Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

All's Fair in Love and War: Chapter 3

Chapter Warning: Violence, mild blood (marrow), swearing

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P: Stay put, we'll be right there.

G: Alright

Palette breathed a sigh of relief as Cray set off in the direction of Goth's supposed location; the monster had been hovering uncomfortably close, watching the conversation over his shoulder the whole time. He pocketed his phone and quickly caught up, just as eager for the reunion as his rival.

"How did he manage to get all the way over to the rest area without either of us noticing?" Cray griped as he powerwalked through the crowd, his bag of purchases swaying on his arm.

"He said he was looking for us," glancing around, Palette noted that most of the people were almost half a head taller than Cray's height, "I guess he couldn't see us past all these people."

"We should have kept a closer eye socket on him," Cray snapped, edging around a group taking photos.

Bristling at the jab, Palette opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but quickly deflated when he realized the comment wasn't directed solely at him and grudgingly agreed, "Yeah, we let ourselves get distracted... but we know where he is now; that's the important part."

Cray scoffed at the comment as they passed the last stall and the crowd began to thin, "Always glass half full, aren't you? Don't you ever get tired of that- shit!"

Palette sucked in a swift breath, planning to reprimand the taller monster for their crude language, but Cray taking off through the crowd and a chorus of surprised shouts distracted him. Following the sound, he felt his marrow run cold when he caught sight of Goth being held down and a hunting knife in clear view. People were fleeing the area, but his feet began moving forward on their own, urging him to stop the impending violence.

He had to protect Goth... he couldn't let them-!

Cray beat him to the punch, figuratively and literally, as he socked the attacker in the jaw, causing them to lose their grip on their victim and the knife as they staggered away. Goth crumpled to the ground, lifting himself up on shaky elbows to stare up at the stand-off as the taller monster stood by him, clenching their fists and gritting their teeth.

The attacker realized their mistake and fled as Cray's feet shifted in preparation to take off after the coward, but Palette's attention was focused on Goth. From what he could see of their expression, it had morphed into something akin to dread. The monster croaked out a feeble, "W-wai-" that could barely be heard over the tumult of noise around them.

Palette dropped down next to his friend, now able to hear the unsteady breaths of an oncoming panic attack. Gently placing his hand on their shoulder, he called out to garner their attention, "Goth?"

Goth whipped their skull in his direction with a startled hiccup and Cray rocked back on their feet as well, their attention returning to the pair on the ground. "Shit..." Palette heard them curse under their breath, but chose to ignore it in favor of helping his shaken companion sit up. The taller skeleton walked back over, squatting next to them and asking, "You okay? What happened?"

"I... I b-bought...," Goth pointed shakily to the tote and its contents strewn across the ground as he stuttered out an explanation, "n'you b-both w-weren't there... I t-tried t-to... but I c-couldn't... n'then... gr-abbed m-me..." Despite his best efforts, his distress over the ordeal was slowly drowning out any hope of comprehension, "th'knife... f-fell... alo-one... so s-scaaared!"

Goth began wailing, pressing their skull into Palette's shoulder and latching onto his jacket as the pent-up stress poured out alongside their tears. His soul ached and empathetic tears welled up at the edges of his own sockets as he wrapped his arms protectively around his companion. Laying his splotched cheek against their hooded skull, he murmured, "It's okay, you're safe now. We're here and we won't let anything happen to you."

Cray looked away with a bitter expression and stood, striding over and scooping the spilled items into the tote bag to join the one dangling from his arm. As he regained his feet, a man with a walkie-talkie strapped to his belt jogged up to him and started a conversation. After talking for a couple of seconds, the skeleton called back, "Goth, this guy's with security and needs to ask you some questions; you up for it?"

"Come on, let's get to a bench and you can tell us again what happened," Palette gently suggested, standing up and offering his hand. Goth sniffled, nodding their skull and taking his hand to be led over to the bench.

As he sat beside his companion, Cray piped up, "Hey, did something happen to your arm? There's something on the left sleeve."

"Huh?" Goth blinked, shifting his arm to inspect the rusty stain near his elbow and pulling back the sleeve to get a better look.

"Are you hurt?" Palette's sockets furrowed in concern, leaning forward to get a closer look.

Goth grimaced at the scrape running along the underside of his ulna, "... I didn't even notice; it must have happened when I fell..."

As Palette began searching his pockets for something to clean the injury, Cray pulled a spare napkin from their pocket and handed it to the smaller, "Here, use this." A pang of jealousy ran through him as the smaller monster accepted the item and gingerly pressed it to their ulna, but he quickly shoved the feeling down; making sure Goth was taken care of was more important-

"Ahem," the security guard coughed, regaining the group's attention, "If you would explain what happened and give me a description of the attacker..."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Goth squeaked as his cheeks lit up. 

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Word Count: 964