~Chapter 11-The scars you can't see are the hardest to heal~
*Flashback*
Frisk gratefully shoved his last bite of spaghetti into his mouth, satisfied grin plastered onto his face.
"NYEH HEH HEH! I SEE SOMEBODY LOVES MY SPAGHETTI." Papyrus chuckled triumphantly.
"Who wouldn't love your spaghetti, bro? It's delicious." Sans commented nonchalantly from his place on the couch.
"INDEED." The taller skeleton paused, grin growing wider, "WELL, I SUPPOSE IT'S TIME TO TAKE THE HUMAN DOWN SO I CAN BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD! NYEH HEH HEH~! OH, I WILL BE SO POPULAR!"
Frisk froze, his look of content twisting into an expression of absolute horror.
If you leave, they...ASGORE will kill you.
Toriel's words echoed in his mind and he felt like he was going to vomit his dinner back up. These weird skeletons weren't really going to take him to his death, were they? They seemed so nice. The taller one would not sacrifice a small child for popularity!
...Would he?
"SANS, HURRY! I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP THEM WAITING FOR LONG!" Papyrus scolded his brother as Sans lazily stood from the couch and pulled his jacket back on.
"Chill bro, I'm comin'." Sans chuckled as he pulled his arm through the last sleeve.
"Alright, let's go." The shorter skeleton grinned at his brother, walking over to the duo.
"FINALLY! COME ALONG NOW, HUMAN." Papyrus beamed, grabbing Frisk's hand and missing the child's attempt to immediately get out of the grip.
The feeling on fear in the pit of Frisk's stomach grew as he walked down the busy streets of Snowdin with the two skeletons. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he could have sworn he felt monsters glaring and smirking at him left and right.
He faded in and out of reality, catching bits and pieces of Papyrus's proud bragging and Sans' chuckles at his brother.
He didn't want to die like this. Not before he got to see his mom again...
Papyrus must have noticed his distress because he stopped and faced the small child. "HUMAN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" He asked in concern.
Frisk froze. This was his one chance to get away. His eyes darted back and forward anxiously as he tried to think up an excuse. At last, he thought of a clever one. He gulped and pointed in a random direction, "U-Umm, hey! Look at that! Another fallen human!"
As expected, Papyrus gasped and spun around, letting go of Frisk's hand in the process in a twinkle in his eyes. "WOWIE! REALLY!?" he exclaimed.
Frisk took this opportunity and spun on his heel, jumping into a full sprint as he ran away from the monsters.
"SANS! THE HUMAN IS GETTING AWAY! AFTER HIM!" Frisk heard Papyrus yell after him, but he didn't look back once as he continued to run, picking up his speed slightly.
The boy didn't know where he was going, he just ran and ran eventually running out of Snowdin and into what appeared to be the woods.
Frisk chose to finally look behind him at this time. He was relieved to see nobody there, but his relief quickly died as when he looked back in front of him he realized he was running towards the edge of what seemed to be a hill, and trying to stop himself but failing he tripped over a rock and tumbled down the large hill, his right leg hitting another rock hard along the way until he finally reached the bottom and landed face first in the ice cold snow.
"O-Ow..." Frisk whimpered breathlessly, gradually sitting up and rubbing at his head. The child got up and tried to walk, but searing hot pain shot through his right leg sending tears to Frisk's eyes and he let out a cry of pain, falling back down.
The brunette tried one more time only for the same thing to happen all over again. Realizing something was seriously wrong with his leg, Frisk sniffled as tears rolled down his face and he pulled himself up against a tree, resting a hand on his leg.
Frisk looked around at his surroundings. He was all alone in the Underground with nobody to love him and nobody to care for him or protect him. This realization caused a sob to escape his throat and Frisk sobbed quietly, wishing he could be anywhere but here. Another sob escaped him as he touched his right leg. It hurt so bad, like it was on fire.
He couldn't help but wonder what he had done to deserve this. Had he been a bad kid? He didn't think so, he had always been nice to everybody from what he could recall. Yet here he was, stuck in a scary place full of scary monsters with no way out. He wished his mother was here, and the thought of his mother made him sob harder.
