Chapter Seven

Markus and Shadow

Shadow was watching to two men fight over her with a sigh. She really didn't have much to say. She liked Sans but she doubted he liked her back. This guy though was interested in her, meaning she should give this guy a chance.

Markus soon got past Sans and back to Shadow, "So, can I take you out? Tuesday at 7 sound good? We'll meet here?"

Shadow's face turned red, it was Thursday so she had time to prepare. She wasn't expecting this guy to ask her out so fast, "O-okay sure."

Shadow mentally slapped herself for stuttering but smiled at the man either way. Markus waved at her and promised to text her before leaving.

"What was that?" Sans asked looking rather pissed.

"That was me getting asked out on a date Sans. I'm allowed to do that you know." Shadow said with a bit of a frown.

"I don't like the look of that guy. He seems off."

"Off? Do you just not like him flirting with me?"

Sans' face turned bright blue as he grabbed Shadow and teleported them home, "No, I just don't trust him."

Shadow looked kinda sad when he said that but pretended to be fine. The two brothers didn't notice the fact Shadow refused to take off her hoodie, nor did they notice the missing knife, why would Sans notice her hurt feelings?

"Fine, you don't have to, I'm the one going on a date with him and you're not gonna stop me!" Shadow actually stormed out of Sans' room and right back out the door. The sound of a car could be heard driving away.

Shadow was speeding, she was speeding a lot. She found herself at Undyne's place and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a surprised Mettaton, "Darling what are you doing here?"

"I had a fight with Sans and needed to get away for awhile", Shadow said her eyes tearing up. Soon enough she was explaining to the three what happened.

"Maybe he's jealous?" Alphys asked.

"No that can't be it, I don't sense anything from him in that department", Shadow sighed, "Although I wish that was it though."

The three shared knowing looks but decided it was best for Shadow to go on that date. It might kickstart Sans into doing something, anything. With that decided they help Shadow prepare for the date, claiming it would make her feel better. After a lot of planning they picked out a nice black tank top with red roses on it. The roses were covered in sparkles. They also grabbed a cute black fluffy skirt for her too. Who knew Mettaton kept so much girl clothing in their house. They quickly handed Shadow the clothes and told her to go home and sleep.

Shadow got home to find no one up. She didn't wanna see anyone anyways. She quietly slipped out the knife she was hiding under the couch and snuck into the bathroom. Small slices lined her arm. The world was silent for a bit in her head. The racing thoughts about Sans stopped. They finally stopped. She no longer felt upset. Pulling down her hoodie sleeve she went back to the couch to sleep. Little did she know, a certain innocent boy saw her with the knife. Papyrus knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out why she was doing this.

The week went by without Shadow and Sans talking. They didn't even look at each other. Papyrus was trying to tell Sans what he saw but every time Papyrus brought up Shadow Sans would shut down. Papyrus was getting worried. He'd watch her do it every night. He needed to tell Sans but sadly it never happened.

Tuesday finally came, Shadow ran out the door around six thirty and Sans was nowhere to be found. She soon met up with Markus at Grillby's.

"Hey stranger", Shadow called out to Markus with a small blush on her face.

"Shadow, it's good to see you. Are you ready to go?" Markus asked with a charming smile and Shadow just nodded in return.

Markus grabbed her hand and pulled her into his car, "I'm gonna take you out to eat. You look beautiful by the way. I'm really shocked that I managed to find a girl as pretty as you. I'm even more surprised that you're single."

Markus' comments made Shadow blush a bright red, "Oh I'm not really that pretty. I also don't have many friends so maybe that's why I'm single?"

"Maybe that's it. Such a shame a pretty girl like you are single though. I hope I can change that though." Another charming smile was sent her way as they continued driving.

They drove in silence for awhile before Shadow asked, "So where are we going? I should let the guys know so they know I'm safe."

Markus just laughed and that's when Shadow realized something was wrong. He pulled up to a warehouse, a smirk on his face now, "You're so dumb. Thinking someone was gonna ask out a monster fucker like you. Gross, now be a good girl and stay quiet."

Shadow froze, she needed to run away, after a moment of thought she was out of the car running only to run into an girl with brown hair with red ends. Her eyes were a blood red. Her face held a smirk on it as she grabbed Shadow by the hair, "I can't believe Markus almost let my new toy get away, can you believe that Andrew?"

Her voice was gruff for a girl and the boy she was looking at almost reminded Shadow of Blooky, if he was evil that is. This guy had brown eyes with blue specks in them, then brown hair with blue ends. "No I can't imagine it."

Shadow noticed that this Andrew guy was eating a potato which made him the least scary. Shadow almost said something but Markus bitch slapped her, "How dare you run from me! You're a gift to boss, she's one of the anti monster leaders. This is Rose MidKnight. You better treat her with respect you trash. Welcome to our base. I'd say enjoy your stay but you won't!"

