Blue didn't know where they were going, but wherever that was it wasn't in Snowdin. It had surprised him that they had left the house so late in the day. It was already fairly dark and very cold, even for the snow covered town. It made him, in an odd way, grateful for the cloak that Fell had put on him.
Fell hanged a small satchel filled with supplies across his body then put on a cloak of his own. It looked a little too big on him but it hid his form well, making him look a lot more broad shouldered than he was. Unlike Blue's, this one had sleeves that allowed him to keep a hold on his ward.
It was obvious that Fell expected Blue to keep up pace with him, but Blue could barely keep from swaying, let alone walk normally with his arms bound the way they were. Fell kept him up upright by holding on to his arm but their progress was painfully slow and awkward, and once they hit the edge of the forest, it only got worse. Fell had attached the long chain on Blue's collar to the belt he wore around his hip bones, so even if, somehow, the taller skeleton let him go, there was no chance for Blue to run away easily. Not that the small skeleton was even contemplating that, when just putting one foot in front of the other took a concentrated effort.
Fell avoided the main road and instead kept to the less well known forest paths. These were probably part of his usual guard rounds since he seem to know exactly where he was going despite the fading light. For a few minutes, it looked like they were heading towards the portal and Blue began to hold hope that they were actually heading back to Underswap. He even allowed himself to smile a little bit but, his smile soon faltered when Fell took a turn that led them away from it.
They had only been walking for about 30 minutes but to Blue it felt like it had been hours. He started coughing. The cold air made it so much harder to breath. At first he tried to hide it, fearing it would just result in him getting yanked harder by the collar or the arm, but he couldn't keep it up for long. His body just refused to continue and he collapsed onto his knees, coughing uncontrollably. Somewhere to his left he heard Fell growl and pace a little bit waiting for the spell to pass.
After his coughing fit had calmed down. Fell knelt on one knee and lifted Blue's chin and inspected him. The small skeleton held his breath in an attempt to stifle more coughing but failed. Fell reached for the rope tied around around Blue and untied it and he also undid the front of his cloak to just under his chin, keeping the hood in place. Fell's red eyes concentrated on him as he checked his hp.
Blue wriggled his wrists in a silent plea for Fell to untie them as well. They hurt from being bound for so long. Fell ignored him and instead, commanded him to get up.
Once Blue had managed to get back on his feet, Fell brought his other knee down and turned so his back was to Blue.
"Get on" he said.
Blue looked at him utterly confused. Snow started to fall and the temperature was dropping fast.
"Get on my back" repeated Fell impatiently.
Blue blinked finally understanding, and clumsily made his way onto Fell's back. His arms ended up around the tall skeleton's neck, twisted awkwardly, bound as they were. Fell maneuvered the chain from Blue's collar so it was out of the way but still attached to his belt. He put his arms under Blue's legs and got up.
It was the most sad looking piggy back in the Underground, possibly even the Surface, but it served its purpose. They were able to move much faster even if not as fast as Fell would've liked. Even through his thick covering he could feel the heat emanating from Blue. His fever was coming back full force and all the coughing was taking whatever little energy he had away.
Regardless, Blue was trying to keep awake despite Fell not commanding him to, so he wouldn't send both of them toppling over. It showed initiative on his part. Very good. At least he had some training.
Also, whenever he coughed, he felt him turn so he would do it away from Fell's body. Always polite to his betters. Very good.
After another 15 or so minutes however, the young skeleton just couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and slumped over to his right almost sending both of them into a pile of rocks and fallen trees. Fell caught himself in time and adjusted Blue's body against his back.
Well, at least he wasn't coughing anymore.
They did need to stop somewhere so he could give Blue some medicine and get his hp back up. He had hoped that they would at least make it to the edge of the Waterfall before his fever flared up again.
So annoying.
Nevermind that he was hungry himself.
Nevermind that his hands had started to shake and he felt the lightheaded again.
Nevermind.
After almost another hour walking, they came upon a small, unused guard post just before Waterfall. It had been abandoned after the main road had been changed due to a rock slide. It barely had any room for one monster to be protected from the falling snow. It took some doing but eventually was able to place Blue inside it. Blue groaned and woke up. He looked around a little lost and brought up his hands to rub his eyes. The sight of the rope around them, reminded him of his situation.
He blinked sadly at the rope.
He looked over at Fell who was sitting out in the falling snow taking supplies out of his satchel. His stomach swam at the sight of the isicle. He was so sick of them.
Fell looked up noticing his movement. "Oh good, you're awake. This will make things easier" He said and put one isicle in Blue's hands. "Eat this then you can have some soup"
Blue just stared at the frozen healing meal.
"C'mon dear brother. Just eat up!" encouraged Fell.
Blue winced. Those words coming from Fell just felt so wrong. They put a bitter taste in his mouth that made him hate himself. After all, he was the one who told Fell they could be …
.
..
...
"BROTHERS!" Blue announced with his gloved hands on his hips. Stars in his eyes.
Fell was draped over the couch in his Underfell home, with an arm over over his eyes. A pounding headache robbing him of all energy to strangle the uninvited guest into silence.
