A/N: So I was looking around in the fanfiction for Undertale and I noticed that there were no Slavery AUs, which shocked me because I've never seen a fandom without at least one. So I took it upon myself to fix this grievous error. Although, as much as I like the genre, I have never actually written for it. So this is my first time, and it may not be the best.

When the monsters came to the Surface, you were very, very young. At first, everyone was afraid of them. Large plants with long sharp teeth, goats that walked upright, vindictive fish people - and worst of all, they could use magic . Humans hadn't been able to wield magic for thousands of years, and the fact there was now a race that looked so different from your own thatcould made your people very nervous.

But it didn't take long for them to notice how weak the monsters were, and soon enough, they were overpowered again. They were told to either return to the underground or risk being captured and sold off.

As slaves.

The idea of slavery never sat well with you. You have always been a very empathetic person - crying whenever someone else was hurt - so seeing a people so utterly oppressed and abused resonated deeply within your soul. But you know there's nothing you can really do about it. Politicians bicker, rallies are held; but in the end nothing changes.

So whatever brought you to that auction that day was a complete mystery, even to you.

"One rabbit monster, female; is great with cooking, cleaning and children. Starting the bidding at 400, do I have an offer."

You look over to the announcer and see a well dressed man standing next to a cowering bunny girl. She doesn't look to be much older than you - in fact, she seems your younger sister's age. Tears streak her face and her hands are held in front of her in bindings.

Great, ten minutes in and you are already sick to your stomach.

Everyone knows there is no way to restrain a monster's natural magic, but monsters are so weak that most humans can stop them anyways. Thus, many of the monster slaves have their hands restrained, but are allowed to show off their natural magic to the hungry crowd.

You watch as the bunny girl is sold off to a vicious looking man. You look away, saddened.

You don't belong here, with these people.

You need to leave.

"Now announcing lot number 482, a skeleton monster, male; is strong, loyal, and great for a bodyguard."

You raise an eyebrow and look over at the stage. Indeed, there was a skeleton monster there. Well over six feet tall andbeaming . You gawk, unable to believe there was someone able to look so proud on an auction stand.

"HELLO, HUMANS."

His voice is loud and smooth. It is the most upbeat sound in this awful place. You flinch as he is knocked over the head with a large baton. "Be silent, monster," an older guard snips. You scowl. He has got to be the most innocent person you have ever seen. You don't even know him and you can tell he has a total heart of gold.

"We'll start the bidding at 500, do we have any takers."

It is stunningly quiet before a pompous old woman wrapped in a mink scarf raises a sign. The bid goes to 525 from a young man in a too tight suit. The same person who bid on the bunny girl made a bid for 600.

Now, you don't know what on this earth possessed you to come here, but that pales in comparison to what you do next.

"1,000," you shout from the back. The crowd is silent. They all turn to you, but even with every single eye on you, you don't blink. No one is going to hurt that skeleton. You are going to make sure of that.

There isn't anyone in the audience that wants to pay 1,000 for some random monster with no real talents, so you immediately win and he is taken off stage.

You realise you're shaking. You need to sit down. What did you just do? What the hell did you just do? What were you thinking, buying a slave like that. You don't need a slave, you don't even want a slave. You weren't exactly hurting for money but damn, your sister is not going to be pleased when she finds out where last month's paycheck went.

You need to sit down.

You find a bench and sit, slowly uncapping a bottle of water you bought earlier and taking a sip. It takes a few minutes of breathing exercises, but you finally calm down enough to think again. First things first, you need to go pick up your slave.

No. You're not going to start thinking like that; like them. He is not your slave. He is a person, and you were going to treat him as such.

As soon as you go pick him up.

From the slavers.

Fuck. This day is going awful.

"So you're the youngster who bought this'in?"

You nod quietly at the skeleton's former master. He is a short, skinny old man with a well trimmed, graying mustache. He is holding the monster by a thin chain attached to his hands.

"Hate to break it to ya, sweetheart, but you overpaid," He laughs, fucking laughs . "This'un ain't worth a dime. All it does is break shit and make messes. A real trouble."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" The skeleton speaks. "I AM PLENTY USEFUL!"

"Shut up!" The man yanks on the chain and you feel your stomach turn. You decide you hate this guy and want to spend as little time around him as possible.

"If you don't mind," You say, trying to keep the coldness out of your voice. "I would like to sign the papers and leave now. I have a busy schedule to keep."

A busy schedule of trying to fix this mess.

"Hehehe, sure thing, sweetheart," The man tisks.

You stopped at an ATM before you went to sign the papers, so you had the money in cash to pay the man. He whistles.

"Now what kind of person comes to a slave auction, overpays for a useless slave, then pays in cash? Not that I'm complaining. Hehehe. Here's it's papers. You take care, sweetheart." He turns to walk off, but before he does, he adds one more thing. "Oh, and just as a warning - keep it away from the kitchen. Hehehe, good luck!"