It felt like hours had passed, the child sobbing brokenly, face buried in his good knee, crying until there were no tears left to cry. After a while the child just sat there, ready to abandon all hope.
"AH! THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN!"
Frisk jumped at the familiar voice. He dared himself to look up from his knee, tears dried on his cheeks. There was Sans and Papyrus, walking towards him until they were right in front of him, smiles plastered on their faces. Fresh tears ran down his face.
"YOU SURE ARE HARD TO TRACK DOWN, HUMAN! BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE TASK OF FINDING YOU! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus chuckled, placing his hands on his hips with a confident grin. "NOW IT'S TIME TO-NYEH?" Papyrus paused, smile dropping when he noticed Frisk's position. He frowned. "HUMAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
Frisk sobbed and whimpered, backing further and further up against the tree, wishing it would swallow him whole and take him away from this awful place. With all honesty, if Papyrus had a heart it would break in two at the sight. His kind and loving nature told him that something was seriously wrong.
Papyrus knelt in front of the child, causing the boy to let out another whimper.
"HUMAN, HUMAN IT'S OKAY. WE ONLY WANT TO HELP YOU. WE'RE NOT GOING TO HURT YOU, WE JUST WANT TO HELP YOU, OKAY?" Papyrus cooed in the gentlest voice he could, calming the crying child down a little.
Sans noticed that Frisk was clutching at his right leg and frowned in thought. He knelt next to his younger brother.
"Hey kiddo," he started. "Is, uh...something wrong with yer leg there?"
Frisk sniveled and whimpered, mumbling a small "uh-huh" and a nod.
"Can I see it?"
The small child gave the skeleton a fearful look that Sans picked up on.
"I'm not gonna hurt it any further, kid. I know you don't know me, but...I just need you to trust me, alright?"
Frisk hesitated for a few minutes, before he finally nodded in defeat.
Sans leaned in closer and gripped Frisk's leg as carefully as he could. His golden leg was black and blue, and it seemed pretty fragile as when he touched it at first Frisk let out a small cry and Sans apologized.
"I'm not Alphys, Pap," Sans told Papyrus, turning to him. "but I think the kid's leg is broken."
"B-BROKEN!? HOW?" Papyrus questioned worriedly.
"I fell down here and hit my leg a couple times.." Frisk mumbled with a small sniffle.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO, SANS?" Pap frowned.
"Well," Sans huffed, putting his hands behind his head nonchalantly. "I guess we should head to Alphys and have his leg checked out. She is a master at these types of things after all."
"LOGICAL. THAT'S LOGICAL." Papyrus nodded and smiled down at the human. "COME NOW, HUMAN. WE SHALL GET YOU PATCHED UP AND MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE BRAND NEW!"
"I'll carry ya, since ya can't walk n' all." Sans winked, hoisting the child up on his back and Frisk couldn't help but smile, leaning into the shorter skeleton.
The trip truly wasn't that long, but considering how tired Frisk was it seemed especially long. In fact the small child had fallen asleep on Sans' back and was gently nudged awake fifteen minutes later.
"We're here, kid." Sans told him and Frisk gazed up at the building in front of them. It seemed awfully big, that was for sure.
"you called Alphys ahead of time, right bro?" Frisk heard Sans ask his brother as they walked inside.
"YES. SHE SEEMED QUITE SURPRISED." Papyrus riposted, playing with his scarf out of habit.
"that would make sense. A kid hasn't fallen down here in at least five years." Sans stated before calling out, "HEY, ALPHYS?! WHERE ARE YA!?"
"C-C-Coming!" The trio heard said monster stammer in the distance and in a matter of seconds a nerdy, awkward looking yellow monster was walking towards them. Her mouth nearly dropped open at the sight of Frisk.
"W-Wow, y-you guys really weren't joking! A human!" She gaped in awe, stepping closer. Alphys cleared her throat and smiled at Frisk. "H-Hi there, I'm D-Dr. Alphys, b-b-but you c-can j-just c-c-call me A-Alphys if y-you'd like." She held out her hand.
Frisk, who was hiding shyly, smiled and shook her hand. "H-Hi. I'm Frisk."
Alphys glanced down and noticing Frisk's leg, she gasped. "W-Wow! T-That's q-q-quite s-some i-injury you g-got t-t-there! H-How a-about w-we take y-y-you t-to m-my office a-and w-we check it out?"
