Mafiatale - Living Life Among Crime [Frans]

Nostalgic [35]

Shock. That was likely a good word to use to describe how the skeleton felt about the massive bombshell that had been dropped upon his shoulders. It had been a few days since the whole incident, and yet he had not really gotten over it. He was still recovering. Recovering from the fact that for the last... Perhaps few years it had to have been, he had been living his life thinking that his older brother was dead. He had mourned his loss, he had always made sure he would live his life for the both of them, the best he could. Not just him, but their dad too - who he had also never seen again until that night. It was like two important people being gone from his life was just one whole big lie. He didn't feel angry about it though. He just felt confused. 

Papyrus had to deal with the complaints of Undyne when they hadn't caught the group they had been chasing after in the sewers, that they had gotten away and had no idea where they went to. The lack of eye witnesses didn't help. Not to mention the fact that Papyrus hadn't openly admitted that he knew two of the people who had been there. Undyne hadn't caught sight of them before Sans had teleported them away, so only Papyrus really knew the identities of the people who they wanted to look for. He knew that as a member of the CIA, he should have just told Undyne the truth. That his brother and father were two of the people he had seen that night. That had to have been the result of those couple of dead bodies in that cell area. However, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He knew that if Undyne found out he had held the truth from her, she would likely hate him forever, and he'd probably lose his job. But how could he be expected to rat in his own family? He didn't feel like he had the will power to do so, even if it appeared like they were doing bad things. Sans would likely go to prison, not just that but for possible murder, they might kill him. That thought alone terrified Papyrus. He couldn't stand that idea at all.

"Y-Y-You're looking a little r-rough around t-t-the edges there, P-Papyrus." A familiar, stuttering voice spoke to the skeleton, who appeared to be sitting at a table, deep in thought. He had thought of getting lunch, considering it was lunch time. Instead of that, he had just been sitting alone with his thoughts. "H-Here. I brought you s-s-some food, and a drink too." She mentioned, placing a lunch box in front of him that had some sandwiches inside, and a few other snacks, alongside a lidded plastic cup of coffee. Papyrus looked towards the yellow dinosaur, giving her a small thankful smile.

Alphys had always been a very sweet, but nervous person. Matter of fact, Alphys was actually married to Undyne, which might have been a shock to some with how loud and out there Undyne was, while Alphys was the complete opposite. But then again, it was a thing wasn't it that people said, that opposites attract... Alphys was also a very nerdy monster - she was very good with technology and helped with hacking into things if needed. It was her speciality. 

"THANK YOU, ALPHYS..." Papyrus spoke, earning a small nod from her. He would have struck up a further conversation with her, had he really felt up to it. For obvious reasons only known to himself though, he couldn't really bring himself to feel enthused. He was just worried. He didn't know what to do. 

"P-Papyrus... Y-Y-You've been seeming a bit w-weird lately." Alphys pointed out, causing the skeleton to snap out of his thoughts once again, as he glanced over to her, seeing her with a worried expression. "You're not l-like yourself. H-H-Have you been g-getting enough rest? You've e-even got dark circles under your e-eyes." 

"I'M OKAY, YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY." Papyrus smiled his brightest smile that he could manage. "I GUESS I DIDN'T REALLY GET A LOT OF SLEEP LAST NIGHT. BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE BETTER TO COME TO WORK. I MIGHT BE NEEDED FOR SOMETHING."

"H-Hey, it's no good if you're too fatigued to perform. I-If you w-w-want, just go home and I'll l-let Undyne know. S-She'll understand." Alphys told him. The last thing the dinosaur monster wanted was for her friend to work himself too much and become too stressed. Her friends' health was always important to her, especially when it got them acting out of the ordinary and not like themselves.

"I SUPPOSE I'LL TAKE YOUR ADVICE, ALPHYS... TELL METTATON FOR ME TOO, I KNOW HOW HE LIKES TO CAUSE A FUSS." Papyrus laughed a little with a small smile, and Alphys nodded, letting him know she'd do just that. The skeleton was grateful to his friend for doing this for him, he gave her a thankful hug and a wave goodbye, before setting off out of the building with his lunch in his backpack, and that cup of coffee in his hand.

Sans... Why didn't he just stay in contact with him when he had started doing whatever he was doing? Why did he let him believe that he was dead? He didn't understand. Did Sans just not care about him anymore? Did he not want anything to do with him? Had he perhaps done something wrong, and he wasn't sure what so he wouldn't know how to fix it? This whole thing had left him so bewildered and scared. Scared for the well being of his brother, and Gaster. Scared that he would lose his job if Undyne discovered he was lying - he'd have no source of income then. He'd have nothing. And he liked his job. He had friends, he enjoyed being able to do something good for society. 

His older brother on the other hand, was committing crimes it appeared. And he wasn't alone. He had friends who were with him. One of them, he could have sworn he recognised from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. That human girl... Perhaps he just thought that he had ran into her once because she had that kind of face, or maybe she really was someone his memory was trying to remember. Either way, he probably would know if he saw her again.

For now, he just wanted to be by himself, and he wanted to try and track down his brother, without Undyne or anyone else. The last thing he wanted was to send his brother to prison. Maybe he could convince him to stop whatever he was doing. Maybe he could get him to join him, they could be like real brothers again, and they could do good things together. Not just that, but they would be like a family again, alongside their dad who he had also been missing so very dearly. 

Arriving home, Papyrus let out a soft sigh, as he carefully hung his bag up on a nearby hanger that was stuck to the wall, near the front door. He had become quite accustomed to living by himself, even if at first it had been hard. Now that he knew Sans and Gaster were alive, it suddenly became extremely lonely again. It's not like he had anyone to share any of this stuff with. 

Heading to the living room, Papyrus took a small sip of his coffee, as he walked over to his modern fireplace, that had a little shelf just above it, with picture frames sitting on top. He had kept pictures sitting there - family pictures, some of just him and Sans, of him and Gaster, of all three of them, and then there was even one where it was all three of them, and their mom too. Papyrus never really got to spend a lot of time with their mother as a kid. She sadly passed away before he really grew up. But he still remembered her, even if he had been extremely young at the time. Looking at these pictures, it really did just remind Papyrus of how much he strongly missed his family.

He just hoped that they had been missing him too.