You stand there for a moment, trying to hold back a torrent of insults that would only make matters worse. You take a deep breath, then let it out quickly. You put on your best fake smile and turn to the skeleton, whose name you read was Papyrus.

"Well, then," You say as cheerfully as possible. "Let's go home, shall we?"

Papyrus smiles back, seemingly unaware of all the tension. "OKAY!"

You lead him back to your car. You want to take off the cuffs on his wrists, but know that people would flip their shit over a monster walking on their own.

At the car, you motion for Papyrus to enter the passenger side. From there you remove the chains from his bony wrists and put the chain in your back pocket.

It is a long and awkward ride home, despite only living five minutes away. To you, it could have been five hours. You eventually clear your throat. "So… um… you can turn on the radio, if you want. I normally don't have it on but…" God, you're normally bad at conversations but this was a new level. You were talking to a slave. Your slave. You should be comforting him, or reassuring him that everything is alright but you just can't seem to get a good hold on the situation.

Papyrus seems to pick up on your discomfort and smiles. "THANK YOU HUMAN, BUT I DO NOT FIND SONGS ON THE RADIO PARTICULARLY… GOOD."

You laugh a little. "Thank god, me neither. But my sister absolutely loves them. She'll go on for ages about her new favorite hit by this boy band, and it just never ends. It's all just the same pop crap over and over, it's like people have forgotten whatreal music is!"

You're rambling. You know it, but god you just can't stop. Papyrus either understands or doesn't find it weird, because he simply nods along.

"YOU HAVE A SISTER?" He asks.

"Yes, actually," You reply. "Oh, god, I can't believe I forgot to tell you. She lives with me… so I guess you'll meet her soon."

And how the hell do you expect to explain this one to her? Just walking into the house with a monster in tow. You know her particular… feelings on monsters. You sigh, you'll just have to wing it.

"OH HUMAN!" Papyrus shouts, almost making you crash the car.

"WHAT, WHAT IS IT!?" You hit the brakes in panic.

"OH, HOW COULD I BE SO RUDE. I NEVER INTRODUCED MYSELF," You stop to catch your breath. "I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. EX-ROYAL HEAD GUARDSMAN AND SPAGETTOR."

You smile and laugh a little.

You give him your name.

"HMM, THAT IS A NICE NAME, BUT I SHALL CALL YOU HUMAN," Papyrus smiles.

You feel a little offended.

"Oh, and what if I just call you monster?" You ask coyly.

"YOU MAY CALL ME WHATEVER YOU LIKE!" Papyrus' smile falters. "THAT'S WHAT THE OTHERS DID."

Shit. How could you forget. This man was a slave (ex-slave… whatever. You should really explain this shit to him) and he was used to being treated like one. He probably wanted to call you 'Human' because…

Shit.

"Papyrus," You say gently. "You can call me by my name. I won't take offense."

"REALLY? WOWIE!" He smiles. "THANK YOU, HUMAN."

You nod. "As long as you stay with me, you aren't… going to be treated any differently than anyone else, okay?"

"GOT IT!" Papyrus says, and god his voice is loud. You would tell him to be a little quieter if it wasn't for the fact that it could sound like an order. And the last thing you wanted to do was order around your new slave.

Huh, wonder how often that happened?

When you arrived at your house, you make sure to park in back. You didn't want any of the neighbors to see you with a monster. There was no need for nasty rumors to be spread around. Papyrus admired every little thing in your backyard, and damn if it wasn't like watching a child react to a field trip to a museum or the zoo. It was the cutest thing your eyes had ever seen.

You open the door and shout your sister's name.

No answer.

You find a note taped to the fridge.

Hey, there!

Went out for groceries.

Be back in a few.

~ Melody 3

"Huh, looks like she's not home," You tell Papyrus as he walks through the door.

"SO THIS IS YOUR FOOD MUSEUM?" He asks, admiring your kitchen.

"My what?"

You realize he's talking about the kitchen.

That's.

Precious.

"So, um," You say, shuffling your feet. "Make yourself at home."

Papyrus gives you a confused look. "DO YOU NOT HAVE A TASK FOR ME, HUMAN?"

You wince at his calling you human, but you don't correct him. Baby steps. "N- No. I, um… I."

Papyrus cocks his head like a lost puppy.

God, you do NOT want to be having this conversation.

"Why… Why don't I show you your room?" You say, shuffling out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "It's just an old guest bedroom, and we don't have that many guests so… uh… it might be a little dusty."

You open up the guest bedroom and GOD you are not ready for this. Your sister has apparently holed up in this room and made it into her little art studio. How she did this without your noticing is beyond you, but now there is a mess of papers and fabrics and sewing needles everywhere.

"O- Oh, I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea it would be" You stammer. "Here, let me just… clean this up real quick." You bend down to pick up a half-finished shirt.