In Alphys's office, Sans set Frisk down on one of the chairs. "By the way, we'd kinda appreciate it if you kept this just between the four of us. Don't need the whole Underground chasing us and the kid around. 'Specially not Undyne." He uttered.
"O-Of c-course! A-As f-far as I'm c-concerned, this is j-j-just a h-harmless little s-secret." Alphys agreed and bent down to inspect Frisk's leg.
She was silent for a few minutes before finally saying, "Y-Yup, t-that's d-definitely a b-b-broken l-leg." She stated, backing up.
"IS IT BAD?" Papyrus questioned apprehensively.
"O-Oh n-no. W-Well, n-not r-really. S-See, h-he has an i-incomplete f-fr-fracture. I-In o-other w-words, t-the b-b-bone i-is p-pretty jacked up a-and c-cracked badly f-from what I c-can tell, b-but the b-bone i-isn't s-separated in t-t-two. I-I w-would a-advise n-not w-w-walking on it t-too
M-Much a-and g-giving i-it p-p-plenty t-time t-to h-h-heal f-for a-at least f-four weeks. A-After t-t-that, i-it sh-should be j-j-just f-fine." Alphys explained.
Alphys looked at Papyrus. "S-Speaking of w-w-which, P-Papyrus, c-can y-you help m-me go g-get some i-ice? I-It's p-pretty i-important t-to n-nurse t-t-the l-leg right a-after a f-fracture."
Papyrus grinned. "OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE RIGHT WITH YOU!"
The tall skeleton pointed at Frisk, startling him. "HUMAN! IT SEEMS OUR CHALLENGE IS ON HOLD FOR RIGHT NOW! BUT AS SOON AS YOUR LEG GETS BETTER, PREPARE FOR A BRAWL! NYEH HEH HEH!" With that, the enthusiastic skeleton turned and ran off to catch up with Alphys.
Sans chuckled, "Heh. Told ya my brother was harmless, kiddo."
Frisk gave a shaky grin, "Yeah..." he murmured, stifling a sniffle.
"So," Sans sighed. "Do...do yer parents know you're, uh...down here?"
Frisk shrugged. "I dunno." He mumbled, tears shining in his eyes. "I-I doubt they'd care. We-we don't have the best relationship." He confessed tearfully.
Sans snorted, full on knowing what that was like. "Yeah, I hear ya." He paused, "Well...since you seem like ya have nowhere else ta go...why...why don't 'cha stay with us for a bit?"
"You-you don't have to do that." Frisk stated.
"yeah, I know. But hey, Paps seems to have taken a pretty good liking to ya, and you seem like a pretty cool kid, plus he can keep an eye on ya so when ya get better he can finally have the brawl he planned. So it's kind of a win-win, ya know? Whaddaya say?"
Frisk didn't say anything for a few minutes, causing the skeleton to frown. "Uhh, kiddo? You al-"
Sans was cut off by the small child throwing his arms around him and squeezing tight. "Thanks Sans," the boy sobbed.
A soft grin plastered itself on Sans' face and he chuckled, pulling the kid off and into a noogie, causing Frisk to let out a yelp of protest and a small laugh.
"You're such a little weirdo," Sans snickered.
He didn't know why, but he had a feeling deep down in his gut that he was going to like this kid.
Frisk didn't get up as early as he usually did the next morning. He was plagued with two or three, possibly more nightmares throughout the night.
The child slept in until noon. Papyrus nor Sans woke him up or stopped him. They only checked on his sleeping form if they got concerned and wanted to make sure he was still there and okay.
When he finally woke up, his body felt like lead. He sat up dizzily, wiping some sleep out of his eyes. His night terrors were beginning to intensify horror wise, and he had no doubt Chara had something to do with it.
Possibly to stop him from going through with his own plan.
When Frisk finally did go downstairs, he was surprised to see that Papyrus was nowhere to be seen. He did however notice Sans sitting on the couch and approached the skeleton.
"Mornin' kiddo," Sans greeted, reaching over and ruffling Frisk's hair causing the latter to blush with a smile and he sat down next to Sans.
