After a few agonizing minutes of Palette whispering encouragements, crying silent tears, and listening to Goth's faint breathing, Reaper appeared at the top of the hill next to the tree. Within seconds of spotting them, he was beside the pair while shoving something into his robe pocket.

The parent let out a curse, quickly scooping his son into his arms and motioning with their skull for Palette to grab onto his cloak. Scrubbing at his face and scrambling to his feet, he ignored the crude language and latched onto the black cloth in preparation for a teleport. The world pressed in around him as the older skeleton took them from the bottom of the snowy hill into the considerably warmer, softly lit lobby of a nearby hospital.

Palette idly wondered if he would ever be able to teleport in the future as he followed Reaper, who already halfway across the lobby moving towards a receptionist. After a brief scare at the god's sudden appearance, the woman was able to call for a gurney and some nurses to take the smaller skeleton further into the hospital for emergency treatment. Neither was allowed to follow, being directed to the waiting area of the lobby instead.

Reluctantly, the pair sat down; Reaper filled out hospital paperwork and called Geno to let him know they found Goth while Palette called his mom to give him an update.

Not even a minute later, Geno appeared in the lobby; he rushed into Reaper's arms upon spotting him, burying his skull into his into their husband's cloak while trying to stifle his sobs. The cloaked skeleton hugged back fiercely, nuzzling his face into the scarf around the smaller's shoulders and muttering words only his spouse could hear.

A hand rested on Palette's shoulder; Dream was standing behind him, giving him a tentative smile. That smile broke what remained of his composure and the teen launched himself at his mom, sobbing out his own fears. The guardian held their son, rubbing along his spine while murmuring encouragements of their own, much like he did for Goth earlier. Once the younger monster was able to calm down, they sat in two of the lobby chairs and he told them everything that had happened up to that point.

Dream's expression turned pensive as he listened. "It certainly sounds like a pretty bad situation from what you told me," the monster replied carefully, rubbing warmth back into Palette's bare hand; in the rush to begin their search, he had completely overlooked his gloves. The parent raised his gaze and met his son's eye lights, "but Goth's stubborn; I know he'll be alright."

Palette gave a half-hearted snort; Goth was pretty stubborn. Just the other day, his normally soft-spoken companion had continuously challenged him to a racing game, even after losing twelve rounds. By the thirteenth try, though, they managed to catch him on a turn and ended up winning the race. The memory of the triumphant whooping from the smaller skeleton put a small smile on his face.

Dream smiled as well and wrapped his arms around his son, pulling him close and repeating, "He'll be alright."

Peering over at Goth's parents, Geno was staring at the clock as if in a trance, leaning on Reaper... who was looking at a page inside a small black book, his smile rictus and eye lights completely absent; it was as if whatever he was staring at had personally offended him. Palette fought to suppress a shudder while wondering if the elder monster had always looked that scary.

After half an hour of simply staring at the same spot, Reaper finally closed the book and stowed it away in the folds of his cloak with an exhale of breath, an exhausted smile creeping onto his face as he settled back in his seat and closed his sockets.

---

"Is there a Mister Reaper present?"

After what felt like hours of waiting, a small brown-haired woman in nurse's scrubs holding a clipboard walked through the double doors. Geno was over in an instant, desperate for news on their son. Reaper, Dream, and Palette weren't far behind.

"You're the parents of Mister Goth Afterdeath?" she asked, looking towards the pair of adult skeletons in front of her.

Geno nodded his skull while clutching the scarf around his neck, "Yes, How's my baby? Is he okay?" The nurse smiled slightly at the concern the monster radiated.

"The situation was dicey for quite a while, but he's in stable condition at the moment," She replied, glancing at her clipboard. The four skeletons let out a collective sigh of relief as she continued speaking, "It seems your son was suffering from an extreme case of hypothermia as well as some head-" she paused for a moment as she caught her wording, "um, skull trauma when he was brought in. It took some effort, but we were able to get his body temperature stabilized and a healer was able to repair most of the damage near his eye socket as well as the minor scrapes and cuts along his bones. We have him hooked up to an IV and breathing mask to ensure his magical and physical stability.

"We'll need to keep him for another day or two after he wakes up to make sure there are no complications and to allow the crack on his skull to fully heal, but he should be able to make a full recovery within three, possibly four days at most."

Hope swelled in Palette's chest; Goth would be okay. "Can we see him?" he eagerly asked the nurse.

She smiled and turned towards a hallway on the right, "This way, please."

The skeletons followed her through a series of hallways, eventually passing a sign labeled 'Recovery Ward' posted by a set of double doors; there were various rooms holding human and monster patients alike. Eventually, the nurse stopped in front of a non-descript closed door and turned to the group, "He's still sleeping at the moment, so please try to be quiet while you're here so he can rest." When everyone nodded, she opened the door and the group was led into the room.

Goth laid on a white bed, a white pillow propping up his bandaged skull with light blue blankets covering his body. A breathing mask rested over his mouth and nose while a bag of pale purple liquid on an IV stand fed a tube past a mint green hospital gown into his ribcage. A soft beeping sound could be heard throughout the room; a soul monitor keeping track of the sleeping monster's vitals was set against the wall on the right side of the bed.

The nurse pointed out a red call button located above the bed's headboard that could be used in an emergency or to call the nurse's station if they needed anything. Geno nodded along to the information mutely as the nurse left, gently grasped his son's right hand as Reaper pulled up a set of chairs for them to sit in. Palette went around to the sleeping skeleton's other side and pulled up a chair of his own, reaching out to Goth's left hand while laying his head upon on his right arm.

"I'm going to head home. Let me know if you need anything, alright?" Dream called out softly; at Palette's tired nod and Geno's thanks, the skeleton left and their attention returned to the unconscious monster before them. Closing his fingers around Goth's hand, he pleasantly noted it felt much warmer now.

"Palette?" The skeleton glanced up once more to see Geno smiling at him, tears warring on the edges of their sockets, "thank you for finding Goth... thank you for bringing my boy back safely."

He returned the gratitude with a smile of his own and quietly replied, "Of course," then laid his head back down on his arm to watch over his sleeping friend, idly tracing his thumb around the hole in the smaller skeleton's hand. The combination of patient silence, warm atmosphere, and soft beeping from the soul monitor eventually lulled the mentally worn monster into a peaceful sleep of his own.

***

Word Count: 1,362