Shadow was dragged into the warehouse by her hair as Rose mocked her, "Wow Markus she dressed up for you, how stupid. No one wants to date a monster's whore. That stupid Skeleton should watch you better. How dumb of him, letting you leave with some stranger."

Rose and Andrew laughed as Markus took the time to keep slapping her, "Oh let's see that pure white soul of yours, I want to taint it!"

Rose smacked Markus, "You don't touch her soul. If we want to threaten the monsters she needs to be in good condition!"

Markus numbly nodded and Rose threw Shadow into a small room, "We don't have to feed her though. Just give her water so she lives longer."

With that the three locked the door and walked away. Shadow grabbed her phone to call for help but she had no signal. She sighed and curled up in a ball in the corner. Shadow hated to admit it but Sans was right.

It felt like hours but it must have been at least five minutes before Markus came back in. "Rosey might have said no but I wanna see that soul of yours so let's have it out!"

Shadow didn't know how he did it but she was suddenly staring at her soul. It was covered in cracks. Markus' huge smiled died when he saw that. "What did you do?"

His voice was mad and he yanked Shadow to him. He tore off her hoodie and looked almost amazed at all the cuts running up and down both arms. Some were deep, others weren't. He threw Shadow to the ground and grabbed her soul. The poor girl yelled in pain as he roughly handled it.

"I'll be back, I need to talk to Rosey about this."

He left the door open but Shadow was in too much pain to move. Her eyes watering as she tried to stay awake. She could hear distance shouting. Sounded like Rose was mad. She walked in holding her soul, slowly crushing it in her hand, "If I see another crack in this, I'll kill you. Now I'll be taking this with me to keep an eye on you."

She walked away leaving Shadow alone again.

Meanwhile at the skelebro's place Papyrus finally got Sans to talk about Shadow.

"I can't believe she left with that guy. She's gonna get herself killed by being so careless!" Sans was livid.

"Sans there's something I need to tell you", Papyrus squeaked out. He looked really nervous, and it was rare for Papyrus to talk quietly.

Sans turned to Papyrus, hearing his brother talk like that made his eyes go dark, "What's wrong Paps?"

"I saw Shadow with a knife. She seemed to have it every night since your fight. She'd take it out from under the couch, go to the bathroom then put it back once she got back out. I've been trying to tell you but you'd stop talking every time I mentioned her." Papyrus looked almost scared and his voice was dead serious. This was a scary sight.

Sans was silent for a while. He tried to process that information and soon came to the conclusion that he might be the cause of the cuts on her arm, "She's been cutting again?"

Papyrus silently nodded. Sans sighed and dragged his hand over his face, "Where did she go with that guy?"

"BROTHER SHADOW DID NOT KNOW EITHER. SHE WAS GUESSING HE WAS GOING TO SUPRISE HER!" Sans smiled a bit when Papyrus started talking normally for him. Soon though the frown came back when he thought of Shadow.

"I'm sure she'll be back later tonight, she does have work tomorrow. I'll talk to her when she gets back."

Sans seemed like he was assuring himself more than Papyrus though. The two ended up waiting for Shadow. Sans was going through what he wanted to say to Shadow with Papyrus. It was a jumble of words as Sans struggled to find the right thing to say. Papyrus kept trying to help Sans say the right thing. Sadly Sans kept getting mad at the pillow the two dubbed as Shadow to practice on.

"SANS YELLING AT SHADOW ISN'T GOING TO FIX ANYTHING", Papyrus said looking annoyed.

"I know that Paps! Don't you think I'm trying my best to figure out what to say to her?! I made her so upset that she started cutting every night.I can't just let her do that." Sans looked rather annoyed at himself as he tried to figure out what to do.

More time passed and with a lot of coaching from Papyrus, Sans, finally had a suitable speel for Shadow, "Ok I think I got it now. Hey Shadow, I hope your date went well. I just wanted to talk to you. Papyrus told me what you've been doing. I hate hearing that you're still hurting yourself. We moved you in with us to stop that. I'm sorry I got mad at you a few days back. It was uncalled for and I was upset that a guy was flirting with you. Please just let me, let us help you Shadow. We care about you, we want you to do better. I promised to stay by your side, so let me now."

Papyrus clapped then there was a long pause, "SANS, SHADOW SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN GONE FOR A LONG TIME. IT'S ALREADY ONE IN THE MORNING."

Sans' left eye flashed blue, "Shit! I knew that bastard was bad news. She's the god damn angel of the underground, she's going to be in constant danger!"

Sans' phone started ringing, he saw it to be Shadow's caller I.D. and quickly answered it, "Shadow! Where are you? It's late and we haven't heard from you at all!"

"Sorry smilely trash bag, this is Rose MidKnight. I'm the leader of the monster allilation group, N.M.O.E. I'm sure you want your stupid little monster fucker back. You can have her and her fucked up soul, for a price. I'll send you the address, I expect to see you alone. See you soon you piece of trash." With that she hung up and seconds later Sans was sent the address. The anger in his eyes scared Papyrus quite a bit.