Silky heard it first.

It was the middle of the night, the dark shadows looming around the room. Silky slept on the living room couch, a thin blanket thrown over her as she took her time to rest. Her species usually didn't need sleep, maybe once a century, but she did take Sans' need to sleep. Not the naps, thankfully, but she needed sleep every night still. A requirement she didn't enjoy, Silky didn't understand why Sans liked doing it so much.

But since she was on the couch, she heard it first. Zalgo's proxies took after Zalgo, loud and obnoxious, sadistic. They couldn't contain their giggles, that's what alerted Silky the first time.

And that's what alerted her now.

Slenderman was good at listening for signals of Zalgo, and by extension, so was Silky. The loud footsteps, the soft giggles and whispers. They were creeping outside of the window, Silky sitting up immediately. It was unlikely of them to give up, especially Zalgo. Slenderman would have pulled back his proxies, went over ideas and plans, but Zalgo would just keep sending them out until he got what he wanted. That's the problem with Zalgo. He was more childish, more on the frantic "I have to have that because I want it" mentality. Slenderman had taken this to heart, as had Silky. He had his battles with Zalgo before.

Now, it was Silky's turn.

Silky was up in an instant, untamed white hair falling onto her blank face. Oh, it probably looked terrible. That was another problem with sleeping, she hated waking up to find her hair in a mess. It was disgustingly uneven, pieces sticking up randomly. As long as she avoided a mirror, Silky should be fine.

But she knew it was messy in the back of her mind and it would bug her-

No no, issue first. The hair would be messed up in the fight anyway.

Soft footsteps were taken as the tall female approached the kitchen from the living room, the knife drawer in mind as she tried to think of the best ways to deal with this. Silky herself didn't use weapons, but the others would need some. They couldn't just run away again, it would be too risky to draw attention from the police on the surface. There was no safety of the underground to fall upon, Jeff was the only CreepyPasta adult with them, but he didn't have any backup plans either. Papyrus was their unintentional last resort. Where would they go? If they all ran again, it wouldn't just be from the demons. It would be from the police, too. They would have no home, no plan, nothing. And the demon wouldn't give up until they were there.

Silky was calm, yet worried. This was a difficult situation, and although they were all trained, they were still children. Sans and Slender were usually the leaders of the CreepyPasta, they usually made the plans. But both are gone, and everyone is scattered. The best option is to fight back, even with their small numbers.

It wasn't like the proxies were doing much better. Silky could already tell their fighting conditions as she drew out some knives from the drawer. They were tired and blood lusting, they already burnt most of their energy finding them, and were too set on capturing them to even bother to get backup. It was just a couple of proxies blindly following their trail, the children could likely take them.

Leonie was passed out on the couch, her form thrown back onto the couch with the computer still on her lap. She had fallen asleep awhile ago, passing out playing minecraft. Her computer had turned off by then, not having been used in a couple of hours. Well Papyrus' computer, but Leonie had more than claimed it as her own at that point.

"Leonie," Silky whispered, lightly shaking her.

Leonie was a light sleeper, stirring almost as soon as Silky touched her. The female's eye sockets blinked open, focusing on Silky before she groaned and turned on her side.

"No, it's my computer now," Leonie mumbled, closing her eye sockets again.

"Not that, although we should discuss it later," Silky said, holding a knife by the blade, the handle facing towards her sister. "But we have some unwanted guests."

"Can't you guys just handle it, I was dreaming about a house with buff legs, and I'd like to return to that," Leonie groaned.

"It's the demon proxies, it's not the police."

That finally drew Leonie's attention. She sat up, blinking a few more times as her magical blue hair rustled with the movements.

"All of them...?" She asked quietly.

"Only two," Silky answered, "By the side of the house, they haven't entered yet, but it won't be long until they do. Wake up Cole and Jeff, I'll get Addy and Pap-"

"Wait, the Uncle dude?" Leonie asked, "No no, he's not a CreepyPasta."

"He's still trained in fighting and knows some decent magic, he should at least be awake to be aware of the situation," Silky said.

"But we don't... how can we trust he won't make a deal with the proxies, or just run?" Leonie asked.

"Because he won't," Silky said, "If he wanted to, he would have already."

"But... it's just always been, you know, us," Leonie said, motioning between the two girls. "Us kids, our parents and family. It's never been us and some random dude we just happen to be related with. Like humans share a lot of DNA with bananas, but they don't carry them to battle. Which I'm kind of jealous of, I'd love to be related to a banana."

