Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Your body ached, head pounding against your skull with a vengeance.  It felt as if you had been hit by a truck.  A soft groan of pain forced its way out of your mouth; however, you froze when the voice that came out was definitely not your own.  What the hell?  Forcing  your eyes open was a difficult task and as your eyes slowly opened, you were met with a blinding hot pain searing itself into your head, effectively forcing you to close your eyes once more.

As you tried to regain your bearings, the smell of smoke hit your nose and you could feel heat brush against your face.  Was your apartment on fire?  Why hadn’t the alarms gone off?

A loud slam of a door caught your attention and you heard several people walk in.  Firefighters, you hoped.

“Shit, someone open the window” A deep voice rang out, their voice sounding as if they were far away.  Why weren’t they looking for survivors?  You needed help.

You heard the creak of presumably the window opening and then felt the swish of a breeze as someone else turned on a fan- you could hear the blades whirring.  You waited a few seconds longer before attempting to open your eyes again, hoping that you wouldn’t be met with the same sharp pain in your head.

What greeted you were three different figures, one red, one blue, and one orange milling around frantically trying to suppress the flames leaking out of a large machine a few feet in front of you.  It seems that they couldn’t see you with the machine and the fire obscuring you from their view, which is why they didn’t come to you first, you assumed.

As your eyes scanned the room, you noted the stairs in the corner, where they had most likely come from, a few wooden tables with all types of gadgets, wires, and messily written papers scattering them.  In front of you, blocking you off from the rest of the skeletons, was a large machine that was still spewing flames every which way.  The machine had a small panel on it that flashed bright red, wires sticking out every which way.  Some of the metal looked as if it had been ripped out and thrown across the room.  In the center of the machine stood an empty space, resembling something like a portal you would see out of a sci-fi movie.  As your eyes swept further around you, you noticed a shelf lined with books and other materials that seemed well-used and well-loved.  Eyes continuing to drift, you noted there was a skeleton next to you.  He wore what looked to be a military uniform of some kind and had cracks running along his head and neck, dipping below the collar of his shirt.  He wasn’t moving.

Get up, protect him .   Your heart stuttered in your chest, frantically looking for any sign of life of the skeleton- brother next to you.  As your eyes roamed around his body, you finally noticed the subtle rise and fall of his chest, relief flooding you as you let out a breath of air you had held.  Blinking your eyes rapidly, you looked back at the other figures in the room who had almost nearly gotten the fire under control by this point.

For one, they were all skeletons, monsters, most likely.  The blue figure that your blurry eyes had made out earlier wore a blue hoodie and basketball shorts, a pair of pink, fuzzy slippers on his feet.  He was frantically trying to beat out the flames that had spread to one of the desks.  The next one, the red one, wore a red sweater and- again- basketball shorts. .  He had a row of sharp teeth in his mouth and one golden tooth that shined with the light.  This skeleton was muttering swears under his breath as he too was trying to help the blue one put out the fire on the desk that was rapidly eating up the papers strewn about.  The last one, the orange one, had on an orange hoodie and brown sweatpants.  Something about the orange one screamed familiar, but you couldn’t quite place where you had seen him before.  Something told you that you knew him somehow- and not because he resembled the skeleton- brother next to you.  You can figure that out later.

Turning back to the skeleton brother next to you, you forced yourself onto your hands and knees, seeing as the other three skeletons in the room were preoccupied with extinguishing the flames of the machine in the middle of the room, you took it upon yourself to help the skeleton- brother.  You had to make sure he was okay.  While you didn’t see any dust falling from him and you could see that he was breathing, he didn’t show any signs of waking, which worried you.

Crawling over to him caused your body to ignite in pain once more, your chest squeezing painfully as your head throbbed.  Push forwards .  Your hand darted forwards to shake your bro- the skeleton in front of you awake, desperate to see him move.  What you didn’t expect to see was bone where flesh should be.   A startled gasp escaped you as you flipped your hand over to examine it closer, and then looked at your other hand.  Both hands showed that they were bone fully through.  You could see the floor in-between the gaps of bone.  You felt sick, watching your fingers flex even though they were entirely bone.  Had the fire burned you?  But how could you still move them when you had no muscle to move them with?

“We have guests” a low voice spoke from behind you, voice dragging and slurring slightly.

You jolted around, a snarl ripping from your throat as you threw yourself in front of your brother .  The orange skeleton jumped backwards, hands jumping up in an ‘I’m not a threat’ pose as his eyebrows… Eyebones? Shot up.  His eyelights (strange) hovered above your head, looking at something unknown to you.  The blue one rounded the machine quickly, followed by the red one, trapping you and your brother in the corner.  

The blue one motioned for the other two to back off as he watched your form bristle and eyes dart around for an exit. They did as told, eyes wearily watching your every move; though the red one seemed reluctant to step back as he glared right at you.

“Hey pal, no need for the bones.  Not gonna attack ya” The blue one spoke slowly, hands rising the same way the orange one had risen his.  

You were briefly confused; carefully keeping your expression schooled as you tried to figure out what he was talking about.  You glanced to the two behind him, noting the way their eyes weren’t actually trained on you anymore and instead floated just above your head.  You glanced up.  Shock filled your trembling body as you noted the exuberant number of bones floating dangerously above you, ends pointed and razor-sharp.  You swallowed, watching as the bones seemed to tremble in time with your trembling.  You looked back down, looking at the blue one.  He seemed to be their leader.

“Who-who are you” you stuttered, temporarily stunned as a voice that most certainly wasn’t yours came out instead.  Then the voice that you heard earlier was your voice, then.  Strange.  They must have taken the hesitation for fear; however, as the blue one seemed to step back further.  The red one’s glare grew into a tiny smirk of self-satisfaction.  Perhaps he thought you were afraid of him.  While he did look… intimidating… something in you told him that if you were to actually fight, you would win.

“The name’s Sans, Sans the skeleton.  That there-” he points to the orange one- “is Stretch.  The other is Red.  Is your friend back there alright?” Sans’ that’s my name eyelights glanced back at your brother behind you.

A snarl tore from your throat once more, moving to block whatever you can of the skel- brother from sight.

“Where have you taken us?”

“You’re in my basement and before you say anything else, we didn’t kidnap you.  This machine here pulled you into my universe.  An accident, I promise.  It pulled those two into my universe as well” Sans points to the two behind him, who nod along with what he said. 

As you regard the three, you notice the similarities in appearance between Sans and Red.  While Red is covered in more scars, their face shape is the exact same, as is their body shape.  Even if what he said sounds like complete bullshit, you can’t help but think about whether or not he was being truthful.  Perhaps they were twins.  As you ponder this for a moment, you feel movement behind you followed by a soft groan.  Seems like your brother (who is he?) has woken up.  Relief floods you, even if you aren’t entirely sure why.

“Sans… What are you doing?” You hear him mutter quietly, most likely fighting off the same headache you are trying to shake.

You don’t answer him, instead letting the bones above you speak for themselves as the three in front of you glance between you and your brother (that’s wrong) behind you.  You listen to him as he sits up, rubbing his head in his hands.  After a few seconds, he seems to realize what is going on as he looks over your shoulder and then to the magic floating above you.

“They said we were in another universe” You suppress a chuckle.

“Sans, put away the bones.  Let’s hear them out, at least.” The monster behind you speaks, rubbing his face in exasperation.

“They stole us!” you whisper yell, head almost whipping around to look at him.  Don’t let the threats out of your sight.  You don’t.

“No we didn’!  Th’ machine took ya!” The red one growls, finally speaking for the first time.  His voice is low and drawly, a hint of an accent on his tongue.  He stands, poised like he’s ready to attack.

“What machine?” your brother asks before you can retort.  Even though you want to say something, you hold your tongue for the time-being.  You want to hear what they have to say.  Knowledge is power, after-all.

Sans points to the machine next to you, speaking up before Red can speak again.  Judging by his demeanor, it would have been filled with insults.

“That machine there is what brought you to my universe.  It’s connected to my and my brother’s soul signature and brought in alternates of me and my brother from alternate universes.  If you look at your brother and compare him to me and Red, you’ll see that we look like the same person.”Sans says, looking at your brother (that’s wrong- this is wrong). Sans turns his attention to you next. ”Same with Stretch and your brother.”

Wearily turning to look at your brother (stop calling him that) next to you, you find that he does look eerily similar to the orange one.  He seems to find the same thing, as his mouth pulls into a thin line.

“Sans, put the bones away.  I believe he’s telling the truth” Even though you truly don’t want to- you're not even really sure how you summoned them in the first place- you find the bones sizzling out of existence anyways.  He looks satisfied.

He stands, swaying a little on his feet, and you move to stand with him.  Your chest gives a tight squeeze, breath freezing as you wait for the ripples of pain to fizzle out like the bones, before you attempt to stand with him.  It feels as if your energy fizzled out with the bones.  You sway on your feet.  You find a hand on your shoulder, squeezing lightly and steadying the both of you.  You feel more in control.  You turn to regard the other three in the room once more.

“Where are we exactly?”  The skele- brother, he’s our brother - asks quietly, still nursing his head ache.  You appreciate the quietness.

“We are in my basement.  On the surface” Sans speaks calmly.  He puts emphasis on the word ‘surface’, though you're not entirely sure why. Glancing at your brother, he seems to reflect the same brief confusion you have.

“And the war?” He asks, back straightening further.  You feel his hand clench on your shoulder.  What war was he talking about?  You feel a lead ball of dread drop into your stomach.

“War?” Sans looks surprised as he asks, the other two reflect the same emotion.

“Yes, the monster-human war.  It is happening in this universe, correct?” The three in front of you seem to pale slightly, shocked looks on their faces.  You definitely feel the same thing.  Is there a war in his universe?  The skeleton behind you seems to believe so.  Something is wrong.  Your chest aches.  Your vision blurs for a moment and suddenly you feel weak- incredibly weak- and empty.  You try to steady the stagger in your form, trying to appear stronger than you actually are at the moment.  You weren’t about to show weakness in front of strangers.  Especially ones who may have kidnapped you.  The skeleton's hand on your shoulder tightens briefly, helping you balance.

“Nope.  There’s no was ‘ere” the red one speaks casually, popping the p.  Trying to mask the shock he definitely feels.  You try to do the same.  

The skeleton gives a soft ‘oh’ seemingly just as stunned as everyone else is.  There is an awkward pause as no one seems to know what to do before the orange one speaks up.

“Uh… well… how about we head upstairs, take a moment to relax, and we can both ask each other questions…?” Stretch suggests.  Relief seems to flood everyone as Sans nods quickly, stepping back a bit

“That sounds like a good plan” the relief is thick in Sans’ voice as he steps back a little bit.  The three of them turn to go upstairs, heading to the wooden staircase leading up to a door.  You don’t move to follow them, though the skeleton moves to follow after them, walking behind them cautiously.

Red, Stretch, and Sans all head up the stairs, Sans leading the charge and Red in the back, allowing the skeleton to walk behind him.  However, your brother pauses when he notices that you have yet to move after them.

You stare at each other for a moment.  You don’t know this skeleton, even though something in your mind keeps telling you that you do.  Every bone in your body screams that this monster in front of you is somehow important to you, even though you have never met him before.  Something is very wrong here.

The skeleton tilts his head silently, staring blankly at you.  After a moment longer, he heaves a soft sigh and turns around, following the others up the stairs, disappearing out of sight.  With their disappearance, you stagger towards the wall, bending over and running a hand over your skull, startling a bit when you hear the scraping of bone against bone.  Now that you were alone, the ache in your chest returned with a vengeance, causing your breath to come out in little sputters and gasps as you try to work through the pain.  Were you dying?  With the aching burn in your chest that spread out to every point in your body, you certainly felt like you were dying. Either that or you had already died.  That option seemed more likely, with how your body was missing its most vital organ; skin, and how you were surrounded by people who you vaguely recognized but not really.  Plus the absolute agony that spread across your entire body, starting from your chest.  Perhaps this was Hell.

Your chest ignited with new fire, a strangled gasp leaving your body as your boney hand snaked up to clench at your shirt.  You were in different clothes too, you vaguely noted.  You would have to look at them later, when you didn’t feel like your body was literally burning.  Perhaps they matched the other skeleton’s clothes.  Something tells you they would.

Looking over the arm supporting you, you noted that it too was replaced with off-white bones snaking all the way up into your shirt.  You felt sick looking at them.  Forcing your eyes away from them, you found yourself staring at the floor as you tried to remember what happened before you woke up.  

The last thing you remember was settling into bed, your cat noodle resting on your chest.  That doesn’t explain how you wound up in this body- one that was clearly not human.  The only bones that you had were tucked away inside your body, flesh and blood and whatever else there to cover them.  Being inside this body was terrible.  Okay… Don’t think about it.  You can think about all of this later, when you're safer and alone.  Right now is not the time to be having a break-down, even if it seemed very tempting.

You took a few shuddering breaths, trying to will the pain and panic away.  In the back of your mind, you counted the seconds, keeping track of how long you were separated from the group.  If you took too long to catch up, surely they would come looking for you.  Especially considering how you had nearly attacked them the moment you woke up; they wouldn’t want to leave a threat like you alone for very long.

A few more seconds passed of silent, agonized breaths before the pain had subsided enough to stand up straight again.  You took a second longer to contain your reactions and then moved to walk up the stairs after the other skeletons.

Chapter Text

Going up the stairs was significantly harder than you had expected it to be.  With how steep the staircase was, combined with the jolts of pain you felt with every step and your newfound height (you were a few feet shorter than you had previously been, your mind briefly registered), getting up the steps was a difficult task.  When you did finally reach the top, you found that the door was heavy, much heavier than you anticipated, and you wound up on the floor once more.  

“Oh my stars!  Are you alright, new skeleton friend?!” a loud voice echoes around your skull.  Your skull throbs.

You groan softly, pushing yourself up, and turning to face the new person with a glare.  He wore white sweatpants and a bright, baby blue turtleneck that looked very comfortable.  This skeleton was short, resembling Red and Sans, though this one’s eyelights were shaped into stars…  How…?

The skeleton makes a move to help you but pauses when he sees you flinch back away from his outstretched hand.  Instead, he floats worryingly around you, babbling about “oh goodness, you’re hurt” and “what do I do?” and “How do I help?”.  After a moment, you decide to put the skeleton out of his misery and actually speak; albeit reluctantly.  He doesn’t seem like a threat anyways.

“I’m fine.  Give me a moment” you say gruffly, heaving a soft sigh as you rub your skull, suppressing the flinch when you hear the grind of bone against bone.  

The skeleton stills, then nods in understanding.  He stands a few feet away from you now, toying with his fingers (phalanges?  What would they call them?) awkwardly as he patiently waits for you to recover.  A minute longer and you find yourself unsteadily standing, using the wall as a support.  You turn to the other skeleton, who watches you quietly.  He looks worried, like he wants to help support you, but also believes that would be a bad idea.

“Are you alright now?  I can call Papyrus over if you were injured in your fall…  Or if you're hurt anywhere else”  he looks you over, studying your limbs for any sign of damage.  You’re not sure why, but the name ‘Papyrus’ sounds familiar to you.  You’re also not entirely sure what ‘Papyrus’ could do to help your current situation.

“Yes, I’m fine” you say quietly, glancing down at yourself.  You glimpse over bone and force your eyes back up.  Don’t look at yourself.  What you can’t see won’t hurt you.

The skeleton seems to be at a loss for words now, stuck in-between wanting to help and wanting to respect your wishes.  It doesn’t look like he’s going to come to a conclusion anytime soon, so you instead take it upon yourself to speak again.

“Where are the others?”

“Oh!  They went to the living room.  I’ll take you there, our house is pretty big.  Wouldn’t want you to get lost!” the skeleton lets out a soft ‘mwehehe!’ before quickly rushing down the long hallway the two of you stood in.

You struggle to keep up, still not used to your new short legs and still dealing with the echoes of pain emanating from your chest.  The skeleton, now your guide, seems to realize a moment later that you are having difficulty keeping up and slows his pace down for you, choosing to instead walk next to you.  You appreciate the thought, even if something inside you tells you to snarl at him- to reduce him to dust.

“My name’s Blue, by the way!” you look over to the skeleton- Blue, you suppose- as he tells you his name.  He has a big, dumb smile on his face.  You give a soft huff, looking forwards again.

“Well, originally my name was Sans, though I’m assuming yours is too.  Sans is the name of half the monsters in this house, so we kinda had to make up nicknames.  It would be pretty confusing to have everyone go by Sans and Papyrus…” he begins to talk your ear off, discussing anything and everything.  You eventually tune him out, instead focussing on putting one foot in front of the other.  You find the simple task of walking much harder to do than you originally thought.

Eventually, the both of you make it to the living room, Blue rushing forwards to sit with Stretch.  The rest of the room turns to look at you, you looking back at them.  Quickly you let go of the wall, standing up straight and letting the facade slip back onto your face.  You weren’t in agonizing pain right now, you were simply tired from the long walk down the hallway and stairs.  They turn back to discussing what they were before you interrupted them.  Good, the less eyes on you, the better.

In the room stood Sans, Red, Stretch, Blue- who had walked you here- and one other skeleton you did not recognize.  This skeleton wore a white button down shirt and black formal pants.  He looked overdressed among the other four, who were dressed in essentially pajamas.  This skeleton had a large crack crawling up his skull over his left eye and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, resembling Red’s- though missing the golden tooth.  Frankly, he looked like the most put-together person of the group.

As you scanned the room, your eyes landed on a door straight ahead of you as well as a few windows.  The windows showed that it was dark, dark enough that you couldn’t see past the porch.  That would explain why they were dressed in pajamas, then.  They had been sleeping before you and your skeleton interrupted them.

Continuing onwards, you found that this room held a bookcase filled to the brim with books as well as a large tv mounted above a fireplace.  In front of said fireplace was a coffee table and a large, green sofa that looked a little worse-for-wear.  There were also a few, single-person armchairs, one of which was occupied by the well-dressed skeleton.  The room felt homey and well lived in.  You relaxed marginally, briefly forgetting the dozens of skeletons in the room as you briefly thought of your own home.  You had a bunch of cat toys set out for your cat, Noodle, to play with.  You hope he’s okay without you there.  Your chest aches.

As you continued to look around the room, your eyes found the skeleton you woke up with.  He stood closer to the exit, wearily watching the other skeletons in the room, though he does briefly meet your eyes as you look him over.  He doesn’t look like he has been harmed, though you knew that if they had tried to attack him, he could have held his own (how did you know that?).  He looks marginally relieved to see you, shoulders relaxing just an inch.

You find your gaze returning to Sans, looking him over wearily as you make your way over to stand next to your skeleton (you didn’t feel right calling him your brother, even though every inch of you screamed he was).  As you do so, Sans looks over to you, looking relieved that you were actually there.  Did he think you were going to go on a massacre?  Or maybe try to escape?  You were in no condition to do either.

“Nice of ya to finally join us” Red snarkily calls.  You don’t like him, you think.  You go to retort something back at him, but are interrupted by Sans.

“So, welcome to the house.  I see you already met Blue, but just to introduce everyone again, I’m Sans.  The asshole is Red. “ Red yells a quick ‘hey!’ as Sans points to him.  After a brief snicker, he continues on “and the one in the orange hoodie is Stretch.  The sharply dressed one is Black.  There are three others: Papyrus, Edge, and Mutt, who aren’t here right now.” As Sans speaks, he gestures to each person.  Stretch gives a small wave while Black gives a quick nod as you meet their eyes.

“Now, everyone here is either a copy of me or my brother- Papyrus; hence the nicknames.  It makes it easier to distinguish who is talking to who.  Though, it is pretty funny to yell out ‘Papyrus’ and have every Papyrus in the room turn their head.  So, we’ll need to pick names out for you two.” Sans waves his hands around as he speaks, finally pointing at the two of you as he finishes his speech.

“That won’t be necessary” you say before your brother can speak “we’ll be gone in the morning”

There is a pause as everyone looks at you.  Tension in the room spikes.  You glance to the skeleton standing next to you, finding his shoulders are tensed, hand inching out subtly towards you.

“Actually…  You won’t be leaving.  Not until you’ve had a CHECK and we’ve seen how you interact around others.  Gotta know if it’s safe for you to run amok in the human world”

You feel the skeleton next to you tense further.  You definitely stop breathing.  The room gets colder, you absently note.  When you find the strength to breathe again, you smell ozone thick in the air.  They won’t let you leave?  So this is a kidnapping.  You feel something stir in your chest, itching to attack.  However, no matter how hard you try to act on this impulse, you find that your body (is it really even yours?) won’t answer your calls.  Your chest stings.

“That does not mean that you will not be allowed out of the house, you will have three different chances to prove yourself” Black speaks for the first time.  You slowly tilt your head towards him.  You feel like you're sloshing through mud.  You feel the skeleton next to you relax marginally.

“When will our first chance be?” You hear him ask distantly.

“In a few days, enough for you two to recover from being across all of space-time.  For now, you may borrow whatever is needed from the others within the house” Black answers his question, glancing at you. 

You give a brief shake of your head, trying to clear the mud away from your mind, trying to find a question that he expects you to ask.  After a few seconds of silence, you force your voice out.

“And the CHECK?  When will that happen?”

“We were hoping to do that now, though it can wait until after we get you two fed, if you prefer” You feel your skeleton tense even further beside you.  It feels like you're standing next to a statue.  You aren’t sure why, but you can feel an iron ball of dread settle in your stomach- you feel the weight of your sins on your back.

You don’t even know what a CHECK is, but you can tell it is going to end terribly, given how this body is reacting.  You swallow dryly, fidgeting a bit with your hands.  Your skeleton seems to react in somewhat the same way, though he is much more subdued in his reaction.  After a moment longer, he speaks.

“I believe that having the CHECK done now would be better.  However, I feel it necessary to inform you that we will have… Abnormally high LV’s.  There is a war in our universe, and both my brother and I were fighting on the frontlines”

The room stills.  There’s the ozone smell again.  You can’t help but focus on the words ‘war’ and ‘frontlines’.  This body had been fighting in a war.  Right in the middle of it, too.  You feel sick.

Black is the first one to clear his throat, sitting up straighter in his seat.

“I suspected as much.  Do not worry, there are multiple others within this house that have high LVs, such as myself.  As long as you control your impulses, there will be no problem” Black shoots daggers at the other three who had frozen.  Red seems to have recovered right after Black had started speaking, though he refuses to meet anyone’s gaze.

There is a brief lull in conversation before someone speaks again.  This time, it’s Sans that speaks up.

“Then, we’ll go ahead and get that CHECK over with.  Then you two can pick new names for yourselves” Sans says quietly, stepping forwards as he speaks.  His hand raises, eyelight snuffing out and being replaced with a bright, flaming eye.  You feel like this should be a familiar sight, something you’ve seen and done almost daily.  You don’t know why (you do, you just don’t want to admit it).

As he does so, your skeleton grabs your hand tightly, tugging you just a bit closer to him.  You're not sure if it’s for your comfort or his, but you appreciate the thought, nonetheless.  You stand there for what feels like an eternity before you finally feel something.  Just on top of the painful squeezing sensation in your chest that is always present, you swear you can feel something brush up against your soul, taking a small piece of it, looking at it, and then returning it.  It doesn’t hurt like you had been expecting, but it also isn’t pleasant.  Almost like an itch you can’t scratch.  Either way, you don’t like it.  Too invasive.

You aren’t really sure when you closed your eyes (perhaps when you first felt the piece pull out), but when your eyes open a sliver, you are surprised to see two floating, translucent boxes right in front of you and your skeleton.  Something in you tells you that this is normal, even if your brain screams that it isn’t.  You look at your skeleton’s box first, afraid to see the results of yours.

“Papyrus Serif”

Lv: 14

Hp: 732

Atk: 23

Mg:10

“Weary of those around him”

You aren’t entirely sure what any of that means, or how it is floating there in front of his chest.  Something tells you its magic, though you also aren’t sure how that answers anything.  Even though you haven’t seen any of this information, you don’t feel surprised seeing it.  Like you were expecting those to be the answers.  

You continue staring at your skeleton’s stats, refusing to look at your own.  However, as a gasp hits your ears, you find your eyes involuntarily darting over to your box.

“^@#%&$ “Sans” *&$@!%^&”

Lv: 16

Hp: 1061

Atk:0

Df: 0

Mg: ERROR

“I can’t move I can’t move I can’t move I can’t move I can’t-”

Your stomach drops as you look at the garbled text on the screen. As you read the small description (at least you assume it’s a description, it’s not very descriptiony) at the bottom of the screen you feel invisible bugs crawling all along your bones.  You feel sick.  You experimentally flex your hand, feeling how the bones rub together in your palm.  You could move...  But…  Oh god…

Your eyes drift up to the others in the room, looking over Sans’ slowly paling face.  You watch as Red’s face turns from one of smug satisfaction as he reads your stats, to confusion as he reads over the last line.  Stretch looks pale, eyes never leaving the small plea for help on your box.  His brother blue, next to him looks like he’s going to be sick, his eyes darting to yours, genuine concern all over his face.  Turning your attention to Black, his face reflects one of confusion as he glances between the box and you.  You find yourself turning to your skeleton before you can stop yourself.

He is staring straight at you, face unreadable.

oh god.

“Turn it off!” you find yourself yelling, trying to grab the thing and hide it from view.  Panic grips your spine as your hand phases right through the box.  You throw your body forwards to block the box from their sight.  Your eyes burn with frustration as the box follows, keeping it straight in front of you and in view of everyone else.  You helplessly look up to Sans, begging him to do something- anything to end your suffering.

It seems that with your pleading eyes on Sans, he finally snaps out of it.  His hand whips up, forcing the box back into your chest with a small “pop!” followed by your skeleton’s box, who you now refuse to look at.  He has to know.  There’s no way he doesn’t.  Maybe the others won’t realize, but he definitely knows, with how hard he had been staring at you.  You’re going to have to explain to this skeleton that you stole his brother’s body and you have no idea how to give it back.  You swallow dryly.

There is an awkward silence where no one seems to know how to continue.  Blue keeps opening and closing his mouth like a fish, obviously wanting to address what just happened.  But there’s nothing to talk about.  Not to these skeletons nor to the skeleton next to you.  How could you ever explain to them that you were actually a human stuck in a body with no idea how you got there?  So you choose to change the subject instead, clearing your throat before speaking quietly.

“So… Those nicknames?”

With that, it seems everyone breathes a soft sigh of relief and you can’t help but breath out too, happy that no one decided to question you for the time-being.  Sans gives a quick nod and suddenly Blue is jumping up.

“Oh!  How about Jewely for a name?” Blue yells out.  Hell no.

“What kinda name is that?” Red barks out a laugh, to which Blue looks affronted, letting out an offended gasp.

“It’s a pretty one!” Blue attempts to defend his chosen name, his face dusting with a bit of blue.  Was he blushing blue?  While something in you tells you that is normal, you can’t help but be mystified by it.  Did the others blush blue too?  Would you?

“Do they look like the type to wan’ a ‘pretty’ name?” Red doubles over, his face turning red from lack of oxygen.  You glance at Stretch as you feel a spike of hostility in the air.  

Blue whips to look at you, though you're more preoccupied with watching the new threat in the room.  Finding that you are distracted, he turns to your skeleton, wanting him to argue in his defense.  To no one’s surprise but his own, your skeleton agrees with Red, albeit in a much politer way.

“I am sorry to dampen your mood, Blue.  However, I already have a name in mind.  I would like to use the name ‘Rust’, if that is okay with everyone else.” your skeleton- Rust, your mind corrects- seems already settled on his answer as he phrases it more as a statement rather than a question.

No one seems to be against this name; however, and so everyone turns to you.  You aren’t sure what your name should be.  You aren’t even sure if you should name this body, considering it’s not actually yours.  But everyone is waiting for your response, and you can’t help but say the first thing that comes to your mind.

“Pyrite” your mouth moves for you, you're not even sure where you had pulled the name out of.

“A name to match your brother?  How cute” Stretch teases, though you don’t really pay much attention to him.

Wrong .  Wrong.  A name to represent you.  What would fit better than false gold,  You fake?

“I guess…” You mumble quietly.

Chapter Text

With your new names picked out, Red and Black vanished; Red literally vanished into thin air while Black had just gotten up and walked deeper into the house.  Blue picked up the conversation, guiding it to a more happy note as he guided Rust and yourself to the kitchen.  He had decided to get you two fed, even though you didn’t really feel hungry.  You glanced around briefly as you entered the room, taking note of a door that seemed to lead to the outside as well as an archway that led into a large dining room, the table easily being big enough to seat all the skeletons in the house and then some.  You were impressed.

“Welcome to our kitchen!  Everything in here that doesn’t have someone’s name on it is free for everyone to eat, so feel free to help yourselves whenever you get hungry!” Blue explains as he digs through the fridge, you peer over his shoulder.  On a few different items in the fridge was a small sticky note, a name written on it.  Most of the stuff in the fridge was left unlabelled.

“Have you already eaten?” Blue glances between Rust and yourself.  Just before you woke up in this skeleton’s body, you had eaten.  But you weren’t sure if Rust and his brother had already eaten or not.  You kept your mouth shut, wanting to keep up the facade just a little longer, even if Rust already knows you’re not his brother.

“No, we have not.  We’ll take something small and easy to make” Rust answers smoothly, glancing around the kitchen.  Blue gives a small nod, smiling to himself.

“Then, how about a microwave dinner?  They aren’t the greatest thing in the world nor the healthiest, but they’re easy to make when you’re in a hurry!”  Blue chimes, closing the refrigerator door and instead opening the freezer, pulling out two thin boxes.  Rust looks amazed at the freezer, his eyelights twinkling in wonder, and you can’t help but wonder why.

“I believe that will work,”  Rust says quietly, more distracted with the freezer than anything else.  You hum in agreement.

Blue gives a nod, popping one of the dinners into the microwave and turning it on.  You float nearby, watching Rust quietly poke around the kitchen as you keep your body turned so the other two skeletons sitting at the small table in the room are in your sight.  A brief lull of silence washes over the room and you can feel two sets of eyes on you- see the blue and orange stares of Stretch and Sans.  Bristling, you look over to Stretch and Sans, a glare settling over your face.  Instead of turning away like you had expected they would, they match your stare back.  Your mind screams at you to attack, to wipe the looks off of their faces and spread their dust around the table, but you hold back.  It wouldn’t help anyone to attack them now.

As you three are locked in a strange staring contest, a loud beeping noise rings out around the kitchen and you flinch, heart slamming into your chest (did you still have a heart?).  You think you hear Rust let out a startled yelp as well, finding he has wandered back towards your side.  Your head whips around to look at the microwave, watching as Blue pulls out the plastic container and setting it onto the counter.  Once done with the first one, he opens the second package and pops that into the microwave as well.  Blue glances at Rust, speaking in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.  Seems he wants to break the silence.  You won’t humor him.

“Now you just let it sit for a couple of minutes so it can cool off!”  

“It’s a recommendation” Stretch chimes in.  A glance to him reveals that he has leaned forwards, a hand resting on his chin.  He lazily blinks at you, face remaining passively blank.

“The instructions tell you to wait three minutes for the food to cool!  So we will wait three minutes!” Blue gives a stern warning to everyone.  Stretch shrugs, mumbling a soft ‘suit yourself’ as he reclines back in his chair, arms crossing.

“If the instructions say so, then there is nothing that can be done.  We can wait, anyways” Rust nods once, agreeing with Blue.  Quite frankly, you don’t see a point in waiting.  Who cares if you burn your tongue (do you even have one in this body?)? At least the food will be hot.  But you keep your mouth shut, deciding that you don’t want to offend the only skeleton you’ve met so far who seems to even remotely like you.  Try not to burn too many bridges before you can even figure out what the hell is happening.

After a few more minutes, both you and Rust are settled at the table, Rust to your left and Stretch to your right, as you pick at the food in front of you.  Unsurprisingly, you don’t have much of an appetite, though Rust seems to scarf down his food with a flourish, abandoning any manners that the skeleton had displayed throughout the short time you’ve met him.  That seems to go against his polite demeanor, though you don’t say anything.  You take a bite of the microwaved corn, feeling the way the kernels sit in your mouth for a moment and then just… fizzle out of existence.  There’s no way you’ll get used to that as each bite continues with the same pattern.

“After you t wo are done eating, we’ll get you two settled into some rooms for the night.  I’ll dig around for some clothes for the both of you, though it may be difficult for you, Pyrite.  You’re tiny.” Sans says.  You scoff, shooting him an offended glare even if you do agree that you are ridiculously short.  Your feet don’t even touch the floor in your chair.  While you weren’t considered tall when you were a human, you weren’t short either.  You were perfectly average.  Now you stumbled when you walked, not used to the reduction in the length of your strides.  You decided not to grace his jabs with a retort.

“That would be wonderful.  Thank you, Sans” Rust speaks on your behalf, intentionally ignoring the jab at you as well.  You tuck into yourself, pushing around the food on your plate.

Rust seems to have finished his food in the time you had finished half of yours.  You don’t think you have the appetite to finish this...  You push your food away from you, signaling to the other’s you are done and then speak, looking at no one in particular.

“Take us to our rooms” you push out, staring pointedly at the wood grain of the table.  You could feel your mental state deteriorating rapidly and you needed to be tucked away behind a locked door- and fast.  Rust looks at you with a soft glare that doesn’t fully reach his eyes, seemingly wanting to chastise you for your rudeness, but pauses when he actually looks at your current state.  Did you really look that bad?  You sure felt like it.

“Yes, I believe that my brother and I are tired.  Would you please be kind enough to show us to our rooms?” Rust speaks, doing his best to draw attention away from you and to him instead, making himself bigger in his space and taking up most of yours.

Blue is the first to jump up, his chair scooting loudly against the floor.  You suppress a flinch as he speaks just a little too excitedly- just a little too loudly.  Too much for your fried mind to comprehend and not a threat.

“I’ll show you two to your rooms!  I cleaned them just yesterday, so they should be just right for you guys!”

You stand, Rust and the other two standing up a few seconds later.

“Then, I’ll get the dishes” Stretch says quietly, stretching his back.

“I’ll go with ‘ya, Blue. ” Sans says with a quiet yawn, shoulders stooped.  

He looked relaxed, the bags under his eyes hinting at exhaustion mixing in there as well.  You related to his exhaustion.  Having near panic attack after panic attack really does a number on someone, you find.  

With that, Blue guides the three of you back towards the way you came, stumbling up the stairs as quietly as you could.  While it was getting easier to walk, your chest still ached and squeezed with every step and you couldn’t help but press a hand to your sternum, rubbing absently but harshly.  Eventually, your group stopped in front of two doors that sat next to each other.  You glance at Rust, finding an appreciative look on his face.

“Here’s our stop.  I’ll pop by with clothes in a minute.  We can talk about house rules in the morning over breakfast” Sans’ voice comes out in a lazy drawl.  One moment, he’s standing there and then the next he’s gone.  What the hell?  You didn’t even see him move!  You hear Blue give a soft huff, glancing between you and Rust before speaking to the two of you.

“Ugh, he always does that.  Anyways, the rooms are a little bare right now, but when we go out in a few days you’ll be able to buy some furniture for your rooms!  For now, there’s just the basics like a bed and dresser, so sorry if it looks kind of boring” Blue gives a small smile.  You can see the exhaustion on his face as well; however, he still retains half of his energy from earlier in the night.  

“That is perfectly fine, Blue.  Thank you for your consideration.  I believe my brother and I will settle in for the night, please don’t let us keep you any longer.  Goodnight, Blue” Rust speaks smoothly, displaying none of the exhaustion that you feel deep in your bones.

“Goodnight, Rust.  Pyrite.  It was nice to meet you both!” Blue gives another smile, this one genuine and radiant, like he was actually happy to meet you even with how hostile you had been.  Guilt leaks into your hazy mind.

As Blue turns and walks down the hallway and presumably into his room, Rust turns to you, watching you for a moment before motioning for you to follow him into one of the rooms.  Your stomach drops to your feet, numbly thinking up ways to get out of this situation, but nothing comes to mind.  Nothing that would seem plausible enough anyways.  You obey, both Rust and you entering into the door on the right.

The room is pretty bare, like Blue had explained.  The walls were a neutral gray, wood floor carrying into this room as well.  There was a double bed in the middle of the room, back end shoved up against the wall.  A dresser stood against the wall furthest from you and to your surprise, you saw that there was also a window, white curtains blocking the view from outside.  You continue to examine the room, dreading the coming conversation.  As you examine a particularly interesting fold in the bedding, you jump as Rust clears his throat and then speaks, voice lower than it normally was.

“Brother…  Are you… Feeling alright?”  Rust trails off, not sure how to start this conversation.  You take a moment to think your answer through, refusing to meet his eyelights.

“Yup, never felt better, bro” your mouth feels heavy as you speak the word ‘bro’.  Rust stares at you for a moment.  Your eyes wander to a smudge on the wall.  Yup, that’s one interesting mark.

“Brother, you have been acting strange since we arrived here-” Rust sits down on the bed, hand rubbing his face as he speaks, “and I am growing worried.”

“I would say that it’s pretty normal for me to be different considering we’re surrounded by-” you cut yourself off, not wanting to say the word ‘enemies’.

Rust’s eyes widen, a look of hurt flashing across his face at your tone of voice.  You wince.  You hadn’t meant to sound so cruel.  You feel like the scum of the earth as Rust looks at you.  You immediately rush to apologize.

“ Sorry .  I’m…  I just can’t help but not trust them.  As plausible as their story sounds…  There’s just… no proof, y’know?”  Something in your mind tells you to speak more gently to him, and so you do.  You don’t think you would fight that feeling anyways.  You feel like you know this skeleton, even though your human mind doesn’t.  

You hear Rust sigh, leaning forwards a bit.  His arms drape across his legs and you can’t help but notice his clear exhaustion.  Your eyes feel heavy.

“For now, you should at least try to play nice.  It won’t hurt, at least” Rust quietly says.  You can’t help but think that it’s already too late; that almost everyone in this house hates you anyways.  But there’s a small voice in your mind telling you to at least try .  So you say your next words carefully.

“Okay.  I can’t make any promises, though.  A lot of the skeletons here already don’t like me and I’m not going to suck up to them just so they’ll be nicer to me”  You look at him, watching as his head raises slightly to meet your gaze.  A small, weak, and exhausted smile slips onto his face.

“Thank you, brother.  I would expect nothing less from you” You don’t know what to say to that, so you say nothing.

A few minutes later of comfortable silence, three loud knocks sound around the room from the door and you watch as Rust tenses in his seat.  You hadn’t noticed how the two of you had relaxed before you were already tense again.  You move to the door, opening it to find Sans standing in the doorway- two sets of pajamas in his hands.  One was a simple white shirt and shorts, most likely for Rust, given how large they were.  The other pair had to be yours, but they definitely would hang loose on you.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve got some clothes for you guys” he hands you both pairs “The smaller one is Blue’s.  Other’s Papyrus’.  When we get ya clothes, you can return them then” Sans says as you give a little nod.

You start to close the door in his face, but pause when you remembered the conversation you just had with Rust.  A frown slips on your face as you mutter a soft “thanks” to him and then close the door.

Turning around, you hand the larger pair to Rust and keep your own pair secure in your arms.  You two regard each other for a moment before you break the silence first.

“I’ll be heading to the other room, now.  Goodnight” you say curtly, still not entirely sure how you should interact with him- though you do feel closer to him now.  Definitely not a brother , but someone you can trust- at least.  Rust smiles at you, nodding.

“Goodnight, brother” he calls quietly as you slip out of his room and into the room adjacent to his.  Your room now, you suppose.

You make sure the door is locked before you slowly slide down the door, energy draining out of your body now that you’re actually alone.  Briefly, you're aware of your body shaking as you raise your hands to your face, abandoning the clothes on the floor next to you.

Bone meets your eyes and as you hold them close to your face, you can see the imperfections-the scratches, knicks, and cracks running all along the bones of your hands.  Your fingers (phalanges…?) are clawed into hooks on the end, the ends pointed much like a cat’s claw.  Your hands move to your face, dragging your fingers along the bone making up your new face.  You feel the dips and curves of your face.  The bones of your face are fused together, unlike the bones on your hands.  You can feel the ridges of teeth and you note that instead of the razor sharp set of Red and Black, you have four large fangs replacing your canines.  Your hands drift up to your nose- or at least where your nose would be.  Instead of an appendage jutting out of the middle of your face, you find a hole smack dab in the middle of your face.  Hands drifting up even further, you startle as your hands slip into two large holes in your face.  Your hands yank away, settling back into your lap to try and settle the growing tremors in your hands.

Oh god.  You’re actually a skeleton.  Your stomach lurches.  

A heavy shudder racks through your body, breath coming in short, shallow breaths as your mind races and slows all at once and is the room spinning?  Or is that just you?  Either way, you force your eyes closed (you’re not sure how considering your all bone ) to stop the revolutions.  You struggled to breath and you felt your head float.

Things carried on like this for a good few minutes before you finally managed to reel in your racing mind enough to start working through your panic attack.  You focussed on taking in slow, meticulous breaths and chanting to yourself “you’re safe” even if you really didn’t feel safe.  Either way, it worked, and you were left sitting on the floor, body limp as you came down from the panic-induced haze you had been in.

You were exhausted, barely able to move from your spot on the floor, but even with the soreness radiating all around your body, you still couldn’t help but jump when a voice that was most certainly not yours echoed around your skull.  It sounded like the voice was both everywhere and nowhere as it bashed around your skull. 

“ H  u  m  a  n ,       w  h  a  t       h  a  v  e       y  o  u       d  o  n  e       t  o       m  e …?”

Chapter Text

Suffice to say, you freaked out.  You frantically whipped your head around, looking for the source of the voice that knew you were a human.  Upon not finding it, you careened back into another panic attack.  You were really over all of this.

After several long minutes of struggling to get your breathing under control, you finally found the state of mind to fully look around the room.  Like you had thought earlier, the room was empty.  So then where did the voice come from?

“ Where do you think, dumbass?  You’re in my body,” the voice spoke again.  You flinch.   

Wait…  He said his body…?  Then, he was still there.  He had been there the entire time.  Why hadn’t he said anything before?!

“What did I do to you ?  What did you do to me?” you immediately jumped past fear and into anger, “I just suddenly woke up as a skeleton with no idea what’s going on and you ask me what I’ve done to you!” you all but yell, letting your emotions get the better of you.

“ Well how do you think I felt!?  I woke up with no control of my own body and a disgusting human using my body however it wanted!” the voice argued.  Oh.  Then that CHECK was his thoughts.  

Your anger drained out of you just as quickly as it came, replaced with a deep rooted guilt.  You think you might hear a small gasp come from him, but you’re more worried about how you can get back into your body and give him his body back.

“I’m sorry.  If I could give you back your body, I would.  But I don’t know how.  I’ll take it you don’t know how either, since you haven’t already done it”

He goes quiet for a moment before you hear a scoff.  He speaks again, anger thick in his voice.

“You’re lying.  You have to be.  All you humans do is lie”  

“I’m not!  Do you really think I’d want to be stuck here instead of at home?  With my own family?” Disbelief rises in your chest at his distrust and at his words.  ‘All you humans?’  What’s that supposed to mean?

You hear him laugh, voice filled with hate and malice, and you can’t help the shiver that runs down your spine.

“Yes, ‘all you humans’.  Your kind has already proven to be distrustful time and time again.  You’re no exception.”

Oh god you’re stuck in a human-hating body.  You blanche, feeling yourself shake.  He is quiet as you stew in your new-found realization.  You think you might throw up.