"NO, NO, ALLOW ME," Papyrus says, cleaning with you.

"Papyrus, you don't have to-"

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus smiles. "I HAVE ALREADY BURDENED YOU TOO MUCH. I WON'T HAVE YOU CLEANING FOR MY SAKE. BESIDES, AFTER YEARS OF DEALING WITH MY OWN BROTHER, I AM WELL EQUIPPED TO SORT OUT UNRULY MESSES."

You smile genuinely. Not many people can make you do that, save your sister.

Speaking of whom…

"OH MY GOD!" You hear your name shouted from downstairs. "WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!"

"What!?" You call back, slightly panicked. you tell Papyrus to stay put and run down the stairs. You reach the kitchen to find your sister with nine bags of groceries on her arms, waving them around.

"What happened?" You ask, winded

"Okay! So I was checking out at the grocery store and because I'm a responsible adult I was checking our balance to see if we had enough for me to get the expensive gum that I like and anyways I was checking the balance and our savings is down a thousand dollars-"

"Mel," You say, exasperated.

"-So I'm freaking out but I still got the groceries because whoever took the money didn't touch out checking and no I have them all here so there's no reason to go to the car-"

"Mel, that's not-" You try to break it, but she just keeps going.

"-but IT'S ALL OKAY!" She shouts, making an exaggerated hand movement that dumps a loaf of bread on the ground. "Because my internet friend is a computer hacker and he says that he can track down where the withdrawal was made and is that a skeleton?"

You hold your head in your hands, then turn. Sure enough, Papyrus is standing in the doorway.

"Oh."

Uh oh.

"My."

Here we go.

"GOD!"

All of the groceries were dumped, abandoned on the ground as Melody rushes up Papyrus at full speed.

"Oh my god! A real life monster, right here! I can't believe it! Who are you what's your name do you have any family are you a really a skeleton are you from around here what's your favorite color!?"

"I'M PAPYRUS, MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, MY BROTHER SANS, YES, I DON'T KNOW AND BLUE."

You are honestly surprised he kept up with all that. Your sister must be too, because she squees with excitement, jumping around in a circle.

"Oh my god what are you doing here?" Melody's smile fades as she realizes and turns around. "YOU" She thrusts a finger at you. "YOU BOUGHT A SLAVE!?"

You raise your hands defensively, but the torrent has started.

"Oh my GOD I can't believe you! How could you? I thought you were above this? My own sibling bought a - is THAT why our savings were down? And you just!"

She's sputtering now, unable to articulate her outrage. You huff. This could have gone a lot better.

"HUMAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus looks genuinely concerned. You almost want to sigh in relief at that alone. If Papyrus likes your sister that will make all of this much easier.

Mel takes a deep breath, about to start a her rant back when you cut her off with a decisive motion. "Mel. Can we talk for a moment? In private?"

Melody takes a deep, deep breath, then turns to Papyrus. "Can you give us a minute? I have to take some sense into my idiot backstabbing sibling."

Papyrus smiles brightly and nods. "OF COURSE!" He walks off back upstairs and your sister goes back to glaring at you.

You put your head in your hand and lean on the kitchen island. "This looks bad, doesn't it?"

"Mmhm," Your sister crosses her arms. There is a long moment of silence, and of course it's Melody who breaks it. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't know, I just…" You sigh, trying to put your feelings into words. "I just had to, Mel. He was at that auction with all those cruel people and I just couldn't-"

"Wait you were where!? " Melody cries, outraged again. "What in gods name were you doing in a place like that?"

"Like I said I don't know!" You raise your voice a little too much, then quiet back down. "It's complicated."

"You're telling me," Melody leans back.

Another silence; this time you're the one to break it.

"You know I would never-"

"Of course you wouldn't!" Mel replies instantly. "I'd kick your ass and disown you if you did!"

You nod.

Mel sighs, "I think I get it; For now, at least." Mel thinks for a moment, then she realises. "Hey, um… where's he gonna stay?"

You narrow your eyes. "That reminds me. Where have you been housing your latest project?"

Mel blushes and shuffles. "I… uh… well… you see, the sewing machine needed an outlet and there wasn't a free one in my room and…" You glare at her fondly. "... I'll just go clean that up."

You shake your head as she leaves, and you turn back to the forgotten groceries and slowly pick them up. You're putting everything away as slowly as possible as if that alone can stave off dealing with the rest of this clusterfuck of a situation.

You glance at Papyrus' papers you'd left on the kitchen island. A part of you wants to read them; a morbid kind of curiosity taking over. The other part tells you to respect Papyrus' privacy - to be better than those other humans. You eventually just end up just shoving them in the clutter drawer and closing them off.

To recap the day, you took a random trip to the most sickening display of human cruelty in the world, bought a person , and now you are housing said person with your manic sister in your suburban house.

God, you need a drink.