Silent Tale

Silent Tale

Papyrus was standing in a room of raining blood. The metallic walls were smooth yet dull as the red liquid continued to sprinkle down on his lithe form. He blankly looked up, but it was so dark he couldn't even see the ceiling, just a black void. Where the blood was coming from, he couldn't tell but one thing was for sure, it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Deciding to ignore it he looked at his surroundings instead. Everything felt unreal and blurry, like he was being drugged. His limbs felt heavy and he could barely take a step without feeling like he was wading through thick mud.

He looked to the right and his breath hitched. There was someone there.

It was... Him...?

He let out a relieved sigh when he realized that it was only his reflection. Walking closer to the shiny surface he idly wondered why this particular wall was clean while the rest were not.

He cocked his head to one side and frowned when his reflection did not mirror him. Taking a step back he stiffened when his duplicate presumably walked forward and phased out of the wall.

Now mere inches apart Papyrus stared in horror into the others' eyes. Those black sockets, cold and void of any emotions; he forgot that he was looking at his own face.

Many questions began to flood through his head: Who was this? How did he get here? Could he even leave this place?

As seconds ticked by with neither of them moving, Papyrus thought of another question.

'Is this duplicate friend or foe...?'

As if answering the unspoken question, the clone narrowed its eyes and without warning it wrapped its hands around his neck. Papyrus yelped and tried to pry the fingers off but somehow the entity was much stronger than he was. With no lungs, he didn't need to breath but that didn't mean that this action would go unaffected. Already he could feel his bones starting to creak and protest under the stress. If he had skin, it would bruise beautifully.

The clone then shoved him into a nearby bloody wall. Papyrus gasped as he felt the back of his soaked sweater stick to his spine and struggled violently when the clone smiled sadistically.

"What's wrong, great hero?" It sneered as blood dribbled out of its mouth like a river. "That's what you are right? A hero?!" Blood sprinkled his face as the clone continued to shriek. "When I get my hands on you I'll-"

Papyrus sat up with a start, gasping while forcing himself to take deep breaths. His throat burned and his spine ached something fierce. Sitting up straighter he looked around with half lidded eyes. Well, no wonder he felt uncomfortable he was lying in the middle of the road.

Panting slightly he looked to the side and saw the sleeping form of Henry. Ignoring his sore neck he rolled to his side and crawled his way to the human. He gently laid the man on his back and studied the slumbering figure. Thankfully the human did not appear to be hurt, but still, they shouldn't be out here in the open.

"Human? Henry...?" He shook the sleeping figure harder. "Wake up.
Please wake up. It's not safe here..."

The human groaned, opened his eyes, and practically jumped off the ground.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed, putting a hand over his rapidly beating heart. "P-Papyrus! Jeez! Don't scare me like that!"

Papyrus glanced at his surroundings before speaking. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to wake you." He whispered. "And please try to keep your voice down! Nothing happened to us while we were asleep but who knows what we'll attract if you don't be quiet!"

"What? W-where...?" He quickly sat up when he realized they weren't in the same place as before. "What the hell? How'd we get here?!" He exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Papyrus hissed and reached out to put his hand over the humans mouth. "I do not know how we got here but we must remain calm. It's not safe here."

Pulling away, Papyrus stood up and helped the human to his feet. Once up Henry took a deep breath. "Okay... Okay..." He softly whispered. "We're okay. Everything's going to be all right."

He then started pacing restlessly while Papyrus merely watched. "Everthing's fine. Nothing wrong with randomly teleporting to unknown places. Nope. I am perfectly calm." He glanced suspiciously at Papyrus. "How the hell are you so calm?"

The tall monster shrugged. "I've seen stranger things."

The human breathed deeply, since the skeleton was not panicking he might as well give it a try. "Do you know where we are? I mean, how far did we... Teleport?"

Papyrus thought for a moment. "I don't know where we are but that shouldn't be a problem. I have a map. We can easily find our way."

Henry smiled. "A map? No wonder you seemed to know where you were going!" He chuckled heartily as they started walking. "And here I thought you were omnipotent!"

"I wish!" Papyrus giggled adorably. "My search would be much easier if I knew what was going to happen."

"Search? You looking for someone?"

"Yes. A friend of mine." The monster explained. "We got seperated and I promised to find him."

The human grinned. "He's one lucky guy. Most people would ditch him than actually search for him in this hell hole."

"I would never abandon my friend!" Papyrus exclaimed, while pulling out his map. They had finally found a street so he quickly spotted the name on his map. He hummed happily when he found that he was much closer to his destination. Only a few more miles until he would find Serif.

"So where are you going exactly?" Henry asked. "I mean I know you're looking for your friend but how do ya know where he's at?"

Papyrus folded up his map after memorizing the directions. "He leaves notes for me." He said simply. "Are you going to come with me, or is this where we part ways?"

The human looked anxious. "Do you mind if I come with you? I would rather stay with someone than be by myself."

