"You know, I hate this stuff." Mettaton mused, staring at the frosted pink wineglass in his hand as he twirled it gently. Full to near the brim with a wine in such a deep red it looked like the color of blood. Pausing in his idle hand movements, Mettaton brought the glass to his lips, tilting it slightly to take a sip. And then pulled it away with a grimace, holding the thing out in front of him and shaking out his head.

"Alcohol?" Papyrus asked, looking up from where he had been ordered to do, quote "something", by Mettaton. So, he'd decided to spend his time sorting the flowers in their vases to something a bit neater looking, and to reorganize the throne room a bit.

"Oh, heavens no. I love alcohol." Mettaton examined the offending cup for a moment, deciding to give up on it and set it on an empty spot on the cake tower. Leaning most his body against that armrest, knees pulled up so he was more crouching on the chair then sitting on it, smushing his cheek and examining the wineglass boredly. "I drink it straight without any mixers all the time, honestly it's one of my favorite flavors after sugar."

"Oh," Papyrus looked down with a blank expression for a moment, then set his gaze back up to the king. "What do you hate, then?"

"I don't like wine." Mettaton reached his hand out, putting one finger on the side of the glass and gently pushing it over. The deep red liquid spilling off the cake tower and onto the floor. Mettaton watched the flow of liquor, expression unchanging.

Papyrus, on the other hand, sighed and put down his flowers. Producing a rag from his pocket and walking over to begin cleaning it up.

"Mettaton! You must be more careful! You made a mess!" The skeleton wrapped his fingers around the stem of the glass, putting it back up right, giving the shelf a quick wipe before getting down on one knee to wipe up the majority of the spill.

Mettaton rolled his eye, not even seeming to care much about Papyrus's concern over his mess. He replaced his hand under his chin, watching the skeleton work in silence for a minute before continuing his spiel about the wine he ended up despising.

"It's just not really my style, you know? I much prefer flavored hard liquor. Say, Papy. Have you ever tried cake vodka? It's quite delicious!"

Papyrus shook his head, standing back up with the damp cleaning rag. "Mettaton. I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life."

"Aww," Mettaton pouted, pulling himself away from the armrest to sit more normally. Kicking one leg over the other and bouncing his foot. "That's a shame."

"Though I do have to ask." Papyrus continued on as he put the wet rag aside, and took the time, while he was over here, to tidy up the arrangement of the cupcakes on the stand to fill in that empty spot. "If you hate wine, why drink it? Wouldn't it be better to just drink something you like?"

"It's a status thing," Mettaton shrugged. "That's always what they drink in human films to show they're high class, always wine. Some sort of expensive label that they make a big deal out of and pour into pretty glasses."

Mettaton twirled his wrist in a circle as he spoke. "But, I guess you are right, darling. I don't have to be forced to drink the stuff just because it's standard. It's definitely not very flattering to watch me grimace and force the stuff down."

Pulling himself back into that weird crouch, his torso disappeared over the opposite armrest to Papyrus, popping back up with a bottle of strawberry vodka he kept near the throne. Always have to keep your essentials close, after all! Especially for something as important as perching all pretty and regal in your special king chair. Sitting back down more comfortably, Mettaton twirled the cap off, and scooped up the wind glass he had recently, eh, "emptied". He poured himself a drink of his preferred poison, and took a sip before speaking again.

"Maybe I could reach some sort of compromise, maybe I could put red food dye in it, or-"

The doors opened with a loud noise, cutting off whatever Mettaton was going to say. Mettaton fell deathly quiet, putting on a serious face as a member of the Royal Guard marched down the hall into the throne room.

"You know, I was just having a lovely conversation with my darling assistant over here. So this had better be good."

Before speaking, the Guard bowed low, pulling her hood back to reveal her face as she stood back up. Dogaressa frowned deeply, but waited her turn to speak. Oh! Now Mettaton was interested! All of the dogs were stationed on the Missing Persons Effort, so this sound be good! Mettaton nodded to signal she could speak.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but we have news I think you would be interested in." Dogaressa said, sounding somber."

Well, maybe not good. But interesting was still on the table.

