(5296 words)

Asy lays in a bed, his eyes closed even though he wasn't asleep.

He hears the door creek open but he lays as still as he could, trying to keep his breathing even. He had hoped he'd never wake up again after the last night.

"So, we've assigned him a live in aid that is required to stay for a minimum for twelve months. He's been proscribed a new medication that should help make sure this doesn't happen again. He's also been given a three weak paid leave from his job. It seems that his employer knows about his situation and is sympathetic."

The mystery voice talks quickly and quietly so Asy has to listen closely to really hear what they were saying.

"He'll have to have a psyche checkup once he's woken up but other than that he should be okay to leave."

Asy doesn't know who this person could be talking to. If they knew what was going on, who would they be telling this to that wouldn't already know?

He hears footsteps fade away, indicating that they had left.

He finally opens his eyes but quickly realizes it was a big mistake.

The little bit of light that he had let in burned his eyes like fire. His head throbbed and he couldn't help but dig his fingers into his skull slightly. Thankfully not too deep to leave any lasting marks.

He had closed his eyes once again, not wanting to prolong his suffering.

Asy shrinks down under the blankets he had piled on top of him but his arms get caught on the fabric. Since his head was mostly under the blankets he peaks his eyes open to look at his arms. They were covered in bandages, the edges of the tape that was holding them in place had stuck to the fabric, leaving some fuzz attached to the tape.

Asy closes his eyes.

Great, another reminder that he just wasn't okay.

He doesn't know how long he laid there, not wanting to be in this hell before the door creeks open again.

"Asy, are you awake?"

It was a woman's voice.

He shakes his head under the blankets, obviously letting them know he was awake.

"Oh, okay then. If you're not awake I guess I'll just have to eat your breakfast." The unknown woman says tauntingly.

Asy just now realizes that he was completely starving. He starts to crawl out of his little blanket cave but stops, remembering the time before.

He peaks out, cracking his eyes open slightly.

A brown eyed female, probably in her mid to late twenties is sitting on the one chair in the room, holding a try of food.

"And he lives!" She says, trying to lift his spirits.

Asy doesn't look amused.

He almost wished he was the opposite of what she had said.

"You up for some breakfast?" The woman says, trying to keep her tone of voice cheery. "Oh, I'm Martha by the way."

Asy doesn't respond, instead getting up out of the bed and sitting on the floor.

Martha looks at Asy curiously. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how much more comfortable is the floor compared to the bed?"

Asy flops back onto the floor, lying down.

'I wish I wasn't here.'

'I wish I was normal.'

'I wish I was dead.' He shivers at this thought, disgusted at himself for even thinking it.

'I hope I lay here until the lights blind everyone.'

"I'm not hungry." Asy says simply, not voicing his thoughts.

The woman rolls her eyes. "Sure you're not. Even though from what I heard you haven't eaten for at least twelve hours."

Asy covers his eyes with his bandaged arms. "ugh..." His hands twitch and he tries his best to hide it and act like a normal person. He stands up, silently taking the tray from the woman.

"Thank you." He says quietly, poking at the food. He wasn't sure how to act. This was a new situation for him and there was just enough going on in the room that he was on the edge of having another panic attack from all that had already happened and what might happen in the near future.

Martha smiles at him, watching him poke around his food, sitting on the floor once again. "So, are you going to eat it? Or is it just a little game now?"

Asy looks up quickly. "I'm ah- I..." Asy sets the tray off to the side on the bed and moves so that he could rest his chin in his hands. "I'm not- I..." He tries to think of what to say but he couldn't think of anything besides 'I'm not hungry.'. Martha frowns. "I get it if you're not up to eating right now." She says, watching as his hands twitch.

Asy silently thanks the woman and pushes the tray to the side. "You'll have to eat eventually but I'll give you a pass until next meal time." Asy nods and rubs his arms subconsciously. "How long am I going to have to stay here?" He asks, not meeting her eyes. Martha looks away, thinking for a second. "Oh, only like a week or something. It's not too bad."

Asy rubs a little harder, feeling a little bit of satisfaction in the pressure and slight pain. "Y-Yeah, not too bad." He echos. They both fall silent for a good ten minutes before Martha brings something up. "How about we head over to the Rec room? I mean, it must be better than sitting on the floor in your room."

"Better..." Asy focuses on the word. Is it better? It could just be worse. So many people. People he knew. People who knew he had gotten out. People who would judge him for being back in this place again. People who would give him the odd stares, stares of disapproval and disappointment.

