As you eyes opened once again, you could feel a stinging pain burn across your head and you hissed, batting away at whatever it was. "Stop it, that hurts." You grunted.

"Well unless you wanna scare to Lil' Pup with this cut of yours, you should probably let me patch it up."

"What cut?"

"The one you got from brawling at Grillby's. Stay still! Quit knocking my hands away."

You opened your eyes and sat up straight. You were throughly confused and missing part of your memory. When did you get home? When did you get hurt? Who exactly were you talking to?

You looked over and saw a rather annoyed Sans holding a soaked rag. A small table held bandages and gauze. Realizing what Sans had meant, your eyes widened and you brushed the cut gently. You winced and Sans chuckled. "What made you think it'd be a good idea to touch it?" He asked.

You rolled your eyes and pulled away your blood-tipped finger, licking the small amount of blood off. Sans seemed disgusted by the action but you ignored it. "What happened?" You asked.

"Lay back down and I'll tell you."

You obeyed and laid back down, arms folded on your chest. "Okay, now explain."

Sans went back to cleaning your gash and you closed the eye closest to him to avoid getting anything in it.

"Grillby called me when he saw you were getting eyed up by some drunks. Since you're a young female that hasn't been marked at all by monster nor buisness, it makes you a target for the weak-minded. I got Grillby's call and rushed over to see you fending off a trio of no goods. You seemed to be at your limit so I stepped in." He explained.

"What do you mean you 'stepped in'?"

"I roughed 'em up, left them with their lives. After that I helped ya back here. Ya passed out about halfway back."

"Oh, sorry sir." You apologized.

He sent you a confused look but you didn't notice, nor did you notice how you let that one small word slip. Not matter how hard you'd try, parts of your past would always slip into the present. You didn't catch this one, but Sans noticed. Choosing to not say anything as you clearly hadn't noticed your slip up, he sat you up slowly and you held a gauze pad over your wound. Sans was silent as he taped it down with paper medical tape. Once really moved his hands, so did you. The bandage stayed snug to its spot and you smiled.

"Thanks bo- er, Sans."

"It's nothing. I deal with it all the time." He boasted. "Any other wounds you want me to look at?"

You shook your head. "Nah. I have a few scratches on my arms from where number three held me but they'll scab over by morning. Other than that it's just bruising."

Your gut twisted but you smiled to hide the uneasy feeling. Sans handed you your fedora and you put it on. You were fortunate enough that it covered your wound effectively. You stood and stretched, wincing at the wounds hidden beneath your clothing.

Sans eyed you suspiciously and you laughed. "Don't worry boss, just a bit of bruising." You reassured.

"Anyway, I'm gonna head upstairs so-"

"Hold it right there girlie." Sans interupted.

You froze and turned towards him, fearing he'd pry about your other wounds. "Yeah?"

"Come here Kitten, take a seat." He said calmly.

You gulped and walked back to the couch, easing yourself into a seat. Sans sat back and lit a cigar, looking at you with half-lidded eyes. "So Kitty, let's have a little discussion..." He cooed.

The atmosphere dropped by 80° and you knew what that meant. You gulped again, folding your hands and straightening your back.

Don't let him see you crack.
Don't let him see you crack.
Don't let him see you crack.

Your face fell and you went into an autopilot kind of mode. You matched Sans' gaze and spoke. "About what?" You asked.

"Cosequences." He said frankly.

Your heart fell and you instantly questioned everything. "I am prepared to endure whatever punishment you see fit to my transgressions." You said monotone.

You bowed your head and let both hair and hat hide your face from view. Your eyes focused on a single spot between your feet and you waited.

Sans chuckled and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "For sneaking out and causing me to go retrieve you, you shall serve a punishment of..."

You clenched your fist tightly and braced yourself. You hid the fear in your eyes with a dull glaze.

"Grocery shopping."

You froze up, not sure how to react. "Grocery shopping?" You asked.

Sans nodded and shrugged. "Me and Paps need to go on a job tomorrow so we won't be able to pick up any food for the week. I figured I'd ask you to since we'd need food humans can eat too."

You looked at him and furrowed your brow. "That's it? No yelling... No lecture... No punis-"

Sans cut you off, standing and collecting the med stuff. "Listen Kitty, I know you must've come from a tough past. Seeing as the fact we found the two of ya in a crate, I can tell you probably haven't had a pleasant life. But your aren't captive to it anymore, you're outta that situation. I can tell you care about Lil' Pup and I can tell you're having a rough time adjusting to ideas like friends and stuff, but just know we ain't gonna do that to ya here. Relax. This is your home now. You're free here."

You smiled genuinely though you doubted the words in your heart. Though even that couldn't stop the happiness his words brought you. "Thanks... Sans..."

