Chapter Text
It’s been a while since she’s seen anyone. This forest is pretty deep, and the only thing she’s found so far is a bunch of Unowns and a very sketchy Hypno. It pierced into her before disappearing with its pendulum. She honestly didn’t know how she got here besides wanting to go for a walk. Apparently life didn’t like that idea so much, the day getting darker and turning the forest into a maze.
She walked the endless forest, turning and glancing at every turn and step. She didn’t know what to expect out here, and she’d rather not find out anytime soon. She traveled for a while before coming to a path that seemed to lead somewhere promising. She didn’t get her hopes up too much, but she was really praying this would be somewhere good. She made her way down the dirty but clear road, rocks crunching under her sneakers that she was lucky enough to bring. Her face was scared, anxious, but composed in a manner that made her seem like she was simply passing by at a wrong time.
She wasn’t having an easy time with her emotions. She was wrapping them in a nice bundle wrapper that had the words “FORGET AT ALL COSTS” written on it with the label getting ripped off every day from people trying to make sure she was okay. It was hard to even be active, or focus on what was happening in front of her. Her mind kept crashing to the sweet voice of her lover, who tenderly held her in his big but gentle arms. He didn’t talk much, no, his older brother made all the conversation, but he was affectionate and sweet with his actions. Her heart always went up and above when she was with him. Her days were always brightened by his shy and rare smile that she could only make appear with pure ease and love. She adored him, deeply. He used to adore her too. Things changed, however, and definitely changed for the worst. She would rather not spiral into what happened now, but rather then. There were more better times than that. Those were times she wished she could keep and throw the rest away.
Her thoughts were abruptly stopped as she focused on heavy footsteps. They almost sounded like boots, or large sneakers. She quickly took cover, rushing behind a tree. The bushes crunched as she ducked down mindlessly, her heart was beating to unnatural degrees. She leaned her head on the tree to get a better listen of whoever the hell was nearby. The steps sounded crunchy, as if it were out of some old game. Once they got close enough, there were sounds of distortion, static, breathing that honestly sounded like it came from an old video. She took a small glance while she was listening to see a figure. The stranger wore a familiar red cap, with a sleeveless red jacket that drooped. He had long, blue baggy pants that were a bit hard to see from the dark pixels on the figure. Actually, it was everywhere on him. It was a little creepy to look at, but she didn’t dwell on it, getting curious at him. There’s no way she can’t not identify that as Red. Clearly, it is, but there’s just a touch wrong with him. What if it wasn’t Red? What if it was just a ghost? A hallucination, maybe? He was a little static-y, so maybe the hallucination is giving him that effect.
He stared dead ahead at the opposite direction, his body glitched and twitched from left to right and up and down. He looked like he was a mess. Daisy couldn’t help but question what happened to him, but before she could observe and question any further, he tilted his head with a glance, only to snap his head in that direction as soon as he saw her figure from the darkness. She scrambled back behind the tree, her pulse quickened from anxiousness as she stood still. She could hear him approach slowly, his steps stopping inches away from the tree.
“I know you’re there.” He said very bluntly, she could hear the bits in his voice. There was a moment of silence before he decided to soften his tone. “I’m not gonna hurt you, you know. Just come out.” She could tell he knew she was there, but was just giving her some time to come out before he got her out himself. She took a few deep breaths, prepping herself before she stepped into Red’s sight. She looked brushed, scratched up, and muddy. She felt embarrassed he had to see her like this, his eye even carefully studying the mess of a look she had with a slight disgust.
Glitchy, meanwhile was almost confused. He could’ve swore he’d met her before, yet there was only bits and pieces he could remember. He honestly didn’t care on remembering right now, clearly she’s been through something worse than having a casual walk like he was having. He still couldn’t put his finger on it until she slowly spoke up.
“Red…?”
The voice sounded familiar too… they definitely have seen each other at some point. But knowing these parts of the forest, it may not be the same version of the girl he remembers seeing, albeit he can recognize Blue’s sister from a mile away no matter what. He takes a squint, before replying with a question of his own.
“..Daisy?”
He wasn’t sure how she got out here, but she looked happy to see him, at least. Her face lit up from him saying her name. She slowly made her way to him, observing him more closely. Any small movement or breath made this guy’s body just shake and glitch out of nowhere. It was off putting to see, at first, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Well, in any pain that she could see anyways.
“Red..” She paused on the name. She didn’t expect to see him here, but she couldn’t help but stare in a bit of awe, despite his slightly fidgety form. She smiled a little as she studied him more up-close. “You’ve.. grown. You’ve grown so big!” She was getting giddy over this. It was like seeing another little brother grow up all over again. “What have I missed?”