Hangovers were a bitch.
"What the fuck are you going on about …" he said.
"Langua…" started Blue but stopped when he saw a red eye glare at him from under Fell's arm. "Um … ok … anyway, I was saying that we could all be like brothers!"
"Who's we?" asked Fell. He also wanted to ask, What the fuck are you still doing here? , Why are you still talking? And Who the Fuck wears that much blue?. But he only had the energy for the one question.
"WE" emphasized.
"You" he pointed at Fell.
"Red" he pointed at the small skeleton walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water and a bottle full of monster aspirin.
"Paps" Blue pointed at the far wall, but he really meant beyond the wall, beyond the forest, beyond the portal to his house in Underswap, where his brother was on an identical couch having a nice and quiet nap.
"And Me" he finished pointing at himself with a smile.
Fell glared at Blue. "Saaaannnss" He intoned without taking his eyes off the intruder.
"Yes! Boss!" said Red rushing over the medicine.
Fell took the bottle and downed about five pills then drank the whole glass of water in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Why is he here?" he asked finally directing his gaze at his younger brother.
"Um…. he followed me and … and … I confronted him, he said he had something important to say to you, so I thought I should bring him over to be debriefed" Red flicked his eyes over to Blue.
Blue smiled and nodded .
"Oh yes, yeah" he said very unconvincingly. "Red totally told me that I needed to be debriefed"
Fell looked at both at them and quite frankly considered locking them both in the back room without food or water for a couple of months. But he was a practical and hungover monster and didn't want to get out of the couch right at that moment.
"Take him back to that blasted portal, toss him in and then destroy the damned thing!" he commanded Sans.
Red looked at Blue, then back at Fell, then back at Blue. Welp, that had gone as well as he expected. At least there had been no murder involved. He took a step towards his Underswap counterpart.
"But don't you want to be friends?" argued Blue.
"I'm nobody's friend" grumbled Fell covering his eyes again. "Besides, you said you wanted to be brothers…."
"Yes! Brothers are friends! And friends can be like brothers!"
Fell's arm dropped off to the side of the couch. He stared at him with his mouth slightly open. He then burst out laughing. "Friends?!" he wheezed. "You are the most fucking …." He laughed harder "Deluded … " He fell off the couch but continued pointing at Blue "... blue thing"
He laughed until the pounding headache in his head started making him see double. Still, his mood had improved. "Can you believe this guy Sans?" he asked from the floor.
"Yeah… " Sans chuckled half heartedly "... he's fucking hilarious"
Blue crossed his arms. He wasn't going to give up so easily. "Look, you said that one had to earn the right to be your brother" he said.
Red jumped a little at these words.
"Yeah? … so what?" asked Fell suddenly serious.
"Well, I want to earn it" said Blue puffing out his chest. "I want to be like Red and have another awesome big brother like you! That way we can all be brothers!"
Fell started to get up from the floor and Blue sneaked a wink at Red.
Something gnawed at the pit of Red's belly.
Fell dusted off his clothes. Rolled back his shoulders and reached the spot where Blue stood near the door in four long steps, startling both small skeletons. He sneered down at Blue.
"Is that so?"
"...Yes! I always mean what I say!"
Red buried his hands in his coat's pockets. His boss would toss the little interloper out on his ass any moment now…. It had been a bad plan from the start. How dare him think that it was that easy?
"Sans?"
Or he would make him toss him out. Same difference.
"Take the rest of the day off!"
Wait, what?
"I'm going to show this little insect just how hard it is to earn the right to become my brother" said Fell over his shoulder. He smiled.
Red felt the gnawing feeling travel up to his soul.
His boss never smiled.
Blue finished gulping down the isicle. He felt his hp go up and fever back off a little. Then looked at the container of cold soup that Fell had put in front of him. He really doubted he could stomach it. His head buzzed and his soul hurt.
Red. I'm so sorry.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red.
Fell had a little red vial in his hand. He was using a small syringe to take some of the liquid out of it. The color stirred some memories … feelings ...in Blue. He had seen red things before, of course, but this shade of red … this red was very special and very dangerous.
With increased horror, he saw Fell tap on the syringe, then placed the magic needle against his left radius bone and pushed it in.
"Um… Fell?" he said quietly.
Fell ignored him, his attention fully on the liquid going into his arm. Soft snow fell unto him turning the top of his hood white. He was perfectly still.
"Fell … no… you …. " Blue continued, he saw the last of the liquid disappear into his arm. "FELL! NO! That stuff is DANGEROUS!"
Fell's head snapped up. His eyes flared an angry red. He rushed forward and put a gloved hand over Blue's mouth. He slammed his head and upper back against the back of the guard station.
"STOP!" he screamed.
He lifted Blue's head only to slam it again.
"STOP SOUNDING LIKE HIM!" he cried.
Wood cracked and splintered and the guard post collapsed on top of them.
I'm sorry. Cried the trees.
I'm sorry. Cried the wind.
I'm sorry . Cried the snow.