“ Don’t you dare throw up in my body.” you hear him yelp and your head spins.

“I can’t exactly help that.  Why don’t you stop being such an asshole and maybe I’ll be able to calm down.” You snap back at him.

You can hear him gasp in offense and then launch into a rant that you tune out in favor of focusing on not puking your guts up (or lack-thereof).  Eventually your stomach eases- as does his ranting- and you can feel the air turn.  Dread creeps down your back and your bones itch to do something.  To find the nearest creature and rip them apart.  You feel sick.

“If you can’t get out yourself, I’ll rip you out myself”

“What does that…” you trail off as you feel pressure in your chest- a growing pressure that makes the ache spike and you can’t help but double over in pain.

You force your eyes closed as the pain grows to an unbearable level.  Yet you can’t stop it- you have no idea what’s even causing the pain, though you have some idea about what is going to happen next.  

With a pop the pain stops and you collapse into yourself in relief, eyes remaining closed.  

“What the hell did you-” you’re moving.  Your arm is raising and you’re not controlling it.  You can’t stop the appendage from rising on its own.

Your eyes jolt open.  What immediately greets your eyes is…  Disgusting to say the least.  A mass of what you think should be a small white heart floats in front of you.  It’s misshapen, dyed a sickly green from another heart- dyed green- that you feel is yours embedded into the side of the heart.  You can’t help the gasp that escapes your mouth.  You think he gasps too.

Looking at the two floating hearts gives you a sense of wrong, but you can’t look away.  It’s like you’re watching a train wreck, stuck watching the carnage right in front of you, unable to do anything.  He’s the first to break the silence.

“What the fuck…” an understatement.

“I-I don’t know.  What even is that?”  you think it’s you, but something is wrong with you…  him…  Us?  You feel wrong .  

“Our- my soul.  What did you do ?” Your hand floats up to the white floating heart- his soul- against your will.  You swallow dryly, your other hand moving towards you- your green soul.

“I didn’t do anything.  I seriously just woke up like this.  I thought you had done this.”  You ghost around the edge of your soul, where it’s embedded in his soul, and gasp as a jolt of white-hot pain runs through your body.  He hisses a soft don’t do that again and you don’t think you would even without the warning.

“I would never do this .  This is… wrong …” he mumbles when he can finally speak again.  You feel yourself nod in agreement.  There is a brief lull of silence as you both take in the mangled state of your combined souls.  Eventually, he seems to shake off whatever he was feeling, because he speaks again, voice harsh and uncaring.  Dread creeps up your spine.

“I’m pulling you out of me!” He says with a flourish and before you can react, his hand wraps around your green soul.

Your body feels like it’s being squeezed from all directions before it ignites and suddenly you're screaming.  Faintly, you can hear his screams as well.  You yank his hand away with yours, his grip on your soul slipping and suddenly you can breathe again, pain dropping down to a dull ache throughout your entire body.

“Don’t you dare try that again” you pant.  You’re on your hands and knees and vaguely note the dust covering the floor.  You’re shaking.

He is quiet, definitely recovering from the pain like you were.

There’s a knock at the door followed by Blue’s voice speaking softly.  You can’t help but jump, not expecting the sound.

“Pyrite, are you alright in there?” Blue asks.  You scramble to find words- to tell him no, you’re not alright- but instead you speak in as calm of a voice as possible.

“I- I’m alright.  Just fell off the bed” you curse your stutter, curse how you can’t suck in a full breath.  You feel pathetic.  Your joined souls float uselessly in front of you, green and white oozing from where they are still combined and you feel another wave of nausea as you watch the slime mix with dust- your dust.

You think Blue hesitates for a second, because you don’t hear him walk off or speak, he just stands there.  Eventually, another voice chimes in, this one the voice of Rust.

“Brother, I’m coming in” you add more things to your list to curse because shit, they are going to see everything and you frantically call out to stop him.

“No!  No, don't come in!  I’m fine, just go back to bed bro!” you call helplessly.  

When the door doesn’t move even with the handle trying-and failing- to turn, you thank everything in existence that you had locked the door upon entering the room.  A relieved sigh falls from your mouth.  You had a few more minutes to settle yourself, to return your misshapen souls into your chest.  But how?  You hadn’t brought them out, you didn’t even know what a soul was up until a few moments ago, you definitely didn’t know how to return one.

“Hey.  Hey!  You need to put them back, now!” You whisper quietly to the skeleton within you.  He gives a pained groan and then your hand is drifting up, cupping behind the two souls.  You feel a tugging motion and then the combined souls start to burn as they force their way back into your chest cavity.

You’re left trembling as the dull ache in your chest that had been absent with your souls out in the open returned with a fervor.  As you wait for the pain to settle some, you hear Rust call out angrily.  Had he been talking the entire time?

“Brother, open this door now!  You can’t just write that scream off as you ‘falling out of the bed’” Rust gives an angry huff, pounding on the door.

You still had one thing to do- clean up the mess of dust and soul sludge on the floor.  You stumbled to your feet, tearing a blanket off the bed, and then threw it onto the mess with a fury.  You wipe up the sludge as best you can, and then throw it under the mattress, tucked out of sight.  You take one more moment as the door shutters under the force of Rust’s hits to take a deep breath before you open the door.  Rust is left with his hand raised, getting ready to hit the door once more.

“Hey, bro.  Blue.  I told you, I just fell off the bed” you say, standing in the doorway.  You are surprised to find more skeletons standing behind your brother and Blue.  Sans, Stretch, and a rather tall, rather edgy looking skeleton stand there.  He looks pissed.  You swallow your nerves down as the new, edgy skeleton speaks, interrupting your brother who had opened his mouth to speak.  You already don’t like him.

“Some of us are trying to sleep in this house, so keep your mouth shut” you politely label him asshole number two in your head; the first one being your current head-mate.  You scoff.

“Look, buddy.  No need to be so fuckin’ rude.  Why don’t you just head back to bed and we’ll keep the noise down, alright?”  you settle a glare on him.  Quite frankly, you were done being polite.  You had just seen and felt hell and you don’t have much energy left to actually pretend to be nice like Rust had asked earlier.

Asshole number two lets an offended scoff out, opening his mouth to seemingly scream insults at you, when Sans interrupts him.  Heh, a taste of his own medicine.

“Hey you guys, I’ve got it covered here.  You all head back to bed and I’ll make sure the noise stays down, capiche?”  Sans holds his fingers up in an ‘okay’ sign.

Asshole number two- now labeled Edge.  Fitting- looks like he wants to protest, but snaps his mouth shut with a scolding look from Sans.  Edge lingers for a moment longer before he settles a glare over to you.

“This isn’t over” he leaves you on as he walks down the hallway.  You can’t find the energy to care.

Stretch also seems reluctant, glancing at Blue.  Though with the more violent skeleton leaving, you don’t really mind the others who are left.  Sure, Stretch and Sans haven’t been exactly friendly, but they also haven’t been openly hostile to you or Rust.  Not like the other darker looking skeletons.  You give a soft sigh, turning to look at the others.

“You guys coming in?  Because it seems like you won’t take my word for it” You hold the door open for them, stepping out of the doorway and settling by the door.

Rust is the first one in the room, immediately searching for any intruders.  You hope he doesn’t look under the bed.  Blue follows in after Rust, followed by Stretch and lastly Sans.  Sans settles a look on you, eyelights trailing up and down your body uncomfortably.  You’re reminded that once again, this isn’t your body as his eyes settle back on your face.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”  Sans asks.

“No” you curtly reply, scoffing a little.

You both stand there for a little bit, watching each other.  He has a great poker face, you decide.  You avert your gaze to Blue and Rust, watching as they both examine the window for any signs of damage.  You move over to the bed, sitting down on it as you absently rub your chest.  The aches were starting to return now that your adrenaline (did you even have adrenaline anymore?  Probably, given how fast your soul had beat) had worn off.  Your eyes were starting to weigh down, even though you still needed to talk with your head-mate.  The three in the room needed to hurry up so you could finish your talk.  Agreed .

As Rust and Blue finished their look around the room and Sans stood there creepily, you settled further into the bed.  Blue moved to stand next to Rust, moving forwards to check over your body for any injuries.  You're too tired to fight him, so you instead lean back to allow Blue to do what he wants.  You trust Rust to protect you if Blue did decide to attack.

Upon finding nothing, Blue pulls back with a satisfied look on his face.  Blue; however, is the only one with the look on his face.  Rust looks displeased- as if he were expecting you to be injured- while Sans’ face remains a passive blank, the same face he’s made pretty much all night.  He’s really kind of creeping you out now.

“Y’see?  All fine.  No need to worry” you mumble, rubbing your hands along the soft blanket underneath you to help keep yourself awake.

“Well, I’m glad nothing actually happened!  But I would say it’s better to be cautious anyways!” Blue chimes.  Just where did he get his energy?  You absently note Sans nods in agreement.

Rust is the next one to speak, voice hushed, most likely trying to speak only to you- though his volume doesn’t really allow that.  

“Are you sure you’re alright?” His face is twisted in worry and you feel a spike of guilt shoot up your spine.

“Yeah, I’m all right.  Just a scare, really.  Don’t worry” you whisper to him.  Blue steps back to give the two of you privacy, averting his gaze to the floor.  Sans keeps his stare.

“...Okay…  I’m in the room right next to you, so if you need me, come over.  I’ll welcome your company, brother” Rust says to you.  Your heart swells.  You think you could cry.  You give a quick nod, choking back the emotion.

“I think I’ll be fine for tonight.  Thanks bro” you reach up and give him a quick pat on the arm.

Rust gives a quick nod, stepping back and standing up straight.  He gives a quick smile to you before turning around to Blue and Sans.

“He won’t cause anymore problems tonight.  I apologize for what happened.  May we return to bed now?” Rust asks the two.  Blue immediately nods.

“Don’t worry about it, Rust!  Then, I’ll head to bed first!  Goodnight again, you two!” Blue grins, looking between Rust and you before bounding off to bed.  You’re not sure how long it’s been, but you don’t think he was able to get much sleep between the first time you went to bed and now, so you’re amazed at how much energy he still has.

Sans is quick to reflect his desire to return to bed as he is the next to say a quick “goodnight” before leaving the room.  This leaves just you and Rust, who hesitates by the doorway.

“I’ll be okay, bro.  I’m right next door, if something happens- you’ll hear.” you call to him.  You feel your eyelids drooping and you can’t help but feel sorry that you won’t be able to finish your conversation with your head-mate.  

Rust seems comforted by your words as he nods and then exits the room, calling a ‘goodnight’ as he leaves.  He shuts the door behind him.

You flop back onto the bed, groaning softly.  Your body ached with both exhaustion and the pain your soul seems to be radiating.  You close your eyes, already drifting off.

“ Don’t fall asleep ” you hear him say distantly but you’ve already drifted off before you could catch yourself.

Chapter Text

Waking up the second time was a lot easier than it was the first time.  A lot less panic-inducing too.  Wrenching open your eyes, you jumped a little as your eyes focused on a room that definitely wasn’t your given room.

You sat in a corner, head dazed as you tried to recall how you got into said corner.  Last you remembered, you had fallen asleep on a bed- your bed.  But from the looks of it, this wasn’t even the room you had been given.  Vaguely, you recognized that this room belonged to Rust, which helped soothe your nerves some.  But that still brought up the question of how you got into his room.

“ Ugh, you’re awake now” you heard him- your head-mate- speak in a voice filled with disdain.  He scoffs as you take another moment to examine the room.

“Why are we in Rust’s room?” you whisper quietly, not wanting to wake the other skeleton in the room.  Rust was still asleep, curled up into a little ball on his bed.  Even though he wasn’t your brother , you felt a surge of affection rush through you at the sight.  The sight was both heart-warming and relieving for reasons you couldn’t quite place your finger on.

“ I could move again when you sleep, ” He said, straight to the point.  You were getting ready to celebrate but paused at his word choice, lingering on the word ‘could’.  Plus, you had control of the body.

“But… you can’t anymore…” you finish for him, face falling as he hums an affirmative.

“I’m sorry” you find yourself saying before you can stop.  Immediately you can feel the way he bristles.  Your heart (soul?) jumps into your throat.

“ I don’t want your apologies, human.  Just give my body back!”   He growled harshly, tone accusatory.  While you truly did want to give back his body, you couldn’t do that.  You thought he realized that last night.  Guess not.

“How should I do that?  We both know that I don’t want to be here just as much as you want your body back” you hiss back.  This was really starting to get on your nerves.

“ I don’t know!  Just- go back to sleep or something! ” he snarls right back.  You lean back roughly, forcing your eyes closed once more.  Even if you’re angry, any idea is better than no idea.  It’s all you have right now.

You lean back, crossing your arms over your chest and trying to relax.  You let your mind drift, but each time you feel yourself just about to drift off, your body jolts, forcing you awake.  You huff as he whispers a harsh “ try harder! ” and then angrily sit up.

“It’s not working!” you throw up your hands.

“ You’re just not trying hard enough!” Oh man, if he were here in front of you, you would definitely punch him.  You hear him scoff at that thought.  As you start to hear him speak -surely to insult you or something of the sort- you cut him off, relishing in the small victory that it creates.

“I’m trying as hard as I can, your stupid body won’t let me sleep!” you growl.  Even if you were able to sleep, you wouldn’t be able to sleep for long.  You felt well-rested, as if you had the best night’s sleep in your life.  You groan softly, burrowing down into the corner and sighing softly.  There’s no point in being angry at this point.

“I really can’t do anything about this, dude.  I promise, if I could, I would.  I don’t want to be here just as much as you don’t want me here.”  you mumble quietly, anger draining out of you, in its wake leaving you emotionally drained.  Hopelessness clung to you.  You think he finally gets it because he doesn’t say anything else. 

Silence hangs over the two of you as your situation washes over the both of you.  You’re both trapped in one body, incredibly far from home, surrounded by monsters you don’t know.  Your souls are a mangled mess and you can’t do anything to fix them- fix yourselves.  Your eyes burn as your chest aches, the thought of your souls starting up the ever-present dull ache radiating throughout your body that you were growing accustomed to.  You sniff quietly, wiping your eyes (ignore the way your sleeves dip into your eye sockets) and decide that you need to do something- think of something else.

“I’m going to name you”  you whisper quietly, voice coming out strained.  Distract yourself.  Distract him.  You’re both stuck in this together, you might as well try and get along.  Or at least don’t focus too hard on how horrible this entire situation is.

“ I already have a name- it’s Sans” you hear him say.  You don’t focus too hard on the way his voice shakes.

“There’s like… Twenty different Sanses in this house.  It would be easier if we picked out a different name.  If you don’t like the name I choose, then you can pick one out for yourself.”  You mumble.  You can feel him hesitate, so you jump right into the first name you can think of.

“Rumpelstiltskin” oh god, there’s no way in hell you’re calling him that.  What kind of name is Rumpelstiltskin?

“ What the fuck is a Rumpelstiltskin” you can’t help but laugh quietly, even if you feel awful.

“I’ll take that as a no, then” you hum quietly, actually stopping to think of a name now.

You go through human names in your mind, but none of them fit.  You think about monster names, but you’re not entirely sure you want to call him ‘skeleton dude’ or ‘bones’ so you press onwards.  He had named you Pyrite- fool’s gold- and Rust had named himself- well, Rust.  Maybe you should pick something that lines up with their theme?  That seemed like the right call, so you cycle through all of the metals and minerals you can think of.  

Sapphire?  No, too pretty.  He wouldn’t want a pretty name.

Iron?  Too close to Rust’s name.

Uranium?  Too long.

As you think of different metals, one name hits you right upside the head and you can’t help but feel stupid for not thinking of it sooner.  A smile breaks across your face as you say it aloud.

“How about Quartz?”  you say quietly, mindful of Rust, who might stir at any time.

“ Quartz?  Why? ”

“Well…  Because it’s your body I’m in and because quartz is usually in sedimentary rocks- kind of like how we are, you're in me and I’m in you-'' also because it changes color depending on what it is mixed with, but you don’t say that.  You think he would be upset if you tell him that.  A little payback for naming you fool’s gold is warranted, you think.

“ Quartz…  Okay, it’s… Sufficient for now” Quartz says.  He couldn’t come up with a better name if he tried.  A brief pause falls over the two of you, one that is actually comfortable in what seems like forever.  So you decide to bring up the one topic that you had been dreading bringing up.  Maybe if he was in a good mood, he would agree to it?

“You know…  Since we’re gonna be stuck in the same body for who knows how long, we might as well try and get along.  It would make things easier in the long-run,” you dreaded to say it, but you think a truce would help the both of you in the long run.  Quartz scoffs and you can’t help but sigh, knowing somehow that he would react this way.

“ A truce with a human , of all things?” he laughs “ I knew you humans were stupid, but I didn’t think you were that stupid!”

“I think it’s perfectly reasonable!  If we’re going to be stuck together, why make our lives harder than they have to be?  That way you won’t have to worry about me… hurting your body or your brother and you just have to act civilly!  What’s so bad about it!?”  You wince as you mention his brother, not meaning for it to sound like a threat.  You couldn’t hurt Rust if you tried.  He reminded you too much of your own brother.

“ Human, I would sooner dust myself than allow you to hurt Papyrus.  I don’t need to act ‘ civilly ’ with something beneath me”   you huff, leaning forwards.

“Okay, then…  But if I’m ‘beneath you’ then why am I the one in control of your body?  Just, think about it!  We could be stuck like this for years.  Do you really want to be stuck with someone you hate?”  you snap back at him.

You think he may have tried to say something, but your attention darted over to the figure on the bed, who was stirring in his sleep.  

“Your brother is waking up.  I can’t talk anymore” you mutter quietly, watching as Rust rises slowly.  He rubs his eye sockets groggily, groaning a bit.  Your eyes meet his.

Rust pauses- you think because he needs to figure out where he is first- before a triumphant grin breaks across his face.  You think it looks good on him, even if it’s at your expense.

“I knew you would come, brother” he’s gloating.  A small chuckle escapes you as you relax into the corner further, a calm washing over you.

“You caught me”  You say as you watch Rust stretch and then scoot towards the edge of the bed.

“You didn’t have to sleep in the corner.  I could have made room in the bed”  You give a soft huff, listening as Rust speaks quietly.  You think if you were still human, you would have been embarrassed at the prospect.  But this is your brother and it’s natural to sleep close together.  We protect each other that way.

Shaking your head clear, you smile up at him.

“And get smacked in the face by a rogue hand?  No thank you, I’ll take the floor instead” you tease, watching as he smiles back at you.  This is nice.  It almost feels like you’re back home, talking to your own younger brother.  The ache in your chest soothes just a little.

As the two of you bicker, taking teasing jabs at each other, a knock on the door causes the both of you to jump.  Immediately, you feel any peace that had been in the air fade away, replaced with tension so thick you could cut it.

“Are you awake, Rust?  I knocked on Pyrite’s door, but he didn’t answer” it’s Blue’s voice that echoes from the other side of the door.  A bit of tension leaves your shoulders, though you notice that Rust looks even more tense.

“Yes, I am awake!  Pyrite is here with me.  Hold on, I’ll open the door for you-” Rust stands, posture rigid, and swiftly opens the door, revealing Blue who is already dressed for the day “-To what do I owe the pleasure, Blue?”  Blue perks up, a smile breaking across his face.  

“There’s going to be a get-together for lunch so I’m here to show you where the bathrooms are- so you two can shower- and then I’ll give you a little tour of the house!”  Blue’s excitement is prominent, in-your-face with how energetic he is.  You think you see Rust cringe slightly, not enough to be rude, but enough that you notice it.  Blue looks on, either not noticing the look or not caring.

“Will everyone be there?  At lunch- I mean.”  you don’t think Rust needed to correct himself, but he does so anyways.  You don’t argue.

“Yup!  Though some may arrive a little late- they’ll be coming straight from work!”

Rust nods, humming softly.  With the mention of work, you briefly wonder what happened to your job.  You worked in a small library shelving books and helping customers when they needed it.  You really liked the job.  What would happen to your job, since you weren’t there to work it?  They would need to hire someone to fill your position if you didn’t show up.  That leaves a sour note in your mouth, so you force yourself to speak to try and clear it away.

“Did you bring clothes for us to change into?  Or should we wear the clothes we arrived in?” you ask.  You think the uniforms are too formal for what they were doing, but maybe it would be easier for them to not have to wash anything afterwards.  You stand, rubbing at an ache in your neck.  Seems sleeping in a corner is not a good idea, despite what Quartz seemed to think.  You hear him scoff.  A grin briefly spreads across your face.

“I borrowed some clothes for you two!  These are mine,” he hands you a large blue sweater, a pair of dark jeans, and matching blue socks.  You find yourself pleasantly surprised at the clothes, half-expecting him to hand you something dumb looking.  You gently take the clothes from him, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’.   Blue then turns to Rust, presenting the clothes to him.

“And these are for you!  They’re from Papyrus!”  Blue hands a bundle of clothes to Rust, who takes it with ease, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’ to Blue as he does so.

“Then, I’ll go ahead and show you where the bathrooms are!  We have more than one, so no need to worry about waiting for the other one to finish!” Blue talks as he guides the two of you to the first bathroom.

Once your group has arrived, Blue opens the door.  Rust glances at you but you motion for him to use this room.  Rust gives a quick nod, stepping in.  He pauses; however, upon seeing the room.  He looks over the sink, toilet, and shower with a confused expression before turning to Blue.

“Which one is the ‘shower’?  And how do I use it?” Rust asks.  Oh.  Did… They not have plumbing in their universe?  You pity them.  Blue takes this in stride, pointing out the shower and then talking him through it.  You pretend to listen along, watching as Blue turns the handle to show Rust and you how the water runs.

Eventually, Rust is settled, and with the door shut and locked, you feel comfortable leaving for the other bathroom.  Like before, Blue leads you towards the other bathroom before something dawns on you.  You were taking a shower .  Showers involved getting…  Y’know…  That was one thing you didn’t want to see, even if you had to be stuck in this body for who knows how long.  Suddenly, you dreaded each step.

All too soon, you arrived at your destination.  You try to keep your face neutral as Blue shows you the bathroom- shows you how to work the shower, before leaving you alone behind the locked door.  

“You are not really thinking about showering, are you?” Quartz speaks before you can.  Your face burns as you look at the floor.  

“I can’t really not shower.  We probably smell.  Plus I think we’re still covered in dust from last night.” you mumble, rubbing your hand over your chest and feeling the grit in-between your clothes and bone.

“ No!  Hell no, you’re not seeing me naked! ” he cries.  You groan softly, dragging a hand across your face.

“Okay, I’ll just tell Blue we’ll take a shower later tonight?” you mumble, fully planning on not actually taking a shower at all.  You didn’t want to see him naked, either. 

 Speak of the devil, and he shall appear however.  Though in this case, it’s Blue calling out to you through the door.

“You should definitely take a shower now !  Not to be rude or anything, but you’re kind of…  Filthy?  You’re tracking dirt all over the house!”  Blue calls out.  You sigh.

You glance around the room, dread building as you realize you don’t have a choice in the matter.  You whisper quietly to Quartz.

“Blue said we don’t have a choice”

“ I heard him.  Just don’t listen to him!” he snaps.  You would feel bad, if you didn’t feel the exact same way he did.  So you stand there for a moment, looking around the room, thinking to yourself.  Your eyes settle on the sink and an idea pops into your head.

“What about a quick wipe-down with a washcloth instead?  I’ll just take a washcloth and some soap and scrub.  You think that would work?”  You’re moving before he can answer fully, tugging open drawers in search of a washcloth.  You really wanted to get the grit off of your bones.  Every time you moved, you could feel the dust and soul sludge from last night grinding in-between the joints of your bones.  It was very uncomfortable.

“I’d prefer you just stop!  Who cares if we’re dirty!?”  

“Well obviously Blue does.  Besides, it isn’t very nice to leave dirt and dust everywhere” a grin spreads across your face as you find what you were looking for.  In the drawer sits a stack of multi-colored washcloths.  You grab a darker colored one, mindful of leaving stains on it, and then make your way over to the already running shower.

“So!?  Do you honestly think I care about whether I’m leaving a place dirty? ” Quartz yelps as you wet the washcloth, lathering on some soap until bubbles form.  You start on your hands, working the grit out of them.

As you work, a sudden force knocks the wind out of you and suddenly the world is falling away (or are you fading away from the world?).  You watch helplessly as your- no, Quartz’s body throws the rag across the room with a wet ‘splat’ as it hits the wall and then slides down.

It’s a strange feeling, watching as your body moves with no input from you.  You felt like a passenger in a car, watching as the world around you moved on.  Or like you were looking out of a window, watching the world continue on without you.  With no physical form to interact with things, did you even exist anymore?  What would happen if you stayed like this?  Could you ever come back?  Fear gripped you in its grasp, squeezing the breath from you (did you even need to breathe, if you were just a soul?).  Right now, you were just a soul.  You knew that better than anything you had ever known before.

“ I refuse to let a human humiliate me like this!” you hear your- no.  You hear Quartz growl aloud, watch as he folds his hands over his chest, and scoff.  You don’t think he’s even fully realized what he’s done until you’re screaming at him, voice incredulous and happy .  You are happy .

“Quartz!  You’re moving!” joy overtakes you, bubbling laughter echoing around Quartz’s head.

“Huh? ” he says dumbly, and you can’t help the laugh that escapes you at that.

“You’re in control again!” it’s like you’re watching through a screen.  You watch as he lifts his hand up, flips it over, and then flips it again.  You listen as he laughs and you can feel the way joy and relief lights up the body and you relish in the warmth, letting it soothe your fear.

As soon as you bask in the warmth, the relief is gone- ripped away from you, and you want to sob in its absence.  Fear creeps in and you can’t tell whose it is, it all mixes into what makes you, you and your left shaking even though you have nothing to shake with.

“ But for how long?” Quartz’s voice brings you back from the edge of a panic attack.  You thank him in your mind.  You briefly note that time feels weird, like it's going both too fast and too slow.  

“I don’t know.  You should shower while you’re still in control.  Just… close your eyes while you do.  I can see out of your eyes” you say.  You feel the way he darkens with apprehension, feel the way he hesitates.

“I promise I won’t look!  Just be quick and I’ll warn you if I think I’ll come back into control” you tell him.  Quartz hums in response before nodding.

His eyes fall closed and you're left in the dark.  You can feel the way the body’s clothes slide off and you can hear them hit the floor, but you can’t see anything.  It’s awkward and you think that if you had a body, you would be blushing.  You jump as you feel water hit the bones of your-his body.  It’s vaguely uncomfortable, but it also helps soothe the ache of your chest.  It’s warm.

Quartz carries on with the shower and you decide to stay silent- for his sake as well as yours.  Maybe if you keep quiet, he’ll relax some.  Your mind wonders, trying not to focus on the sensations that you can feel across phantom skin.  Of course, without much else to think of, your mind ends up wondering to your life.

Before… everything had happened, you had been a normal human.  Would you ever be able to return to your body again?  Would you ever see your family again?  What would happen to your belongings, your job, and your apartment?  What about Noodle, your cat?  Would they miss you?  Your family would be shattered with you gone, you know that for a fact.  You’ve seen the way they cried at your sister’s funeral.  You hated doing this to them, but you had no choice.  You don’t even know how to get back to your body, let alone get back to your universe.  You can’t help the pang of guilt that echoes across you.  Or you guess your soul.

While monsters had been a thing in your universe, you had never heard of souls before.  Monsters had appeared from the Underground three years ago in your universe, but they were a secretive race.  For one, no one was allowed in or out of the Underground without permission from both the queen and king of monsters.  While you had known about magic, it was wildly dumbed down.  That much is clear from watching the other skeletons of the house and feeling the way your bones buzzed with what you instinctively knew was magic.

As your mind wandered, suddenly a jerking motion throughout your soul interrupted your train of thought.  What was that?  You lit up in pain and without the filter of a physical body to dampen it, you were left breathless and gasping.  As you trembled, you realized what this pain felt like- what it resembled.  Your soul was forcing itself to the front again.

“Quartz!  I can’t stop it!  I’m going to take over again!” you yelp out as you feel yourself stumble, dragged along as your soul forces itself outwards.

“ It’s barely been ten minutes!” you distantly hear Quartz complain but there’s no way you can stop it.  Not with the burning pain spreading across your entire being.  You scream your feelings out, telling him he needs to hurry up and get dressed.

“ Fine” Quartz grumbles as he turns off the shower; though, you can feel the sense of urgency he is trying to hide from you.  Another wave of pain spreads across your very being and you think you might be screaming.  You can feel him getting dressed as fast as he can, forgoing drying off the body entirely in favor of putting on the borrowed clothes as swiftly as he can.

Not a second too late as you're suddenly being yanked forwards, out of the dark.  You can feel the way the clothes cling to your body- feel the way you shake as wave after wave of pain wash over your body mercilessly.  You're going to be sick.  

Your head spins even with your eyes closed so for the time being, you keep them closed.  You lay down on the floor, too tired to stand and relish the way the tile cools your bones.  Groaning softly, you numbly mumble to Quartz.

“Let’s not do this often.  Everything hurts …”  you wait for a reply, for something snarky that you know he would say, to come.  None comes.

“Quartz…?”  You open your eyes, wincing at the bright light, and look around the room for someone you know won’t be there.  He’s in your head, after-all.

“Quartz, say something, you asshole!” you jab at him.  If that doesn’t get him to talk, then you don’t know what will.

Quartz doesn’t say anything.  You don’t even hear him scoff.  Worry blossoms in your chest as you don't receive any answer at all.  You don't hear him make any noises at all.  What happened to him?

Chapter Text

You linger in the bathroom for several minutes, desperately trying to get Quartz to say something, but you are met with no reply.  Your heart (soul, you don’t have a heart anymore) thuds against your chest in panic.  Was Quartz gone?  How long would he be gone for?  You hoped he’s alright, even if he was an asshole, he understood what you were going through.  You desperately hope he's okay.

There’s a soft knocking on the door, followed by Blue’s voice calling through the door.

“Pyrite?  Are you okay in there?”  Blue sounds worried and you can imagine the worried lines that crease his face.  No, you’re not okay.  You’re the furthest from okay right now.

“I’m fine!  Give me just a minute, Blue!”  You call out, soul racing painfully in your chest.  Okay, you were alone most of yesterday, just…. Do what you did then!  You’ll be alright.

You take a few moments to just breathe, attempting to soothe your growing anxiety.  As you slowly breathe, your eyes absently scan the room, taking in things to help ground yourself further.  Eventually, your eyes settle on a mirror hanging just above the sink and you find yourself shuffling towards it.  You still don’t know what your new face looks like, even if you had mapped it out earlier.

Staring back at you from the mirror is a tired looking skeleton, bags under his- your eyes.  His…. No, your eyes are wide, dark holes in your head.  Two small pinpricks of light acting as pupils float in the middle and you note that they have a faint green glow- not enough to be too noticeable, but if someone were to look closely at them, they’d see the green hue in them.  Spreading from your left eye are several small fissures in the bone, crawling out like a spider’s web and you briefly wonder how you got it.  How Quartz received it.  Much like what you felt last night, your mouth is just plain bone, sharp canines resembling something like a large cat’s teeth melding smoothly in with the other bones.  Right smack in the middle of your face is a hole where your nose would be.  Unlike your hands, your face bones are melded together and no matter what kind of face you make at yourself in the mirror, you don’t ever see them separate.  You are very expressive for a skeleton made of bone, you think.  

As you examine your new face- Quartz’s face, you remind yourself- an uncomfortable pit settles in your stomach.  This…. Is your face now.  This is you.  You watch as you slowly blink, eyelids made of bone gliding over the holes that are your new eyes.  A shiver makes its way down your spine.

Tearing your eyes away from the reflection, You force yourself over to the door, opening it mechanically.  Blue jumps back, hand raised as if he were going to knock again.  To your right, Rust stands, bones clean and dry.  Blue is the first to speak, tone incredulous.

“You’re still soaked!”  Before you can even comprehend what’s happening, Blue is pushing you back into the bathroom, towel in hand.

Blue descends on you quickly, gently patting the towel over your head and face, touch delicate around your cracked eye, and you freeze.  Everything in your body screams to get him away from you. Your bones buzz with hate and it’s painful to hold yourself back from attacking him then and there.  A snarl tears from your throat, darting away like his touch burned (your skin crawls at the hurt on his face).

“Don’t touch me!” You all but scream.  Your entire body throbs at the need to hurt him, to spread his dust across the tile floor and add to your LV.  Your fists are clenched as are your teeth and you know the glare you wear could kill.  You want him dead.  You need him dead.  Blue curls in on himself, backing away from you, towel still in hand.

“Sorry!  I’m sorry!  I should have asked first!”  Blue is quick to apologize, quick to try and make amends.  Something in the back of your mind whispers he shouldn’t have to apologize, he was just trying to help, but the thrumming hate running through your body screams louder than it.  You’ll regret this later, you know you will.  But your body won’t let you back down.  Rust stands in the doorway, arms crossed as he watches the scene unfold.  

You briefly note that you’re reaching for Blue and you can’t stop yourself and you really don’t want to hurt him, but you can’t stop yourself.  You’d scream if you could, but the only sound that you can make is a low growling as you watch Blue back away from you.  You don’t want to hurt him, even if your body screams that you need to hurt him.

Rust gets to Blue before you do.  He grabs a hold of Blue’s arm, gently tugging Blue behind his body- putting a barrier between you and Blue.  He’s glaring at you but you can’t find it in yourself to care.  Rust speaks.

“Sans.  That is enough,” his words cause you to freeze, even if you don’t know why.

“He needs to die !”  You’re speaking before you can stop yourself, clawed fingers twitching in the desire to tear his face off.

“You need to calm down.  You’re letting your Lv get the better of you” Rust pushes Blue further behind him, hiding him from your sight.  Your body buzzes anxiously as your view focuses on Rust.  You don’t say anything- there’s nothing to say other than your burning desire to kill something.

“Stay in here until you’re calm.  Don’t leave until you’re in a better state of mind” Rust isn’t exactly glaring at you, but you can tell he isn’t happy either.  Rust closes the door before you can protest- before you can bolt forwards to grab any of them.

You’re left heaving in the middle of the bathroom, body tensed painfully.  Your mind races with thoughts of blood and dust but you can still hear Rust speaking outside- not to you, but to Blue.

“I apologize for my brother’s behavior.  Did he hurt you?”  You’re screaming before you can stop yourself.  Hands grab the first thing available- the shower curtain- you realize later, and tear it from its hooks.  You’re dragging clawed phalanges through it before you even realize what you’re doing, shredding it to pieces.  But that’s not enough to quiet the buzzing in your bones so you turn to the cabinets in the room and yank them from their place on the wall, scattering bottles and tubes of stuff that you don’t care to look at.  

You don’t know when you stopped exactly, but when you did, you found yourself standing in the middle of the room, chest heaving with effort, surrounded by a destroyed bathroom.  There were holes in the walls, the shower was spewing water and the glass door was broken.  The sink also spewed water, soaking the floor below it.  The mirror that used to be above the sink was now shattered into pieces on the floor.  Dread built in you, body shuddering.  You did this?

You weren’t a violent person- violence seemed like something that would go against your very nature.  You would much rather die than hurt someone.  How could you do this?  Your vision blurs, the destroyed wreckage of your anger swimming in your eyes.  You had wanted- no, needed to kill Blue.  You back yourself into a corner that was somewhat clean of destroyed debris, body trembling.  You could feel the wet tracks of tears running down your face, feel the way your body shook with each trembling sob that wracked your body.  Your mind reels, shame, guilt and fear wrenching sobs from your throat and making it hard to breathe in or out.  You slide down the wall, tugging your body into a tight ball.  You feel the water that is quickly collecting on the floor soak into your clothes but you can’t find it in yourself  to care.

Briefly, you note that the door opens with a soft ‘squeak’ and then is clicked shut.  You can hear someone walk into the room, careful to avoid the shattered glass and puddles of water on the floor, and over to you.  Your head lifts weakly.  Long legs meet your gaze- Rust’s legs.  He crouches down in front of you, his eyes meeting your own briefly before he is sitting down on the floor with you.  He doesn’t touch you, but you know that this is his way of showing that he’s here for you.  He will always be there for you.  Because you are in his brother’s body.

You’re grateful anyways. 

Chapter Text

You cried for longer than you would like to admit, Rust sitting with you the entire time.  Not once did he look at you judgmentally- he just sat there and offered his presence to you.  When you had finally calmed down enough to speak, you did.

“I’m sorry”  Your voice is gravelly- rough from the crying.  You wince, trying to clear your throat.

“You should apologize to Blue, not me.” Rust’s voice is stern, but there’s a softness to it that you know isn’t for you.  Its for Quartz.  

“Is he…?  Did I…. Hurt him?”  You dread the answer, but you need to know.

“No-“ you breathe a sigh of relief “but you scared him”. You wince again, guilt rushing up your spine and sitting itself heavy on your shoulders.

“You should also apologize to Sans for destroying his house.  You did a number on his bathroom” Rust speaks again, making a show of looking around the bathroom.  You find yourself looking too.

Like you had seen earlier, the bathroom is destroyed .  There’s no way it’d be usable anytime soon.  You think if you were still human, you would feel terrible about destroying a bathroom to this extent.  But now you’re thankful that it was the bathroom and not Blue who had taken the brunt of…. What do you even call that?

It was like you hadn’t been in control of yourself.  You have been angry before- everyone has.  But this is like nothing you’ve ever experienced.  You had truly wanted to…. Kill Blue.  You suppress a shudder, curling in on yourself and fighting the urge to cry.  

“Is Blue still outside?”  You weakly ask, focusing your eyes on Rust’s face.  You need to ignore what you’ve done.  At least until you’ve calmed down.

“Yes.  I convinced him to wait for you.  He should still be there” Rust stands, stretching his back, and waits for you to do the same.

Your feet are unsteady as you struggle to stand.  With your…. Outburst- for a lack of better words- you were left exhausted.  You felt weak, legs barely able to hold your weight.  Your chest throbbed in time with jolts of pain that shot throughout your body, leaving you curling into yourself in an attempt to mitigate some of the pain.  To say you were in pain was an understatement.  The only thing you could think of that was worse was when Quartz had tried to tear your soul from him.  You shakily exhaled, looking at Rust.  

“Thank you” You meant it. 

Rust doesn’t say anything.  Instead he walks towards the door, waiting for you to follow behind him before opening the door.  Like Rust had said, Blue stands outside the bathroom door, leaning against a wall.  His face is pinched in concern and when he meets your gaze, you see fear mix into his expression.  You wince, letting Rust leave the room first, you follow behind him closely.  You speak before you are even fully out of the room, using the wall to support your weight as you walk.

“Blue, I am so sorry.  I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.” You desperately ignore the burning behind your eyes (how does that feeling even work if you have nothing behind your eyes?) and convey how sincere you truly are.

Blue’s face contorts into shock before it settles into something between empathy and fear.  Had he been expecting you to not apologize?  You wouldn’t blame him.  Even if it did hurt you.

“I’m not going to say what you did is okay- because it isn’t”. Blue speaks after a moment of stunned silence and you can’t help but wince at his words.

“But…. I do accept your apology.  You’ll have to make it up to me”. Blue falls into silence, awaiting your reply.  You nod.  You don’t notice the way Rust’s face scrunches up in distaste as Blue mentions your debt to him.

“Of course” you say quietly, working past the lump in your throat and ignoring the burning in your eyes.

There is another moment of tense, awkward silence as no one seems to know how to move past this completely.  Finally, after what seems like forever, Blue’s voice cuts through the silence.

“Well, I’ll go ahead and show you two around the house!  Follow me!” Blue’s face has a large smile spread across it, no trace of the earlier events on his face at all.  Blue begins to walk down the hallway, Rust next to Blue.  You place yourself on the opposite side of Rust, sandwiching Rust between you and Blue.

Blue leads your group down the hallway, seemingly forgetting about what happened, though you can see the way Blue uses Rust as a barrier between the two of you.  As he walks, he points out Edge’s room (the room closest to the bathroom you had destroyed), followed by Black’s room and someone named Mutt’s room.  Continuing down the hallway, you find yourselves back in front of Rust’s and your rooms.  He points to the last room on this floor, giving a quick ‘that’s Red’s room,’  before guiding you further down the hallway.

As you two follow Blue, he points out the bathroom Rust had used (it’s almost directly in front of two sets of stairs, one leading down and one leading up) followed by a small study room type area.  This house is fucking massive (of course it is, it has to hold ten people in it).  There’s no way you’ll be able to remember where everything is.  What kind of money did they have to afford it?  Jealousy shoots through you.

Blue guides the two of you up the stairs next, stopping just outside of an archway and pointing inside.

“This is the library!  Everyone’s free to use it, just make sure you don’t destroy any books here!” Blue’s smile splits his face, obviously excited to show off the room. 

 You step in first, eyes drifting over several shelves filled to the brim with books.  There is a chess table set up against one of the walls, a window casting natural light over the board.  Tucked into one of  the corners is a small sitting area.  As you look over the small library, you’re suddenly back at work, shelving books in your own little library on your college campus.  The air is musty- only the smell of old books could produce such a smell- and you find that you’re home.  A soft, shuddering sigh escapes your mouth, eyes slipping closed as you let yourself relax into the familiar smell of books.  You never thought you would miss this smell.

“Brother…  Are you alright…?” Rust’s voice yanks you back to reality, shoving you back into this body that isn’t yours and surrounded by people who you’ve hurt- who you’ve wanted to kill .

“Yeah, ‘m good.  I like this room, it has a nice smell…” you find yourself saying before you can stop yourself.  Blue wrinkles his nose at that.

“You like the smell of old books, Pyrite?” Blue grimaces, face scrunching in disgust.

“Yeah…  It’s nice” you want to tell him the smell is nostalgic- a comfort to your aching soul- but you stop yourself.  You don’t know how anyone would react and with Quartz MIA right now, it would be better to not draw suspicion to yourself.  Well…  As well as you can after destroying an entire bathroom.  You’ll need to bring up what to do with Quartz- if he comes back.  You hope he does.

You turn your gaze to give the room one last longing sweep- wanting to stay here longer- but you have a tour to finish.  You can come back later.  You turn back to face Blue- jumping a little when you see Rust staring at you with an unreadable expression on his face.  That’s never a good sign.

“We should move on” You quickly speak, cutting off Rust’s strange look.  Blue gives a quick nod and you quickly follow after Blue, avoiding Rust’s gaze as best as you could.

The rest of the tour was spent showing the two of you the third-story bathroom as well as Sans’ room and Blue’s room.  He also very kindly pointed out Stretch’s room as well as Sans’ brother’s room.  Eventually Blue pulled the two of you into his own room, wanting to show the both of you his room.  

Blue’s room was– like his name- painted a nice shade of baby blue.  The carpet was white and fuzzy.  It felt nice against your bones.  The room was surprisingly small, only slightly smaller than your own room- yet it fit in plenty of things that made the space feel cluttered, even if there wasn’t any actual clutter on the floor.  There were a few shelves displaying action figures that had been polished to perfection and surprisingly, he had a large tank set up for a pet.  Moving closer to look through the glass, you found a set of red eyes staring back at you blankly.  It was a frog, tucked back into its enclosure with not a thought behind its eyes.  You hadn’t taken Blue to be a frog-guy, but looking back on it now, you think it suits him.