"Uh..." Asy half groans out, realizing he really didn't want to go there. "Sure." He says. He doesn't know why. Maybe it's so he can show that he can function normally or that he can prove to himself he's strong enough to do things like this. The woman stands up takes his hand, picking up the try with her free hand. "Let's go then. I hear they got a few new bored games in there."

Asy stands, feeling a little awkward holding this woman's hand but secure at the same time. They walk out of the room and down a long hall, turning only a few times before they reach a large open area where patients walked freely, some with orderlies around them and some who had doctors keeping a very close eye on them.

Asy feels very out of place. He feels like he shouldn't be here, though he knows he should be. He knows he's messed up. At least that was different than the first time he was here. He stops just short of passing the line where tile met carpet, staring nervously into the room. He knew he was drawing more attention to himself by not continuing on but he just couldn't get himself to cross that line.

He looks around some more, noticing some new patients. There was a small rabbit girl who looked as if she was trying to have a tea party with a couch, not letting anyone sit on it. There was a blue creature who was slamming his fists into the wall, causing some orderlies to try and restrain him. Then there was a white monster with a human like form. He wore a plain outfit, almost the same as everyone else in this place. The only difference was his upper half.

Instead of the normal shirt he wore a T-shirt that popped out much more than the tan pants that almost melded into the floor of the same color. He also wore a red scarf wrapped around his neck. He walked around with out swinging his arms, causing him to look as if he was floating. Asy watches as the monster walks up to an older patent. "How are you today brother?" He says in a calm tone. The older patent doesn't respond and the white monster smiles. "That is very good to hear."

He walks away in his floating like fashion, catching Asy out of the corner of his eyes. He turns and walks swiftly up to Asy and Martha. Asy's eyes widen with each step the monster took. "How are you today brother?" At this Asy looses it. He backs up a few steps before sprinting away back down the hall. Martha reacts quickly, running after him with the call of the other monster echoing behind her. "That is very good to hear."

Asy runs and runs, not knowing exactly where he was going though he knew the place like the back of his hand. He didn't notice until he stopped at the entrance of the building that he had fat tears running down his cheek bones. He wants to just leave. He wants to leave so badly but he knew he had many more days to stay before he could do this. He wonders if he could get away with it. Just leaving and not caring what anyone else would think.

He takes a tentative step towards the door, reaching out a hand slightly. He knows it would be wrong.

He knows there would be consequences.

He knows he wouldn't be out for long.

But maybe...

He was only a few inches away from pushing the door open when he hears the female voice that had called him out from his bed earlier that morning. "ASY STOP!" Asy jumps at the loud shout, not turning around for fear of what her angry face would look like. He lets his tears roll freely, emotions flowing all around in his skull, making him more and more confused and frustrated. "Asy- Oh, it's alright, come here." The woman turned Asy around and noticed the large tears flowing down his face.

She pulls him into a hug, allowing him to squeeze her tightly. "I-I was better..." He cries into her shoulder. "I just want to leave. I want to go home." She rubs his back and nods. "I know, I know. And I'm sorry. If I could I'd let you go home right now, but I can't." Asy continues to cry, letting out a heart-wrenching sob every few minutes. All his emotions just pour out into the open, he was scared he'd never get better, angry that he was back in the asylum again, happy that he had some comfort, and upset.

Upset that he couldn't hold himself together. Upset that he couldn't just leave. Upset that he was upset in the first place. And upset that he could never see his brother again.

Asy pulls out of the woman's hold and stumbles back into the doors. He doesn't know why he does this. Maybe his thoughts were too clouded by his emotions. Maybe he just couldn't handle any more of people feeling bad for him. He doesn't know. All Asy knows is that he's done with this place.

Still crying, Asy slams through the doors, causing alarms to go off all through the asylum, alerting all the staff. Martha is shocked for a minute before she realizes what was happening, surprisingly for the first time in the history of the hospital.

A patent escaped.

Asy doesn't know where he's running to, he just knows he's not staying back there anymore. He hears alarms blare after him and the sound of foot falls chasing him just spurs him on to keep going. He runs past multiple monsters, accidentally knocking a few over. Some yell things at him that make him want cry harder. Some notice him and what he's wearing. They notice he was a patent from the hospital. Some back off, not wanting anything to do with a 'crazy' person. A couple men try to hold out their arms, trying to stop him.

