Garden Of Stories

Chapter Two - Time Well Spent

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 Red was a simple skeleton. At least, he thought he was.

 Red had a daily routine to follow. He and the kid would go through countless timelines of trying to kill each other or befriending one another. Get into violent bar fights with the other occupants of Grillby's. Maybe get yelled at by his brother for his cheesy, played out puns. And at the end of the day, go home and pass out drunk off of his favorite spicy condiment, mustard.

 And the cycle repeats.

 He never wanted to join the Council of Original's, nor did he want to be part of Nightmare's gang. It was too much of a hassle, but he didn't really have a choice. He'd rather have Ink's protection over his Au than be under Nightmare's control any day.

 He'd just came back from one of those drawled out conferences Ink uses as an excuse to talk shit about the Destroyer. Everyone knew it, he'd always rant about how difficult it was to locate the guy. For the past decade, the Destroyer has been in hiding, he'd only appear a few times per year to go on an insane destruction spree before disappearing once more. It was always random, Ink become more paranoid as the years went by, they never knew when Error decided to show up.

 A tired sigh escaped through the spaces between his teeth, he'd been dropped him off in Waterfall since he couldn't make portals.

 Short cutting his way home didn't sound satisfying in the slightest, he wasn't exactly looking forward to his brother's lecture about coming home at such a late hour. He'd rather walk, not many people were out and about, meaning he didn't need to waste time on pointless greetings and small talk with monsters he'd barely considered as his friends.

 Sluggishly, he made his way through Waterfall, taking his sweet time to delay the inevitable. He actually liked Waterfall, more than Snowdin at least. It was nice to admire the plants, to listen to private conversations through the many echo flowers, to finally have some peace and quiet away from everything and everyone else once in a while. He was positive his many "alternatives" would agree with him.

 Underfell wasn't the nicest place, that much is obvious. But compared to Horrortale, Dusttale, and the other ones, it was paradise in his opinion. No one ever really visited him in his Au, only when they have to. Red knew they were just too scared to encounter any other monsters. Those assholes couldn't make it anymore obvious. He's pretty sure even Papyrus felt offended by them at one point, but it wouldn't be very surprising since he gets offended by almost everything.

 Red was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't even notice the sound of rushing water or loud splashes made by falling rocks. A gasp escaped and his teeth parted in surprise when he suddenly found himself submerged underwater, having the clear liquid rushed in through his mouth and sockets. He wasn't in that spot for long before he popped out of existence, seconds later he was on the other side of the waterfall, coughing up any ingested water.

 He wiped his mouth with a sleeve, sending a glare towards the waterfall with a grunt. He was drenched, Boss is gonna blow a fucking fit if he tracks water into the house. He needs to dry himself off before anything, his eardrums are not about to be broken by his brother's insanely loud voice. Turning toward the curtain of rushing water once more, he instantly remembered the small cave behind it. He could just wait there, it won't take too long.

 Quickly, he ran through the freezing wall of water. Once through, he noticed the old abandoned tutu. He sneered in disgust at it, he's not going near that thing. It's probably infested with bugs and dirt, maybe even blood, he doesn't want to know. He made himself comfortable in the farthest corner from the offending accessory, taking off his shoes, socks, and now soaking jacket, leaving him in a red turtleneck and shorts.