The next morning you wake up to a hammering headache. God, what did you do last night?
Oh yeah…
You had decided that after a long day of buying slaves and freaking out your sister, you deserved that drink. You had poured yourself a glass and sat in front of the T.V. for the rest of the night watching reruns of infomercials. You try to think if you had seen Melody or Papyrus at all after they had gone upstairs, but you don't recall. That wasn't exactly the most responsiblething for you to have done in this situation, but you really need that drink.
Either way, it is time to start the day, even if it is a bit late.
Your alarm is the sun, and you rise with it to make the most of each day.
The same cannot be said for your sister.
"Just lemme call in sick. I think I'm coming down with something anyways," Melody mumbles into her pillow.
"No, you did that last week," You say, shaking her more.
"But I really waaas sick," Mel whines, turning over.
"For just a day? On the day of a test? That you didn't study for?" You frown, shaking your head. "What were you even doinglast night?"
"Talking with Papyrus," She smiles, closing her eyes again. "He's really interesting, ya know - and nice too."
You are very glad that they were becoming friends. That had been your greatest concern taking him home - that he wouldn't like Melody. She is… a bit much for some people. But she and Papyrus seem to be kindred spirits.
"Glad to see the two of you getting along, now get up," You leave the room and make breakfast; a simple ham-and-cheese omelet with toast. You almost forget to make more than two, then spend almost ten minutes wondering if Papyrus could even eat what you had made. You ultimately decide to make him one anyways, and set the table for three.
"Mel, I don't hear you up!" You call up the stairs.
"'m up 'm up," You hear the groggy voice. It was obvious from the voice she was not up, but it was only another two minutes before she was down the stairs, fully dressed and ready to go. Mel grabs her food and leaves for school. You sigh. Sometimes you wonder why you even set a place for her in the morning. But you have always strived to make everyone feel included.
Speaking of everyone…
You lightly tap on Papyrus' door.
"Papyrus?" you open the door slightly. He is sleeping soundly under the covers. He is still wearing the bland slave clothes that he came here in. You grimace. You'll have to buy clothes for him later. You wonder where you'll find clothes that fit someone his size…
Oh well, at least the room is looking better.
"hmm? oH, HELLO, HUMAN," Papyrus sits up and stretches.
"Oh I'm sorry," You say, feeling embarrassed. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"NONSENSE!" He slides out of bed and starts putting back the sheets. "THIS IS LATER THAN I USUALLY SLEEP. THOUGH I WAS UP LATE LAST NIGHT. YOUR SISTER WAS QUITE ENTERTAINING."
"That she is," you agree quietly. "I made breakfast downstairs if you want some."
He nods enthusiastically and follows you down the stairs. You turn the T.V. on for some background noise and sit at the table with him.
"I MUST ASK, WHERE IS THE OTHER HUMAN?"
You look up from your eggs and swallow. "She went to school."
"SHE IS STILL IN SCHOOL?"
You nod.
"WOWIE, SHE SEEMED SO MATURE…"
You almost choke on my eggs. That is the first time you have ever heard your sister be called mature. Papyrus doesn't seem the type to be sarcastic, and so you take him at his word.
"Are you comfortable in your room?" You ask, not wanting there to be any more uncomfortable silence.
Papyrus nods.
More silence.
"SO… UH… HUMAN," God you wished he would stop calling you that. "I'M NOT SURE HOW TO ASK THIS BUT…"
Oh no. You hope he's not going to ask what you think he's going to ask.
"WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ME?"
You put your fork down. Suddenly you are feeling sick, and the eggs weren't helping. There is another long silence, and you are scrambling for an answer, anything that could reassure him of the situation.
"I don't know, It was kind of an impulse."
Good job.
You just made that sound a thousand times worse.
More silence.
"IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIFIC THAT YOU-"
"No!" You quickly cut him off. He flinches and you mentally berate yourself for being so sharp. "I mean… look, you- I- I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not a slaver. I have never, ever entertained the idea of buying or owning another person. It's wrong."
Papyrus looks confused. Happy, but confused.
"IN THE UNDERGROUND, SLAVERY ISN'T NOR EVER HAS BEEN A THING. I STILL DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND IT."
"Me neither," You mutter.
"I THOUGHT THAT, ONCE THE BARRIER WAS BROKEN, MONSTERS WOULD BE FREE TO LIVE WITH HUMANS. I THOUGHT THAT HUMANS WOULD ALL BE GOOD LIKE FRISK WAS."
You feel your heart break some, and your appetite is officially gone.
"I have to work today," You tell Papyrus. "I'm sorry but I really can't the day off." You don't tell him it's because you can't lie worth a shit and you don't want to admit to buying a slave.
"I UNDERSTAND," He perks back up. Wow, he has fast recovery time.
