"And.. By the way. Has anyone told you how terrible you look?" Crescent bluntly commented, stuffing his hands inside his pockets.
".. Huh?"
Crescent held up his hand silently, signaling Palette to stop. He glanced around, before quickly ushering Palette behind a potted plant.
"Your Highness? What are you doing?" A familiar gruff voice asked. A voice that reminded Palette of raw meat.
"What's it to you?" Crescent crossed his arms, making it known he was not in the mood for pleasantries. Horror snickered slightly. His heavy body bouncing with every breath.
"There's probably an intruder in the castle walls. You haven't seen an idiot in a little hat, stained scarf and button down.. Have you?" Horror snickered. The boy behind the potted plant huffed.. He wasn't an idiot.
"I haven't, but I do see an idiot before me for believing someone could just waltz in here. If you're checking, go somewhere else." Crescent replied, demandingly. Horror shrugged.
"Just trying to make sure he isn't bothering you." He gave Crescent a mocking pat on the head before walking past. Not sparing a second glance at the potted plant.
".. As I was saying. You look terrible." Crescent glanced over cooly at Palette who crawled out of his little hiding space.
".. Thanks. I haven't had a proper, solid sleep in about two months so.. Thanks man." Palette rolled his eyes. He brushed himself off, trotting beside Crescent who had already begun to walk off.
"Well why not?" His cousin raised a bone-brow, eyes darting to the other. Palette gave a nervous laugh.
".. Nightmares." He answered quickly, looking away. "A reoccurring one. It's pretty… It's a lot." Palette added. As he looked away, he didn't catch Crescent's expression widen.
"Hold on. Does it have a boat?"
Palette flinched at the mention of a boat, imagining the inky black tar that would swallow him whole. But he nodded.
"Dude. I was just in my dad's room and he apparently has the same fucking dream."
Palette glanced over to the prince, he recalled how Nightmare mentioned something like that before.. The hug.. But now that he had time to truly digest that information, it made him worry.
"How do you know that for sure?" Palette whispered, clutching at his sleeves gently; his favorite nervous habit.
"Well. Nightmare keeps a sort of dream journal. Partly about himself, partly about interesting dreams he visits.. And he seems pretty distraught about that. It sounds terrifying." Palette shuddered at the memory.
"Yeah.. It is." He shook the thought from his head. "But, it's whatever. I'm fine, I don't mean to worry anyone about it." He forced a laugh. The hooded skeleton beside him shrugged also.
The two continued to talk, duck and hide. But.. It was a really informative talk. Despite the fact Palette had apparently wandered far from the hall, he made a mental note about the information he got from Crescent. Regardless of the minor details.
> Nightmare can enter dreams
° could this mean Nightmare has entered his? Probably not. But it's always a thing to consider.
> Nightmare hates Dream.
° thanks for that information, Crescent. That would've been helpful around the time he got his legs broken.
> Palette was an idiot.
° thanks again, Crescent.
[...]
"Uh.. So what does this crown look like?"
Crescent spoke as they turned into a room.. The hall. Palette gulped as violent memories flooded his mind. He clutched his arms in a comforting self-hug. He had to force himself to tear his eyes from the scene, almost as if staring at it for too long would pull him backwards in time.
"It's.. Round.. But with like.. A sq- it's not there." Palette blinked after forcing himself to look back where he stood, where he dropped the crown on the floor.
Crescent responded with "Yeah.. I had a feeling." He sighed, walking into the hallroom as soldier-like as ever. Palette, on the other hand, had a little bounce to his walk despite how rushed it was currently.
“Oh no! I could’ve sworn I dropped it right here. He went to.. then I..!” Palette clutched his hat, beginning to panic. Crescent snapped his fingers, trying to help Palette collect himself.
“Roller. Stay with me. If you panic, he’ll know.” Crescent snapped, placing his hand on Palette’s shoulder. He looked up at him, his star pupils shrunken with worry.
“That doesn’t matter, I made a promise! I can’t keep lying to everyone Crescent! I-.. I made so many promises..! What am I gonna do!? I owed it to her.. I can’t lie to her, not her!” He began to lightly hyperventilate.
“Palette!”
Palette glanced up. Looking from Crescent.
“Listen dude, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but we will get the crown back.” Crescent nodded, putting his other hand on Palette’s shoulder, attempting to ground the other before he was sent into a grand panic attack.
Palette gulped, nodding. “You’re right… you’re right, momentary lapse in judgment I guess.” He looked away, adjusting his hat that didn’t really need adjusting. Crescent pulled his hand away, uncomfortable with the… moment they just had. Yeah no, he may be his cousin but.. they just met each other. Palette guessed he wasn’t exactly a touchy-feels person either. So… they both stood awkwardly.
… ahem.
Crescent sighed.
“Alright, well. That probably puts you in a bad situation because we don’t know who has it, where it is, and how you’re going to explain to your grandmother that you lost her crown.” Crescent muttered, sighing. “But I think I have a feeling that I know who took it.” He added, looking down the hallway they just came down.
“..Who?”
[…]
Reaper, on the other hand… couldn’t find Palette anywhere.. He shrugged, summoning his list for a moment. He browsed through the names, he didn’t have the time to wait for Palette and he just had to check if… nope. It seems the kid is gonna be find on his own. Would he get in trouble with Life, Goth, Geno, Dream and Ink for leaving Palette on his own in the same place he was nearly killed? Yeah. But if Palette was in any danger, his name would be appearing on his list.
He sighed, did he have a death wish? Possibly.
With a nimble movement of his scythe. He gave up on searching for the soul.
Leaving Palette.
YOU ARE READING
Lost Crown, Lost Self || Captain Palette 2 || part 2 of Cappa!AU || ON HOLD. ||
Fanfiction// Cover drawn by @_CherryLime_ after such a horrible loss, Palette refuses to give up hope. with the knowledge that his uncle wasn't always the monster he used to be, Palette is more sure that there has to be some way to bring his uncle back to hi...
