Chapter Text
You emerged from oblivion wishing very much that you didn't have to be part of the body that was you. Your mouth was drier than you've ever experienced, thick and sticking, reluctant to peel from the roof of your mouth. You could feel your arm and neck throb with what you could only assume was the work of the unmentionable. You opened your eyes and the pain of seeing the trackmarks in your elbow bordered by the blossoming hematoma, was quickly drowned out by the resonating pain of having vision. You screwed your eyes shut and crammed the heel of your hands into your eyesockets to shut it off.
Something touched your arm and you kicked out defensively, only for the force to carry from both legs and flopped over like a fish having a seizure. You blinked owlishly, eyes watering from the pain of your drug-induced hangover. You were bound, zip ties over your wrists, and yet another round of duct tape over your legs, explaining how you couldn't move properly. You tested the restraints, seeing that there was a little give, which was more than you'd dared hope. Yet, it was less than what you needed as well, as the movement quickly drained your energy and with duct tape over your mouth, you were forced to breath through your nose in quick noisy gusts. Something touched your hip.
You swung onto your side to face the thing that touched you only to find Amber next to you. She looked tired, her arm sporting a similar large bruise, though it looked faded in comparison to the one in your arm. Her mouth and limbs were also covered up by duct tape and zip ties, though her arms were pulled behind her back and there was some redness around her mouth as if it'd been removed and replaced. She looked unkempt and sickly from captivity, and you felt anger spark in your chest and yet it was quelled without the energy to maintain it. You were just so groggy. You did your best to hug close to her, wiggling over before placing your head on her shoulder. You leaned more heavily than you intended to, exhaustion making the world spin even as you remained still, and she tilted to hug your head with hers.
Looking around, you could see two made empty beds, a TV set and mini-fridge, and in the opposite corner of the room Papyrus and Frisk seemed to be asleep. Your magic crawling at a snail's pace managed to dimly illuminate their souls, suggesting that they weren't just knocked out. Fuck. Did he charge in after you were drugged in the struggle? And where the hell was Flowey in all of this? It looked like all of you had been dragged into a motel, suggesting that the people that had taken Amber and Frisk had flown the coop after drugging you. Who knows where you were really?
“Sleeping beauty is awake.” A voice rung through the silent room, and you flinched into Amber from the fresh wave of pain that the sound brought on, but also because you had a pretty good idea who they were talking about. A shadow detaching from the edge of the bed caught your attention, and the person approached you, mouth pressed close to a walkie talkie. There was something familiar about him, but you couldn't quite think of what it was.
He reached out and you tensed, staring hard at them, swearing to yourself you were going to bite them if you got the chance to shed the duct tape. As if your intentions reached them, he paused in his movements. “Hold on.”
You couldn't maintain a coherent thought, let alone go anywhere. Why bother making the order?
He turned to the sink to turn a faucet and grab one of those plastic wrapped water cups that always came with a motels. You vaguely wondered how they managed to hide four unconscious people from the cleaning service. How did they do it in the movies..?
As your mind wandered uselessly, the person moved with a glass of water, reminding you of how thirsty you were. How long can the average human go without water? Three days? You could easily believe you'd been out two days at least. Your tongue was much too large for your mouth. He reached for you again, and remained still.
“Before I do this, you gotta believe me when I say that you really shouldn't scream.” He warned you, their eyes boring into your eyes to impress the heaviness of what they were saying. One hand reached behind him to tug out the hand of the largest handgun you'd ever seen before. Not that you've seen a lot, but the distinctive look of this one suggested that it was something heavy duty like a magnum pistol. Upon the incredulous look that must have passed through your face, he looked down from your face nodding with a halfway embarrassed look on his face. “Yeah, it's kinda overboard for looking after two drugged up girls and a kid, but your uh...”
He glanced at Papyrus. “That skeleton kinda spooks the others. Honestly, they think it did some sort of Jedi mindtrick, but from what I've seen it can't Jedi his way out of a paper bag.” His hand came up to your face, and the urge to bite returned at full force. He ripped the tape off your face in one go like you knew he would, and felt your lip rip with it. His eyes went wide as blood welled up, “Shit, shit, ahhh I'll get some toilet paper for that.”
He put the water cup in your shaky hands, and with the taste of iron seeping into your mouth, past your mouth too, collecting at your chin, you chugged the water. Your mouth slowly reconstituting, you prodded the injury with your tongue, finding that the duct tape simply ripped the skin off of your chapped lips. A thought floated to the surface, making it just past 'still thirsty' and popping into your mind-
They're making a lot of mistakes, aren't they? Tying people up with duct tape, setting up base at someone's house only to kidnap more people and then fleeing the area.
The false calm that the drugs had forced into you rippled, the chemical stillness. Mistakes... that could be good and bad. Convinced there was something you were missing, you scrutinized the person closely as he came back, taking the bloody plastic cup from your hands and pressing the dampened tissues to your chin and wiping the bright red stream up. There was something familiar about him. You couldn't quite... no, the image was gone before you could bring it to your conscious thought.