You nod, trying not to make this anymore awkward than it already is. "Yeah, so um… you'll be staying alone, obviously. You can do whatever you want, um… everything is pretty much safe to play with. Just don't go outside for now, and try not to burn the house down."
"I WILL NOT DISAPPOINT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM WONDERFUL AT NOT BURNING HOUSES DOWN, AND HAVE ONLY DONE SO A MAXIMUM OF TWO TIMES, NYAHAHA" He makes a little mock salute, and you feel your spirits rise again. You sincerely hope that he's joking about burning houses down, but you feel it serves you right if he does anyways.
"Well then," You say, gathering your things. "I will try to get off early, but I probably won't be back before Mel. Oh, I almost forgot." You fish out a pen and some paper from your purse. "Here is my phone number, incase you need anything while I'm gone. I'll give you Mel's too." You jot down the numbers and point him in the direction of the phone.
You wave one more time before leaving and you set off.
When you were a kid, you loved the stars.
It fascinated you to no end that those little pin pricks in the sky were actually suns as big as earth's and bigger, each with their own earths floating around them. The concept alone was mesmerising, and you drove your teachers half mad with questions they simply could not answer. Then you discovered math. And you were good at it. Top of your class, even. You loved the way everything in the universe just… fit together. Equations to explain shapes, equations to explain equations. The universe seemed so simple when it was boiled down to a string of numbers.
So, naturally, you became an astrophysicist.
You're still working on your PHD, but you are done with all of your schooling, all that's left is a dissertation that you were still trying to find a topic to write on. There were just so many good ones.
There wasn't much that could spark your interest, or make you talkative in a conversation, but bring up the stars and the nature of the universe, and you're in.
And, as is the sort of thing that happens when you graduate from prestigious colleges Summa Cum Laude, you were able to get a job right off the bat at the place you had been interning at for years.
And you love it.
Arriving at work, you are greeted by your co-worker friends. You change in the locker room, you gather your notes, you check the monitors in the main room and you head to your desk.
It's just a normal day. Nothing is different.
Except you.
You feel different.
You shake your head and try to focus on the influx of data on the screen. You watch silently for any anomalies, documenting every wave in your brain and on your notes. Smart as you are, you have a shit memory.
About an hour in, you hear the shuffling of tiny feet.
"Good Morning, Alphys," You turn and wave. Alphys jumps and drops the box she was holding. You apologize for startling her and help her pick up the folders.
"How have you been?" You ask as she picks up the last of the folders.
"O-oh, y- y- you know," She stutters. "Just, uh, h- hanging in there, hehe."
Alphys started around the same time that you had started your internship. Well, you use the word 'started' loosely. She had been bought by the company because of her scientific background. Despite that, they mostly had her doing assistant work, sorting written copies of files, getting lunches. She didn't seem to mind, though. She had told you once that she used to be in robotics anyway, so she didn't think she would be of too much help.
"I'm free for lunch, if you wanna join up around noon," You tell her, and she seems to perk up a bit. Alphys was the type to need constant company, and it was something she rarely got here.
"I'd like that," She says quietly before scampering off. You smile. You've always liked Alphys. In the same way Papyrus and Mel get along, you and Alphys seem to share a bond. She was shy, yet very passionate when you got to know her. She could go on for hours about topics that she deemed revelevent, and you could listen to her rant for hours, so it balanced out.
True to your word, you and Alphys meet up in the break room. You heat up two cups of ramen, quietly listening to the new report playing on the T.V.
"A rogue monster has escaped custody," A woman wearing too much makeup states on screen. "Be on the lookout for this monster. She has head hair, one eye and is a pisces-type. Consider her armed and dangerous. If spotted, do not approach."
You steal a glance at the picture on screen. The rogue is definitely a fish-monster, complete with gills and everything. She is looking at the camera with literal murder in her eyes, a determined kind of look that you had never seen before in the beaten down monster-slaves you were so used to seeing. It almost brought a smile to your face knowing that not all surface monsters had been beaten down.
It seems that Alphys shares the sentiment because she is looking at the screen with a mixture of longing and hope that sears a hole in your heart just the way Papyrus did.
And then you're sick again.
How could you sit here with Alphys like this when you literally own one of her kind? What kind of sick person were you to sit two feet away from a slave and act like nothing was wrong. That everything was just fine and dandy when her kind was being bought and sold.
"A-are you a-a-alright?" Alphys managed to snap you out of your thoughts.
"I'm fine," you say, putting back on that fake smile. "Everythings fine."
She doesn't believe you, but she doesn't say anything.
Someone else enters the room.
"Well, then, would you look at that, it looks like the monster-lover's here today."
You sigh. In life, there are these constants. And one of these constants is that no matter how many people you are friendly with, there is always going to be that one prick who has to ruin people's day. And in your case, there's two of them.