They slow him down a little but not much. He struggles out of their grasp and sprints on, his energy quickly leaving him. He makes a sharp right turn in waterfall as the guards who were chasing him were still around the corner. They keep running straight while he hides out in a small cave room.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He says to himself, hitting his head with each word. "I shouldnt've done that. I'm so stupid!" He puts his head in his hands. "Why do I always mess things up!? I could've just stayed there the week and then left but I had to be stupid and run." He slumps to the ground and pulls is knees up to his chest. "Now I'm never getting out. That was the one thing I wanted but now if they find me I'll be locked up in a room the whole time. They don't let runners be alone or go into the rec room." Asy mumbles to himself.

"What am I doing?"

"Asy..."

He pulls his head out of his hands, looking up sharply. In front of him hovered Papyrus, His dead brother. DEAD.

Asy doesn't scream, he doesn't yelp in fear. He just glares at the hovering form. "Why did you have to come back!?" He shouts at him. "I was so close to being okay and you just had to come back and ruin it!" Asy picks up a rock and chucks it through the ghost like form. "I hate you!" He yells. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" He starts sobbing again, burying his face in his knees.

He feels a pair of arms wrap around him and he looks up to see his brother hugging him. The embrace was neither warm nor cold. Just... There. "Get off of me! I hate you!" He shouts again through the rejuvenated tears. Papyrus doesn't talk. He doesn't make any sound. He just stays there, hugging Asy, stroking his skull in a soothing motion. "Papyrus..." Asy says, finally allowing himself to feel the hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry." He cries, scratching at the bandages on his arms. "I didn't mean it. I wanted to see you again. It's not your fault. It's mine. It's all my fault." He says. He knows it's a hallucination but he can't help himself from talking to his brother one more time. "It's always been my fault..." He says, trailing off.

Papyrus shakes his head. Asy looks at him sadly. "I- You're not even real..." Asy slides down to the ground, lying down and turning over. "I'm making him up. My mind just keeps making me see him." He continues scratching his bandages, breaking through them quickly and scratching at the already raw bone. "Over and over and over again."

He hears more footsteps run past his little cave. "Where do I go? I can't go home. That'll be the first place they look." He sits up and looks to his right, Papyrus still there. "Go away." He says quietly. "I know you're not real so just go." He wipes the tears from his face, standing up on shaky legs. He takes a step and collapses from exhaustion, physical and emotional.

Asy squeezes his eyes shut and opens them back up again. Papyrus was no longer there. He lets out a sigh and pushes himself up to his hands and knees, crawling out of the cave. He was sure that all of the people looking for him would've left the area already. He crawls away, going to the place he knew best in waterfall.

He crawled for a solid ten minutes before reaching an area full of echo flowers. He finds a good spot and lies down, pulling a flower down to his lowered level. "I miss him." He whispers. He takes another flower and whispers again. "But I hate him." He lets the flower go and pulls down one more. "But I love him." He lets the last flower go and listens to the flowers echo back his little poem. He watches the ceiling of the large cave, the glittering rocks serving as beautiful stars.

He feels the stinging in his arms and doesn't even look at them before scratching once more. He didn't care. There were very few things he cared about at the moment. He cared about not being caught, he cared about being alive, he cared about his brother...

He didn't care about his arms, or the fact that he had stopped scratching a month after he left the hospital. He didn't care that he felt like he was going to melt into the ground with despair. He didn't care that the poem he had made was causing him to tear up once more. He didn't care that his eyes were burning or that he was shaking so hard the flowers around him were shaking as well.

He didn't care about a lot of things.

Asy walks through a snowy town, wearing a grey hoodie and dark blue sweat pants. He held a bag of all his belongings at the moment. Asy walks into a small shop, the door making a small dinging sound as he entered.

It had been two days since he escaped. He had ran as soon as he heard people shouting for him. He left waterfall and had been hiding out in various caves until he found this town, Snowdin.

The shopkeeper smiles and waves at him as he enters. "Hello hun, is there anything I can get 'cha?" Asy looks over his left shoulder, looking to his brother for guidance. His mental state had steadily decreased since he left, each day Papyrus had become clearer and clearer. He already could whisper to Asy with ease. "How much do you have left?" Papyrus whispers, floating to Asy's left. "Three 'G'." He says back, the shopkeeper giving him an odd look.

"Sorry hun, we don't sell anything here for three 'G'." She says, crossing her arms. Asy nods, not looking at the rabbit woman. "Thank you." He says simply. He raises his head slightly and a poster catches his eye. It was of him. A missing persons poster.

'MISSING.
Asy, patent at the mental hospital. Is unstable and is a danger to himself and possibly others.
If found, please contact us right away.'

Asy reads the poster and tries to not look as horrified as he was feeling.

'Warning: He may be hostile if found out. Please stay calm around him and don't let him leave.
If you cannot get him to stay, follow him, don't let him be alone.'

