Child of Death, Destroyer of Worlds

Palette

Palette found himself walking in the snow, he was so confused, one minute he was in his bed, trying to get some sleep and then, in the next minute, he was walking in ankle deep snow.

The snow crunched underneath his boots as he walked, but the further that he got, the darker the snow became.

Palette knew that something was wrong when he started to see blood in the grey snow, but who it belonged to, he did not know.....

He could now see someone standing in front of him. The figure wore a tattered red scarf with a ragged white coat and he was just standing there.

Palette could see several loose White Strings wrapped around their form, most of the Strings were on their neck but a few stray Strings had made their home on their arms and legs.

The figure slowly turned around and Palette gasped. "Gothy!" He yelled, running forwards and pulling his friend into his arms, letting one hand rest on Goth's back while the other one cradled the back of his head.

"Palette?" Goth asked, before he wrapped his own arms around Palette, burying his face into Palette's chest, sobbing. "Palette..."

"It's okay Gothy, everything's going to be okay." Palette wrapped his arms tighter around his friend. "I've got you, you're safe now, you're going to be okay...."

Goth sniffed, before he pulled his face away from Palette's chest, allowing him to see the tears that were still steaming down his face.

Palette chuckled and he moved his hands so that they were placed on Goth's cheeks, wiping the tears away with his thumbs.

He then leaned down and pressed his forehead against Goth's, smiling. "You're going to be okay Gothy, I promise. Mr.Geno, Mr.Reaper and the rest of your family are really worried about you, let's go home Goth. They're waiting for us."

Goth smiled, but it was a sad smile, as if he knew something that Palette didn't know about.

"I can't... I can't come home Palette..."

"Gothy, what's wrong?" Palette asked, but he didn't get an answer, because he was suddenly pushed away by something.

He knew that it wasn't Goth, because his friend's eyelight was wide and the White Strings on his body were suddenly pulling him away, towards a portal that was slowly opening.

"PALETTE!" Goth screamed, reaching out for him as more of those White Strings wrapped around his body.

"Gothy!" Palette lunged, trying to grab his friend's hand, but he was too late. The White Strings yanked Goth into a portal, just as the tips of Palette's fingers brushed against Goth's hand.

Palette found himself falling into the grey snow, spluttering and coughing as he tried to get what he had swallowed out of his mouth, for this was not snow, it was Dust.

--------

Palette suddenly found himself sitting up in the bed of the room that he was staying in for the night, with his arm held out in front of him.

"It was just that nightmare..." Palette said, as he slowly calmed down. "Again..."

He drew his knees closer to his chest and he wrapped his arms around them. It was the same nightmare that he had been having for the past two years. It never changed.

He would find himself walking somewhere, covered in grey powder, and he would find Goth, they would talk for a bit but it always ended in the same way, with Goth being taken from him and then, he would find out that the grey powder was Dust.

At first, everyone thought that these nightmares were the work of his Mom's brother, but his Mom had quickly destroyed that theory, there was a different between natural nightmares and the ones that his brother created, and once you knew how to tell them apart, you could figure out which type of nightmare that it was.

Palette was having natural nightmares, they had not been created by Nightmare.

He sighed, before he grabbed his wallet, opening it so that he could see one of the pictures in it. It was a photo of him and Goth on a log plume. That had been a fun day, they was soaked through and they caught a cold because of that, but it had been a good day.

Palette gently brushed his fingers over Goth's face in the photograph, it was the last photo that had been taken before Goth had been kidnapped. They didn't know that a week after this photo had been taken, that those happy times would be brought to an end.

Palette wanted to go back in time, to the day that Goth was taken, and offer himself in Goth's place, Goth didn't deserve what had happened to him.

Palette missed his best friend, but it hurt even more when a year after Goth had been taken, he realised that he liked Goth more than a friend. That pain grew even more when Mr.Geno showed him Goth's journals.

Goth had loved him more than a friend for a very long time and that he, Palette, had placed him in the Friend-Zone. Palette could see the tear marks where Goth had cried as he wrote those entries.

It was one of the reasons that he was so determined to find Goth, he had to make up for what he had done. He had to tell Goth about his feelings. He had to bring him home and fix what had been broken.

Palette got up and he moved one of the curtains to reveal that it was still dark, but the sun was about to come up. He quickly got dressed, leaving his jacket, cap and scarf behind. It had been so long since he had seen a sunrise.

-------

Palette found himself on a small hill, he had a good view of the sky from here but he wasn't alone. There was another Skeleton here.

He hadn't seen Palette, yet, he seemed to be more focused on his phone, even as Palette sat next to him on the bench.

The sun slowly rose into the sky, slowly adding color to the night sky that was quickly fading away. Palette sadly smiled, this was one of the best sunrises that he had seen, if only Goth was here to see this with him...

"Is something wrong?"

He almost jumped out of his seat from the softly spoken question. "No." He eventually said. "Nothing is wrong."

"You wouldn't be smiling like that, at a sunrise like this, if nothing was wrong, what happened?"

Palette was silent for a few minutes before he spoke up. "I have a friend, he's been missing for two years, kidnapped actually, he was my best friend..."

"Was?"

"I realised that I love him more than a friend a year after he was taken, but he had loved me more than a friend, I always ended up putting him in the Friend-Zone and it hurt him, a lot."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to open up a wound like that..."

"It's fine." Palette said. "You didn't mean to..."

"So, you're looking for him?"

"Yeah, but recently, it feels like I'll never find him, I'll never see him again."

"Don't give up." Palette felt the stranger place his hand on his shoulder. "Your friend is counting on you, right?"

"Yeah..."

"You're his Hope, he believes in you, he's waiting for you to bring him home, he knows that you're coming for him and that you'll find him, so, don't give up now, stay determined, and you'll find him one day.

I have to go now, but I wish you the best of luck in finding your friend."

Palette watched the stranger walk away, before he looked back at the sun. The stranger was right, he had spent the past two years looking for Goth, he couldn't give up now, not when he had come so far.

He ran back to the Hotel, not seeing the Stranger that was watching him or the small puppet that they held in their arms.