Brad and Maddie. The janitor and the onsite nurse. Those two were the gossip corner - the drama-starters, the trouble makers. Constantly in on-and-off affairs with each other, they were the most obnoxious people you have ever met.
"And she's having lunch with the file sorter," Maddie sneered. "What's the matter? Couldn't find any people to sit with?"
You ignore them while Alphys dips her head, trying not to be seen. But it doesn't matter. Brad grabs Alphys by her spikes and pulls her back. "Don't you have something better to be doing right now?"
"I- uh- I- I…" Alphys is sweating and you clench your fists.
"She's eating with me, right now," you state simply, hoping that would be enough.
Of course it's not.
"Ha, You think it wants to eat with you?" Mattie cackles. "Not that what it wants really matters, but still."
You don't want to know, but you ask anyways.
"And why wouldn't Alphys want to eat with me?" You ask.
Brad thankfully let's Alphys' head go and he glares maniacally at you. "Why would a monster want to eat with a slave-owner?"
You can feel a cold sweat breaking out. Your stomach turns. Oh god, no… how could he possible know?
Alphys looks over at you with shock and disbelief. There is a silent plea for a denial, but you suck at lying so you just look away. Even from the corner of your eyes, you can see her face change from disbelief to hurt.
"My friend was at the auction, ya know," Brad continues on. "Says you out bid him. By a lot. Come on, monster-lover, spit it out. What made you so keen on getting that one? Did you find him attractive."
You blush despite what he said not being true in the slightest. Papyrus was cute, but in a little kid kind of way. You wouldnever think of him in a sexual manner. And even if you did, what they were insinuating was wrong on so many levels… your blush deepens with rage.
Maddie seems to find this whole thing hilarious, and the only solace is that she is laughing so hard that she can't seem to find a breath to insult you with. So instead the two of them make their way to the other end of the room, leaving you alone with your possibly-ex-friend.
There was a long, long silence. Alphys just looks down at her hands.
"Why?" She finally asks, quiet and under her breath, like she's afraid that she'll be punished for speaking.
"Alphys, I-" You start, then stop. You can't explain yourself. What you did was… unforgivable. You bought into a system you swore to never be a part of. You cannot justify your actions, and even if you could you wouldn't expect Alphys to forgive you.
Alphys seems to take your silence as a dismissal; either that or she just doesn't want to be around you. She throws out her barely touched noodles and leaves.
You have never been more disgusted with yourself than you are now.
Your day goes by slowly from then on out. You can barely focus, guilt and shame pressing on your mind. You don't see or hear from Alphys for the rest of the day. That's fine with you. You didn't really want to see her either. Just the thought makes your insides burn with embarrassment.
You are incredibly thankful when your boss lets you go home early and even more thankful when see Melody walking towards the front door of your house.
"Hey, Mel," you say lightly. Your sister jumps at your voice then tackles you with a hug. God, you need this right now.
"So you won't believe what happened today!" Melody starts as she walks into the house. "So, we get this new teacher and they're super quiet but we're all like 'hey, that's cool, we don't want to be here either' but then they make us play this game where we all tell one cool thing about ourselves and then they gave us candy and-"
Melody is cut off by the same thing that makes your jaw completely unhinge.
You vaguely remember the warning to keep Papyrus out of the kitchen.
"HUMANS! I HAVE MADE YOU SPAGHETTI!"
God, how you wish you had listened.
"Wooooah, it's even on the ceiling !" Mel says. "How is that even possible?"
With 10 foot tall ceilings, you really aren't sure either. You're about to say something when you look at Papyrus. He is holding a pot of almost blackened spaghetti, looking… apprehensive? It was a very weird look on him; so absolutely wrong and unnatural. It makes you wonder what happened in his past that would make him look so…
Oh…
Right…
Guess messing up your owner's kitch wouldn't fly so well with other slave masters, would it?
You shake your head, laughing somewhat in earnest. "Well then," You finally say. "You certainly have, Papyrus." You grab a rag from one of the drawers and sling it over your shoulder. "Why don't the two of you go eat in the living room and I'll handle clean up, okay?"
Papyrus' uncomfortable expression fades and is replaced by pure delight. It seems the sentiment is shared between the two, and they rush off, leaving you with a mess of epic proportions.
How Papyrus managed to do this was completely unfathomable. When you had said "don't burn the house down," you had meant it as a joke, but now you are seriously considering preventative measures to protect your kitchen.
Honestly, if you forget about the hours of work it was going to take to clean this place up, it's kinda hilarious.
Your sister calls your name.
"Yeah?" You call back.
"You have got to try this!" Your sister says. "It's incredible!"
The burnt spaghetti? Wait - how do you even burn spaghetti? Papyrus is becoming more and more of an enigma.
"Maybe later," you call back.