Papyrus nodded as the pair started walking again. "Of course. I don't mind at all! I'm actually happy that you're coming with me." He kicked a nearby pebble. "It's nice to have company in situations like this."

"I completely agree..."

The two fell into comfortable yet wary silence. The sky had an almost blue tint to it so Papyrus knew that it would be morning in a few hours, though he couldn't really tell with all the fog. He didn't know how long they had slept, but it must have been short since he was still tired. That could explain why he felt like he was hearing things. Moans, whimpers, shrieks, and deranged gigglings would echo around them, though the most annoying was the persistant footsteps that seemed to follow them. He must be imagining these sounds or else the human would be reacting to them as well. Either that or Henry simply couldn't hear them, but surely humans couldn't be THAT deaf, could they?

Deciding not to think about this any longer he tried his best to just focus on the task at hand.

'No need to be paranoid over nothing.'

"Hey look over there."

Papyrus jumped in surprise. It took him a few seconds to actually focus on what the human had said.

"Where?" He squinted into the fog.

"Right there." Henry pointed to the left.

Eyes falling to the pointed direction, he could make out an outline of a large entrance. In the front, printed in large red bold spelled:

ROSEBLOOM PARK

"We found it!" Papyrus managed to gasp out cheerfully. He felt his soul clench in hope. Finally, he would find Serif!

Just as the pair came closer Henry gasped.

"I-is that a web?" He stammered.

The tall monster felt himself frown in concern, for there was, indeed, a giant web. It covered the entire entrance of the gate, which was a problem since they needed to get inside of the park. The spider that created this trap would have to be huge. Hopefully they wouldn't meet it anytime soon.

The two exchanged wary looks before approaching the silky web. Papyrus grabbed a nearby stick and tentively gave the web a poke. Once it made contact with the white surface, however, he found that he couldn't pull it out. Frowning he abandoned the stick and pulled out his knife. He gave the web an experimental slice and let out a sigh of relief when it cut through easily. It seemed that this web was weak against pointy objects.

He made an opening, wide enough for them to pass through safely, and continued on. Once inside, he scanned his surroundings for any potential threat. He heard a soft click to the side and glanced at the human.

"I'm taking out my gun... Just in case." Henry explained.

Papyrus nodded and the two silently broke through the fog. Similar to the rest of the town, everything here was abandoned and broken apart. Nearby streetlights flickered on and off but were completely useless against the mist. All manner of garbage were scattered across the ground including overturned vehicles and various sport equipments. What was most troubling was that everything was coated in a layer of spider webs.

"I can't see a damn thing with all this fog!" The human huffed in annoyance. "How are we suppose to find your friend in all this?"

"He didn't leave a specific location." Papyrus admitted. "He just said to go to this park. I don't even know if he's even been here before."

"Why this place?" Henry continued. "Couldn't he picked a library or something? I mean, there's gotta be a place cleaner than this." He kicked an empty soda can to emphasize his point.

Papyrus sighed and opened his mouth to respond when he suddenly felt his legs being pulled back harshly. He glanced up just in time to see the human's look of surprise before he was thrown to the ground as well. His fingers dug into the loose soil as his legs felt heavy and restrained. He rolled to his back and came face to face with a large, pink spider.

The young monster screamed and fought to get away but the arachnid merely used its glassy limbs to clutch him tighter. While he was screaming, the spider opened its pincer-like maw. Something pink and organic slithered out of its mouth before plunging down his throat.

Papyrus gagged as he felt the unknown, yet smooth muscle touch the back of his skull. He felt something wet drip down his neck and to his spine, soiling his dirty clothes. Tear stained eyes widened when the slick appendage made its way to his ribs and curled around his spine. The squirming mass continued to drip the strange pink liquid even as he struggled.

It was a good thing he didn't need to breathe otherwise he would've passed out from lack of oxygen. The organ poured what felt like gallons of the substance into his body, but since he lacked a stomach it just splattered messily into a puddle on the ground. This felt dirty in a weird way, which confused the poor skeleton as he had never felt this way before.

The spider appeared to be confused as well, since it just continued to pour into him. Why didn't it just kill him? He was helpless and unable to move. Now would be a perfect chance for the glass creature to finish him off, not that he wanted to die. The other residents of this town were perfectly clear on what they wanted to do to him, but this one was acting strange. Unable to move, Papyrus just closed his eyes and let the spider do what it pleased with him, even if he was deeply uncomfortable.

By this point he was completely drenched and didn't see why the arachnid was persistant to do this to him. His foe did not appear disheartened; if the occasional clicks it managed to chirp out every few seconds mean anything, it seemed frustrated that whatever it was doing was clearly not working. The spider then dug its limbs onto the wet ground, before shuddering violently. Papyrus whimpered as more pink water sloshed his 'insides'. Opening his sockets he winced when the spider appeared to look pale from exertion.

'Wait...'

He blinked in surprise when he realized that the spider was emptying itself out. It was pink because the water inside was pink! No wonder the creature seemed to have an endless supply of the strange liquid, it was literally filled with the stuff.