He smiled and crushed his cigar in an ash tray. "The money for tomorrow is in the cookie jar. Papyrus thought it'd be clever to stach it there. Goodnight Kitten."

You nodded and stood once again. Sans headed upstairs before you as you sat on the couch. Your thoughts raced as you mulled over his words.

"I know you must've had a tough past."

That was an understatement.

"-you're outta that situation."

I'll never be out of it.

"I can tell you care for Lil' Pup..."

He's one of the few reasons I keep going.

"We ain't gonna do that to ya here."

Yes you will. It's only natural.

"This is your home now. Relax. You're free."

I'll never be free as long as my past chains me.

It wasn't until pain laced your side that you broke away from the demons making your happy thoughts into tools of your own destruction. You grabbed your side and hissed. The pain was too familiar to mistake. One thing you'd learned from your past, how to identity pain.

Glancing to make sure Sans was gone, you retrieved the wraps he had from the medical supplies. You rushed to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, lifting your shirt. Surely enough, a large, vibrant red splotch covered your side, a sign of a broken rib. Drunk number two must've been holding tighter than you thought. You probed around it gently, biting your lip to muffle any involuntary sound. Feeling the rib had pulled away, you groaned and adjusted your hand, ready to push it back into place.

You put your lip in the way and squeezed your eyes such as you delivered a quick and wide-palmed jab to the location of the rib. It snapped back to place but not before stabbing you internally with monstrous pain. You drew blood from your lips and a tear fell how your face as you struggled not to scream. You turned in the mirror so your back faced it. Ugly scars littered your skin but you ignored them, focusing soully on tightly wrapping yourself.

After securing the bandage, you put your shirt down and sighed. Coppery blood taste filled your mouth but you paid no mind to it. There were basic painkillers in your room, so they'd have to do. You walked up the stairs, relying heavily on the railing. Bruises and small scratches littered your flesh but you couldn't do much but pretend it wasn't there. You had to remain strong, for Frisk's sake.

Pushing the door open, you looked at Frisk's small sleeping body. He breathed steadily meaning tonight there wouldn't be a nightmare. Good. You sat in the rocking chair once again and kicked off your shoes, watching the child sleep. Yeah to the foreign eye you may have looked creepy, but that didn't matter to you. Not at all.

You rested your head on your chin and looked out the window of your room. The curtains were pulled back, letting loose the moonlight. You couldn't see the stars from where you were, but it didn't matter. You never really enjoyed looking at the stars anyway, so it didn't matter much to you. It just seemed to calm you.

The stress of everything was weighing on you heavily. Your eyes begged for sleep but fear of another nightmare was overwhelming. You pushed yourself to stay awake, dwelling on dangerous thoughts. But even the strongest people need rest at some point. Your head nodded heavily, your eyes weighing you down into a quiet sleep. Lucky for you, it was a sleep free of trouble.... how odd.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
P.o.V. Sans
The look in her eyes when I told her she was free, it scared me. I could tell even before I said the words that she wouldn't believe me. She didn't believe she'd ever be free of whatever hurt her. It was a sad truth. She needed help. She needed someone to show her the error in such thoughts.

I marched up the stairs, sending her an easy look to try and ease her. "The money for tomorrow is in the cookie jar. Papyrus thought it'd be clever to stach it there. Goodnight Kitten."

She didn't even speak. She just nodded in response. Something was off about her, something wrong. I teleported and hid, watching her from secret. She checked to make sure I wasn't still on the stairs, and then disappeared. She snatched things from the med supplies and ran to the bathroom, constantly checking for prying eyes.

She clearly thought I'd left because she didn't check to close the door all the way. It almost killed me when she started lifting her shirt. I was well aware of the blush on my cheeks but I ignored it in favor of trying to figure out why she had the medical wrap. Her back was too me as she lifted her shirt halfway, revealing a nasty red splotch. I didn't recognize the wound but she was clearly familiar with it. What drew my attention was the scars. Lash marks and cuts made haphazard designs on her back. Some still held dissolving stitches. Bruising wrapped around her lowest rib in a ribbon like way. Her eyes moved over them with a mixture of mild distrust and disinterest. My eyes were locked on the marks, slowly realizing in that moment why she felt so attached to her past. Her body was a living reminder.

She pressed her palm against the splotch in a rough manner and a faint crunch followed. It made my stomach churn. She hissed and bit down on her lip drawing blood. A tear glistened in her eye but she paid it no mind. Turning slightly, she applied the wrap in a sickeningly professional manner. She let her shirt down and sighed.

Pushing the door open, she wiped a trace of blood from her lip and continued past me to the stairs. She leaned so heavily on the railing I almost thought she would break it. Not wanting her to know I'd seen them, I teleported to my room. I removed my hat and loosened my tie, flopping on to my bed.

Damn Kitten, what'd they do to ya?