Safe (An Undertale Fanfic ft. Kindness and Justice)

Safe

Safe- at least he thought he was when he first opened his eyes.

The only thing he really wanted to remember from his childhood was the vision of a crying woman, with her bitter tears falling onto his tender cheeks. He wanted to cry, but he felt like he shouldn't for the sake of this woman. And so the emotions hit him faster than a truck- suddenly, he wanted her to hold him in her arms, to hear the beating of her heart, just anything to make her tears stop. Before he could do anything, she was dragged away.

He cried when he realized that she wasn't ever going to come back for him. He cried harder when the door opened, and he was taken from the doorstep he was left on. From within the thin confines of a stained apron, dull green orbs stared longingly at the retreating figures, and they started leaking away more tears when the door was closed forever.

Safe- or so he was led to believe by the kind women who took him in.

The first few years of his life were filled with nothing but sweet, sweet kindness. These women were his mothers, and the other children there were his siblings. He can remember all the times that he baked cookies with the woman in purple, and all the times that he was taken for walks by the one in pink. He remembers stepping outside on a cold, snowy day with all of his friends, and they made tiny little snowmen. He remembers laughter, and he remembers friendship. He remembers the warmth of the fireplace- the warmth of a house.

Even with all of these blessings, deep down inside he knew that he wanted a family of his own... he wanted a real home.

And so he waited a long time- he's seen countless of his siblings come and go with their new parents tugging them along gently as they were promised a big, safe home. Over time, his smiles became a little bit forced. His wave goodbye became stiff. The light didn't reach his eyes anymore. The jealousy was eating away at his soul, and it was slowly killing him inside.

Safe- and so he started to notice some very unpleasant things.

It was gradual, but he noticed. He noticed the weary gleam in his caretaker's eyes as she ushered him inside his room when a strange man in black came inside the orphanage one day. He noticed the strain in her voice as he heard them arguing from the other side of the door, and he flinched when he heard a stifled sob come from his caretaker's throat. When the other boys pushed him aside because they wanted to hear what was going on too, he realized at that moment that things would start to change.

The food that the caretakers were giving them started to lessen, and the other children were starting fights over who gets the last cookie in the jar. They began to bicker about other things, too- who gets the thickest blanket when the cold days came, who gets to have the nicest sharpener in the house, and who got to beat him up when the bigger kids started to get bored.

They pulled at his hair, and tried to tear apart the apron that he was brought in with. They left bruises along his sides and arms. He so badly wanted to cry out for help, to tell the caretakers what's been happening, but he stopped himself when he looked into the eyes of his beloved mothers. They were tired, so tired... and so he kept his mouth shut. They didn't need any more on their plates.

Safe- he wanted the orphanage to be safe.

He heard the muffled cries of one of his caretakers one day, and the tears almost left his eyes when he saw how broken she really was. He ran over to her, and gave her the biggest hug that he could muster. The smile that she gave him was fake- he knew, but he was proud of her because at least she was trying hard. It was at that moment when he decided- no more being selfish. No more clinging onto the hope of getting a real family, and no more standing by as his mothers suffer. It was time that he helped.

He started to come back to the orphanage late at night. He learned how to sneak out of bed at night, and he learned how to make a living the hard way. The adults look on in pity as they tried to help this boy the best they can- there was no going back once they heard of his innocent plight. A boy his age shouldn't be out at night, trying to help in all the ways that he knew how to. He learned how to cook, too- and he really believed that he was making a difference.

The stress was seeping into his subconscious- all the sleepless, tiring nights were getting to his head. Despite that, he holds up his head and smiles. He'll be fine... he needed to be fine for as long as possible.

Safe- it wasn't safe out here.

His grades have dropped, and the caretaker asks him what was wrong. He wanted to tell her everything he's been doing- him working late at night, and trying to study hard- but he couldn't. They'd stop him- they wouldn't let him help if they knew. So he says nothing... but the tired look in his eyes and the bruises forming on his body told her everything. She looks at him in disbelief, and tried hard not to cry in front of him.

She did. He couldn't take it anymore.

So he ran out- he didn't know where he was going, or who he was bumping into. He just needed to leave- it was so suffocating in there, the pain was filling up his lungs, it got so hard to breathe-

He grunted suddenly when he hit another person. Afraid to even look, he didn't notice when the person pat his back. Striking yellow met tired green...

"Hey, are you okay?"

Safe- was this what solace felt like?

Suddenly, he felt safe. Suddenly, it was alright to cry. And cry he did- this boy was warm, this boy was safe. Underneath the shade of the cowboy hat that was a little too big for the blonde boy, and within the tanned arms of the boy whose hands squeezed at his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him, he felt safe. He just didn't know why yet.

AN: Honestly I was wondering why this was still even classified under Undertale... but it features two of the human souls, so I might as well. This is three years before Kindness fell into the mountain, by the way. I hope you guys liked this little cringe-fic of mine :D