Opposites
It was a beautiful day outside. Frisk had helped free the monsters from their underground prison. With pure determination they managed to make their way through and break the barrier. Everyone was ecstatic! Well almost everyone…
After reaching the surface you, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore, and Frisk decided to share a house on the edge of the mountain. Asgore had been in contact with the government of the nearest town, and they offered to let us use this empty neighborhood that was just built for the time being. Since there weren’t enough houses for all the families of the underground, many families shared until further arrangements would be made. Hence you all sharing the one house.
It wasn’t that bad though. The house had four bedrooms and one bathroom, so you and Papyrus bunked in one room, Alphys and Undyne bunked in another, Toriel and Frisk shared a room, and Asgore got his own. Everyone is happy.
Except you
It was only the end of the “first week on the surface” and you were already prepared for it being taken away again. Even if this time Frisk said they wouldn’t reset. Because you’ve had that said to you more then once, and look at you now. It’s the god knows what time you’ve been up on the surface, and you’re losing hope for ever having a future at all.
Nope scratch that. You already lost the hope for having a future. You lost hope a long time ago. Look at your HoPe.
1
You doubt it’ll ever get higher. Of course, HoPe is a combination of physical stats and actual hope, but there’s no point in training to get it up. It’ll just reset again, right? No progress that you’ve made will be retained.
Papyrus’s snores awake you from your trance. Frisk couldn’t believe it but Papyrus actually does sleep.
You check the alarm clock next to your bed.
1:34 AM
Another sleepless night.
You look up at the deep navy blue ceiling of you room. It looks completely black because of the lighting. Dark. So dark. Like it can suck you into the darkness. Not that that would matter. Not that anything matters. Dark, Darker, Yet Darker…
You open your eyes. (They were closed?) You see the shimmering gold of the last corridor. You have an iron taste in your mouth. You look down at your now shredded blue hoodie. Well, actually it’s half red half blue. The red more of a crimson now that you notice. Why does that matter though? (Why does any of this matter?) The crimson creeps up in tendrils around your arms. It’s not a liquid anymore, it is a solid substance that wraps itself tighter, and tighter, and tigh-
You jolt upwards with a start. Your shirt it soaked with sweat, and you rip your blanket off you. It takes a while to register where you are, and you look at your navy blue ceiling. That’s good. You think about the pale cream ceiling of your house in the underground and think of how many times you were all too disappointed to see it.
You look down from the ceiling and train your eye lights on the glowing red numbers on your alarm clock.
3:22
The color pulses with each second, and it reminds you all too much of the soul you broke over and over, only to have it come back with renewed strength. You sharply turn away, and decide to turn on your side and look at the wall. You’re not going to be able to fall asleep again. Just like the other nights you’ve spent on the surface.
It’s 5:30 when Papyrus’s alarm goes off. He’s always the first one in the house to get up. He always cooks everyone breakfast, occasionally with Undyne, if she’s up early enough. Papyrus is the best. Complete opposite of you though. He’s opptimisstic, energetic, and happy. Yup, opposites.
You close your eyes, so if Papyrus sees you, he’ll think your sleeping. Hey, you do have a lazy façade to maintain. You don’t want to worry Papyrus. You did that the first time Papyrus was killed. You don’t like seeing Papyrus worried. You found that out.
Papyrus (tries) to make his way quietly down the stairs, but it’s Papyrus. He’s not really quiet about anything. Another thing you love about him.
You open your eyes again and stare blankly at the wall. It’s nice. Maybe you’ll stay here all day, why not? It beats doing things that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. You stare at the wall and feel numb.
You haven’t registered how much time has passed, but since it sounds like everyone’s downstairs at the kitchen, you’re guessing it’s around 9:00. That’s the time everyone has breakfast around. You’re not hungry right now though.
You hear Papyrus bounding up the stairs. Oh yeah, he has to get you “up” for breakfast. You really don’t feel like interacting with everyone right now, and pretending that everything is fine and dandy. You’re tired and don’t know if you can keep that up for all of breakfast.
Papyrus comes into the room and yells at you. (well not really yells, it’s just his normal voice is as loud as a regular person’s shouting voice.)
“SANS YOU LAZY BONES IT’S TIME TO GET UP! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE PREPARED AN EXCELENT DISH OF PANCAKES.”
You look over at him and smile a smile which is almost genuine.
“sorry paps, m’ still tired and not really hungry right now. i’ll come down later and have some pancakes.”
“SIGH… SANS YOU CAN BE SO LAZY SOMETIMES YOU KNOW?”
You really hope he doesn’t notice the bags under your eye sockets, that attest for how little sleep you actually got.
“BUT FINE, YOU CAN COME DOWN LATER AND GET SOME DELICIOUS PANCAKES PREPARED BY ME, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!”
“you batter believe i will.”
You wink at Papyrus and it takes him a few seconds to get it but when he does…
“UGHHHHHHHHH SANS YOUR PUNS ARE INSUFFERABLE. I’M GOING DOWNSTAIRS”
Your smile is now completely real, because it’s Papyrus, and he’s one of the only things you keep going for. For now however, Papyrus is back downstairs and you’re back to staring at the wall. You’re really not planning on going down later and getting breakfast. You don’t feel like doing anything at all. Afterall,
There’s no point, right?