Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Walking home from work was never that much of a big deal for you. Cars and gas were expensive so you didn’t really bother with either. The house you rented wasn’t too far away, just a few blocks. Plus, the exercise was good for you, both for your mental and physical health. It wasn’t all that big a deal to be walking around at night for you either. 

WestonVill was a small town after all. The most exciting thing that’s ever happened here was when the Jacking boys stole two of Mrs. Emilie’s chickens. You didn’t press charges since the chickens were returned safely, but those two boys did spend their whole summer break helping Mrs. Emilie tend to her farm. You chuckled at the memory. Just a couple of teenage boys being dumb. That’s the most that’s ever happened around this quaint little town. It surely had its charm though. The air was fresher than most towns and all the townspeople knew each other and were more likely to lend a helping hand to those in need. 

So as you walked home in the dark, passing the alleyway between the one grocery store and Honey’s Home Bakery, you paused at the muffled sound of a cry. You have lived in this town all your life, you knew every face and cared enough about each of your neighbors to stop and help someone in need. Now while you were a helping hand, you weren’t entirely dumb either. You just didn’t wander into dark alleyways all willy nilly like some dumb broad trying to get yourself killed in a horror movie. No, you paused outside the dark entrance and peeked in, waiting for your eyes to adjust. It took several moments for them to adjust to the dark but the first thing you could make out were two figures. 

One was small and sort of plump, while the other one was tall and thin as a rail. Both of the figures seemed bent over something. Frowning, you leaned closer, taking half a step into the alleyway. The two figures seemed to be turned away from you, as they didn’t react as you stepped into the alleyway. 

“Pluhez-“ A gurgled voice begged, seemingly pleading with the two men. You froze, eyes finally adjusting as you made out what the two figures were crouched over. A man, and he was clutching his throat as if it was in pain. You immediately jerked back, hand across your mouth as you recognized the dark fluids pouring out the man’s throat. The scent of blood quickly filled the air and it took you digging your nails into your cheeks, as you kept your hands firmly around your mouth, to keep from screaming. 

What was happening? Was this a prank? A joke? There’s no way something like this was happening in WestonVill. This was a good, a nice, community. Why was- who were those two? 

“DID YOU HEAR THAT BROTHER?” You flinched at the booming voice coming from the alleyway. It was highpitched and full of energy. It almost sounded like that of a child. Was it a child? One of the figures you had seen was rather smaller, a head shorter than yourself. 

“HE IS BEGGING BUT HE CAN NOT SPEAK BECAUSE YOU SLIT HIS THROAT.” The highpitched loud voice let out a deranged giggle while you held back vomit at their comment. 

“yea, pretty hilarious. maybe he’s just not cut out for talking.” A lower, deeper, voice drawled out lazily, all the while that dreadful gurgling sound continued. 

“UGH, NO PUNS! THEY ARE REALLY NOT FUNNY.” The highpitched voice whined, and you couldn’t sworn you heard the stomping of a foot against the ground. If you hadn’t been frozen in place, you would’ve jolted in fear. 

“aww, you might have a point there bro but no need to jab me with your sharp attitude.” The lower tempered voice replied with a chuckle. More loud stomping was heard from the alleyway as the highpitched voice let out a groan of frustration. You had heard enough, you needed to call the police. No, before that, you needed to get the hell away from this alleyway. You shifted, preparing yourself to start slowly, and silently, move far  away from here. As you shifted though, all noises in the alleyway came to a halt. You froze again, holding your breath as your heart pounded in your chest. Your head turned, slowly, before your heart nearly stopped at the sight you saw. 

A skull with two orange glowing dots for eyes was looking right at you. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t speak, you couldn’t even breathe as the creature’s face split into a wide smile. 

“hello there, nosey little rabbit.” 

You turned and you ran. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Sans approached the entrance of the alleyway, gaze catching the sight of a you bolting away. He frowned, glancing up at his brother as he simply watched you retreat with an amused smile on his face. Reaching up, Sans tugged on Papyrus’ hoodie. The taller skeleton looked down at him. 