“That’s Robert!  But I call him Bob for short” Blue chimes a few feet away from you.  You glance over your shoulder at him.  You don’t know how to respond to a name like that, especially with how proud Blue looks.

“That is… an interesting name for a frog, Blue.” Rust answers.  Blue’s grin grows wider.

“You can say it’s stupid.  That’s why I chose it!” Rust looks relieved as Blue says this.  You can’t help but laugh at that, taking in the way Blue looks so pleased with himself and the way Rust has slumped over just a little bit.

“I like it.  Think it suits him”  You have no room to complain about the name.  After all, you had named your own cat Noodle.  You miss him.

“Thank you!!  I think so too!”  Blue gives a little dramatic gasp, though he seems just a little muted.  You hope he’s not uncomfortable with you now.

“How long have you had him?” Rust asks, coming to stand next to you.  You take that opportunity to continue looking around the room, listening to them speak as you do.

Blue has a bunk bed, the bottom bunk taken out and replaced with a desk.  On top of the desk are a few more knick-knacks and the like as well as a computer.  Not one of those fancy ones that are expensive, but a cheaper one that is only slightly out of date.  You would say you were surprised that Blue slept in a bunk bed, but that would be a lie.  It suits him anyways.  You take a closer look at his action figures set pristinely on the shelves in his room.  You don’t recognize any of the characters, but that’s not very surprising considering you weren’t too deep into hero movies or comic books.  Next to the shelves, on the floor are a few sets of bedding for his frog as well as a backpack filled with random things.  You think you see a rock in there at one point.

You’re not entirely sure when you stopped listening to Blue and Rust’s conversation, but when you tune back in, Blue is at his door.

“Should we get along with the tour?  There’s only the first floor left and that’s probably where everyone will be.” Blue suggests, Rust joining him at his side.

“Yes, I believe that is fine.  Will either Sans or Black be there as well?  I believe we should tell them about the… state… of their bathroom” Rust’s polite voice wavers a moment and you can’t help but wince at the mention of your melt-down in the bathroom.  You can’t wait to forget that ever happened.

“Sans is probably in the basement working on the machine.  That’s where he usually is, so if you ever need him, feel free to pop down there.  Black should be in the living room- it’s where he said he would be if I- we needed anything” Rust narrows his eyes as Blue speaks but he doesn’t say anything about whatever bothered him about what Blue said, so you don’t either.

“Then, we should tell Black as to not bother Sans in his work” Rust says after a moment to reign in his emotions.  Dread builds up your spine.  Will this affect your chances at freedom?  Would it hurt Rust?  You hope it doesn’t hurt him.  Rust had been the one who had been in control of the situation- the one who made sure Blue didn’t get hurt.  If anything, maybe you should just be locked away here forever so you aren’t a danger to anyone else.  If it would mean letting Rust have his freedom, you would do it.  You would do anything for him.

Why?

“Brother, are you coming?” you jump as Rust’s voice drifts over to you.  He speaks quietly and you can’t ignore the way his face has a hint of worry on it.  When did you learn to read his micro expressions like this?

 It’s been less than a day since you met this skeleton.  So why do you know you would do unspeakable things for Rust?  You suck in a shuddered breath, giving a quick nod as your chest throbs painfully.

You follow after Rust quietly, too wrapped up in your own thoughts to truly notice where you’re going.  When had you started trusting Rust like this so fully?  Why did you trust him so readily?  You don’t remember being suspicious of Rust ever.  What about Quartz?  Did you trust Quartz?  Another shuddered breath is sucked in as you realize that yes, you do trust them .  Quartz had been nothing but rude to you when you had first met and he is still downright hateful towards you.  So why do you trust him?  Why do you trust them ?  Do they feel the same?  Would they die for you the way you would for them?  

Something is wrong.

Chapter Text

Something is wrong, you know it.  Looking at Rust, you can’t help but feel a rush of brotherly affection towards him and you distinctly know that’s wrong.  Rust isn't your brother.  Sure, you do have a brother, but he isn’t Rust .  Your brother is a human. Not the skeleton walking in front of you.  Yet your mind screams at you that he is .  To not fight it .  You suppress a shudder as the pain in your chest heightens, sending you stumbling to the wall to keep your balance.  

Something is wrong.

As you look down at your (no no no) body, you watch as your (stop it) bones tremble with your pained gasps.  This isn’t you.  This isn’t yours.  Yet your mind screams it is.  This is Quartz’s body .  Not.  Yours.

That thought makes the pain lessen some, so you cling to that thought like it’s your lifeline.  Something tells you that it is your lifeline.  Not yours not yours not yours-

You struggle to suck in breaths, panting heavily through the pain that was slowly fading.  You can’t focus.  Your head fills with static and yet you can’t stop chanting those words.  You might even say it aloud, but you’re too far disconnected with Quartz’s body for the words to register in your ears.  You’re fading.

Your vision tunnels, black threatening to overtake your entire vision away.  So you do it yourself, forcing the body’s eyes closed and anchoring yourself to the wall.  Static fills your body.

The wall falls away.  You don’t know where you are anymore.  Were you ever even there?  You can’t see anything past the static.  Why can’t you see anything?  You’re breathing too fast for your own good- you know you are- but you can’t stop because you can’t see-you can’t feel anything.  Static takes over you, filling your body and mouth, leaving the taste of fuzz on your tongue. Or are you static?  You can’t remember being anything but the static.

“Greetings” The static parts for the voice, giving you a brief respite.  “How do you feel?”  A voice cuts through the static and suddenly you’re remembering something that isn’t yours . You know this isn’t yours, but it’s implanting itself into your mind like it’s always belonged there.  This is his , you recognize.

A skeletal monster stands in front of him .  He has to crane his neck up to meet the skeletons' eyes and you can feel the pure hate that he has for this monster- no- beast.  He hates him so much, so you hate him too.  The skeleton’s face has static covering it- though you know in this memory he was able to see his face.  He doesn’t want to see the skeleton’s face.  Not now.  Not ever.

The skeleton holds a clipboard in his hands and surprisingly, one hand has a clean hole through the center of his palm, allowing you to see the wood grain of the clipboard behind his hand.  Instinctively, you know that he had been part of his hand before.  The skeleton had made him .  The skeleton could unmake him .  Something inside him told him that he had unmade him and remade him countless times before.  ‘Recycling’ is what the skeleton called it.  He must stop this.

Silence hangs heavy over his and the voice’s head (why can’t you see the voice’s face?) as where a reply should be, there is nothing but static.  The skeleton waits for a reply- but when none comes, you can hear the sound of pen on paper.

“Hm…. Subject is…. Currently unwilling to speak.  Unknown if the subject is unwilling or truly unable to sustain speech.”  The voice drones on, cold and clinical.  You can feel his hate.

“Summon your soul” the voice commands him .  He doesn’t want to, but he has no choice .   You feel the tell-tale ‘pop’ of a soul leaving the body before something cold and metallic is pressed into the floating white heart in front of him .  Pressure envelops his body, but he doesn’t shy away from it.  He has no choice.

“Your STATS are…. Subpar at best” the voice sighs heavily, disappointment clear in his voice “a failure…”. The words are like a shot through his heart even though he doesn’t know why.  He doesn’t want to die again .

“No” he says.  His voice is young, younger than you’ve ever heard it.  He is a child.

“No?  Look at these numbers, everything is one.  You are worse than an infant Monster.” The voice’s bluntness adds salt to an open wound.  He pushes the hurt down.  He needs to.

“ I can be useful.” the words hurt you to hear, even if you don’t know why.  Perhaps it’s the pleading tone in his voice or perhaps it’s that you can feel his fear as if it were your own.  But you can also feel his determination.

I will not be thrown away again.

There’s a pause and you can just feel the way the voice smiles- feel the LV that radiates off of him in waves.  It chills you to the bone.  The voice has done this before.  Gotten rid of the trash.  He is not trash.

“Then, show me what you can do” the voice speaks just as the static overtakes you once more.  Everything fades away and you turn to static again.

You don’t know how long you float there- in the void.  But when the static breaks away and you find yourself back in the hallway again- Rust and Blue still walking away- you can’t help the few relieved tears that slip down your face.  You give a shaky breath, feeling the solid wall underneath your palm to help further ground yourself.  What was that?  You hear a scoff.  Relief floods you further as you know that scoff.

“ Stay out of my memories, human”   Quartz’s voice echoes in your mind as you truly let yourself relax.  

“Quar-” you go to say when his voice suddenly cuts you off.

“ Don’t speak out loud, they can hear you” You direct your attention to Blue and Rust.  They haven’t gotten very far yet, walking slowly for your sake.

“Then how-” “ Shhh!” He shushes you harshly.  You huff, face scrunching a little.  Then how am I supposed to talk to him?

“ Like that.  I can hear it when you direct your thoughts to me like that. ”  You jump a little as he answers the thoughts in your head.  How does that work?

“ I don’t know.  I wasn’t able to hear you before.  What did you do?”   You push yourself off the wall as you realize Rust and Blue have gotten a little too far ahead.  You trail behind the two, not paying too much attention to where you were walking.  

I didn’t do anything.  Before I… Saw your memory?  I felt this awful pain in my chest.  I think something happened with our souls again.  Where did you go, Quartz?

“ I… Fell asleep.” he trails off shamefully.

What do you mean you fell asleep ?!   I thought something bad had happened to you and you fell asleep?

“ I didn’t mean to!  I had no control of it.  It was like what happened to you last night- when you suddenly fell asleep in the middle of our conversation! ”  You can feel his annoyance at that.  Worry about that later.

It was still scary!  I thought you had vanished completely!  What am I supposed to do if you disappear?!  I don’t want to be stuck in your body!  You can’t help but be angry with him, the frustration and fear that you had felt from before heightening as it bounces off of his annoyance and then returns to you.

“ I don’t want you here either!  You decided to look through my memories!  Stay out of them!”

I didn’t have a choice!   I don’t even know what happened to make me see them and I definitely don’t want it to happen again!

“ Good!  You have no business snooping around in them!”   You’re both still yelling at each other mentally when you suddenly find your face hitting Rust’s back.

You stumble backwards, rubbing the pain away as you mumble out a soft “sorry” to him.  It is only after the pain clears in your face that you look to see where you are.

You are in the living room again.  Now that you are in a somewhat better mindset than you had been last night, you take in the sight.  In the center of the room is a large, green couch surrounded by a few arm chairs.  In front of the couch is a coffee table, books and papers scattered about them.  Impressively, there is a fireplace; though, there is no fire going currently.  Above the fireplace is a tv mounted to the wall.  In a few of the corners are some bookshelves, books lining the shelves.  Scattered throughout the room are various decorations that each skeleton of the house has put up.  Things like a little gnome, some snow globes, and decorative jars light up the room- giving it a bit of a personal touch.  Your eyes finally settle on the two windows in the room as well as the only exit- the door you had come from when you entered the room.

Inside the room- besides you, Blue, and Rust- are Stretch, Black, Red, and one other skeleton you haven’t met yet.  Unlike last night, all the skeletons were no longer in their pajamas.  Instead most of them wore some form of hoodie or sweater.  Black sat on one of the armchairs, a book in hand while Stretch and the new skeleton were stretched out on the couch, one skeleton on each end and their attention turned to the tv above the fireplace.  Red sat in the other armchair, face relaxed and dozing, soft snores coming from him.  

“Black, can I talk to you for a moment please?” Blue suddenly calls as Black looks up from his book.  All attention turns to the three of you, Red jumping at the sudden noise.

Black nods, placing a bookmark on his page, and then stands.  Blue and Black then disappear into what you remember is the kitchen, leaving you and Rust alone in the living room.  A pit settles in your stomach as you watch them walk off.  Rust is the first to break the tense silence.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” his attention is on the only skeleton in the room whose name you don’t know “my name is Rust and this is Pyrite.”  The other skeleton nods as you meet his eyes for a brief moment before he looks to Rust again.

“The name’s Mutt.  Good to meet ‘ya” Mutt says as.  Rust gives a quick ‘likewise’ before turning to you.

“Brother, you should sit down” Rust motions to the empty seat between Mutt and Stretch.  Neither skeleton looks upset at the idea of sitting next to you, so you do as told, careful not to accidentally brush against either of them.  You don’t realize how badly you had been hurting before until you’re finally off your feet.  Your body throbs painfully for a moment before settling into a dull ache, your chest tight- but not as painful as it was last night.  You give a soft sigh, thankful to Rust as you lean back into the seat a little.

“How’d you both sleep?” you jump as Mutt speaks, not expecting him to attempt to talk to you both so soon.  Rust answers him.

“I slept well.  The bed was very soft.” Mutt hums once and then turns to you, waiting for your answer.

“Slept fine.”  You answer coldly, not really wanting to talk right now.  You were still annoyed with Quartz and you really don’t think snapping at someone right now would be of any help to your situation.

“That’s good.  We’ll get you some stuff for your rooms when we go shopping in a few days.”  Mutt hums.

“That would be appreciated.”  Rust trails off as his eyes drift up to the tv, watching what was on it with wonder on his face.  You look up too, seeing that it was some kind of sitcom- though you don’t pay too much attention to it.  A brief silence falls over the group before Mutt speaks again, looking to you in particular, effectively dumping ice water over you.

“So.  What was your universe like?”

Chapter Text

“So.  What was your universe like?” Mutt’s voice is calm- much calmer than it should be considering the current panicked state of your mind.

You don’t know how to answer- not in the way that he wants anyways.  Sure, you know that they come from a rougher universe- that’s obvious in the way Quartz’s body is littered in scars and the way both brother’s are almost always on guard around others.  But other than those things, you have very little idea of just exactly what their universe was like.  It wouldn’t hurt to ask Quartz.

Quartz.  What do I tell him?

“ Tell him to go fuck himself” is his crass reply. Of course.  You’re surprised you expected anything different (Don’t think about how familiar you’ve become with his habits to actually know what he’s like).

Quartz…  Please.  Give me something to tell him.

Quartz is quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking, and you’re briefly surprised that he’s actually thinking seriously, before he finally speaks. 

“ Our universe was….  Cruel to the weak.  That’s all I’ll say.”  Quartz’s voice is quiet but distant with his words.  You think if he were in front of you, his face would be cold.  You feel bad for asking, even if you had to know.  Anything is better than nothing, so you’ll have to make die with his short answer.

You take a moment to reflect on his words before saying them to Mutt, who had been waiting patiently while you talked with Quartz.

“Our universe…. Is cruel.  Dangerous…” you cut it off there.  You wouldn’t know how to continue even if you wanted too, considering you don’t know much else.

Mutt hums for a moment, leaning back into the corner of the sofa.  His eyes drift over your face leisurely, taking in your expression, so you do your best to keep it stoic.  Make it seem like you know what you’re talking about.

“Hm.  I heard you were fighting in a war.  What was that like, being in the front lines and all?”  Your face involuntarily twists into a grimace.  He’s really not one for tact, is he?

“I’m not talking about that” you hiss.  Mutt’s face remains impassive as he gives another hum.  

“Then, what about the technology in your universe?  Did you have a copy of our machine there?”  Mutt asks.  You don’t know what their technology was like- you only know as much as Mutt does.  You’re not even sure if they had a machine in their universe.  But of course, you can’t say that.  You don’t know what to say.  You hesitate.

“Your technology is much more advanced than ours.  I have not seen anything like this…. Moving box…?  That you have on the wall.  It is very interesting.”  You jump as Rust’s voice cuts through your hesitation.  It sounded like he was right behind you and as you turned your head to look, he stood behind the sofa, arms resting against the back of the couch.  He looked almost relaxed at first glance, but you pick up on the tightness of his face- in his posture.

Mutt looks to Rust as relief floods you.  Maybe he’ll stop interrogating you now.  You hope so.  Mutt glances between Rust and the tv before settling his eyes back on Rust.

“That’s our tv.  It plays movies and tv shows.  Kind of like plays except you aren’t actually in the same room as them.”  Mutt explains the concept of a tv to Rust and you do your best to look just as surprised and amazed as Rust looks.  Rust launches into questions such as “how does it work?” And “can you watch anything on it!”, all of which Mutt answers smoothly.  

Eventually, after Rust has been satisfied with Mutt’s answers, Mutt settles back into the cushions of the couch and looks to you and Rust.

“Black was wantin’ to tell you two the house rules when you two came downstairs, so be prepared for that.” Mutt warns, turning his attention back to the tv.

You frown slightly, turning your attention from Mutt to the kitchen- where Blue and Black had gone earlier.  You hadn’t paid it much thought earlier, but looking back on it now, Blue has probably taken Black to tell him about what you did to the bathroom.  That puts a little bit of a sour note in your mouth.  As much as you like Blue, he is also an unknown. You don’t know what he could be telling Black about your outburst earlier.  You aren’t close enough to him to know what exactly he would say to Black.  As much as you want to tell the truth exactly as it happened, you didn’t want to damage your chances of leaving the house.

“ I don’t trust him ” Quartz’s voice causes you to jump, which earns a weird look from both Stretch and Mutt.

“You alright there?” Stretch’s words drag.  Both skeleton’s wait for an answer, because of course they want an answer.  Can’t they stop with the questions for one minute?

“ ‘m fine.” You mutter, doing your best to ignore the way Mutt’s eyes dig into you.  They turn their attention back to the tv; though, Mutt’s stare lingers a bit longer than what could be considered normal.  You ignore him in favor of whining at Quartz.

Warn me next time you’re going to talk, Quartz.

“Fine.  Don’t trust Blue.  Despite his child-like appearances, he is still a Sans.  Sans types are not to be trusted. ” Quartz’s voice is stern.  Suspicion leaks off of him in waves that make its way to you.   That’s something else to talk about.  You’ve been able to feel his emotions since the hallway incident, which is definitely concerning- to say the least.  You’ll tell him later, when the two of you are alone.

Quartz.  I don’t think Blue is the type to intentionally harm us.  He’s been nothing but kind to us so far.   It’s true.  Blue was the first one who was at least civil with you.  You can’t help wanting to trust the skeleton.  Plus, it feels good to be able to know that what you are feeling isn’t because you are in Quartz’s body.  It reminds you that you’re still you.

“Just be careful.” Quartz trails off, leaving you to settle into the couch more.  Rust still stands behind you, bringing you a small comfort in the room surrounded by strangers .

Eventually, you turn your attention to the television, settling to watch whatever they have playing on it.  A few minutes pass where you can’t fully relax because you have three potential threats in the room, but you don't fully tense because you know that if anything does go wrong, you have Rust to back you up.  As the show continues on, the sound of a doorknob rattling makes you jump- head whipping to the front door.

In walks Edge- because of course it’s Edge.  You have terrible luck.  Rust tenses behind you, arms slipping off of the back of the couch and resting at his sides.  You tense as well, though you can’t find the energy to stand (your body trembles with the effort to even keep yourself tense, there’s no way you’d be able to stand right now).  As Edge slips off his shoes, attention placed fully on the task of lining up his boots perfectly, you notice the way Red has tensed up as well.  Red’s clawed fingers dig into the fabric of his chair, red eyelights narrowed into a harsh glare that settles on both you and Rust.  You turn your attention from Edge to Red, meeting his glare with one of your own.  Red growls softly.

As Edge finally straightens up, you watch from the corner of your eye as he finally notices the two of you there.  You hear him scoff; though, you’re more focussed on his brother instead of him.  You’re more focused on the threat in front of you to care about the one behind you.

“Of course you’re here”

Chapter Text

The tension in the room was so thick it choked you.  Red, still sitting in his chair, continued to glower at you.  You felt Rust behind you step away, turning to face Edge head-on.  Stretch- still sitting beside you on the sofa- sat up, preparing himself for something to go sour.  Mutt remained where he was, laid out and relaxed, almost like he could fall asleep at any time even with the choking hostility in the room.  Rust speaks first.

“I apologize for my brother’s behavior last night.  It was rude to make so much noise during the quiet hours of the night.”  You can tell that Rust is trying to contain his hostility towards the two edgy skeletons.  Anger builds in you.  You shouldn’t have to apologize for anything.  He shouldn’t have to apologize for your problems.  Both you and Edge scoff at the same time.

“You’re not the one who should apologize” Edge sneers at you, glare locking onto you.  It takes everything in you to not spit in his face as your eyes meet.  Despite your hate for him, he does have a point.  But you won’t apologize to him.  Not with how he looks down on you from above.

“ ‘M not apologizin’ to that asshole '' You’re not the only one speaking aloud.  Quartz speaks with you.

You feel Red move before you see him move.  Suddenly your yanked inches from Red’s face, held up only by the collar of your shirt.  Absently you note the smell of ozone in the air- though you’re more focused on snarling at Red to actually think about what that means.  Your bones crawl .

Kill him.  Kill him.  It would be so easy, his neck is open, see?   The static claws into your mind and takes root, spreading in a way that makes your soul ache at the wrongness of the thoughts.  Indeed, his neck is open, and one well aimed bone would leave him choking on his own dust.  It would be so easy.  You don’t even like this one, what would be the harm in killing him?  Your bones buzz with the need to do something, so you do.  Or you try at least.

You reach out for your magic.  Yet nothing comes.  Instead, exhaustion grapples you tightly, forming an ache in your bones.  Red doesn’t help either- what with the snarls and threats he barks out as he shakes you incessantly.  You don’t have the energy to fight him.  Nor the magic.  Shit .

You don’t know what to do.  Your magic refuses to listen to you.  Your body is still aching from the bathroom incident earlier today.  You don’t even have the strength to defend yourself, let alone fight against Red.  You’re alone.

“Put my brother down ” the smell of ozone overwhelms you as Rust speaks.  Relief floods you.  His voice is ice- any of the polite warmness to it gone- and you can’t help the chill that goes down your spine.  You watch as Red’s eyes dart between you and just behind you, at Rust.  No one moves.

“Red…”  Mutt’s warning is what breaks the silence and you can feel the way Rust twitches behind you, whatever he has summoned threatening to shoot towards its intended target.  Please.  You want to taste his dust.   You aren’t sure when you had grabbed Red’s arm, but you can’t stop the smile that spreads across your face as your clawed phalanges dig into the bone.  Red doesn’t visibly react to Mutt’s voice nor the way your sharp nails dig into his arm, but he does pause.  

“Put him down, Red” Black’s voice cuts through the room, voice calm yet firm.  You’re not sure when he came back into the room and you don’t bother to look at him.  Red snarls and drops you harshly onto the couch cushions.  He disappears with an angry growl.  Like.  Literally.  Red vanishes into thin air.  The smell of ozone diminishes, leaving nothing but the feeling of adrenaline and the itch to do something lingering in you.  You need to do something.  You need to feel grit between your phalanges.

You can’t focus on anything but the two skeletons sitting next to you.  You can’t focus on anything but the way their dust would feel on your bones.  You can’t focus on anything but the way it would feel to add them to your Lv.  You don’t want to- oh god you don’t want to- but you can’t stop the blood-lust.

Mutt is in front of you.  It can’t be safe- you think.  But then again, you don’t think you’d actually be able to hurt him right now.  The others would easily overpower you- especially because you feel so weak .  He’s speaking- though you can’t quite hear him clearly.  You can’t hear anything clearly above the buzzing in your skull.

Kill him kill him kill him Kill him Kill him Kill him–

“Breathe.  Push them down.  You’re in control here.”  You don’t know how but Mutt’s voice cuts above the static, breaking it apart and banging around in your skull harshly.  You whine softly, sucking in a shallow breath.  Each word sends bugs crawling along your body.

It’ll help It’ll help It’ll help It’ll help It’ll help It’ll help–

“Push them down, Pyrite”  Mutt speaks again and you can’t help but hiss at him, body trembling with the effort to keep yourself rooted to the couch.  Clawed phalanges dig into the plush cushion below you.  

Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t –

“ Can’t .  Don’t know how”   You’re not talking.  Quartz speaks for you.  A shiver runs down your spine.  Your eyes force themselves shut.  You’re not sure if Quartz did that or if you did that.

Don’t listen Don’t listen Don’t listen Don’t listen Don’t listen–

“Focus on breathing.  Don’t listen to what they say and focus on what’s around you instead”  You try to do as Mutt says.  You flatten your hand on the cushion, threading your phalan- fingers along the plushness of the pillow.  It’s soft, gentle, and a stark contrast to the voices in your head that beg for blood and dust.

The static recedes.  Not enough, but you can focus on Mutt a little now.

“Good.  Open your eyes-”  you hesitantly open your eyes, doing your best not to focus on the monster in front of you– on the clear openings he has in his defense– and instead focus on the wall behind him“What do you see?”

Your eyes wash over the wall for a moment, taking in the off-white color ( it would look so pretty with red ) of the paint and then darting to the television.

“The tv is playing something.  There’s a robot on the screen”  you try to listen to what the flamboyant robot is saying, but even though you can see his mouth moving, you can’t hear him speaking over the static filling your skull.  You move your attention elsewhere, settling it onto one of the bookshelves in the room instead.

“There’s a shelf with books on it.  One…  One of the books says ‘101 Puns that are Sure to Astound you…  The next says–’”  Focussing on the different titles of the books on the shelf helps to quiet the buzzing in your head.  Your bones stop crawling slowly, and you find yourself able to breathe normally as you continue to read over anything you can find.  Filling your head with words drowns out the incessant buzzing in the back of your head.  Eventually, the static fades out entirely.  

Before you know it, you’re flopping backwards against the sofa, finally meeting Mutt’s eyes again.  Now that you’re in your right mind again, you can finally see that he has crouched himself down in front of you.  He looks up into your face, his expression neutral as your eyes roam his face for a moment before settling back into his eyes.  There’s no way you could have come back from that on your own.

“Thank you”  You find yourself saying.  Mutt gives a small smile, standing and stretching.  He moves to plop back down next to you, throwing an arm around the back of the seat you rest on.

“Yup, no problem bud.”  Mutt hums quietly, getting comfortable.  His arm weighs heavy on the seat behind you.  You inch forwards in your seat.  The thought of touching someone- even if by accident- makes your skin crawl.  Especially so soon after you had been dying to tear said monster apart.

You aren’t sure what happened after Red had disappeared, but it seems like you and Mutt are now the only ones left in the living room.  A worm of anxiety wriggles its way into your chest.  Did Rust leave by himself?  As you worry, a few voices make their way to you.  Rust’s voice sticks out clearly to you.  You relax, breathing out softly.

“Black took the others into the kitchen.  Think he wanted to get a head start on lunch.”  Mutt says smoothly.  You know that isn’t the entire truth.  Especially after you had just had another episode.  But you don’t say anything against him.  Mutt is quiet for a few more minutes before he speaks once more.

“You don’t know how to push down your Lv.  How do you have so much and not know how to suppress it yourself?”  Mutt speaks gently, as if he’s speaking to a wild animal.  With how often you’ve been overtaken by that…  feeling… you certainly feel like one.  You’re not sure how to respond considering you’re not entirely sure what Lv even is.

“The higher it is, the harder it is to suppress.”  you say the first thing that comes to mind.  You hope what you said is right.  Please be right.

Mutt doesn’t say anything.  Instead he looks away, choosing to watch the television.  Anxiety settles into your stomach.  Did you answer wrong?  Would he know you’re not who you say you are?  Would he know you’re human?

You pause.  Would it really be such a bad thing if he knew you were human?  You look down at your hands resting absently in your lap, looking at the dips between your bones where skin and meat would have made up for the gaps.  You had always been worried that if they found out you were human– they would hurt you.  But that wouldn’t make sense now that you think about it.  They had been among humans on the surface, so why would they be hostile towards a human?  You look towards Mutt, steeling yourself to say something.  You pause.

Mutt is watching you.  As your head moves to look at him, you see the way he forces himself to relax, you catch the way the easy-going look forces itself onto his face.  You meet his eyes to find they are… full of distrust.  Fear.  You swallow dryly, breath stuttering in your throat.  You can’t tell him.  Not when he’s looking at you like that .

Your head snaps towards the television again.  Dread builds its way into your stomach.  Of course he wouldn’t trust you.  Why would you be so stupid to think that he would trust you.  You have been nothing but rude and violent since coming here.  Mutt wouldn’t believe you.  He would think you’re crazy.  Maybe you are.  Maybe this is all just some kind of delusion created by your head.

“ Human, this is real.  Don’t delude yourself into thinking that what has happened to us isn’t real ”  You jump as Quartz’s voice echoes around your head.  You give a soft sigh, glancing at Mutt who is still watching you.  Mutt says nothing.  So you say nothing to him.

Quartz.  Didn’t I tell you to warn me when you were going to speak?   You chastise half-heartedly.  You can’t really find it in yourself to actually be mad at him.  You were going down a dangerous road there.

“ You felt that pain when I tried to separate our souls.  A hallucination would not be able to create something like that. ”  Quartz ignores your complaints in favor of speaking his part.  He’s right, even if it leaves a sour note in your mouth.  

I know…  Thank you…  For saying something.   You say quietly.  He doesn’t say anything in return, though you can feel the way he gloats in his victory.  A small smile slips on your face.

“Have you settled down, Pyrite?”  You jump for the second time as Black’s voice cuts through your thoughts.  What is up with these skeletons and scarring you?

You hear Black walk further into the living room, making his way around the furniture in the room and then standing a few feet in front of you.  Black patiently waits for your answer, hands locking behind his back as he straightens his posture.

“Yes, I have.  I apologize for the trouble I caused to you two.”  You find yourself straightening in your seat in an attempt to match his formality.  It feels wrong not too.  Black hums for a moment before looking between you and Mutt.  

“I heard about what happened from Blue-” your souls stutter in your chest, wince forming on your face “it is worrying that you cannot control your impulses, Pyrite.”  You suck in a breath, looking away from Black’s gaze.

“It has not even been one full day and yet you have already caused significant damage to our house and lost yourself to your Lv twice.  Pyrite, if you cannot control your Lv, you will not be allowed out of the house.  It would be too dangerous to have you around humans”  As Black continues on, you slowly curl into yourself.  You knew that.  Of course you knew that.  But how are you supposed to control that if you don’t even know what’s causing it in the first place?  You need help.  You suck in a breath, hold it for a moment, and then release it.

“I don’t know how to stop it.  I don’t want to listen to it, but…  But it's like it’s the only thing I can think about.  It overpowers everything else in my head.”  You mumble, still refusing to meet Black’s gaze.  You feel Quartz bristle in discomfort, but you know he wouldn’t help you control your impulses.  

Black is quiet for a moment and you can just feel both Mutt’s and his stares on you.  You think they might be shocked- judging by their silence.  You’re not entirely sure why.  Maybe it's because you’re being so open to them, but you can’t control yourself.  That is more important than saving face.  Briefly you note that you can feel Quartz’s displeasure, but you push it away in favor of awaiting their response.  Black is the first to break the silence.  He clears his throat.

“Then we will help you control it.  After lunch, come outside and I’ll show you how.”  Black says, leaving no room for arguments.  You weren’t going to argue anyways.  You had asked for this and you weren’t about to take it back.

There is a brief pause where you think Quartz might try to say something to you, but he gets interrupted by Black speaking once more.  Quartz hisses softly, unhappy with being interrupted.

“Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I would like to talk to you about the rules of the house.  I’ve already spoken with Rust and he said he would follow them.  I expect you to do the same,  Pyrite.”  Black immediately jumps into the next topic, giving you no time to think of what the training would entail.  You’re not sure if that’s good or bad.

“What are they first?”  You don’t want to agree to any rules before you actually know what they are.

“The first rule is to do your assigned chores and clean up after yourself.”  You nod.  Simple enough.  You briefly wonder how you can find out who does what around the house.

“Second, don’t go into other people’s rooms without permission and- likewise, don’t eat their food.  If there is a name written on something, don’t eat it.”  Black gestures as he talks.  You spare a quick glance at Mutt, who is leaned back, completely relaxed and not paying attention to what Black says at all.

“Next, if you go down into the basement, do not touch the machine or any of the paperwork around it.  We do not want any accidents to happen with it.”  You pause for a moment before asking him a question of your own.

“Is that how we were brought here?  Because someone touched it when they weren’t supposed to?”  You question.  

“Thankfully, no.  Sometimes the machine will overload and end up activating on its own.  That is what happened to you two.”  Black’s voice is neutral, giving away no indicator that he may be lying.  You relax some.  If someone had brought you here on purpose, you would have been angry.  Knowing that it wasn’t any of their faults helps some.  Not much, mind you– but it helps.  You motion for Black to continue.

“If you have a problem with any of the skeletons living in this house, come to either myself or Sans.  Any violence within this house will not be tolerated- and that includes what happened earlier today.  Both you, Red, and Rust will be punished accordingly.”  You freeze at his words, eyes darting up to Black.  You take in a small breath, hold it, and then release it.  Dread builds in your gut.

“What kind of punishment would that be?”  you find yourself asking.  You do your best to keep your voice calm, but you can’t help the slight shake in your voice.  You’re not even sure what kind of punishment it could be, but something in you whispers that they will kill you because of what happened.

You watch as Black pauses for a moment.  Maybe he notices the nervousness in your voice- even if you had tried to hide it.  Or maybe it was just to make you worry more.  Either way, Black gives a quick ‘ahem!’ and then carries on speaking.

“You have no need to worry, Pyrite.  Your punishment will be getting lessons on how to control your Lv.  Rust is already carrying out his punishment– helping make lunch for everyone.”  Black’s words have you relaxing in place, letting a relieved breath escape you.  Black gives you a moment longer before he jumps back into the rest of the rules.

“These next rules are very important.  If you break any of them, the consequences will be much more serious than anything that could happen in our household.”  Black takes on a much more serious tone, posture straightening to lengths you thought were impossible until now.  His expression leaves no room for argument.  That’s not worrying in the slightest.

“First and foremost, you will not harm a human under any circumstance.”  You had no plans on doing so in the first place so you nod in agreement.

“Next, do not tell anyone outside of this household you are from a different universe.  To the outside world, we are distant cousins to Sans and Papyrus.”  You give a hum, nodding along again.  That seems like common sense, so you had no plans to do that either.

“Finally- and most importantly- you are not to enter an encounter with anyone in public.  Likewise, do not discuss magic or souls with humans.  The monsters here have kept many things secret from the humans for the safety of monsters.  The less they know- the better.”  Black’s words have you pausing.  Souls and magic you know about- you had learned about that last night- but what are encounters?  And what could be so dangerous to warrant keeping it a secret from humans?

In your universe, monsters had been on the surface for about a year and a half.  Even though they had been around for some time, they didn’t really spread out of Ebott City- a little town at the base of Mount Ebott.  From what you had heard on the news, the Monsters had been trapped under Mount Ebott for a very long time, though no photos of the Underground were ever shown to the public.  Likewise, the Monsters had been very secretive of how they had been trapped Underground for so long as well as anything relating to themselves in general.  The only thing that was ever released to the public was that Monsters were made of magic and could therefore use magic- though only on a small scale (something that had already been proven wrong to you now that you’re living with monsters).  The first time you had even heard anything about souls was last night, when you had first talked to Quartz and that had been the shock of the century.  What other things were monsters hiding from humans?  Why were they hiding it?  Black said for the safety of monsters, but what would be so dangerous that they had to hide something like souls from the human race?  Your face pinches in confusion for a moment.

“Why are we keeping it a secret?”  You find yourself asking.  Black is quiet for a moment before he speaks quietly.

“We are keeping it a secret in case the humans decide to trap monsters Underground again.  There are no mages in this universe because humans have lost touch with their souls and we do not want to change this by reintroducing them to their souls.”  You give a soft hum, looking down at your palms.  A pit of anger settles in your chest before it collapses into guilt.

It makes sense.  Why tell humans about something that they could use to trap Monsters Underground again?  It would be like walking up to your worst enemy and giving them a spreadsheet full of your weaknesses.  A stupid idea all around- even if it is awful to keep something as important as a soul from them.  You frown.  You may not like how they are doing this, but it isn’t your place to say anything different.  Afterall, you’re a thief in a stolen body.

“Alright.  Is that all of the rules?”  Black takes a moment to look over you, eyes darting over your face as you meet his gaze steadily.  You’re not entirely sure what he’s looking for, but you think he finds it as he nods.

“Yes, that is all of the rules.  I expect you to follow them”  Black looks pleased as you nod in agreement.

“Good.  Then I believe that lunch is almost ready now.  Please come help us set the table for everyone.”  Black phrases it like a request, though his tone tells you that it is more of a command.  You stand, swaying in place for a moment before following Black into the kitchen.  

At least now you won’t have to worry about breaking any house rules.  Now to just get through this lunch in one piece and you won’t have to worry.  At least until you have to go shopping.

Chapter Text

The kitchen was how you remember it; though, with all of the skeletons in it, it felt a little cramped.  Blue stands at the stove, stirring a pot of…  Something…  While Stretch and Mutt sit at the table.  Mutt had just been in the living room, how did he get into the kitchen so fast?  You do your best to ignore Edge, who is cutting something on the counter.  The knife in his hands makes you a little nervous, especially with Rust standing next to him, stirring something together in a bowl.  Black walks over to a cabinet, pulling out some sets of silverware and handing them off to you.

“Take these to the dining room and set them around the table.”  Black tells you quietly as he pulls down a stack of plates for himself.

Black leads you through another archway, bringing you to a room with a large table (enough to house everyone in the house at), a mini bar (these people are just full of money), and a few decorative plants lining the walls.  Set out on the table already were a bunch of condiments, from ketchup to honey, and a few different bowls of food– covered so they stay warm.

Black sets the plates on the table and you set out the silverware next to the plates.  As you work, your mind slips back to what happened earlier.  Now that you are in a better state of mind, guilt floods you once again.  Even if you didn’t like the two edgier skeletons, it was no excuse to want to kill them like that.  You had even wanted to kill Mutt and he had been helping you.  What was wrong with you?  They keep mentioning Lv, but you had no idea what that was.  Maybe you should ask Quartz?

Quartz?   You tentatively start, unsure of how to phrase what you’re about to ask.  Quartz huffs.

“ What is it, human?”   Quartz sounds annoyed.  Your face scrunches for a brief moment before falling back to its neutral expression.

What is Lv?  You think that is a good place to start.  Quartz is quiet for a moment, seemingly contemplating on actually telling you, so you jump in again.

They keep talking about Lv after…  After those incidents I had earlier.  I just want to know what it is.   You hope you convinced him to answer you.  Quartz hesitates for a moment longer before he sighs again and then launches into an explanation.

“ Lv stands for Level of Violence.  It is your ability to cause harm to others and the ability to not feel guilt when hurting or killing others.  After a while, the rush you get from killing becomes addicting.”   Quartz’s voice forms a lump in your throat.  You feel like you’re going to cry, scream, and be sick all at once.  Does that mean that you're addicted to killing now?  You suck in a shallow breath.

Can I get rid of it?   You find yourself asking, even though you know the answer already.  You hope he says you can.  You know he won’t.

“ Once you have gained Lv, you cannot get rid of it.  I- ”  You think Quartz may have wanted to apologize, but he cuts himself off before he can say it.  You’re not sure if he feels bad or not.

Do you enjoy killing, Quartz?   You need to know.

Quartz doesn’t say anything.

You’re pulling out a chair before you can even consider that showing an outward reaction may be a bad idea.  You all but throw yourself onto the chair, curling into yourself once on it.  You’re shaking, but you can’t make it go away.  You’re going to be sick.

Quartz doesn’t say anything.  There isn’t anything he could say that would make it better.  Yeah, you knew that he had killed people before (he was in a war after all) but it’s another thing entirely to learn that he had enjoyed killing .  

You fight back the burning in your eyes, force the knot in your throat to unravel.  Briefly you note that Black is saying something to you, but you aren’t paying close enough attention to anything other than the fact that you were in a murderer’s body.  A body that still craved murder.  Your chest hurts .

You don’t hear Black walking towards you until his shoes make their way into your line of sight.  

“Pyrite.  What are you doing?”  Black asks coolly; though, with the brief inflection of his voice, you think he may be worried.  He hides it better than you can.

…

“Have you killed people?” A slip of the tongue.  One that makes you clench in fear, breath clogging your throat.  You really hadn’t meant to ask that, but you had to know.

Black raises an eyebrow (eye bone?  He doesn’t exactly have any hair), giving you a questioning look.  He takes a step back, regarding you for a moment

“Yes, I have.  Why do you ask?”  Black’s answer sucks any air you have right from your lungs.

“Do you like to kill too?”  You hadn’t meant to phrase it like that.  You hope Black doesn’t catch your slip-up.

Black doesn’t say anything for a brief moment, eyes boring down on you as you curl into yourself on the chair.  He gives a soft hum, leaning to one side and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Why are you asking me this?”  Black keeps his voice low.  You don’t know how to reply.  Not in a way that would give you up, anyways.  You feel sick.

You're silent as Black towers over you.  Black watches you, body tensed as if poised for an attack, though he doesn’t follow through with anything.  You can’t do this, but you don’t know how to get out of this situation.  You curse yourself for even asking in the first place.

“Well?”  Black’s prompt has you tensing further.  Seems you have to answer him, even if it could give you away.  Dread builds up your spine.

“I…  I was just curious.”  A stupid reasoning.  Black huffs, staring down at you.

Black opens his mouth to say something just as Blue walks through the door carrying a pot of some kind, and you find your way out.   At least from Black’s questioning .  You push thoughts of Quartz away for now.  Maybe if you pretend that he hasn’t…. Killed… anyone you could get through this normally.

“I’ll take that, Blue!”  You volunteer, taking the pot from his hands before he can say anything.  It isn’t as heavy as you had suspected it would be and so you have no trouble carrying it the rest of the way to the table and setting it in the middle.  You feel Black’s eyes on you the entire time.

“Oh, thank you Pyrite!”  Blue says, voice as cheery as always.  You don’t catch the way his eyes dart between you and Black, a questioning look on his face.  You turn around to face Blue again.

“Are you bringing more things out?  I’ll help you.”  You’re all but pushing Blue back into the kitchen again, leaving Black to stand in the dining room alone.

Mutt and Stretch are up now, both working alongside Edge to finish up whatever it is he was working on.  You follow Blue over to the stove, Blue handing you a platter of food.  You take it from him, more mindful of where Blue is holding the platter so you don’t accidentally brush his hands.  Rust appears next to you, taking a bowl of something and immediately heading into the dining room to put it down.  You follow after Rust— careful to avoid Black’s questioning gaze— and put down your platter next to Rust’s bowl.  Once both dishes are settled in the center of the table, you are quick to turn around and go back into the kitchen once more.  This time, you linger in the kitchen.

Edge, Stretch, and Mutt seem to have finally finished what they were working on earlier.  You watch as Edge picks up a perfectly arranged tray of food and carefully takes it to the dining room.  Blue is gathering cups, pouring ice into each one, and then giving them to Mutt.  A few cups of ice float absently next to Mutt, a dull orange coloring faintly surrounding them.  You can tell that he is using magic to hold up any cup he can’t carry.  That seems…. Smart.  Could you do that too?  

Mutt, now fully loaded up with enough cups to match the places at the table,  turns and walks past you.  Cups trail behind him through the air and you can’t help but watch them float absently behind Mutt.  While it seemed very convenient, it also seemed like…. A waste of magic to use it on something so…. Mundane…  Do all monsters use their magic like that?

Could you do something like that?  The only times you have used magic was when you were in the thralls of Lv and it had come instinctually to you.  Now that you were just standing here, you had no idea how to even try and summon anything.  You would say that with time, you’d be able to use magic like they can, but you don’t want to be stuck in this body for that long.  You suppress a wave of nausea at the thought of what the body’s magic may have been used for.  Time to think of something else.

