Promise

Chapter 1

"Guess who~" I sing, placing my hands over his eyes.

"Hmm. I'm going to take a wild guess and say... Goth!" He laughs, pulling my hands away.

"Aw you caught me again," I pout. Palette laughs.

"You do that all the time, it's hard not to know who you are. But I'm assuming there's more to your appearance than a simple guess who." 

"Yep! Follow me!" I grab Palette's wrist and teleport to the edge of a forest. "This is where we're going!"

"A forest?" He asks, glancing around. "Why a forest?"

"Because there's a special clearing in here I discovered when I was a kid. I'm going to tell you something there ok?" I say, starting to walk forward.

"Ok" Palette responds, following me with slight hesitance. My heart flutters in my chest. This may finally be the day I tell him how I feel.

Around thirty minutes later Palette has begun to smile and skip ahead, so I follow him, hoping he'll be mine soon.

Another hour passes, and it's only then I realize we've been walking for too long. "P-Palette..?" I stutter.

"Yeah Goth?" He asks, stopping in his tracks and turning around to face me. 

"Do you know where you're g-going?" I ask, scared of his answer.

Palette's face loses the greenish yellow tint it had, as he goes completely pale. "N-no. I thought you'd stop me when we needed to turn somewhere. Oh no. Oh no! WE'RE LOST!!" 

"Palette! Calm down! I'm sure we can get out of here!" I cry, unsure of my own words.

"You're right... besides there could be things out there. Things that c-could hurt us. They can't know we're here!" Palette murmurs. He pulls me close to him, somehow knowing that I'm even more afraid than him. "It'll be ok Goth. Let's just backtrack and we'll get out soon enough."

I nod. "You're right. We didn't take any turns, so let's just go-" a snapping twig cuts me off. 

Palette must've heard it too, as he freezes. Our heavy breathing is the only other sound.

"What was that?" I finally whisper.

"I don't know. Let's get out of here!" Palette replies in a low tone. We start to walk, staying close to each other out of fear, and something else. Well at least to me, I stay close because I love him. Behind us, I keep hearing small cracking noises, like another pair of less careful feet are crashing through the forest, following us. But I don't dare look back. I'm too scared about what I'll see, even if I'm imagining the noise.

"Wait. Palette stop walking for a minute." I say, stopping, and he freezes too. The footsteps following us don't stop though, and now I can hear that they are getting louder. Heavy breathing is behind us, and I'm still scared to turn around. 

Palette is braver than me. He spins around quickly, he looks ready to fight. But he doesn't get the chance. I see him fall backward, shadowed by a dark figure. He's screaming, and so am I. I can't make out what it truly looks like, but I can see it's glowing yellow eyes, staring intently at a struggling Palette. I finally react. My eyes go dark, and a small scythe appears in my hands. Without thinking twice I slash the scythe down upon the horrible creature, but it continues to bite and tear at my best friend. He screams again, calling my name. Why can't I help. Why am I so useless.

"Goth! GET IT OFF PLEASE!" He screams. My heart sinks as I cut the creature again. It roars and jumps off Palette. Slowly it slinks back into the forest, limping. It won't survive long I'm sure of it.

"Palette! Are you ok?" I ask, leaning over him. He looks awful. I didn't know skeletons could bleed so much. I didn't know they could bleed at all. Yet here he is. A pool of blood is slowly extending around him, and I kneel in it, hugging him and crying. I don't know if he'll survive long either. 

"I-I've got you with me Goth. I'll always be ok if you're with me." Palette smiles, despite his pain. 

"But.. I c-can't even help you now Palette!" I protest.

"Goth you don't understand! I love you!" He reaches up, with a blood soaked hand.

"Palette! I love you too! That's all I wanted to tell you tonight and look where we ended up!" I'm crying, holding his hand, savoring him. I lean over his pale face, which somehow smiles. I kiss him, and he doesn't pull away. He can't. Our salivas mix together, along with blood. Oh god. He's choking on his own blood.

"Well I'm glad you could k-know Goth. Please don't f-forget me!" Palette sobs, his breathing is labored and I can't help. 

"I can't forget you! But you can't leave me! Not now!" I cup his face in my hands. "Not now..."

"There's a time and a place for everything Goth... my time is now, and the place is here... I'm sorry." He gives me a last sad smile, before his face falls into one with no emotion. No life. I stare into his eyes, which gleam with remaining tears. I stare at his whole face, scratched and bruised. I stare at his hand which I still hold in mine. His fingers are slowly crumbling into dust. 

"No.. this can't be the time! Not here not now!" My fingers close around his hand, but all I feel is dust slipping through them. The wind howls through the trees like the noise of the beast that killed him. I open my hand, and watch the dust slip through my fingers into the wind. 

I notice his hat a few feet away, and stumble over to it. My eyes are blinded by tears but somehow I manage to pick it up. It fits quite well on my head despite belonging to him. 

How did I forget about my magic? I could've teleported us away!

I could've stopped this all I could've saved him I could've... I could've... 

T-This is all... my fault.

My fault.

My FaULt

MY FAULT!

I teleport home. How could I have done this. All I wanted to say was I love you. But I got him killed. He's dead and it's my fault. I pull his hat off my head and hold it to my chest. My tears mix with the dirt and blood on his hat. 

I can't continue like this.

My mind hurts.

My mind hurts.

Is this what it feels like to lose your mind?