Mafiatale - Living Life Among Crime [Frans]

Keeping Him Safe [26]

Honestly, Frisk wondered for the past few days how her friend Andrew was doing. She felt bad that the guy had to stay sitting in a stupid cell for awhile, likely until this all blew over. Or at least until they decided what they were going to do with him. Maybe they'd do exactly what they did with Frisk, make him a part of the Mafia. That, or they'd kill him just to keep him quiet about them. She knew Sans probably wouldn't hesitate to do such a thing; that scared her. 

Not a single thing had been heard from the skeleton for about a week, which caused Frisk to assume he was likely busy with trying to figure everything out. Which was fine, he said he'd call her when they needed her, so she'd take his word for it. To try and entertain herself, she found herself back in town with her goat mom, Toriel. Toriel had agreed to take Frisk out for some food; she had known that the teenager had been feeling somewhat bored since not being in contact with Sans. The more that Toriel thought about it, and when she heard from Frisk about how she had comforted Sans one day when he had broken down crying, it made her think how those two seemed like maybe they were nice company for each other. 

Sans didn't really seem like he opened up to many people. Not really anyone to be honest, unless he was drunk and he was rambling to Grillby. That was about it. But with Frisk, he appeared to speak to her out of his own free will. He told her things that he likely wouldn't tell anyone else. Why? Was she... Special to him? Right now, it didn't seem like that. He didn't seem like the type to have someone he loved. 

Was it a subconscious thing perhaps? Something that he didn't even know about, that would bloom into something more? Right now, it was just speculation. Toriel didn't really know much about Frisk's and Sans' friendship. All she knew was that Frisk had the habit of wanting to be kind to that skeleton, even when there were times he was horrid to her. What they had, it was strange. But Toriel was just going to stand to the side and let it happen, for now. But if Sans even went to hurt Frisk's feelings once more, he was going to have to get an earful from her. (Even though skeletons don't even have ears!)

Anyway, back to being in town. Not only did Toriel think it would be nice to get some lunch while they were out and about, she decided that maybe it was about time to buy Frisk some more clothes. Other than the outfit that Sans had given her, and a couple of spare clothes that Asriel and Chara didn't really want anymore, Frisk didn't exactly have much to wear. It was sad to think that Frisk had once lived upon the streets, but Toriel was glad that now she seemed to have a better life - even if it was among a group that resorted to crime to get what they wanted... Toriel had been part of the group herself, and in all honesty hadn't really left. She was just more so in the background than she was being there all the time. She just hated to be at her husband's side twenty four seven. Nowadays, they didn't really feel like much of a married couple. Asgore seemed like he was more focused on work than anything else.

It was nice, being able to shop for clothes with someone who Frisk now considered to be like a mom figure. Once again, it felt like she was leading a more normal life, that she hadn't literally gone to choke out one of her new found friend a week prior. Thinking back to that night, she still couldn't believe she had done it. She probably could have handled it in a much better way, rather than using violence to get what Sans wanted. But she didn't think, she just tried to do what Sans told her to do. In all honesty, she wasn't very good at being part of the Mafia, or dealing with conflict. The idea of the Mafia perhaps making her think differently to this one day did spook her. That maybe she would just become desensitised to it all, just like Sans and the others. 

"I'm glad we were able to buy you some new clothes." Toriel was speaking, just as they were leaving the mall. Nodding in agreement, Frisk smiled. Saying a word of thanks, she was grateful to Toriel for taking care of her as if she was her own child. At first, she had been afraid of Toriel and Asgore when they had come face to face on day one. But all she had been trying to do since the beginning was protect her. It was thanks to her that Sans even agreed to taking care of her in the first place.

Just as they were walking along the path, going to turn a corner, the pair were too busy having conversation, that they hadn't even thought about the idea of someone going to turn the corner at the same time as them in the opposite direction. To the goat's and the human's surprise, they had almost struck heads with a very tall skeleton and a fish monster. It took about a moment, for Frisk to realise something. Wait, she recognised these two from before. Sans had seen them, and had wanted to hide from them. That skeleton... It was Sans' brother!

"Oh my gosh, Papyrus?" Toriel spoke, earning a shocked reaction from Frisk, but a happy reaction from the skeleton named "Papyrus". The fish lady hadn't had even the slightest smile on her face, until Toriel had actually decided to say hello to her as well. Toriel knew them? She knew Sans' brother who Sans had been trying to hide from? When she was part of the Mafia and he was part of the CIA? None of this made any sense. 

"TORIEL! IT'S BEEN AWHILE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE!" Papyrus seemed to point out, which Toriel nodded in agreement, letting out a small friendly laugh.

"I suppose that is true. I haven't really been getting out of the house much as of late." Toriel spoke, before looking to the fish lady which Frisk still had yet to learn the name of. "Undyne, how is the CIA treating you? How has it been trying to teach Papyrus the basics?" She giggled.

"Oh, don't even get me started!" Undyne cackled, before looking to Papyrus whose eyes seemed to gleam with hope that he would get positive praise. Undyne sighed. "Okay, in all honesty he's not bad. He's pretty tough!" 

"WELL I AM PRETTY GREAT, AFTER ALL!" Papyrus boasted, which caused Undyne to roll her lone eye that was visible, the other appeared to be covered up with an eye patch, which gave the eye-dea (Sans would have totally laughed at that pun!), that she might have had some kind of accident at some point, or something. That's what Frisk guessed.

Allowing them to talk for a little longer, Frisk just remained completely silent, until goodbyes were eventually sent both ways, and the two pairs went their separate ways. When Papyrus and Undyne were out of earshot, Frisk finally decided to speak again. "Isn't that skeleton Sans' little brother?" Frisk questioned.

"You would be correct. How did you know that?" Toriel asked.

"Well, the fact that he's a skeleton... And Sans sort of told me. We almost accidentally ran into him once. For some reason that Sans explained to me, he tends to avoid Papyrus. Apparently Papyrus might think he's dead." Frisk frowned. The goat sighed, sadly.

"That he does." She said to Frisk's shock. "It's sad, really. Papyrus might seem like a cheerful skeleton, but the fact that he thinks his older brother is dead and as well as his father not being around, it's probably eating him up inside. But then again, Papyrus has always tried his best to make the best of a bad situation. He tries to be strong and happy, especially when others are hurting, otherwise it'll only make them feel worse." Toriel explained. "The reason why Papyrus hasn't been told the truth, it's to protect both him and Sans. And well, all of us. If Papyrus were to find out the truth about Sans, that he was part of the Mafia, that he had killed people... He'd likely be forced to go against him, even if he wouldn't want to. It's his job, so..." 

"I see..." Frisk muttered. That made sense... But was a job always more important than your own flesh and blood? Yes, murder was a bad thing, yes Sans shouldn't be doing it but... In all honesty, if he had to, would Papyrus really be able to have the guts to put his older brother behind bars if he had to? 

Well, she knew that she didn't want Sans to end up behind bars. Even if what they were doing was wrong. She wanted him to remain safe.