Stretch stands at the sink, washing some of the dishes, so you figure you could help him.  That way you won’t have to go back into the dining room.  At least until you finish washing them.  Besides, a mundane task like that seems like the perfect thing to push back the thought of what this body has done.  You move to stand next to Stretch, passing by Blue who exits to the dining room.

“I’ll help dry them.”  You say to Stretch.  Stretch looks at you for a moment, face carefully neutral before he gestures to one of the drawers.

“There’re rags in that drawer.  Help yourself.”  You find the drawer and pull out a rag, taking one of the clean dishes he’s washed and wiping it dry.  You start stacking dry dishes on the counter next to the sink.

Stretch works quietly, occasionally glancing at you from the corner of his eye.  Eventually, he speaks.

“Didn’t take you for the type to willingly help.”  Stretch drawls, not stopping to look at you as he speaks.  You don’t turn to look at him either.

“Needed something to do.”  You place a dry cup next to a stack of plates.  Stretch hums in reply.  With that, the conversation dies out once more, leaving only the sounds of water left.  Honestly, it's a little awkward but it's better than being subjected to Black’s questioning stare.

The two of you work in tandem for the next twenty minutes (they really had more dishes than they should have, considering the amount of food they made) and eventually finish putting them away.

“Thanks for the help, pal.”  Is all Stretch says before he’s walking into the dining room, leaving you alone in the kitchen.  You really don’t want to follow him.  But you know you have to.  

Oh god, you’ve either pissed off half of the people in this house or made them suspicious of you.  Lunch is going to be terrible.

Chapter Text

Reluctantly, you walked into the dining room.  You would stay in the kitchen, but that would probably be frowned upon.  Especially if this lunch was set up for you.  You give a soft sigh, eyes washing over the skeletons in the room.

Black is sitting now, to the right of the head of the table, and you do your best to avoid the questioning gaze he sends you as you walk into the room.  Mutt sits next to him, lounged backwards and playing with something on his phone.  Across from Black is an empty chair that you’re assuming is being saved for someone, considering the space next to it is occupied by Blue.  Next to Blue is Stretch, who is leaning back in his chair so far that only two of the chair’s legs touch the floor.  You’d think Stretch would be asleep because his eyes are closed and his expression serene.  But with the way the chair wobbles ever so slightly, you can tell that he is only feigning sleep.  Your eyes drift over to Rust, who has taken the only other seat without any chair next to it, the one opposite the head of the table.  Continuing onwards is Edge, who sits straight in his chair, seemingly engaged in a conversation with Rust.  

You suppress the rise of betrayal at seeing how engaged Rust is with the conversation.  You know you shouldn’t feel upset after all, he is allowed to talk with who he wants.  But it still hurts.

You walk over to the empty chair in between Stretch and Rust, doing your best not to draw attention to yourself as you sit down.  You take a shallow breath.  Honestly, today has been horrible and you’re only half-way through the day.  First it had been your incident with Blue and the destroyed bathroom.  Then it was Red and Edge.  And now you have to deal with the fact that the entire reason you keep blowing up on others is because the original owner of the body was a crazed murderer who loved to kill.  So yeah, your day has been less than ideal.  You just hope that the rest of the day goes smoothly.  Maybe Black will decide to spare you any questions later today, when he teaches you how to control your Lv.

Now that you actually know what Lv is, learning to control it sounds a lot more appealing to you.  You really don’t want to hurt anyone, even hurting Red or Edge is something you would never want to do.  Even if you don’t want to answer any of Black’s questions that he is clearly wanting to ask, considering the way Black keeps throwing strange looks at you every now and then.  You do your best to ignore him.

Red appears in the chair next to Edge.  You don’t think you’ll ever get used to these skeletons dropping in from nowhere.  From what you had seen in your universe, magic was not nearly as strong to allow anything that these skeletons were openly displaying here.  Though you had heard that the older monsters had stronger magic, you had never actually seen it in action.  You think it was because the older generations had more access to magic that allowed them to store more.  You’re not entirely sure if that’s what’s happening here.  Either way, you do your best to avoid Red’s glare, guilt creeping up your back at the jolt of bloodlust that runs up your spine.  You swallow thickly.  

You turn your attention to the last two empty seats, Sans’ seat, which you assume is the head of the table, and then the one right next to his seat.  You think that seat may belong to Sans’ brother, who you have yet to meet.  You hope he is nice– nicer than Red and Edge, anyways.  

Time ticks on, the sound of conversations filling the air as everyone waits for the last two to arrive.  You’re mildly surprised that Red doesn’t just dig in anyways.  He seems like the type to not wait for anyone.  You’re not sure what that says about Sans, considering Red is waiting for him to come back before eating.  You do your best to dodge conversation attempts towards yourself, at least until you have to start talking.  Eventually, Sans appears in the chair you had assumed was his.

Sans looks…  Tired.  Disheveled too.  You’re not sure what he was up to, but it looks like he didn’t get any sleep last night.  A smile slips on his face, masking the exhaustion he clearly felt earlier, as the others notice his arrival.

“Heya all.  Paps said he’d be a little late.  Said to go ahead and eat without him.” As Sans speaks, he waves his phone around, showing off a text from this ‘Paps”.  The others nod.

“His work must be going well, then?”  Black’s voice cuts through the air.  Sans nods, his smile slipping into a more easy-going one.

“Yup.  A real bone-ified treat, if you ask me.  He’s real happy to be movin’ up in the ladder.”  Sans says with a wink.  You watch as everyone at the table either groans or snickers quietly…  What?

“Do not ruin this nice meal with your jokes!” Blue sounds absolutely appalled.  You hold back a snort at the way Sans’ grin grows, eyes narrowing in challenge.  Is he really going to…?

“No need to get all up in arms , Blue.  ‘M just ribbon’ ya.”  he did.  And as he says up in arms, he pops off one of his arms and uses it to point at Blue.  You’re not entirely sure if you're going to laugh or throw up.  Either way, Blue’s eyes bulge out of his sockets.  You weren’t even aware they could do that, considering he doesn’t have eyeballs.

“Put your arm back on at once!  And stop it!”  Blue’s voice is rising in volume.  You really hope this isn’t a common occurrence, but judging by the way some of the others are reacting, it is.  Do all skeletons just casually detach their limbs?  You really hope not.

Sans gives a shrug and with a soft ‘pop!’ his arm attaches back into place.  He turns back to Blue, the same easy-going look on his face.  Sans opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by Red’s gruff voice.

“So, are we goin’ to eat or wha’?  Cause I’m starvin’”  Sans turns to look at Red.  Red looks impatient, tapping his clawed phalanges on the table.

“Help yourselves.  Don’t gotta wait for me to give you the go-ahead.” Sans gives a small chuckle, motioning to everyone.

Red is the first to reach for something, though you don’t pay attention to what he grabs.  You help yourself to a small portion of food.  The constant ache in your chest makes it hard for you to have any appetite, but you know that you need to eat at least a little bit.  You shovel something green onto your plate, and then eat slowly.  Rust next to you has assembled his plate in such a way that it looks like it was professionally done.  Stretch on the other hand, has piled all of his food into one large slop and shovels it into his food unceremoniously.  You wrinkle your nose at that (or at least, you try to.  You don’t actually have a nose to wrinkle).  

As you eat quietly, everyone else devolves into conversations around the table.  You think at one point that Red may try and make jabs at you, clearly expecting a reaction of some kind, and then getting angry when you don’t rise to the challenge.  Honestly, you’re too focussed on thinking about what Quartz had said.

You’re way out of your depth here.  Everything is spiraling out of control way too fast and it seems like there’s no bottom to the hole you’ve dug yourself.  The thought of telling someone makes you sick and you aren’t sure why, but the thought of telling Rust that you’re human sends fear crawling up your spine.  You don’t know why, but something tells you that telling Rust would be dangerous for you.  Perhaps it's because Rust is related to Quartz or perhaps it's the way that you know nothing about either skeleton, but telling Rust specifically makes you want to run as fast and as far as you can.

But you can’t let this go on any longer.  Not when you have the very real threat of killing someone hanging over your head every time you meet someone’s eyes.  

“I won’t let you tell anyone” Quartz’s voice cuts through your head.  You feel your soul race in your chest as you jump.  When had he heard you thinking?  Either way, you can’t just let this go.

You don’t have a choice in this.  I’m a danger to everyone in this house and I’m not going to hurt anyone.   You reply back to him, a bite to your tone.  

You feel Quartz’s anger course through you, red-hot and searing, and it takes everything in you to not scream at anything that moves.  You grip your spoon tight, feeling the way the metal bends under your bones.

“No, you don’t understand.  It would be dangerous if my brother finds out you’re human.  He will kill you!”   His anger clouds your mind, making it hard to find a reasonable response to that.

Rust wouldn’t kill me!  He’s my br- Quartz cuts you off.

“ He isn’t your brother.  He’s my brother. ”  Quartz pauses for a moment, letting it sink in before he speaks again “You’re losing yourself.”

His words leave you stunned.  Not because they are wrong, but because they are right .  You don’t know when it started– perhaps it started when you first woke up in that basement last night– but you can tell that you are losing yourself.  You don’t feel like you anymore.  You don’t feel like you’re in a stranger’s body anymore.  You feel like you’re in your own body.  Rust feels like someone you’ve known all your life.  Hell, even Quartz feels like an extension of yourself; though, you don’t have any of his memories.  Your memories, on the other hand, feel distant.  Cloudy.  You find it hard to recall the faces in your more mundane memories.  What was your boss’ name again?  What about that cousin?  You remember your cat, Noodle.  And your mom’s, dad’s, and brother’s names.  But what necklace did your mom always wear?  What was your brother’s favorite food again?  What about the lines around your dad’s eyes?  You suck in a shallow breath.  True, unfiltered terror grips you.

“Do you see what I mean?”   You do your best to focus on Quartz.  The only one who has some semblance of what is happening to you.  Is it happening to him too?

Yes , you breathe out.  You’re shaking as you stare down at your plate.  Is it happening to you too?

“Yes, it is.  It feels like you’re trying to erase me.  Or like I’m disappearing”   

I’m not, I swear!   You’re quick to say to him.  The thought of actually trying to erase someone like that sends chills down your spine.

“I know.  It’s not your fault.”   His words almost make you cry.  You suck in a breath, fighting down the burning in your throat.

What do we do, Quartz?   You’re spiraling downwards, but at least you’re not alone.

“I don’t know.”   The words scare you more than they should.

You both spiral into silence after that.  Absently, you push the food on your plate around with your spoon.  While you are terrified , it brings comfort to know that you’re not alone in this.  You have Quartz, at least–

“Papyrus!  I made you a plate!”  Blue’s voice cuts through your thoughts, causing you to jump.  For a moment, you’re not entirely sure what he’s talking about before you remember that there was still one more person that was supposed to arrive.  The name Papyrus sounds familiar, though you don’t know why.  At least, you don’t know why until you turn your head towards the new skeleton.

This skeleton is tall with a red scarf wrapped around his throat.  Just like the skeleton you knew.  A large grin on his face, much like the smile you’ve seen on tv.  You find your eyes drifting to his hands, searching for the burn scars that you knew should be there.  An accident in the kitchen, Papyrus had told the reporters.  Your spoon clatters to the table as you’re met with the scars that you knew the Papyrus from your universe would have all across his hands.  Why had it never crossed your mind?  You had never thought that this universe, the one you thought you had been brought to, might actually be your universe.

A smile breaks across your face.

Chapter Text

You feel like an idiot.  Why had you never even considered that this might not be a different universe?  That this could be your universe?  Maybe because it seemed like it would be impossible for this to be your universe.  But the similarities between your universe and this universe was unnerving.  There was no way it could be a coincidence with the amount of similarities there were.  Even with the plethora of universes out there, there’s no way that everything could have lined up perfectly.

You glance down at Papyrus’ hands, gaze lingering on the burn scars littering his hands.  There’s no way that a Papyrus in a different universe would be able to replicate the scars that you had seen on the Papyrus in your universe perfectly.  You don’t think it would even be possible to replicate scars perfectly.  

But that brings up a whole load of questions that you don’t have the answers to.  If this is your universe, then how and why did you end up in Quartz’s body?  What happened to your body?  And most importantly, is it possible to fix this?  Could going to your body fix things?  You turn to face forwards, eyes settling onto your plate instead of on Papyrus.

“Nyeheheh!” You recognize the laugh from the countless times you’ve heard it on tv.  Chills run down your spine.  ”Thank you for making me a plate, Blue!”  You fight the urge to turn your head and watch Papyrus walk to his seat.

“Mweheheh!  It’s no problem, Paps!  Did you have a good day at work today?”  is Blue’s cheerful reply.  You suck in a shallow breath, choosing to tune out their conversation now in favor of delving into your thoughts.

If this is your universe, then your body should still be here.  At least, you hope it is.  But what would happen to your body if your soul isn’t in it?  You don’t know what would be worse– if your body continued on like normal or if it didn’t.  You hesitantly pick your spoon back up, using it to push around the food on your plate as you think.

If your body did continue on without you, what would it be doing?  Would it continue on like normal?  But doesn’t your soul make up who you are?  Doesn’t it give you morals?  Could your body be doing bad things now without you?  What would that mean for you once you return to your original life?

But what if your body doesn’t continue on without you?  Would you die instantly without a soul?  Or would you just…  Stop doing everything?  Maybe you would fall into a catatonic state without your soul…?  Or maybe you would slip into a coma without your soul.  

You aren’t sure which one you would prefer.  On one hand, your body could be out doing horrible things without you right now.  But on the other hand, your body could just stop working without you.  Either way, your life could be permanently changed.  The longer you're stuck in Quartz’s body, the worse things could get for you.  You swallow dryly, losing your appetite entirely.  You set the utensil down, leaning back in your chair.

“Welp, now that we got everyone here, I might as well introduce the two new skeletons.”  Sans’ voice pulls you out from your thoughts temporarily and you find your head involuntarily swiveling to face him.  Of course, since you turned to face him, your eyes caught sight of Papyrus again and you can’t help the lump of dread that builds in your stomach.  How long had you even been gone from your body?  Sure, it may seem like it had been one day since you had gotten here, but what if it had been longer?  

What if you had missed weeks, months, or even years of your life?  All because you had been pulled into something that happened at random .  Your body aches.

“Our two new roommates are Rust and Pyrite.  Rust is the Papyrus.”  Sans says.  Rust gives a small ‘greetings’ to everyone and then turns to you, obviously expecting you to do the same.  You give a quick nod, not trusting yourself to speak right now.  Rust looks somewhat satisfied at this, though you can tell he isn’t entirely happy that you didn’t say anything to them.

“It is wonderful to meet you two!  I’m sure we will be friends in no time!”  Papyrus cheers, letting out a soft ‘nyeheheh!” again.

“Of course.  My brother and I would like to thank everyone for allowing us to stay here and for lending us your things.”  Is Rust’s smooth reply, a pleasant smile on his face.  You hum softly in agreement, not fully paying attention to them.

“It’s no problem at all!”  Blue suddenly jumps into the conversation, a wide smile on his face as he speaks.  

“Yes, well, we still appreciate it anyways.”  Rust takes a quick moment to gather his thoughts for a moment before his tone is switching into a more serious one.  You sit up a little, focussing into the conversation.  You want to hear this too.

“Then, I suppose that we should discuss our plans for the future.  What will happen after we pass all of our tests?”  You’re not entirely sure you’ll even pass their first test without seriously injuring someone.  Not as you are, anyways.  You don’t say anything– instead choosing to listen to their reply.

The air in the room grows heavier and you can tell that Sans or Black is getting ready to deliver some bad news.  You huff.  You’re really tired of bad news at this point.

“After you pass our tests, you will be allowed to leave the house as long as you have someone with you for the first few months here.  If everything goes smoothly then, you will be allowed to go out by yourselves.  But that means that there can be no incidents, no matter the cause.  If either of you harm humans in any way, it would be game over for us.  All of us.”  Sans leans forwards in his chair, commanding attention.  His words– while not outright threatening– have your mind screaming warning bells and you feel the need to run.

You don’t hear Rust’s response, you're delving back into your thoughts.  You don’t think you’d be able to wait a few months.  Not with your body being an unknown factor right now.  But what can you do?  You’re not even sure where you are right now.  Hell, you could be in an entirely different country than before.  Afterall, even if you aren’t in a different universe, it might be possible that your soul got sucked out of your body when Quartz was pulled into this universe.  Your hands curl into fists on the table, face scrunching in frustration.

“Every new skeleton to be pulled to this universe has to go through this process, no matter what their stats are.  Stretch and Blue went through the same process and they have no Lv.”  Black’s voice is suddenly cutting through your thoughts.  You suppress a jolt, eyes darting up to look at him as he speaks.  Seems he mistook your expression for something else.  Rust nods once more, leaning back in his chair.

“I suppose we can manage.  It will only be a few months.”  Rust says quietly, more to himself than to anyone else.  

You frown.  You can’t wait a few months!  But you don’t think they will be willing to change that– not with the way you’ve been acting.  You think for a few minutes.

You could…  Try sneaking out at night…?  Afterall, the town won’t be as busy as it would be during the day.  You wouldn’t have as much of a chance to run into anyone on your way there as long as you stay in the more well-lit areas.  But you would only be able to do that if you actually knew where you were!  If you were across the country, then you could kiss that plan goodbye right now.  

You had lived in Ebott City, at the base of Mount Ebott.  You don’t think monsters had spread out very far in your universe, and if this is your universe like you think it is, then perhaps they live in or around Ebott.  Maybe if you could get a hold of a computer or phone, you’d be able to look at your current location.  If this is your universe like you think it is, then the best way to confirm that theory would be to see what happened to your body now that you aren’t with it.  If it’s still moving around, then you could always go to your house and interrupt it there.  But if your body is in a coma, then that could be more worrisome.  You don’t think you’d need to worry about no one finding you in time considering you were supposed to meet with your brother today.  You know that if you didn’t show up to the place you were supposed to meet at, he would take it upon himself to go to your apartment.  He would take care of you and Noodle, there’s no doubt about it.  You trust him to do that for you.  So all that would be left is figuring out which hospital you would be in and figuring out how to get back in your body.

But first things first, you need to get your Lv under control.  If you don’t, then you won’t be allowed out of the house at all.  Plus, you wouldn’t even feel comfortable going out if there is the very real possibility of hurting someone.  Your eyes unconsciously glance over to Black as your thoughts drift.  How exactly would he be teaching you?  Mutt had said something about pushing the thoughts down, but you don’t even know how you could do something like that without someone else there to guide your thoughts.  Wait…  Guide your thoughts…?  Why hadn’t Quartz tried to help you when you had tried to attack Red?

Quartz, earlier when I tried to attack Red, why didn’t you try to do something to stop me?   Your face scrunches as you ask the question.  

Quartz is quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking about how to answer your question.  After another moment of silence, he tentatively starts.

“When you get overtaken by my Lv, I…  Lose myself…?”   Quartz phrases it like a question, like he’s not entirely sure of what he’s saying.

What do you mean, you lose yourself?   You find yourself asking.  Quartz hums softly.

“It’s like…  When the voices come up, they push me further back– too far away for you to hear me.  But- ”  Quartz cuts himself off and you can feel a rush of displeasure that worms its way over to you.  You frown unconsciously, hissing softly at the intruding emotion.

But what?   You prod, wanting him to continue his thoughts.

“They…  The voices become everything to me.  They become everything I can see and feel and hear.  The Lv becomes me. ”  The thought is horrifying to you.  

You both simmer in silence after this, not quite sure how to continue after that.  You take this moment to look around the table.  Everyone has mostly finished their food, save for Papyrus who is about halfway through his food.  Blue talks Papyrus’ ear off, though you don’t think Papyrus minds much.  Stretch has leaned back in his chair once more, relaxed and content, as has Mutt.  Black and Sans seem to be talking about something seemingly important given their grave faces.  You hope it’s not anything to do with you, but knowing everything that has happened today, it probably is.  Edge and Rust are back to talking to each other, Edge looking rather pleased with this turnout.  Rust keeps his pleasant expression on his face.  Red seems to be the only one actually paying you any attention in the form of glaring at you.  When he notices he’s caught your sight, he not so discreetly flips you off above the table.  A small smirk slips on your face at his childishness.  

While you won’t say it, you're glad that Red doesn’t show any signs of being scared of you like Blue did.  You return the gesture, smirk growing as Red frowns.  As Red continues to make increasingly rude gestures at you, Sans' voice causes both you and Red to jump.  You turn to look at Sans.

“In two days, Rust and Pyrite will go shopping.  We’ll send out a group of people to join them.  I’ll go along with Mutt, Blue, Stretch, and Edge.”  Sans says smoothly.  You're a little unhappy that Edge is coming, but looking at the way Rust has become fast friends with Edge has you biting your tongue.

Everyone mentioned gives some kind of agreement before Sans is launching into another explanation of plans.

“We’ll start with clothes first, then hygiene things.  After that, we’ll stop for lunch.  If things go well up to that point and everyone is alright to keep going, then we’ll look around for stuff for your rooms.”  You give a quick nod along with Rust.  Blue looks excited, practically buzzing in his seat with energy.

“We’ll pick you guys out some cool stuff!!”  Blue’s voice is way louder than it should be and you have to fight the urge to cover the sides of your skull.

“We will look forward to it then, Blue.”  Rust replies for the both of you.

After this, conversations seem to break off until eventually everyone has stopped eating and Blue and Papyrus both work together to put away the leftover food.  Sans takes off at some point, saying something about ‘work’ as he leaves.  Black stands, eyes locking onto yours.

“Let’s go now, Pyrite.”  Black says, leaving no room for arguments.  Reluctantly, you stand, dread creeping up your spine.  You just hope this won’t be terrible.

Chapter Text

You trail behind Black into the hallway, nervously picking at your clothes.  Black is silent, his posture rigid as he walks.  It’s quiet- doing little to ease your ever-growing nerves.  You need to talk.  Get rid of this heavy silence.

“How is this going to work?”  You find yourself asking, wanting to fill the heavy silence between the two of you.  Black leads you down the hallway, sparing a quick glance in your direction.

“I’ll tell you what you need to know, and then show you how I do it.  It’s simple, really.  I am surprised you don’t know how.”  Black says, voice monotone.  You had wanted a little more details than that, but you suppose that could work for now.

Black leads you down the hallway and then out the front door.  You have to shield your eyes as you step onto the porch.  The sun is out, bright and glowing.  It feels like it’s been forever since you’ve been outside and you find that feeling the sun in your bones calms you some.  It feels a little strange having the wind blow on bone rather than skin, but it’s not unpleasant.  You blink a bit, forcing your eyes to adjust to the light before you take in your surroundings.

The house stands in the middle of a forest, lush trees growing in every direction.  The only indication of civilization would be the gravel road leading up to the garage next to the house, the path from the garage to the house, and the house itself.  You follow Black off the porch and find yourself turning around to look at the house.  Shock momentarily runs through your body as you see just how huge their house is and you can’t help but inwardly groan at how much money they must have.  You turn back around to Black, who was watching you closely from a few steps away.

“Nice house.”  Is your smooth response.  Black quirks an eye bone, crossing his arms over his chest as he watches you.

“What do you know about Lv?”  Black asks, skipping any pleasantry.  You move to stand in front of him, putting your full attention on him now.

“I know that I gain it after hurting people and that it makes me want to hurt others.”  You reply.  You feel like you have a good grasp of what Lv is, but judging by Black’s expression, you don’t.

“What else?”  He prods.  You really don’t know what else to say, so you shrug.  Black gives a soft sigh, looking away from you for a moment.

“You are correct about both of those things, but you’re missing the most important detail.  Lv forms as the corruption of magic.  The higher the Lv, the more corrupted a person's magic becomes.”  Black pauses for a moment, looking at you as you absorb his words.

“This corruption in magic contributes to your blood-lust, as well as changing both you and your magic.  For example-“. Black points to his sharp teeth.  “My teeth weren’t always like this.  Because I gained Lv, my body changed from its original form into this.”  Huh.  You glance down at your own body.  The tips of your phalanges are sharp- as are your teeth.  So it comes from Lv.  A chill runs down your back.

So you didn’t always look like this either, Quartz?   You find yourself asking quietly, briefly distracting yourself from the crawling feeling on your bones.  It seems like every chance the world gets, it wants to remind you that you’re stuck in Quartz’s body.

“No, I did not.  Though my appearance did change fast.  I barely remember what I used to look like.”   You don’t know whether to pity him or to revel in the fact that his body reflects his sins.  You frown slightly, choosing instead to focus back on Black and to push the feelings away entirely.

“In order to keep the corruption down, we have to expel it.  This can be done in a variety of different ways, but the best way is to use your magic for something other than violence.  The typical way to do this is by using blue magic, but there are others here who get rid of it in different ways.  Red- for example- often teleports to rid himself of corruption.”  You nod once more.

Black’s explanation makes sense.  There’s just one problem with that.  You don’t know how to use magic.  Each time you had used magic before, it came to you instinctively, when you hadn’t been in the right mind to actually know what you were doing.  Now that you have to actually do it, you don’t know if it will work for you.  

“Show me an example.”  You find yourself asking Black.  He looks confused for a moment, eyebones scrunching up, before his face relaxes once more and says ‘alright’.

Black takes a very brief moment to glance around the area before his right arm rises, a dark blue glow surrounding his hand.  A few more seconds, and then suddenly a few dozen pebbles are flying towards him, stopping just before they actually hit him.  He turns to face you again, pebbles still floating behind him as he speaks.

“There.  Is that enough of an example?”  Black’s eyebone quirks upwards.  As much as you would have liked to, you understand absolutely nothing from his example.  Your face remains carefully blank as you examine the floating pebbles behind Black.  You have no clue how he’s doing that.  As much as you would have loved to figure this out yourself, it looks like you’ll have to rely on Quartz once again.

Quartz.  How do I use magic?   You carefully ask.  You’re not entirely sure Quartz would want you to learn how to use his magic.  You toy with the hem of your clothes, picking at loose strings.  You can feel a spike of annoyance from Quartz, but you keep your mouth shut until he starts talking.

“ Feel the flow of magic through ou-my bones. ”  You close your eyes, trying to feel for what he said and ignoring his slip of the tongue.

You stand with your eyes closed, acutely aware of Black’s stare, and try to focus on your body.  You feel…. Short.  And thin.  Almost brittle, in a way.  Like even a tap could reduce you to dust.

“ Not that.  Feel the static below that.”   You jump as Quartz’s voice implants itself in your head, interrupting you from the trance you had entered.

You look deeper, sloshing past the brittle feeling of bone and into the bone.  At first, you don’t feel anything because you don’t know what you should be feeling.  But then you feel it, a course static thrumming through your marrow.  Now that you know it’s there, it’s everywhere .  Not just in you, but around you.  You can feel it in the air, coming from Black, and even the magic from the people inside the house.  It’s simultaneously too much and not enough.  Your bones feel hollow, like they should hold more magic than they do.  Distantly, you hear the front door open and close.

“ Don’t pull any magic in, use what you have.”   Quartz warns, voice stern.  You listen to him, even if you really want to do the opposite of what he says.  Something tells you it would be a bad idea if you followed your desire.  You focus on what you have, feeling the way it runs through your bones.  It starts in your souls and spreads throughout your body.  It’s warm and alive .

“ Reach out with our magic.  Take the rocks from Black.”   Quartz prompts, and you do as told.   You reach out, magic doing as you tell it, and surround the pebbles with it.  Then you try to tug them away from Black.  There is slight resistance before Black seems to realize what you’re doing and lets go.  

The rocks are heavier than you thought they would be (really, you thought you wouldn’t be able to feel the weight at all) and you feel them drop a little.  Your face scrunches in concentration, trying to hold onto your control of the pebbles, and you’re rewarded with the pebbles rising back to their original height.  Joy lights up in you and you find your eyes opening to take in your victory.

Your hand is extended, a murky brown color surrounding it.  Instinctively, you recognize that it’s brown because there are two magic colors intertwined into one.  Yours would be green- like your soul- but what color is Quartz’s magic?  Your eyes catch sight of the pebbles floating lazily before you, the same murky brown surrounding them.  A proud smile spreads across your face.

“I-“. “ Shh!”   Quartz’s harsh yell interrupts your victory cheer, your grip on the pebbles failing.  They fall to the ground.

Still.  It was a victory for you.  The smile on your face and the excited buzzing in your bones proves it.  You chuckle softly, staring at where the rocks lay on the ground.

I did it, Quartz.   It feels good to say it to him.  Quartz doesn’t say anything back to you, but you don’t care.  He can’t ruin your good mood right now.

“Hmm….”  Blacks hum has you looking up at him.  His face is still one of questioning as he looks between you and the rocks on the ground.

“You didn’t hold them for very long…. Are you still low on magic from what happened with Blue this morning?”  Black asks you.  It’s like a bucket of cold water is dumped on you.  

Using magic had felt good just now, but earlier, whenever you had used magic, it felt…  Oppressive.  Heavy.  It almost hurt to use.  Because you had wanted to hurt others, the magic hurt you.  Guilt runs through you.  Why should you get to enjoy the feeling of using magic when you had almost killed not one, but two people earlier today.  You don’t say anything in reply to Black, eyes remaining glued to the rocks on the ground.

“No matter.  Now that you know how to do it yourself, you can do it whenever you need to.”  Black’s voice cuts through your silence.  As he speaks, he picks up the rocks with his magic once more and returns them to wherever he had gotten them from.  You watch them float away.

“Now then.  How long ago did you start using magic?”  Your head whips up to meet his gaze, jaw falling open.  Black gives you a stern look.

“Surely you didn’t think that you were being secretive.”  You swallow dryly, reeling in your expression.  While you weren’t exactly trying to hide it, you hadn’t thought that Black would actually realize you had never used magic like this before.  Afterall, you’re a monster.  Monsters know how to use magic.

How do you get out of this?  If you tell him that you have always used magic, then he would know you’re lying.  But if you tell him the truth, what would that mean for you?  Should you even keep up the facade anymore?  It would make things easier for you to just tell them that you’re human.

Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t-

You look over Black’s face.  It’s carefully blank.  You swallow dryly.  You need to tell someone.  Anyone, really.  You can’t keep lying like this, especially when they have helped you.  You open your mouth to speak.

Something tugs you backwards and suddenly you're watching Quartz move.  Your soul feels heavy, like something is holding you down.  You watch Black through the screen.  You watch as Black’s eyes widen just a bit before it falls into something cold.  He’s tense, staring at Quartz.  You can feel Quartz gathering magic; though, he doesn’t actually do anything with the pooled magic.

“ All my life .”  Quartz uses the voice differently than you do.  His voice is low, quiet (almost like a whisper), and gravelly.  He says his words with a bite, a threat to each word.  If you had a body, it would send chills down your back.  But you don’t, so instead you feel your soul shake.  His voice reminds you of when you first met.

When had he stopped talking to you like that?

“Why don’t you know how to get rid of the corrupted magic?”  Despite Quartz’s threatening presence, Black presses on with his questions.  You can see that Black is preparing to defend himself if need be.  

“ None of your business .”  Quartz sounds like a snake preparing to strike.  Still and tense and threatening.  You can hear whispers around you, begging for blood and dust.

The two regard each other for a moment like wild animals pondering whether the fight is worth it.  Quartz is the first to turn.  He turns towards the house and walks towards it, brushing off Black entirely as if to say “you’re no threat to me”.  As Quartz walks towards the porch, you notice Mutt standing there, on the top step of the stairs as if he were getting ready to intervene.  Or back up Black.  Quartz moves past Mutt, careful not to bump into him, and then into the house.

Sans is just behind the door and so Quartz moves past him as well, ignoring him entirely, and heads straight towards the stairs.  It isn’t until he enters your room that he stops, locking the door behind him.  He doesn’t move away from the door, standing rigidly just in front of it.

“ You won’t tell them.”   He speaks lowly, voice even more of a whisper than it was before.  As scared as you are right now, you speak calmly to him.

“ Why? ”

“ I won’t let you. ”  Anger clouds your mind.  It isn’t just his choice to make!

“You can’t stop me!  I’ll do it as soon as you fall asleep.”   You snarl angrily.  The whispers around you grow in volume, threatening to swallow you.

“I’ll rip you out of me if you do.”   Quartz’s voice is even; calm and collected.  That angers you further.

“ You’ll die too, Quartz!  You can’t get rid of me!”   You’re yelling now, the voices rising to match your volume.

“Then I’ll find your family.  Your brother’s name was Lucas, right?  I’m sure it would be easy to find him.”   You turn to ice.

“You wouldn’t.”   

“ Try me. ”

You can feel yourself pulling to the surface.  You can feel Quartz’s control slipping.  You can feel your panic coursing through you.  You know Quartz can feel it too because he chuckles softly just before you’re pulled back into the body completely.  You tremble softly as Quartz fades, leaving you alone.

Chapter Text

You suck in a shuddering breath, trying to suppress the intense trembles raking through your body.  Even despite Quartz’s threats and vicious behavior, you still felt his absence.  It seems after only spending one full day with the skeleton, you had grown much more used to having someone else in your head than you had originally thought.  You fight the burning behind your eyes and the lump in your throat.

“No.  You won’t cry because of him.  You won’t.  You’re better than that.”  You choke out to no one but yourself.  Quartz didn’t deserve your tears.  

Still, It hurts.  More than you thought it would.

You’re not sure when you had moved, but when you finally calm down enough to actually take in where you are, you find yourself lying on the bed, face covered in the blankets.  You shakily sigh, hoisting the blankets off of you and then sitting up.  You had said you wouldn’t cry, and yet here you are, wet tear tracks trailing your face.  He didn’t deserve your tears!  Anger so red and hot it threatens to burn you apart from the inside.  

How dare he!  Quartz had no reason to threaten you like that, especially when you had told him you wouldn’t do anything to his family!  You had thought that the two of you were getting along better.  But obviously you were wrong.  You angrily huff, tearing at the blankets around you in an attempt to let off some steam.  You’d deal with the damage later (seems wherever you go you cause damage).

“Where does he get off being a fucking asshole like that?  It’s not like he’d ever get the chance to even leave!”  You angrily throw your hands up, ranting to yourself.  Despite your words, doubt lingers in the back of your mind.

Something in the back of your mind whispers to you “could he?  Would he actually try to hurt your family if you go against him?”.  Why does he want to keep you a secret?  What could he possibly gain by keeping such a big secret?  Everyone here had already proven to be at least somewhat decent enough to try and help you.  You mean, Black had even taught you how to control your Lv!  That’s not something Quartz was exactly lining up to do!  You give another huff, flopping backwards onto the pillows.  

Why was Quartz so against telling the others?  As you ponder that idea, a small thought pops into your head.  Maybe he just wants to feel like he has control of his life again?  After all, you had only been stuck watching Quartz move the body a few times and you hated every second of that.  You couldn’t imagine what it would feel like knowing that you had limited control of your own body.  But threatening your family like that was going too far.  You would never stoop to something so low.

Why couldn’t Quartz see that you didn’t want to be his enemy?  At every point, he seems intent on destroying any relationship you had built up, both with Quartz himself and with others.  But…  It’s not like you had been very…  Understanding with him towards his Lv.  But you were justified in your thoughts!  Quartz had no reason to keep this secret.  At least, no reason that was prominent to you.

Perhaps he has trouble trusting others.  Either that or he doesn’t want the others to think he’s weak because a human has control of his body.  But you can’t keep doing this with Quartz. It isn’t fair to either of you.  Plus, this song and dance was getting old– fast.

You need to come up with rules, but what would he agree to?  Obviously you could use not telling anyone about the two of you as one of them.  Maybe you could try to see how long Quartz can control his body?  You wouldn’t want to be trapped, unable to move the entire day, of course you wouldn't want to either.  But it wouldn’t be fair to either of you if one person gets an entire day to do whatever they want.  

 As you lay and think, you suddenly sit up as something pops into your head.  If it wouldn’t be fair to either people to spend an entire day, then what about half a day?  Someone could have control of the body from morning to noon and then the other from noon to night!  While being just a soul had been scary (an understatement— you had been terrified ), you think you would be able to tough it out for Quartz.  As long as it would keep him from hurting your family, you would do anything.  Your good mood fades a little, dampened by Quartz’s actions from earlier.

You still needed to do damage control with Black thanks to Quartz.  A frown slips onto your face as you remember how Black had reacted to Quartz.  He had been tensed up, like he had been expecting Quartz to attack at any time.  You hadn’t even realized Mutt was outside until Quartz had all but run into him.  What was he even doing out there?  And when did he get onto the porch in the first place?  And then there was Sans, who looked like he had been ready to break up a fight as Quartz had passed him in the doorway.  That was already three people you owed an apology to.  But Black seemed the most important at the moment.  You pause; however, as you remember what led up to those events.

Black had figured out you had never used magic before.  You swallow nervously, anxiously tapping your clawed phalanges on the bedding beside you.  You hadn’t been very…. Secretive back there…. Of course, Quartz hadn’t either.  But Black had figured it out because Quartz had to teach you.  As much as you hated to admit it, what happened back there was partly your fault.  You hadn’t been careful enough.  A rough sigh makes its way out of your mouth.  

So you suppose it isn’t just cleaning up Quartz’s mess that you need to do, but also cleaning up your own mess as well.  Fun.

So– it seems like what the two of you should do is set up some rules for each other.  The first one that you think would work is having someone control the body in the morning and then the other person controlling the body in the afternoon.  That seems like the most important rule.  You just hope that Quartz can actually stay in control for the entire morning.  The next rule (and one you need for peace of mind) is no more threatening the other person.  You didn’t want to live the rest of your life in fear of something happening to you or your family and you’re sure that even though Quartz had said that Rust can handle himself just fine, having the promise there would bring more peace of mind for Quartz.  Finally, instead of forcing control like Quartz had done before, just talk to the other person.  Tell the other person what you’re thinking and feeling.  You’re not entirely sure if Quartz will go for this part of the deal considering you don’t think he’s much of a talk-it-out kind of guy.  Still, it doesn’t hurt to at least try.

As you sit and think, slowly you start to notice the static filling your hearing— taking over your vision.  Your soul beats heavy as your chest starts to ache, then blossoms into fire.  You let out a pained gasp, hand haphazardly gripping onto the front of your shirt.  As the static begins to overtake you, you distantly feel yourself collapse.  Thank goodness you were on the bed.  You don’t think you would appreciate waking up on the floor after this.

You float in the static, waiting for something to happen.  You feel nothing.  You see nothing.  Are your eyes open or are they closed?  Something whispers to you that they are closed, so you try to open them.

As your vision clears, you find yourself standing in front of a tube, much much taller than you, filled to the brim with some kind of viscous green liquid.  Inside the liquid, cradled in wires and the primordial green soup, is a tiny skeleton.  Barely the size of your little arm.  You find yourself looking down, comparing it to yourself.  You notice the dull claws already forming at the tips of your phalanges.  You do your best to ignore the feeling of dust between your joints.  Unlike before, you can feel your magic running through you and you can pinpoint exactly where the Lv sits inside you.

You can feel the Lv grind its way through your bones, sticking to everything it touches and leaving you a goopy, slimy mess.  Most of it comes from your— not your soul. You would never do something so filthy .  His soul.  The Lv comes from his soul, dirtying his body from the inside out.  It’s disgusting , he thinks.  You have to agree.  

He looks to the man— no, to the monster that gave him this Lv.  If there’s one thing that humans have right, it’s that the person in front of him is a monster .  A beast in the form of a Monster.  And if that is what his maker is, then what does that make him ?  And yet, despite everything, he still can’t remember his creator’s face.  No matter how often he tries.  Maybe he doesn’t want to remember anymore.  You certainly don’t.

“This is experiment PI–002”. His creator gestures to the tube and his eyes follow the gesture.  His gaze lands on the tiny creature floating serenely inside.  Free of all the sins of the world.

“You will protect him until he can fend for himself.”  He doesn’t say anything in retaliation.  What can he say?  He doesn’t have a choice.  He's never had a choice.

“ Yes, sir ” is his reply.  His voice is still so young.  Knowing that there is Lv flowing through his bones at such a young age makes your soul ache.

“You will help him grow and teach him to survive.  If he dies, you will die too.”  He wants to curl up and cry somewhere quiet, but there’s nowhere he can hide.

“ Yes, sir”

“You will help him gain Lv-“. His head snaps to look at the monster speaking.  Dread fills both his and your chest.

“ You want me to make him kill?  He’s just a baby!”   He does his best to ignore that he’s just a baby.  You don’t forget.

The monster turns to look at him very briefly before it loses interest and turns its attention back to the tube.

“You will weaken his targets so that he can kill them.  A fitting task for you.”  He feels sick.  You feel sick too.  The monster leaves no room for argument and he can tell that its patience is wearing thin, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“ Yes, sir, ” he says.  Despite what others think, he doesn’t have a death wish.  He turns back to facing the tube, watching the small creature inside twitch and squirm like it’s dreaming.  Perhaps it is.  He hopes that whatever it is dreaming about, it’s much better than reality.

Anywhere is better than reality.

Chapter Text

Quartz’s memory fades just as quickly as it had hit you, leaving you once again floating in the sea of static.  It’s serene.  Calming.  You dread what comes next.

Something shifts in your soul that spreads fire throughout your body.  You’re yanked viciously back into Quartz’s body, eyes rolling backwards as pure agony races through you.  You’re shaking violently, you distantly realize.  Yet no sound escapes your mouth, even though you know that you should be screaming.  It’s much worse than last time.  You feel like something’s trying to force your two souls together, but you can also feel resistance from both yours and Quartz’s souls.  Resistance that sends rolling waves of aging across your body.   You would realize that the pain comes from the resistance if you could actually think right now.  But the mind-numbing pain makes it hard to even breathe, let alone think right now.

You’re not sure how long you laid there, convulsing in pure agony, but eventually the pain numbs somewhat.  Just enough to allow you to think again— to breathe again.  You take shuddering breaths, a dull ache rising in your chest with each inhale.  You can hear Quartz in the back of your head doing the same.  

“Quartz…. Fuck you…”. You gasp out.  Even with the slowly fading pain, you still find it in you to be angry with him.  A feat on its own.

Quartz doesn’t dignify you with a response; though, you’re not expecting one in the first place.  He’s too busy trying to recover from the pulses of dull ache echoing around his soul.

Eventually, after a few more minutes of breathing, the pain subsides to a more manageable level.  You find yourself able to breathe– actually breath– again as does Quartz.  You’re the first to speak.

“What was that?  That was so much worse than before!”  As much as you want to bring up your deal to him right this moment, you think it's better to address what just happened rather than something as small as that.

“ Something’s…. Something’s wrong. ”  Gee, when isn’t something wrong?  You feel a spike of annoyance from Quartz that has you pausing…  You hadn’t directed that thought towards him…

“ Shut up, I’m serious!  Something’s wrong with our souls. ”  Quartz’s voice is snappish, a growl to his voice.  A cold pit of dread settles into you.

Without another word, you feel a pull against your souls, gently tugging it out of your chest.  Even with the tenderness, each gentle tug sends you reeling in pain.  Quartz, after what seems like hours, finally manages to pull the two souls out into the open.

The first thing that greets you is the green glare of your soul and you find yourself having to shield your eyes from the harshness of the light.  As your eyes adjust, the sight that greets you is enough to make your non-existent stomach do flips.  Quartz’s soul has thick green lines running through it, spreading roots throughout.  But that's not what sends fear down your spine.  What sends chills down your spine is how far your soul has been sucked into his.  While before it had only been the pointed part of your soul, now your soul was submerged in his almost halfway up.  If you looked closely at Quartz’s soul, you could see the tip of your soul inside his.  Like before, there was a steady drip of whatever liquid was inside of the two souls that fell onto your clothes, staining them a light green color.  You’re too entranced by the horrifying sight before you to care.

