Secrets Are Ba(n)d

Chapter 10: Beaten to the Bone

The dread that filled him with those few words could have knocked him to the ground. Not that he could afford another bad fall, he'd been having a bad time with those as of late.

'You have 1 missed message, would you like to listen?' The robotic voice spoke monotone, Papyrus' hands shaking as he pressed yes.

"Hey Papyrus, we need to talk.
I don't know why you attacked that girl, why you ever thought it would be smart to threaten her, but no matter what excuse you make, it wasn't cool.
It wasn't funny, right, and it wasn't the Papyrus I thought I knew.
I wish I could tell you this to your face, but you were smart enough to hide, so I have the dogs looking for you. You know that they'll find you, so give it up and turn yourself in.

..I can't believe you of all monsters, Papyrus."

The words were quick hanging up, over emotional as he knew she could be, but still she used the same tone she spoke to common criminals in.

Papyrus jaw clenched this teeth so hard it hurt.

After everything, the nights he'd train for hours, the cooking and the memories, she believed one monster over him? After helping her get a date with Alphys, after countless bruises and concussions, she thought so low of him? Even the most naive part of him hoped there was more to it, that she'd been fooled, but rational thoughts are hard when you're hyperventilating.

His whole world felt like it collapsed around him, his support, his friends, and they all hated him.

His own brother even-

His thoughts stopped dead.

His brother.

Quickly, he forced down the bones in front of his door, swinging it open and barely stopping at the top of the stairs.

He saw what he'd feared most.
No one.
The house was quiet.

What would usually have been a blessing, now left only a bone-chilling dread.

Walking downstairs, his focus shifted from place to place, looking for any sign of his lazy brother, before ultimately giving up.

What if he was going to the dogs? What if he was finally tired of him? Or, worse, afraid of him?

"what happened to you?" Repeating in his head, he sat on the couch, skull in hands, every decision leading up to that moment playing on repeat.

'Why wouldn't they believe in me?' he pleaded to the void.

'Why didn't they even think to ask me?' His body shook with a slight rattle.

'Why don't they care anymore?'

The mere seconds that passed were numb and wet.

Every prayer of hope he had became dull, and every sound from the outside made him want to hide away forever in his formerly welcoming home.

Nothing was taking his mind off what was to come, the looks he'd get, the monsters that would get hurt.

Finally, after he tried everything in his power to feel something better, to regain the slightest shred of who he was, he sat on the couch once again and looked around. The cracks in the walls, the wallpaper, the sticky notes.

Sans. All of it just brought him back to Sans.

His brother. The one who cared the most out of all of them. That took him to parties, that went to Grillbys at the notion of a problem, that couldn't be bothered to clean up after himself just once.

His soul felt like it was thrashing inside of his ribcage, a clawing animal of magic that could have been tamed by a few words if someone dared to care about 'Sans Brother.'

His eye lights now burned as he stood up, pacing again he searched around him: cracks in the wall, peeling wallpaper, Sans sock.

That damn sock.

Papyrus couldn't stop his trembling bones, tearing the sock from the piles of puns and excuses and throwing it against the wall as hard as he could, a shower of paper littering the room as a staggered group of glowing bones pierced the old fabric. He knew the commotion would bring the dogs, and so he quickly began to plan.

'Fine, if they want me gone, I'll be gone.'

Papyrus wrote a final sticky note, slamming it onto the wall with so much strength he swore he heard something break on the other side. Or, maybe he hoped. He wanted to leave the place looking like the hellhole that he'd been trapped in for years, stomping upstairs he grabbed the cape and mask.

Then, within the time a few breaths could be taken, he was storming out the door with a thunderous shake as it swung, leaving it open for the next unfortunate monster to find.

The forest was cold.

He could feel his bones forming frost, the wind against him making his cape flow with his glowing magic, escaping from his still overflowing ribcage. His everything hurt, but he forced himself onward, determined to get so far he might never be found.

With every twig he snapped under foot, he only stepped harder, finally reaching a clearing as his choked sobs became screams.

He showered the delicate blanket of snow with jagged, broken bones, snapping with thunderous cracks and painting the landscape with the dusting attacks of a broken hearted soul. If only he'd fought back, maybe if he were more honest, more outgoing, louder, whatever they thought he was missing.

"If they want a monster then I'll be a monster! I'll be whatever they thought of me, I'll be everything they got wrong!"

He screamed with a newly discovered malice, his face forcing into a snarl as his magic took control of a red and sandstone light show, the forest illuminated by his every regret dancing around him with the snowflakes. His every sense was attacked, snow and dust and magic all capturing him in a sickening twister of unspoken words.

It was brilliant, it was radiant, it made him curl into his knees until he was nothing but a ball of bones shaking in the woods.

Eventually, as the night did, his temper tantrum ended.

Slowly, bones faded into nothing, only leaving the ground in streaks of mud and soot, trees singed and covered in what remained of the storm.

It was morning, or sometime close, Papyrus could feel it in his bones. Still, with every part of his magic depleted, his cheeks stained with tears and jaw so tight he could feel a chip, he felt something empty.

Something, a part of him, was still lost and it killed not knowing what ached in his soul.

So with one last effort, the broken skeleton turned in the direction of one monster who might listen.

Napstablook.

1157 words
(It's a hard life when suddenly everything changes, it's understandable to have a few breakdowns, Papyrus! Maybe it'll get easier with time, but you'll just have to keep reading to find out. Happy reading, folks.)