You croaked hoarsely, “More water?”
“Nooo... not yet, if you drink too much at once, you'll vomit.” He muttered, dabbing away at your lip. Like a bolt of lightning, you thought of the guy throwing up at a fair, and pushed yourself backwards for a moment in blind panic. They really WERE stalking you, even at the fair!
“Hey, it's going to hurt worse when I have to put the tape back on.” The fair puker grumbled. “Try to sit still, sheesh.”
“Why'd you have to go on a ride that made you puke?” you mumbled unthinkingly, and could have slapped yourself in that moment. Why let them know you've spotted their mistakes?
“What..?” He looked up into your face, and processed your question. “Ugh, that's right you saw me... you'll definitely have to have tape over your mouth later...”
“What do you mean?” You half-asked and half-demanded in your alarm, but he was already reaching for the duct tape, pulling it out with an obscenely loud ripping noise that you swore should've been heard by the neighboring motel rooms. You leaned back eyeing it distrustfully, not wanting to be taped up again. “Uh, why don't you have a proper gag?”
“You're a weird girl. First you say yes to a monster marriage proposal, and now you're asking questions that has nothing to do with 'who are you' or 'hey why did you take me' or 'can I go to the bathroom'?” He complained. “Honestly, I'm starting to feel like you have no interest in what's happening.”
Uh, they think you're engaged? Oh right, Papyrus's 'marriage proposal' at the fair. You hesitantly raised your hand, forced to move your arm with the motion, “Can I go to the bathroom?”
“NO! You're just gonna use it to perform some sort of elaborate escape plan.” Geez, how many comic books has this guy read? You honestly just needed to stretch your legs, you felt like you lost circulation in all your limbs a while ago.
You were pushed back by Amber, who moved her body to partially block yours and with as much emphasis as she could muster tied up, she shook her head at the guy and stared him down meaningfully. Hesitantly, he reached over, and pulled the tape off in one go and she hissed in pain before demanding in a low whisper. “You are NOT putting tape over her face before giving her something to eat and more than a lousy fucking cup of water. Not after nearly killing her with a goddamn needle!”
“Killing?” You could hear more whispering movement in the house, and in the corner of your eyes you could see Papyrus sit up. His eyelights twinkled oddly, the light forming rays and you realized your vision was unfocusing again.
“You nearly bled out from your carotid artery-” she jostled you roughly, a note of hysteria ringing through her voice. “-Hey! Stay awake!” Through no small effort, you combated unconsciousness, though your vision continued to lose focus.
“Okay, okay, shut up now.” The puker slapped tape back onto her mouth again and you could hear an agitated growl of frustration through it. He turned to get the glass of water, and you looked to Amber's face then her hands. Almost absentmindedly, you reached over to tug at her zip tie, trying to figure out how to undo it, but she moved it away quickly. The shadow of your kidnapper was turning.
The door inside the hotel opened unexpectedly, and another person entered the room with crinkling cellophane. For a quick moment, you saw daytime before the door closed again and the room gave way to souls. You blinked rapidly but the room refused to cease fading, Papyrus's ribcage housing a lavender soul, his own conspicuously missing before another soul stepped forward in a wavering form... lavender.
A feeling of dread dropped low into your stomach, and you nearly cowered in the blackened room. The other soul advanced forward and you pulled at the zip ties around your wrist until it chafed and pain began lacing through your skin. Your vision sharpened in time to see the hand heading for your face and you jerked away before your composure returned, bravery urging you to look your nighttime nemesis in the face.
“Hey Kitty-kitty.” The woman cooed softly, as she placed a hand on your cheek. She had high cheekbones, brown eyes glued onto your face, her lips slightly askew as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. “What happened to you, cutie pie? Did the big bad meanie beat up on you?”
“No! The tape tore skin off.” He grumbled. “And you're one to talk, miss stick-'em-in-the-neck. Didn't that uncle of yours tell you not to puncture the trachea in a fight?”
“I didn't, Jack.” She growled, and from her tone, that was the end of that. She pulled open the packaging and put a miniature cookie to your mouth. “I'd give you some chips, but that looks pretty raw. Don't want to be cruel.”
Like a coil in your mind, you wanted nothing more than to snap and headbutt her. You did not want to eat. You wanted to take nothing from her. Instead, you asked, “Can I have some water?”
“Yeah, I was on that before you came in.” Said Jack, moving in to place the water glass into your hands. She frowned at him, and a chill crept through your spine, feeling the hairs on your neck prickle. You drank the water quickly and then set it aside, seeing movement in your peripheral vision.
Frisk was gesturing.
They didn't move otherwise, or sit up to indicate that they were awake, but you could see them slowly making gestures. First pulling away their hand from their body, and then spelling individual letters. You focused, glancing out of the corner of your eyes as you tried to catch what they said.
“Get. G.A.S.T.E.R.”