From Murder to Dust

3 - Time

"How long has it been Paps?" I was getting tired of asking the same question over and over again. I had also noticed that I wasn't aging. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I was never meant to escape from the loop.

"Five years, ten months, three weeks, six days, twenty hours, fifty-five minutes, and forty seconds." Papyrus replied. We had both accepted that the kid wasn't coming back.

"What are the magic levels of the food we have left?"

"Enough for now. I never was good with measurements."

"You're the best, Papyrus. How am I doing?"

"Below average. It won't hurt you, though."

"That's good." I had to conserve my magic if I was going to stay alive longer; I even turned my eyes white again just to save up. Sleeping helped my magic a little, but I didn't know how much longer I could hold out. I guess the kid was right. They weren't coming back.

"Brother, you're drifting again. Find something to focus on, please."

"Okay, Paps." I had begun to space out often, forgetting my surroundings. I believed it was a side effect of the decreased magic levels.

"Perhaps watching Mettaton's news broadcasts again?"

"Sure. Anything for you, bro."

I walked out of my study, where I had previously been, and hopped downstairs. I had skimmed the entire underground more than once, even finding some old VCR cassettes and a player. Most of them were old black and white movies, and how they ended up in the underground was a mystery to me, but some of them were enjoyable. For now, I guess I was going to watch news broadcasts. Most of my time was spent doing whatever Papyrus wanted, like this, or training with various weapons. I had virtually mastered all of them, but they got my mind off the fact I may never escape this place, and I'd die here, alone. Heh, I guess that's what I deserved, isn't it?

"Murder, put the tape in, please." Papyrus snapped me back into reality.

"Oh, uh, sure thing, Paps." I put an old cassete into the player, and a collection of news broadcasts started playing. I guess I was lucky the core was still functional, or I would have been dead already. I checked it often, for necessary maintenance, though; of course, it's a lot for one skeleton to do. I guess I deserved that too.

"Brother, pay attention." Papyrus ordered.

"Yes, Papyrus." I responded. The current broadcast was about some decoration Undyne recieved for courage. There were a lot of these. I guess there wasn't much news in the underground. It was mostly peaceful, although there were some important ones in there; mostly about fallen children. It was actually kind of ironic: Undyne took two of the six souls we had when the kid fell, Asgore took one, I was put in a situation where I had to take one, and the other two were taken by average monsters. The average monsters were brought to New Home, and they were never seen again. I believed that the credit was given to Undyne or Asgore publicly. The two others weren't very well known, and took the souls they got in secluded areas. Perfect targets for a bit of government corruption, I guess. When I took the one I got, I did it in a crowded area; they couldn't take that from me - just lucky, I guess. That was when Asgore decided to hire me as his judge, and the rest was history.

"Brother!" Papyrus yelled.

"Huh?" I was doing it again.

"You need to focus, Murder. Perhaps you should do a bit of training?"

"Okay, Papyrus."

I walked out my door, leaving it open, and pulled my slingshot out of my pocket. I really liked this slingshot. I had mastered the other weapons, and could train with any of them, but this always held a special place. I guess it was because it was mine, was made by me, and the kid never saw it, touched it, or was alive at the same time it existed; that was probably it. I lined up my shot, aiming for the roof of the cavern. It was pretty high, but that was the point; I needed a challenge, and the roof was right there. I released the rubber band, and a rock went flying in the air. I heard nothing, signaling that I missed. Ready to try again, I picked the rock back up after it landed, and loaded the slingshot once more. I released and watched the rock soar higher; it was a pretty exciting sight. It went higher than last time, and a small noise echoed through the cavern; I hit the roof, and my spirit soared. I loved doing this.