Tricks and Treats

7 - Right Before A Thought

Foolish was physically 15. Mentally, however, he had lived many lives. Similar to Karl, Foolish was a being of the Inbetween, a place that acts as the glue for reality, time, and death. While Karl was affiliated with time, Foolish was brought forth from death. He was a being able to revive the dead and heal fatal wounds. He had seen many nations, transversing for eons and eons. Whenever he would die, he would be remade into an altered form somewhere else. Now, Foolish reflected, he was part shark. It was odd to him, but he loved swimming in most of his previous lives so it wasn't a bother.

On his first few days of living his new life, Foolish was found by a captain. The woman with rainbow hair took Foolish in, treating him like the child he looked like. The woman adopted Foolish, becoming his mother who he called 'Papa' ironically. Foolish didn't have the heart to tell his Papa that he was technically older than her, so he relished in having a childhood with a caring adult.

Now, as a 15 year old, Foolish was following his Papa. She had asked Foolish to come with her while she apologized to someone, saying that Foolish was an innocent child that people naturally adored. Foolish didn't turn his Papa down, saying that he could work on his summer home at some later date.

Foolish held his Papa's hand as they stood before a dirt house built into a grassy hill. Foolish pitied whoever the home belonged to. As someone who built places, he saw the effort in the house but it was still sad. Through the windows in the French doors, Foolish saw a blonde boy walking around. Foolish recognized it as one of the people who killed him when he first spawned. Foolish was about to tell Puffy, but he saw the guilt in her eyes.

Captain Puffy slowly opened the door, leaning against the wood as she picked her head inside. Tommy looked over, giving Puffy a strange look before gesturing her inside. Puffy walked inside, Foolish following behind with his easygoing smile.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Tommy asked, giving them a look before turning back to his melding. Foolish could see the diamond armor inside getting smithed together with netherite ingots. Tommy's face was red with effort and sleeked with sweat, his gloved hands holding the tools to work so close to the flames.

Foolish hadn't expected this. To be honest, he thought Tommy got all of his good stuff by stealing from others. It never crossed his mind that Tommy actually made his own things. Looking around, Foolish realized that Tommy was more capable than Foolish gave him credit for.

"I wanted to apologize. I didn't know the tart was poisoned. Niki said that she wasn't the one to poison it," Puffy explained, not saying how she suspected Niki had poisoned the tart anyways. Puffy didn't want to believe the suspicions so she ignored all the evidence in her head.

"It's fine, Cap. I didn't die. No harm, no foul," Tommy said, pulling out his new netherite helmet. Tommy dropped the purple armor in a tub of water, a high pitched squeal following the action. Tommy pulled his gloves off, wiping the sweat from his forehead to turn to Foolish and Puffy.

"We need to figure out who would poison you. We don't know if it will happen again. What if they succeed Tommy? What if you die?" Puffy said, eyes growing wide with worry. Foolish grabbed his Papa's hand to calm her down. Puffy smiled gratefully at Foolish before looking back at Tommy.

He didn't answer. He turned his back, pulling his gloves back on. Tommy searched a nearby chest, bringing out a diamond chest plate. Tommy pushed it into the fire, bringing out some netherite ingots. Tommy worked methodically, taking his time to seamlessly change the elemental structure of the diamond armor by transmuting with the netherite. It was a strange ability given to humans by a god from the Inbetween who could morph reality many eons ago. The ability was no longer considered a miracle. But as Foolish watched someone else do the work, he didn't understand why people didn't consider it to be magical.