“SHE IS GETTING AWAY BROTHER.” Sans said, anxiously glancing towards the human as you disappeared from sight. 

“SHOULD WE FIND HER AND GET RID OF HER? IT WILL BE ANNOYING IF THE POLICE FIND THE BODY TOO SOON.” Papyrus didn’t show any concern towards Sans’ words, instead he made his way over to the man he had been ordered to kill. Crouching down, Papyrus looked the man up and down and then looked at the blood leaking across the ground. He hummed thoughtfully to himself. 

“let’s hide the body bro.” Papyrus hummed, that smile still present on his face. Sans frowned, fiddling with his fingers anxiously. This wasn’t how they usually did things. They were paid to find their target, transport them to some nowhere town, and then kill them. These hick police would have no choice but to label this as some mugging gone wrong.

“WHY?” Sans asked, watching as Papyrus opened up a portal to the void. He frowned as his brother grabbed hold of the dead human and tossed him into the void. Such a lazy cleanup. 

“ya think you could get this blood cleaned up by morning?” The taller of the two skeletons asked. Sans puffed up his cheeks, pouting a bit at the notion that he couldn’t even clean up a little blood. 

“YES, OF COURSE!” He said, sounding offended, but then he hesitated. “BUT ONLY IF YOU TELL ME WHY.” He demanded. 

“that girl,” Papyrus said, pointing off towards where you had taken off to. “seemed fun. so we’re gonna stay here for a little while and play with her.” 

The shorter of the skeletons immediately perked up at that. This was also a new thing from Papyrus. They have never taken in a playmate before, not that Sans was going to complain about it. It would be so much fun to have someone new to play with. It was starting to get boring to only play with a playmate once before throwing it away. 

“REALLY! A PLAYMATE?! TO KEEP?!” Sans asked, his voice somehow even louder than before. Papyrus let out a chuckle before giving a nod. His glowing orange eyelights flickered back to the alleyway entrance, a smile dancing on his boned lips. 

