Raven: The search

Chapter Ten

 He froze, his breath stopping in his throat and his eyes going wide. The men... They had his brother. They had... They had papyrus... No no no no no no no no no. This has to be a nightmare, no no no.

He used all his willpower to keep steady on the branch, his knuckles sickly white as he clung to the branch for dear life as they took his brother deeper into the compound. As soon as they left his view, he put his head into his hands, taking a few shaky breaths to try and calm down.

No no no... not this again... please...Papyrus...

After a moment of trying to calm down, he managed to calm down enough to realise what was happening, and what he needed to do. He couldn't freak out. He can't right now. He had to remember what he did before. Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Worst case-scenario, his brother dusted and Frisk would reset. All he could do was try to prevent it. With renewed determination, he continued to pick his way deeper into the compound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toriel stared through the bars of the dingy cage at the guards with disgust. These... These horrible humans had attacked her home, and had nearly hurt her child for what? Power? They had even figured out how to stop her from using her pyromancy.

They were the real monsters.

She had woken up alone and confused a few hours prior. She was soon visited by... by some man. This man... This man was the one who had sent the men after her... This man was the one who had been hounding her friends and family for years now.

And frankly it pissed her off. You do not threaten her children and not expect retribution.

But really, she couldn't do anything for now. She was content with glaring down the guards, who had given up looking at her some time ago.

That was when she heard a noise from her left. Glancing over, she saw one of the guards open another of the cages and put a slim figure inside before shutting it and walking away. She took a longer look at the cage and before she could utter a word, the words caught in her throat.

"Papyrus!" She exclaimed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Left foot.

Right foot.

Left foot.

Right foot.

He repeated the mantra over and over in his head. It was all he could do. He poured all of his concentration into his movements. He couldn't afford to freak out. Left foot... Right foot... Left foot... Right foot...

*Snap*

He paused, growing still on his perch in the tree as the patrol passed below him. It was larger than before. It seemed they had ramped them up after... No no no, he couldn't. He was so close now.

Once the patrol passed below him, he continued forward as quickly as possible, until he finally came in view of a large building at the center of the camp. He wasn't interested in that though. He was interested in the small circle of cages near the edge of the building.

That must be where they're keeping the flower, and hopefully his brother as well. He just had to get there....

This was going to be nearly impossible.

Except...

Maybe...

No he couldn't. He didn't know if he still could.

But...

What other choice was there. There was no way he could get across there without them noticing. He had to do it. He glanced one more time over at the cages. There wasn't any guards nearby a shed nearby it. If he could just get on top of it un-noticed, then he would be alright. It was nighttime, so hopefully he wouldn't be noticed...

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, and started gathering his magic.

The world around him shifted and fluctuating. He landed hard on the roof of the shed, the world around him stopping spinning finally. He put his hand over his mouth to cover his coughs, blood seeping through the cracks in his fingers. Dangit. That hurt him more than expected.

One of the guards, spurred on by the slight noise of his landing, came over to investigate. He managed to slide down the roof, landing on the ground, opposite of the guard, and standing as still as possible so to not draw attention to himself. Eventually, the guard shrugged and wandered off back to his station.

Sans let out the breath he had been holding, and crept to the other side of the storage shed. The cages were now in his line of sight, and he could just make out faint blotches inside of them. He crept as quickly and as quietly as he could, staying as low to the ground as he could, the shroud of darkness helping his journey stay undetected.

Finally, he made it beside the cages. Quietly, he jumped up into a nearby tree as one final patrol passed beneath him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Papyrus groaned slightly as he opened his eyes a crack, the world spinning into view around him.

"Papyrus! Goodness me, you're awake. I was so worried about you." Toriel exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief.

"M-miss toriel? What happened?" Papyrus asked groggily, propping himself up on his elbows.

"I am not su-" She started to say, that was until a rock hit the side of her cage, catching her attention, but luckily, the other guards in the area didn't notice.

"Wha-" She was interrupted when another rock hit her cage again.

Looking around confused, her gaze finally settled on the tree above her cage. Sans was there, motioning for her to stay quiet. She nodded, turning back to Papyrus and quietly whispering him something. He nodded as well, falling back limp as if he had lost consciousness again.

One of the guards glanced over and noticed he had collapsed again. They scoffed, nearing the cage to investigate... Only to be stabbed through the chest by a long and slender bone. The lights in their eyes faded away as they collapsed to the ground. Papyrus winced at this, but otherwise, kept up his ruse. The corpse slowly moved into some nearby bushes, guided by Sans magic and the cycle repeated, the guards in the area each falling one by one, until finally, nobody was left.

Sans hopped down from the tree, a somber look in his features as he broke the locks on the door with his magic, letting them out.

"Come on. Hurry, we need to go." Sans urged when they didn't move right away.

"Brother, you're hurt!" Papyrus said.

Sans brought his hand up to his mouth, bringing it back into his view. There was blood on his palm.

"I'll be fine. Right now we need to leave before-"

"CODE RED!" A guard who had wandered into the clearing shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing his weapon.

"That..."