Asy looks wide eyed at the poster. There was a picture of him from three months ago when he had just left the hospital. "Oh God..." He says, backing up a bit before turning around to leave. "Wait, actually, I do have some experimental buns in the back." She says, walking around the counter. "Uh, no thank you, I-I'll just go." He says, getting a little worked up. He couldn't tell if she had noticed who he was or not so he tried to play it cool.

"No please, I insist. I really need a taste tester for these." The bunny says. She takes hold of Asy's arm and drags him into the back room area which turned out to be the woman's house. "You just sit right down and I'll pull out the buns." She says, pointing to a wooden table. She pulls out the buns from the oven and places two on a plate, setting it in front of Asy. She stands with her hands on her hips, watching him for a moment as he stares at the food.

He looks up at the bunny, then down at the buns, picking one up and taking a bite. "It's- uh good." he says, trying to stand up. "I'll just-" The bunny lady cuts him off, pushing him back into the chair. "No, you're going to finish that, I don't want that bun wasted." Asy sighs and takes another bite. "I'm going to go and get something from my room real quick, and I want you to tell me everything about the bun." The woman says.

Asy takes another bite and tries to explain the taste. "It's well, uh..." The bunny holds up her hand. "No, Eat the whole thing then tell me." She says. Asy sighs and continues to eat the bun. It wasn't bad, actually it was probably the best thing Asy had ever tasted. He just didn't have the words to describe it.

She trots off to her room, pulling out her phone and dialing the number on the poster. "Hello, I think I found your missing patent... Yes, Asy... Yes, I'm at the shop in Snowdin, I have him trying a bun in my kitchen." The conversation between the bunny and the person on the other end of the line goes on for only a few more seconds before she hangs up, grabbing a random item from her side table and rushing back into the kitchen to make sure he hadn't left.

Just as she enters Asy stands up, the bun gone. "So, tell me. Was it good? Bad? how's the after taste?" She asks, setting a small snow globe down on the counter. Asy shrugs. "It's fine. Can I go?" He asks, rubbing his forearms together anxiously. The bunny lady smirks. "I gave you two didn't I?" She says.

Asy sits back down and starts eating the bun. It wasn't that he didn't want to eat it. No, it was that he didn't want to eat it here. He finishes off the bun as fast as he could before standing up to leave. "Thank you m'am, I need to go now." He says, trying to keep his voice steady. "Uh... Alright, I'll walk you out." The woman says, taking his arm and walking as slow as she could without seeming weird.

"Take care now, y'hear?" She says as Asy walks out the door. She looks out her window. He nods and leaves the store, looking left and right for any sign of the hospital workers. He sighs when he doesn't see any and walks away from the small store. He decides to walk towards the outside of town, away from waterfall. Unfortunately he only gets a few steps away before he's tackled to the ground. "AH!" He shouts, trying to get up.

"Give it a rest punk, you're not going anywhere." a familiar, stern voice says. "U-Undyne? No! Get off! Let me go!" Asy shouts, struggling under her grip. "No way. You need to go back to the hospital you crazy dude." Asy struggles more and more before he feels Undyne grab both of his overly long sleeves and tie them together behind him. "No. No no no no no!" He chants, the feeling of his hands literally being tied was too reminiscent of his time in a strait jacket.

"NO!" Asy screams, shooting bones up from the ground randomly until he hit Undyne in the shoulder, knocking her off of him. All the commotion grabs the attention of the townspeople, people staring and pointing at the 'crazy skeleton'. Asy stands up and with great force rips his hoodie, the sleeves falling from his arms. Oh God...

His arms were scratched so deep in many places, it looked as if he had sat, scratching for hours on end. Maybe he did. He sprints faster than it looked like he should be able to, gaining so much ground away from Undyne that there was no way she'd be able to catch him. "He's heading back towards waterfall." Undyne says into a walkie talkie, standing up and brushing some snow off of her before running after the speedy skeleton.

Asy runs as fast as he can, faster than when he ran away the first time, faster than when he ran away from the rec room. "Asy, please." It was papyrus. He laid a hand on Asy's shoulder as he ran. "No, no, no, no..." Asy says in reply. "They just want to help you." He says, trying to get him to stop. "No! They want to take you away from me again!" Asy turns, dashing back into the cave he first hid in when he ran away two days ago. He dives in, rolling across the ground a couple feet and scraping his arms against the rough stone.

