Fear Garden 2: Scarlet's Bloom (An IDFB Fanfic)

Tag, You're It!

⚠️TW: GORE. Please read with caution.⚠️

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"So. What do you have in store?"

"Well, uh... we figured that you were in need of some help around here. We can only imagine how much of a handful it can be to try and care for everyone in the city- as well as Rocky himself..."

"Uh-huh. Anything else?"

"Both of us wan- wait, what do you mean anything else?"

Balloony's eyes followed Golfball across the room, watching her place an empty beaker down. "Oh please. I'm not stupid- I can see what you both are trying to do."

"What, trying to help you with babyzitting?" Hovering beside his close companion, Cloudy raised an eyebrow towards the smaller scientist. "We aren't joking, Golfball- we really want to-"

Golfball quickly interrupted him. "I am perfectly capable of watching over him."

"Then why did Bazketball tell us that-"

"Basketball has a serious issue of not minding her own business. Poor girl- first she can't be a scientist, now this?" The scientist's eyes were alert, but besides the annoyance that had filled them, they had lost the melancholy that the two men captured mere moments before.

In fact, her eyes were now locked onto them with a stinging bitterness.

The two would exchange nervous glances, trying to reassure themselves that she wasn't being too serious with them. Golfball would let out a halfhearted chuckle, grabbing a pair of pliers and poising them towards the balloon.

"You two haven't met the kid anyways. What makes you think you can be fitting babysitters- if I dared to consider it?"

Hesitantly, Balloony would lower the pliers from her hold. "Actually- both of us had a chance to speak to him! Albeit, we were still stuck in the Locker of Losers- but still!"

"Speaking with him?" Questioned Golfball. "I find that hard to believe."

"We did! He didn't zay much- but we always heard him!" Cloudy couldn't help but raise his tone, frustrated by her snide remark towards the two.

"And when did Rocky ever go near the TLC?"

"I dunno." Balloony crossed his arms. "Maybe that should be something to consider about yourself. Did you know anything about Rocky before everything happened?"

Even in her deadened, snarky state, his words spark a painful realization through Golfball. Reminding her of how things really were before it all crumbled into pieces. And how disdainful the woman could be.

Her eyes broke away from the two, memories beginning to flicker back in her mind. Usually, Tennis Ball was the one who took Rocky under his wing- he was the one who let Rocky sit on the top of him, watching quietly as they both ventured forth in their scientific endeavors. There were those moments where the angered woman would snap at him, demanding that he stop his vomiting or step away from their newly built inventions.

A migraine quickly began to strike, yet she shut her eyes. Rocky was always with the two of them- no matter what they did or where they ran off to, he would always skitter after them, an endless curiosity in his eyes. Golfball should have seen this as an opportunity to at least teach the kid what she knew-

But she didn't care.

No, no she cared. She did! Sure, he was strange- that made their lives a little brighter in the city!

She didn't care.

She CARED. TB cared, and so did she, even if she had a different way of showing it. The three were a trio-