What would happen if your soul was absorbed fully?

“Quartz…”. Despite your previous anger with him, you need comfort from someone.  And Quartz is the only one who knows.  The only one who could understand what's happening to you.  To the both of you.  Fear shoots through you.

“ I know… ”. Quartz mumbles.  You can feel his fear mixing with yours.  How do you fix this?  Can it even be fixed?  

An idea blooms, an idea that makes your stomach lurch.  Quartz’s words from earlier linger in your mind.  As much of a bad idea as it seems to be, what if you only go halfway?

What if Quartz pulls out your soul just enough to not kill the both of you?  Just to where it was before?  Last night, when he had tried to, you hadn’t died.  And you had felt more whole— more like you.  Who you were supposed to be.  Not who you were turning into.  Sure, it had hurt– a lot– but if you could do that again, maybe it would slow down the process?  Because clearly your souls were trying to merge.  Even with your limited knowledge, you knew that down to the core of who you were, that if your soul was to be absorbed into Quartz’s, it would be over.  You would be over.  

You suck in a shuddering breath.

“ This happens after I take control.”   Quartz’s voice pulls you from your thoughts.  You had suspected as much, but hearing him say it helps confirm it in your mind.  You're half tempted to snap at him, tell him that this is his fault, but you can't find it in yourself to hold onto that anger anymore.  Not with the sight of your impending death looming in front of you.

You huff, watching the green liquid from your souls gather at the bottom of Quartz’s soul and then fall onto you.  If that happened everytime Quartz took control, then you’re not so sure you want to bring up your deal now.  Taking turns having control of the body could do more harm than good.

“ What deal?”   You jump, shock building in your chest at his words.  Could he hear your thoughts now?  You wouldn’t be surprised with how deep your soul is in his.  You feel guilty for even thinking of not even giving him the option.  It wouldn’t be fair to not give Quartz a choice in the matter.  Even if he didn’t give you a choice, you wouldn’t stoop that low.

“I wanted to make a deal with you Quartz– and before you say “no way you stupid human” just hear me out first!”  You could feel Quartz bristle at your words.  You can’t help but bristle along with him.  You don’t think you like being this connected with Quartz.  It makes your emotions more intense.  You just hope that he at least listens to you.

“Fine.  Let’s hear it.”  You can’t help but smile as your chest warms.  Happiness warms you.  Quartz's sputters in the back of your mind have you pausing.  Oh god, could he feel your emotions now too?  You whine softly, throwing a hand over your face as his embarrassment hits you.  You’re not quite sure why he’s embarrassed but his embarrassment is affecting you too!  Your face is hot.

“Why are you embarrassed!?”  You yell, voice coming out in a strangled garble.  You do your best to ignore the nervousness that hits you.  You're not sure whose it is and you don't want to know.

“ Shut up!” Quartz yelps, his voice an octave higher than his usual tone.  And there it is again– another wave of embarrassment slams into you like a tidal wave of emotion.  You drag your hand down your face, the sound of bone against bone helping pull you out of the ocean you’ve found yourself in.  You suck in a breath, doing your best to will away the heat in your face and focus instead on the topic at hand.  A few more moments of breathing and you finally calm down enough to not be such a mess.

“Okay…. Okay…. Let’s not let that happen again…”. You mumble quietly.  You hear Quartz grunt in agreement.  Alright, time to get to the topic at hand.

“So.  The deal…. I think we should see how long you can stay in control for the day and then I’ll step back during those hours for as long as I can.  Obviously, it can’t be an entire day.  I don’t think our souls would let us do that, but however long you have is yours.  In exchange, don’t threaten my family ever again.  Stay away from them.  Also, if I do something you don’t like, tell me .  Instead of forcing control like you did just now, tell me and I’ll stop.  Likewise, if you do something I don’t like, I’ll tell you…  How does that sound…?”  You trail off at the end, becoming less sure of yourself as Quartz remains silent through your talk.

Quartz is silent for so long that you think he might not respond until he finally says something quietly— so quiet you almost miss it

“ Fine .”  His words are short and sharp, as if it pains him to say the words.  You can’t help the excited grin that breaks over your face as well as the little cheer you let out.  You hadn’t expected him to agree, especially given the last time you tried to strike a deal with him.  It's a victory– a small one, sure, but a small victory is better than nothing.

“Really!?”  You laugh, and you notice that your soul glows brighter for just a moment as warmth floods you.

“ Yeah.  Just don’t push your luck. ”  You giggle softly and there it is again, a small stab of embarrassment coming from Quartz.  This time you do your best to ignore it.  You really don’t like how close the two of you are— your emotions should be private.  It feels like an invasion of privacy.  Your mind darts back to what you thought of earlier, dread building in your chest.  Quartz seems to be able to tell your change in mood as the emotion you felt from him tapers off into confusion.

“ What?”   Quartz asks.  You frown, toying with a loose string on your shirt.

“So…. You remember last night when you tried to pull my soul from yours?  Do you remember what it felt like after?”  You start, not sure how to phrase what you’re about to say.

“ It felt like I was dying” . Quartz’s voice sounds narrow— tight.  You can feel suspicion radiating off of him.  You wince.

“Not that.  Did you feel more…. Whole?  After you did it?  Like your thoughts were your own again?”  

Realization smacks you across the face and you do your best not to flinch in response.  Then dread builds up, mixing in with yours.

“ You want to…. Do that again…. "  he pauses and you can feel the disbelief worming its way to you, " Do you not remember what that felt like!?  Could you even handle doing that willingly !?”   Quartz sounds incredulous, voice pitched up in volume.  It’s the loudest you think you’ve heard him speak.

“It’s either that or…. I get absorbed into your soul.  I don’t want to disappear, Quartz.  And I’m sure you don’t want to have a human fused with you.  Permanently fused with you.”  You’re shaking, but the thought of vanishing— of dying, because really that’s what it is– is much more terrifying than anything else.  You don’t want to die.  Not like this.

Quartz is quiet for a few moments, thinking deeply.  As much as you hope that he says yes, a smaller, much more afraid part of you hopes he says no.  But you can't let this go on.

“All you have to do is pull me out enough to not kill us.  If we leave this alone for too long, then we’ll die.”  You prod him.  The words burn as they leave, but you force them out anyways.

“ Okay. ”  Both relief and dread fills you.  You don’t know whether to celebrate or condemn yourself as he continues to speak. “ But we’ll need to find somewhere far from the others.  Where they won’t hear us scream.”

You’re going to cry.  Or be sick.  Maybe both.  But you nod anyways, mind immediately jumping to the forest.  If you walked just deep enough to be out of earshot if the house, but just close enough to not get lost, you’d be okay.  No one would have to find out.  It’d be okay.  Just keep telling yourself that and maybe it will become true.

“Okay…. Okay…. When-when do you want to do this?”  You can’t stop your words from stumbling over themselves.  You’re scared .  Sounding strong isn’t on the agenda now, especially since Quartz can definitely feel your fear.

“ As soon as possible.  The longer we put this off, the more danger we’ll be in.”   Quartz isn’t in a much better state than you.  His emotions keep crashing into yours, raising them to heights you thought were impossible.  You both are terrified .  

“Can’t we wait…?  Maybe until after I apologize to Black?”  Or maybe not at all, you nearly say.  A bit of procrastination won’t hurt, will it?

“ You’re…. Going to apologize to Black.”   Quartz doesn’t say it like a question, voice deadpan as he says it.  His confusion and annoyance hit you at the same time.

“Yeah.  If we want to stay living here in one piece, we need to try and play nice with the others.  I don’t think it’d be smart to make enemies of everyone.  Especially with someone who was helping us.”  You jab at Quartz.  Okay, maybe you're still a little angry with him.

“ He’s going to ask questions, you know that right?” Quartz hums.  You scoff.

“Quartz, they all will ask questions.  Especially if you run away like that when they are trying to understand you.  Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Black already knows.”  You listen as Quartz sucks in a sharp breath (strange because he shouldn’t even need to breathe considering he's just a soul right now).  Wait…. Did he…. Not realize running away like that was more suspicious than answering his questions?

“Are you kidding me Quartz?”  The words slip out of your mouth before you can stop them.  Quartz bristles, letting out a soft hiss.

“Oh my god.  You really didn’t know.”   A small giggle escapes you.

“ Quiet, human!  I-I knew that!”   You’re full on laughing now.  So hard that tears slip out of your eyes.  The laughter hurts (it jostles your body and any movement sends a dull ache through your bones) but you can’t stop the almost manic laughs that escape you.  You can hear Quartz whining in the background and that only further spurs on your laughs.  By the end of it, you’re desperate for air and aching all over.  But.  It felt good.   You settle back down, smile not fading off your face as you wipe off the tears from your face.  

“ Are you done?”   Oh, Quartz is annoyed alright.  But you can feel the barely suppressed humor that he gives off.  

“Yeah.  That was good, bone boy.”  The nickname slips out of your mouth before you even realize you’re saying it, but you don’t find yourself regretting it.

“ Sure sure, laugh it up.”   Quartz pauses for a moment, seemingly sobering up before he speaks again, “ Are you really going to apologize to Black?”   You sober up at the shift in his voice.  The smile drops from your face.

“Yeah.  I am.  Do you have a problem with that?”  You’re not trying to sound accusatory, but the words come out like that anyways.  You wince.

“ I do.  He was prying way too deep for someone we just met.”   As much as Quartz’s point does make sense to you, you still feel the need to apologize.  

“Yeah, I agree that he was prying.  But you shouldn’t have threatened him.”  You say softly.  Very briefly, you think that both Black and Mutt have problems with that, considering Mutt had asked the same kind of questions to you earlier.  You don’t mention that to Quartz.  Not yet, anyways.

Quartz hums softly, not agreeing with you but also not denying you either.  You’re not entirely sure what that’s supposed to mean, but Quartz is speaking before you can address it.

“ You should go now before we run out of daylight to fix our souls .”  At the mention of your plan, your heart drops.  You had almost forgotten about that.  Which is strange, considering your souls were still out in the open, dripping soul-sludge onto you.  You wrinkle your face in disgust at the mess of green slime that stains the front of your shirt.

“Put our souls back first.”  You say.  Quartz does the mental equivalent of jolting before the souls float very slowly back into your chest.  It burns as they go in and then you feel the familiar burn of two souls crammed together much too closely in your body.  You bite back a cry of pain.

You sit there for a moment longer, getting used to the pain once more before you finally slide off the bed and stand shakily.  Your legs are like jelly below you, threatening to give out at any moment.  But you find yourself moving forwards despite the pain and the feeling of weakness spreading throughout you.  You needed to apologize first.

You could worry about what comes after later.

Chapter Text

You’re not entirely sure where you could find Black.  So you’re left wondering the hallways blankly.  You’re still a little weak from earlier, but using the wall to support you helps you move along at a steady pace.  After searching this floor, you decide to head to the first floor.  Which is where you stand now.  Or at least that is where you would be if you could get down the stairs.

You’re not nearly steady enough to walk down them on your own two legs.  You’d end up falling down them and you’re not really feeling up to that right now.  You don’t really want to add more pain to your already aching body.  So, you do the next best thing and sit down on the first step, legs dangling over the edge, and then scoot yourself off onto the next step.  You repeat this, sliding down each step carefully.  You’re about halfway down the stairs when a voice startles you out of your concentration.

“What are you doing?”  It’s Rust, thankfully.  While the situation is embarrassing, you find it’s not as bad as it would be if someone else had caught you instead.  You turn around to look at him and yup, Rust stands at the top of the stairs, a bewildered expression on his face.  Your face flushes slightly as you meet Rust’s gaze.

“Help?”  You ask Rust quietly, not wanting to attract any more attention than you already have.

You’re not sure if you’re surprised or not that Rust actually comes down the stairs to you, stopping just in front of you.  He holds out his arms to you, stopping short of touching you.  You hesitate for just a moment, the thought of touching Rust— or anyone really— sends bugs crawling all over you, but you power through it and very hesitantly take a hold of his arms.  Rust hoists you up like you're weightless (maybe you are considering you’re a skeleton), dangling you in front of him.  Like a cat, you briefly think.  Rust turns and walks down the rest of the stairs, setting you down gently at the bottom.  

“There you are, brother.  Your laziness knows no bounds.”  Rust’s words send a snort through you.  You turn around to look at him, an easy smile on your face.  Despite everything, Rust never failed to make you feel secure in your place.  He reminds you so much of your brother.  You miss him.

“It’s alright, it's bound to let up sometime.”  You find yourself smiling as Rust’s expression falls, slipping into a grimace.

“Was that a pun?”  Rust looks done with life.  You can’t help the smile growing as you watch Rust’s expression fall.  In the back of your mind you hear Quartz groan in protest.

“I’m bound by contract to tell you that it was.”  You continue, both Rust’s and Quartz’s agony making you press onwards.  After all, it’s always funnier if the other person hates puns.  Your grin stretches, a dull ache making its way into your cheeks.

“Brother, they have corrupted you.  I should have left you on the stairs.”  You laugh, watching as Rust frowns.  But he’s not running away yet, so you still have an audience.  Not counting your captive audience, of course.  You suppress a chuckle as you think of another pun.

“What, you’re just gonna stair at me and watch me suffer?”  Rust groans in time with Quartz.  You can’t stop yourself from laughing then and as you watch Rust turn and go back upstairs— certainly running away from the pun ishment— your thoughts turn inwards.

So, my captive audience.  You can’t run away like Rust can.   You suppress a giggle, waiting for Quartz to take the bait like you know he will.

“ Of course I can.  Don’t be stupid, human.”   Oh poor little Quartz…

Don’t you mean to say, of Quartz you can?  You almost feel a little bad as Quartz gives a cry of astonishment.  

“ Did you name me Quartz just so you could make puns!?”   You give a soft snicker, doing your best to contain your laughter so you don’t look strange laughing by yourself.  To be fair, Quartz's name is clever wordplay, but you’re not going to tell him the double meaning behind it.

No, I didn’t.  Don’t worry, bone-boy.   Quartz gives a small huff, mumbling “good” grumpily.  

“ Just go apologize to Black and stop torturing me.”   You chuckle softly, nodding a bit.

You turn to walk down the hallway, making your way towards the kitchen first.  You just barely poke your head in, not wanting to interrupt whoever is inside.  Blue stands at the sink, washing some of the bowls and pots that had held the food for lunch.  Papyrus; meanwhile, is putting away food into containers and then stacking them on top of each other.  There are a lot of containers and you’re not entirely sure how they will all fit in the fridge.  Both have their backs to you and since they’re not the skeleton(or skeletons) you’re looking for, you turn, walking just a few feet down the hall and towards the dining room.

You pause.  Coming from the dining room are two voices— Black and Mutt.  While normally it wouldn’t be something to pause over, it’s what they’re talking about that has you pausing— or rather who they’re talking about.  You swallow dryly.

“—One moment he is friendly, welcoming even, and the next he looks like he’s going to kill me!”  Black’s voice is a harsh whisper, but it has enough volume to it to carry his words to you.  You find your hands gripping your shirt, trying to ground yourself. You hear Mutt hum.

“I mean, it got so bad that Sans came out!  Sans!  The guy barely intervenes in any of the fights!  But one look from Pyrite and he’s running out, ready to stop him!  Like I can’t protect myself!  From a new magic user, no less!”  Black scoffs, laughing incredulously as he rants.

“Surprised me too.  Didn’t expect to see Sans standing behind the door like that.  But, this isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.  It’s about the results.”  Mutt says, cutting off Black’s rant.  You think Black might snap at him, but you're surprised when he doesn’t.

“What did you find?”  Black’s voice is deadly serious.  You’re sweating with how intense the conversation has turned.  There’s no way you can interrupt them now.  You can’t help the slight hint of curiosity that settles into you.  Perhaps staying to listen would be okay– after all, they are talking about you.

“That’s the thing, it’s giving me impossible answers.  Everything he says is a truth and a lie at the same time,”  Mutt sighs, defeated “maybe it’s finally broken.”

“Try it on me.”  Black prods.  Mutt gives a soft sigh again before he asks Black a question.

“Are you my brother?”  Mutt asks, to which Black answers with a quick and easy “yes”.  

“Truth.  I guess it does work…. Then why doesn’t it work on Pyrite…?”  Mutt questions, a hint of relief in his voice as he speaks.

Black gives a soft hum, thinking for a moment.  A moment longer and Black is very tentatively speaking, voice so quiet you almost miss it.

“I have a theory about him.  But I won’t discuss that here— not when there’s someone listening in on us.”  Your soul jumps into your throat, a shocked gasp escaping you.  You quickly slap a hand over your mouth.  How long had they known you were there?  And why didn’t they stop talking if they knew you were there?

“Why don’t you come out?”  Black calls to you.  Maybe you should just turn tail and run….

No.

You had decided to apologize to Black, and that’s something you need to do, even if you were caught listening in on them.  It’s not like they were anywhere private anyways!  They obviously weren’t trying to keep what they know a secret.  You cautiously step out, looking anywhere but at them.  

“Pyrite?” Black’s voice tilts upwards, as if he is surprised to see you “Explain yourself.”  Black says cooly.  You chance a glance at the two of them.

Black is leaned forwards in his chair, hands folded under his chin and elbows resting on the table as he regards you with both confusion, anger, and a hint of curiosity.  Mutt on the other hand looks poker-faced, much like before, and reclined back in his chair.  The perfect image of relaxation.  Honestly, you’re not sure if you prefer Mutt’s expression or Black’s expression more.  You swallow dryly, working past the lump of nerves in your throat.

“I…. I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier but then I heard you talking and I…. Well I didn’t want to interrupt at first but then I heard you talking about what happened outside and then I got curious about what you meant by both truth and lie and then I couldn’t stop listening and—“ you very quickly spiral into a guilty ramble, head spinning as you try and keep up with the slew of words escaping your mouth.  Eventually, Black holds up a hand to pause you and your mouth falls shut with a click.  Black clears his throat, an awkward grimace to his face.  You look at the floor.

“I was not expecting an apology, Pyrite.  Quite frankly, you do not seem to be the type to apologize for your actions.  But, I appreciate one nonetheless.”  Black pauses, glancing at Mutt for a moment before turning back to you.  You can’t help but wince at his words.  Had you really made yourself seem like an asshole to the others?

“Sorry! I’m usually not like this, I swear!  It’s been…. Hard lately.  Or I guess since I got here.”  It’s an understatement.  You feel like you’ve been dragged through hell and back.  

Black hums, watching you quietly.  Mutt, beside him, also watches quietly.  A moment longer and finally Mutt speaks.  You can’t help but jump at his voice.

“No worries kid.  Say, I got a question for you.”  You suppress a groan, already having some clue on where this could lead.  You wish they would stop asking questions.  You do your best to look uncomfortable, shifting in place.  Maybe if they notice your discomfort, they won’t ask.

“My magic lets me separate lies from truths— like a Monster lie detector– if you know what that is.  So I can tell when someone’s lying to me.  But when I ask you questions, your answers are both truths and lies .  So—”  Mutt pauses, leaning forwards in his chair and leveling you with a stare.  You freeze, breath stuttering in your chest.  “How are you doing it?”

Oh god.  Oh fuck.  He’s a walking lie detector!?  How are you supposed to—

“ Wait.  Calm down and think about what he said.”   Quartz’s voice interrupts your descent into panic, pulling you back up to the surface.  You pause, taking a small breath as you feel both skeletons watch you do so.  You ignore their gazes for now.

Mutt had said that your answers are both lies and truths.  That would mean that he can’t tell when you’re lying.  Which means that he doesn’t know yet.  You breathe a soft sigh of relief before finally answering him.

“That’s strange.  I don’t know why that’s happening.”  Mutt watched you for a moment, his finger tapping twice on his hand.  Black briefly glances at Mutt before turning his attention back to you.

“S’that so?”  Mutt drawls.  Black’s attention is back on you now.  The room slips into silence, Mutt and Black’s gazes adding pressure to the room that has you trembling softly.  You give a small nod, suddenly deciding you no longer want to be in here anymore.

“Then, if that’s all you wanted to ask, I’ll be going now.  Sorry again for what happened”  You say, desperately wanting to leave now.  Black and Mutt both seem to regard you for a moment longer before Mutt gives a small smile and a nod.

“Alright.”  You immediately turn and rush out the door.  “Enjoy the rest of your day, Pyrite!”  Mutt calls as you retreat into the hallway.

Out in the hallway, you pause at one of the walls to lean against it.  You had royally messed that up, that’s for sure.  But at least they weren’t mad at you.  You give a relieved sigh, pausing as Quartz’s voice fills your head.  You can feel both humor and a smug sense of pride radiating off of him.  

“ That went as well as I thought it would ” you snort softly at his words.

You think?   You snark at him, no real bite to your words.  You stand there for a moment longer, trying to will away the nerves that seem insistent on staying.  You try not to think of how unbelieving Mutt had sounded, nor the way Black’s eyes had narrowed at you after you answered their questions.  Thinking about it would only cause unneeded panic and that’s something you certainly don’t need now.

“ We should stop stalling now.”   it feels like ice is dumped on you with Quartz’s words, destroying any chance of calming down.  You had nearly forgotten what you were about to do.  You move to stand up, walking towards the front door before Quartz’s voice stops you.

“ Before we go, you need to grab some monster food.”   Confusion fills you, leaving your face scrunched as you linger in the hallway.

Why?   You question.

“ Monster food has a healing effect.  We’ll need it.”   You frown, dread building up your spine as chills glide down it.  You suppress a shudder and then turn to the kitchen, looking in at Blue and Papyrus who are still working away.

You knock gently on the archway, gaining their attention.  They both smile at you and you can’t help but squint at how bright the room turns with their smile.  You swear it feels warmer after they smile.

“Pyrite!  What can we do for you?”  Blue asks, voice bubbly and bright.  You give a small smile to him, not able to find the energy or willpower to even begin to try and match his energy.

“I wanted to find something to eat.  I don’t think I ate enough at lunch.”  You smoothly lie.  Besides, it’s not necessarily a lie considering you hadn’t eaten much at lunch.  

Papyrus perks up, turning to dig through his mountain of containers.  After a moment he turns back around, a green container in his hands along with a fork.

“I noticed you didn’t eat much, so I saved some for you!  Just in case you got hungry!”  You swear Papyrus is a saint.  You could cry right there.  You gently take it from him, careful not to accidentally brush against Papyrus’ hands.  Your forced smile slips into one more natural.

“Thank you, Papyrus.  That was very kind of you.” Papyrus swells under the compliment, face dusting a soft red color as he poses proudly.

“Nyeheheh!  Of course, Papyrus always strives to be kind!” You giggle softly, watching how his scarf somehow blows in the wind despite there being no actual wind.  Plus, you’re also inside, so how does that happen?  Magic, you conclude.

“When you’re done eating, bring it back and I’ll wash it for you!”  Blue chimes in, drawing your attention away from Papyrus.  You give him a soft smile.

“Thank you, Blue.  I appreciate it.”  Blue let’s out a soft “mwehehe!”.  You’re not entirely sure how Blue does it, but you watch as his eye lights morph into a star shape.  Magic.  …Could you change your eye shape too?  You shake your head before turning back to the two once more.

“Thank you for the food.  I’ll be leaving now.”  You say to the two, watching as Blue folds in a little, disappointment on his face for just a brief moment before it is replaced with his normal, happy expression.  Papyrus, on the other hand, smiles widely at you and gives a small nod, no hint of disappointment anywhere on his face.

“Alright, we’ll see you later, Pyrite.  Enjoy the food!”  Papyrus excitedly says before Blue can stop you.  You turn and leave, holding the container close to you.  It’s still warm.  You relish in the soothing feeling.

You walk down the hallway, towards the front door, and then out it.  Much like before, the sun blinds you and you have to pause to let your eyes adjust.  Once adjusted, you look around the area for a place to go.  

Eventually you decide to walk around the house and walk straight back.  You walk into the forest going in a straight line, taking your time to make note of where exactly you’re going so you don’t get lost.  Definitely not because you’re dreading what’s about to happen, no!  Eventually you pause, turning to see if the house is gone from view.  

Indeed, you can no longer see the house.  But you’re not entirely sure if you’re out of ear-shot yet (skeletons don’t have ears, what would it be called for them?) so you turn back around and walk a little bit longer.  Eventually you stop, surrounded by trees and shrubbery and rocks.

Birds sing.  Flowers bloom.  You feel dread crawl up your back as you make your way over to a tree, shrubbery surrounding it and giving you some form of privacy.  You sit down, leaning back on the tree, and brace yourself.  You set the container of food next to you, pausing for a moment as you look at it.  Should you open it in case you can’t later?  You pop it open just in case.  Your heart– soul– whatever, thuds heavily in your chest and you can’t help but tremble softly.

“Quartz, I’m scared …”  You whisper out, voice choking as you finally let tears free.  What if you die?  What if you do irreversible damage to yourself?  What if you can’t go through with it?  Would you die if you don’t do it?  Will you die if you do?

“So am I ”  Quartz admits, doing little to actually calm your fears.  With that, Quartz summons your souls.

Like before, it drips steadily with a viscous liquid, staining the ground a green color.  The two souls pulse in time with your fear– pulse in time with your panicked breaths.  But you have to do it.  You can’t chicken out now– not when you’ve walked this far.

“Quartz, do it.”  You find what strength you can and then force it into your voice, trying to sound much more confident than you feel.  Quartz gives a gruff hum.

And then the pain starts.

Chapter Text

Slowly your eyes open.  Your vision is blurry, nothing focusing like it should.  You're not dead, but you feel like you were.  You had thought before you had been in pain but what you just experienced was nothing like anything you had ever felt before.  You groan softly, voice scratchy and weak.  It hurt to make noise.  Not surprising considering how loud you had screamed.

“Quartz?” You need to know if he’s okay.  You can’t feel him, not like you could before.  You feel alone.  

“I’m here.”   Relief floods you as he speaks.  He sounds just as bad as you do if not worse.  His voice is weak, shaky.  Like he can barely summon the energy to speak.

“ You passed out halfway through.  I thought…” . He trails off, but you know what he was going to say.

“I’m okay.”  You pause, a small, weak smile growing on your face before you speak again “we lived.”

“ We did.”   You can hear the smile in his voice.

You sit there for a while, letting the sun warm you while you wait for your sight to clear.  You can feel dust lining your body.  You're not sure when Quartz had done it, but your souls were back in your chest once more— you could feel them throbbing painfully there.  There was also the container resting on your lap, opened and half-eaten.  You assume Quartz had eaten some of it already.  You reach down, clumsily shoveling the food into your mouth with the provided silverware.  With each bite the aching of your body dulls a little until finally it has gone down to something more manageable.  You finish the food and rest.

You’re exhausted, finding it hard to keep your eyes open.  But you still have to walk to get back to the house so you stand shakily, using the tree to help balance yourself.  You hold onto the container tightly and then stumble forwards towards the house.

The walk back was much longer than the walk out here, that you can say with certainty.  By the time you make it back to the house, the sun is hanging lower in the sky— perhaps around 6 or 7 pm.  You’ve been gone for several hours.

You manage to stumble back to the house, shakily making your way up the porch and then inside.  You pause; however, when your thoughts hit the stairs.  There’s no way you’ll be able to make it up then in this condition.  You don’t feel like crawling up them either (you’re not sure you would be able to stand up again).  So, you make your way to the living room, plopping down into one of the chairs.  You curl up, trying to will the exhaustion and ache away.  You close your eyes.  Just for a moment, you tell yourself.

Soft talking pulls you from your sleep.  You groan softly, throwing the blanket to free your hands, rubbing at your eyes gently once they escape.  You pause.

Blanket?  

You look down and yeah, there is a blanket draped across your lap.  It’s a bright orange color, almost shockingly so, and you don’t remember grabbing it.  You examine it for a few more moments, sleepy mind unable to process where it came from. Eventually your eyes drift up to look at the room instead of the blanket.  Once again you’re shocked to find Stretch sitting on the sofa, almost as far away as he can get from you.  He is very intently watching the tv— the source of the voices, you duly note— enraptured with some show about fishing.  You didn’t take him to be the kind of guy to fish, but to each their own, you guess.  A moment longer of you staring at him and finally Stretch notices you.  He very briefly glances you over before turning his attention back to the tv.

“You look like hell.”  Stretch states, eyes not leaving the show as he speaks.  You watch him a moment longer, silence raining heavy on the two of you, before finally you speak.

“Thanks for the blanket.”  You mumble softly.  Your voice breaks as you speak.  Stretch glances at you, eyebones shooting up in shock before finally settling back into place.

“Yeah, no problem.”  Stretch drawls, leaning back into the couch and relaxing.  You turn your attention to the screen, watching as someone reels in a rather large fish from the ocean.  Fishing was never really your thing, but you’re bored and trying to distract yourself right now, so you don’t care.

“So, where’d you go?  Don’t lie, you weren’t entirely sneaky when you left.”  You jump at Stretch’s voice, but you don’t look at him.  You keep your eyes glued to the screen, trying to look as relaxed as possible.

“I went for a walk.  Need to keep in shape.”  Don’t look suspicious don’t look suspicious don’t look suspicious–

“Well, that’s fine.  There’s no people around here for hours and you weren’t gone long enough to have gone anywhere important.  Sans likes his privacy.”  Stretch reclines back into the couch, sinking into the cushions with a relaxed expression.

“So what happened to make you get all beat up like that?”  Stretch drawls, eyes brushing over you for a moment.  You’re not entirely sure how to answer that, not without giving yourself away at least.  You glance down to your clothes.  Unsurprisingly there is still a thick layer of dust lining them.  You feel bad for whoever’s clothes this is.  You’ve really ruined them.

“Fell.”  You say curtly, not wanting him to keep asking questions.  You give him a small warning glare.  Stretch is unfazed.

“Kid, you look like you did more than ‘fall’ so what actually happened?” Stretch levels you with his own glare, challenging you.  Your bones crawl.

“I fell out of a tree.”  You meet his eyes, challenging him to continue.  Stretch stares back at you.  You can see him thinking, see him trying to figure you out.  You keep your face neutral.

“Why were you climbing a tree?”  His face contorts in confusion.  A swell of triumph rises in your chest and you can’t help but puff out a little.  A smile climbs onto your face.

“I wanted to look around, see if I could find something interesting.”  You lean back in your chair, pulling the blanket over you further.

“Did you?” Stretch drawls, a sleepy look taking over his expression.  He looks mildly curious, unlike before when his eyes had been glued to you.

“No.”  That’s not really a lie considering you hadn’t found anything interesting while you were out there.  You had been too distracted to really look around.  Stretch hums in response, eyes occasionally glancing at you.  They eventually settle back on the tv.

“You should be careful going too far from the house, though.  There’s a magic perimeter around the property that’ll tell him if someone tries to leave.  If you get caught trying to leave, you won’t get to go on the trip.”  He says in passing,  not really paying attention to you anymore.  You give a small nod.  You pick at your clothes, the beat of your soul inside your chest picking up just a bit.  

You weren’t interrupted by anyone, so you think you’re fine.  You give a small huff.  That could’ve been bad.  If someone had seen you, they would’ve known right away that you weren’t who you say you are.  Since Quartz seems so intent on keeping it a secret, you’ll have to be more careful.  Especially if you have to take out your souls anywhere.

Speaking of your souls, now that you had experienced some of the pain of trying to separate your souls, you’re much more apprehensive to the idea of Quartz taking control in the mornings.  If Quartz were to take control every day, then you risk having your soul absorbed into his.  Neither of you know what could happen if you're fully absorbed, and quite frankly, you don’t really want to find out.  This would mean that you would have to separate your souls nearly every day if Quartz would have the mornings.  It’s dangerous.  You could get caught easily if someone were to stumble upon you.  

Quartz, I don’t want this to sound like I’m trying to go back on our deal, because I’m not .  But, I think that if you have control of the body in the mornings we would have to pull my soul out of yours more often.  I’m… not sure if that would be a good idea.  You should hear Quartz’s opinion on it.  After all, you’re not the only one who this decision would affect.

Quartz is quiet for a moment, though you can feel that he is awake.  Now that you aren’t so engulfed in Quartz’s soul, you can’t really feel much beyond his presence.  It’s… Lonely in a way.  Before you had been able to feel his emotions and in a way tell what he was thinking.  But now that you were more whole, you’ve lost that level of communication.  Like there’s a brick wall between the two of you, you can only hear his voice now.

“ I was thinking of that too.  It might be different if you willingly give up control.  Usually when I take control, I have to do it forcefully, but maybe if you just let me take control, our souls won’t move too much. ”  You think for a moment.  

What Quartz was saying does make sense.  Each time he took control, you felt like you were being yanked back.  Of course you would try to resist something like that.  But if you just let yourself…  Fall backwards instead maybe it would be different?  That could work.  Maybe if you did that instead, you wouldn’t be forced back into control either!

“Y’know, you stare into space a lot.”  Stretch’s voice interrupts your thinking.  Your eyes dart to him, eyebones scrunching together.

“Huh?” You dumbly say.  Have you really been staring?  Did that happen every time you talk to Quartz?

“Yeah, you do it a lot.  You did it for almost all of lunch.”  Stretch nods.  That’s a little embarrassing actually.  You frown, curling into yourself a little.  You tug the blanket higher.

“Oh…  Sorry.”  You mumble.  Stretch’s eyes widen slightly, mouth falling open briefly before he gives a teasing smile.

“Don’t have to apologize.  Just one of those things, y’know?”  You don’t know what he’s talking about, but you nod anyway.  Stretch watches you for a moment longer before he speaks again.

“So are you gonna answer Sans or not?”  You jolt, eyes darting to where Stretch points.  Your face flushes as you find Sans standing there, an amused smile on his face.

“Sorry!  What’d you say?”  You hadn’t heard him at all!  He just appeared there!  Had you really been so engrossed talking to Quartz that you had missed an entire new person coming into the room?  Sans disappears for a moment, the smell of ozone filling the air, and then appears on the sofa next to Stretch as if he had always been there.

“Heh, no problem kid.  I said I wanted to talk to you about the trip happening in a few days.  I’ve already talked to your brother about it and he said he was cool with it, so now it’s your turn.”  Sans speaks easy, leaning back into the cushions much like Stretch is now.  You motion for him to continue talking, to which Sans does.

“I asked your brother to use up all of his magic before the trip that morning.  So he can’t accidentally use it while we’re at the mall.  Your brother agreed, so I wanted you to do the same.  Would you do that, Pyrite?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”  You answer quickly.

“I know that it’s not ide- wait…  Did you say you would?”  Sans first starts speaking, as if trying to convince you to do what he wants but he quickly stops himself at the realization of your words.  His mouth falls open, much like Stretch’s.  The two skeletons look at you shocked for a moment, before Sans quickly reels in his expression, coughing into his hand.  You swear you could see a blue blush brush across his face before it fades again.

“I wasn’t expecting you to agree so easily, but thank you for your trust, Pyrite.  If anything happens, you can count on us.”  Sans says to you.  Oh, were you supposed to be more suspicious there?  To you, that seemed like a good idea.  You had already nearly hurt (killed) two skeletons, you’re not against the idea of hurting any others.  Especially in public.

“You’re welcome.  Is that all you wanted?”  You ask.  You don’t really mean to sound rude, but honestly you were getting tired of all these skeletons trying to interrogate you and while Sans has yet to actually ask you any questions, you just want to be left alone to watch tv in peace.  Sans looks a bit awkward and you’re not entirely sure how, but you see a small blue glowing drop of sweat slide down his face.  Do you sweat too?  You’re not entirely sure, but you really hope you don’t.  You don’t want to deal with any skeleton odor thank-you-very-much.

“Uh, yeah, that’s it.”  Sans’ voice sounds unsure, halting here and there as he speaks.  You give him a small smile, feeling a bit guilty as you watch him.

“Thanks Sans.  I’ll be sure to do that.”  You watch as Sans’ face settles into a more relieved expression.  You turn your attention back to the tv, effectively blocking them out now.  You spend the next few hours in the living room recovering from what you and Quartz had done earlier and listening to Sans and Stretch toss bad fishing puns back and forth.  Occasionally you throw in your own and laugh as Quartz groans in annoyance in your head.  It’s nice.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, the rest of the day was uneventful.  It seems that the skeletons only eat one meal together a day— if that.  Therefore you wouldn’t have to worry about having to deal with everyone in one place again for the day.  You spend most of the day on the sofa recovering and watching tv.  Occasionally a skeleton would come in and talk to you, but for the most part, you were by yourself.  Eventually, you retired to your room, falling asleep nearly instantly on your bed.

The next day, you awoke once again in Rust’s room.  Though, instead of waking up on the floor like you had expected, you find yourself curled up in the bed, the blanket obscuring your vision.  You were quick to throw it off of you, eyes darting to the other side of the bed.  Thankfully, it was empty.  

Much like yesterday, Blue arrived holding an extra pair of clothes for you to change into.  After you had changed, you handed back the filthy clothes to him with multiple apologies.  Blue just smiled at you and said it was alright, though you could see the slight hint of disgust on his face.  He left after that, holding the clothes away from his body.  Guilt crept up your spine as you shut the door.

Afterwards, you settled back on the bed.  You had something you wanted to talk to Quartz about and you figured it would be better to have this conversation in private.  You looked over your phalanges, curling and flexing them and watching as they moved.  It was strange, seeing them move without seeing any muscles move underneath.  Thankfully, you have grown somewhat more used to your appearance, though you don’t think you’ll ever get fully used to it.  It’s still unnerving to see a different person in the mirror (you tried to avoid any reflections at all).  But you don’t feel like throwing up anymore any time you look down at yourself, which is a start.  You hear Quartz yawn as he awakens.  You give him a few seconds to fully wake up before you start speaking to him.

“I wanted to talk to you about the trip to the mall.”  You start, listening as Quartz yawns in your head again.  Normally, you would have spoken to him in your head, but it feels more natural to speak aloud to him like this.  

“ What about it?”   His voice is thick with sleep, gravelly and rough.  You’re not sure how his voice could sound like that, given he’s just a soul right now, but you don’t question it.

“Have you ever been to a mall before?”  You’re not sure he could handle all of the humans there.  You think it would be better if you were in control for the trip– at least for half of it.  Or the two of you could switch control throughout the trip, though you’re not entirely sure if that would be possible.  You have yet to actually try and let Quartz take control of the body and you’re not entirely sure if the two of you would be able to pull something like that off so soon.

“ Uh…” . He pauses, clearly thinking before he starts again “ No.  Why?”

“There will be lots of humans there.  Will you be okay with that?”  You’re careful with how you say it, not wanting to offend him.  Quartz is thoughtful for another moment.  You’re grateful that he’s actually thinking about it instead of jumping in with no thought whatsoever.  It takes him a moment longer to finally answer.

“ I…. Am not sure it would be wise for me to be in control at all.”   Quartz leaves it at that and so you give a nod.  You can’t help the smile that grows on your face.  The amount of trust involved in letting you go outside in his body, to somewhere with a lot of humans, is immense.  You’re grateful to him for trusting you with this.

“Alright.  Thank you for trusting me, Quartz.  If you see anything that you like while we’re there, I’ll grab it for you.  Just tell me, alright?”  You smile even though you’re not sure if he can tell that you are smiling.  Quartz hums in understanding.

“Then, do you want to try controlling the body today?”  Quartz again thinks, this time the longest he’s paused so far.  You almost think that he hadn’t heard you until he speaks once more.

“ I think we should give the body a break from the dramatic control shifts.  Our souls only just recovered, it might not be a good idea to switch control while you’re conscious.”   The words sound like they hurt him to say (really, wouldn’t it hurt anyone to willingly give up control of their body?) but he says them anyway.  You shift a little in place, leaning forwards to empty space.

“Are you sure?  You’re probably getting cooped up in there, aren’t you?”  

“ I am…. But our health comes before what I want.”   You hum softly, leaning back until you hit the headboard of the bed.  He does have a point.  You think if the situation was reversed, you would do the same.  You mumble a soft “okay” before you finally decide that it’s time to get up.  

Blue made breakfast and according to him; Papyrus, Blue, and Edge took turns making the meals for the household.  You thank Blue for the food and then eat, relishing in the energized feeling in your bones that comes with each bite of food.  After finishing your food, you help Blue clean up (to which he is grateful for) and then make your way to the library.  You figured it would be a good idea to do some reading on this universe, to see if this actually is your universe.  The best way to do that would be to read any books over history and match what you know to what’s in the book.

You go through the books, picking out any on history— both monster and human— and then pick out geography books.  If you snag a few romance novels, that’s no one’s business but your own.  

You start with a human history book first, reading through the major events.  Everything seems to align with what you know, so then you turn to the monster history section, telling Quartz to pay attention to this one as you open the first page.

“ I can’t read.”   You pause as Quartz says the words, eyes instinctively darting up to the opposite side of the table even though you know he isn’t there.  Your hands still in place, careful not to harm the page of the book you’re holding.

You can’t read?   You ask incredulously.  

“ No.  I can’t read, so all of that writing means nothing to me.”   Shock courses through you at the bluntness of his words.

Can Rust read?   You ask, genuinely curious.  Quartz is quiet for just a moment before he speaks again.

“ He can.  It’s just me that can’t read.”   Quartz sounds…  Almost ashamed of his inability to read.  You decide that tone of voice doesn’t suit him at all.

That’s alright.  I can teach you how to read if you want.   You offer, not wanting it to sound like you’re forcing him.  Quartz hums softly before speaking.

“I’d like that.”   You smile as he agrees quietly.

Then when we go shopping I’ll pick up some workbooks for you.  For now, I’ll read the book to you!   You say before returning to the book, this time directing the words to Quartz.  Quartz is mainly silent throughout, occasionally interrupting to ask a question or to say something.

The two of you read for a while until eventually in walks Edge.  Your attention turns from your book to the edgy (heh) looking skeleton standing in the doorway.  He stares at you for a moment, you glaring right back at him, before Edge scoffs and walks towards one of the shelves.  You turn your attention back to the book you were reading and read a few more pages until a soft plop in front of you has you looking up, an unamused expression on your face.

Like you expected, Edge sits across from you, a pair of reading glasses taped (yes, taped ) to his face.  You’d almost laugh at the sight if you didn’t hate the guy.  You watch Edge as he opens the book and then starts…. Pretending to read…. You can see that his eyes are staring at the page, but they aren’t actually following any words.  You snap your book shut, a soft growl tearing from your throat.

“What do you want?”  You hiss, clutching at the book in your hands.  You’re careful to not damage the book with your claws.  All books are precious and you would feel bad for damaging any book like that.  Edge looks up at you, a sneer on his face.

“I’m not allowed to read in my own library?”  He levels you with a glare.  You glare right back.  The two of you lock in a stare, neither one willing to back down.

“Never said that.  Why out of every seat did you pick the one right across from me?”  You hiss, watching as Edge leans back in his chair.

“You are not nearly as pleasant as your brother.”  Edge reigns in his emotions, pulling back the angry grimace from his face and replacing it with one of condescending.  He would be looking down his nose at you if he actually had a nose.

“Fuck you too, buddy.”  You growl.  You think about getting up— about taking your books to your room and reading them there— but the thought of that leaves a sour taste in your mouth.  You won’t back down from his obvious challenge.