He had a feeling you’d be fun to play with. 

~~~~~~~~~~

You ran until your house came into sight. In all the time you ran, you never once checked behind you to see if that creature was following. You had to keep running, make sure you wasn’t caught. A sob broke from your lips as you stumbled and fell, scraping your knee across a sharp rock along the dirt path. You finally glanced over your shoulder, hand coming up to clasp around your neck, as if in a vain attempt to shield it from an attack, all the while your eyes scanned your dark surroundings. You stood, shaking, as you stumbled up towards your house, a modest sized living area that used to be a bright sunflower yellow. It’s been several years since you last painted the house so now the place was a sickly looking darkened and peeling yellow. You had kept putting off repainting. 

Stumbling up to the porch, you numbly noted that blood was pouring down your leg from the scrap along your knee. It must’ve been deeper than you had thought. Strangely enough, you couldn’t feel it. Fumbling for your keys, you finally fitted the correct one in before turning the knob. Practically throwing yourself into the house, you slammed and locked the door behind you. Back pressed up against the door, you closed your eyes as you felt the rush of adrenaline finally leave you. Your legs shook before you collapsed on the ground, back still pressed against the door. Your knee started to sting dreadfully, but you could only stare numbly at the wound in the dark. 

You looked up, fear encasing you as you looked around the dark room. Your mind kept convincing you that there was a great big skeleton lying in wait in the dark, ready to silence you. On shaky legs, you got up and turned on all the lights in the living room. Grabbing a blanket from the closet, you crawled onto your couch, shaking and terrified, as you covered yourself up, making sure to cover your head too as if you were a child still frightened of monsters. 

You would call the police tomorrow, right now your eyes were far too heavy to do anything but close. Body trembling, even with the great big blanket across you, you fell into a fitful sleep. Your sleep kept being interrupted by nightmares of skulls and each time you woke up you were gripping your throat and gasping for breath. At about three in the morning, you gave up on sleeping and instead dragged yourself to the bathroom to finally deal with your knee. 

Looking in the mirror, you quickly glanced away. You looked absolutely awful. Your face was pale, heavy bags were under your eyes, and your hair was an absolute tangled mess. Glancing back up, you looked back up at the mirror. Tucking a bit of hair behind your ear in a vain attempt to fix it you caught you own gaze in the mirror. Your eyes, usually sparkling with laughter or joy, were absolutely terrified. You looked away again as your eyes started to water. 

Grabbing what you needed out from under the sink, you sat down on the toilet before starting to clean the blood off your leg. You let out a hiss of pain as you cleaned the wound, much deeper than you had thought. You’d have to go to the doctors to see if you needed stitches. After cleaning and wrapping it up nice and tight, you hobbled back to the couch. Before you could lay back down you heard what sounded like a large vehicle driving across your road. Curiously, you hobbled over to the window and peeked out. 

A moving van? It looked like it was going to that old house across the field from your place. That place has been empty for years and practically falling apart. 

“Wonder who’s dumb enough to buy that run down place.” You mumbled to yourself as you hobbled back to the couch and pulled out your phone. Taking a few deep breaths, you called the police. 

You mumbled out an anonymous tip to check the alleyway by Honey’s Home Bakery. You didn’t want to deal with paperwork and questioning right now. Once they find the body, you’ll come in and give a statement. Right now though, you were just too tired. You flopped on your back, sprawled across the couch as you closed your eyes. Sleep eluded you, but even resting your eyes felt nice to your tired mind. Grabbing one of the pillows blindly, you clutched it to your chest before curling around it. Laying there for several long minutes, you sat up very suddenly, grabbing your phone out again. 

You needed to talk to someone. Anyone really. Clicking through your phone, you found your contacts and began shifting through them. 

Tom maybe? He was a sweet guy, always a shoulder to cry on. But things have been a bit awkward between you and him since he tried to kiss you that one time last may. You scratched Tom off the mental list of people to call. 

Poppy maybe? A kind, honest gal. Ah, but her dad was one of the police officers and you just knew she’d make you give a statement. Another person scratched off the mental list. 

You paused at the next name, clicking on the contact and finger hovering over the call button. Gregory Hilltop, or Greg for short. You and Greg had dated for a short time in high school before splitting up. But it just didn’t feel awkward after breaking up with Greg. The two had still remained fast friends. Besties really. You tapped on the call button. Sticking a finger in your mouth, you chewed anxiously on your nail as the phone rang. It rang once, twice, three times. You were starting to worry Greg wouldn’t answer. 