Mettaton frowned, "Well, don't keep me on pins and needles, darling. Spit it out. I'm a busy man, you know."

"We, uhm," Dogaressa sighed, "We found Dr. Alphys."

Mettaton jolted out of his chair, the wine glass being forgotten about entirely as it shattered to the floor. Causing Papyrus to make a frustrated noise at yet another mess due to Mettaton's carelessness.

"You did? Oh my god! Thank goodness! Where is she?" Mettaton babbled, a grin so wide on his face it looked like it must've hurt. He ran up toward Dogaressa, looking all around her for his missing friend. Not seeming to process she was no where in the room.

Dogaressa turned her head away from the king's eager face, muzzle pulled into a frown. Wordlessly, she reached into the pocket of her robe, and held out something to Mettaton. It was just a piece of paper, something lined and looked like it had been torn out of a notebook, crumbled into someone's pocket and forgotten about. Mettaton gave the dog a confused look, and Dogaressa remained silent. Mettaton snatched the paper out of her paws, unfolding it and beginning to read it over.

'I don't even know why I'm writing this. I doubt anyone will find it…
I doubt anyone will even care. It's not like anyone ever did.'

Mettaton's grin fell sharply, and if his face wasn't already naturally pale, it would've turned white.

'Undyne's gone, I watched the human kill her. I watched it and I didn't - I didn't do anything? Why didn't I do anything? I mean, I guess there's not much I could've done...But I feel like I should've done something. But! I didn't! Because I'm a fucking coward! Because I'm fucking useless!

Mettaton...I'm kidding myself, Mettaton was just using me to get his body. He was always planning to run off and leave me in the dirt. It was stupid of me to ever hope otherwise.

I don't really have any other ties left to stay alive for.

The amalgamates will...sort themselves out

Maybe someone else will find them and figure out what happened, and I won't be around to deal with the backlash.

I guess...I just want to say sorry, to whoever does find that. I don't know what else to say.

Bye.

~Alphys'

"Dogamy is collecting her dust into an urn." Dogaressa spoke quietly, watching as Mettaton's visible eye frantically scanned back and forth across the page. "He's only not here right now because, uh, we found something else down there, and-"

"Y-You're joking, aren't you?" Mettaton looked up from the paper, gripping it so tightly it looked like it might rip. "This is some, elaborate, awful joke?"

Dogaressa's ears perked a little higher in surprise. "No, sir. That would be a really horrible joke to play on anyone." Fidgeting uncomfortably with her axe, struggling to find words of comfort. "I..know this is a shock, and I'm, uh, really sorry for your loss…"

Mettaton didn't respond, his whole body shivering. He didn't even register any of her words, just sank to his knees with a loud clang that echoed out in the throne room. One hand going to claw at his head, fingers threading through his hair as he read the note over and over.

'Mettaton was just using me to get his body….It was stupid of me to ever hope otherwise.'

'Mettaton was just using me to get his body.'

'Mettaton was just using me.'

No matter how many times he read it, it stung just as much as the first time. Squeezing his eyes shut, he moved his hand down to press into his eyes, shaking with the effort of held back tears.

Dogaressa kept silent, knowing her words would be either meaningless or unheard, "Uhm, if you'd like, we could also go through the lab and return some of her valuables to you."

"Don't." Mettaton growled, snapping his head up to look at Dogaressa and bearing his teeth, catching the dog monster by surprise at such a sharp turn around. The look in his eyes was so hateful, she thought she was being blamed for the Royal Scientist's death. "Do not touch her things, do you hear me? Don't you dare."

Dogaressa raised her free paw in surrender. "A-alright, alright. We'll leave them be. But, sir, there was something else in the downstairs laboratory I really think you should know about. It-it would be unwise to not allow the Guard to investigate th-"

"What did I just say?" Mettaton pushed himself to his feet, storming closer up to the Guard to loom over her. "You will touch nothing in that lab. Nothing. Once Dogamy gets back with the urn none of you are allowed in there unless I say otherwise. That is an order."

Confused, but not wanting to piss him off any further. Especially considering Mettaton seemed ready and willing to take his grief out on her...Dogaressa pulled another deep frown, but she nodded. "As you wish, your highness."