You lean back in your seat, throwing your feet up on the table and settling the book you were reading in your lap.  You shimmy around a little, making yourself comfortable in the cushions and then turn back to your book, occasionally glancing up at Edge.  Edge glares at your propped up feet, and then glares at you.  You grin smugly.  You start reading to Quartz again.  You can feel Edge’s glare on you as you ignore him.

“Get your feet off the table.”  Edge growls.  You don’t even look up.

“If it bothers you, go somewhere else.  I was here first.”  You hiss back, eyes trailing along the words on the page.  Oddly enough, even with the hostility in the air, you don’t hear the whispers of Lv.   You’re more annoyed at him than wanting to kill him.  Maybe you’re getting better at controlling it or maybe using your magic yesterday just helped that much.  Either way, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Edge scoffs, but he doesn’t move to stand.  Instead, he turns to his book, actually reading it this time.  The two of you fall into a tense silence; though, as you read to Quartz, you slowly start to relax.  You can’t help it, really!   Reading always calms you, no matter what’s happening around you.  

After spending a few hours reading your book, Edge finally decides to get up and leave.  He hadn’t even said anything as he left!  He just got up and walked out!  After Edge left, you had spent about half an hour longer in there before you finally decided to call it quits for today.  

The day before the trip, you had just eaten breakfast when Blue asked if you wanted to join him, Papyrus, and Edge for their morning workout.  You hadn’t known what you were getting yourself into when you agreed.

They would start with something “light” as Papyrus had said.  What they did was anything but “light”.  They had jogged in place for nearly half an hour, not even breaking a sweat.  Then they split off into doing push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches.  By the end of the first hour, you had to stop, body shaking with the effort it took to stay standing.  But Papyrus, Edge, and Blue had kept going easily, still not a drop of sweat anywhere to be found on them.  That’s when they decided their warm up was over.  You collapsed onto the porch, panting heavily, body aching in pain.  

After they had finished their warm up, they had switched to pushing around tires.  Eventually they turned it into a contest to see who could push the tire the fastest, asking you to be the judge.  Of course, you couldn’t say no, even as your eyes grew too heavy to keep open anymore.

You relaxed on the porch, letting the sun warm you.  You had thought that closing your eyes for a few seconds would be fine.  You hadn’t intended on falling asleep.  But you did anyways.

You could hear their bickering and taunting even as you slept.  It reminded you of when you still lived at home, when you were younger.  You could picture the way your siblings would argue until your parents would swoop in and make them apologize to each other.  You don’t think much about your sister nowadays.  Any memory of her is plagued with grief, heart-broken family members, and a closed coffin.  But just this once, you let yourself dream of her— of them.

Blue had woken you up maybe fifteen minutes later with his complaints.  You got an earful from all three skeletons about paying attention to their competition next time.  You ignored the way Edge threw insults at you, instead choosing to apologize strictly to Blue and Papyrus.  You relished in the way Edge’s face turned red in anger.  You really hadn’t meant to fall asleep and you told them as much.  They had just huffed and said to “watch this time!” before restarting their contest.  This time you were careful to watch.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  Once again, everyone had dinner together, Red pointedly glaring at you all throughout, and Edge doing his best to ignore you completely.  What did worry you; however, were the glances that Black and Mutt would throw your way when they thought you weren’t looking.  You did your best to ignore them too.

Then finally, it was the day of the trip.

Chapter Text

Waking up is always hard in the morning, especially when you’re woken up by the sound of loud knocking on your door.  You groan softly, turning over in bed and curling up under the covers.  Maybe if you ignore it, whoever it is will go away.

As you try and get comfortable again, you jump as you feel something move behind you.  You throw yourself up, eyes frantically darting to the other side of the bed.  Rust looks back at you blearily.  Your shoulders slump in relief, letting out a breath of air as you meet his eyes for a brief moment.  You take a brief glance of Rust’s room before your eyes finally settle on the door.

“It’s time to wake up!  We’ll be leaving soon!”  Blue’s voice calls from the other side of the door, knocking incessantly on the wood.  You feel Rust move beside you before his weight disappears completely from the bed.  You watch him walk to the door, opening it quietly.

“Good morning, Rust!  Is Pyrite in there too?”  Blue peers around the door, catching your eye.  You wave lazily to him, stretching as you do so.

“Good!  That makes my job easier!  Here are your clothes for today, please be sure to clean yourselves up before we leave!”  Blue cheerfully exclaims, though with the stare he levels you, you know he’s talking to you directly.  You hold up a thumb, suppressing a yawn.  You had let yourself get pretty dirty, especially considering you weren’t entirely comfortable taking a shower yet.  You were looking a little rough for sure and you didn’t want to go out in public like that.  Blue smiles approvingly at your thumbs up.

“Breakfast will be ready pretty soon, so when you’re ready, come join us!”  Blue chimes, cheerily smiling at the two of you.  Blue has always had way too much energy in the mornings, but you don’t really mind all that much.  

“Thank you, Blue.  We will join you in a bit.”  Rust thanks Blue, taking the clothes Blue hands him.  Blue nods once before he skips (a common occurrence) down the hallway.  

Once Blue is out of sight, Rust closes the door gently and then turns to you.  He hands you your half of the clothes, you carefully take them, not wanting to accidentally brush against his fingers.  

“Then I will go first.  I’ll see you in a bit, brother.  Be sure to clean yourself before you put on the clothes.”  Rust says with a little smirk before he leaves the room.  

You listen to his footsteps fade before you’re turning inwards, trying to reach Quartz.

Quartz, are you awake?   You whisper into your head, waiting for any response.  Surprisingly, no answer comes.  You try once more, prodding at Quartz to answer, but much like before, there is no reply.  You hum softly, eyebones furrowing in confusion.

You can still feel him there, tucked away in your mind, but he isn’t responding.  If you focus closely, you can feel a steady rise and fall of…. Something.  Almost like breathing, but if it was done with magic instead of actual air.  You can also feel a blank neutralness radiating off of him; though, only when you’re actively searching for him.  It makes you feel sleepy in a way.  Calm and relaxed, like you’re the one sleeping instead of Quartz.  He must still be asleep then.

You push yourself over to the edge of the bed, deciding to go clean yourself up as best as you can without having to actually take a shower.  Since Quartz has made it clear that showers were off limits when you were in control, you’ve done your best with the bathroom sink.  

Of course, today is no different and considering Quartz isn’t awake to actually clean the body, you do your best with what you have.  Once done, you change clothes, carefully keeping your eyes closed as you do, and then head downstairs to the kitchen.  

Inside the kitchen is Edge and Stretch.  Edge is busy at the stove, stirring up some eggs while Stretch is leaned over the breakfast table fast asleep.  You warily watch Edge as you seat yourself across from Stretch, careful not to bump into the table and wake him up.  Quietly you watch Edge work, picking absently at the wood of the table with your nail.  

How would today go?  Would you be able to control yourself?  You’ve lived around humans all your life, but Quartz hasn’t.  Would the body react involuntarily to humans, or would you be unaffected?  As you think, you can’t help but bounce your leg anxiously.  Edge turns around, leveling you with a sharp glare.  

“Would you stop?  You’re not weak enough to get freaked out about a little trip into the human world, are you?” Edge taunts.  You glare back at him, hissing angrily.  Stretch stirs a little, eyes opening to look at you from his spot on the table.  But he doesn’t interfere yet.

“Fuck off!  I have every right to be nervous!”  You throw back at him, clenching the table hard.  Edge rolls his eyes at you, a sneer forming on his face.

“You’re overreacting.  No one is going to try and attack you in a public place.”  Edge says matter-of-factly, as if he thinks you’re stupid.  

“That’s not what I’m worried about!”  You yell, hands slamming down on the table.  Stretch jumps as your hands hit the table, watching you wearily now. 

Edge is silent for a brief moment, regarding you quietly.  Surprisingly, it’s not Edge that speaks again, but Stretch.  He has a knowing look on his face.

“Kid, you’re not gonna get the chance to hurt anyone.”  Stretch drawls, finally sitting up in his seat.  His eyes train on you, watching you closely.  Out of the corner of your eye, you see Edge’s eyes widen in what must be shock.

“How do you know that?”  You find yourself asking, hands clenched into fists.  You ignore the pain of your claws sinking into the bones of your hands.  Stretch relaxes backwards, holding up one finger.

“One, you’ll have no magic.  No magic means no attacks.  No attacks means no hurtin’ people.”  Stretch glances at you for a brief moment before continuing.

“Two, I’ll be there.  My magic lets me sense emotions.  If you start gettin’ all murdery, I’ll be able to tell.”  Stretch’s words have you relaxing just a little.

“Finally, Sans will be there.  He might not look it, but the guy is dependable when he needs to be.  He definitely won’t let ya hurt anyone.”  Stretch finishes, dropping his hand into his lap as he looks you over once more.

“But what could Sans do to stop me?”  You ask quietly.  You haven’t really seen Sans all that much since arriving here.  From what you’ve heard, he spends most of his time in the basement working in the machine.  

“Kid, Sans is the original.  Nothin’ beats the original.”  Stretch drawls once more, leaning his chair back onto two legs.  Confusion rushes through you, not entirely sure what he meant by that.

“What he means is that no one can beat Sans because he’s from the alpha timeline.”  Edge’s voice has you looking at him, confusion on your face.

“Regardless of your Lv, Sans will always be stronger than you.  Don’t ask us why, it’s just how it works around here.”  Stretch drawls, rocking back in the chair.  You pause, taking what they said in, and then nod hesitantly.  The first day you had arrived here, you had gotten the feeling that if you were to attack anyone, Sans would have been the one to stop you immediately.  Something in the back of your mind screamed “danger! danger!”  when you looked at him that made it difficult to relax.  If what Stretch says is true, then that would explain the feeling you got around Sans.  But it wouldn’t be just Sans there, there would be others to stop you as well if things went sour.  They wouldn’t let you hurt anyone.  That’s what you want to believe anyway.

“Okay….  I’ll trust you.  For now.”  You hesitantly breathe out.  There’s still a sliver of doubt in your mind, but it helps knowing that it won’t be just Sans there to stop you if things go wrong.  

Stretch’s face twists into a smile, reclining back further into his chair.  Edge on the other hand looks somewhat smug, mouth tilted upwards as he looks down on you, though he doesn’t voice this to you.  Instead he turns back around and continues making breakfast.

Blue appears back in the kitchen, a sleepy Mutt in tow.  Blue gracefully settles himself next to Edge, helping him where it’s needed.  Mutt; on the other hand, unceremoniously plops himself into the chair next to you, almost immediately falling back asleep on the table, arms folded underneath his head.  You watch Mutt for a moment before a sudden movement across from Mutt has your eyes darting across the table.  Where there was an empty seat before there is now a Sans sitting in the seat like he had always been there.  The smell of ozone fills the air a moment after his arrival and you watch as— much like Mutt had— Sans also collapses onto the table, easily falling back asleep.  You stare wistfully at the two, wanting nothing more than to go back asleep and forget about the trip entirely.  But you’re too nervous to sleep.  It had really been a miracle that you had even managed to fall asleep last night— a miracle that you wouldn’t be able to replicate even if you tried.

Eventually Rust walks into the kitchen as well, eyes sweeping across the room and then landing on you.  He walks up to you, standing just beside you and glancing over the two sleeping skeletons in the room, a blank expression on his face.  

“I see I am the last to arrive.  I hope I have not kept you waiting.”  Rust directs to the table.  Surprisingly neither Mutt nor Sans stir at the sound of his voice. 

“Nah, we’re just waitin’ for breakfast to be ready.”  Stretch answers.  You nod in agreement.

“Good.  When will we be leaving?”  Rust asks Stretch.

Stretch glances over to Edge and Blue and then back to Rust.

“As soon as we finish eatin’ and you two get rid of your magic.”  Rust nods once, expression neutral like always.

After a few more minutes, Edge and Blue finish making the food, gathering it onto plates and then letting everyone serve themselves.  You take a little extra, wanting to help soothe the aches in your bones with the monster food as much as you can before you’re on your feet all day.  

After everyone finishes eating, Sans guides you and Rust outside away from the house.  You follow along willingly, almost eagerly.  While you had practiced with your magic some over the last few days, you had yet to do something relatively big.  Let alone doing something like draining all your magic.  You’re not entirely sure where to begin, so you sneakily peek to see what Rust is doing.

What greets you is horrifying— to say the least.  A large, boned creature floats next to him, magic gathering in its twisted maw that aims upwards, towards the sky.  Its eyes are black— darker than any black you’ve seen before— and seem to beckon you forwards, as if to pull you into them.  Suddenly and with no warning, a white light shoots out of the beast and up into the sky, vaporizing the air in an instant.  The beam continues onwards for well over five minutes before suddenly it gives out, the beast fizzling out entirely.  You stand stunned, unsure of what you just saw, soul beating erratically in your chest.  You swallow dryly.

There’s no way you could replicate something like that.  You have no idea where to even begin doing anything remotely similar.  And yet, you find yourself reaching anyways.  You very hesitantly— and very carefully— search inwards, calling out to something sleeping just below you’re magic.  It sleeps in Quartz’s soul, a deep and breathy sigh escaping it.  You gently prod at it, jumping when it latches onto your magic and suddenly you find your magic draining outwards.  You open your eyes (when had you closed them?) to find a similar beast.  It rumbles deeply, staring into your very soul.  It’s assessing you, you realize.  Looking for its true owner— no doubt.  Whatever it finds, it seems content with it as you feel it relax its gaze, breathing out a content sigh.  You gently prod it to turn around and to face the sky, watching in awe as it follows your commands.  

With its face aimed towards the sky, you ask it to fire.  As soon as the request is made, the creature opens its jaw and releases a muddy brown stream of raw magic, burning up the air around it much like Rust’s had.  You can feel the energy draining from both yours and Quartz’s souls at a rapid rate and much too soon, you find yourself running out of energy to feed it.  The beast’s beam stutters once and then the light changes color, a bright red taking place instead.  The drain isn’t as heavy on your soul anymore, you note.  It must be taking from Quartz’s soul now.  Eventually, that red light too fades away and the creature is left to fizzle out.  You feel it settle back into your souls, nuzzling against the two of you gently and falling back asleep.  

You stagger, suddenly finding yourself weak with the absence of the monster.  Your bones feel more frail and you feel weak, as if at any moment you could fall over.  You’re just a little dizzy, but enough to where you need to take hold of Rust’s shirt to steady yourself.  After a moment, the feeling fades and you find yourself feeling decent again— though the feeling of weakness is still there.

“Alright, now that that’s out of the way, I’ll show you two the car we’ll be taking.”  Sans pauses, glancing at the two of you  “did you have cars in your universe?”  Sans asks.  

“No, we did not.”  That answers your question.  You nod in agreement with Rust.

“That’s no big deal.  Just keep in mind that they can move really fast and they are completely safe as long as you wear a seat belt.”  Sans says as he guides the two of you to the garage.

Sans opens the side door, beckoning the both of you in, and then guides you and Rust over to one of the multiple cars inside.  You look over them all, seeing a few trucks, a van, and even a few motorcycles.  Absently you wonder who drives what.  Sans takes you over to the van, opening one of the side doors and climbs inside, taking a seat in one of the seats.  Rust follows suit,costing in the seat next to Sans.  This leaves you to sit in the back, choosing the seat behind Rust so you can still see Sans.

Sans first pulls the seat belt down, holding out the buckle on the end towards the two of you.

“This is the seatbelt and the buckle.  The buckle clicks into this piece right here to hold you in place.  Make sure it fits snugly over your hips, but not too tight.”  Sans explains how to use a seatbelt, demonstrating as he speaks.  You follow along easily.  Rust also follows along, doing the motions along with Sans.  After Sans has shown you everything there is to the car, Sans unbuckles and slides into the front seat.  

Just as the front door closes, in slides the other skeletons.  Edge seats himself in the front passenger seat while Mutt climbs into the seat next to Rust.  This leaves the back two seats open for Stretch and Blue.  Blue takes the middle seat while Stretch takes the seat behind Mutt.  You unconsciously lean away from Blue, not wanting to accidentally brush against him.

As everyone gets buckled, Sans starts the car and then backs out easily.  Once he manages to turn the car around, he takes it slow down the gravel road, turning on the radio to the lowest it will go without it being off.  You glance over to Rust, wanting to see how he’s reacting to this.

Rust’s face is carefully blank, though you can see the subtle lines of worry on his face.  Plus with the way he’s gripping the hand rests, you can tell he is nervous being in the car.  

You drive for what feels like forever before you finally start to see signs of life.  Stretch was right, the skeleton household was really in the middle of nowhere.  The first building you spot is a house, a small ranch with acres of farmland surrounding it.  You drive for another good half an hour before you finally start to see a city.  You keep your eyes glued to the world outside.  Perhaps if you’re able to recognize something, you’ll be able to know where you are.

For a while, you recognize nothing.  But eventually things start to look familiar.  As your eyes scan the buildings frantically, shock slowly fills through you as your eyes start to recognize more and more.  Until eventually you recognize everything .  You can see the cafe that has really good coffee.  The grocery store where you shop at.  The office buildings you passed by on your way to work.  Even the park that you liked to take your cat on walks through.  So really, it shouldn’t surprise you when you see your apartment building.  But you can’t stop the shocked expression that takes over your face.  Nor can you stop the wave of home-sickness that forces tears into your eyes.  Your entire life is right there.  And you’re driving through it, unable to stop the car.  Unable to go home.  Unable to do anything but watch your home fade away into the distance.

You hadn’t realized that you were that homesick until you had been in your neighborhood.  It was almost like the first night you had moved out of your parent’s house.  When you were alone in the dark of your unpacked house.  The silence caved in and you cried.  It felt almost like that, except much much worse.  You knew that it would be months, perhaps even years before you were able to return there— if you even could.  Would your friends miss you?  Would your parents cry for you?  You would cry for them.  The ache in your soul told you as much.  You let yourself cry silently, keeping your face trained towards the window so the others in the car wouldn’t see and question you when you definitely couldn’t handle the questions right now.

Eventually, after everything familiar faded away once more, you managed to calm yourself down.  You rubbed silently at your face, cleaning up as best as you can, and then turn to face forwards.  As you do so, you can feel the car slow to a stop, Sans sliding the car into park.

“Welp, we’re here.  Everyone ready to go?”  Sans calls to the rest of the car.  Everyone gives a mixture of cheers (Blue), nods, and thumbs ups.  Then, with that, everyone piles out of the car.  You glance around, eyes taking in the large parking lot and then the even larger mall at the center.  There aren’t a lot of cars around.  You recognize this mall as well.  You’ve been to it a few times with friends and to buy clothes and the like.  You nearly jump as you feel a hand slide into yours, eyes frantically darting to the person beside you.  Rust stands, staring in both awe and fear up at the building.  You squeeze his hand once, ignoring the crawling sensation that glides up your arm at the feeling and instead force yourself to focus on comforting Rust.  You feel Rust squeeze back.

Sans gathers everyone together, looking to you and Rust in particular as he speaks.

“Stay with the group at all times.  If you get separated from us for any reason, go to a place that isn’t populated and wait.  You’ll eventually hear us call you from the intercom telling you where to go.  Paps made you both some maps of the mall that has everything labeled for you.  If you get lost, find your way to one of the lost zones on the map.”  Sans hands the two of you both a copy of the map as he speaks.  You open the map to find the layout of the mall drawn expertly.  The map is colorful yet not overwhelming and you can see a few places labeled that say “lost zone!” and quiet areas.  Papyrus is a saint, you think.

“Also, if you try to run, we’ll find you.  So don’t try it, capiche?”  Sans gives a wink, a chilled edge to his voice as he stares the both of you down.  You nod once.  You had no plans on escaping anyways.  You see Rust nod out of the corner of your eye as well.

“Good!  Then let’s get movin’ folks.”  Sans gestures, turning and guiding your group to the mall.  You just hope everything goes well.  That’s the most you can do.

Chapter Text

You follow after Sans quietly, Rust trailing along behind you.  His hand was still in yours, so he had to match your pace.  Unconsciously, you glance around.  While there weren’t many cars in the parking lot— the mall was just opening— there could still be more people inside.  You would keep a close eye on Rust as well as yourself.  You’re not entirely sure how Rust would react to the humans in the store and you’re hoping that since you were human, you won’t react too strangely.

As you near the automatic doors, Rust suddenly stops, watching in both fear and awe as the door opens by itself.  Of course, since Rust stopped you’re dragged backwards also.  The entire group stops, Sans looking to Rust and then to you.

“You two alright?”  Sans asks, one eyebone raised.  His eyes dart back to Rust, worry on his face as he takes in Rust’s expression.

“The door.  It opened by itself.”  Rust states in disbelief, staring at the door behind Sans.  Sans’ face breaks into a small, relieved smile as he glances backwards at the door and then returns his gaze towards Rust.

“Yup.  It’s called an automatic door.  When it senses movement, it opens automatically.  Cool right?”  Sans explains easily, his posture relaxing.  Rust looks at the door skeptically, jumping as the door suddenly starts to close.  He watches it closely.  Sans raises an arm, waving it in front of the sensor, and then steps back as the door opens.  Rust watches it open once more, his hand tightening around yours.

After a moment of Rust staring fearfully at the door, watching as it opens and closes repeatedly, Rust finally relaxes some.  He nods towards Sans, who takes that as an invitation to take the group inside.  As you pass through the door, you can feel Rust’s hand tighten around yours once more.  Out of the corner of your eye you spot Rust turn around to watch the door close behind your group.  

As you step into the building, your eyes dart around.  There are a few people— humans and monsters alike— milling about, but for the most part the mall is empty.  You’re not actually sure what day it is nor what time it is, but you assume it most likely isn’t the weekend given how empty the store is.  Edge falls in step with Rust while Mutt ends up next to you.  

You chance a glance at Mutt.  Mutt’s expression is blank— an almost bored look to it.  His eyes are trained on Sans’ back, most likely to make sure he doesn’t lose him, though you’re not really sure how Sans could get separated from the group considering there’s no one else around.  If anything, Mutt should be more worried about Stretch who trails behind your group.  You glance backwards at Stretch, watching as he slowly gains more and more distance from the group.  Blue sticks close to Stretch as well, though Blue seems more intent on keeping up with the group than Stretch is.  You turn your attention back to Sans.

Sans guides everyone into an outlet.  You don’t think you’ve been inside this store before, considering it was a Monster specialty store.  From what you can see, it looks like a store designed to cater to the hygiene needs of different types of monsters.  You’re led over to the bones section, a little sign hanging above with a picture of a bone.  Cute, you think.

Once you arrive, you can’t help but look around the many different types of bottles and creams that are available.  You see things such as bone cologne (it smelt like a mixture of chalk and beesewax) and bone cream (advertised as giving your bones a healthy shine).

“Go ahead and look around, see if you find anything you like the smell of.”  Sans throws in.  Rust separates from you; though, he doesn’t go very far.  He lingers in eye shot of you.

You find yourself at a loss of what to do.  What kind of things would you need?  You look over the assortment of products, confusion sweeping over you.  You feel your face morph, reflecting the confusion you felt.

“Need help?”  Blue’s voice cuts through the confusion and has your eyes darting towards him.  You give a hesitant nod, unsure of where to start.

Blue guides you around the isle, handing you things to smell and explaining the use of each item he gives you.  You end up taking most of what he gives you.  Thankfully, there are a few scents that you’re familiar with, such as the sweet smells, the citrusy smells, and the savory smells.  But there are a few you aren’t familiar with, such as the echo flower smell and the smell only labeled as “giftmas tree”.  You think it’s probably a play on words of Christmas tree.  You lose to your curiosity and end up grabbing a bottle of it.  Eventually you have a nice basketful of items to use.  You had even found some wipes for you to use in between showers!  You’re really excited to use those.  You just hope that they help get most of the grime away.

As you and Blue make your way back, Sans takes a peek into your basket, looking over everything.  Edge also looks in–albeit much more sneakily than Sans had done.  Edge huffs quietly and turns back to Rust before you can say anything.

“What’d you get, Pyrite?”  Sans takes a peek at what you have in your basket.

“I showed him all of the essentials!”  Blue puffs up, looking proud of himself.  Sans hums softly, pulling away from your things and turning to head towards the registers.

You watch as Sans pays for everything and you notice that on top of your things, there are also a few extra things most likely from one of the others in the group.  

Once everyone has an even amount of bags– weight distributed evenly throughout them– your group heads out of the store and back into the main part of the mall.  Your eyes sweep over the space, taking note that there are more humans out now.  You take a moment to calm your shaking hands and reflect on how you’re feeling.  You’re more nervous about hurting someone than someone attacking you.  Quartz has yet to wake up.  You think that might be a contributing factor to your level-headedness– at least, you hope so.  You glance to Rust, watching his jaw clench as he takes in the amount of humans walking around the store.  His hand finds yours again, clutching onto you tightly.  

Sans glances to Stretch for a brief moment, gaze questioning.  Stretch nods.  Sans’ face morphs into an expression of relief.  

Sans leads your group towards the escalators.  You stare forwards, following Sans closely.  Eventually, Sans stops in front of the escalators, turning to face the two of you.  Sans hones in on Rust, 

“These are moving stairs– called escalators.  They’re perfectly safe to use but there is an elevator if you want to use that instead.  An elevator is a box that can move up and down, it’ll take us to the next floor.”  Sans explains, voice easy and relaxed as he speaks.  You feel Rust tense next to you, looking up the moving steps apprehensively.

“Here!  I’ll show you how they work!”  Blue suddenly exclaims, darting forwards to step onto the first step.  Slowly he is lifted to the second floor, Rust’s eyes trained on him as he glides up the steps.  Once Blue is at the top, he steps off and then rushes towards the glass banister overlooking the first floor.  Blue gives an excited wave, grin stretched so wide across his face you think it might break.  You wave back to him instinctively.

You turn back to Rust, looking at how his face is set into a grimace before he slowly and very hesitantly nods.

“I’ll try the…. Escalator.”  Rust’s grip of your hand never loosens.  He ends up dragging you onto the moving stairs, his hand nearly crushing yours as your group slowly glides up to the second floor.  Once at the top, Blue rushes over, his grin somehow even wider .

“Good job guys!”  Blue praises.  You give a smile, looking towards Rust once more to see his nerves slowly dying down.

Now on the second floor, Sans steps up to the group, Mutt, Stretch, and Edge dragging behind him.  As you watch Mutt walk up, you notice his eyes on you.  You prickle slightly, quickly beckoning Sans to lead you to the next store.  Sans does so, taking you to a larger outlet.  You can spot a few different people inside— more populated than the previous store.  You suck in a deep breath.  You’ve been alright so far, you can do this.  As you step into the store, Sans once again steps forwards to face the group.

“How do you guys feel about splitting up?  There’s not a lot of humans in here and we’ll be with you if anything happens.  Are you two up for that?”  Sans asks, still casual for what he is asking.  You hesitate for a moment.  Would it be alright if you separated from Rust?  He looked pretty nervous and judging by the grip he has on your hand, it seems like he doesn’t just look nervous either.

Yet, Rust suddenly lets go of your hand.  He glances at you for a moment as he speaks, and behind his eyes you can just barely see something there that…. Makes you nervous.  You’re unsure of what exactly it is.

“I am willing to split up if you are, brother.”  Rust’s words wrench you by the throat.  Suddenly you’re unsure.  Unsure if Rust had actually been nervous.  But if he wants to separate, who are you to stop him?

“Yeah, I’m alright with that.”  You find yourself saying.  Rust’s eyes linger on you.  Something changes in his eyes.

It’s almost as if Rust is staring at a stranger.  There’s no warmth behind his eyes— not even a hint of recognition.  Your breath stutters in your chest, eyes widening at the look he gives you.  Your soul picks up speed.

As soon as the dread builds in your chest, Rust suddenly turns away to face the others.  You let out a breath of relief now that you aren’t pinned under that stare.  Still, you feel your soul buzz anxiously.  You can tell you had messed up– and badly at that.

“It is alright with us-“ Rust turns to look at Edge “let’s go then.”  And with that, Rust and the other three take off, leaving you alone with Blue and Sans.  Blue very easily takes over the conversation, easily guiding you to a different section of the store.  

Your mind can’t help but linger on Rust’s face.  Rust’s words.  You had messed up badly.  Rust knew.  This was bad.  As you stew in your nerves— as if awakened by your anxious thoughts— You feel Quartz awaken.  He gives a soft yawn before speaking sleepily.

“ Why’re you all panicky?”   Quartz asks, still half asleep.  You swallow dryly, picking at the ends of your clothes.

Quartz, I fucked up.  Bad.   No use in hiding it.  Quartz would find out one way or another anyways.

Immediately you feel all of Quartz’s sleepiness drain away, replaced with a sharp clarity.  It sends you into a panic and you wince.

“ What did you do?”   Quartz asks, tone deadly serious in the back of your mind.  You suck in a breath, steeling yourself before you’re answering him.

Rust knows.   Is all you say.  It’s all you can say, really.  Guilt creeps up your spine.  You had one job.  And you failed.

Quartz hisses softly and you can feel the crash of his emotions slam into you.  You do your best not to stumble as you follow Blue into a section with different types of pants.  Though you’re not paying too much attention right now.

“ How? ”  Quartz asks.  You pause, thinking back on how exactly Rust had found out.  He had asked you if you were comfortable splitting up.  You suppose that Quartz would have said no way.  You tell Quartz as such.

You hear Quartz sigh heavily— feel the way his thoughts turn around in your mind.  After a moment longer, he finally speaks again.

“ There’s nothing we can do about it for now.  Be prepared for Rust to attack when given the opportunity.”   Your mind immediately latches onto the word “attack” frantically.  You let out a shuddering breath.

You think he’ll attack us?   You whisper meekly into your mind, curiosity and worry melding into one.

“ Oh, I know so.  When he does it, I’ll take control and tell him the situation.”   Your mind stumbles at Quartz’s ease.  You hadn’t expected Quartz to react this… well.  For all that he had done to protect this secret, he sure wasn’t freaking out that Rust had found out.

Why aren’t you freaking out?   You ask before you can stop yourself.  Quartz gives a small huff of a laugh.

“ It would have been different if it was one of the others.  But Rust is my brother, I know what to expect from him.  I can handle him.”   Quartz ends confidently.  That helps calm your nerves some, though you can’t help the worry that continues to fester in your chest.  How would Rust attack you then?  How would Quartz handle it?  Neither of you had enough magic to do much, so would it be a fist fight?  You swallow dryly.

“ Are we at the mall already?”   Quartz asks, pulling you from your thoughts. 

Yeah, we’ve been here for a while now.  We already bought soap, Blue helped me pick some out.   You tell him.

You can feel surprise radiate off of Quartz, though you’re not entirely sure why.  At least, you’re confused until Quartz continues speaking.

“ They let you buy soap?”   Quartz asks.

Yeah…?  I don’t think they’d make us shower without soap?   You’re still confused and your tone of voice reflects that.  Quartz hums quietly, astonishment radiating off of him in waves.  Your eyebones furrow in confusion.

You’re pulled out of your thoughts by Blue calling your name, beckoning you over as you glance at him.

“Pyrite, are you alright?  You were staring.”  Blue’s face is scrunched up in worry, his hands outstretched like he was going to tap you, but then thought better of it.  Behind him, Sans watches closely; though, he tries to look casual about his observation.

You blink a little, stepping back and away from Blue’s reach.  You give him a placating smile, trying to convey to him you’re alright.

“Yeah Blue, I’m fine-“ you look down at Blue’s hands, noticing the shirt he has in his hands “that’s a nice shirt.  Where’d you get it?”  You steer the subject away from you.  Blue hesitates for a moment longer- very obviously wanting to continue speaking about you- but then he gives up, a smile stretching across his face.

“I got it from over there, here I’ll show you!”  Blue exclaims, letting out a soft “mweheheh!” As he guides you towards a clothes rack.

You look across the clothes, picking out a few shirts and sweaters.  You’re not too picky about the colors, but you do aim for brighter colors.  You aim to get long sleeve shirts, only occasionally getting a short sleeved one if it’s a shirt you really like.  Even if you’re getting used to being made of bone, the less of it you see, the better.

Choosing pants was a little more difficult.  For one, with the strange proportions of your legs and hips, you had to stick to pants that could be tightened.  Though you did snag a few pairs of jeans and a belt to go with them, the majority of your pants were the kind you could tie securely around you.

As you picked out your clothes, Quartz would occasionally stop and direct you towards different clothing items.  Unsurprisingly, most of these items were of darker, more muted colors.  Grays, browns, and blacks made up the majority of his clothes.  However, he did find a nice dark green hoodie that both you and Quartz liked.  Also surprisingly we’re the types of clothes he picked out.  Quartz chose clothes that were both easy to move in and also tight fitted.  He tended to go for more cut-off sleeves or short sleeved shirts and longer pants.  You weren’t looking forward to wearing his shirts.

As you picked out both yours and Quartz’s clothes, you kept noticing the strange looks you were getting from both Blue and Sans— especially when you had switched from your style to Quartz’s.  Eventually, it was Sans that spoke up first.

“You’ve got an interesting choice of clothes there, Pyrite.”  Sans points out, glancing down at the pile of clothes in your hands.  You look down as well, glancing at Quartz’s clothes first and then yours.  You give a sheepish laugh, looking back at Sans hesitantly.  You’re about to apologize when Blue speaks up, stepping up next to Sans to peek at what you have too.

“I don’t think it’s that bad.  Remember what Mutt bought the first time he went shopping?”  Blue shudders while Sans gives a small chuckle.

“Yeah, that was a real fashion disaster.”  Sans agrees, face contorted into one of awe and disbelief.

“Well, d’you wanna go try those on?  Make sure they fit?  The changing rooms are that way.”  Sans points behind him with his thumb.  You nod, following after Sans as he guides you over to the changing rooms.

You settle into a changing room, plopping your pile of clothes on the bench in there, and then slide off your shoes.  You glance into the mirror, hesitating briefly.

“ If you’re going to change, don’t face the mirror.  And don’t look.”   Quartz seems to catch onto your train of thought easily.  You feel your face warm, looking away from the mirror briefly before looking back again.  A brief jolt of shock rushes through you as you see that instead of your face being colored red, it’s green instead— giving you a bit of a sick look.  You shake the shock off, jumping at Quartz.

You don’t have to tell me, I wasn’t going to anyways.  You hear Quartz snicker in the back of your mind and you can’t help the huff that escapes you.

You try on the clothes, keeping your back to the mirror and looking up nearly the entire time.  After each outfit, you turn to look in the mirror, pleased to see that while you weren’t in your body anymore, the overall vibe of the outfits you had picked out remained the same.  You looked soft in the clothes.  Comfortable too.  Overwhelmed with fabric that kept you warm and helped soothe the aching of your bones a little.  Overall, you looked more friendly, which was something you wanted.  

Trying on Quartz’s clothes; however, gave the exact opposite of what your clothes had gone for.  Where yours were soft and friendly, his were sharp and intimidating.  They showed off your arms and the multiple scars running up and down them.  They made you look scary.  You think they suit Quartz.  You think you look good in these clothes, even if your bones were on display.

I didn’t think you’d be able to dress yourself so well Quartz.   You’re saying as you admire yourself in the mirror.  You feel Quartz swell with pride.

“ Of course I can. ”  Quartz huffs out indignantly.  You chuckle, turning back to the clothes you had worn on the way here.  You change out of what you were wearing and then back into your regular clothes.  

You gather up everything into your arms and then head back out, finding that Sans is waiting for you outside.  He almost seems to be asleep, but then as soon as you step out of the changing room, he cracks one eye open to look at you.  He grins at you.  You smile back.

“Did’ya like ‘em?”  Sans asks, tone relaxed and easy going.  You nod.

“Then let’s go grab Blue and see how your brother did.”  Sans stands, giving a small stretch.  You follow him out of the changing section and back into the clothes section of the store.  It takes a little bit to find Blue, but when you do, you find that he has grabbed a few clothes of his own.  Once the three of you are back together, you guys head back to Rust and the others.  

Rust barely even looks at you as you approach.  You do your best to not let it get to you, but you can’t help but feel just a little hurt.  You push it down in favor of looking at what he grabbed.  Rust’s clothes are similar to Quartz’s, consisting of muted colors.  Though where the two differ is that instead of the easy to move in clothes Quartz had picked, Rust favored more dressy clothes.  You think they suit him.

Once everyone has had a look at what the others picked out, your group heads over to the registers.  Sans pays for everything (you feel bad about how expensive it is, but Sans simply says “don’t worry about it”).  Then, with that, your group heads out of the store and to lunch.

Chapter Text

Your group headed to the cafeteria section, Sans guiding everyone carefully.  Everyone was huddled together and considering the amount of humans and monsters milling about, you can see why.  They helped form a barrier of sorts, blocking Rust and you from the rest of the world.  By this point, with the sheer amount of people now in the store, you were starting to get nervous.  It doesn’t help that Rust could attack you at any moment either.  Plus, you also had to deal with Quartz being awake now and his emotions— specifically his nerves about being around so many humans.  So, saying you were “starting to get nervous” was an understatement.  

Eventually, Sans picks out a table tucked in a corner of the mall, furthest away from the people eating in the center of the food court.  You sit down with your back to the wall, Rust plopping down next to you.  Rust avoids looking at you and from the way he sits, you can tell he is tense.  Uncomfortable sitting next to you.  You briefly wonder why he doesn’t sit next to someone else.

After everyone has chosen their seats, Blue pops up and rushes off to get everyone’s food, accompanied by Mutt and Stretch.  You focus on them leaving, feeling a little nervous as they vanish into the crowd.  You suck in a small breath once they disappear from sight, turning your attention to the table instead.  Sitting next to Rust was nerve-wracking.  It makes sense considering what Quartz had warned you of earlier.  You chance a glance at him.

Rust is speaking quietly to Edge seemingly unaffected by his new-found knowledge.  But something tells you that Rust is nervous— much more nervous than you had ever seen him.  You’re not sure if it’s the way his body is tensed as if he was expecting you to attack him at any moment or if it’s the way his eyes are fixed on Edge completely, refusing to even glance in your direction.  Still, the thought that Rust was nervous— perhaps even scared of you— sent a sharp pain into your chest.  What could be going through Rust’s head right now?  Does he think his brother is dead?  Does he think that there’s a strange person parading around in his dead brother’s corpse?  Does he think you’re an enemy?  Someone he needs to protect himself from?  You hope not.  Despite only knowing the skeleton for a few days, you already considered him to be your sibling.  You cared for him, you didn’t want him to be scared of you.

As you dive into yet another spiral, you’re suddenly yanked out of your mind by Blue and the others returning, an armful of trays in their hands.  Blue sets the tray he was holding down (you say “set” when in actuality he slams the poor thing onto the table with a loud “crack”) and excitedly turns to Rust and you.

“You’re really going to like these!  They’re sandwiches from this place where you can make your own sandwiches!  I went ahead and had them make you my favorite!”  Blue exclaims excitedly, pushing two wrapped sandwiches to both you and Rust.  You take the sandwich carefully, a small smile on your face.

“Thank you Blue, I’m sure they’ll be good.”  You say, unwrapping the sandwich carefully.  Rust glances at you as you speak and then carefully picks his up as well.  Blue sits down next to you, unwrapping his sandwich as well while Stretch and Mutt distribute the rest of the food to everyone else.  Everyone settles into place, munching on their lunch.  Surprisingly, you like the sandwich Blue picked out for you.  

“How do you like it?”  Blue asks, a hopeful expression on his face.  You look at him for a moment, glance down at your sandwich, and then back to Blue, a grin spreading across your face.  You watch his face fall as you open your mouth to speak.  Seems he can already tell what you’re going to say.  Good.

“I loaf it, it’s great Blue.”  And with that, Blue hangs his head down and lets out a cry of anguish.  Beside you Rust sighs heavily, choosing to ignore you.  A chorus of snickers follows Blue’s sigh.

“Don’t you dare start that nonsense now.”  Edge immediately barks at you, disgust written all over his face.  You chuckle softly.

“ Leaf him alone!”  Sans flaps a piece of lettuce around the table “I thought it was unbe leaf ably funny.”  Sans snickers as another round of groans makes its way around the table.

“Not you too!”  Blue cries out, head falling into the table and narrowly missing the rest of his food.

“Come on, you gotta be bready for anything bro.”  Stretch chimes in.  Another round of snickers— another round of groans.  

“Yeah, don’t let us put you in a pickle Blue.”  Mutt drawls from his seat, flinging a pickle at Blue from where he sits.  It hits Blue with a wet “plop” and sticks to his skull.  You snort as Blue gives a small undignified yelp, throwing the offending pickle back at Mutt.  Mutt catches it mid-air with his mouth, chewing it slowly.

Your group carries on with the puns (you’re surprised at the amount of puns everyone can make— especially Sans) and eventually everyone finishes their food.  Blue and Edge jump up to take the trash away, desperate to get away from the pun ishment the rest of your group were dealing out to them.  You lean back, watching them leave again.  Your nerves are forgotten for the moment, a happy buzz replacing it instead.  Sans glances to Stretch, a questioning look on his face.  Stretch holds up his hand, tilting it back and forth in a “so-so” gesture.  Sans frowns a bit, looking at Rust first and then you.

“How do you guys feel about continuing shopping?  Are you still okay?  If not, we can head home now, no skin off my bones.”  Sans asks seriously, his browbones furrowing as he speaks.  You nod your head.

“I’m doing alright still, if Rust wants to keep going we can.”  You say, glancing at Rust as you say his name.  Rust pauses to think, leg bouncing in place.  Eventually he nods.

“I believe I will be alright.”  Rust answers.  He glances at you briefly before returning his gaze to Sans.  Sans looks between the two of you skeptically, frown deepening.  Eventually he nods, leaning back in his chair.

“Alright, once Blue and Edge get back we’ll stop by some different shops to decorate your rooms.”  Sans says.  You nod along with Rust.

A moment later Edge and Blue return, hands now empty of trash.  Sans stands, everyone else following suit, and then heads towards a larger store.  Once inside, you peruse around for a while.  You’re not entirely sure what to get considering your room has all the basic necessities (a bed and a dresser) but after some urging from Blue, you hesitantly pick out a small shelf.  On more than one occasion you turn inwards to ask Quartz what he wants or thinks about something, but he doesn’t offer much help– only giving you a small “it doesn’t matter, just pick something.” much to your annoyance.  It doesn’t help that Rust acts much the same way as Quartz does, only choosing the bare basics and turning down nearly everything else.  Eventually, after Blue has guided you around the entire section at least four times, Stretch finally steps in and says something.

“Hey bro, I think they got everythin’ they want from here, how about you help them pick out the best mattress they’ve got here?”  Stretch drawls, gaining Blue’s attention.  Blue looks somewhat surprised at this until a giant grin spreads across his face.

“Mweheheh!  That is an excellent idea, brother!  I’ll help them get the softest mattresses known to monster-kind!”  and just like that, Blue rushes off in a hurry, laughing the entire way.  Stretch trails after him and your group after Stretch.  As you walk; however, your eyes are drawn to the way the humans within the store give Blue strange looks.  You glare at them as you walk by, the faintest of a whisper in the back of your head begging to see blo-

“Stay focussed, Pyrite.”  You nearly run face-first into Stretch as he turns around to face you.  The air around you grows thick with tension and it's only then that you realize that the others have you surrounded, blocking the rest of the store from you.  You nod, forcing yourself to focus on what you can see– on Stretch, since he’s what's in front of you.  Stretch is laid back, seemingly relaxed and at peace, but looking just a little closer, you can see the hint of a crease forming where his eyebrows would be if he were human.  His eyelights are tiny pin pricks in black, empty sockets.  Stretch’s hoodie- a bright nearly neon orange– is stained in multiple places, as if he tried to wash the stains out but failed.  Some look fresher than others.  The sleeves are fraying at the end– telling you the hoodie is either old or well-loved.  You think both.  Your eyes drift back up to Stretch’s face, finding a pleased smile on his face.