“Hello?” A groggy sleepy voice entered your ear and it took everything in you not to break down sobbing in relief. 

“Greggy.” You started, the childhood nickname falling off your lips as your voice shook when you spoke. You heard shuffling on the other end. 

“(Y/n), you good?” Greg sounded more alert and awake. A shaky sob left your throat as you shook your head, even though he couldn’t see you. 

“N-no, not really.” 

“Hey, give me like fifteen- no, ten minutes. I’ll be there in a bit love, watch for me, kay?” Greg spoke, his voice concerned and a touch panicked. You weren’t usually one to call him crying at three in the morning. 

Mumbling soft goodbyes, Greg promised to be there in a bit and before you knew it you were opening the door to your once highschool sweetheart. Greg took one look at the exhausted and scared look on your face and immediately wrapped you in a tight hug. 

“(Y/n) what’s going on?” He mumbled, not loosening his grip as he kicked the door shut behind him. His height made it easy enough to completely engulf you in his embrace, bending his head down he peeked a kiss on the top of your head and started rocking you as sobs exploded from the terrified young lady. You didn’t answer his question, you simply couldn’t . You’re throat closed up and all you could do was cling to your friend and cry. 

They eventually moved to the couch, Greg cuddling and holding onto you, mumbling soft words of comfort. You eventually calmed enough to fall into a light sleep, hands still clinging onto Greg. The two fell asleep on the couch in each other’s arms. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Papyrus pursed his lips together as his orange gaze stayed trained on the car parked in his little rabbit’s yard. He had seen some man hugging the young lady him and Sans were going to make into their playmate. That really bugged Papyrus. It would be really annoying if you had a boyfriend. Most humans didn’t respond well to him or his brother killing off their romance partners. He had a feeling his little rabbit wouldn’t be any different. 

Still, as Papyrus opened the door to the house across from yours and stepped inside, his gaze traveled back to your house, a glint in his glowing eyelights. He’d do what needed to be done if push came to shove.

 A playmate just wasn’t any fun if they were already taken. 

Chapter Text

Both you and Greg woke up tangled up with one another. It left you both giggling tiredly as you untangled yourselves. With a yawn, Greg stood up and stretched while you watched. It’s too bad they weren’t compatible, Greg really was handsome. Golden brown hair, forest green eyes, tanned, with a tall muscular body, any girl in WestonVill would swoon at the chance to date him. But Greg had a specific type when it came to dating, and it wasn’t girls. 

You had to stifle a laugh as you suddenly remembered the first, and only, time you and Greg had kissed. His face had scrunched up and he looked as if he had just bitten into a lemon. He had literally said ‘ew’ and had walked away to ponder his sexuality. Greg had apologized several times for that, but you always laughed it off. You had been hurt and angry back then, but now it was just a funny memory the two shared. 

“You wanna tell me what’s going on now?” Greg asked, turning his gaze back to you while you were still slouched on the couch. You grimaced and broke eye contact first, turning to look intently at the floor. 

“I can’t… not right now at least. You’ll know soon enough I guess.” You voice sounded tired as you pressed your cheek against the soft material of the back of the couch. You looked up and met Greg’s eyes. 

“Sorry.” You mumbled out as your fingers anxiously started fiddling with the blanket still across your lap. 

“It’s fine (Y/n), just- I’m worried is all.” Eyes flickering to the window, Greg’s eyebrows knitted together. Walking over to it, he pushed the curtains to the side. 

“Someone moving in across from you?” He asked. You got to your legs, made difficult by your injured knee, but you still hobbled your way over to the window and peeked out with Greg. Problem with being from a small town was that it made everyone really nosey. 

“Yeah, I noticed a moving truck come in late last night.” You commented, eyes trailing over the bright red car parked outside the house. A whistle left your lips at the sight of it. 

“Someone’s got moneyyyy.” You sang out, glad to have something to keep your mind off other things. The car was really fancy though. You were right to assume whoever bought it had some money on them. That just begged the question though, why on earth would they move into a shit house like that. It’s practically in ruins! You guessed though, if they had money they could easily repair it into something decent. 

“Maybe it’s a hot older guy.” Greg said, causing you to look up at him. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “One of us could get ourself a sugar daddy.” 

You snorted out laughter, moving away from the window as you did. Greg smiled at your response, glad to see you looking almost like your usual cheerful self. 