"Morning Sans. Uhm...where's Papyrus?" Frisk riposted curiously.
"Daily training with Undyne. He should be back in a few hours." Sans informed with a wink.
"Oh. Okay." Frisk smiled.
Sans' grin abruptly dropped as his gaze fell upon one of Frisk's arms. "Uhh...bucko? Yer...uh..yer bleedin'."
"What?" Frisk questioned in alarm and confusion, following Sans' gaze and pulling up his sweater sleeve. Sure enough, one of the wounds from when he was self-harming had opened up and was gushing out a little bit of blood.
"Oh gee," Frisk snorted. "I-I must have accidentally opened it back up by hitting my arm on something somehow."
"Ehh, don't sweat it, kiddo. We'll just wrap it up. We need to replace those old bandages anyways." Sans assured and got up from the couch with Frisk, the child following him into the kitchen where Sans pulled some medicine and bandages out.
It was deadly silent as Sans applied some medicine to his open wound and wrapped it up. No sound was made aside from the small "ouch" Frisk made when medicine touched the wound or the wound was handled too roughly, and the sheepish "sorry" from Sans when that happened.
Frisk picked at some loose string on his sweater as Sans applied new bandages to his wounds.
He swallowed hard and looked down, scuffing his shoe against the carpet. "...Sans?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, kiddo?" Sans replied, not taking his gaze off Frisk's arms.
"Sans, have you ever self-harmed before?"
The skeleton froze, a lost look suddenly on his face. Frisk gulped. He knew he had gone too far asking that question. Right when he was about to apologize for asking and change the subject, Sans spoke.
"Heh. Why do ya think I was so hard on ya when I found out you were doing it?" Sans snickered. "Yeah, I've self-harmed before. I was right around your age when I did it, perhaps a few years older but not a lot. I don't exactly have the rosiest childhood ta be honest with ya. I mean, it wasn't so bad to the point where I wanted ta die, but like all childhoods it wasn't perfect. I remember my demons talking to me every single day, trying ta bring me down. Until eventually, I let my demons get the best of me and I self-harmed. Not deep enough to form scars, but deep enough to hurt. This feeling grew every single day until eventually I wanted to kill myself. I started having thoughts about it and how I was going to do it. Heck, if it hadn't been for Pap noticing my cuts, I probably would have eventually gone through with it. When Paps found out, in that moment never have I felt so ashamed, but then again never have I felt so loved. Ashamed because I took the high road instead of simply going to talk to him, but loved because I knew he cared enough to stop me. It made me realize that in yer darkest times, even if you don't believe it, no matter how much you doubt it there's always people out there who love and care for you. 'N they'll find ya. Ya just gotta be patient and keep holding on. If not for yerself, do it for the people who love ya." Sans stated.
Frisk nodded, tears filling his eyes as Sans went quiet and continued to inspect his wounds.
"Frisk," Sans suddenly said. "These aren't all from your time in the Underground so far, are they? I can see two or three that look older than any of them."
Frisk swallowed, sniffling. "L-Life w-wasn't so great up there..." he confessed, voice small and squeaky.
Sans stared at him for a few heartbeats before mutely leaning forward and gathering the boy in his arms. This broke the child and Frisk sobbed, burying his face in Sans' hoodie.
"I-I...*hic* I d-didn't...*hic* I d-didn't k-know what to do, Sanssss..." he sobbed softly, shaking. "I-It...It was n-never r-really "home" u-up there...I j-just...*hic* I-I f-felt s-so a-alone...a-and s-scared...I-I just...I f-felt w-worthless...a-and I j-just wanted...*hic* I j-just wanted to-"
"Shh" Sans cut him off gently. "Don't you dare say that 'd' word, kiddo. 'N don't talk about yourself that way. You deserve this life. You and Paps are the two kindest people I know. Your life means so much to us. So don't ever think it's worthless. When this is all over, you don't have ta go back to that horrible place. You can just live with us. Okay?"
Frisk nodded, sobbing slightly harder. "'M scared..." he squeezed out.
"I know," Sans whispered, hugging him tighter. "I know, kid. We're gonna help you through this." he nuzzled the child. "Whatever happens we're always one step behind you. You don't have to be scared anymore because you won't be alone any longer. Don't worry."