Glitchy Red just stared in silence, thinking of what to say. He then gave her a short answer.
“A lot.” He flatly replied. He glanced to the way he came, the sun setting was very clear from the area darkening. The literal howl of wind that sounded like a scream gave him a very, very good idea. He hesitated before staring back at her. “Maybe, it’s better if you came with me. It isn’t safe here.”
Daisy immediately agreed to his surprise, nodding. “Yeah! We should stick together. I don’t want either of us getting hurt.” She walked beside him.
“Right.” He nods slightly before facing forward. She seemed to be silently waiting for him to trudge forward as he walked along the dusty, dirty path.
-
It was a while until they got close to somewhere. Despite the very awkward silence and eerily dark area, Daisy managed to pick up a conversation with Glitchy. He could tell she wanted to catch up, maybe take her mind off of their situation to get relaxed and not freak out. It worked relatively well, too. She felt like she should’ve been a bit suspicious, yet Glitchy was very sweet! Slightly awkward, but very sweet. It reminded her of how he was when he was younger, and personally, she didn’t give a damn if that didn’t change much. She just missed talking with him, even if he might consider her younger brother more of a friend, she always wanted to make sure they were both okay.
Daisy chirped as if nothing was wrong, and Glitchy just walked and listened, replying whenever he has to.
“Wait, wait, so your name’s Glitchy now?”
“Yeah, Glitchy.”
“How come you changed it?” She asked with a tilt of her head. He hesitated with an answer again.
“…I should explain that when we’re somewhere inside. It’s best that way.” He stared straight ahead with a very dismissive reply once more, too. She raised an eyebrow at him, but she couldn’t argue. Out here didn’t seem safe. God knows what lurked at night if Unowns and that Hypno were out and about.
“Well, alright.” She nodded slowly, before picking her head back up. “I’m impressed with you.” She says while she glanced at him. “I didn’t expect you to get more chatty.”
“Oh. You could say I’ve changed a bit.” He shrugs, his face glitched out as he gave her a glance before it lagged back straight ahead. She flinched at this.
“Glitchy… that doesn’t hurt, does it?” She shyly asked, a worried expression on her face. Glitchy didn’t seemed bothered by the question at all somehow, just giving a casual reply.
“No. Not that much really.” He raised his arm, it twitched and glitched here and there. “This is just what my body’s like after..” His face scrunched up.
“…Let’s just say, a recall.”
“Oh…” Daisy glanced forward in thought. She turned back over to him, especially at his current state.
“..I don’t think you needed a recall.”
“Me either.” His face got a little colder with the reply, his voice getting more cracked and crushed. “And yet that didn’t change much.”
Daisy stayed a little quiet, before her attention turned to the extended and red arm of Glitchy, pointing to a shadow not too far from them.
“There it is.” His face calmed to neutral, and he trotted over to the cabin. She followed to see a regular looking cabin. Made of wood, but looks real cozy and welcoming from the bleak but colorful windows and a happy little summer themed welcome mat with the bold letters “Warm Welcome!” stamped on it. Daisy was relieved to see the inside of a cabin, a warm one at that. She took off her shoes at the door and went off to look further into the cabin, which was no mistake at all. There were puffy and soft looking couches, cool tables that had wood carvings in it, and even a fireplace that was somehow still going. She squinted at the fire before Glitchy kicked off his shoes at the door and walked further out into the small Living Room.
“Just stay there, I’ll be right back.” He said while slipping into a different room.
“Alright!” She happily replied, muttering “coozyy..” under her breath from flopping right onto the couch.
Glitchy went into a small little area going between the bathroom and some small amount of stairs to the beds to go to the kitchen. ‘There’s probably something in one of these…’ he thought. He skimmed through the cabinets to find some hot cocoa mixes and some tea bags. He shrugged, maybe these can work just fine. All he had to do was figure out some food. They were only planning to stay a night or two and then leave to go explore a bit further than usual, so they didn’t pack heavy since only one of them really eats more than the other.
Speaking of “they”.
Glitchy squinted. ‘Weird.’ He muttered. ‘Where’s—‘
A blood curdling scream snapped Glitchy out of his thoughts. His head snapped over to the Living Room. He dropped the packets on the counter, his footsteps filling the air as the scream was cut short. He heftily turned the corner as he now saw Daisy and a limbless figure, its body drooped sideways while facing her. Glitchy’s eyes studied the figure before he tiredly huffed.
“Oh brother.”