Secrets Are Ba(n)d

Chapter 10: Beaten to the bone

(This is an angst chapter that may have been writen while manic soo)

The dread that filled him with those few words could have knocked him to the ground.

You have one 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, 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, no one's seen you in hours. I have the dogs looking for you, and you know that theyll find you. 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, after countless bruises and concussions, she thought so low of him?

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

His thoughts were stopped dead

His brother

Quickly, he forced down the bones in front of his door, swinging it open he saw what he'd feared most. No one. The house was quiet. What would usually have been a blessing now 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 happened to you?' Repeating in his head, he sat on the couch, skull in hands, his every decision leading up to that moment playing on repeat. "Why wouldn't they believe in me?" he questioned 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 dull and every sound from the outside making him want to hide away forever in his formerly welcoming home. Nothing 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 Grillby's 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 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 planned.

"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, and within the time a few breaths could take he was storming out the door with a thunderous shake, 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 his choked sobs became screams as he showered the delicate blanket of snow with jagged, broken bones, snapping with thunderous cracks and painting the landscape with the dust of a broken hearted soul. "If they want a monster then I'll be a monster"
He screamed with an impossible 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.

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.

992 words
(Wowie this took ages! Hope you all like it, I've got some songs lined up to use and a good name set for the band, so expect some more musical aspects at some point!)