Chapter Text
It was a normal evening in New Ebott City park, the sky was slightly overcast and the wind blew with a slight chill that harolded the coming change from fall to winter. But the cold didn't really bother Rus, being a skeleton and well his orange hoodie certainly helped, as he enjoyed the solitude.
He'd come here often when he just needed to think and have a little time away from his older brother and life in general. It was nice, especially this time of year when the park was rather empty. Few adults bothered to go out exercising and even fewer children ventured out to the playground, most preferring to stay inside bundled up with their video games.
There were always exceptions of course, as Rus took notice of a lone skeleton child wandering not to far away from his secluded little bench. He was wearing a red and yellow stripped shirt and bundled up in fluffy black parka. They looked a bit young to be out in the park by themselves and the tall skeleton couldn't help but note them looking around rather frantically, as though trying to find something.
A sudden noise cut through the silence of the park, the child having failed to locate what he was looking for had begun to cry. Fat red tears began to stream down his cheekbones as his little frame started to rattle with his sobs.
At first a part of Rus wanted to ignore the kid, to tell himself that it wasn't his problem. But the better part of him won out rather quickly and the lanky monster found himself crouching down in front of the small skeleton. "Hey kid, what's wrong?'
The kid continued to hiccup as his little red eyelights looked over the strange monster before him. He backed away slightly, clearly hesitant to talk to a stranger. "I... I'm lost. I just... I just want my brother." He started to cry again.
"Hey now it'll be alright kid. I'll help you find your brother." Rus tried to give the little guy a reassuring smile. It didn't really help.
"I'm not..." He started to rub at the tears in his eyes. "I'm not su-supposed to go with s-strangers. Unless the-they are r-royal guards."
Rus gave a small chuckle, he was a smart kid. "That's right. While I might not be a royal guard I used to work for them as a royal sentry, if that helps."
The kids mood seemed to brighten a little at that. "My brother u-used to be a s-sentry before he b-became a r-royal guard." His tears had mostly stopped by now, posture relaxing slightly though he still seemed nervous.
"So what do you say? Want me to help you find your big bro?" Rus held out his hand to the little monster, who looked at it for several long moments before he slowly nodded and hesitantly taking it. "So where did you last see him? Also you gotta name?"
"I'm Red." came the little skeletons quiet reply as he shyly kicked at the asphalt of the walkway. "He w-was over by the... the swing s-set."
The swing set and the rest of the main children's playground was on the other side of the park, which made Rus wonder how little Red had made it all the way over here before realizing he was lost. He decided not to ask and just gave a reassuring grin and an okay as they began to walk.
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Fell was very much not panicking. That there was no way that anything bad had happened to Red, he had just wandered off like little kids do sometimes. He couldn't have gone far, Fell was positive if he just looked hard enough he'd be right there.
"RED!" He checked around the children's play area for a third time. Okay maybe he was panicking a little. But really how could a highly respected royal guard like himself loose an eight year old! Red was usually so good at doing what he was asked, this is what he gets for getting engrossed in a book instead of paying attention.
"RED!" Fell called again into the nearly empty park as he looked around, trying to decide which direction would be best to extend his search. The edgy skeleton trying his best to note anything that would draw his little brothers attention and cause him to wander off. Well he hoped that was the case, Fell didn't know what he'd do if somebody had...
It was then that Fell noticed two figures coming up the asphalt path, shoulders slumping in immediate relief at seeing Red.
That was short lived though as his red eyelights shifted to the figure who was holding his little bros hand. The other monster was tall and lanky skeleton like himself but wore an obnoxiously bright orange hoodie and baggy brown pants. His walked in a rather laid back posture but the way his head glanced this way implied he was looking for something... or someone.
Fell quickly began to jog in their direction. "RED!"
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"RED!"
Rus came to a halt, head snapping towards the direction of the called name, he noticed another skeleton coming towards them. Said skeleton was taller then him and was all sharp edges. He wore a leather jacket with silver studs, dark jeans and boots giving him an almost biker feel. Though the dark red square framed glasses did ruin the look a bit.
To his right Rus could see Red visibly brighten up at the approaching monster, which meant that mister edgelord must be his older brother.
"Bro Bro!" Red practically flung himself into his brothers arms as he got within a few feet of them, the older skeleton all smiles as he picked him up. He let out an audible sigh of relief before his face took on a much more serious appearance.
"Red" the small skeleton looked up. "What did I tell you about running off? I told you specifically to stay on the playground. what if you got hurt? Or you met a bad person?"
Red began to tear up "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to Fe." The little monster couldn't help letting out a soft cry.
"Hey hey. It's okay Poppy. No tears okay? I just want to know why you ran off?" The taller skeleton began to soothingly rub Reds skull.
The small skeleton sniffled. "I saw a cat and I tried to catch it..." his eyelights looked down at the ground a bit in shame. "I just wanted to pet it... I-i wasn't p-paying attention and before I k-knew it I didn't know w-where I was..."
Rus chuckled "Seems you were lead a-stray."
At that the other two skeletons seemed to finally remember he was there. Mister Edgelord blushed a bit in embarrassment before realizing something. "Was that a pun..." Red cracked a small smile.
"Maybe" Rus gave a shit eating grin. "I'm Rus by the way." He held out a hand.
The other skeleton took it in a firm handshake "I'm Fell. I guess I should thank you for helping my little bro out."
"Hey no prob. I'm always down for helping kids in need." Rus began rummaging through his hoodie pocket, extracting a strawberry lollipop and handing it to Red. "Just leave the cat chasing to the professionals next time."
The little monsters eyes lit up at the gift, smile fully returning to his face.
"Well it was nice meeting you two. I better get going." Rus then began to turn to leave.
"Hey wait" The hoodie clad skeleton stopped and then turned back towards Fell. 'Um..." the edgy skeleton rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Would you like to join us for dinner? I'd like to thank you properly."
"Huh" Rus shrugged. "Sure, why not." Giving a lazy grin the three headed out of the park.