Now half empty, Papyrus could clearly see that the spider was losing its strength as it struggled to stay upright while continuing to fill him and after five minutes it finally emptied out. Once the last drop left its body, the glass creature froze up before dropping like a sack of potatoes to the side. Papyrus quickly rolled to the side and eyed the spider warily. A few seconda passed and when the arachnid made no attempt to move, Papyrus felt it was safe to stand up. Once he was on his feet he nudged the creature carefully with his knife. He picked it up when he saw writing written on one of its legs.

SOMETIMES THE BEST CHANCE AT WINNING A FIGHT IS TO NOT FIGHT AT ALL.

Papyrus could only frown in irritation. Well that would've been helpful ten minutes ago. If he had known that the spider would kill itself by not doing anything than he wouldn't have panicked so badly. He glanced at the glass mutant before shifting his attention on the strange water.

'Perhaps the pink liquid was its life source...?'

If so, what did it accomplish by drenching him? Was the liquid suppose to harm him? Maybe it had a different effect on humans...

'That means... Oh no! Henry!'

Ignoring his sopping clothes the skeleton frantically looked around for his friend.

"Henry? Henry where are you...?"

Nothing but silence greeted him.

Taking a few steps forward his eyes fell on the ground a few feet in front of him. There was a trail of the pink liquid leading somewhere. Assuming that the trail would lead him to the missing human he took his chances and followed it. Anything was better than standing and doing nothing.

He walked for two minutes before he came upon another glass spider. Remembering the advice of not fighting, he stood still and let the creature soak him. Like its previous ally, the arachnid continued to squirt its essence in him until it too collapsed. He didn't even bother to try to clean himself as he continued on.

It was very difficult to navigate through these grounds. The vibrant pink was starting to lose its color, therefore making it harder to follow. He must have entered some another section of the park because he almost slammed straight into a fence. The rest of the pink slime must've evaporated or something because the trail ended here. Jumping over the rusty wall he decided to just jog in a straight line. It couldn't have traveled that far right?

Five minutes later he could hear angry shouting. He followed the sound as best as he could and froze at what he saw.

What used to be a pair of swing sets was now a nest of silk. The entire bars were covered in the thick white web which carried at least ten human sized cocoons. There was only one that wasn't completely wrapped, and it was just the human he was looking for.

"Henry!"

Said person looked up. The human opened his mouth to respond when someone else beat him to it.

"Oh hey... I'm kinda surprised you're still alive."

Papyrus blinked innocently. He was surprised to see a woman wrapped around a thick layer of web, like a cocoon. Only her head was uncovered, which allowed her to communicate and breathe. There also appeared to be something wrong with her right eye, but he couldn't see very well from this angle.

Henry glared at the girl trapped beside him. "If you don't have anything useful to say just keep yer mouth shut, alright?" He turns to Papyrus. "You have to get out of here! It's too late for us, leave before they come and trap you too."

The young monster shook his head. "I'm not leaving you behind, besides, I know how to de-"

"Just listen to him, kid. You're better off running along. Not even your impressive ninja skills will get you out of this one." The human girl rudely interrupted.

Ignoring her, Papyrus merely observed the web. Now that he was closer he could see that it wasn't as thick as he initially thought. Perhaps he could just slice it like he did at the entrance of the park?

"-even listening, are you?" The woman continued to talk. "Look there's nothing you can do for us! Just leave and find that friend of yours... You're still looking for him, right?" She finished.

Papyrus looked surprised but quickly replaced it with a smile. 'How did she know I was looking for Serif? I wonder...?'

"Wowie! How did you know I was looking for my friend? Have you been following me?" He fought the urge to narrow his eyes.

Now it was her turn to look surprised. She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Henry.

"Papyrus! Look out!"

Papyrus felt his legs pull out from under him again. Feeling glass limbs pulling him tight he instantly recognized this constricting feeling. Remembering the advice once again he didn't even bother trying to resist.

"What are you doing?! Don't just lay there! Fight them!!" The woman shrieked.

Papyrus forced himself to lay still when ten spiders of varying sizes came skittering towards him, tongues dripping with the familiar pink liquid.

'They're not gonna hurt me... They're not gonna hurt me... They're not gonna hurt me...' Papyrus repeatedly reminded himself as he was pounced on from all sides. He whimpered when his mouth was stuffed full again.

This still felt wrong, but it was too late to do anything about it. The scariest part was that there were so many of them. He didn't know how long he could last. Even now, his mouth and bones felt sore from the abuse and manhandling.

Once they realized that Papyrus was pinned down the humans started screaming and cursing at the arachnids. And despite the unfortunate situation, he felt strangely touched by their concern. Oh, how he wished he could reassure them that he was fine!

When five more spiders came out of the mist, Papyrus closed his eyes, letting his tears finally fall down his face, and let them do as they pleased. After all, sometimes the best chance at winning a fight is not to fight at all.

Here's a link for some sketches!!!

https://hystericalmodelover.tumblr.com/image/158718494286