"We're related to Cole, they have about the same mental capacity," Silky said, glancing at the window. "I'm unsure of Papyrus' fighting abilities, but I am aware that Undyne has trained him before. He should be able to do something."

"Something doesn't mean helpful," Leonie muttered, "Like I said, I don't know the guy, stranger danger. I stick by that."

"And I don't blame you for it." Silky gave the knife to her sister. "As I don't fully trust him as well. We've been raised that way, after all. But we should test if he is willing to help us now, rather than when we have no choice."

"So you're just going to run him like a guinea pig?" The skeleton looked at her with a face that said 'really?'. "Throw him in front of some demon proxies and sees if he helps or screams like a baby?"

"It's only two of the proxies, compared to the many we had to deal with before," Silky said, "He won't be in any danger if we all fight together. But if he bails on us, he may be in some danger."

"Holy sh*t, you're f*cking testing him out," Leonie laughed, "I thought you liked him."

"Liking someone's personality is different than trusting them," Silky said, "After all, I don't trust just anyone with my and my siblings lives. He may house us, and I know he won't throw us out to the police, but there's nothing like a real test to ensure he can be tested."

"I knew there was something else, you never trust anyone you don't know," Leonie said, "I was wondering why you'd stay so willingly at his house without even doing a background check."

"I did that before," Silky said, "All he has to do is fight with us, it won't be too hard for him. I'm just making sure what he said before is true, that he'd do anything for us."

"That's f*cking wicked, dude," Leonie said, "I may not trust him, but f*cking hell, playing with his emotions like that? Playing him to fight for us?"

"Don't tell him about any of this, we want to make sure we have good results," Silky said, watching the trees sway softly through the window. "I do enjoy his personality and company, but that all means nothing if he's not willing to put himself out there and fight with us."

"And if he runs away?" Leonie asked.

"Well, we can't get rid of him," Silky said, "We still need his house and his cover, but who's to say that we need some of his friends?"

Leonie blinked. "I forgot you always have double intentions."

Silky turned her head towards Leonie, and the skeleton could practically sense the smile hidden under her skin. "Naturally."

Perhaps Silky hadn't been fully truthful with Papyrus over the course of her stay. One thing she made sure he was unaware of was their previous home of the underground. That was private information, she made sure we didn't know it. Silky gave him enough information, that was it. But she didn't fully trust him, only enough to keep her and her family there without fearing them getting caught by the police. However, Silky had never seen Papyrus stand up for them. He never battled for them, risking life itself. This battle wouldn't risk his life, it was just two demon proxies, but it was still enough to see what he could do with his magic, and if he was willing to fight for them.

Silky wasn't ashamed to admit she was testing him. After all, trust was something she had never given to anyone outside of the family just for saying they would protect her and her siblings. Equanox had to prove herself, just as Papyrus would.

It should be simple. All he had to do was fight with them, that was it. It wasn't as extensive as Equanox's test to see if she wouldn't betray Silky.

The extent of Silky's trust only went to a verbal level. Silky would tell Papyrus as much as he needed to know.

But physical? If he stood in the kitchen with a knife, Silky wouldn't trust that he knew how to handle it.

After all, that's why she helped cook dinner.

And that's why she always used the knife.

Of course Silky was courteous as a guest, but she always had double intentions. There was no point in going into a situation with an action, she tended to stand back and know the battle before she fought it. That included social conventions. Being kind was respectful, while also allowing for her to gain information on other people.

And she had enough information about this situation to continue. She already knew the two proxies outside, along with her siblings. But she didn't know what Papyrus would do. Even if he ran, the kids could handle them together. Then she would go and drag him back for running away.

Papyrus was easy to shake awake. He sat up, looking at her through the dark in confusion.

"Silky, why are... why do you have a knife?"

"It's not for you, but the people who attacked our home are back," Silky said, "There's two of them outside."

"What?" Papyrus was fully awake now.

Silky nodded. "I usually don't wake up people while they're sleeping, I apologize for the inconvenience."

"No, no, not at all," Papyrus said, climbing out of his bed. "Where are they? Have they tried to hurt you guys?"

"Not-"

A sudden crash of a window occurred downstairs, the sound of Ben and Leonie yelling could be heard.