"You know that's not true. I'll always be here for you, weather you can hear and see me or if I'm just a feeling." Asy breathes hard. "I-I Papyrus, I can't... You-" Papyrus stops him, pulling him into a hug. "No, You can. You can because you're strong, you're the strongest monster I know." Asy sighs. "...Okay... I trust you brother. I trust you." With that Papyrus fades and Asy stands up, walking out of the small cave and into the open.

He stands in the middle of the path, his head hung low, just now noticing the gashes in his arms. 'When did I do that?' He thinks. He hears footfalls from both directions and he shivers a bit. He still didn't want to go back but he knew when he ran away it wouldn't last for long. The underground isn't that big. Not enough places to hide.

"Asy!" He hears a woman's voice call from behind him. "There you are punk!" He hears Undyne's voice from in front of him. "Are you alright? Were you hurt? Oh dear, your arms. I thought you stopped doing that." It was Toriel who places her large hands on his shoulders and bends down, looking at him like he was a child. "Careful Ms. Toriel, He attacked me earlier." Undyne says, catching her breath.

Toriel rolls her eyes at Undyne. "Oh, please. Asy wouldn't hurt a fly." She says. Asy keeps his head hung low. "I'm sorry..." He says quietly. He really was sorry. He was sorry this whole thing had happened. "Oh dear, we're so glad you're okay. You shouldnt've ran away like that but people make mistakes. You just have to learn from them."

There was no physical indication that Asy understood or heard what Toriel said. "What's going to happen?" He asks numbly. Toriel looks very upset after Asy asks this question. She slides her hands down to Asy's and looks him in the eyes. "You're getting admitted back into the hospital. We don't know for how long, I guess that part really depends on you." Asy sighs, not allowing his angry tears to reach his eyes. Toriel rubs his back, turning him back around and urging him to walk back to the hospital.

Undyne trails behind, not taking her eyes of Asy. It wasn't like she needed to. Asy was exhausted and he had made up his mind. He was going to go with them, he was going to trust his brother and try once again to get better.

Asy was lead to the showers by two orderlies who wouldn't let their eyes leave him for a second. "You'll have fifteen minutes to shower off, be sure to clean off those arms." Asy nods and walks into the slightly privet area. He already knew how far their trust had been pushed back. They always changed the amount of time he had to shower.

First it was ten minutes with an orderly in the room with him. Then it was ten minutes without an orderly. That was a great day. Next he had fifteen minutes with orderlies checking in on him. then he had fifteen minutes alone. The last three stages went the same way, going up to twenty minutes, though he never used that much time to actually shower. He always wanted to just stand in the warm water. He loved the warmth it gave him in the normally cold hospital.

Asy starts undressing, putting on some light green swimming trunks to stay covered. He starts washing his arms, feeling the sting of the water falling into his cuts. He hisses in pain but realizes just how dirty his bones were. There was a clear line where the bone had been in the water and where it hadn't yet been. He lets the water run down his skull and drip through his ribs. He was done cleaning in seven minutes but he doesn't want to leave just yet, it felt so good... He slides to the ground, leaning his skull back against the tile wall that the shower head was coming out of.

He hears a door open and an orderly comes in, looking at him cautiously. "Are you doing okay?" They ask. Asy opens his eyes and nods, giving a small thumbs up and a fake smile. The orderly nods back and smiles, setting down a towel on a chair a few feet away before leaving. 'So I'm back a little further than I thought...' Asy thinks, standing up and shutting off the water. He picks up the white towel and dries off a bit before changing into the standard outfit for the patents. He really hated that outfit.

He leaves the showers and looks at the two orderlies. They motion for him to follow and Asy complies, not wanting to go against his brother. Speaking of his brother, where was he? Asy hadn't seen him since he 'turned himself in.' They take him to a room that was very familiar to Asy. Once again there was a reminder of how far back he had been pushed.

The room had one large, metal door that had a long window in the middle. There was a window to the right of the door that looked like it was a two way mirror, though Asy didn't see why that was necessary. One orderly opens the door for him while the other guides him inside. There was a simple bed that was bolted to the floor, A white comfy chair in the bottom right corner and a little table next to the bed with a little plush dog sitting on it.

"bunny..." Asy mumbles. He picks up the plushy and sits on the edge of the bed. The two orderlies leave, closing and locking the door behind them. Asy frowns for a moment before stroking the small white dog's head. "I missed you friend."

WOW! I finally finished this! So I originally was going to have this be a twoshot but now the chapter wrote itself and it wrote itself in a direction I have to follow! So a three shot! this is going to be a threeshot!

Thanks for reading! tell me what you think of this chapter and I'll write you later!