He closed the curtain and the two spent the rest of the day together. After actually seeing your knee, Greg had immediately rushed you to the doctors. You got it checked out, didn’t need stitches but got butterfly ‘stitches’ instead, and got prescribed some medicine to make sure the wound wouldn’t get infected. After that, Greg took you out for ice cream and they spent the rest of the day at your place. You spent most of your day obsessively checking your phone, waiting for the uproar a dead body would cause in a small town. Yet nothing happened. 

After reassuring a reluctant Greg you were better and that he should head on back to his place, you grabbed out your phone and called the only number you could think of to get some answers. Miss Honey would surely know about police finding something in her alleyway. Ringing up the number for the shop, you waited with baited breath for an answer. 

“Honey’s Home Bakery, this is Honey speaking.” A soft, kind voice came through. You could only crack a smile at the sound of her voice. Honey was just like her name, sweet. One of the kindest people in town, her business boomed because no one could resist eating at such a sweet old lady’s bakery. 

“Uhm hey Honey, it’s (Y/n.)” 

“Why hello there dear. Do you want your usual?” You were a regular at her bakery. Hell, everyone was a regular. 

“No-not today. It’s just, I heard something weird happened last night around your bakery. Are you okay?” You were sort of tiptoeing around the subject, but there was no easy way to ask about police finding a recently deceased man in your alleyway. Honey sighed, sounding a little stressed about something. You shifted the phone in your grip, a dreadful anticipation rising up in you. 

“Ugh, yes! Some little ruffian called in a false report, can you believe that (Y/n?) I didn’t think there’d be a person in this town to cause such mischief.” The older lady sounded completely exasperated. You were shell shocked, completely not expecting that answer. 

“I- what?” You replied, at a loss for what to say. You had expected a certain answer and was completely thrown for a loop here. 

“Yeah, some fool called in an anonymous tip to check the alleyway beside my place of business and the grocery store. Nothing was there but I was questioned all morning about it. I had to open the bakery late today. I haven’t opened late in twenty years (Y/n.)” Honey was still ranting, but you could barely hear a word she said. They didn’t find anything? But- but you had for sure seen that happening last night. Did they move the body? Would you have to go in and make a statement now?

“I-I’m sorry Miss Honey, I have to go now.” You didn’t wait to hear a response before hanging up. You were shaking again. You couldn’t make a statement, the police probably already thought whoever made that tip was just trying to jerk them around. They might even throw you in for a night for making false allegations. Clasping your head in your hands, you tried to calm yourself down. 

You would just have to… forget about it. Just push it to the back of your mind and go on with your life. It’s not like you could do anything about it. All you had to go off of was that skeleton monster, and now that you were in a clear headspace you could recognize it was most likely a Monster instead of an actual monster. Or maybe you were crazy and had seen literally Death the other night. Shaking that thought out of your head, you stood and walked around making sure your doors were locked extra tight. 

The murders were probably long gone, but one could never be too careful. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

“Do You Think She Is Asleep Yet?” Sans whispered, practically vibrating with excitement. His usual blue and white costume had been switched out for black clothing as the two skeletons watched the dark silent house. A week had passed since the murder and they had gained the rights to the house across the field from the young lady’s. Your mail had said your name was (Y/n) (L/n.) Papyrus still preferred to call you Rabbit. 

“yea, you wanna go in now?” Papyrus asked, his usual bright orange jacket had been swapped for a grey one. Sans nodded enthusiastically before Papyrus reached for his smaller brother’s arm. A minute of stillness overtook the two before they looked up to find themselves in your living room. 

“It Is Very Clean In Here.” Sans said, nodding his head approvingly. He wandered away from Papyrus to look over things while Papyrus set his sights on the most important place in this house. Your bedroom. 

Carefully opening up each door, Papyrus found a closet and bathroom before he opened up what appeared to be a bedroom. It was dark, but Papyrus could see just fine as he carefully and silently walked across the room to your bed. There was a noticeable lump under the blanket and a sharp grin spread across Papyrus’ face as he wondered how he should wake you. Taking hold of the blanket, Papyrus ripped it roughly off the bed to reveal… 

… pillows? 

Hearing a subtle shift behind him, Papyrus threw himself out of the way just in time for a bat to swing through the empty air he had just been standing in. Spinning around, his eyelights glowed with excitement at the sight before him. His scared little rabbit was in a shirt and boxers, shaking as you gripped a baseball bat tightly in both hands. Papyrus found it hard to keep his gaze off your chest as you seemed to heave for breath. 