You get the counters wiped down - how you are going to get the scorch marks off is another issue entirely - and now you are going to move on to the ceiling. Now is time for the question of how. You are five-foot-nine, so you'd only need another four-foot-three inch boost to make it there. You got this.
One wobbly bar stool later and you're mopping the ceiling. Wobbly being the key word here. It isn't long before you lose your balance standing on your tiptoes and come crashing down.
You expect to hit the floor with a thud, get a few bruises, and then regret your life choices - but instead you find yourself hovering a foot off the ground.
"Wha-"
You look up.
Papyrus is standing there, arm outstretched and magic blazing. You look at your own hands and find a blue aura has over taken you.
"WORRY NOT, HUMAN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE STOPPED YOUR FALL, SAVING YOU FROM CERTAIN EMBARRASSMENT" He says boisterously.
"oh…" is all you manage.
You have seen other monsters do magic before. It was pretty common place for slaves to be doing construction work, or even some simpler tasks with their magic - heck, Alphys sometimes used her electricity magic in the office to jump start things - but it was a totally different experience to be enveloped in it. It was… warm… yet cold at the same time. Was this what it was like to have magic?
"Oh cooool!" Melody's voice rings out when she enters the kitchen. "Is that your magic?"
"NYAHAHA, WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE?" Papyrus sounds prouds.
"That is amazing! How are you doing that?" Mel's eyes are shining in a way that you know she isn't going to be satisfied untilall of her questions had been answered.
Papyrus lets you down and you steady yourself on your feet.
You now have help cleaning the kitchen in the form of Papyrus lifting Melody off the ground and her wiping off the hard to reach places - after you made sure it was safe, of course. Something about this whole situation feels so... domestic to you. It makes another wave of nausea hit you hard. God, what would have happened to Papyrus if he had ended up anywhere else? He is so, so sweet that you cannot fathom how he was able to survive as a slave with that innocence intact. He's so much like your sister that you can't help up reverse the rolls in your head, thinking of what it would be like if it was your sister who was being bought and sold. You subconsciously clench your fists. You definitely wouldn't just be blowing off the slavery issue then... Would you?
"HUMAN?" Papyrus' voice breaks into your thoughts. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
You realize you've been staring at the stove for a while.
"Yeah, I'm good," you breath, trying to quell the burning disgust in your pit. You cannot have a break down now, God, you just cannot. You put on your big smile and turn to them, "You guys wanna watch a movie?"
"Absolutely!" Melody says as she floats down from the top cabinet.
Okay, so maybe you were ignoring the issue. That's okay. The issue was fucked up beyond belief, and right now you deserve some mind numbing entertainment.
Papyrus and Melody almost instantly agree on movies they like, and that makes this a lot easier. They settle down for a disney movie pretty quickly, and when Papyrus offers to make popcorn, you politely decline and offer to make it yourself.
In the kitchen it is somewhat quiet, and that gives you time to think, and God do you not want to think right now. Alphys' disappointed face comes to mind first, and you start making half apologies in your head, trying once again to explain yourself. You had to help him, you just had to. Even if there are thousands of others like him, and you can't help them all. Something about this one made you need to help. But how on earth could you say that to Alphys, someone who may spend the rest of their natural life as a slave. You didn't buy Papyrus to hurt him, but that still seems sickeningly close to getting a pet. And if that wasn't ironic enough since Mel was allergic to almost every type of pet, and had always been wanting one.
Maybe that's why she took to the situation so well.
No! Bad thoughts! This was absolutely ridiculous ! You slam your hand against the running microwave in frustration.
You hear your name lightly spoken from the doorway. Melody is standing there, looking sad. You just stand there, fist on the microwave. She's looking at you so oddly and… oh… you wipe your eyes. You hadn't realized you'd been crying.
Mel looks so defeated and sad - almost identical to back when you had just lost your mother . It made you feel sick again, and suddenly you had the urge to go bury yourself in the back yard.
Mel sighs, "I'm frustrated too."
"I don't… I don't know what to make of this situation. At all," you reply, feeling another wave of exhaustion.
"Well," Melody lowers her voice and looks behind her. "We could always try to emancipate him."
The thought wasn't a new one. Hell, it had been your first thought when you had shouted out at the stupid auction. The problem was, emancipation wasn't exactly the easiest thing to obtain. It would take months, maybe even years, and even then there is no guarantee that they would let Papyrus go back to the underground. There was even a chance that the government would take him away and do god knows what to him!
Still.
You want to help him.
"We can try," you nod, looking at the big smile that ended up on Mel's face. "But try not to tell him, okay? I don't want to give him false hope if this doesn't work out."
Mel gives a single nod and bounds out of the room. You follow with a bowl of buttery popcorn. You watch the movie, though not as intently as the other two. You mostly try to recall anything you knew about the law; anything that you might know that could help give Papyrus his life back.