“There we go.  Don’t pay attention to the humans, skeletons draw attention no matter what they do.”  Stretch says quietly so only your group can hear him.

You hum, nodding once as you glance around the store, mind clearer now.  In the back of your mind you hear Quartz scoff at the humans around you, mumbling a “mind their business” angrily.  Stretch takes a moment longer to check you over and then looks at Rust, seemingly gauging something before he nods once more and turns back around.  Blue— who had stopped when he heard Stretch speak— finally takes off again.  

Once in the mattress section of the store, you immediately b-line to the softer looking ones.  Blue follows you along with Sans and Stretch, though Sans plops down on one of the mattresses and seemingly falls asleep easily.  Stretch and Blue help you pick out an incredibly soft mattress that’s the perfect size for you.  The mattress lets you sink into it with ease, easing the ache in your bones from walking around the store for so long.  You could honestly fall asleep right there, sinking into the comfortable mattress.  You start to doze off.

“Pyrite!  Come look at these blankets!”  Blue calls.  You jump, eyes cracking open to look at where Blue stands.  He stands just a few feet away, Stretch no longer with him and instead collapsed on the mattress next to Sans.  With a heavy sigh, you sit up and then slide off the mattress, heading over to Blue.  

“Look!  Don’t these look soft?  I think you should get this one!”  Blue urges, pulling out a blanket set with rocket ships and motorcycles on it.

“ No, we’re not getting that .”  Quartz’s immediate denial in the back of your mind makes you giggle softly.

“I don’t know Blue, how about something in green?  Or maybe a more neutral color?”  Blue’s face falls “not to say that it’s bad!  I just don’t think it would match my room well!”  You amend quickly.  Blue thinks for just a moment before he smiles once more.

“Of course!  Rockets wouldn’t go very well with your room!”  Blue exclaims as if you’ve struck gold.  A relieved smile makes its way onto your face, watching as Blue darts off down the aisle and out of sight.  You take a moment to look over the different bedding sets before Quartz’s voice interrupts you.

“ Can you see any of the others?”   Quartz’s question has you looking around.  While you can’t see Blue anymore, you’re still able to see Stretch and Sans laying on the mattresses.  Their eyes are closed, faces relaxed.  

Blue isn’t here but Stretch and Sans are.  Why?   You ask, eyebones scrunched together in confusion.

“ Sneak away—“   No, that’s a bad idea.

No, we’re not sneaking away.  That’s just a dumb idea all around.  You cut him off, not needing to hear the rest of what he has to say.  You feel a wave of frustration hit you and you do your best to push it away.

“ If we can get away from them, we can get you to your body.  If we reunite you with your body, maybe you’ll go back to yours and I’ll have mine again.”   Quartz explains.  You pause, thinking for a moment.  He does have a point.  But…

I don’t think I’ll be able to get away.   You look at Stretch and Sans.  Sans would stop me before I get too far.

“ He’s sleeping right now, see?”   You look over the steady rise and fall of his chest, at the way his face is relaxed.  You swallow dryly, eyes lingering on them as you think.

If you did try and escape and you’re caught, you already know that it would end badly.  You’re not even sure if your body would be at home.  You’re not sure if you’d be able to stand the humans around— if you’d be able to withstand the bloodlust.  They would notice you’re gone quickly.  You suck in a shallow breath, turning to the bedding sets once more, not really looking at them.

Still…. I don’t think it’s a good idea.  If I mess up, then we might not get to go outside again.  We need to get their trust first.   You whisper, fingers gripping your clothes.  Quartz’s frustration slams into you once again, leaving you breathless and nearly sending you toppling over into the shelves.  You suppress a shudder, unnerved at the heaviness to his emotions.

“ We may not get a chance like this again, human.  Think about it. ”  Quartz would never beg, especially not with you of all people, but you think this is the closest he’d ever get to it.  Your frown deepens, hissing quietly.

I am thinking about it.  There’s no way it would turn out in our favor!  We just have to hold on until we can go out on our own.   You tell him.  Despite your best efforts, his frustration is getting to you.  You can feel anger— red hot and bubbling— winding its way up your throat.  You suck in a sharp breath, doing your best to keep calm.

“ And when will that happen?  Might I remind you that we’ve had multiple Lv incidents, we’re lucky Sans is even letting us out of our room, let alone into public!  If we don’t leave right now, we won’t get another chance like this again.”   Quartz’s words have you frowning, eyes narrowing.

Sans wouldn’t do that.   You want to believe that.  You don’t know Sans well enough to be sure.  The others wouldn’t let that happen— our brother wouldn’t let that happen.

Quartz laughs. 

“ You don’t know my brother.”   Quartz’s words hold a thick sense of irony— of mocking.  You suck in a sharp breath, hands bunching into fists.

You don’t know what to say to him.  You’re not sure if there are even words to what he just implied.  Pity grows—

“ I don’t need your pity.  I need you to listen to me and leave.”   You suck in a breath, but even still, you can’t do what Quartz tells you to.

I’m sorry Quartz.  I’m not going to leave.   You whisper to him.  You move to fully immerse yourself in looking for the perfect blanket set, forcing yourself to ignore Quartz.  You can hear him grumbling in the back of your head, but you push the noise away.

Eventually, Blue makes his way back, two different sets in his hands.  One’s a light blue color (matching what you had seen in his room when he had given you and Rust a tour) and the other is a light brown color, hints of cream mixed in.  You look over them carefully, a small smile forming in your face.

“Thanks for the help, Blue.  These are good.”  You say, carefully taking the brown one from him to look it over further.

“I knew you would like them!”  Blue puffs up in pride, mweheheh-ing softly.  You chuckle along with him, unable to help yourself.

You end up choosing the brown one that Blue had brought you, figuring that since Quartz had chosen neutral colors for his clothes, he’d appreciate the same for the bedding.  You would try and ask Quartz, but he’s ignoring you now.  You can tell that he’s still there— still watching everything— but he ignores your words completely.  He’s hard to keep happy, you think.  Either way, you weren’t going to try and get away from the others, no matter what he said or did.  Plus, Quartz wasn’t actively trying to take control of the body, so you don’t think he fully believes his plan would work either.

After Blue helps pick out your bedding, he guides you over to the pillows.  You follow after him into one of the aisles, glancing over the different types they had available.  As you pick over them, a pair of footsteps approaching you has you tending up, eyes darting towards the source.

Stretch and Sans meander up, Stretch’s eyes lingering on you for a moment longer than they should before he turns towards his brother, heading further down the aisle.  This leaves you alone with Sans, who lazily meanders up to you, eyes taking in what you’re looking at.

“Heya Pyrite, deciding feather to get that pillow or the other?”  Sans points towards two pillows in front of you.  You snort, grin spreading across your face.  Behind you, Blue groans in annoyance.

“Yeah, it’s hard to decide which one I want.  I think maybe I should sleep on it first.”  You throw back at him, hand coming up to stroke your chin thoughtfully.  You hear Sans chuckle beside you, looking over the choices as well.

“Well, why not just get both?”  Sans looks back to you, an easy-going grin on his face once more.

“Can I?”  You didn’t think you’d be allowed to get more than one thing here.  A smile spreads on your face as you look at him.

“Yeah, don’t see why not.  Whatever helps you sleep at night .”  Sans snorts at his own pun, suppressing a chuckle.  You snatch the two pillows up, holding them close to you.  

“You can’t change your mind later.”  You warn Sans, giving him a pretend glare.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”  Sans’ hands lift in a position of surrender.  A relieved sigh escapes you.  Sans is quiet for a moment, watching you intently.

“You really like pillows, don’t you?”  He hums softly.  You nod, shifting the pillows in your grip to hold them easier.

“Yeah, the more the better.  Anything soft really.”  You tell him, a bit embarrassed now that you’ve realized what you’ve done.  You hope it wasn’t too childish, but you think you’re owed a bit of comfort considering the past few days.  Quartz has yet to say anything, so you assume it’s fine.

“Anything soft?  Y’wanna look at the stuffed animals too?  Blue’s got a couple, so we could get you some too.”  Sans offers, glancing at Blue.  You look as well.  Stretch stands in front of Blue, blocking your view of Blue halfway.  They seem to be in the middle of a heated discussion; though, their voices barely rise above a whisper.  A chill crawls across your spine at the sight, worry clawing into you.  Sans lets out an awkward “heh”, pulling your attention back to him.

“Why don’t we go look for ourselves, they’ll be fine here.”  Sans’ voice is awkward, grin more strained now.  You send one more glance back at Stretch and Blue before nodding, walking with Sans towards a different section of the store.

This part of the store has a few different soft stuffed animals.  The section isn’t large by any means, but there are a few different things that you see.  For one, you can recognize some of the toys in this aisle from Blue’s room.  But the one that draws your attention the most is a small white stuffed cat, fur a long white tuft, giving him a fuzzy, soft appearance.  You move towards him, very gently picking him up, careful to not damage him with your claws.  The little toy stares up at you with glass eyes and you swear that he looks almost sleepy as he watches you.  You suck in a shallow breath.

You didn’t realize just how much you missed your cat until you had found one nearly identical to your boy.  

“You alright?”  Sans’ voice pulls you out of your thoughts.  He stands next to you, a worried look on his face, as he glances between you and the stuffed cat in your hand.  You swallow a breath, blinking away tears, and then nod.

“Yeah, I’m alright.  Can I get him?”  You ask quietly, so afraid he’ll say no.

“Yeah, we can get him.  Did you— uh— have a cat in your universe?”  Sans asks, confusion mixed with worry on his face.  You nod, holding the kitten close, absently petting it like you would with your cat, even though you know the plushie in your hands wouldn’t actually be able to feel anything.  Sans’ eyes trail on your hands, watching you carefully.  You blink for a moment, breathing deeply, before you look at Sans.  

“Is this everything we need from here?”  You ask, ready to move on.  Sans hesitates for just a moment longer before he nods, guiding you back to the rest of the group.

You look over what Rust picked out for himself.  Much like Rust’s clothes, his bedding is also focused on more neutral colors.  Though while yours is brown, his is gray.  It seems to be some kind of plaid pattern, judging by the box shapes running across the comforter.  You notice that Stretch and Blue are also with their group, most likely because they couldn’t find you and Sans.

As you and Sans approach, Edge notices you first (most likely because Rust has his back to you), pointedly looking at the plush in your hands.  You level him with a glare, daring him to say anything about the stuffed cat cradled in your arms.  

“I wasn’t expecting you of all people to get a toy.  I guess you and your brother are full of surprises.”  Edge scoffs at you, very clearly judging the cat in your hands.  You growl softly, holding it closer to you, but pause as the rest of his sentence hits you.  Your eyes dart to Rust, immediately latching on to the two model cars in his hands.  Rust turns to face you, approaching you quickly.  You suppress a flinch— suppress the urge to cower backwards— as Rust towers over you.  He shoves one hand into your face, holding one of the cars out to you and shaking it lightly.

“Here.”  Rust barks out.  You hold out a hand, flinching as he drops it into your palm.  Your eyes trail across his face, confusion very clearly on your face.  Rust’s face is blank (it had been that way since he had found out) but below that you can see a hint of…. Something.  Frustration, maybe?  Whatever it is, the emotion doesn’t seem good.  

“ He’s trying to bribe you.”   You jump as Quartz’s voice suddenly fills your mind.  

Why is your brother trying to bribe me?  You deadpan, pulling the car close to you so you can look it over.  It’s black, looking like a decent kind of car that wouldn’t be too expensive for the others.  The car in your hand matches the one in Rust’s hand.  You hear Quartz huff.

“ He wants you to get out of my body.  Something like this would be harder to come by in our universe.”   Quartz explains.

He thinks a car would be worth the same as me getting out of your body?  You ask, blinking at the car.  Rust stares down at you, waiting patiently for you to say something.  Quartz hums softly, trying to think of the words to explain what he wants to say.

“ Toys were a luxury for my brother.  My brother would get them for a job well done and share with me.  Usually when he wants something.”   There are a few things in what he said that were worrying.

Did you not get any toys too?   You ask, thoughts going back to that faceless doctor you had seen in Quartz’s memories.

“ No.  Incompletes like me don’t get anything nice.  Not when the basics will work fine.”   His words have anger pooling in your gut, a frown forming on your face.

“ Tell Rust thank you and take the car.”   Quartz says suddenly, distracting you from your anger.  Your eyes shift back up to Rust’s face, a smile slipping onto your face as you do.

“Thank you.”  You hold the car close to you, sandwiching it next to your cat.  Rust regards you for a moment longer, seemingly waiting for something to happen, and then frowning when nothing does.  He turns around swiftly, ignoring you now.

“Shall we go check out now, Sans?”  Rust asks him.  Sans stares for a moment, very obviously confused at his behavior, but then quickly recovers and gives a quick nod.

“Yeah, we can go now,”  Sans glances at Edge and Mutt “assuming you got everything he needed?”  Edge scoffs, face scrunching up in annoyance.

“Of course we did!  We are not some lazybones like some people!”  Edge eyes Stretch and Sans as he speaks, giving them a disapproving look.  Neither skeleton looks too guilty— in fact you swear Stretch’s grin grows just a bit wider.

“Good, then we can go check out.  Is there anywhere else you two want to look?”  Sans asks, taking a few steps forwards to get the group moving.  Everyone follows Sans, heading towards the registers.  You hum quietly, thinking for a moment.  

There isn’t really anywhere else you’d want to go besides the bookstore, but you’re not sure whether it would be a good idea.  Since Rust already knows that you aren’t his brother, there really wouldn’t be any reason to try and hide it. But if Rust had already told some of the others that you couldn’t read, then that may raise some red flags.  You think for a moment longer, debating on whether you should or not before deciding that it would most likely be better to not ask to go.

“I’m alright.”  You answer.  Rust replies the same way, keeping his attention straight forwards, face pulled into a frown.

“Suit yourselves.”  Sans hums, giving a small shrug.

Eventually, your group once again makes it to the registers, Sans paying for everything and getting everything set up.  Once done, everyone files out of the store, easy-going and relaxed.  There are still plenty of humans and monsters around, but your group sticks close to the walls to avoid the large crowds of people.  As you walk, you feel Rust’s hand slip into yours, giving it a tight squeeze.  To your left you notice a pet store, some cages and empty aquariums in the window.

“Oooh!  Can we stop by the pet store!?”  Blue suddenly exclaims, darting in front of the group.  You feel a gentle tug against your hand, slowing you down some.  

“Need somethin’ for your frog?”  Stretch asks, to which Blue responds with an excited “yeah!”

“Yeah, we can go.”  You’re dragging behind the group, Rust continually tugging you backwards.  A nervous pit settles into your stomach.  Everyone’s eyes are on Blue for just a moment, but that’s enough for Rust to suddenly pull you away from the group without a sound.

Within seconds you find yourself shoved down a narrow, empty corridor just around a corner, an emergency exit door at the end that glows a dangerous red.  Your soul thuds in your chest, thundering in your head and blocking out any noise.  You’re alone— and the look Rust gives you is dangerous .

“What’s—“ your back hits the wall, pain blooming where the bones of your back meet wall.  Your head spins, eyes closing for a moment.  His arm presses you into place on the wall, keeping you still.  Something sharp presses into the bones of your neck.  Your breath stutters in your chest.  You wrench your eyes open to meet Rust’s scathing eyes.

“Where is my brother?”

Chapter Text

“Where is my brother?”  Rust growls, pressing a sharpened bone into your throat.  It stings, you vaguely note.

“He’s here—“. Rust’s hand pushes further into you, the bone threatening to pierce your throat.  You cut your words short, breath catching in your throat.

“You cannot fool me.  Now tell me, where is my brother ?”   Rust’s voice is deadly, venom dripping from his tongue.  Vaguely, you hear quiet whispers in the back of your head.  Your brother is angry — they whisper— kill whatever caused it.   You try to push them away, desperate not to lose yourself here.  Not when Rust is so close to you.

“Quartz, you need to come out now!”  You choke out, trying to focus on anything other than the growing whispers.  Panic sets in, with the Lv whispers slowly gaining in volume, you suddenly feel much less secure.

You see Rust’s face flash in confusion before suddenly you feel a tugging sensation inside you.  You surrender, allowing yourself to fall backwards as Quartz heaves himself forwards, out of the whispers.  You find yourself watching through the screen once more.  You can hear the whispers around you, urging Quartz to do something about whatever is upsetting Rust.  You watch Rust fall further into confusion as Quartz shifts.  You feel Quartz relax, briefly stretching what he can while a bone threatens to pierce through his throat.  Finally, Quartz turns his attention to Rust, settling him with a bone-chilling glare.

“ Let go.”  Quartz’s voice is icy, commanding, and just oozes danger.  You shiver.

Rust’s face contorts into shock before once more settling into a scathing glare aimed at Quartz.  You suck in a breath (strange considering you don’t need to breathe in this place), a rush of anger washing over you as Quartz’s eyes flicker for a moment.

“ I said  l  e  t    g o. ”  You suppress the urge to shy away—to hide yourself from the sound of Quartz’s voice, mind immediately darting back to the first night you met Quartz— the fear that had coursed through you when you had heard him speak the first time.  You suck in a sharp breath, urging your pounding soul to calm as best you can.

Rust jolts backwards like he had been burned, bone fizzling out of his hand immediately.  Rust’s posture straightens to an almost impossible extent, one that you know has to be uncomfortable— if not painful.  Fear flashes across his face before it settles back into a blank expression.  You recognize that you’re no longer looking at Quartz.  You’re looking at a soldier, one trained to obey .  Quartz watches him for a moment longer before you feel his hand come up and rub at his neck cautiously, soothing the sting where Rust’s magic had been moments prior.  It’s strange, feeling the body do things without your input— strange to feel pain with no body to actually experience it.   Quartz looks back at Rust and suddenly you’re hit with a wave of Quartz’s guilt.  Quartz softens his posture— his face.  The soldier blinks once.  Then twice.  And then you're staring at Rust once more.

“ I’m sure you have questions— “. Quartz doesn’t address what happened.  

“Many.”  Rust interrupts, posture relaxing as he finally looks at Quartz.  He’s no longer looking at a stranger.  His eyes are soft, relieved.  He looks more relaxed than he ever was with you.

“ The easiest way to tell you is to show you.”   Quartz says, already making the motion to pull out your conjoined souls.

Wait!!  You screech, panic flashing through you.  Just before you feel the tugging sensation of Quartz summoning your souls, he pauses.

Check for cameras first.  You supply.  You feel Quartz’s face scrunch in confusion.  

“ What’s a camera?”   Quartz asks out loud, much to the confusion of Rust, who looks at Quartz like he just grew a second head.  You suppose the analogy isn’t too far off.

Look around and I’ll see if I find any.  You say and after a brief pause, Quartz does as told, eyes scanning the area.  You look through his eyes, searching closely for any cameras.  Upon finding none, you relax, giving Quartz the go-ahead.

Like before, there’s a gentle tugging sensation and then suddenly you're being squeezed from all directions.  The sensation doesn’t hurt (which you count as a plus considering your souls seem to want to cause you pain at nearly every opportunity), but it is a little off-putting.  Eventually, after a small “pop!” your vision suddenly goes dark.  You can’t see.  Why can’t you see?

Panic grips you.  It’s not safe!   Something instinctual screams.  You’re scared!   This is wrong!   Oh god, you’re dying.  You’re not supposed to be out like this.  You’re dying you’re dying you’re dying—

“ It’s alright.”   A familiar deep voice soothes.  Why do you recognize that voice?  Why is it so familiar, so soothing?

“ I have you, you’re alright. ”  He whispers.  The fear subsides as you remember who you are— where you are.  You’re with Quartz.  Quartz won’t let anything bad happen to you.  You’re okay…. You’re okay.

Sorry.  You whisper to Quartz.  He says nothing in return, but you can feel the wave of emotion that dismisses your guilt easily.  

“Is that a human?”  There’s another voice, one that your mind supplies to be Rust’s voice.  You still can’t see, but if you could, you would see Rust’s face twist in disgust.  You crumple a little at the hate Rust’s voice carries.  Intent is thick in the air, heavy enough to sting.  You curl into Quartz ( safety).

“ Yeah.  We’ve already tried to separate ourselves.  It nearly killed us.”   Quartz explains without prompting from Rust.  Rust narrows his eyes, but nods in response.

“Were you…. Talking to it earlier?”  Rust asks, voice a mixture of incomprehension and disgust.  You bristle at what he calls you.  You feel Quartz tense, guilt crashing into you as you question what Rust called you.

“ Yes, I was.  They’re hard to ignore.”   Quartz answers.  You feel a gentle tugging sensation and then, much like before, you’re being squeezed from every direction once again.  With a quiet “pop!”  You find yourself able to see again.  You let go of the tension you were holding, relishing in the safety being in a body brings.

Rust stares at Quartz, disbelief all over his face.  If you look closely, you can see thinly veiled disgust there as well.  On the ground, a few feet from Rust, is a puddle of green sludge.  Most likely soul goop.  Gross.  You feel sorry for the janitor.

“Have you forgotten what humans have done to us— to you , brother?”  Rust’s voice brings you back to the present.  A wave of anger slams into you, knocking the breath out of you and pushing Rust’s words to the back of your mind.

“ Of course I haven’t, but it makes more sense to not ignore something that has control of my body nearly 24/7! ”   Quartz hisses at Rust, anger slipping into his words.

“You let it have free roam of your body!?”  Rust’s face contorts in shock, mouth falling open and eyes widening.  Rust does his best to keep his voice level and he only fails slightly.

“ I can’t stop them from being in control most of the time!”   Quartz growls back, a frown pulling across his face.  You can feel yourself frowning alongside him, though you’re not in control of the action like he is.

Rust is silent, openly staring at Quartz in shock.  He takes a moment, then another, to collect himself before he finally manages to close his mouth.  He closes his eyes, rubbing in between his eyes.

“How long has it been there?”  Rust asks finally, sighing heavily.

“ Since we arrived in this universe.”   Quartz answers, a wave of exhaustion washing over you as Quartz thinks back to when he had first arrived.  Rust gives a heaving sigh, once again rubbing the space between his eyes.

“That explains a few things then…”. Rust mumbles to himself before looking back up at Quartz “looking back on your actions now, you were not very…. Careful about hiding it.  Assuming that’s what you were doing, anyways.”  Rust points out.

“ Yeah, that would be the human’s fault.”  Quartz says simply.

Hey!  You’re just as much to blame as I am!   You jump to defend yourself, much to Quartz’s amusement.  A wave of humor hits you that you just know comes from him.  

“ Yeah?  At least I didn’t make the dumb mistake of letting my brother fend for himself surrounded by humans.”   Quartz retorts, a hint of humor to his sarcastic voice.

You flush, shame overtaking you.

I thought Rust would be okay being by himself.  The mall is hardly a dangerous place.  Besides, Rust said it was okay!  You defend, doing your best to curl into yourself despite your lack of a body.  

Quartz snorts, muttering a soft ‘you thought wrong’.  Rust regards Quartz thoughtfully, realization washing over his face followed by something more…  Grim…  Dangerous.  Your soul picks up unsteadily, nerves bubbling into anxiety.

“You’re friends with it.”  Rust says blankly.  “You like it.”  Rust’s eyes narrow at Quartz, apprehension on his face.  You feel Quartz tense up as if it were you in the body, all humor fading away.

“ Don’t–”   Whatever Quartz was getting ready to say, he’s cut short as Rust speaks again.

“Do you not remember the last time you befriended those pests? ”  Rust hisses, pure venom in his voice.  Quartz tenses up further– breath halting entirely– and something happens with his vision.  It’s hard to describe, but it’s almost like he’s looking through a filter that dyes the world black.  You can still see everything, just darker than normal.

You’re still reeling from the change in view when your mind catches up to what Rust had said.  Skipping over the part where he called you a pest (you had noticed his use of the word ‘it’ when describing you throughout the conversation), Quartz had befriended a human in the past.  At least, according to Rust.  But judging by the way Quartz remains frozen– how he isn’t quick to deny it– you would say that what Rust said is true.

Rust looks over Quartz, a thin frown settling over his face.  He looks almost…  Guilty…  For a moment before the expression is gone just as quick as it had come.  Quartz sucks in a shuddering breath, a shiver running down his spine before suddenly his vision is back to normal.

“ I didn’t forget, bro.  This human isn’t from our universe.   They aren’t an enemy.”   Quartz stresses, arms folding over his chest.  There’s a challenge in the way he speaks, daring Rust to say otherwise.  Rust rises to meet that challenge, a glare over-taking his features.

“How do you know?  It could be lying to you.”  Quartz growls at that, eyes narrowing at Rust.

“ I know because I’ve seen their memories.  They are no threat. ”  Rust crosses his arms over his chest as well, leaning backwards and away from Quartz.  They glare at each other, an angry hiss escaping from Quartz.

“How do you know?  Its already tried to kill our alternates twice now– don’t think I didn’t notice its attempt with Red.  It isn’t safe to be around.”  Rust grinds out the word ‘it’ repeatedly, seemingly trying to beat that word into Quartz’s head.  You’d be lying if you said it didn’t hurt.

“ Even I have trouble controlling my LoVe, what makes you think a human would fare any better?  If they aren’t safe to be around, then neither am I.”   Quartz growls out, trying to defend you.  You watch Rust stumble a little, a grimace overtaking his face.  It almost looks as if Rust wants to argue against this, but he chooses to keep his mouth shut.  A tense silence overtakes the two for a moment, both unwilling to budge an inch.

When the silence stretches out, you’re tempted to jump into their conversation, even if it feels wrong of you to do so.  But thankfully, Quartz finally speaks again.

“ You’ve spoken to them before.  Hell, you’ve gotten along with them before this.  What’s so wrong with being friends with a human, Papyrus?”   Quartz asks, ignoring the way Rust bristles as he says ‘Papyrus”.  

“All humans are bad, have you forgotten the Doctor’s lessons, brother?  The only reason you like this one is because it’s poisoning your mind.”  This time it’s Quartz’s turn to bristle, anger bubbling through him as he snaps at Rust.

“ They aren’t doing that!”   He takes a moment to collect himself, sucking in a cool breath “ I can feel the human’s emotions just as much as they can read mine.  If they were plotting something, I’d be able to tell. ”

Rust is quiet at that, barely contained rage behind his glare.  Quartz heaves a frustrated sigh, glancing away from Rust.

“ Look– we’re trying to get the human back to their body as soon as possible.  I’d appreciate it if you would help us instead of arguing with me.”   Quartz hisses out, seemingly at the end of his wits.  Rust scoffs.

“Of course I was going to help you, brother.”  You feel Quartz slump in relief, a wave of calm washing over your soul.

“ Thank you.” He breathes.  You feel a smile slip onto his face.  There is a brief lull of silence, Quartz slumping against the wall as Rust watches over him.

“Am I correct to assume that the human was in control for the entirety of the shopping trip?”  Rust suddenly asks.  Quartz looks up at Rust.

“ Yeah.  They chose all of our things.”   Quartz answers.

“That explains that…. Fake creature that they bought.  Along with their…. Strange choice of fashion.”  Rust mumbles, more to himself than to Quartz.

Hey!  My taste in clothes is perfectly normal!  You yell indignantly, offense in your voice.  Even though you know Rust can’t hear you, Quartz will probably tell him anyway.  Quartz snickers quietly, his hand covering his mouth.

“ I don’t know, I thought your clothes were pretty weird too.  Don’t think they’d be easy to move in— all that extra fabric.”   Quartz says aloud, his humor washing over you.  Rust watches on in what you think may be disapproval, though you can see the twitch of a suppressed smile there.

“Yes, I agree with my brother.  If the human were attacked in those clothes, the attacker would very easily be able to grab you.”  Rust nods his head, eyes slipping closed as if he’s picturing it now.  You huff.

I’m still going to wear them.  They’re comfy!  You argue back with him, hoping Quartz will convey your thoughts to Rust.  Sadly, Quartz does not, instead choosing to change the topic.

“ It’s been a while since we split off, the others are probably looking for us by now.”  Quartz says thoughtfully, glancing towards the busier section of the mall.  Towards where you had been dragged from earlier.  Rust hums softly, gaze following Quartz’s before looking back at him.

“I would like to speak to the human before we leave.”  Rust says.  Quartz nods.

“ We’ll switch back, then.  Don’t scare them too bad, bro.”   Quartz answers.  Your soul jumps into your throat (though you don’t actually have a body right now), mind clinging to his words.

What?  What’s that supposed to mean?  You call, but you’re already tugged forwards.  Quartz is asleep before he can answer you.

You stumble backwards, back hitting the wall as you're once again in the body.  Your skull aches painfully, along with your chest.  You blink, trying to will away some of the pain, before finally looking up at Rust, fear most definitely reflected on your face.  Rust looks down at you, no longer looking at his brother but rather something that is below him.  Like a human looking at a cockroach.  He frowns.

“You are the human in my brother’s body?”  Rust quirks an eyebone, giving you a glare.  You nod sheepishly, not trusting your voice right now.  Rust hums, looking you over once more before he speaks again.

“You will behave yourself.  Do not mess this up for my brother and I.”  Rust commands, voice icy towards you.  You wince, but nod anyway.

“Of course I will.  I’ve done good so far, haven’t I?”  You find yourself saying, eyes darting up to meet Rust’s eyes.  Rust meets your eyes, gaze softening from a glare to a look of apathy.

“That is debatable.  Come, we should return now.”  Rust turns, walking ahead and dismissing you.  You stumble to catch up, hand holding onto the wall for support.

But you know that you won’t be able to keep up.  The static overtaking your vision is testament to that.

“Wait!”  You call, hoping Rust can hear you over the growing static in your ears.  You shudder, falling to your knees.  Static overtakes your sight.  You become static once again.

You find yourself floating once more, unsure of where you are— of who you are.  How long have you been here?  You don’t know.  It felt like forever.  What had you been doing before?  You can’t remember.  

As you ponder over these thoughts, the static slowly parts.  You find yourself standing in a forest, your brother’s hand clutched tightly in yours .  Your soul pounds heavy in your chest, anxiety creeping in at what you were about to do.  What you were about to make your little brother do.  You look at your brother, little eyes meeting yours .  He blinks owlishly at you, face as impassive as ever.  It always creeped you out to meet his eyes, to look into the impassiveness resting just below his bones.  To know that no matter what the tiny child saw, he was unaffected.  Always unhurt.  Always uncaring.  The Doctor’s perfect soldier.

You suck in a breath, turning your attention back to the human pinned to the ground, long sharp bones keeping him mostly unharmed yet trapped.  The human— a man, your mind supplies— growls and spits and screams for help that won’t come.  Your Lv floods through your bones, begging for release, but you can easily toss it away for now.  It’s not the time to let lose.

“Fuck you!  Let me go!  I’ll kill you!”  The man screams, struggling against your magic.  You ignore him, turning to look back at your brother.  Tiny eye lights meet your own.

“ Clean and efficient.  Like I taught you.”   You whisper to him.  Your brother blinks up at you , nodding once before turning to look back at the human.  The man’s face pales, a look of horror overtaking his face.

“Wait!  Wait, don’t!  Please, I have a family!”  The man pleads, eyes frantically darting between you and your brother.  He struggles harder.  It’s hard to hold him in place with your bones, but you manage.  You wouldn’t let your brother be hurt by a human.

Your brother steps forwards, arm rising and summoning his magic.  You suck in a breath, watching the scene unfold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One moment bones float in the air, the next they’re embedded in the man.  Through the man, your mind corrects.  Blood bubbles from the man’s mouth, a scream stuck in his throat.  Your mind spins, the stench of iron overwhelming your smell.  You force your eyes closed, sucking in a shuddering breath to keep yourself from vomiting.  When you feel the nausea settle, you crack open your eyes.

You regret it immediately.

Little eye lights look into your own, watching you impassively.  He neither moves to make sure you’re okay nor to get away from the mess he made.  Your eyes drift back to the man, eyes landing on his face against your will.  This time, you do vomit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You're not entirely sure when the memory faded, but when you come to, you find yourself hunched over on the ground.  Your knees dig into the hard concrete, hands just under your face to stop your fall.  You shudder, the smell of iron still thick on your nose.  Your head spins.  Your body aches.  Vaguely you note your shaking.

The man’s eyes flash through your mind.

You killed him you killed him you killed him you killed him—

It’s too much.  You can feel bile rise in your throat.  You’re too far gone to stop it.  With a heavy heave of your stomach, liquid spills from your mouth and yet it rises still.  It spills from your nose-hole.  Then your eyes.  You can’t see.  Your vision is black.  You can’t see.  You can’t see you can’t see YOU CAN’T SEE—

There are hands on your shoulders, pulling you up.  Panic flashes through your mind, and you try to push the hands away but they’re too strong and they won’t let go let go let go let go —

“You’re alright, I’ve got you.”  A voice whispers.  Your brother.  You go from desperately trying to throw his hands off of you to desperately trying to latch onto him.  You feel him shift and then arms wrap around you, lifting you up.  You bury your face into his shoulder.  You squeeze tight, desperate and scared and sick—

He settles you against him, and then turns and walks.  You sway gently, a hand soothingly running up and down your spine.  You cling tighter.  Your brother will keep you safe.  You’re okay.  You’re safe .  Rust slows to a stop, arms gripping around you tighter.

“Sans!”  Rust yells.  You flinch.

You don’t hear them walk up nor do you hear the conversation that occurs.  Next thing you know you’re being passed to someone.  

The person’s grip on you is careful, hesitant to both hold you and to get any of your sick on them.  Their clothes smell like ketchup, you note absently.  You’re shifted around in their hold for a moment before whoever is holding you speaks, voice sounding like mud in your absent head.  After a moment longer of conversation you can’t understand, you feel the gentle sway of someone walking.  They walk for a good distance and judging how you can only hear one set of footsteps, they walk alone.

One moment you’re being carried by this person, the next you’re weightless, floating in a blank void.  The smell of ozone hits you hard, disorienting your already unstable mind.  You whine softly just as the feeling dissipates entirely, leaving only the quickly fading scent of ozone left in the air.  Your head spins, unsettling your stomach further.  You still can’t see, but you can smell the familiar scent of the skeleton’s house.

“There we go, bud.  We’ll get you cleaned up.”  Sans’ voice resonates in your chest, deep and melodic and soothing.  A hand runs up and down your spine.  You let yourself relax, focusing on the way his hand moves, on the steady rise and fall of Sans’ chest, and on the steady rocking motion as he walks.  Sans walks once more, towards somewhere that is warm and smells of pasta.  The kitchen, you’re mind supplies.

“Bro—“. Sans starts but is interrupted by a shrill yelp from who you assume to be Papyrus.

“Sans!  Don’t—“. His voice cuts off as you hear him turn to face the two of you.

“Oh dear.”  Papyrus whispers, voice dropping into a much quieter tone.  You hadn’t ever heard him speak much softer than a stage whisper, so the shock is almost enough to make you laugh.  The dead man’s eyes flash through your mind.

“Set him on the table, brother.  Then go get a change of clothes.”  Papyrus commands quietly, voice gentle like there’s a wild animal in the room he’s trying to soothe.  You suppose there is.  Your claws dig into the table as Sans very carefully sets you on the table.

You hear a drawer open and close, followed by the sound of running water.  A moment later and the sink turns off, Papyrus very slowly walking towards you, stopping just a few steps away from you.

“Pyrite, can you hear me?”  Papyrus asks.  You want to speak so badly, to tell him about what you had seen, but your body refuses to let you open your mouth.  So instead, you force yourself to nod.  It feels like sloshing through mud to get your neck to respond the way that you want, but after an intense struggle, you finally nod.  It almost hurts to do so.  You hear Papyrus breath a relieved sigh.

“Pyrite, I would like to clean your face off with this washcloth I have here.  Is that okay?”  Your mind screams ‘danger!’ at Papyrus’ words, but you know you have no other choice.  Not with the way your joints crack and groan with each forced nod.  So, once again, you nod.

You hear Papyrus walk towards you, slow and gentle, and then very carefully, you feel the warm press of the rag to your face.  He focuses around your eyes first, careful to get everything out of the holes your eye sockets form.  He’s gentle, careful not to press too hard or be too rough.  Papyrus hums quietly as he works, never moving too fast near your face.  As he works, you smell a brief splash of ozone once again, signaling that Sans has returned.

“I got them, how is he?”  Sans asks.  You can feel his eyes on you.

“He’s alright.  Nothing the Great Papyrus can’t handle!”  You feel Papyrus perk up; though, his hand is still careful around your face.  Sans hums in response, settling down to watch Papyrus work.

Slowly your vision clears.  Your vision is hazy at first, but eventually Papyrus’ grinning face comes into view.  You watch as he lights up, smile broadening a bit.

“There you are.  Can you see alright?”  Papyrus asks, face calm and expression relaxed.  You take a moment to force yourself to nod.

“Good!  Great job, Pyrite.  I have some clothes here that you can change into, alright?”  You nod once more, suppressing a shudder as your bones click with the effort “would you like to go to your room?”

It’s not your room, your mind whispers to you.  You’d much rather be at home, your cat on your lap and a cup of hot tea in your hand.  But, you can’t do either of that.  You look at Papyrus, breath shuddering in your chest, and then slowly nod.  Even if it wasn’t your home, it was better than being in the kitchen.  

You shift yourself off the table, legs aching with the effort, and then you shuffle slowly out of the kitchen.  Papyrus, right behind you, helps to support you while Sans once more picks up the clothes he had brought downstairs.  The walk to your room is a blur and then you find yourself sitting on your bed, clothes changed and Papyrus quietly pulls down the covers of your bed.  Sans, you notice, lingers in the doorway.  He watches the two of you, a mix of a grimace and empathy on his face.  Everytime Papyrus gets closer to you, his face changes to worry.  Not for you— but for his brother.  You avert your eyes, turning to watch Papyrus work.  

After Papyrus finishes, he guides you to lay down under the blankets.  You settle in, squeezing the blanket around you tightly.  The scent of iron lingers heavy in your nose.  Your brother ’ s face as he killed that man flashes through your head.  It’s too much.  You just want to sleep.  Forget about what your head-mate has experienced.  You weren’t listening to what Papyrus said but you realize with a start that he turns to leave.  

You don’t want to be alone.  Not with the man lingering in your mind.

You jolt forwards, hand gripping onto Papyrus’ wrist.  Papyrus pauses.  Then he turns around to look at you.  

“Don’t go…” you whisper, voice hoarse.  You try to swallow the lump building in your throat.

Papyrus smiles.  Then he nods.  Your hand retreats from his wrist, disappearing under the sea of blankets.  You watch Papyrus, afraid that if you take your eyes off of him, he’ll vanish right then.  He stands over you, saying something to Sans that you don’t care to hear.  With a burst of ozone, Sans disappears from your limited view, returning in an instant with two chairs accompanying him.  He sets one chair behind Papyrus and the next chair beside Papyrus’s chair.

You let your eyes slip closed with the knowledge that there are others in the room to watch over you.

Chapter Text

You awaken a few hours later, but keep your eyes closed.  Your head throbs painfully.  You’re not sure you want to open your eyes— to actually get up and face what happened.  What you had seen.  But you can tell that Quartz knows you’re awake.  You don’t know what to say to him.  What to tell him.  You pull the blankets closer to yourself, cocooning yourself in the safety and warmth the soft fabric provides.  Maybe if you cocoon yourself– block yourself away from him– he won’t address what happened.

It’s one thing to know that you’re in the body of a murderer— to experience the after-affects of a lifetime of slaughter— and another beast entirely to actually see it.  Rust had been so young then, much younger than you would think possible.  Much too young to understand what taking a life meant.  He had never wanted that life for him, but what other option did he have?

They had no choice.   You know they didn’t .

They were the hope of Monster-kind .  They couldn’t let themselves fester over something as small as killing something below them.  

You curl tighter into yourself, breath shuddering.

It’s not fair.   

Life isn’t fair.   

You deserved better.  

It was kill or be killed.   

Was it this hard for you too?  When you first…. Your first?

Yeah.

I’m sorry.

Don’t be.  I’ve moved past it.

Will I see more of… that?

Probably.  That was one of the worst ones, though.

That’s not a reassuring thought.  Not as comforting as he had most likely intended it to be.  You suck in a shuddering breath, finally willing yourself to open your eyes.

The first thing your eyes land on is Papyrus, relaxed in his chair with his phone in hand, absently scrolling through whatever app he has open.  Your eyes dart towards Sans, who seems to— at first— be asleep.  His eyes open when you look him over, as if he could feel your gaze on him.  You lock eyes, watching as he gives a weak wink to you.

“Hey there, bud.  How’re you feelin’?”  Sans asks, catching Papyrus’ attention.  The tall skeleton looks up from his phone, screen going black as he looks you over.

“Like shit.”  You reply, because you truly do feel terrible .  Your soul pulses painfully in your chest along with your head.  Your mouth tastes like vomit and a dull ache clings to your bones. 

Sans hums, glancing over your form as Papyrus leans forwards in his seat.  You see Papyrus partially frown at the swear, but he says nothing about it.

“Do you think you have a fever?  Did you catch a bug while we were out?”  Sans asks, though from the way his face cringes slightly, Sans doesn’t seem to think that you’re sick physically.

“No, ‘m not sick.”  You start but pause, unsure if you should unpack that bomb to them.  You don’t want to dump something like that on them.

“Would you like to talk about it?”  Papyrus asks and then for good measure adds “we are very good listeners.”

A hint of a smile slides onto your face but it’s gone as soon as it arrives.  You pull the blanket closer, curling up tighter.  You want to talk about it, you really do.  But you’re not sure if they would understand.  They wait patiently, faces open and honest and worried .  About you.  They care about you.

You suck in a shallow breath, your hands trembling as you clutch at the blanket.

“A…. A really bad memory.”  You hate how your voice shakes.  You don’t want to cry in front of them.  As often as your sister had said that it was okay to cry in front of others, that was one thing you could never bring yourself to do.  Sans winces once more in sympathy, leaning back in his chair.  

“I feel ya there, Py.”  You watch Sans, look at the way his bones seem to grow older by the second.  His eyes take a far away expression and absently a hand rubs across his sternum over his clothes.  Then the moment is over and sharp eye lights land back on you.

“I get ‘em too.  Most of the Sans types in the house get ‘em.”  Sans explains, motioning with his hand as he speaks.  “We can set you up with a therapist, if you’d like.”

As much as you’d love to have a therapist, you know for a fact that there would be way too much that you couldn’t tell them.  It would do more harm than good, your mind whispers to you.  It would just remind you of all the secrets you can’t tell anyone.

“No, that’s okay.”  You say, watching as Sans shrugs and then leans back in his chair.  You’re almost surprised he didn’t try to fight you on this.

Papyrus looks as though he is about to protest, but a look from Sans has Papyrus clicking his mouth shut.  He shoots his brother a glare with no heat to it.  After a moment, Papyrus turns back to you, face serious but open.

“As much as I would like to push you to see a therapist, I know that if you don’t want to be there, it won’t do much good.  Therefore, if you ever have anything on your mind that you would like to discuss, you may come to me to talk it over.”  Papyrus says, a smile sliding back onto his face.