"Okay, now they've probably tried to hurt us," Silky said.

Papyrus was out of his bed in a flash, Silky standing back and watching. It took no time before he was running downstairs, Addy rushing out of the room she was sleeping inside with Sally in tow.

"What's going on?" The two asked.

"Do we have to, um, run away again?" Addy asked, eye sockets wide with worry.

"No, there's only two of them," Silky said, holding out a knife for Sally. "Not the amount we had to face last time. We should be fine together."

"What about Papyrus? Is he going to be okay?" Addy asked.

Silky looked down at her sibling. Addy was a naturally caring person, and it seemed like she grew a little attached to Papyrus. Oh, she would be crushed if Papyrus ran away.

Papyrus did claim that he would protect them, but words were different than actions.

It looked like he was making the right actions.

Teleporting them downstairs, Silky found that Papyrus was already attacking the two proxies while also trying to talk to them. To convince them to back down.

He had the right spirit, and his attacks were decent. Much less powerful than Sans, that was for sure. Also, the talking was obviously pointless. They were proxies for demons, they didn't care about 'the right thing'. They could possibly be talked down, sure, but not by those means.

"If only Daddy was here..." Addy mumbled, hugging her arms against her chest. "He always knew what to do."

If only. He did, Sans always knew how to talk down killers. He was one of them, he knew how they talked and how he could convince them to step down. Right now, Jeff probably had the best chance to talk down the demon proxies, but he didn't know how. Even if he did, he might not even do it.

The first proxy was a scarecrow. Her body was stitched together at random places, straw sticking out in clusters from between the stitches. With each swing of her old and worn scythe, some of the straw would flutter down to the floor. A large grin was stitched into her face, the black eyes drawn onto her void of any emotions but glee. It was unlikely she even had a soul, as Papyrus found out when his blue soul magic didn't work.

The second was wearing a hood and cloak, the black cloth covering their entire form. The only thing that set them apart was a long, silver chain that dangled from their neck and went down to their ankles. They were using a standard spear, nothing special about it.

"We don't have to fight, leave the kids alone!" Papyrus was saying, using a bone to push back the scarecrow from him.

Yeah, that'd work on proxies for a demon that sold their souls to him. Sure.

At least Papyrus was trying to fight back, and he was getting some good damage in. He wasn't extraordinary, but above average. It was obvious he trained.

"Hey dude, I don't wanna yank your chain, no thanks man," Cole said to the cloaked man, going in for a swing with his knife.

Silky simply stood back and watched the fight while everyone else fought, taking in the details. Papyrus, Sally, Addy, and Ben were all on the scarecrow girl, while Jeff and Cole were handling the man. Leonie was drinking a chocolate milk on the counter while she watched.

"Cole, you look gay doing that," Leonie announced.

"No, I look bada**!" Cole said.

"Hah, you never look bada**," Leonie snorted.

Cole's face turned red. "Shut it, yes I do!"

"He does, 'cause he's kicking a**!" Jeff laughed.

Sally climbed onto the counter next to Leonie before jumping off, managing to snag onto the Scarecrow's back and hang on for dear life as she repeatedly stabbed her. Addy ducked down and used her body to trip her, causing her to topple over onto Ben and knock the two down.

If only they had handled the demon proxies like this before, but there had been too many. Silky could remember looking out before she left to see three of them chasing one of her brothers. They had been outnumbered probably 5 to one, and without Sans, and Slender's sudden disappearance as well, they didn't have much leadership.

However, just because the Creepypasta had the advantage in numbers doesn't mean the proxies were going to be defeated so easily. The Scarecrow continued, even though a large portion of her stuffing was spilling out onto the floor from her wounds. And the man seemed to be affected by some stabs, one even hitting directly into his heart, but he kept going anyway.

"Sh*t!" Cole screeched, slipping on a pile of hay and crashing to the ground.

"Wait, wait, Cole!" Leonie yelled, trying to throw a knife at the cloaked man.

Silky snapped her head towards them, noticing that Cole had dropped his knife on the fall and cloaked man was above him, spear in hand ready to thrust down into Cole's chest.

He's about to get stabbed!

And just like that, Cole was suddenly being pulled out of the way before Silky could react, a gloved hand grabbing onto Cole's red scarf and pulling it backwards out of harms way.

Did...

Did Papyrus just save Cole?