignments that I found out there was a mix-up and he somehow got saddled with one of the more violent cases by accident."

"Oh stars...," Palette whispered, his mind buzzing in dread at the thought of what 'violent case' could mean. It would definitely explain Goth's earlier behavior.

"Pretty much my reaction when I found out," Reaper confessed, "I called Goth right away to check in and got his voicemail. Then I tried Geno and he was out shopping. Said he forgot something he needed for supper and wanted to get some errands done while he was out. Geno teleported home once I told him what happened and he found the door was unlocked, but Goth was nowhere to be found. To make matter worse, Geno started panicking when his call to Goth's phone went straight to voicemail as well."

That explained Reaper's outburst. They were both probably fearing the worst.

"Well, he seemed really shaken up when he came over and didn't want to talk about what was bothering him, but it didn't look like he was hurt," Palette explained as the microwave beeped, prompting him to shift the phone between his shoulder and skull to free up his hands, "I brought him inside for some video games to help distract him and started making some bagel bites for us to eat. Do you want him to come home instead?"

Reaper's voice seemed unsure as he said, "Goth's only had one bad run-in on the job before, one of his first assignments. I had to step in and it took him over a week before he was able to go out and try again. I've tried to keep him to tamer collections since then, but he might need a few days to relax if the assessment in front of me's anything to go by.

"Geno most likely wants him home... but honestly, it'd probably be better for him to stay with ya since you're the one he went to for help. If ya think ya got a handle on things and Dream doesn't mind him staying over, he'd probably be more comfortable there."

Palette put the last of the bagel bites onto a plate, tossing the greasy paper towel into the trash and moving over to the sink as he replied, "I don't mind and mom's supposed to be gone all weekend, so we can keep each other company. If anything happens or Goth decides he wants to go home, I can just call you or Mister Geno, right?"