“Or, if you want, you can come to me too.  No pressure, though.”  Sans chimes in, leaning back in his chair.

“Thank you.”  you know you can’t take them up on that offer as much as you would love to.  So you leave it there.  You move to finally sit up, propping yourself up against the headboard of your bed.  

“How long was I asleep for?” you’re curious.  Have the others returned yet?

“Not too long, about half an hour?” Sans says, looking to his brother for confirmation.  Papyrus nods.  You wince, guilt settling in your gut for taking time away from Papyrus’ free day.  You’re about to apologize when suddenly Papyrus jumps in, interrupting you before you can speak.

“Would you like to finish cooking with me?  I was practicing a new recipe I saw when you two returned home and I would appreciate the company!”  Papyrus smiles, face hopeful that you’ll say yes.  You glance at Sans for a brief moment– his face is relaxed, friendly– before turning back to Papyrus.  You really want to, but you’re not sure how helpful you’d be in the kitchen given your current state.

“I would love to, if it’s alright with you.  But I’m not sure I’d be very helpful”  You fidget with your hands, thumb rubbing along the pointed ends of your fingers.

“That’s alright!  I don’t need much help, just someone to talk to while I work!” Papyrus sounds excited at the prospect of you working with him.  There’s a large smile on his face that’s infectious.  You can’t help but nod, agreeing to accompany him in the kitchen.  You don’t regret it; however.  Papyrus’ energy is much too infectious to warrant any regret.

You scoot towards the side of the bed as the two skeletons stand.  You follow Papyrus back down to the kitchen, Sans silently making his way downstairs behind you.  He didn’t say he would come with both you and Papyrus, but you find it comfortable to be with the two brothers.  They are easy to talk to and even easier to relax around.  To let yourself breathe around.

Eventually the three of you arrive in the kitchen, Sans settling himself in one of the chairs at the small table in the room while Papyrus easily wraps himself back into the motions of cooking.  You watch for a moment before settling yourself into the chair across from Sans.  The three of you sit in comfortable silence for most of the time, Sans falling asleep at one point.  Every now and then Papyrus would hand you something to mix or to try and each time you would put your all into helping him.  You appreciate the distraction Papyrus provides you.  You really really do.  It’s easier to not focus on the dead man with something in your hands– with something to do.  Plus, Papyrus moves with an energy that commands your attention away from your thoughts and towards his work instead.  He moves with purpose but glides gracefully as he does so.  Like he’s in his element within the kitchen.  From what you remember of the skeleton’s interviews with the reporters, he loved to cook.  So perhaps he is in his element within the kitchen.  Either way, you appreciate the distraction that Papyrus provides you.  

It isn’t until Papyrus was just finishing his work when the others return home, their voices echoing off of the walls of the house.  It’s Blue’s voice that you recognize to be the loudest, calling for Sans.  You look to the skeleton sleeping across from you who blearily blinks awake, looking around in confusion for a moment before his eyes settle on you and then to Papyrus.  It takes him a moment longer for the recognition to pass through his face before he finally answers Blue with a quick “in here!”  Before you’re prepared, Blue comes barreling into the kitchen, thick blue tears leaking down his face that has your breath stuttering in your chest.

“Where is he?  Is he okay!?  He’s not dead, is he!?”  Blue sobs hysterically, breath coming in frantic puffs.  His eyes dart around the room before they land on you and then he’s sobbing from relief instead of worry.  Blue barely hesitates to attempt to launch himself at you; keyword being attempt.  Thankfully, before Blue can get more than a few inches off the ground, a hand grabs a hold of the back of his shirt, pulling him backwards.  You suck in a shuddering breath, fighting off the jolt of adrenaline that came with Blue’s attempt at a hug.  Gratefully your eyes land on Stretch who’s still holding his brother back by his shirt.  Stretch’s eyes meet yours and you watch as relief floods his eyes as well before he turns his brother around to face him.

“I told you he was fine, bro.  No need to worry, see?”  Stretch says to the inconsolable skeleton in his hands.  In response Blue lets out a soft “nyoohoohoo”.  

After Blue has calmed down some– enough to know that the small skeleton won’t attempt to dive-bomb hug you again– Stretch finally sets him down.  Blue turns around to look at you again, face clear of most of the tears, and smiles sheepishly.

“Sorry…  Are you… Alright?”  Blue asks, eyes sweeping over you.  You do your best to smile and nod, still reeling from the sudden entrance.

“Yeah, I’m okay.  Are– uh– you alright, Blue?”  You find yourself asking, eyeing him.  Blue flushes (you ignore how he literally turns blue) and laughs nervously.

“Yeah, I'm alright!  Sorry for all… that…”  Blue waves his hand as he trails off, at a loss for words as to how to describe what just happened.  You nod, muttering a soft “it’s alright” and then lapse into silence.  Sans takes this moment to speak up while Papyrus ushers Blue over to try what he was making.  Blue obliges, carefully tasting what Papyrus made.

“Did you guys make it home alright?”  Sans aims the question at Stretch, peering around him to try and spot the others.  You try to do the same, hoping to spot Rust so you can apologize for throwing up on him.

As you look into the hallway behind Stretch, you spot the other three people filing down the hallway.  Mutt is the first to spot you, lingering just in the doorway, eyes traveling over your form before he gives you a small wave and turns back around, walking back down the hallway.  

Edge is the next one to see you and– surprisingly– he halts to check you over as well.  Of course, he scoffs, opening his mouth to definitely say something snarky, but then pauses as his eyes land on your face.  He looks taken aback, eyebones scrunching up in confusion for a moment before he gives a soft huff and turns away.  You don’t have long to watch Edge leave– bewildered by the interaction– before Rust steps into the doorway, eyes darting to you.  If you weren’t able to recognize Rust’s habits, you wouldn’t have noticed the way Rust relaxes minisculely when he sees that you are relatively fine.  Just as quickly as the soft look had arrived, it is quickly swept back up as he realizes that he isn’t looking at his brother, but rather the human in his brother’s body.  A frown overtakes his face, eyes turning cold.  But it’s different from before.  Instead of the icey hate that he held before– you don’t think you’ll ever forget how he had looked at you then, how it had cut into your very soul like knives running through flesh– it is instead replaced with just a hint of..  Acceptance.  

“You’re okay…” Rust calls quietly, and to the other’s in the room, they’d think it sounded like relief.  You know differently.  He wouldn’t be relieved that you’re okay.  Not when you’re in his brother’s body.  You nod anyways, keeping up the act in front of the others.

Rust lingers for a moment longer, eyes sweeping over you one last time before he nods and sweeps out of the room just as quickly as he had arrived.  You watch him disappear around the corner, fighting back the sting in your chest.

He’ll come around– you tell yourself.  That thought helps soothe the hurt a little, even if it feels like a lie.

Chapter Text

You linger in the kitchen for a while longer, watching Blue and Papyrus talk about everything and nothing.  Stretch had migrated to the table, setting himself up next to Sans— who seems to have fallen back asleep.  Stretch watches his brother absently, head propped up on his hand.  With nothing else to do, you can’t help but delve into your thoughts.

You hadn’t expected to see what you had seen in Quartz’s memories— after all, you hadn’t seen the first time Quartz had killed someone.  You would wonder why this time had been different, but you think you might already know the answer.  It had stuck with him.  Watching his baby brother kill someone had been the point of no return for Quartz in his mind.  God, you could still smell the blood in the air.  You need to not think about it.  Not right now, when it’s still fresh in your mind.  When you can still see the bones piercing through the man— he’d been so scared .  You suck a shuddering breath in, forcing your mind to the events before that– before you had seen the memory.  Suddenly, the memory is the furthest thing from your mind.  

Rust.

Rust knew that you were human.  Rust knew you were human.  You didn’t have to feel guilty about lying to him anymore!  You give a small smile, letting the relief run through you.  You didn’t have to pretend to be Quartz around him anymore.  It’s a freeing thought— something you’d never thought would happen so long as you were in this body.  Maybe you could actually be friends with Rust now.  Without the deceit and guilt weighing you down.  You’d like that.  You’d like that a lot.

Your smile wavers.

Rust had called you an ‘it’ throughout the entire conversation.  You had thought Quartz was bad, but he at least didn’t treat you like a bug.  Quartz had treated you like an enemy, something to be wary of.  Rust didn’t even give you that.  He had told you to behave , like an animal.  You frown.  Then huff.  You really don’t want Rust to think of you like that.  You’re angry— oh , you’re angry— but you can’t direct that anger at Rust.  That would just be proving his point.  Besides, you know that it’s because of his upbringing.  His life was killing humans (you ignore the splash of blood on green ), of course it would be easier to deal with what you’re doing if they were below you.  Like a person killing a bug, that’s the way he views it.  Still, you let yourself be hurt— be angry at Rust’s words.  You think you deserve to be angry after everything that’s happened to you so far.

As you think about Rust, you slowly remember what Rust had said about Quartz— about how Quartz had liked you.  You can’t help the smile that grows on your face, a warm feeling overtaking your chest.  Rust had said Quartz liked you and he didn’t deny it!

“ Ugh, don’t start.”   Quartz’s groan of disapproval has you holding back a giggle.  

Oh c’mon, is that anyway to talk to your friend , Quartz?   You tease, smile widening ever so slightly.

“ Shut up,” Quartz whines “ my bro doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”   You can hear the embarrassment radiating off of him in waves and you have to suppress another giggle.

I think Rust knows exactly what he’s talking about.  You like me!   You press on, delighted to hear another groan from Quartz.

“ You must have heard him wrong.  What he actually said was that I must hate your guts.  Which I do.  Especially right now.”   Quartz retorts back.  Despite his words, you feel neither anger nor hate coming from him.  Instead you feel humor that only mixes in with your own.  You choke down a laugh, careful to cover your mouth before the sound comes out.

You can lie to yourself all you want, but I know the truth now.  You pause, debating whether you should continue your next sentence.  Before you can fully stop yourself, words slip into your mind.  It’s fine though, Quartz because I like you too.   You hadn’t meant to say it, really.  But after saying them, you find that you do mean what you had said.  Quartz had defended you to his brother– hell, he even comforted you while you were just a soul (you need to address that at some point too).  That’s something that you would never have even dreamed of happening when you had first woken up in the basement what seems like eons ago.  You can’t help them fond smile that slips onto your face, soul warmed at the thought of the progress you and Quartz had made together.

There’s a beat of silence that has your smile wavering.  Did you push it?

Platonically, of course.   You add.

Quartz snorts and you think if he’d had the body, he would have slapped a hand over his mouth.  You can’t help the relief that flows through you.  He’s not angry, at least.  No anger means you didn’t push it too far.  You relax in your seat.

“ You’re insufferable.”   Quartz huffs out and you can just hear the smile in his voice.

Thanks, I try.   Your response is quick, a hint of a laugh to it.  

You two slip into a comfortable silence and you find your eyes drifting to everyone else in the room, watching them absently.  You wanted to talk to Rust.  Truth be told, you had been avoiding him throughout most of the days since your arrival.  Rust was the one that knew Quartz before he had arrived in this universe.  You had been too worried about Rust finding out that you weren’t his brother to let yourself fully relax around him.  But now that he knew, you didn’t have to avoid him anymore.  Of course, his disdain for you still hangs heavy in your mind— you wouldn’t ever be able to forget that— but if you can get Rust to at least see you as not a threat, you’d have someone on your side.  Someone that wasn’t in your head twenty-four seven.  That would be nice.  You would really like that.  You should talk to Rust.  Maybe explain what happened earlier— because despite the way he had reacted after seeing you— you knew he would still be worried.  Not for you, but for his brother.  You had seen that in the way his eyes had met yours— in the way Rust had held you close to himself back in the mall.  You both need time to adjust to each other— to bond with each other.

So, you stand to go find Rust, giving a small placating smile to Blue who gives you a worried look as you leave.  You can do this.  You know you can.  With that last thought, you slowly make your way towards Rust’s room.

Chapter Text

You linger outside of Rust’s room, hand hesitating to knock on the door.  Your soul pulses loudly in your skull, nerves pushing their way up your throat.

“ Just knock already.”   Quartz urges, annoyance leaking through his voice.  

I will!  It’s just— what if Rust doesn’t want to talk?   You push back, stepping away from the door.  You press a hand to your chest, willing the thudding to slow.

“ Then you try again later.  Just ask him already.”   Quartz sounds like he’s at the end of his rope, and you can’t help the wince that crosses your face.

You suck in a breath, hesitantly stepping forwards once more.  After a tiny moment to collect yourself, you finally knock on the door.  You pause, trembling in place as you wait for Rust to appear.  

A minute passes.  

And then another.  

Your nerves grow.  Why wasn’t he answering the door?  Did he know it was you?  Does he not even want to try talking to you?   The thought has a welt growing in your throat.  Just as you're about to call it quits and go to your room, someone clears their throat to the left of you.  Your head whips around to face them, soul leaping into your throat.

Rust stands there, looking between you and his door with a perplexed expression on his face.  Your gaze darts between Rust and the door before it finally settles on Rust.  Your face warms.  He hadn’t even been in there!  You suppress a whine as Quartz snickers in your mind, laughing at your expense.

Rust stares at you openly, watching as your face flushes with a mixture of worry, confusion, and disgust.  There’s a brief moment where he stares, mouth agape, before his face lights up in realization and he relaxes, mouth clicking shut.

“You blush green.”  Rust concludes and you feel your face warm further.  You fight the urge to hide your face.

“Yup, learned that back at the mall…”  You mutter, eyes darting to your feet.  You had forgotten that had happened, what with the surfacing of Quart’s memory.  But looking back on it now, the blush that had settled on your face made you look like a cartoon character about to throw up.  You can understand why Rust had looked at you that way.  Rust stares at you for a moment longer before he finally speaks again.

“What do you want?”  Rust snaps, voice pulling you out of your thoughts.  You latch onto the change in topics, remembering what your goal had been.  But then pause as you realize the two of you are still in the hallway– definitely not the best place to talk.

“Can we talk in your room?”  You ask, gesturing to his door.  Rust narrows his eyes at you, gaze following your movements.  You stare up at him hopefully, fidgeting with your hands.

Rust sighs and then nods, stepping past you to open the door and move in himself.  You follow past him, shutting the door behind you.  Surprisingly, Rust seems to have moved some of the furniture around.  The bed is now shoved up into the corner furthest from the door, the bedding he bought replacing the old ones.  His dresser is next to his bed, most likely full of the clothes he had bought at the mall.  There’s a new desk pushed against the wall closest to the door, though the desk is bare of anything.  Your gaze lingers on the desk for a moment before you finally turn back to Rust.  

Rust has moved to the center of the room and when he sees that he has your attention, he motions for you to sit on the bed.  You do, careful to not disturb the pristinely made bed.  The blanket is soft— you note.  Once you’re settled, you look back at Rust and then explain why you’re here.

“I want to be friends—“ you attempt to start, but Rust immediately stops you, disgust overtaking his face.

“I’m not going to be friends with a filthy human like you.”  Rust grinds out the word ‘friends’ like even the thought of it hurts him.  You wince, looking away from him.  You suck in a soft breath before you start again.  

“Why not?  We got along fine before you found out I was human, why is it different now?”  You ask, forcing yourself to be calm.  Rust looks taken aback, a bewildered expression forcing its way onto his face.  He blinks and then you watch the expression drop off of his face.  He levels you with a glare.

“Because you’re human.”  Rust says coldly.  

“I’m not like the humans from your universe.  I’m from this universe, Rust.  I don’t want anything other than to be friends with you.”  

Rust’s expression shifts, a small grimace on his face.  Then it slides off his face just as quickly it had appeared and he settles you with a harsh glare.

“Is that all you wanted?  To pester me with tasteless fantasies of friendship?”  Rust shifts, arms folding in front of his chest.  You frown, unhappy that Rust wants to change the topic but you relent anyway.  You have something else you want to bring up anyways.

“There’s one other thing I wanted to ask.  Do you know how to read?”  You ask and you watch as Rust’s face twists once more into confusion.

“What do you possibly have to gain by asking that?”  

“I want to read to you!”  Rust’s face twists back into disgust but you continue before he can interrupt you “I can read you history books about this universe!  So that we can blend in better!”

Rust pauses at this, eyebone tilting upwards.  You watch his face shift as he thinks from disgust to hesitance to wavering acceptance.  You wait patiently, watching him weigh the pros and cons before finally Rust comes to his decision.

“Fine.  But don’t think that this means that we’ll become friends.”  He growls out, a disgusted sort of acceptance on his face.  You can’t help the smile that grows on your face.  Even if Rust looks like he hates the thought of spending any minute longer than he has to with you, he still agreed to the idea.  That’s a win in your book.

“What time-period do you want me to read to you?”  You ask, excitement filling your bones.  Rust looks at you for a moment, pondering something before he answers.

“Focus on books around the Monster-Human war.”  Rust ends, watching you closely.  Gauging something.  You nod, an excited smile taking over your face.  At your agreement, Rust looks relieved; though, he does try to hide it.

“Come back here after everyone else has gone to sleep.  Then you can read to me.”  Rust says, voice commanding.  You nod again, shifting to slide off the bed.

“Will do.  I’ll go look at what they’ve got in the library,” you pause, looking back at Rust “thank you for letting me do this, Rust.”  He looks at you and there’s a brief moment where his eyes flash with guilt before suddenly it’s gone and you’re not entirely sure if you had even actually seen the stray emotion.

“Just leave.”  Rust hisses.  You nod, quickly making your way out of his room and towards the library.

“Well done.”   Quartz’s voice chimes out in your mind, the praise adding to your good mood.  You feel like you could fly right now.

That went better than I thought it would .  You say in reply.

“ Agreed.”   Quartz hums.

As you walk, you pause as your eyes land on an open door.  You wince as you realize that it’s the door belonging to the bathroom you had destroyed earlier in the week.  You should at least look at the damage you had done, maybe offer to help fix it.  It would be the least you could do.

As you approach; however, a string of curses make their way to you.  You pause just outside the door, listening to a gravelly voice growl out incoherently.  You hesitate before you finally push the door open, preparing yourself to see the destruction you had caused.  What greets you instead has your jaw dropping.

The room— while not being entirely clean and fixed up— looks much better than what it had been.  All of the rubble from the walls had been cleared up along with the water and broken glass from the mirror.  A few of the smaller holes in the walls have been patched up, leaving a white space in the paint.  As you take in the room, your eyes land on a figure slumped in front of a hole lower on the wall.  The figure— you realize— is Red.

Red is covered in dirt and dried spackle, his face flushed red in anger as he growls and spits under his breath.  You watch him for a moment, stunned into silence before you finally manage to pull yourself together enough to think.  Sans had mentioned punishment.  You suppose that’s what this is.  He made Red fix your mess.

Guilt floods you.

Red shouldn’t have to clean up your mess.  That wasn’t fair to him— even if he had threatened.  If anything, it should have been you in there fixing this mess.  You watch Red for a moment longer before you finally speak up.

“Did Sans make you do this?”  You ask.

Red jumps, a startled “fuck!” yelping from his throat.  He whips around to look at you, leveling you with a harsh glare that doesn’t hit as hard considering there's dried spackle and paint on his face.  

“The fuck d’you want?”  Red growls, his face shifting into annoyance as he meets your eyes.

“I said: did Sans make you clean this up?”  You urge, annoyance flashing over your face as well.  Red scowls at you.

“Just fuck off, ‘m busy.”  Red growls at you, turning back around to get back to work and ignoring you entirely.  You huff, watching Red work for a moment.

You move before you even realize what you intend to do.  One second you’re in the doorway and the next you're kneeled next to Red, a tool in hand with some spackle on it.

“The fuck’re you doin’?  I don’t need your help.”  Red hisses, settling you with a glare.  You glare right back at him.

“Sans should’ve made me do this, not you.”  You say in explanation, working to put the goop around and in the hole.  Out of the corner of your eye you see Red’s mouth fall open, shock and disbelief all over his face.  You work for a moment longer, trying to ignore Red’s stare, but after he refuses to close his mouth, you snap.

“Close your mouth, you look like an idiot.”  You hiss angrily, glancing at him out of the corner of your eye.

Red’s mouth clicks shut with your words.  He blinks once.  Then twice.  And then he turns back to the wall, working alongside you.

“I don’t need your help.”  Red grumbles just loud enough for you to hear.

“Sure you don’t.”  You quip back at him, sarcasm rolling out of your mouth with ease.

The two of you work in tense silence.  It’s awkward— oh god, is it awkward— but you force yourself to work alongside Red anyways.  The two of you make good progress on fixing up not just one hole, but a few of the bigger holes as well.  By the end of it, you’ve also gotten spackle all over your bones and clothes, leaving you and Red a matching mess.  The two of you stand, stretching out your backs and working out the aches in your hands.  You look over to Red.

“When are you planning on working on it again?”  You ask.  Red scowls at you, but he replies nonetheless.

“Tomorrow.  At the same time.”  You nod.

“I’ll be here, don’t start without me.”  You say to Red, leveling him with a stern look.  Red stands awkwardly, like he’s unsure of what to do with himself.  He stares at you with a strange look in his eyes and a scowl on his face and so you glare back at him.

“I’m just cleaning up the mess I made— it was shitty of Sans to make you clean this all up by yourself.”  You explain, glancing away from Red for a moment to look at the door.

Red hums but doesn’t say anything in return.  Too stunned to actually reply, you guess.  Either way, you turn to leave, not waiting to hear what Red has to say.

A quick glance over yourself has your face twisting in disgust.  You’re dirty, but you really don’t want to shower.  You’ll have to make do with your wet wipes, you suppose.

Speaking of your wipes, what happened to the things you bought?  You head to your room, thinking that if someone had brought them in for you, they’d be there.  Just like you had thought, your bags and things are placed in front of your door.  They hadn’t been there when you left Rust’s room, so someone must have brought them in when you were working with Red.  Whoever it was, you silently thank them in your mind.

You gather up the bags, pulling them into your room and digging through them in search of the wipes.  Upon finding them, you do your best to clean yourself up, carefully working in between the joints of your hand to get the grit out from between them.  

“ Don’t leave those bags on the floor.”   Quartz chimes as you straighten up.  You huff, giving a weak kick to the plastic.

“I wasn’t going too.”  You quip back.

So you get to work putting away the things you had bought, separating out the clothes you had bought to be washed.  You gather up the hygiene things and place them on top of the shared dresser.  Then you gather up your pillows, putting them on your bed and giving them a little pat.  Finally, after most of the bags have been cleared, you pull out the little cat plush from a bag.  As you cradle him, there’s a small pang of grief in your chest.  Grief for the life you’ve lost.  Grief for the thought that you may never see him again.  Grief for your parents and your friends, who might think you're dead.

“Do you think I’ll ever see them again?”  Your voice is thick as you try to speak around the lump in your throat.  Your eyes burn and then blur as you try to fight the tears.

Quartz is silent, drowning in the tidal wave of sorrow that hits him, threatening to drown him.  He sucks in a breath— though he doesn’t actually need to— and then finally speaks, his voice quiet and somber.

“ We’ll find them.”

You nod, sucking in a breath.  Then you nod once more, blinking away the tears and forcing your breath to calm.  You have to hold on to hope.  Otherwise you won’t get through this.  You’ve got this.  You know you do.  With that last thought, you give your cat a little pat on the back and then place him among the pillows.  You smile at him— at the plush— and then turn away.

“ What was its name?”   Quartz asks.  You know that he knows your cat’s name, but you think he wants to hear it from you, instead of seeing it from your memories.

“Noodle,”  You pause and then continue with “the first time I brought him home he got into a box of pasta noodles and ate them all.  We started calling him that after.”  You mumble, pausing in place to delve into the memory.  Quartz hums, listening to you.

You’ve run out of things to say at this point and you know Quartz has too.  So instead of wallowing in the feeling, you gather up your trash and throw it away before finally leaving your room to head towards the library.  The sorrow still lingers— you don’t think it will ever really go away— but it’s better to have a distraction than to wallow in it. 

 So, you busy yourself in picking out a few books for Rust to choose from.  All three books are about monster history— like Rust had requested— though it’s a bit harder to find any based fully around the Monster-Human war.  You pause.

Why does Rust want to know about the Monster-Human war?

Chapter Text

Quietly, you settle yourself on your bed.  Why would Rust want to know about the Monster-Human war?  Really, there’s only one reason that you can think of.  He plans on using the knowledge he gains to help the Monsters win the war.

It’s a good plan— smart even.  You almost hadn’t noticed Rust’s plans— their plans.  Quartz had to have known what Rust wanted the second his brother had said the kind of books he wanted to hear.  Without even speaking to each other, they had managed to wordlessly form a plan.  To benefit themselves and their universe.  You would be impressed if it hadn’t caused a small lump to form in your throat– hadn’t caused a small ball of hurt to form in your chest.  You thought you could finally trust Quartz.  You had wanted to trust Rust.  And they used that to try and… manipulate you.  To use you.

But would it be a bad thing for them to learn about the war?  Even if they did learn about the war in this universe, that doesn’t mean it would apply to their universe.  Obviously the Sans and Papyrus from your universe weren’t soldiers— they hadn't been alive for the war.  There could be more differences that you don’t know about.  Maybe the information they would gain would mean nothing in their universe.

But what if what they learn does line up with their universe?  Would it be right for them to know everything that would happen in the war?  Who they would have to target to keep themselves from being trapped Underground for who knows how long?  How many people— not just humans, but Monsters too— would have to die for Monsters to win?  How many Monsters would die if you left it alone— refused to read to them?  

It wasn’t fair on either side, but…. Despite what Quartz and Rust tried to do, you can’t help but want to help them.  Should you be worried about that?  You’ve only known both of them for a few days and yet you feel like you would do anything for them.  Both of them.  

You could understand if it was just Rust that you felt so strongly about— you could just chalk it up to being connected to Quartz’s soul, of course a bond as strong as that would slip through to you.  But it’s different with Quartz.  You don’t have that excuse with him.  So why do you feel like that?  Does Quartz feel the same way?  What would that even mean?  You don’t like to think about it.  You don’t want to think about it.  You don’t want to think about how Quartz feels like an extension of–

So you push those thoughts away, turning back to the topic at hand.  Quartz is your friend.  You know Quartz.  You know Rust.  You don’t know the humans from their universe.  If you didn’t give them this information and that led to their deaths, you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself.  But if they use this information to slaughter all humans, you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself either.  Your head finds your hands, curling into a tight ball at some attempt of self-soothing.

“Quartz…”. You mumble quietly, shifting your hands to press into your eye sockets.  Surprisingly, the sensation isn’t uncomfortable.

“ What?”   Quartz answers in the back of your mind.  You almost want to curl away from his voice, but you know that’s impossible.  You pause, letting your words sit in your mouth for a moment.  Your chest already fills with regret, but you can’t find the strength to stop.

“I know why you two want me to read about the Monster-Human war.”  You finally say, words spewing out before you can think better of it.

Instantly you feel a flood of buzzing energy below your bones— a wave of hostility washing over you.  You swear you can smell ozone in the air despite no magic actually being used.  You stand your ground.  Quartz might be strong, but you’re in his body right now.

“ Yeah?  What makes you say that?”   Quartz’s voice is cold, threatening, and definitely intimidating.  You do your best not to wither under the unspoken threats.  You ignore the hurt welling up behind your eyes.

“That doesn’t really matter right now, I’ll still read to you guys—“ you feel an instant flood of relief but before he can get too relaxed, you jump back in with “—but I want you to promise me something.”

Instead of outright hostility again, it’s a curious sort of caution that hits you instead.  Just as quick as it arrives, it’s pulled back— carefully concealed behind a brick wall.  He doesn’t want you to know what he’s thinking.

“ I don’t like making promises.  Especially ones I can’t keep.”   Quartz says, clear and carefully neutral.  You hum softly, agreeing with the sentiment.

“Don’t use what I tell you to hurt innocent people.  Only when you have to.  People who will kill Monsters.  Everyone else is off limits.”  You explain quietly, clutching to the blanket under you tight.

Quartz is silent for what feels like forever, seemingly thinking— weighing your words carefully. You clutch tightly to the blanket, using the soft fabric to keep you rooted in the moment— to keep you from spiraling in anxiety.

“ Okay.  I promise.”   Quartz murmurs.  Relief hits you like a brick wall, and you can’t help but slump in place, letting out a sigh.  Even though it’s just a verbal promise, you don’t think that he would break it.  Quartz doesn’t seem like the type to break a promise.

“Thank you.”  You whisper, voice relieved.  Quartz hums in response.

You linger for a moment longer in the room, a quiet settling over the two of you.  You don’t really feel like moving— at least not right now.  So you flip backwards on the bed, splaying your limbs out and relaxing.  Your eyes slip closed; though, not because you’re tired— you had slept long enough today, you don’t need to sleep more.  Instead, you quietly think, going over the day.

Today was a mess.  A mess full of emotional whiplash and fear.  A little break won’t hurt anything.  So you relax, letting yourself breathe for a moment.  Letting yourself look over your memories (careful not to look too closely at the memory belonging to Quartz– of the man and his eyes and the scent of blood– ) and let the emotions that come with them pass.  At times like these, if you had been in your original body, you would have called Lucas— your brother— and told him everything on your mind.  Or maybe you would have called your best friend.  If you had done that, she would have been over in a heartbeat— two tubs of ice cream to share between the two of you while you pour your emotions out to her.  But here you can’t do that.  So you make do with what you can instead.

You lay there, unsure and uncaring of how much time has passed before finally you sit back up.  Your head feels clearer than it has before and that’s enough for you.  So you slide off the bed and head towards the library, intent on picking out a few books for Rust.

Chapter Text

Several hours later with a small stack of books in hand, you stand just outside of Rust’s door.  Everyone else had gone back to their rooms— you made sure of it— and it was late at night.  Everyone had to be asleep by now.  Anxiously, you shift the books to one hand, freeing the other to knock on the door.  After a moment, the door opens, revealing Rust.

Rust glares down at you for just a moment before stepping backwards, holding the door open for you.  You step through, mumbling a soft “thank you” as he shuts the door, locking the door behind you.

“Before we start, I had something I wanted to ask you, Rust.”  You say, turning to look at him.  Despite the smooth tone of your words, your soul lurches as Rust turns to face you.  He quirks a browbone, arms crossing over his chest as he looks down on you.  You swallow down your nerves, steeling yourself before finally speaking.

“I want you to promise not to use what I tell you to hurt innocent people.  I asked Quartz the same thing already and he already agreed.”  You look expectantly up at Rust, hoping that if you mention Quartz, Rust would more readily agree.  Rust scoffs.  Your heart sinks.

“We are soldiers— not terrorists.”  Rust glares down at you, body tense as he stares.  You swallow, glancing away for a moment before you meet his eyes.  You have to have this.  Your soul demands it.

“I’ve seen the way you look at us— at humans.  I don’t know what you intend to do with this knowledge—“ you motion to the books in your hands “I have to make sure you aren’t going to hurt people you don’t have to.”  You meet Rust’s eyes.  Despite your growing nerves, this is something you refuse to back down on.  Even if it’s just a verbal promise, it’s better than nothing.  You hope Rust treats promises the same way Quartz does.

You watch Rust’s face morph in frustration, eyes squeezing shut as a hand comes to rub between his eye sockets.  Finally, Rust’s eyes open once more to meet your gaze.  His gaze is icy, freezing you to the bone.

“Fine.  I promise not to use what you tell me to hurt innocent humans.”  Rust says the words like they taste terrible coming out of his mouth.  You’re not entirely sure if you believe him.  But before you can say anything to challenge Rust, Quartz pipes up in your head.

“ My brother won’t break that promise.  Trust him.”   Quartz says, voice clear and determined.  Still, you can’t help the small inkling of doubt lingering in the back of your mind.  But you’re here and Rust is looking at you expectantly, motioning to the books in your hand, so you give a soft sigh and then shuffle further into the room.  

“Where do you want me?”  You ask Rust, eyes drifting around the room.  Rust points to the bed, not offering any words.  You settle on his bed and then look up to Rust, waiting for him to settle next to you.

“You can read from there.”  Rust says after an awkward amount of time passes.

“Are you not going to sit?”  You ask, patting the bed next to you.  You settle all but one book to the opposite side.  Rust scoffs once more, arms crossing over his chest once more.

“No, I will not.  Just read already.”  Rust snaps, tapping his foot impatiently.  You give another sigh before you open the first book— The Monster-Human War and You! — and then start to read.  The synopsis had said that it was just a brief overview of the Monster-Human war, something you decided on because you wanted to see just how much their universe differs from yours.  

You read to Rust who– despite your offer– refuses to sit the entire time.  Despite Rust’s attitude, you find yourself relaxing, getting used to the atmosphere of the room.  You think at some point Rust relaxes some, arms uncrossing and instead just standing awkwardly in front of you.  He is quiet the entire time, listening to you read.  Quartz on the other hand occasionally mutters something about what you just read and asks a question further about the book.  For the most part, what you learn from the book is common knowledge— most likely used for just a general introduction to the topic or to teach school children about Monster History.  Slowly, as you read, Rust migrates to sitting on the floor opposite of you.  You don’t say anything— if he doesn’t want to sit on something comfortable, you’re not going to make him— and instead continue reading.  

Eventually, after an hour has passed, your vision starts to grow blurry.  The words blur together on the page and you can tell your voice is starting to sound rough.  Yet a quick glance to Rust shows that he’s still bright-eyed— wide awake and listening closely to your words.  He tenses as he notices you looking at him.  So you turn your gaze back down to the page.  You stumble over the letters on the page, eyebones scrunching as you struggle to make out the words.  After a struggled moment longer, you give a soft, frustrated sigh and look directly up at Rust.  Rust snaps straight as your eyes meet his, his previous expression of concentration shifting to one of confusion and annoyance.  You can’t help but notice the way he sits, knees pulled up to his chest to make himself smaller.

“Why did you stop?”  Rust questions, legs stretching out in front of him.

“I don’t think I can keep going– too tired.”  You mumble.  As if brought on by your words, your vision flickers black for just a moment.  Rust looks unhappy, like he wants to protest.  But he holds himself back.   Rust stands, stretching his back as he does so.

“Then, I suppose we should call the night here—”  Rust pauses for just a moment before he speaks again.  If you had been more awake, you would have seen the brief worry that flashed across his face. “I trust that we will continue this tomorrow night?”

You nod in confirmation, suppressing a yawn.  You close the book, making sure to mark your place before doing so.  Rust takes the books from you, stowing them on his night table and then motioning to the door.  You do as told, leaving the room without conflict.  Before you can say anything to Rust, the door is shut behind you and then the sound of the lock clicking into place fills the air.

You’re left somewhat stunned outside Rust’s door, only just know realizing that Rust had practically kicked you out of his room without even a “thank you” to follow you.  You give a soft hum, pushing away the small bead of hurt that settles in your chest, and then shuffle to your room.  Not much you can do about it now.

I didn’t think Rust would throw me out so quickly after I couldn’t read to him anymore.   You shoot the words to Quartz who gives a soft chuckle that resonates in your head.

You shuffle over to the bed, settling in quietly.  The blanket gets pulled over your head, easily warming you as your eyes grow heavy.  However, before you can truly fall asleep, Quartz’s voice jolts you awake.

“ Tomorrow morning, do you want to try seeing how long I can stay in control for?”   Quartz asks.  You shift a little.  Despite your apprehension for when you’ll inevitably see another one of Quartz’s memories, Quartz does deserve to have control of his body.  To actually interact with the world rather than just watch.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”  You mumble quietly, curling your legs into your chest to secure more warmth.  

Quartz says something in reply, but at that point you’re too far gone to hear it.

Chapter Text

The first thing you notice as you slowly wake up— eyes still closed— is that you’re much colder than you were before you went to sleep.  The next thing you notice is that you’re no longer lying down, curled up in bed.  Instead you’re sitting on something soft yet firm.  Finally— and most jarring of all— is that there’s something small, solid, and sweet in your mouth.

You jolt, soul lurching in your throat as your eyes dart open.  With your hurried gasp, whatever was in your mouth launches into your throat and then stops there (where it stops,you’re not entirely sure considering you don’t have a throat for it to get stuck in), leaving you choking on whatever it was that was in your mouth.  As your eyes squeeze closed again, something scrapes across the floor and suddenly someone is slapping a hand on your back repeatedly until finally you can breathe again.  You suck in a sharp breath, coughing into your hand.

“Are you okay?”  The person asks and you realize with a start that it’s Blue who asks, voice worried.  Something else lingers in his voice— something that you almost miss.  Fear.  Of you,  your mind supplies.

You swallow down air like a life-line, doing your best to still your frantically beating soul in your chest.  Blue rubs soothingly on your back, worry etched into his face as your eyes open to look at him.  

“Wha—“ you start but are interrupted by a coughing fit.  After what seems like forever, you finally stop.  You blink, looking back to Blue.

Blue stares at you, worry and concern written all across his face.  He lingers to the side of you and it’s then that you realize you’re in the dining room, sat in one of the chairs.  There’s a plate with two half-eaten pancakes stacked on top of one another smothered with an exuberant amount of syrup on it.  In your hand, still somehow clutched between your fingers after your choking fit, rests a fork, some syrup still stuck to it.  

“Pyrite, are you okay?”  Blue urges again, voice sounding more worried than before.  

“Yeah, I’m okay…” you mumble quietly, eyes darting from Blue to the plate in front of you.  Finally the gears in your head start turning as you realize what was going on.  Quartz must have gotten hungry and decided to eat something.  What an awful time to switch, though.  The sweet taste of the pancake lingers in your mouth.

Blue settles back into the chair next to you with a relieved sigh, though he keeps a wary eye on you as you take in your surroundings.  You glance down at your clothes, finding that you’re wearing something Quartz picked out for himself.  It’s snug against your bones, the sleeves cut-off to show off the bones of your arms.  You try not to look at your arms for too long, too put off by the sight of bones where there should be skin.  You focus back on the pancakes.

“Are you sure you’re alright?  You’re acting… off…”. Blue’s voice has you looking back to him.  You blink for a moment before you give him a small smile.

“Yeah, I’m alright.  Just had to reorient myself.  Didn’t think I’d choke so early in the morning.”  You whisper to him, unsure of what time it actually is.  A quick glance at the only window in the dining room shows that it’s pitch black outside.

Blue stares openly at you, eyebones shifting in confusion for just a minute before suddenly relief washes over his face.  Blue slumps in his seat, letting out a soft breath.  He opens his mouth to speak, but then pauses and then shuts his mouth with a quiet click.

“Uh…  Are you okay?”  You find yourself asking, shocked to see the sheer relief on his face.  Blue blinks a little and then gives you a wide smile, perking up like nothing had happened.

“Yes, I am alright!”  Blue jumps up, going back to his place at the table (oh, he has a plate of pancakes too) and then settling back down in his chair.  He picks back up his silverware and then goes back to eating his breakfast.

“You were really out of it this morning, Pyrite!”  Blue exclaims through a mouthful of pancake.  You hum softly, curiosity bubbling up.

“Yeah?  What was I doing?”  You ask, eyes drifting back down to the plate in front of you.  The fork is abandoned to the side of the plate and– much like before– the pancakes on the plate are still drowning in a sea of maple syrup.  

“Well, I woke up pretty early this morning so I decided to make some breakfast and get a head-start on the chores for today!  So I went down to the kitchen and started making the pancake batter when all of a sudden I turned around to see you standing in the doorway to the dining room!”  You wince, a chill crawling up your spine at the thought of Blue finding Quartz just… standing there.

“Did I do anything to–” You pause– “Did I do anything weird?”  You ask, curling into yourself and refusing to look at Blue.  Blue gives a little hum, shoveling more food into his mouth before he replies to you.

“You stared at me for a while.  You were pretty quiet too!  I’m surprised you didn’t know what a pancake was.”  Blue pauses, looking up at you to tilt his head to one side “You don’t remember?”

You swallow dryly, relief washing over you.  You’re glad that nothing went wrong between them– other than Quartz being weird, that is.  It is a very Quartz thing to do to just stare at someone without saying anything.  You suppress a chuckle at the mental image that appears at that thought.

“I think I was still half asleep or something.  I really don’t remember anything.  I’m sorry if I scared you, Blue.”  You tell him, words sincere.  Even if it wasn’t you that had acted strange, you should still apologize anyways.

“Don’t worry about it!  I usually wake up pretty out of it too, so you’re not alone there.”  Blue smiles, face sunny despite the lack of light in the room.  You pause at that, glancing up to the ceiling.  Huh.  The light is off.

“Why are we sitting in the dark?”  You find yourself asking.  Blue gives a small chuckle at that.

“I think you left the light off and I didn’t want to turn it on in case you had it off for something important.  Besides, we can see just fine in the dark.”  Blue explains, taking another bite of his food.  You nod, glancing back down at the plate in front of you.

You’re not really sure whether you want to eat the mess that Quartz has going on there.  But you’re also kind of hungry.  Your eyes drift to the fork on the table.  Would it be weird to use the same fork Quartz did?  You are in the same body, so maybe it doesn’t really matter.  Carefully, you pick the fork back up and bring it back to the plate, intent on eating some of the pancake.  Despite just waking up, it feels like you’ve already been awake for a few hours now.  You suppose it has to do with choking as soon as you had woken up.

“ Don’t eat my food. ”  You jolt as Quartz’s voice echoes around your skull.

Sorry.  I’m hungry, though.   You tell him, careful to not speak out loud.  Quartz huffs.

“ Then switch back so I can eat.”   Quartz hisses, annoyance thick in his voice.  You give a worried glance to Blue.  Quartz huffs again, annoyance building.  

“ I’m not going to do anything to him.”   Quartz says matter-of-factly.  With the assurance, your mind darts back to the memory you had seen the last time you had switched.  You’re tempted to tell him no, but even with your fear, you know that wouldn’t be fair to Quartz.  Plus, you don’t really want to go back on the promise you made with him last night.  So, with a quiet breath of air to soothe your nerves, you agree.

Much like before with your confrontation with Rust, you feel something pull you backwards.  You let this happen, falling into the feeling and relaxing the best you can.  You find yourself in front of the screen once again, watching Quartz through it.  It’s quiet this time, no sign of the voices anywhere and you can’t help but relax into the silence.  You watch comfortably as Quartz goes back to eating his pancakes.  As he eats, the sweet flavor of the maple syrup blooms in what would be your mouth if you had a body here.  With each bite, you feel more invigorated, more energetic.  Weird.  You drift for a little bit, letting Quartz eat more of his food before Blue’s voice has you tuning back in to what’s happening.

“So, do you have any plans for today?”  You hear Blue ask quietly, watching as he tilts his head.  

“ No. ”  Is Quartz’s response.  Short and curt.  Blue hesitates for just a moment, clearly sensing the change in tone.  But just like you expected he would, Blue presses on anyways.  A smile blooms across his face, excitement lighting it up like a Christmas tree.  What season was it anyways?

“Then would you like to come calibrate our puzzles and Edge’s traps with me, Papyrus, and Edge today?”  Blue’s face is lit up, expectant and optimistic.

You can feel the denial rising in Quartz’s chest and so you brace yourself for the guilt that you’ll feel later, when you have to face Blue.  But then Quartz pauses, eyes darting over Blue’s hopeful expression.  Quartz hesitates.  You can feel his apprehension as if it were your own.

You should go with them.   It’ll be fun!   You urge after Quartz is silent for a little bit too long.  Blue’s face slowly falls.

I…  Quartz pauses, hesitant and cautious.  It’s not useful to go with them.   He concludes.