“Ge-get out!” You hissed, your voice terrified, furious, and exhausted all in one. Papyrus wondered how many nights you had stayed awake thinking of him. He almost felt touched. 

“drop the bat little rabbit.” Papyrus mumbled, taking a step towards you. You swung the metal bat again. He caught it and jerked it out of your hands, throwing it to the side. Caught off guard, you stumbled and Papyrus immediately pounced on you. Pushing you to the ground, his hand engulfed your mouth to swallow any screams you might make as he laid himself on top of you. You did scream, pulling at his wrist and squirming under his, surprisingly heavy, weight. His bones burned where they touched bare skin as you wiggled against him. 

“while i enjoy you moving against me, you’re not gonna enjoy what i do to you if you keep it up.” Papyrus growled out, leaning until his face was merely an inch from yours. Then without warning his face split into a grin. “i mean, you will, but still rabbit. calm yourself.” 

As soon as his words were processed, you went still. Papyrus hummed in approval, other hand coming to stroke through your hair as the two stayed that way for several tense minutes. Tense for you at least. Papyrus was very much enjoying himself. That is until his darling brother barged in. The light came flaring on as Sans flipped the lightswitch. You squinted against the sudden bright light. 

Pushing Papyrus off of you, Sans wrapped the frightened woman up in a tight hug, laughing joyfully. You sucked in a deep breath, ready to start screaming, but before you could even start the smaller skeleton’s hands were around your throat and squeezing. Your mouth opened wide, trying to take in air but nothing would come through. 

“PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM (Y/N!) I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO PROPERLY MEET YOU.” The smaller skeleton exclaimed cheerfully even as his fingers tightened further around your throat. You pushed at the skeleton, kicking your legs at him, trying desperately to get him off you. Tears were streaking down your cheeks in heavy flows. 

“YOU WILL NOT SCREAM, RIGHT HUMAN (Y/N?)” He asked, his fingers loosening just enough for you to answer. 

“I won’t, I won’t.” Came your desperate whispered answer. His hands left your neck and you laid on the ground coughing hard and gulping air in as quickly as you could. Your vision had started to blackout but with the sudden rush of air, you were starting to see things again. Breathing heavily, you glanced at the two skeletons sitting across from you. One was the tall and lanky skeleton she had already seen, with the orange eyelights. The new one, mr. friendly chokes a lot, was short, and strangely enough, plump looking. His skull had the appearance of chubby cheeks and his sockets held bright blue eyelights. As he caught your staring, he almost seemed to pose for your gaze. 

“Are you here to kill me?” You whispered, eyes widening as you said it. It was the only reason you could think of them being here, in your house. 

“OF COURSE NOT!” The smaller of the skeletons exclaimed, leaning even closer to you. You shifted back. 

“WE ARE HERE TO PLAY GAMES WITH YOU! I AM SANS, AND THAT IS MY YOUNGER BROTHER PAPYRUS. WE ARE ALL GOING TO BE BEST FRIENDS.” The supposed Sans said, reaching out and grabbing your hand. You flinched at the feel of boned fingers wrapped around your hand. But the smaller skeleton didn’t let go, even as you anxiously tugged at it. 

“Games?” You questioned, voice shaking as you could only imagine what games two murderers would want to play. 

“games.” Papyrus said reaching over and grabbing hold of both you and Sans. You jerked at his touch before groaning in discomfort as an overwhelming bout of dizziness hit you. Blinking your eyes fast, you immediately became aware you weren’t sitting on your room’s fuzzy carpet anymore. The ground underneath you felt like dirt, your fingers contracted with said ground and you could definitely feel grass. Your eyes went wide as they suddenly came into focus at the sight of a forest all around you. 

Where- where was you? A muffled yell caught you attention and you snapped your head over to the sound. A gasp left your lips at the sight before you. A middle aged woman was tied to a tree by ropes with a thing of duck tape across her lips. She thrashed against the bounds as both her’s and your eyes locked. 

“Wha-?” Your voice shook as your body trembled from the sudden burst of chills that came with the night air. Before you could even get another word out, Papyrus strode across towards the women, something glinting in his hand. Grabbing her chin, he roughly jerked her head out of the way before jamming what looked like a syringe in her neck. Then his glowing eyelights were back on a terrified you. 

“you have an hour before this poison kills her, and it’s not a pleasant death trust me. make it out of the forest and get help and you win. if my brother or i catch you, we win and you lose.” Papyrus’ grin seemed to tick up a jump at the thought of you losing. This would be so much fun for them. You sat frozen against the ground, mind whirling. Your eyes flickered towards the woman’s and you saw the older woman pleading for help with her gaze. 

So just like you had back at that alleyway, you stood up on shaky legs, turned, and booked it.