Chapter Text
He found out.
And gentle soul that he is, he couldn’t bear to stay. He knows too much now of what Edge really is, what he made him into.
When Edge found the note, he started to run to the labs where his brother’s other-worldly contraption was taking from him the sweetest gift it could have given. He ran until his body ached and his joints creaked, hoping beyond all hope that he would get there before Papyrus managed to jump back to his own universe.
He found him in Hotland, surrounded by four monsters, one of whom had the audacity to touch his pet! There was no point in hiding his true nature any more. Everything was out in the open now, his soul was laid bare.
Papyrus had caught a glimpse and thought ‘No. I can’t do this.’
His soul burned ruby as he dealt with the monsters surrounding Papyrus with the sharpest bone attacks he could muster. He might have, any other day, taken his time in tearing apart those who should know better than to harass a skeleton… But he couldn’t risk his double escaping amidst the struggle.
The monsters burst into a cloud of dust and Papyrus shrieked, body tensing up, shaking. Though he was facing away from Edge, he could tell that Papyrus wiping tears from his face. “P-Please… Don’t kill me…”
Edge blinked, taken aback. He approached his other in a few confident strides, running his fingers soothingly down the other’s spine. “I would never hurt you, precious.” This did nothing to calm the other, who had buried his face in both of his slender hands. “Unlike you.” He bit out, making Papyrus curl away from him just a bit more. “This is how you were going to leave me? A note and then just disappearing? After everything we’ve been through, everything I’ve done for you.” Papyrus was still shaking in his hands and Edge felt the prickly sharpness of irritation overwhelm him. “I’ve never hurt you!”
“I-I know… I-I…”
The pretty deep orange turtleneck that Papyrus wore was now covered in dust. Same with his black leggings and boots and it made Edge’s heart twinge with the slightest bit of guilt.
No. This wasn’t his fault!
“No… No I’m not okay with this! My brother was right about you! You… You lied to me… About everything.” Papyrus jerked away from him and Edge gasped, grabbing his arm and yanking him back close again. “Let me go! I want to go home!” He sobbed, only half struggling in the other’s iron grip. “Please…”
“Come home. Now. Let’s talk about this and if y-…”
“There’s nothing to talk about! You promised… You promised you were going to do better… you pr-…” Papyrus continued to try and pull away from Edge, but he wouldn’t have it. With one swift punch to the side of his skull, Papyrus crumbled to his knees, unconscious, but held up by Edge. He shifted him back into one arm and used the other arm to pick up his legs. His double was tall, but being all bones made him rather light, especially to someone with as much training as Edge.
The walk home was quick, despite how exhausted he was now feeling. Papyrus hadn’t woken up or even moved much. He tried to ignore the distinct warm trickle of red that was leaking out of a crack in Papyrus’ skull now. He couldn’t risk him going home and his brother breaking off their connection, destroying the machine and refusing him his heart’s desire.
No, he wouldn’t let Papyrus leave.
xXxXx
Papyrus couldn’t move, not his arms or legs or even his magic. He was immobile, helpless. The panic of the situation before he had been knocked out was still in his mind when he woke up. He was on Edge’s bed, he could tell by the feel of the large quilt placed over him and the four pillows surrounding him. And oh stars, his head huuuuuurt.
His mind flashed to his brother, who would be waiting for him back in their Universe. A hit to the skull like this would be more than enough to dust Sans. The thought only increased his panic as he tried and failed to move his body. Stop. Think. He stopped trying to move or summon his magic and tried to focus.
It didn’t feel like he was bound by anything, he was lying on his back with his hands on his sides and his legs stretched out. But the only thing that he could feel on his bones were his clothes and the blankets over him. As he forced himself to calm down, he could hear the quiet crackle of magic around him.
So he was being magically immobilized, by whatever dark magic the Fell universe version of himself was capable of. He couldn’t think of anything in his universe that would even remotely do something so… completely tying down. Sans was better at magic than he was though and it was possible that Edge had asked Red to do this. If he could move, he’d be trembling.
He took a deep breath and looked around as well as he could without turning his head. The room was dark, but there was a sliver of light coming from underneath the door that lit up the wall around him a bit. Finding he was able to close his eyes, he tried to focus himself to be calm again.
What would Sans do?
The thought made his soul beat out painfully and he couldn’t resist the urge to whine. He wanted his brother more than ever. Why did he ever think it was a good idea to come here? Sans had warned him… told him…
He hoped beyond all hope that his big brother wouldn’t come here, as it was almost certain he would be killed.
