Of a Better World

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

For what Horror could say was the first time in a while, his days seemed to all but fly by him.

Packaging the meat and dropping it off to the families and monsters most in need was the task that had occupied most of his recent days. Traveling from house to house with the packages in tow had been tedious and one hell of a workload if nothing else, but it had been nice. Even if it had been something as basic and grueling as making deliveries; it was refreshing to wake up and have a firm objective to complete. When his usual day to day tasks didn't consist of anything besides survival— and that was a goal too difficult to fit into a checklist.

But this— this he could do. No matter how sore his limbs were at the end of the day, simply knowing that he was done with his job for the day was satisfying. Even if that was only so until tomorrow. In a true kill or be killed world, it felt nice to have a palpable purpose for once. Just for a little bit.

The past handful of days he could say that he liked the looks of happiness he'd seen pasted onto the face of all the monsters whose doorstep he showed up on. Or at least something in his chest stirred. Being truthful, there was no true joy in their reaction, just the relief and gratitude of a monster glad to have another meal. After all, how sadistic would someone need to be to crack a smile of true delight when greeted with a box of human meat at their door?

No, it was just morbid acceptance of the grim reality knocking on their door.

Horror had left the last round of the packages to be delivered by Crooks today. Even with as utterly "overjoyed" he was to feel as if he had purpose again, couldn't let his lazy reputation slip now could he?

Crooks didn't mind after all, he just felt fulfilled in the ability to help others again. Horror knew that if he let him, his brother would have happily delivered them all himself.

Horror's shoes were thoroughly covered in snow when he entered the house, his toes cold and numb. He shook himself to dislodge the layer of snow that had accumulated on jacket even as his joints creaked painfully, stiff from the cold. Having worked hard to earn a night of blissfully dreamless sleep, he was in a rush to collapse onto his bed. The goal was to hopefully not wake up until well into tomorrow afternoon.

That was the goal, at least, until he saw Lust sitting on the couch with a book in hands. Forever known for disrupting plans, upon seeing him, Horror suddenly found his day rescheduled.

Horror didn't exactly know how his day had been rerouted, per say, or even why— but the realization that it simply was, was final. Lust had crawled out of his room for the first time in days, it'd be stupid to just ignore him.

There was no mistaking the fact that after days of working he was currently in no shape to attempt to throw himself into a conversation with anyone, but there was no mistaking the fact that that wasn't going to stop him either. 

The decision was made. It had been made long before Horror even realized what it was.

Horror sat on the couch a scant few inches away from Lust, it's aged fabric easily dipping beneath his weight as the stuffing had been beaten from it after years of use. Lust didn't look up, and turned a page.

'Here goes nothing' were the words that rattled harshly inside of Horror's head as he opened his mouth and realized he had nothing to say.

"you need some new books," he stated bluntly, because it was the first thing that came to his mind. Lust often  said anything off the top of his head, and nothing but common sense was stopping Horror from giving it a try.

"there should be some more at the dump. i'll look on my next trip there. crooks has been nagging me about it anyway," He drawled nonchalantly. "anything interest you?"

Lust hummed in a tone that could ambiguously be deciphered as confirmation or dismissal, turning another page.

He'd often heard of "the silent treatment" as a joking threat thrown between couples or friends. Horror had honestly thought it was a dream. A way for someone to show their anger towards you by not speaking to or interacting with you at all? When put that way, the silent treatment sounded simply like well earned peace and quiet.

But now, reflecting, he knew that even silence was terrible in abundance. And that the silent treatment was a punishment aimed at the long game. 

"i'll take you with me. it won't be an enjoyable trip, but i think it'll be the only trip you've had in months." He gave a dry chuckle. "i could take you to a secluded pool in waterfall. it's one of the few places here that's almost decent. the underground was never truly meant for tourism anyway." 

Once it had been. Horror had used to see advertisements about hotels in the Capital posted on the walls of Grillby's and while, indeed, the underground was a prison, there were beautiful parts of it. 

Horrortale just wasn't beautiful anymore. He had tried to keep Lust from realizing that. But keeping him tucked away in the house all day hadn't even shielded him from the gross reality of his universe now had it? It might have actually made it worse in hindsight. Because it was a reality Lust had come to realize not from the dust coated paths through Hotland, nor in the bloated corpses that littered some parts of the Waterfall, but right here. Because Horror's world was rotten, and it's decay spread like an infection into every crease and crevice and into the hearts of its inhabitants. Because when Lust got a first glimpse of how horrid this world was, he saw it was in the glinting reflection of insanity in Horror's eyes.

And just as Horror realized he had let the silence stretch on a little too long, another page turned.

"there'd be plenty of stuff for you to collect there. i'd give you a killer story to tell to your brother sometime."

He would do anything Lust wanted if he could just find out what he needed to do. 

A bit of time wasted on getting a few books or on a trip to Waterfall or helping Lust collect a few trinkets were more than acceptable losses in exchange for the normality Horror craved. It was time not even truly wasted to be exact, not if it was spent with Lust.

As if he could hear his thoughts, Lust finally decided to speak up.

"you're awful chatty today."

It struck him as humorous for a moment. There was a sense of dramatic irony in having the phrase reflected back at him. Horror found himself caught off guard to find himself on the opposite end of it.

He wasn't sure how it felt to see that a small part of himself had rubbed off Lust, as if he'd gained some of his traits through the process of fucking osmosis. But then again, after all this time how much of Lust had rubbed off on him?

"oh really?"

"yeah."

"well you don't seem keen on saying anything, so i decided it's the perfect time to annoy you for once."

Lust shrugged. "Guess you're right."

And suddenly, the conversation was over. 

It was the shortest conversation he probably ever had with Lust, and he wasn't sure if that bothered him. It most certainly didn't feel right. But then again, not much did nowadays. 

Next to him, another page turned.

A/N: Super sorry guys! This hiatus went on a lot longer than I thought it would. This chapter is sorta bland too, but it's posted! Also, shout out to SirBonington for reaching 100+ veiws on his spooktober book and for letting me rant about writing this chapter :P

Check him out! His writing is really good