But stars, he’d give anything just to see Sans’ face, the gentle curves of his cheeks, his not too sharp teeth and stupid, but harmless, puns.
Papyrus started to cry, but gasped as the room was bathed in light.
“Are you awake, pet? I heard you weeping, does your head hurt?” It was Edge’s rougher voice that he heard and the panic from earlier resurged. Nothing was going to help calm him down with his double right there. Edge was at the side of the bed in moments, one hand gently resting on his chest and one tenderly tracing the part of his skull that hurt hurt hurt. He whimpered, but couldn’t move away from the touch.
Vibrations had started in his chest, overtaking his soul and causing a lethargic haze to overtake his fear. This was it! The magic that made it impossible for him to move. The longer Edge traced the space over his soul, the more dreamy Papyrus’ mind became. It was even hard to think now.
“Feel better?” Papyrus didn’t reply, couldn’t reply. Edge seemed pleased by this and leaned over the side of the bed to place a light kiss between Papyrus’ eye sockets. “I had no desire to injure you, darling, but you were being unreasonable.” As he spoke, he continued to stroke the fuzzy feeling into Papyrus’ soul. It was hard to understand what he was saying. He was only vaguely aware that their teeth were pressed together as Edge whispered to him. “Now we’ll have the opportunity to speak without you running off. Do not fear, the Great and Terrible… Edge would never harm you. I only want to talk.”
Papyrus used all his will power to speak, his voice coming out far quieter than he was used to. But it was better than not being able to speak at all. “Let me go, I just wanna go home… I want my brother.”
Edge was taken aback by this, either by the fact that he was able to speak at all or what he said. Perhaps both.
The Fell skeleton stood up straight and flipped his scarf over his shoulder. “You really are an ungrateful little dear, aren’t you? I did everything to protect you from this universe and your own and still you try and leave me? Why?”
“S-Sans… Home…” Papyrus sniffled, the full effect of the magic he had just been re-dosed with taking over his ability to speak. “You… kill people… You still…” Every word was a struggle, but Edge allowed him to try, crossing his arms and glaring down at the vulnerable skeleton unable to move from his bed. “You told me… you were better.”
“And I am better!” Edge bit out, “When I’m around you, I am less violent, I swear less. Hell, I’m even nicer to… to Red. ‘Fell’ isn’t just a state of mind, pet. It’s in my bones, my marrow… it’s tainted the magic of my brother and I to the point of it being red. The fact that I’ve held out for you is a shock, really. You should be grateful that I’ve tried so hard.”
“It’s not okay to kill! There’s always another way… Y-you killed the monsters… that were helping me…”
“Helping take you away from me!” Edge’s voice was a constant growl now, it was clear he was only getting more irritated, but Papyrus refused to give in so easily. “One of them dared to touch you, my pet!”
It suddenly hit Papyrus that ‘pet’ wasn’t just a cute name like ‘honey’ or ‘sweetheart’.
Edge meant that Papyrus was his PET.
His kept and owned pet.
“I want my brother…”
“Oh for fucks sake, I heard you the first time! You’re not going back to Undertale until you learn to be good to me and stop talking about this… this idea that you can just walk away from what you started. How can you be so resentful?! We are Papyrus! And Papyrus doesn’t just give up because something seems difficult. Not even relationships!”
The gentler Papyrus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was true that he wanted to help Edge, but he thought he had already accomplished that. The LOVE of Edge terrified him and knowing that his EXP was still steadily increasing was a scary thought. He wanted to be at home with his lvl 1 friends, his lazy brother and cooking spaghetti with Undyne.
But if the only way to see his brother again was to help Edge stop being ‘Terrible’, then he was going to have to play along.
He allowed the image of his brother sleeping on the couch, safe from harm and relaxed, flash in his mind before he opened his eyes again. “I-I’ll… I’ll be good…”
Edge blinked, taken aback a little by the sudden change of heart. “So you are still mine, then? You won’t try and run off?”
“N-no… I am… nnh… I am the G-Great Papyrus! I… I won’t give up… on you…” Edge grinned at his reply, taking one of his hands into his own. “I still believe in you… you can do better than this, I know you can...” His voice getting soft again, the fuzzy magic overtaking his mind as Edge touched him.
“Very good, pet. Now go back to sleep. We will talk more when you wake up.” Another stroke on Papyrus’ skull and he was out cold, but tucked in tight to his bed away from home.